Acts 10:34-43

Good morning, Church, open your Bibles to the book of Acts, chapter 10. We will continue working through Acts. The Proclamation of Jesus, the King, did not begin, nor did it end at his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Proclamation of King Jesus continues even today and until he comes again. Acts chapter 10, beginning in verse 34 through verses 43, Acts 10, 34 through 43, hear the word of the Lord. Then Peter opened his mouth and said, in truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation who ever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all. That word you know which was proclaimed throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him and we are witnesses of all these things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead and He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead, to Him all the prophets witness that through His name whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this good news. Lord, would you by your Holy Spirit indwelling your people, Lord, illuminate this word, lead us and guide us into your truth and may it transform us and conform us to the very image of Christ, our Lord, that we, your church, your people in the earth would be a glorious witness, that we would be indeed, as you called us, Lord Jesus, salt and light. Father, do this for the glory of your name. We pray. It's in Jesus' name. We pray. Amen. Amen. Peter proclaims Jesus as the king to all nations. Verses 34 and 35, then Peter opened his mouth and said in truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation who ever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The first words out of Peter's mouth in preaching and testifying to the gospel of Christ began with these words. Peter says in truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation who ever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. This word translated partiality comes from a Hebrew idiom that means to lift the face. And what Peter is saying here, what this text is telling us here is that God lifts his face to those who bow before Him. Peter is in the home of a Gentile preaching the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to a Gentile audience. He begins by affirming in truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality. Peter came to this truth by divine revelation. Peter could make that statement because God had supernaturally brought him to that revelation through a vision. Remember when he was praying up on the rooftop of Simon the Tanner's house. The vision of all kinds of animals being lowered down while Peter was commanded to kill and eat. He had also used a vision with Cornelius, this Gentile Centurion, to make irrefutable the fact that it was God who orchestrated all of this. God brought Peter and the others to the revelation that salvation in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is for every nation, not only the nation of the Jews. Peter declares in every nation who ever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. Those words echo the truth of Psalm 15 verses 1 and 2. Lord who may abide in your tabernacle, who may dwell in your holy hill. The answer he who walks up rightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart. In every nation, Peter declares, means exactly what Jesus proclaimed recorded for us in John 316, a verse we're all very familiar with, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The key here is found in two phrases, God so loved the world and whoever believes. When you read that scripture and you read the words, God so loved the world, think all nations, think not just Jews but Jews and Gentiles from every tribe, from every tongue, from every nation, whoever believes will be saved. So the idea that the Gentiles would be saved did not begin with Peter, it's not new, it's throughout the scripture as we'll see it in just a moment. The reference Jesus makes to the world in John 316 is restated by Peter when he makes reference to every nation. An Acts 1035, Peter proclaims in every nation who ever fears Him is accepted by Him. Whatever the word Gentile means, nation, the world that God so loved is the world filled with every nation, with every tongue, with every tribe. The world does not mean each and every human being, it does mean each and every kind of human being from every nation. How are the nations saved? They're saved the same way you and I are saved. According to scripture, they are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. God doesn't have one plan of salvation for the Jews and another plan of salvation for the rest of the nations. No, God has one plan of salvation. One way, one truth, one life, His name is Jesus. And that happens as the gospel is preached and disciples are made, baptized and taught to obey all that Jesus has commanded. According to Jesus, this work of believing in Him is the work of God. And John 629, Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent. This work of God is performed by the grace of God. This is not the work of man, less men should boast. You are saved by grace through faith. It's not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. And every nation who ever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. This is the grace of God extended to all men. Peter continues addressing those gathered, verses 36 through 38. