True Inclusion

We still have some scripture journals, although this will be the last Sunday in Acts for some time.

If you have one of these scripture journals, please turn to Acts chapter 10, and it will be on page 58.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

So we're going to look at the entirety of the chapter. We won't read every last verse.

It is a long chapter, but you'll understand because the flow, in a sense, it's one story,

and to break it up would be a bit difficult.

But before we get into Acts chapter 10, as a way of a bit of an introduction,

Acts 10 · chapter mention

I really enjoy sports movies, although I haven't watched a good one in some time.

I was talking recently about how good Rudy was.

I've always been a big fan of Rudy and Hoosiers.

A good soundtrack on a good sports movie really helps as well.

Gets me excited.

But one of the movies I really think is fantastic is Remember the Titans.

It's a fairly newer movie compared to Rudy or Hoosiers, but it's an old story.

Even though it takes place in the 70s, it's really an age-old story.

It's a story, in this case, of a football team in Virginia that experiences a lot of barriers to success,

the biggest of which is racial segregation.

Half the team is white, half the team is black, and their biggest opponent seems to be themselves.

And there's something wonderful about Remember the Titans,

not just simply because it's based on a true story and it's very inspiring,

but it sees segregation dissolving in a way that speaks to something that is truly transcendent,

something that is almost impossible to see come about on earth

if it not for the spirit and the gospel of Christ.

There's this wonderful scene in it where the two leaders on the team,

one white, one black, come together at this one play,

and it seems like this is the beginning of redemption.

So we come to Acts 10,

and a section of Acts that is incredibly crucial for the rest of the narrative,

but really the rest of the history of the gospel for the next 2,000 years and into the future.

We see the gospel transition from primarily, almost entirely,

a Jewish gospel, Jewish-centric, to moving towards the Gentiles.

Cornelius will be the first Gentile to receive the gospel,

and he is not just any ordinary Gentile.

Gentile is one who is not a Jew,

but he is a Roman soldier

and part of the occupying force.

Maybe it would be a bit easier to have the gospel, in a sense,

go to a Gentile who is not as offensive to Jewish sensibilities in the first century.

But here we have Cornelius, a Roman soldier,

being the first person that the gospel spreads to that isn't Jewish.

So our text will help us to see how the gospel, in a sense,

isn't just good news for the unbeliever,

but we'll also see how in this the gospel is good news for the believer.

It's not simply that we accept the gospel and move on to bigger and better things,

but the gospel comes to flavor every aspect of our lives.

We come to faith, we have a conversion, we hear the gospel,

but then afterwards, as Christians, we have a number of other conversions, so to speak.

Not conversions from being an unbeliever to a believer,

but conversions of ways of thinking from a wrong worldview to a right worldview.

Thinking like a secularist, a modernist to thinking like a Christian.

So we see these two kinds of conversions in our story today,

and on its, on its, the very kind of, the surface level,

we see a Gentile converting, but really we're going to see Peter converting as well.

So, we'll see that with conversions, we'll see, again, three, I guess in a sense, principles.

The first is that God takes the initiative to draw people to himself.

The second is that God confronts false ways of life in those he calls.

And then finally, God transforms all who are in him by the outpouring of his Holy Spirit.

So the first point, God takes the initiative to draw people to himself.

Acts 10, it begins with a centurion named Cornelius.

He's a centurion, which simply means that he's in charge of 100 soldiers.

I saw some conflicting things in my studies this week, but he would be maybe similar to a major.

I don't know if it's exactly apples to apples, but in today's armed forces, he'd be like a major.

So, not necessarily the highest of high, but certainly not just some regular soldier.

He's an important man.

Israel, as you remember, is occupied by the Romans.

He is a part of that occupying force.

And he lives in Caesarea, which is along the coast, if you can kind of picture ancient Israel.

Peter is at Joppa, which is Jaffa.

It's kind of on the southern coastal tip.

Caesarea is about 60 kilometers north, still on the coast.

And Caesarea, it's a fairly new city in this time.

And it was the bureaucratic headquarters, so to speak, of Rome in Judea.

So, this man is, in a sense, an occupier.

He is living in a city that really, in some ways, shouldn't exist.

It represents everything that the Jewish population hates about being occupied by Rome.

And we see that this man, Cornelius, has begun to worship this Jewish god.

It's a bit of a remarkable story, if we understand the backdrop.

So, Cornelius begins to worship this Jewish god.

