Gospel Breakthrough to People of Peace

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Good morning.

Good morning. I'm Tonya and I'm part of Oikos in the Oaks small group and the Women Reading Women monthly book club.

Today's scripture reading is from the Acts of the Apostles, chapters 10, verses 1 to 3 and 27 to 48 as printed in your liturgy.

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.

He and all his family were devout and God-fearing.

He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.

One day at about three in the afternoon, he had a vision.

He distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him and said,

Cornelius.

While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.

He said to them,

You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile.

But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection.

May I ask why you sent for me?

Cornelius answered,

Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon.

Suddenly, a man in shining clothes stood before me and said,

Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.

Send to Joppa for Simon who was called Peter.

He is a guest in the home of Simon the Tanner who lives by the sea.

So I sent for you immediately and it was good of you to come.

Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.

Then Peter began to speak.

I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism,

but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

You know the message God sent to the people of Israel,

announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

You know what has happened through the province of Judea,

beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached.

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power,

and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil,

because God was with him.

We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.

They killed him by hanging him on a cross,

but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.

He was not seen by all the people,

but by witnesses whom God had already chosen,

by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one

whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.

All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him

receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

While Peter was still speaking these words,

the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.

The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished

that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles,

for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said,

Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water.

They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.

So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Thank you, Karen and Tonya.

Today is something of a finish line for me.

As you heard a moment ago,

our other pastor Andrew is wrapping up his four-month sabbatical this week.

We've made some transitions in our music ministry.

We've onboarded our new groups and formation director.

And so grateful for your prayers for me and for our team during this unique season.

And I want to especially thank you for rescheduling your crises during these past four months.

And now that that time is coming to a close,

you can feel free to email us your struggles, problems, and needs.

It's Andrew at Christ Church East Bay.

That's A-N-D.

Well, I'm going to be catching up on a little sleep this week.

Our daughter is moving to college next Monday

and soaking up some last-minute time with her before she hits liftoff.

But, you know, today is also something of a finish line for us as a church family.

We're coming to the end of this sermon series in the book of Acts.

And I hope that you have come to love this exciting narrative

and the many case studies that we've been looking at

of what it means to be a living church.

What does it mean to be a spirit-filled church?

And I hope that you've also come to appreciate

that this is the only authoritative account of the church that we have in our Bibles.

And so it's so important for us to know what it is and what it means for us.

And I want to dive in one last time here in God's Word in Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

This amazing case study of God's work in two people pretty much like a lot of us,

Cornelius and Peter.

And I want to talk about three things.

I want to talk about God's purpose, God's peace, and God's power.

I want to think together a little bit about God's purpose, God's peace, and God's power.

And let's start with God's purpose.

Here we have a story of two men.

They're 40 miles apart.

They're about a two-day's journey from each other.

One of them is a Jewish Christian named Peter.

The other one's a Gentile pagan named Cornelius.

And the story is about how God brings them together through prayer.

And if you read the whole story, we couldn't print it all, but if you go back and read the

whole story, Cornelius is calling on God one day at 3 p.m.

And then the next day, Peter's calling on God at 12 p.m.

And within this 24-hour period, God reveals himself to both of these people in prayer so

that Cornelius, the Gentile, sends for Peter, the Jewish Christian.

And Peter, the Jewish Christian, who's been trained all of his life to have nothing to

do with Gentiles.

Those unclean people.

God has been preparing him to welcome them to his table and then to go and enter into their

house, this house of uncircumcised, non-kosher Gentiles and spend days with them teaching

them about Jesus.

So he's crossing over a boundary, an ethnic boundary.

He's crossing over, intentionally crossing a cultural barrier.

And what's God's purpose in this?

What is God doing to prepare Cornelius and to prepare Peter for this divinely appointed

encounter?

And I want to start with Cornelius because we read about him in verse 1 that at Caesarea

there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.

This guy's a company commander of 100 battle-hardened soldiers.

His unit is directly tied to the heart of the empire in Rome.

They're stationed at a base in a place that's named after Caesar Augustus.

And do you think Jews, like Peter, are excited to have these folks in their backyard?

This occupying power that, you know, if you get out of line, we'll just put you up on a

cross.

They're not super excited about that.

But Cornelius is an interesting guy because he's earned his rank through his discipline

in the barracks, through his distinctions on the battlefield.

And he's the guy you want in your foxhole.

He is trustworthy under pressure.

He's the kind of guy who can lead 100 people into battle.