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ. God sent His Word first to the children of Israel, but His Word was never meant to stop with the children of Israel. God sent His Word for the whole world. Jesus, the Word made flesh, came and died and lives again for the whole world. Peter understood this as he begins to deliver his gospel to those waiting to hear him. The message he would preach was one of peace, peace with God through Jesus Christ. A ceasing of hostilities, whether you realize it or not, before God saved you in Jesus Christ, you were God's enemy. It didn't matter whether you were actively hostile against God. This is how the Bible speaks. This is what the Bible tells us while we were yet God's enemies Christ died for us. So Peter understood this that the Word was made flesh, dwelt among us, lived again for the whole world. And he begins to deliver this gospel to those waiting to hear them. The Gentiles who were gathered waiting, that peace is available to any and to all who will call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5 verse 1, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, you are no longer God's enemy if you are now in Christ. Jesus Christ Himself is our peace. Paul writes those words in Ephesians chapter 2 when he says He Himself is our peace. Then he makes this declaration which is central to our text today. He is Lord of all. He is Lord of all. This is a triumphant parenthesis Peter inserts in his message. Not only is Jesus our peace, but he is Lord of all. When Jesus was crucified, Pilate had assigned placed on the cross proclaiming Jesus the king of the Jews. This is the king of the Jews, is what the sign said. And the Jews protested. They opposed Pilate putting the sign on the cross saying, he is not our king yet he was and he is. Denying Christ such a title, they opposed Pilate placing it there. But here Peter proclaims Christ as much more than merely king of the Jews. Peter proclaims that Jesus Christ is indeed Lord of all. Period. No qualification after. He is Lord of all. That proclamation is especially significant for the audience that Peter is preaching to. These Romans knew well that the cry throughout the empire was one declaring that Caesar is Lord. When people tell you that Christianity is not political, remind them that the statement Jesus is Lord was an absolutely blatantly political statement. And this is why so many Christians were murdered by the Roman Empire because the Christians refused to acknowledge Caesar as Lord because Caesar was considered a God. When you said Caesar is Lord, you were saying that Caesar was above Jesus, was above God. And the Christians out of good conscience and conviction would not say such a thing. Therefore many. Thousands of them. Thousands of thousands of them were murdered by the Roman Empire because of their refusal to simply say Caesar is Lord. Well what did they say? They said Jesus is Lord. He is Lord of all. And so these Romans hearing Peter declare this in no uncertain terms declaring that Jesus is Lord, not Caesar, understood the significance of what Peter was saying. Jesus is Lord of Lords. He is King of Kings. His name is above all names. There is no greater authority on earth or in heaven. Jesus Christ is Lord of all. That word you know, Peter tells these gathered Gentiles. The word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached, what had taken place just prior to and during the time of Jesus earthly ministry was not a secret. John the Baptist prepared the way for the ministry of Jesus who came with a message of repentance and the kingdom of God. Jesus fulfilled the words of the law and the prophets with everything culminating in his death, his burial and his resurrection and his ascension. Then after his ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, this word became known throughout all the region of Judea and beyond even to the far reaches of the empire wherever the Jews could be found. For as the Jews would come back to Jerusalem to keep the feast and Pentecost was one of those feast and so on the day of Pentecost, 70 nations were represented there, the same 70 nations that we see represented at Babel and Pentecost was a reversal of Babel, not dispersing the nations but bringing the nations together. And as those Jews went back to every nation from Pentecost knowing what had happened, knowing that the Holy Spirit fell, knowing and hearing the preaching of the gospel and the declaration that Jesus is the true Messiah, they took that word back. So when Peter says here that word you know, Peter understands that this word has traveled and it did travel throughout all Judea, even such that these Gentiles would have heard of the things that Jesus did. What had taken place was not done in secret. John the Baptist prepared the way for the ministry of Jesus. He came with the message of repentance and the kingdom of God, Jesus in fulfilling the words of the prophet did so openly. He spoke and he showed all. He didn't live and he didn't work in secret. He didn't come in secret. Wise men traveled from very far distances to worship the baby Jesus because God had made known through the appearance of a star. So Jesus didn't come in secret, he didn't live in secret, he didn't work in secret, he did not die in secret. Following his resurrection he appeared openly for 40 days and one of the earliest creeds of the church which is recorded for us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 3 through 7, a creed that even predates Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Paul quotes this creed in his letter to the Corinthians. It makes known that Jesus appeared to more than 500 witnesses at once. So we know that Jesus was a public spectacle for he is the light of the world and he did not keep his light concealed. He let it shine for all to see, to spelling the darkness just as we are to. For Jesus calls us the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Therefore we are to live as such in this world. For a centurion like Cornelius would have been his duty to be aware of all the gluings on that he would have heard the message of God's Word and of Jesus Christ as Peter indicates in this verse. That word you know which was proclaimed throughout all Judea. Cornelius and his household may have had knowledge of that word generally but God was getting ready to give each of them a revelation by the Spirit that would change them personally and eternally. In verse 38 Peter makes reference to the words of the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 61 verses 1 through 3, these are the same words spoken by Jesus that is recorded for us in Luke's gospel, Luke chapter 4 verse 18, when Jesus had returned from the wilderness in the power of the Spirit and he spoke in the synagogues. And it was in the synagogue of his hometown in Nazareth where Jesus quotes the words of Isaiah proclaiming that today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. The words of Isaiah are what Jesus proclaimed concerning himself. It