Desiring the BEST for Your WORST Enemy | Ayren Nelson

I told Dwayne if he didn't put my table in the right spot,

it's okay 'cause I can move it, move it if I need to.

uh, I was 16 years old and I was at home and I was up late one night

watching professional wrestling. Uh, and uh,

the reason why I had tuned in was because John Cena was defending his

WWE e championship in a triple threat cage match. Okay?

What I got was way more than what I bargained for. Uh,

that night as the broadcast was going off the air, it was May 2nd,

and we had just gone a little bit past midnight. And as the match ends,

John Cena standing in the, in the ring,

he has the belt over his head and you can see the referee walk over to him and

whisper something in his ear.

And so he grabs a microphone and he stands up on top of the announcement booth

shirtless jorts the whole deal. And he says,

ladies and gentlemen,

the president has just announced that we have caught and compromised

to a permanent end Osama Bin Laden.

And the place went insane. As you can imagine, in early two thousands,

wrestling crowd would, right? I mean there were people high fiving each other.

Uh, people were in tears, there was laughter.

There was one shot of a guy who literally took his kid and threw him in the air

and caught him. Like people had lost their minds.

And as the broadcast went off of the air,

it ended in one of the most patriotic scenes I can remember in my lifetime.

It was people shouting you, SA you

S-A-U-S-A and then the scream phase to black. And for the rest of the week,

everywhere you went and everyone that you talked to started their conversations

the exact same way. Did you hear we got 'em?

Didn't matter where you went. Could have been school, could have been work,

could have just been out in public grocery store, whatever. Did you hear it?

We got 'em. So me, I show up to church, uh,

one day that week I was just going to hang out with my youth pastor.

His name was Grant. And uh,

I start off the conversation the way everybody else did. Grant, did you hear?

We got him. And in a somber tone, he goes,

yeah, I heard.

And this was the first time I had been met with that sort of response.

I was like, why is like, this is one of the most patriotic,

one of the most selfless justice seeking men that I know. As a matter of fact,

before he became my youth pastor, and again today,

he was and is a cop like this man put on a badge every single day

to go out and fight for justice.

And this was what seemed to be one of the greatest acts of justice the world had

ever seen. And he seemed pretty down about it. And I was like, well,

what's going on man? Why do you, why do you sound like that?

And what he told me next, it jarred me. He said,

I had been praying that Osama Bin Laden would get to know Jesus.

And I remember what was disturbing to me was not what he said.

It was my heart and me recognizing that that

thought had never crossed my mind.

Like this guy is public enemy number one. And the only thought,

like the only conclusion to this situation that I could imagine was either he

wins or we win. I never considered the gospel.

I never considered that the gospel that had transformed my life could also reach

his. I had never considered that,

that the gospel had jurisdiction in the compound where he was found

I was uncomfortable. And if you're uncomfortable,

welcome to Acts chapter nine. If you have your Bible,

go ahead and turn there. Um,

we're gonna be taking a look at Acts chapter nine through 11.

And in these stories we're gonna be taking a look at a couple of different

people. Okay? Now, I wanna let you know right off the bat, uh, you're like, man,

three chapters. That sounds like a lot. It is. So we're gonna fly through these.

It's gonna be kind of more of a survey than anything.

Hopefully you're kind of familiar with these stories because you've been

following along with us in the Hope in Real Life app, uh,

reading the 28 day reading plan that we've been in as a church. Which,

just a quick aside, let me just say,

I loved seeing y'all's observation from these passages.

Like I'm learning more about the Bible because of you. So keep up the good work.

Um, but we're gonna fly through these and I'm,

I'm hoping to at least give you enough detail so that if you're not super

familiar with these stories, you will be by the time that we get outta here.

And we start off by looking at the story of a man named Saul.

And Saul in the eyes of the people in his society was public enemy

number one in the Bible.

The the rule of first mention is pretty important.