And he seems to be a really good family man, for he leads his family to do the same.

And we come to find out that even though he was pursuing God, in a sense, God was drawing him, even in a greater way.

So, look with me, verses 1 to 8.

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

He was a devout man who feared God with all his household.

He gave alms generously to the people and prayed continuously to God.

About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly, in a vision, an angel of God come in and say to him,

Cornelius.

And he stared at him in terror and said,

What is it, Lord?

It's interesting that his reaction was terror.

This is kind of the classic reaction to some kind of angelic visit throughout the Bible.

It is not like, hey, there's an angel, that's cool.

It is dread.

People turn white.

They fall down dead.

There's anxiety and panic and fear.

And this is what Cornelius is experiencing here.

Verse 5.

Verse 4.

Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God, and now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon, who is called Peter.

He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.

When the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him.

And having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

God is getting his attention.

God is drawing this man to himself.

In the same way that Saul encounters God, so too does Cornelius have this supernatural encounter with this angelic being,

or this, in the case of Paul, this God himself, Christ himself.

On one hand, Cornelius is doing religious things.

He is doing things that are pleasing to God.

But in a sense, he is still an outsider.

He's still outside the covenant community.

We'll see in a little bit that he still has, he's still prone to worship things or people that aren't the God of the Bible.

It's also very likely that if he is in a full convert, he is worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Hebrew God.

But at the same time, he would undoubtedly, especially as a Roman soldier, he would be worshiping the cult of Caesar at the very least.

Caesar, who fashioned himself as a God-man, required worship.

Maybe he also worshipped Jupiter, or Minerva, or Mars, some of the Roman pantheon.

But he is still, he is moving, he is trending towards the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And more importantly, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is moving towards him.

Some of us have come to faith as adults, or have returned to the faith of our youth.

This process may have seemed like a long and winding journey of thinking and reading and wrestling, and surely it has been that.

But a text like this tells us that as much as you are pursuing God and wrestling through difficulty,

that God is at work in your life drawing you to himself.

He has taken initiative not because you are a special person, or because you look a certain way,

or come from a specific family, or speak a specific language.

Because he is choosing to draw you to himself.

God makes the initiative.

And although it looks like we are the one finding God,

God is allowing himself, in a sense, to be discovered.

Because he wants to be discovered.

He wants to be found.

He wants us to know him.

And he has gone to great lengths.

And he is eager for you to find him.

Cornelius, he is seeking God, even though he isn't doing it necessarily perfectly.

But God sees what is happening.

And he is, in a sense, invading his life.

He is drawing Cornelius to himself.

Cornelius was seeking God, but God had orchestrated an encounter with Peter.

For as Cornelius' messengers were approaching Joppa,

God would be drawing another person's heart towards himself, Peter, in a very similar way.

This leads us to our second point, that God confronts false ways of life in those he calls.

That God, in a sense, sanctifies us, opens our eyes, helps us to walk in obedience towards him.

So let's continue reading verses 9 to 16.

The next day, as they were on their journey approaching the city,

that is, the two servants and the devout soldier that Cornelius sent,

Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray.

So this is about 21 hours later, the next day.

And Peter 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 said,

By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten

anything that is common or unclean.

And the voice came to him again a second time,

What God has made clean, do not call common.

Verse 16,

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

This is a very perplexing vision that Peter has.

But to really grasp its significance,

we must understand the reality of Jewish-Gentile relations in the first century.

So in the first century, Jews did not mix with Gentiles.

It just didn't happen.

It's not that they were mortal enemies.

It's not like this is a millennia-old example of the Hadfields and McCoys

or the Montagues and the Capulets.

There were real prejudices that existed,

but they're more so along religious lines.

Now, it's not to say that there wasn't ethnic prejudices as well,

but primarily there were religious prohibitions within the Jewish camp

against anybody who were non-Jews.

There's some big problems with assimilation,

where Jews would, in a sense, adopt a lot of Roman or Greek customs,

but even then there was some uneasiness about that.

That wasn't the standard practice.

We see some of that, actually, in Acts chapter 2 as well.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

So there were biblical injunctions against Jews mixing, in a sense, with Gentiles,

but it never went beyond, in a sense, religious or biblical prohibitions.

It was always, in a sense, on religious grounds in relationship to fidelity to God.

So a lot of the dietary restrictions, so to speak,

they weren't necessarily given because, you know,

pigs will mess you up and change your DNA if you eat them.