is what Peter makes reference to here in verse 38. In Luke chapter 4 verse 18, Jesus said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed. The words of Peter in verse 38 are these, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil for God was with him. Peter recounts this in his own words when he proclaims those words to those assembled Gentiles, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, healing all who were oppressed by the devil. This is the words of the prophet and the words of Christ continuing to be fulfilled. This is the word that became known far and wide. Then in verse 39, Luke writes, and we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Remember he's talking to a Gentile audience, to a Roman centurion. Peter is not softening the message of Christ crucifixion, but it's interesting that Peter words it the way he does. We are witnesses. Peter says, first off, Peter was along with the rest of the apostles, eyewitnesses, to all things which Jesus did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. Peter and the others walked with Jesus and was with him throughout the span of his ministry, witnessing all things which he did. We are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. Those things which Jesus did were known throughout the land. To the Jew and to the Gentile alike, especially the most notable healings in raising the dead, those miracles done on behalf of Gentiles may have been known to Cornelius. Scripture does not tell us specifically, but it could be that Cornelius, who was himself a centurion, came to hear of Jesus healing the servant of the centurion in cavernum. Peter was certainly a witness to that and would have recalled that memory as he is proclaiming to this centurion the things that Jesus did. We see that all along throughout the ministry of Jesus, throughout the life of Jesus, throughout the life of Peter, throughout the life of Cornelius, all along God was preparing Peter and he was preparing Cornelius this centurion for this very moment to hear the good news. Peter continues and he says, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. And he commanded us, he commanded us, I'm sorry, and we are all witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Peter does not leave out the crucial detail of the crucifixion of Christ nor the ultimate responsibility of the Jews who killed him. Jesus died for your sin and my sin. So in a sense, our sin nailed Jesus to the cross. Yet Peter here says whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Peter places the ultimate responsibility with the Jews who killed him. There is no gospel if there is no crucifixion. There is not a complete presentation of the gospel without the preaching of the cross. They killed Jesus by hanging him on a tree. Thus he became a curse for us. As Paul writes in Galatians 313, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us. For it is written cursed as everyone who hangs on a tree. It was not by accident that they crucified Jesus. It wasn't by accident that the Romans perfected the style of execution through crucifixion. That was all prepared for the very moment that Jesus would die upon that cross and become a curse for us. Yes, for you and for me. It may have been the Jews that killed him by hanging him on the cross, but it was the sins of humanity that ultimately placed Jesus there. Thus Paul writes, he became a curse for us. Our salvation is bound up in the cross of Christ. Dedric Bonhoeffer in his classic book The Cost of Discipleship wrote, when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. Bonhoeffer did not mean a literal death, though there have been many Christians throughout history and still today who die literal deaths. They lay their lives down literally for Jesus Christ. But rather here, Bonhoeffer is speaking of a death to self just as the Bible is speaking of a death to self. When Jesus said, if any desired to follow me, let him take up his cross and die daily. Paul said, I die daily, meaning I die to myself daily. And to die to self is to live to God. The Apostle Paul expresses it like this in Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. They killed Jesus by hanging him on a cross, on a tree, yet through his death on the cross, the power of his resurrection through that Jesus conquered sin and death. Verse 40, him God raised up on the third day and showed him openly through his victory in the cross, meaning his victory through his death, through his burial, through his resurrection and through his ascension. Jesus made it possible for us to be crucified with him. So and so be raised in the power of his resurrection by grace through faith because of the finished work of the cross, we may become partakers of his divine life in nature. Jesus whom they killed by hanging on a tree, God raised up on the third day and showed him openly in this statement Peter confirms that God was not working in secret. Jesus was crucified and God raised him up on the third day as the scripture foretold and God showed him openly. Verse 41, not to all the people did God show him, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. Peter spoke those words, letting these Gentiles know that God showed him openly, not to all people, but to witnesses chosen before by God. God showed Jesus openly to all the people God had chosen before to be witnesses. As we have already discussed after his resurrection, Jesus was not kept in secret for a small number but was shown openly to large crowds and many others over the course of 40 days prior to his ascension. What Peter is making known to these Gentiles gathered that day was the fact that they were all chosen before by God. In other words, they were not there by accident. And neither are you hearing these words today by accident. They were chosen before by God to hear the very words that Peter was speaking. They were not hearing Peter speak by accident nor did any of them become a God-fearer by accident. Just as you are not here today and you are not hearing today, the word of God preached by accident. If you are trusting Jesus today, you did not become a Christian by accident or by any work of your own. It is by the grace of God and it is