Ready. Aim. Fire.

Thank you for listening to the Riverbend Church Podcast.

Riverbend Church exists to lead all people to know, love, and

live new life in Jesus Christ. We hope that you enjoy this

message. People said Amen, Amen.

We're having church, Church, you sit down.

My name is Preston. I'm one of the pastors here.

I'm super excited that you are here with us this morning.

As we worship a risen Savior together this morning, we're

continuing in our series On an Unfamiliar Road.

And listen, if you're in Oakwood this with us this morning, or if

you're online, we're super excited that you are here.

And we pray that the Holy Spirit has shown up through your

worship service and also just where you are as the message is

about to be brought. So listen well again, we're an

unfamiliar Rd. We're diving into the life of a

man named Peter. And he was on an unfamiliar Rd.

We're going to be in the Acts Chapter 10, So if you want to

Acts 10 · chapter mention

turn there and your Bibles, that's where we're going to be.

But I do see a lot of new faces this morning.

I do see a lot of new faces. And as I see your faces, I want

to bring us up to speed on where we're at in the story from Acts

Acts 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10, verse one, all the way to verse 33.

And so we're going to be picking up in 34.

But from 1 to 33, there was a man named Cornelius.

He was a Roman army officer. And this man loved God, and he

gave to God. He prayed to God, and God heard

his prayers, saw and accepted his giving.

And the Lord came to him by an Angel.

And this is what happened, he said, Hey, Cornelius, go and

send for a man named Peter. And so Cornelius did.

Just that he sends some of his men for a man named Peter, and

as he does this, Peter is going up to a rooftop of where he is

staying and Peter's going to pray on his way up there.

Peter is hungry. And if if anybody has a Mama or

a grandmama or maybe even a father that cooks really, really

well and you smell that food downstairs, it's just like.

Oh, I'm getting excited. It just makes you more hungry.

Like this was Peter. They were cooking downstairs,

Peter's hungry. And then the Lord appears to him

in a vision and the vision goes like this.

The skies open up. Peter sees what seems like a

sheet, comes down with all types of animals, birds, reptiles on

it. And then this conversation goes

on between God and Peter, and God says this, get up Peter.

Kill and eat them. And Peter says this.

No, Lord. Like Peter said no to God.

He said yeah, no, Lord, I have never eaten anything that of our

Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.

God says this. Do not call something unclean if

God has made it clean. So this vision happened three

different times. The vision happened three

different times. And on the third time, at the

end of it, the sheet goes back up into the sky, the sky close

up. And Peter's just like what just

happened. Like, what are you trying to

tell me? God.

And immediately at that moment, guess who shows up?

The men that Cornelius sent, they're at his front door.

They're asking for a man named Peter.

Peter's on the rooftop. And guess what happens?

The Holy Spirit comes to Peter and says, Peter, there's men at

the door downstairs waiting for you.

Get up and go. So Peter goes with him.

The next day they head back to the House of Cornelius, where

Cornelius has gathered his friends, his family, and they

get there. Cornelius and Peter swap

visions. They like this.

And God told me this, God told me this.

And then this is where we're going to pick up in our story

today. I want to read Verse 33 is where

we left off last week. Cornelius says this to Peter.

So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come.

Now we're all here, waiting before God to hear the message.

The Lord. Has given you.

And so let's just let's reminisce a minute for what was

said last week in the separation between Jews and Gentiles.

Peter, a Jew, was about to step into the House of a Gentile.

This was not okay in the Jewish law.

It was unacceptable. Gentiles were known as

outsiders, unclean, not good enough to talk to the Jews.

So this would be like me, a N Hall High School graduate.

Sorry, a N Hall High School graduate.

They played sports doing and having anything to do with

Gainesville. And if you don't understand what

I'm talking about, I do help out with the football team and they

are here this morning. So with Gainesville High School

football team complete, opposites, but it would be that

that a N Hall person would be with a Gainesville affiliate.

So. That's what we're picking up

today in verse 34, if you would. Let's read God's word as Peter

is standing in the midst of Gentiles about to deliver the

first gospel message. Then Peter replied.

I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism in every

nation. He accepts those who fear him

and do what is right. This is the message of good news

for the people of Israel. That there is peace with God

through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in

Galilee after John began preaching his message of

baptism. And you know that God anointed

Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.

Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were

oppressed by the devil, for God was with him, and we apostles

are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in

Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging

him on a cross, but God raised him to life on the third day.