It's the first time that you're introduced to a person or a theme in the story

and usually the first mention of that person or that theme tells you a whole lot

about what's to follow. And so look at the first time we hear about Saul,

this is in Acts chapter seven, verse 58.

It says that they dragged Stephen who was a man who was uh,

about to be murdered because of his open profession, of his faith in Jesus.

Stephen is the first martyr.

He's the first person who was killed publicly because of his faith.

So they dragged Steven out of the city and they began to stone him.

His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named

Saul. So this is where we're introduced to this guy.

But we learned that Saul wasn't just playing coat check like he was actually

inspired by this moment.

He may have already been an active participant in this moment.

And we read on Acts chapter eight,

verses one through three says that Saul was one of the witnesses and he agreed

completely with the killing of Stephen.

A great wave of persecution began that day,

sweeping over the church in Jerusalem. And all the believers,

except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.

Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning,

but Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church.

He went from house to house,

dragging out both men and women to throw them in prison.

As far as the church is concerned, this is public enemy number one.

And it seems as if Saul is gonna be the one to single handedly put this Jesus

movement on a screeching halt. But then we reach Acts chapter nine.

It says, meanwhile,

Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord's

followers. Okay?

Like this man had dreams about killing Christians.

So he went to the high priest,

he requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus,

asking for the cooperation in the arrest of any of the followers of the way he

found there.

He wanted to bring them both men and women back to Jerusalem in chains.

As he was approaching Damascus on his mission,

a light from heaven shone down around him.

He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul,

why are you persecuting me? And Saul goes, well,

who are you? And the voice replied, I am Jesus

the one you are persecuting.

Now get up and go into the city and you'll be told what you must do.

And so that's what Saul does. He goes into Damascus and he just waits there.

Meanwhile, God starts having another conversation with a man named an Ananias.

Now an Ananias we're told by the scripture,

he is the disciple of the way of Jesus. He is a follower of Jesus.

And God gives him a vision where he says, Hey Ananias,

I need you to do me a favor man. I need you to go into Damascus.

I need you to find this guy named Saul of Tarsus and I need you to lay hands on

him and I need you to pray for him. And he said, Saul, of who now

like Saul, Saul

the one who has the authority and the means to murder me.

You want me to go lay hands on him like you're literally asking me to go and

poke the bear. But the Lord said to him,

go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry

my name before the gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

So in Ananias, in faith,

he goes to Saul and he lays hands on him and he prays for him.

And Saul gets filled with the Holy Spirit,

he gets baptized and later on Saul would be referred to as Paul.

And if you're not familiar with the Bible,

the next 13 books after the book of Acts are all written by this guy,

this murderer turned missionary.

He would become the greatest contributor to the Bible and the greatest

evangelist the world has ever known.

We're gonna press pause on his story for just a minute here.

Now I want to go into chapters 10 and 11 where we hear another story that I

think Luke intentionally puts right next to the story of the conversion of Saul.

This one is about a man named Cornelius. Now Cornelius,

he was a Roman centurion who lived in Caesarea.

And the Bible tells us he was a a, a devout man who feared the God of Israel.

Uh, and he prayed continually.

Now even though he worshiped and feared the God of Israel,

we learned that he probably didn't learn about the way of Jesus Christ.

He hadn't accepted the truth about Jesus, which was and still is to this day,

the only way to truly receive forgiveness, salvation,

and the gift of the Holy Spirit. So one day,

Cornelius is, is praying and just like, uh, um,

uh, Ananias, he is also having a vision. And God says, Hey,

I want you to send for a man named Peter.

This is the same Peter that we know from the gospels.

He was one of Jesus's disciples. Now he's an apostle of the early church.

And so he does that. He sends three of his guys to go out and get Peter.

And then we pick up to see the work that God is doing with Peter.

Behind the scenes Acts chapter 10 verses nine through 16. It says,

Acts 10 · chapter mention

the next day,

while Cornelius's men were on their journey and approaching the city,

Peter went up to the house top about the sixth hour to pray and he became hungry

and wanted something to eat. But while they were preparing it,

he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great

sheet descending,

being let down by its four corners upon the earth in it were all kinds of

animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him,

rise Peter, kill and eat.