And so the question, when we think about how Cornelius is described here, do you think that

his time in the Roman army was an ideal place that was super conducive for spiritual exploration?

Think about that, the Roman army.

What do you think that was like?

Do you think if you went to your commanding officer and you said, hey, you know, I'm no

longer going to participate in the state religion and all the sacred customs of our military.

I'm no longer going to pray to Caesar or to Jupiter or to Mars for help.

How do you think that would go over?

Well, that tells you a lot about Cornelius who broke ranks to embrace a different God.

He embraced the God of Israel.

And like that man that we met last week from Ethiopia, he was no longer satisfied with the

pagan worldview that he had grown up with.

And so he upgraded to a better worldview, to the Jewish worldview.

And I won't repeat what I said last week about all the doctrines and ethics and practices of

worship that were involved in that.

But you can see how his life had been changed in verse 2.

It says that he and all his family were devout and God-fearing.

He gave generously to those in need and he prayed to God regularly.

Israel's scriptures say that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

And he has an awe.

He has a respect for the creator God.

He has a certain reverence for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And he's transferred his faith from all those gods of his empire to this one true and living God.

And how does that embody itself in Cornelius' life?

Well, it says that he gives generously to the needy and to the poor.

And that he prays morning, noon, and evening to God.

So he's devoted.

And that devotion is expressed vertically in his piety and horizontally in his charity.

And this is a good man.

This is the kind of man that you want your sons to become.

It's the kind of man you'd want your daughter to marry.

This is a good guy.

But what's amazing about this story is that even though he's spiritually and morally righteous,

it's not enough.

And how do we know that?

Well, look at verse 30.

And this is kind of like a Christopher Nolan film.

There's a lot of flashback, flashforward.

This is verse 30 where he's looking back and he says,

Three days ago, I was in my house praying at this hour.

At three in the afternoon, suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said,

Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.

So send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.

God gets the attention of Cornelius through prayer.

And he says in that strange moment, he says,

Cornelius, you need to talk to a Christian.

You need to hear about the apostles' teaching.

You need the deep inner transformation that only the message Peter has can give you.

And that's amazing because Cornelius is part of the greatest government that the world has ever seen.

He's a high-ranking officer.

He's powerful.

He's wealthy.

He's not let it go to his head.

He's not let it corrupt him like everybody else.

And now here he is.

He's participating in the world's greatest religion.

And he fears the God of Israel.

He's a generous and a praying man.

He's a man of virtue.

He's a man of character.

He's a good man.

But God, when he comes to Cornelius, he doesn't say to Cornelius,

Well done.

Keep going.

I'm sure if you just try harder and don't give up, you'll find salvation.

No, God says to Cornelius, you're not enough.

Your spirituality and your morality is not enough.

You need something more.

You need to send for this Christian named Peter.

And you need to hear the message that Peter has to give you.

And that's stunning to me.

Because the same thing happened to this other guy in the Bible named Nicodemus when he went to Jesus.

And he had this encounter in the Gospel of John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

Nicodemus is very much like Cornelius.

He was brilliant.

He was accomplished.

He was wealthy.

He was powerful.

He was a man of impeccable credentials.

He wasn't a proud and self-righteous man.

He's humble.

He's open.

He's teachable.

He says, Jesus, we know that you're from God and that God is with you.

We want to learn from you.

And so what does Jesus say to Nicodemus?

He says, well, Nicodemus, you're a great guy.

You know the Bible.

You're a teacher of Israel.

You're spiritual.

You're moral.

And what you need, Nicodemus, is just to be kind of topped off.

And touched up here and there.

And maybe add a few things.

We'll complete the picture.

No, what does Jesus say to Nicodemus?

He says, Nicodemus, you must be born again from above by the Holy Spirit.

You must be converted.

You must be regenerated.

And unless that happens, you cannot even see the kingdom of God, much less enter into the

kingdom of God.

It's not about being topped off.

It's about being reborn as a new creation and starting over from scratch.

And notice again, in the story of Cornelius, like that Ethiopian man we met last week, that

God is the one who takes the initiative with Cornelius.

And it's God who enables Cornelius to see.

It's his purpose that Cornelius would come to see that he is not enough.

And that only the authentic, apostolic Christianity that Peter is going to bring to him has what

he needs so that God works through prayer to bring a Christian into Cornelius' life.

So maybe some of you here are like Cornelius.

You're spiritually searching.

You are exploring.

You're intellectually hungry.

You're existentially thirsty.

Well, think about the question, how has God been trying to get my attention?

How is God working in my life?