Then God allowed him to to appear not to the general

public, but to us, whom God had chosen in advance to be his

witnesses. We were those who ate and drank

with him after he rose from the dead, and he offered us or

ordered us, to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the

one appointed by God to be the judge of all the living.

And the dead? He is the one all the prophets

testified about, saying everyone who believes in him will have

their sins forgiven through his name.

Let's pray. Church Jesus, we love you.

This morning we come to you. We pray that your spirit will

continue and sustain us. May you speak to us through your

word, We love you, Jesus. In your name we pray.

Amen. So do we have any hunters in the

room? Show of hands.

Any hunters, people that like hunting, maybe outdoors?

All right, listen, I see your hands.

I see who you are. I need your help because we're

going to be talking about a few things that some people, maybe

your neighbor, just might not understand completely.

And so I'm giving you permission to do this during the service,

as I'm talking, nudge them, be like, hey, I noticed you got

this look on your face. Like you have no clue what he's

talking about. And so this is what I'm going to

do. I'm going to take you out to

lunch and listen. I'm going to talk to you about

it. I'm going to explain it to you.

I'm going to give you all the ins and outs and the details and

listen, women or people that just don't like hunting, I'm

going to go ahead and throw this out here.

I'm sorry. I just gave the men and hunters

in the room an opportunity to talk about hunting at lunch.

And so I want to just go ahead and put this out here.

I'm sorry. That's my fault.

But hunting is coming up. And how many weeks away?

Yeah, there we go. Look, they know.

They know, like hunting's coming up in four weeks, so.

Anyways, you understand this, right?

You you get it. So listen, I want to tell you

story. Monday night at my house, I was,

I was getting in bed. This is pretty funny.

I was getting in bed and my wife and I were getting in bed.

And as we were getting in bed, we get a phone call.

And this phone calls from our neighbors, It's my wife's great

aunt. She says, hey, you, have you

looked outside behind your house in the back pasture?

And we were like, no, She says, well, there's a buck out there.

I'm like, all right. And So what happens if you're a

hunter in the room, You know you drop everything like babies

crying. You just dropping let's go.

Like it don't matter what it you dropping stuff and we going.

And So what we did, my wife and I sorry baby.

We dropped our Oreos and milk. And some of you may know the

story. We like Oreos and milk and we

dropped them and we went outside.

We start looking. We don't see no deer.

Well, I start walking out in the yard.

I'm about 30-40 yards away from the house only to recognize I'm

only in my underwear. And I know that my neighbor's

still looking outside at these deer.

I'm like, Oh my gosh. So my wife says she sees them

back on the porch. I never had to leave the porch.

So I go back up to the porch and we're looking through binoculars

and next thing we see is this big deer.

It's a massive body. I mean, you know what I'm

talking about, like hunters in the room.

You know, I'm talking about the heads down.

You can't see the head yet. And here's wait, right.

And next thing I know the head pops up.

And listen, I'm not like some of those people that I caught a

fish this big. Now, the massive 10 point buck

that just popped up in my binoculars, took my breath, and

I was like, oh, my gosh, this is like 75 to 100 yards away from

my house. I'm stoked.

I'm excited. Hunting season is right around

the corner. God, please just let this deer

come back. Please let this deer come back.

This one deer. Well, there's eight more deer.

And so to make this worse slash better five more of the 8:00.

Put their head up and they are just as big, if not bigger than

the 10 point that I just saw. This is no joke.

I was flabbergasted and that's to say the anybody ever seen

tallying? And I I was Ricky Bobby.

I don't know what to do with my hands.

Like I have no clue what to do with my hands right now.

Oh my gosh, I said. Cassie, call your dad.

Since her dad lives right up the road.

And so I said call your dad. I don't know what to do.

I can't do anything. I know it's not hunting season,

but I'm like, this girl, she's just going to eat my bow, making

it quiet and just doing it like I don't know what to do.

Listen, if you're a hunter in the room, you get what I'm

talking about. Like you understand it.

There's a lot of prep that goes into hunting.

There's a lot of getting ready that goes into hunting.

For what? That one moment.

The one moment. The one moment that comes and

you are then equipped and ready because you've you've plowed the

fields or or you've planted the food plot.

You've put your stand in just the right spot.