It wasn't some kind of physiological thing,

but it was, in a sense, a symbol of God's people being set apart from the other nations.

It was an issue of cleanliness.

Cleanliness, not in the sense where one is made dirty

just by being a certain ethnicity or speaking a certain language,

but an uncleanliness that, in a sense, is on a spectrum

where holiness, God himself, is over here,

and every degree away from God is just not clean.

This is the language that was used.

It was unclean.

But the problem is, by the first century,

this biblical command was expanded to no longer be dynamic,

so that in the Bible, one could be unclean,

but they could then do things to become clean again.

But by the time the first century comes around,

if you weren't Jewish, you were just unclean.

You were a problem.

I mean, maybe not a problem to yourself,

but certainly a problem to the people of God.

This is not what God wanted.

And it's not just Peter, in a sense,

having this vision of these unclean animals

that are, in a sense, symbolically pointing towards

how the Gentiles are actually not unclean, but clean.

But it is going to try him and try his sensibilities

because that mentality of expanding the biblical injunction

to completely prohibit Gentiles had seeped into the church.

And now the church, who is primarily Jewish,

yeah, God is the God of all people,

but really he's still the God of us.

Jesus is the Messiah of the whole world,

but really just for us.

And God was challenging Peter in this thinking.

This is one of, in a sense, the conversions that Peter has.

That no longer can he think in ethnic superiority,

in terms of ethnic superiority,

but now all of these boundaries that, in a sense,

have their root in the Bible,

but have been expanded to mean so much more

and go against what God had envisioned,

all of that is getting completely shattered.

Peter's hungry.

God speaks to him in a way that will get his attention.

And he sees all the various animals in the world,

all unclean animals,

and he's commanded to eat them.

Snakes, various kinds of carrion,

all sorts of scaleless fish,

octopi,

things that Jews would never touch

with a 10-foot pole.

Peter, you pious Jew,

get up, kill, eat.

The dread that would have fallen on him.

Am I thinking this in my own head?

Maybe I'm being attacked by some kind of demonic force.

And yet three times it is said,

and Peter seems to have been spoken to by God

in a way that he least expected.

And he begins to go through, in a sense,

a type of conversion,

a change of his thinking.

A bit later on,

we will see that Peter gets the message loud and clear

in verse 27, 28, and 29.

But to really understand

how scandalous this would have been,

is to really,

I mean, it's hard for us to really grasp this

in Ottawa in 2024.

But real, true, ethnic prejudice

was extended towards the Gentiles

from the Jewish nation.

In the Gospel,

Peter learns, and we learn,

that all people are clean,

and therefore have an equal footing

with one another in Christ Jesus.

That God is the God of all people.

Cornelius could be worshipping Jupiter,

and Minerva, and Mars, and Caesar,

and whoever else, or whatever else.

But when he comes to faith in Christ,

he is made clean.

He is transformed.

And Peter needs to understand that.

He needs to grasp that.

Because God has not made

two separate, adjacent churches.

There is one church.

And it doesn't matter

if you are Jew or Greek.

Now, that does not mean

that those categories are erased.

Peter doesn't cease to be a Jew.

Cornelius doesn't cease to be a Roman.

But they are one in Christ.

So, Cornelius sends his people.

Peter, he is warned that these people

are going to come.

He has them into his house,

which is the beginning of this transformation

with Peter.

To have in his,

at least the lodging that he's staying with,

the lodging that he's staying in,

to host non-Jews would be

scandalous and unclean.

He has them in.

The next day,

him, Cornelius' guys,

and six others,

so there's ten total,

they'll go to Caesarea.

It would have been a day's journey.

And then,

Cornelius reiterates the timeline.

And then we find ourselves

at verse 34.

This is what Peter says.

Understanding now

the full extent of that vision

and what God's purpose are for,

what God's purpose is rather

for the non-Jews.

And this is what he says.

So Peter opened his mouth and said,

Truly I understand

that God shows no partiality,

but in every nation

anyone who fears him

and does what is right

is acceptable to him.

That's the crux of the story

right there,

verse 34 and 35.

And it's the beauty of the gospel.

God is no respecter of people.

God,

what God does is not contingent

upon you or me.

And that's a bit of a big deal.

God is above us.

He is, in a sense,

perfect will.

He is not swayed.

He is not convinced

to do one thing or the other

that is against his will.

He will do his will.

Favoritism is out the door.