by His grace alone that we are saved. Then Peter says, even to us, God showed Him openly, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. Peter then personalizes the narrative stating that God showed Jesus even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. Two things are important here. First, Peter is affirming again that he was, along with the other apostles, eyewitnesses to the resurrected Lord. Second, they did not only see the resurrected Lord with their eyes, but they ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. This is significant because a disembodied spirit does not eat and drink. There were many, especially those who are of Greek thought, which these Gentiles would have been, who did not put any value in the material world. Their value was in knowledge. They were called nostics. Nosticism was a real thing then, just as it is today, it just goes under a different name. But Peter is making certain that these Gentiles knew that Jesus rose from the dead bodily. Thus He will rule and reign again on this earth in a body, bodily, physically. The power of the resurrection is the power to raise up Christ in a glorified body. Therefore, it is the power to raise up all those who belong to Christ. In other words, our salvation is one that is a salvation of spirit, soul, and body. This is why the Bible talks about our salvation in terms of a past, present, and future tense. You were saved spiritually and your salvation is complete spiritually. You are being saved in your soul, your soul, which is the seed of your mind, will, and emotions. Your mind is being renewed even right now as you hear the Word of God. God is saving your soul, renewing you, conforming your mind, your will, your emotions to his will, to his way, to his very nature and character. And one day, because you have been saved, past tense, and are being saved, and God has promised He will complete the work He began in you in Jesus Christ, even until the day of Jesus Christ. He will complete that work He began in you. You will one day be saved bodily when your mortal body puts on immortality when your corrupt body puts on incorruption. You may be long in the ground, more than likely you will be. Long in the ground turns the dust, but God will take that body that was sown into the earth, and He will raise it up a glorified body. How do we know that will happen because that's what He did with Jesus? And that's the promise He makes to each and every one of us. The power of the resurrection is the power to raise us up. And this is what we celebrate each and every Sunday when we worship and commune with our God in celebration of Jesus Christ, our resurrected Lord. It is especially what we emphasize during this season as we approach the celebration of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. Verse 42, and He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify. Peter obeys his Lord preaching to the people and testifying that it is Jesus who has, who God has ordained to be judge in Lord of all. The us Peter references here includes you and me. Remember the Bible wasn't written to you, the letters we read, the accounts we read, they're not written to you, but they were absolutely written for you. And the us here is for us. The Lord Jesus also commands us to preach to the people and testify. The Lord has commanded all of us to preach and testify to the people through our faith lived out. The message we preach, the message we give testimony to is Jesus. The only Savior and the only Lord. That it is He who was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. Peter is preaching and testifying that Jesus was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. That title of judge carries with it the title of King. A king was a judge. A king held ultimate judgment. And remember, Peter is preaching in the home of this Gentile with his friends and family gathered, Gentiles gathered there. And what is ultimately Peter preaching to them that Jesus is the king. Jesus is the king of kings and He is the Savior and Lord of all. Christ will judge not only those who are physically living, but ultimately those who are made spiritually alive by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And the dead that Christ is judging over is not only those who have died physically, but ultimately all of those who died in Adam and remain in a state of spiritual death and separation from God through their rejection, their continued rejection of Jesus Christ. It is Christ who God ordained to be judge of the living and the dead in every sense of the word. And as the Scripture teaches us in Hebrews 927, it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, it is Jesus Christ who will rule as judge in that day. He is judge of the living and the dead for truly He is the king and He is Lord of all. Verse 43, To him all the prophets witness that through his name whoever believes in him will receive the remission of sins. That is important for us to know. Whoever believes in him shall receive the remission of sins. Christ is both judge and Lord and He is Savior. In verse 43, Peter gives reassurance through the gospel. The message of salvation is for all even Gentiles. Though Peter presents Christ as the judge of both the living and the dead, he does not present Christ as having come to condemn the world. Rather Jesus himself said he came to save the world. There was no need for Christ to come to condemn the world for he came to a world that was already under condemnation. John 318, Because of Adam's sin in the beginning all of those in Adam are under the condemnation of sin and if you are a human being born on this earth then you are in Adam. And it fell on all men in the beginning that condemnation because of sin. And the remedy for sin is the same for both Jew and Gentile. The remedy for sin is Jesus Christ. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, 22, For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all show me be alive. How did you come to be in Adam? Well you came to be in Adam when you were born from your mother's womb. How do you come to be in Christ? Well you come to be in Christ when you are born again of the Spirit. You were born into Adam in your first birth even so according to Jesus you must be born again of the Spirit in a new birth to enter the kingdom of God. John chapter 3 verses 3 and 5, Unless one is born again of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Jesus tells Nicodemus. For God did not sin his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. John 3 17, The judge is also the justifyer and he is both Lord and Savior of the world. To him all the prophets witness that through his name whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins. Peter rightly says that all the prophets witness from Genesis 12 3 where the promises made that through Abraham all the families of the earth shall be blessed meaning all the nations of the earth to Psalm 2 verse 8 where the psalmist writes, God declaring ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. This is the Lord Jesus petitioning his father that he would be given all the nations. Isaiah 49 6 I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Isaiah 60 verse 3 the Gentiles shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. That light that brightness is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Savior and the Lord of all both Jew and Gentile. And through the witness of the prophets and all of Scripture salvation was always God's plan for all the nations, for God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son. That through his name whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins. Whoever believes means exactly what it says, whoever, it means anyone and everyone who believes. To believe in Jesus Christ is to receive remission of sins. To have your sins forgiven by God is to be saved. Therefore we can say whoever believes in him will be saved. God raised up Jesus so that whoever calls upon his name would be saved. This is God's promise. At the Jerusalem Council found in Acts 15 Peter testified as to how God moved among the Gentiles. When James rose up and quoted the prophet Amos concerning the salvation of the Gentiles, saying on that day quoting from Amos 9, 11 and 12, on that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David which was fallen down and repair its damages. I will raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old that they may possess the remnant of Adam and all the Gentiles. All the nations who are called by my name says the Lord who does this thing. James affirms the words of Peter that the words of the prophets agree that God will take out of the Gentiles of people for his name. The restoration of all things that God was bringing about included the salvation of those of all those called by his name from every tribe and tongue and nation. This is true. God will take out from every nation of this world all who are called by his name, elect and chosen in God. And each and every one of them who calls upon the name of the Lord who believes in him shall be saved. All of those God chosen him before the foundation of the world, all those chosen by grace according to the good pleasure of his will receive the remission of sins and salvation under life eternal in the Son of God. It makes no difference who you are, whoever you are, if you trust in Jesus Christ, you will be saved. Therefore I implore you trust in Christ and be saved from this perverse and crooked generation. If you are trusting in Christ, then go out and implore those around you who are lost and without Christ in this world to trust him also. Go therefore preaching and testify and making disciples in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Here is your charge, church. Today is Palm Sunday. The day your king triumphantly entered into Jerusalem the week before his crucifixion and resurrection. As it was after his birth, so it was at his triumphal entry that certain Greeks or certain Gentiles who had come up to worship at the feast sought to have an audience with Jesus. We find this in John 12 verses 20 through 26. But John does not record that Jesus met with these Gentiles. Instead Jesus said it was not time. He was saving that task first for Peter as we are reading through Acts 10 and then ultimately the Apostle Paul who became the Apostle to the Gentiles. But Jesus did indirectly address these Gentiles and acknowledged their desire for him and he did so in a veiled way. His answers found in John 12, 23 through 26. When Jesus said the hour had come for the Son of Man to be glorified, this would involve Jesus dying so that his life could fall to the ground and be multiplied. For those willing to lay down their life, Jesus promises that if anyone serves and follows him due or Gentile, that one, that one will be with Jesus and his Father in heaven will honor that one. Peter conveys the promise saying whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins. Unless anyone who trusts anyone who follows anyone who serves will receive honor. That promise is to anyone whether Jew or Gentile, Christ made a way where no way existed before. That new and living way was made for anyone who ever would believe. It was made for you by the blood of Jesus Christ at the cross. You are charged to lay down your life so that God can affect multiplication. He bids you come and die. You are charged to walk in his new and living way. You are charged to give witness to his life through your own. You are charged to preach to people and to testify that God ordained Christ to be judge of the living and the dead for he is king and he is Lord of all. Therefore you are to testify to the good news of his salvation for anyone who believes in him and by grace find a place of honor with Christ and with his Father and may you do it with great joy to the glory of your God. Amen. Let us sing our thanks to God. Praise God, love, who long has sing slow. Praise him of creatures here below. Praise him of the weak heavenly homes. Praise Father, son and holy homes. Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and give you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. The Lord be with you.

Acts 10 · chapter mention Acts 10 · chapter mention Psalms 15:1 Romans 5:1 Ephesians 2 · chapter mention 1 Corinthians 15:3–7 Isaiah 61:1–3 Luke 4:18 Luke 4:18 John 3:3 Psalms 2:8 Isaiah 60:3 John 12:20–26