But Peter was like, nah, nah, God. , I see what you're doing here.

This is a pop quiz, man, I'm, I'm too good of a rule follower to break this out,

right or to break against this rule. He says, by no means Lord,

I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.

This was his way of saying, I've never eaten anything that isn't kosher.

And the voice came to him again a second time and said,

what God has made clean do not call common or

some other translations put it, don't call it unclean.

This happened three times and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

Are you confused ? If so, it's fine because so was Peter.

He woke up and was like, dude, I need to get food quick. This is wild.

But God doesn't give him answer right away.

Instead the Holy Spirit speaks to him and he says, Hey listen Peter, uh,

I this is what you need to do right now. In just a moment,

three men are gonna come to the house.

I need you to go with them without hesitation. So that's what happens.

The three men knock on the door,

Peter goes out with them and then they go back to the house of Cornelius.

And when he gets there,

Cornelius falls and bows at Peter's feet and he begins to worship him.

And then Peter lifts him up. This is Acts 10 26 and said, stand up.

'cause I too am a man.

This is a big deal and this is a beautiful moment because

Jewish men in the Gentiles, they didn't respect one another.

As we learn about in this next passage here, verse 28,

you yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with

or to visit anyone of another nation.

But God has shown me today that I should not call any person common

or unclean. So when I was sent for I came without objection,

I ask then why you sent for me. So notice what happens here to Peter.

Peter has this light bulb moment where I believe the Holy Spirit speaks to him

and he says, Hey, that dream ain't got nothing to do with pork, bro.

This dream is all about how there were certain things you wouldn't touch,

certain things you wouldn't interact with before certain people you said you

wouldn't be caught dead with. And now Peter, I'm calling you to those people.

And so, uh, Cornelius explains his end of the deal. He goes, Hey man, listen,

I don't know why you're here either, but God told me to sin for you.

You're here what you got to say. And so over the next few verses,

the next nine verses, listen to me.

If you're here and you are not a follower of Jesus and maybe you're wondering,

what do you guys believe?

These next nine verses are beautiful because in it Peter

explains the faith that we have. He talks about how God shows no partiality,

but he accepts those who fear and obey him.

He tells him about how Jesus's time in Galilee, uh,

about Jesus' time in Galilee and how when Jesus being filled with the Holy

Spirit would go out and usher in the kingdom of heaven.

Everything that Jesus did was good. But despite this,

he was put to death and three days later he rose again.

And ever since the church has been on the move spreading the good news to

people, testifying to the fact that Jesus was in fact who he said he was.

And now the job of the church was to invite everyone into that relationship.

And then something incredible happens.

I'm gonna read this and I want you to tell me if this sounds a little bit

familiar to you. Acts 10 44 through 48.

It says that while Peter was still saying these things,

the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.

And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed

because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles,

for they were hearing them speak in tongues and extolling God.

Then Peter declared,

can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy

Spirit just as we have?

And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus.

Then they asked him to remain for some days. If this sounds familiar,

it should because this is the same scene we see in the beginning of Acts.

Gary talked about this a few weeks ago. This is the day of Pentecost.

But before it was only happening for the Israelites.

It was only happened for the Jews, for God's chosen people.

But now this same gift that thought was only for them is being poured out on all

people. This is a reason why this is a big deal to us today church,

because that's the moment where we got access.

This is the moment of the church where every single one of us in this room was

allowed into the presence of God. The doors of heaven flung open,

the Holy Spirit was poured out and we were let in.

God began to pour out his flesh on all people.

Now you would think everybody would be excited about this,

but there's a group of guys who Peter goes back to to tell them about what

happened. And I'm not kidding you.

The ESV calls them the circumcision

party. Does this sound like a miserable group of guys to you?

Like let's just . If I ever meet a miserable Christian, I'd be like,

oh man, here comes the circumcision party. Here they are.