He calls who he wants

to call regardless of who they are.

And this is truly wonderful news for us

because it means that God

will save fully.

And apart from who we are

or what we will do,

he, if he chooses to save,

he will save.

This means that evildoers

will not go unpunished

because God perverts justice

by showing partiality.

Nobody, in a sense,

has God in their pocket.

He shows no partiality.

But on the flip side,

no one needs to fear

God's rejection

out of partiality against them.

What does this mean?

It means that God is perfect

in his justice.

And if he chooses to save,

he will.

And we can take him

at his word.

Anyone from anywhere

who comes to faith

in the Lord Jesus Christ

begins to live

out a life

obedient to his rule

and reign

and no longer

are under judgment

but are acceptable

to him.

Verse 35.

We become Christians.

The gospel continually

corrects our false thinking

and confused worldview

and we grow

in joyful obedience.

That is

that next step,

that sanctifying work,

that purifying work

that God does in us.

He changes our thinking.

But,

this confronting

of a false belief system

only begins,

in a sense,

before we come,

or that it does begin

before we come to the Lord.

And we'll look at

Cornelius here

in verse 23 to 25.

This is what it says.

The next day,

he rose and went away with them.

This is Peter

and his group.

And some of the brothers

from Joppa accompanied him.

And on the following day,

they entered Caesarea.

Cornelius was expecting them

that it called together

his relatives

and close friends.

Verse 25.

When Peter entered,

Cornelius met him

and fell down

at his feet

and worshipped him.

But Peter lifted him up

saying,

Stand up.

I too am a man.

I mentioned at the beginning

that Cornelius

almost certainly worshipped

other gods.

Almost certainly

was not monotheistic.

Yet,

in a sense,

the truth of the matter is

God was still

at work with him

because Cornelius

was looking,

in a sense,

to the only God

that exists.

And this helps us

to understand

that

even before

and even after

we come to faith,

we struggle

with the worship

of other gods,

other things.

We put our faith

and trust

in things

that are not

God,

that do not lead

to God.

We do not look

to the gospel

for salvation.

We look to other things.

We do not live

infidelity

to the triune God

immediately after

we come to faith.

But as the gospel

takes hold

in our lives,

the reality

of being members

of the kingdom

of God

begins to take root

and we grow

in our obedience

and our devotion

to Christ,

he exposes

gently

but very vividly

our false

and curated

religions

that we have

lived by,

our ethos,

the very thing,

the worldview

that informs

our coming

and our going.

This is not easy

but it's necessary.

God,

he is no respecter

of people

but he is also

a jealous God.

He will not share

the throne

with anybody else.

Contrary to

much of

modern thought,

we don't actually

live in a

truly secular age.

We live in a

very religious age.

Not necessarily

in the classic

categories

of religion

but we are

inundated with

truth claims

and in a sense

religious claims,

belief structures

that oftentimes

are antithetical

to the gospel.

We have

a misguided view

of what it looks

like to be humans

made in God's image

of what the good life

is,

what salvation

is

and God

as he saves us

he desperately

wants to change

this mentality

to give us

in a sense

another conversion.

We must grow

in our allegiance

to Christ

and he is patient

as we

gradually

bend the knee

to Christ

in all areas

of our lives.

But if you've been

a Christian for some time

this isn't something

that is easy

and it takes

great strength

and determination

and even then

you fail.

It is only by the power

of the Holy Spirit

that we can

make this change

and this leads to

the third point

that God transforms

all who are in him

by the outpouring

of the Spirit.

So with a captive audience

verse 34

Peter begins

proclaiming

to the Gentiles

the gospel

for the first time

and this is what

he says.

So Peter opened

his mouth

and said

truly I understand

that God

shows no partiality

but in every nation

anyone who fears him

and does what is right

is acceptable to him.