You've tracked acres upon acres upon acres, finding out where

these deer go. And you're equipped and ready to

aim and fire at the target. Peter here was equipped and

ready to aim and fire the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To the target of the Gentiles for the first time ever.

And listen this, this Peter being ready wasn't of himself.

No, Peter wasn't ready because of anything he did.

However, it was what the Holy Spirit was doing within him that

was readying Peter for the mission.

As we talked about a few weeks ago, the assignment that he was

given. David Platt puts it this way.

I love how he states this, he said.

God, starting with Peter, begins to bring about a conversion.

From deep seated prejudice to divinely ordained openness, deep

seated prejudice to divinely ordained openness, we get what

was going on here. Like Jews, Gentiles.

Not okay. Definitely wasn't okay for a

clean as in the Jewish law man to step into a dirty Gentiles

home. But that is what just happened.

God all along wanted the apostles to understand that the

gospel wasn't just for the Jews, rather it was for the Gentiles.

Jesus last words here on earth. We're going to look at Matthew

28. We know this passage so well.

It was His last words. Therefore go and make disciples

of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Listen.

The nation's in Old Testament teachings.

Guess what that was? The Gentiles.

Jesus was telling them all along.

The gospel is for everyone. The gospel is for everyone.

The sinners. That's who the Gospel's for.

For you. That's who the gospel is for.

Not only that Acts chapter one, verse eight.

We see Jesus say this, but you will receive power when the Holy

Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses

telling people about me. Where?

Everywhere. In Jerusalem, throughout Judea,

in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, Church.

The gospel is not just for me and you, the Gospels for

everyone. The gospel is for everyone.

The Jewish law continually put up walls, put up barriers to

prevent the gospel from getting to the gentiles.

But guess what? Through the blood of Jesus, he

tore them down. Today there are walls that are

put up all in our lives every day, from racism to political

issues to anything you can think of from genders.

The there are walls and bears being put up daily in our lives.

And guess what? Jesus died once and for all to

tear them down. That's what he did for us.

So the gospel church isn't just for me and you, it's for

everyone. Jesus died once and for all,

breaking down barriers and tearing down the walls of

hostility towards one another. Listen, every single barrier

that ever was and that ever will be was torn down by the blood of

Jesus. The Gospels for all, because

Jesus died for all. Ephesians 216.

Paul writes this together as one body.

One body Christ reconciled both groups, Jews and Gentiles,

blacks and whites, straight people and gay people is getting

real. He tore down the walls for you

and for me, because the gospel isn't just for the straight

people. The gospel isn't just for the

black person or the white person in the house this morning.

Asian I don't care what you are. The gospel is not just for you.

The gospel is for everyone, and Peter here recognized that.

Listen, the gospel we know is for everyone.

And if the gospel is for everyone that we understand that

the gospel, the love of God that was displayed on the cross

through the person of Jesus Christ.

If you've experienced and accepted that love, guess what?

You now do the same thing he did and you take that love to

everyone because Jesus died for all.

Once Peter accepted the fact about the gospel, what did he

do? He was ready and the crossover

that that threshold of the gentile door into Cornelius's

home. And he was ready.

And equipped to aim and fire the gospel for the first time to the

Gentiles. And we see the stark

transformation of the heart of Peter that took place in verses

34 through 36. And it says this.

Then Peter replied, I see very clearly that God shows what no

favoritism in every nation. He accepts those who fear him

and do what is right. This is the message of good news

for the people of Israel there, that there is peace with God

through Jesus Christ who is Lord.

Of all this is the first thing I want to give you this morning

Church God calls us to be one through his Son Jesus.

God calls us to be one through his Son.

Jesus, Jew Gentile made them one family under the blood of Jesus.

David Platt also put it this way.

When he preached this message, he said the gospel is good.

You know it's good. We know it's good.

It's a divine message, but it requires a human messenger.

We are God's instrument to do this.

Our responsibility is urgent. His power is available to us

when we speak this word. He will bless it.

He will bless it to heal people or lead people to Christ.

His power is available to His people and his plan is aimed at

all peoples. My question to us this morning

is, where are we aiming the gospel of Jesus?

Where are we aiming the good news.

The good news isn't just for you and I.

As I stated earlier, the good news isn't just our safety net

from hell. No, our good news is the weapon

that we fight with. Against the walls and barriers

that have already been torn down and people are continually

trying to put them up. That's what we fight with.

That's what we go out and spread church.

The good news isn't for just you and your small group.