And the reason why they earned that name was because they were stickler for the

rules. They were the ones who just like Peter would've said, nah, God,

I'm not touching that. That stuff is unclean. But then Peter,

he explains to them what happens.

Acts 1115 through 18, Peter said, as I began to speak,

the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he did on us at the beginning.

And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water,

but you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit

if then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we

believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way

When they heard these things,

they fell silent and they glorified God saying then to the

Gentiles, also God has granted repentance that leads to life. Listen,

in our last few minutes here together,

I want us to take a look at these two stories and to kind of compare and

contrast a couple of things that we see. Because again,

I think Luke put these stories together on purpose because he wants to teach us

something about the way that God calls his church to move.

These are two incredible stories with two unlikely converts.

And there's six observations that I want us to take from this.

The first one is this, that when it comes to being a church on the move,

God builds bridges where we build barriers.

In both of these stories,

both Cornelius and Saul have reasons why they

shouldn't be recipients of God's grace. For Paul,

it was because of things he had done. He had captured Christians,

he had murdered Christians,

dude had a sketchy past for Cornelius.

He was trying to do things right,

but it was Peter's bias towards him that made him think, oh God, him

the Gentiles.

And I just want to ask you if you've ever been in a position where,

where the same has happened to you,

where maybe you thought someone was too far gone to receive the grace of God,

either because of the way you viewed them based on yourself and the sinfulness

in your own heart or based on the sinfulness of their own past.

And I just wonder who are the people that we've built barriers around to keep

them from receiving the grace of God? We sing a song here a few minutes ago.

God, you pick me up, you turn me around, you place my feet on solid ground.

But can you really do that for them? Yes he can.

You know why I love those lyrics?

Because you know the only part of that story you contribute laying on the ground

and Jesus picked you up and he turned you around.

He placed you on solid ground.

And so if salvation is only a work of what he's done and not because of

ourselves,

how can we think that anyone can disqualify themselves from that same grace?

If he did it for us, he can do it for them.

So who is the person or the people that you've built a role around thinking

that there wasn't room for them in the kingdom?

Maybe it was a bully that you've had in your life at some point,

or an ex-spouse.

Maybe there's a child who seems to have gone far from home and seems like

there's no hope of them turning back. Maybe it's a boss, a coworker,

the Democrat, the Republican, the same sex couple in your neighborhood,

the friend who stabbed you in the back, a parent that you don't talk to anymore.

Who is the person that you consider too far gone?

I'm sure people thought that of Saul, but remember what God called him?

He said that Saul is my chosen instrument.

Could it be that God wants to use them as well?

If God builds bridges, it's bridges are made for you to go somewhere.

And I believe that God will often move us out of our comfort zone.

Before God uh, met Saul on the road to Damascus,

the pressure was put on the church. It was the persecution of the church,

this church who had received the message of the gospel but wasn't going

anywhere.

It was for them that God used persecution to get them to scatter. Why?

Because the gospel is always made to move.

The gospel is always made to move.

And so I just wonder like do you think the church was moved out of their

comfort zone? I think they were.

Do you think Peter was sent out of his comfort zone when God said,

I want you to go to the Gentiles.

Was Aniah sent out of his comfort zone when he said,

I want you to go and talk to a murderer? Yes,

God sends his church on the move,

but the scary part is that often where he chooses to send us or how he chooses

to send us doesn't always look right to us.

And this is the reason why the next thing is so important.

We have to be in tune with the Holy Spirit in order to know when and where to

move.

Both Peter and an Ananias recognized that the Lord was

talking to them.

And I just wonder if we're in tune enough with the Holy Spirit that when he

sends us and tells us to go, we can say this is a God thing.

And maybe you deal with that. Maybe you struggle with, well,

how do I know if it's God or not?

How do I know if this is actually the Holy Spirit talking to me or not?

I recommend you refer to the previous point.

He's probably gonna call you out of your comfort zone.