As for the word

that he sent to Israel

preaching good news

of peace

through Jesus Christ

he is Lord of all

you yourselves

know what happened

throughout all Judea

beginning from Galilee

after the baptism

that John proclaimed

and how God

anointed Jesus

of Nazareth

with the Holy Spirit

and with power

he went about

doing good

and healing

all who were oppressed

literally tyrannized

by the devil

for God

was with him

and we are witnesses

of all that he did

both in the country

of the Jews

and in Jerusalem

they put him to death

by hanging him

on a tree

but God raised him

on the third day

and made him to appear

not to all the people

but to us

who had been chosen

by God

as witnesses

literally eyewitnesses

who ate

and drank with him

after he rose

from the dead

and he commanded us

to preach to the people

and to testify

that he is the one

appointed by God

to be judge

of the living

and the dead

to him all the prophets

bear witness

that everyone

who believes in him

receives forgiveness

of sins

through his name

notice

that Peter

is clear

that the gospel

cannot be separated

from the literal life

death

and resurrection

of Christ

I mean there's a lot

in there

but he goes

to great extent

to talk about how

from the Galilee

after the baptism

of John

into Jerusalem

that Jesus lived

that he died

he was crucified

he was buried

three days later

he rose

we saw him

we ate with him

we drank with him

he stayed with us

Peter is saying

that the gospel

can't be divorced

from the literal

person of Christ

or the literal

resurrection of Christ

the time that Jesus

stayed with the disciples

afterwards

until he ascended

into heaven

Jesus

truly

came

and there are

eyewitnesses

not just one

not just two

not even twelve

but Jesus appeared

to many

and many people

it's not one

lone prophet

in a cave

in Arabia

who gets

a revelation

from God

it is not

one man

in

New York

in the 1800s

who gets

a private revelation

from God

it's not some guru

who has

a series

of enlightenment

by himself

and then

tells everybody

it is

a real

literal

resurrection

that is witnessed

by many people

remember

this is spoken

to

Cornelius

who

very well

could have

heard

that this

other insurrectionist

Jesus of Nazareth

was hung on the tree

it's not like

this is

some idea

for Cornelius

it was a real person

that he would have

heard about

Peter is saying

I've seen him

and there are others

and I can

I can show you

other people

or get other people

to testify

on

on my behalf

it's not just me

who has seen him

but other people

and look at verse 43

this is what

he ends with

he says

to him

all the prophets

bear witness

and here it is

that everyone

who believes in him

receives forgiveness

of sins

through his name

that if you

believe in Christ

that he rose

from the grave

that he literally

came

to live

to die

to rise again

for our sins

your sins

are no more

there's a bit

here

where he says

that he was

hung on a tree

he doesn't necessarily

I mean he's

alluding to the cross

but he doesn't say

he was crucified

to hang on the tree

in Deuteronomy 21

is to be

cursed

and Jesus

Peter is saying

takes your curse

upon himself

and he becomes

cursed

so that you

could be

free

or put another way

Jesus takes

your uncleanliness

and puts it

upon himself

so that you

would be made

clean

holy

connected with God

in the very

presence of God

himself

and what happens

afterwards

in verse 44

and on

is

again

with all the

background of

Jewish Gentile

relations

it's incredible

and this is what

it says

while Peter

was still

saying these

things

the Holy Spirit

fell on all

who heard the

word

and the believers

from among

the circumcised

that is

the Jewish people

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

speaking in tongues

and extolling God

a pause there

mid-sermon

the Holy Spirit

falls

mid-sermon

it is as if

God is

I don't want to

necessarily attribute

human attributes

to God

but it's almost

as if God

is too eager

to give them

himself

that he's not

even going to

wait until the

end of the sermon

and just pours out

the spirit

on these people

and these people

are so eager

to receive God

that they've

heard enough

in a sense

and they are

extolling God

they are praising God

they have put

faith in God

and God

responds in

kind

Peter

has recognized

this

and he is

in a sense

saying listen

if God

has saved

these people

who are we

to withhold

baptism

as a sign

of entryway

into the church

and here

not since

Pentecost

in chapter 2

do we hear

anything about

tongues

for whatever

the tongues

are

and I try

to tackle

this in

the Sunday

follow-up

I send

out

midweek

I think

it's

back in

September

or October

whatever

but it's

there

whatever

tongues

is

referring

to

here

Luke

has recorded

it in a way

to say

that this

is a second

Pentecost

that it is

not just

that the

Jews

had their

coming to

faith

this new

covenant

where the

Holy Spirit

was poured

onto them

and that the

Holy Spirit

came into

their lives

and in their

hearts

and they were

new creations

but what

happened

with the

Gentiles

it was

kind of

like

salvation