The good news isn't just for you and your team.

The good news isn't just for me and my family.

The good news isn't just for Riverman Church people that this

seem like us. The good news isn't just for us.

No, the good news is for all and Jesus came because he was the

good news to and for us. And so we should do the same

with the gospel and the love of Jesus that is in our hearts Go

to and for people. G Peter did this with three

pieces of the gospel and three movements of the gospel and I

want to look through those this morning as we're getting ready

to close the 1st. Is this the life and the

ministry? Of Jesus.

If you have your Bibles, you can follow along with me this

morning. Then Peter up.

And you know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in

Galilee, after John began preaching his message of

baptism. And you know that God anointed

Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.

Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were

oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

For God was with him. Listen, I'm going to, I'm going

to give you keys to to presenting the gospel this

morning. If you never have or maybe don't

understand. First it's the life and ministry

of Jesus. You tell them what Jesus did,

how he came and lived a sinless life for us all peoples, all

peoples. Not just you and me, but he died

for all. You start there.

Then you go to #2, the act of crucifixion and resurrection.

Peter puts it like this, and we apostles are witnesses of all he

did through Judea, and in Jerusalem.

They put him to death by hanging him on a cross.

Jesus died, but God raised him to life on the third day, when

God allowed him to appear not to the general public, but to us,

whom he had chosen in advance to be his witnesses.

We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the

dead. So he did not only just die for

our sins so that we could be forgiven, He didn't just do

that. He was putting it to him for

three days, and then after those three days, he rose.

That resurrection gives you hope and a future from now on because

of the love of Jesus that you have in your heart.

That resurrection gives you eternal life, because Christ

defeated death, hell, and the grave for you and for me and for

every single person that's outside of these walls until the

ends of the earth. So you tell him about what he

did, the sinless life that he lived, that I couldn't live,

that you cannot live. And then he died on a cross so

that you might have life in him and through what he did that

your sins would be washed away. Romans A1 says there's now no

condemnation for those that belong in Christ Jesus.

Listen, if you belong in Christ Jesus, let me tell you something

this morning. You are not condemned by your

sin. Rather, you can live to Christ

Jesus that died for you. And then he rose, giving us

eternal life and a hope in a future with him in heaven.

One day the best is yet to come, #3 The promise of salvation is

for everyone who believes. Verse 42 And he ordered us to

preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed

by God to be the judge of all the living and the dead.

He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that

everyone, everyone chew Gentile. Everyone who believes in him

will have their sins forgiven through his name.

Your Romans, if you confess with your mouth to Jesus Lord, and

believe in your heart that God raise Jesus from the dead, you

will be saved. This morning, This morning.

My prayer is that for you? Because I want you to understand

this. The last thing in In just a

moment I'm going to leave you. This is this.

It's only by the good news of Jesus.

There is one way, one way. It doesn't matter how good you

are. It doesn't matter how much of

the Bible you know. Those are all good things.

But true life is only found in the good news of Jesus that

someone knows God's love. It's only through that, you

know, being a hunter, typically something we like is is guns,

right? We enjoy them.

And for me particularly, I kind of like old guns.

I think they're really cool and fascinating, particularly like

war guns. My dad had had one, it was

really cool. One of them was called a musket.

And so just explain a musket and how it works.

Works a little different than than other guns and and

all-encompassing is the same but it works a little different.

In the setup process starts like this.

You get some powder, black powder, you get some firing

powder, make it easier to understand.

You put it down the barrel and you tamp it down.

Then you take a projectile, the bullet per se, and you put it in

there and you tamp it down. And then after that you pull

back this metal piece called a Flint.

You pull it back and when that is pulled back your gun is

primed and ready to aim and fire.

But what happens to fire something that can be shot out

and can kill? This projectile is made to move

when that Flint drops and hits what's called the prison.

And you know what that is? It creates a small spark.

A very small spark that's not even big enough to kill a fly.

A spark. Listen, Cornelius, His family,

his friends that were sitting in the house listening to Peter,

they were primed, that is, of a musket and ready to hear the

gospel of Jesus. But guess what?

It took a spark. A spark.

And Peter was the carrier to the spark that they needed church.

If you are a follower currently in Jesus Christ, you contain the

spark that this world needs. You do.

Where are you aimed with the gospel?

Because the gospel's for all people, everyone.

The person that's not like you in your office, that you've been

staying away from because you don't really like them that

much. The person on your team that you

kind of stray away from because they're not like you.