I think there's a chance that if the Holy Spirit is never calling you out of

your comfort zone, then maybe you're not listening to the Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit sounds a whole lot like you and you feel like the Holy Spirit

always has great ideas that you never feel the need to push back on,

there could be a chance that you're not in tune with the Spirit.

Here's another sign.

The Holy Spirit will often call you into situations that you can't possibly be

successful in without him.

If it was something you could go and do on your own,

well then why would you need the spirit? Right?

But this is such a grace and a gift of God that he says, no, I am.

I'm giving you my spirit inside of you going with you.

Like Jesus didn't just say, Hey, go out into all the nations and good luck

. No, he said, I will give you my spirit

who will go with you.

This is just the mo of how God moves.

I think this is the reason why Luke puts both of these stories right next to one

another so that you can't be like, oh, that Saul thing was just a fluke.

It's like, yeah, but look at what he also did with Cornelius.

Fourth thing is this,

is that God sends his church on the move.

What I found really interesting about this story when I was reading through it

was, uh,

all God told Cornelius and Saul to do was, wait,

hey you guys go over here and sit down for a minute.

And God had been working in their hearts.

And so maybe you would think like that would be enough.

Like I'm sure that when God went to Ananias was like, Hey, go lay hands on Saul.

He'd be like, God, can't you handle that? God can't you take care of it?

I don't even know.

Maybe Ananias even knew that God had had conversation with Saul, but still,

what does God do? He includes his church as an integral part of the process.

He says, an Ananias, you've been following me. You're righteous.

And now I'm calling you to go.

One of our things as a church,

one of our goals is that we strive to be relevant and effective.

And so that means we go where people are. Lemme tell you what that doesn't mean.

It doesn't mean that when we get there we compromise our values.

It doesn't mean that we change who we are. Listen,

drawing close to other people is about becoming like Jesus,

not about becoming like them.

And this is why it's so important to stay in tune with the Spirit.

It's so that in your going, you point them to the source of all life.

Just like both Saul, I'm sorry, just like Ananias and Cornelius,

we have the responsibility to do both to pray, but also to move.

The final thing, I'm sorry, number number five is this.

We're called when we get there to love people where they are.

We believe a, a central, uh, just fact of our faith is this,

is that the old is new or I'm sorry, the old is gone and the new has come.

But if we believe that, then we need to start treating people that way.

We need to start saying, Hey, listen, I understand your past. I get it.

I know you messed up, but, but that stuff's in the rear view mirror.

I want you to look ahead to God.

I want you to fix your eyes on the author and the finisher of our faith.

And I'm not gonna, I'm gonna extend you the same grace that God extended me.

I'm not gonna look at you for who you were.

I'm gonna look at you for who you're becoming. You know, part of the reason,

one of the steps that I think that led to,

to Paul going on to write the majority of the New Testament, uh,

it it comes with this. I want you to imagine this. Okay?

You're a Christian and you're just living your life.

You're on the run because you hear this guy named Saul is out to kill you.

And then, then one day you're sitting in a church service and you're singing,

eyes are closed, coffee in your hand, you're having a moment with God.

And the next thing you know,

somebody next to you starts singing and you notice they're a little off key.

So you look out the corner of your eye and you look and it's all

just think about that for just a minute, , this is actually what happens.

Acts chapter nine,

verses 26 through 27 says that when Saul had come to Jerusalem,

he attempted to join. The disciples just walked right in. What's up fellas?

, how y'all doing this church thing? Man, this is kind of nice, man.

This is, I like this.

But they were all afraid of them for they did not believe

that he was a disciple. But Barnabas

took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road

he had seen the Lord who had spoke to him and how at Damascus he had preached

boldly in the name of Jesus. And I just wonder, man,

where would Paul have been without a Barnabas?

Where would we be without a Barnabas?

Someone said, Hey, listen man, I know this dude messed up.

I know he is got a sketchy past, but he's had a genuine encounter with the Lord,

and I choose to believe the best in him.