How has God introduced a Christian or several Christians into my life?

Why am I even here on a Sunday morning?

And think about God's purpose, like with Nicodemus, the Ethiopian, Cornelius, to bring you to what

you really need, to bring you beyond yourself to that thing that you really need.

Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 18, truly I tell you, unless you change, unless

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

you turn, unless you convert and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom

of heaven.

But you see, God's purpose here is bigger than just Cornelius because he's also working on

this Christian named Peter.

He's working on him through prayer and through the revelation of his word.

And he's saying, Peter, you need to grow in your faith.

You need to develop and mature in your faith.

Peter needed to learn about the wider horizons of God's mission.

Peter needed to learn that God didn't just bless Abraham and bless Israel.

He wanted to bless them so that through them they could bless all the nations of the earth.

Peter needed to know that God's grand purpose for this world was for his people to be a light

to the Gentiles, a light to the nations.

And so God's purpose is to prepare this Christian, Peter, to begin to do new and uncomfortable things.

To go out of his way and to inconvenience himself to reach new people like Cornelius.

God's purpose was not just to draw outsiders into Christ.

His purpose was to push insiders out to the world.

So that Peter would go on this 40 mile walk that he had not intended to do.

That he would take a two day journey.

That he would seek out these people, these strangers that he did not know and begin to talk with them.

And if you're a Christian, the question for you is are you willing to do that?

Are you willing to make sacrifices?

And go out of your way like Peter went out of his way.

And by the time Peter gets there, it says in verse 27, while he was talking with Cornelius,

Peter went inside and he found a large gathering of people.

And he said to them, you are well aware that it's against your law for a Jew to associate with Gentiles

or to visit them, but God.

But God has been working on me.

And God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

See, this meeting would have never happened apart from God's purpose to transform this Christian

and to compel him to cross over barriers and cross over boundaries

that normally would have kept these two people apart,

but rather to begin sharing meals with people he didn't know.

Developing a bond of friendship with total strangers

and entering into a relationship with them.

And the question is, if you're a Christian,

is there any class of people, any category of people

that you think should be avoided

or that you think should be dismissed as beyond God's grace?

For example,

has God put a Republican in your life?

Or has he put a Democrat in your life?

Or has he put anyone in any category,

economically, politically, socially,

and on and on,

who your tribe of people

is telling you you should look down upon

and feel superior to?

Because here in this story,

Peter says,

God has shown me

that I should not call anyone

impure or unclean.

And I should not think that anyone

is beyond the reach

of God's saving grace.

And this is a watershed moment

for the history of the Christian mission

because there was now no person

who was seen as beyond the reach of God.

There was now no boundary or barrier

that Christians would not cross

in order to get this message out to the people.

And this is what gives rise

to the transnational,

multicultural,

polychromatic church.

If you just look around,

it's the way it is

because of this moment right here.

And it's all about God's purpose.

It's God's purpose.

But I also want to talk about God's peace.

God's peace.

Because when Peter gets to this house

of these non-kosher,

uncircumcised Gentiles

that he's not supposed to be with,

what does he say in verse 36?

He says,

God sent the message

announcing the good news of peace

through Jesus who is Lord of all.

He comes to them to talk to them

about the good news of peace.

Now I want you to imagine

two nations that are at war.

And I know that's hard for us

to imagine right now.

Two nations that are at war.

One of them, the lesser power,

has rebelled against the greater power.

And there's this enduring conflict

that seems like it's never going to end

until this greater power

offers terms of peace,

terms of surrender,

terms of reconciliation.

And Peter's saying to them,

that's the story of the world.

That the human story

is one of rebellion against God,

but the creator, God,

has made a way of peace

through his Messiah,

who's now the Lord of all.

And you see, Cornelius

and all of his household,

they'd heard the gospel of Rome.

They'd heard about Caesar

and the Pax Romana.

They knew that if you wanted his peace,

you had to bend your knee

to Caesar and call him Lord.

And so Peter comes into this house

and he says,

I'm talking about a different peace.

I'm talking about a transcendent

and a cosmic peace.

I'm talking about a different Lord.

A Lord who's higher

and a Lord who's more powerful.

And Peter begins to share with them

in verse 37,

the story of Jesus.

He says,

Jesus was anointed by God

and by the Holy Spirit

and by God's power

and therefore he went out

and he did good to the poor

and the needy

and he healed the sick

and he healed the demonized

and God was so clearly with him.

And then in verse 39,

he says,

ultimately people killed him

by hanging him on the cross,

but God raised him from the dead.