You don't really like them that much.

That neighbor that just gets on your nerves.

I know we all have them. You just stray away from them.

You contain the spark. You contain the spark that can

start a fire in their life. They can transform their life

from dead to life. The Gospels for all, where we

aimed with the good news of Jesus Christ.

The last thing this morning is you are the carrier to the spark

that they need. You are the carrier to the spark

Do they need Oakwood? This morning I'm going to turn

it over to Pastor Greg. We love you.

Thank you for spending time with us this morning.

Church, maybe this morning. You're like, I know I'm the

spark carry. I know I have Jesus's love

within my heart. But maybe I just now recognized

that the gospel isn't just for me.

In my family, in my household, in this church, the Gospels for

everyone. And there's that person that I'm

thinking of right now. In my mind, I'm thinking of

them, and I know it is my job to go to tell them the gospel of

Jesus. Listen, I just told you how to

present the gospel quite clearly.

Simply put, he came and lived on this earth, a sinless life that

we couldn't live. Standing in the gap for you and

I, He died and his blood that was shed on the cross covered

our sins so that we may be found right with God.

And because he did that, we can have a life in Him, and not just

life in Him. We can have eternal life in Him

because of His resurrection and our hope that He's coming back

for us someday. And that's our hope.

And they have to place their faith in Jesus.

Call upon the name of the Lord and you'll be saved.

The easiest way, we may think. Sometimes that's just too

difficult. Pressing like that's so hard.

I want to tell you the easiest way to proclaim the Gospels with

your life, your actions, your words.

Tell them your story and tell them how Jesus has transformed

your heart, just as he did Peter's heart.

Tell him, she says. We'll be known by how we love

one another. We'll be known that we are

believers, followers of Jesus, by how we love one another.

So maybe this morning, that's you.

You need to go out with the spark that you have.

Maybe there's somebody in the room.

Maybe there's somebody in the room online with us this morning

that the spark just went off in your life.

You understood the gospel. You understand that he died for

your sin so that you might have life in him.

You understood that, and the spark just happened in your

life. Listen, you don't have to come

down to an altar and say a prayer, because if we go on a

few verses later, going into verses 44 through 48, guess what

happened? The Holy Spirit fell on the

people before Peter even got done with the message.

The Holy Spirit fell, and they received the power of the Holy

Spirit in their life. Maybe that was you this morning.

The spark happened and it lit. It lit in your life.

I want you to do this this morning as we're about to get up

and sing about the same God that was with Peter and with Paul and

the He's the same God that lives with us today.

I want you to turn to somebody and I want you to tell them in

just a minute. I want to say I just had the

spark. I had the spark.

The spark happened in my life and I'm forever changed.

I don't understand it all. And you don't have to.

All you have to understand is you're a Sinner and you need for

a savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ.

So this morning, as we're about to stand together and we're

going to sing He is the same God, I want you to tell

somebody, maybe you need to move forward this morning.

This place, right here, these few steps, this front is a place

where we come and we fall on our knees before a holy God.

They say, God, I'm giving it to you.

I'm going to follow you in this way.

I'm going to carry the spark out into the outermost parts of the

world. Maybe some of you are being

called to that. I'm going to carry the spark to

my neighbor, to my friend that I don't want to tell about Jesus

because I'm afraid, listen, he will never leave you.

He'll never forsake you. God is stirring up a work in our

heart church in his time for us to take the gospel because

everybody is in need of it. So this morning, I want you to

respond how you see fit and if you had the spark, tell

somebody. I'll see what.

I want you to fill it out on that connect card you received

on your way in. Because I want to reach out to

you. Our pastors on staff want to

reach out to you, and we want to love you and walk with you in

the next steps of your life. So as I pray you stand, you

move. Let's worship Jesus in that way

this morning. We love you, Jesus.

This morning, Father, we know that you are the spark that this

world needs to light it up. And Father, you used 12

disciples to do it. And God, now you're giving it to

us. The same spark that was there

within, the same spark is with us today.

And so we're going to take it out, get to the walls.

We're going to take it outside of the walls.

We're going to take it to the outermost parts of the world.

And we're going to tell people of your love, We love you,

Jesus. It's in your name.

We pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to the Riverbend Church Podcast.

Learn more about who we are as a church and how to connect.

You can head over to our website Riverbend Church dot Life.