light

it was

kind of

like

Holy Spirit

light

what Luke

is trying

to tell us

is that

this is

the same

thing that

happened to

the Jewish

people in

Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2

because the

Gentiles

are 100%

legitimate

members

of the

church

of God

why

because of

Christ

not because

of who

they are

but because

who Christ

is

so the

spirit is

given to

them in the

same kind

way that

it is

given to

the Jewish

believers

in Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2

the Gentiles

are full

and true

members of

the one

holy

catholic

and apostolic

church

catholic

meaning that

it is for

all people

apostolic

meaning that

it is the

gospel of

Christ

that is

proclaimed

by the

apostles

only the

spirit of

God

through the

gospel of

God

can bring

together

such diverse

people into

the church

wrapping

things up

the mutual

recognition

of the

Jews

to the

Gentiles

and the

Gentiles

to the

Jews

is at

the

heart

of this

chapter

it's at

the heart

of the

gospel

that in

Christ

people are

united

in a way

that

that transcends

the things

that we can

do or

try or

the programs

we try to

try to

launch but

it is rooted

in the

immutable

Christ

the unchanging

one

the salvation

one on

the cross

prejudice

between

various groups

are not

new it's

age old

but only

Christ

can unite

such diverse

and broken

people

this is why

this

move

within

our secular

society

our secular

society

of diversity

inclusion

equity

all these

programs

they

at their

core

will not

work

because

the issue

is a sin

issue

and an evil

issue

and a

brokenness

issue

it's a

supernatural

issue

and the

only way to

fix a

supernatural

issue

is by a

supernatural

savior

not through

natural

means

and the

great irony

in trying

to fix

a supernatural

issue

by natural

means

is that it

only perpetuates

the problem

just this week

two stories

about

universities

rolling out

various

DEI

campaigns

have proved

this

one

in Waterloo

it's a

black only

time to

swim

how does that

bring people

together

how does that

unite people

how does that

take

differences

not ignore

them

but say

listen

we are going

to unite

around something

greater and

bigger

it doesn't

similarly

on the

campus of

York

University

a Jewish

group

was told

well they

weren't told

but they

were discouraged

from meeting

because

it would

in a sense

cause

uncomfortableness

to

people of

Palestinian

dissents

not an

Israel

group

a Jewish

group

obviously

there's

overlap

but they're

separate

a separate

aspect of

that as

well

again

the

desire

to

unite

because

of a

supernatural

issue

by natural

means

only

perpetuates

the problem

only in

the gospel

do we

have

true

inclusivity

true

equity

even

in the

face of

diversity

great

diversity

Jew

Gentile

diversity

because

the only

true

immutable

reality

in the

universe

is that

Christ

is a

true

savior

and that

we are

true

sinners

all who

put their

faith and

hope in

Christ

have

forgiveness

and their

sins are

washed

clean

no longer

unclean

people

but clean

people

no longer

common

people

but are

holy

people

for God

transforms

all who

are in

Christ

Jesus

by his

Holy

Spirit

this is

the hope

of the

gospel

this is

the truth

of Acts

10

and this

is what

ought to

mark a

church

like ours

we come

from

some similar

backgrounds

of course

but we also

come from

different

backgrounds

so what

unites

us

is because

we have

the same

sports

favorite

sports

teams

or hobbies

or likes

for cuisine

or interests

all very

great stuff

important

stuff

can't be

the thing

that unites

us

we are

united

around the

banner

of Christ

Christ

Christian

forgiveness

of sins

made clean

by the

blood

of the

lamb

this is

what

unites

us

that's

the only

thing

that can

truly

unite

us

amen

let us

pray

father

thank you

for

doing

something

that only

you could

do

but that

we so

desperately

needed

lord

not just

to convert

us

from

unbelief

to belief

but to

convert

our wrong

thinking

from thinking

in

categories

of this

world

of

in a

sense

of

having

us

on our

on our

own thrones

rather than

you on our

own thrones

and converting

that thinking

to seeing

our great

need for

you and

how you

and only

you can

solve the

issues

and problems

and brokenness

and separation

alienation that

we experience

lord we thank

you for this

and we thank

you that it's

by your spirit

that you do

this

and lord we

thank you that

as we saw

in acts

Acts 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10

great joy

accompanied

salvation

and that two

opposing groups

became one

in christ

lord let us

always look to

you to

strive by

your strength

to see

those that are

different than

us as

brothers and

sisters

because you

see us

as your

children and

we are the

brothers and

sisters of

our big

brother christ

so lord we

ask by your

spirit that you

would help us

to grow in

this reality

and truth

in christ's

name we

pray amen

amen

for

jim Düts

miracles

we

we

do

we

know

know

you

we

we

you

think

that kind of

oh