That's how God makes peace.

Through his Messiah,

through his death

and through his resurrection.

And Peter goes on in verse 40

and he says,

but God raised him from the dead

on the third day

and caused him to be seen.

He was not seen by all the people,

but by witnesses

whom God had already chosen,

by us who ate and drank with him

after he rose from the dead.

Now sometimes we say,

if only the dead could speak.

Well, in this particular case,

here is one who was dead

and now is alive again

and did speak.

And for 40 days

after his resurrection,

Jesus was with his disciple community

and he's giving them convincing proofs

that he's alive.

And if Jesus was really just a spirit

in that moment,

if he was just a ghost,

I don't know how he sat down

and I definitely don't know

how he drank with them.

That would have been

really, really messy.

Peter does not say,

listen, we had a vision

of the resurrected Jesus.

We had a hallucination

of the resurrected Jesus.

We had projected wish fulfillment

of the resurrected Jesus.

No, you don't ask a hallucination

to pass you the bread.

And even if you do ask

a hallucination

to pass you the bread,

they're not going to pass it to you.

And if you say

that they pass it to you,

well, you're nuts.

Unless he actually does

pass you the bread

and then you know

it's the real Jesus.

You see,

if the resurrection

didn't happen,

Christianity

is a complete waste of time.

You are totally wasting.

You could be at brunch right now.

You're wasting your time.

But if it did happen,

that means

that everything Jesus claimed to be

and all of his work on the cross

to atone for our sins

and to bring us peace with God

is true.

And so Peter goes on

and he says,

in those 40 days

after the resurrection,

Jesus not only convinced us

that he was alive,

but he gave us marching orders.

And he gave us

a precise description

of the content

of the message

that we are to proclaim

to the world

of which Jesus is now

the rightful Lord.

And what that means

is that everything

Peter's saying here

is not just authentic Christianity.

It's not just apostolic Christianity.

It's Christ's Christianity.

Everything that he's saying

is straight from the lips

of Jesus.

His perfect life.

His redeeming death.

His bodily resurrection.

And then he comes

to verse 42.

He commanded us

to preach to the people

and to testify

that he is the one

whom God appointed

as judge

of the living

and the dead.

And all the prophets

testify about him

that everyone

who believes in him

receives forgiveness

of sins

through his name.

Now some of you

have noticed

in the past few weeks

that our services

have been a little bit full.

And you've been asking

how we're going to make room

and create some space.

Well I figured

we'd preach today

on the Christian doctrine

of judgment.

And then

if that doesn't work

we'll do the Christian

ethic of sexuality.

And then if that doesn't work

we'll preach on tithing.

And then there should be

plenty of seats

here in the coming weeks

and months.

But verse 42 says

that this good news

of peace

this good news

of peace

from God

through Jesus

it involves

a divinely appointed

judge

and a day

of judgment.

And this isn't just

Peter

Paul

when he gets

to Athens

he's speaking

to the philosophers

there

he's speaking

to the

Epicureans

and the Stoics

the philosophy

department

at Cal

he's telling them

Acts chapter 17

Acts 17:32

verse 32

he says

for God

has set a day

when he will

judge the world

with justice

by the man

he has appointed

he's given

proof of this

to everyone

by raising him

from the dead.

And some people

say well I don't

like Peter

and I don't

like Paul

I like Jesus

well okay

here's the gospel

of Matthew

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

chapter 25

Jesus says

when the son of man

comes in his glory

and all the angels

with him

he will sit

on his glorious throne

all the nations

will be gathered

before him

and he will

separate the peoples

from one another

these will go away

to eternal punishment

but these righteous

to eternal life.

And that's just

one of many examples

Jesus says

in the gospel

of John

John 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5

the father

judges no one

but he has

entrusted his

judgment

to the son

very truly

I tell you

whoever hears

my word

and believes

him who sent

me

has eternal

life

and will not

be judged

but is already

crossed over

from death

into life.

Now I imagine

some of you here

that's hard

to digest

that's hard

for you to believe

probably

for many

different reasons

and I'm thinking

about our

worldview class

last week

and later today

but perhaps

your worldview

is naturalism

or materialism

and so you believe

by faith

in the extinction

of the human person

at death

and you say

you know

we're not

eternal souls

we're not

immortal beings

we're just gonna

cease to exist

the day we die.

Or secondly

your worldview

is moralistic

therapeutic

deism

and so

by faith

you believe

that good people

go to heaven

and we're all

pretty much good

so be happy

and have a good

time.