I'm willing to bet that at some point in your life you've had someone like that.

And so we need to be that to someone else. The final thing is this.

I think we have to remember that all of this has eternal ramifications.

Maybe this entire time you've been thinking about someone who you don't like,

someone you don't agree with,

someone who's done you wrong and dirty in the past, and you're like, man,

I just don't know because all I can see is their sin.

All I can see is their mistakes. Maybe they haven't even done any of that, but,

but maybe it's a situation kinda like Peter had. He's like, yeah,

but they're a part of this group,

or they look that way and I have a really hard time.

Like I need Jesus to do something in my heart or else it's not gonna happen.

We have to remember that every single person you have ever laid eyes

on was made in the image of God and they have

a soul.

And that soul is either gonna spend eternity with the Father in heaven

or completely separated from him in a place called hell.

And when we view people the way that God views the man,

there are implications of the gospel that go beyond our personal feelings.

I had a, I had a aunt, she passed away a few years ago and she was miserable.

Like if I'm dishonest, I, I can say that she was my aunt. She's with Jesus.

Now I know that for a fact. It's fine. You can laugh, it's okay.

But I remember as a kid, I didn't think of her that way. I just, I just thought,

man, that's just miserable, aunt Linda,

because every time someone in our family got in a fight,

it was Linda versus fill in the blank ,

she was always in the middle of the drama. And I remember I had this thought,

I was like five or six years old.

I pray to God today that I didn't say this out loud, but there's a possibility.

Don't judge me safe space.

But I remember thinking, man,

I hope she doesn't make it to heaven because eternity's a long time and I don't

wanna be miserable there too .

Now that's cute and we can laugh about it as a five or a 6-year-old having this

thought. But here's the reality, man. In hindsight,

I realize I did not have a firm grip or understanding

of the gospel.

I didn't understand that this is a person made in the image of God and despite

what they've done to me, despite their past, despite how they make me feel,

there is a place in the kingdom for them.

And it's our responsibility to move when God says move and

to go when God says, go even to the people that we don't like.

Let's look at Saul really quick as we get ready to wrap up. And I,

I just wanna play this story out for a second.

Saul has arrested and had multiple Christians killed,

and then he becomes a believer.

And then one day from a prison,

Paul's life fades out. He's killed.

He's a martyr just like Steven was.

And then one day Peter walks through the gates of heaven,

You know who's waiting there for him? You know,

who's celebrating the fact that Saul made it

all the people that he sent there.

That is the beauty of the gospel.

There is no justice.

There is no scenario under the sun that is more beautiful than

the truth that we serve a God who redeems the unredeemable.

That is the beauty of the gospel. So as we close out our time here together,

I just want to ask you two questions. One, who is the person in your life

that maybe even in your mind or your heart,

you've built a barrier between them and God?

Who are the people that you say, man,

I don't even wanna pray for them because I'm so bitter towards them.

And then two,

I want you to ask yourself the same question that Peter asked his circumcision

party,

who am I to stand in God's way? Here's the truth, church

God's gonna send us on the move

and we can either move towards those who he's calling into his kingdom

or we can move out of the way. And my prayer is,

is that Hope Community Church would be the type of place where we move in

towards the brokenness in order to invite people into the kingdom of

heaven. Let me pray for us. Father, thank you so much for your goodness.

Thank you that you saved us even though we didn't deserve it. God,

thank you for your grace that's been poured out on us. God,

I know there are some of us in here who think, man, I wasn't that bad though.

, I'm not as bad as so and so is. That's right.

We were all dead

and out of your grace you saw fit to cross the bridge

and come and grab us. So Father,

let us be an extension of the hands and feet of Jesus.

Let us cross over any bridges that you call us to cross over

so that we can point those who feel like they're too far gone into the truth

that is greater than any other truth the world has ever known. Father,

we love you. We're so thankful for your grace. Help us to be on the move.

Show us what that looks like. Holy Spirit, speak to us loud and clear.

And it is in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.