And thirdly

perhaps your worldview

is new age

spirituality

and so

by faith

you believe

that nothing

essential happens

at death

and that each

person

is just simply

somehow reunited

with the universe

and you become

stardust.

The problem

with all those

views

is that they are

self-defeating

and none of them

really does

an adequate job

with evil

and justice.

if you hold

one of those

views

let me ask you

do you

really think

that for all

of our lies

for all

the

betrayals

for all

of our

greed

for all

of our

cowardice

for all

the murders

of the

20th century

the bloodiest

century in

history

do you

really think

that we're

not going

to be

judged?

How can

you fight

for human

rights

and for

justice

when there's

really no

ultimate

standard of

judgment

above you

or out in

front of you

in the future?

And how

can you

even give

an accounting

of justice

if there is

no God

and if the

day we

die we

just cease

to exist?

What if

you're wrong?

What if

there will

actually be

justice in

the end?

What if

a day is

coming when

all the

rubbish

is going

to be

cast out

of the

world?

When God

is going

to put

the world

right?

What if

God

really has

appointed

Jesus

as he

said here

to be the

judge

of the

living

and the

dead?

What if

that

breathtaking

claim

is true?

If words

have any

meaning

at all

then it

means that

no one

can escape

the day

when all

of us

without

exception

will stand

before this

same Jesus

who lived

on earth

and who

now is

alive

forever

that all

the destinies

of all

people

are in

his hands

and there

is coming

a day

when all

doubt

about that

will

disappear

and we

will stand

before this

majestic

figure

and give

an accounting

of our

lives

the book

of Hebrews

Hebrews 9:27

chapter 9

verse 27

says people

are destined

to die

once and

after that

to face

judgment

now if

that's

true

then it's

absolutely

unloving

to pretend

that it's

not true

and it's

absolutely

unloving

to withhold

that information

from people

but notice

that this

judge

and this

judgment

is part

of the

good news

of peace

remember

that

Jesus

breathtaking

claim of

judgment

here in

verse 42

is followed

in verse 43

with another

breathtaking

claim

that all

the Old

Testament

prophets

testify

about Jesus

and that

everyone

who believes

in him

receives

the forgiveness

of sins

so verse 42

he's the judge

of all people

whether you

believe that

or not

verse 43

he's the

forgiver

of all

who believe

verse 43

the Old

Testament's

looking forward

to the first

coming of

this Savior

who will

forgive our

sins

verse 42

the New

Testament's

looking forward

to the second

coming

when he will

be our

judge

and the

question is

on what

basis

will he

judge us

on what

basis

will he

judge us

well you

will either

bring before

him

your own

record

right

your own

spiritual

and moral

record

and in

which case

that day

really should

cause you

to tremble

it really

will be

for you

a day

of disgrace

a day

of tears

a day

of misery

that will

go on

without end

or

Jesus

will smile

on you

that day

and he'll

say

Jonathan

we

settled

this thing

out of

court

remember

I've

already

given you

the verdict

of this

day

a long

time

ago

that

if you

took

advantage

of my

first coming

to be

your

savior

if you

accepted

my terms

of peace

if you

looked

on my

finished

work

on the

cross

if you

received

my

forgiveness

if you

claimed

my

spiritual

and moral

record

as your

own

righteousness

then you've

already

the moment

you believed

you crossed

over from

death

to life

as I

said

so

Jonathan

it's so

good to

see you

on this

judgment

day

now

enter

into

the joy

of your

master

you see

if you

put

your

trust

in

Jesus

you

can

look

into

your

judge's

face

and

you

can

see

your

savior

there

and

you

can

know

with

absolute

surety

and

confidence

that

you

have

peace

with

God

and

that

peace

is

going

to

go

on

not

just

today

not

just

tomorrow

it's

going

to

go

on

forever

that's

what

Peter

told

Cornelius

that's

what

Peter

told

this

entire

household

of

Gentiles

it

was

God's

purpose

to

get

Peter

to

come

and

talk

about

God's

peace

and

then

what

happened

God's

power

came

when

they

began

to

actually

believe

every

single

one

of

these

articles

of

faith

the

power

of

God

came

down

in

that

place

and

what

do

we

read

about

in

verse

44

you've

got

a

whole

house

full

50

people

75

people

100

people

they're

there

in

the

presence

of

God

they're

hearing

the

gospel

of

God

and

it

says

in

verse

44

while

Peter

was

still

speaking

these

words

!

the

people

were

astonished

that

the

gift

of

the

Holy

Spirit

had

been

poured

out

even

on

Gentiles

for

they

had

heard

them

speaking

in

tongues

and

praising

God

you know

God

certainly

would not

have

poured

out

the

power

of

the

Holy

Spirit

unless

these

people

were

repenting

and

believing

he

certainly

would

not

have

poured

out

the

power

of

the

Holy

Spirit

unless

these

people

were

believing

in their

heart

that

God

raised

Jesus

from

the

dead

unless

they

were

declaring

with

their

mouth

that

Jesus

actually

is

Lord

and

Lord

of

all

and

the

presence

and the

power

of

the

Holy

Spirit

coming

down

it's

proof

it's

proof

that

in

that

moment

their

hearts

are

being

converted

their

hearts

are being

regenerated

that

above

by

the

Holy

Spirit

which

Jesus

said

has

to

happen

for

you

to

enter

into

the

kingdom

of

God

when

they

heard

the

gospel

that

Jesus

on

his

cross

he

took

your

curse

so

that

you

could

get

his

blessing

when

they

heard

that

glorious

message

that

Jesus

on

the

cross

was

baptized

into

the

absence

of

God

he

was

baptized

into

separation

from

God

my

God

my

God

why

have

forsaken

me

that

he

did

that

so

that

you

could

be

plunged

into

the

presence

of

God

so

that

you

could

have

the

fullness

of

the

power

of

God

so

that

you

could

be

immersed

in

the

grace

of

God

which

leads

to

the

peace

of

God

oh

all

these

Gentiles

from

all over

the

place

they

they

had

the

power

of

God

coming

down

into

their

life

their

hearts

were

flooded

by

the

power

Christianity

is not

something

that

you

decide

you're

going

to

take

up

it's

something

that

comes

down

and

takes

you

up

you

see

it's

a

power

it's

the

power

of

the

living

God

and

how

can

you

tell

when

someone's

been

filled

with

the

Holy

Spirit

well

verse

46

says

they

were

speaking

in

tongues

and

praising

God

and

some

of

you

are

like

oh

my

goodness

what's

he

about

to

do

well

Acts

Acts 10 · chapter mention

chapter

10

is

just

a

mini

Pentecost

it's

a

Gentile

Pentecost

like

Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter

2

Acts

Acts 10 · chapter mention

chapter

10

here

as

there

they're

speaking

in

intelligible

languages

and

known

languages

why

are

they

doing

that

so

that

more

and

more

people

can

hear

this

glorious

message

about

the

peace

of

God

that

comes

through

his

Messiah

who's

now

Lord

of

all

remember

Acts

Acts 2:11

chapter

2

verse

11

it

says

that

we

hear

them

on

the

day

of

Pentecost

we hear

them

declaring

in

our

own

tongues

in

our

own

languages

the

wonderful

works

of

God

and

what's

happening

there

is

happening

here

again

that

these

newborn

Christians

are

praising

God

they're

declaring

the

wonderful

works

of

God

they're

extolling

God's

mighty

works

of

salvation

the

birth

of

the

Gentile

church

the

birth

of

the

church

that

includes

non-Jews

like most

of us

here

it began

with

joyful

worship

and that's

how you

know you

have the

Holy

Spirit

that you're

excited

about

these

things

if you

do not

have

that

joy

and that

praise

you probably

don't have

the Holy

Spirit

and you're

not a

Christian

but if

you do

have it

if you

have the

Holy

Spirit

if the

presence

and the

power of

God

has come

down into

your life

there's

praise

there's

thanksgiving

there's

uninhibited

singing

there's

rejoicing

at what

God did

to come

and make

peace

a peace

that's gonna

go on

forever

and ever

and ever

amen

amen

so

so

friends

are you

praising

God

not

just

here

but

is

your

life

full

of

the

praise

of

God

it

seems

fitting

that

we

would

end

this

sermon

on

a

song

of

praise

!

so

I

want

to

invite

you

to

pull

out

your

liturgy

and

I've

asked

Rich

to

come

up

and

he's

going

to

teach

us

how to

sing

the

Nicene

Creed

Peter

covered a lot

of these

points

in his

little

message

there

to

Cornelius

and his

household

and

so

we

want

to

sing

them

we

want

to

be

as

excited

as

they

were

about

these

things

and

so

as

these

guys

come

to

lead

us

let's

stand

and

let's

praise

our

God

in

the

name

of

the

Father

Son

and

Holy

Spirit

Amen