For All People: Never, Lord! | Part 3

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

We've been in a series called For All People, and here's what we said.

We said that the gospel is good news for all people, not just some people.

Actually, Jesus was explicit.

He said, following me is good for all people.

And then he went even further than that, and he said that we are to go share it with all people, that the gospel is fundamentally good news for all people, not just some people or certain people.

And we are, according to Jesus, to go share it, to go proclaim it to all people, not just some people.

And we've been studying uh the book of Acts, which chronicles the journey and the birth of the church and how this Jerusalem-based Jewish movement of Jesus followers expanded and spread into this worldwide movement that changed the world as we know it.

And today's title of the sermon is simply this never, Lord.

You ever said that before?

You ever said never, Lord.

No, no, no.

I'm never doing that.

I, you know what?

Never, Lord.

And maybe for some you said this of like, I'm never becoming a Christian.

I'm never gonna follow Jesus.

I'm not the religious type.

Never, Lord.

Or maybe you said, you know, never, Lord, like, um, you know what?

I I'm never gonna go on a missions trip.

Uh, uh, I'm never gonna, I never want to stand out for my faith.

Never make me, God, I want to follow you, but don't send me to Africa.

And then my friends from Africa go, why do you always use Africa?

I don't know why we do that.

And so, and we have this thing where we say, I'll follow you, but and never, Lord.

And yet, here's what we know.

And here's what some people will say is like, don't ever say never, because somehow God seems to say those nevers and lead us into those never places.

You know, it's like um like 10, maybe 12 years ago, uh, I remember Jenny looking at me and she said, You know, Ryan, I never want you to plan a church, and I never want you to lead a church.

And because I never wanted to do those things, that was easy.

I said, fantastic, me neither.

You know, I watched my dad, he was a lead pastor for much of my life, and how hard and how difficult and the pressure and demands.

Like, I never wanted to do that.

And then, you know, Jenny and I were part of a church plant in Georgia, and it went sideways and it was, we got hurt and burned by the church.

And we're like, we never want to be a part of a church plant.

And then, like about 10 years ago, Steve Clifford at Westgate, I was working at Westgate at the time, uh, Westgate Church, local amazing church here, which birthed awakening.

Uh, he said, Hey Ryan, would you ever be willing to plant a church?

And I already knew my answer.

I went back to Jenny, told what Steve had said, and you know, I gave this half-hearted prayer, honestly.

And then I went back to Steve and said, No, no, I don't want to plant a church.

You know, never, never, Lord.

That's not in our cards.

And then a year later, something had shifted in our hearts.

We just felt like our season at Westgate was over, but we weren't sure what was next.

So we're praying, we're seeking God.

What do you have?

And finally we were open to the possibility of God using us to plant awakening church.

And if you come to intro next week, you'll get to hear more of the story of how God led us to that point.

Now, here's what's amazing is my never, I had no idea what my never really was saying against.

I had no idea on the other side of never, what I would have missed out had we never stepped into leading a church, had we never stepped into uh planting awakening church.

And here's what I've learned come to discover, and maybe some of you who've said never Lord came to discover simply this on the other side, or often our forever good is on the other side of a never Lord.

Often a forever good, our good and other people's goods, things that have the weight of eternal impact in it.

Often a forever good is on the other side of a never lord.

And I just think about if we had held and said, never are we ever gonna plant a church or lead this church, what we would have missed out on.

I couldn't imagine in that moment the impact that we would have had at Del Mar High School.

I also said, by the way, I never want to do a you know church plant in a high school setup and teardown.

Here we are, nine years later almost, and I couldn't imagine the impact and the relationship God there, God has given us there.

I couldn't imagine, you know, to see this incredible community of passionate Jesus followers and seeing lives changed and baptisms and people stepping forward in their relationship and experiencing new life with Christ.

I never could have imagined that a job I never wanted to do, I'd look back and go, I realized God had made me to do it.

And though, yeah, difficult and hard brings such joy and fulfillment.

You see, often a forever good is on the other side of a nevermore.

And I would have, and we would have missed out on the grand story that God was writing in this moment because of our never Lord.

Now, in Acts chapter 10, we actually see one of the biggest never Lords, I think, in all of the church.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

And it actually opens up uh the way for what we're doing today.

It is this never lord moment that opened up the way for most of us who are followers of Jesus who attend awakening to be a part of the church.

And if Peter in his Never Lord moment didn't go to the other side of it, we may not be doing what we're doing now.

In fact, we pick up the story in Acts chapter 10, verse 1.

Acts 10:1

Acts chapter 10, verse 1.

Acts 10:1

It begins this way.

It says, At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion.

It was uh in what was known as the Intalian Regiment.

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

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

Now, this centurion, uh Cornelius, he was over um about a hundred men.

He was part of this elite legion that was directly connected to Rome.

And if you had to like paint a picture of someone who a Jewish person would say never lord, it was a centurion who was a part of the oppressive Roman Empire who was in their region to enforce Rome's way of life.

Uh, and then not only is he a centurion, he's in Caesarea Philippi, it's this beautiful, amazing Mediterranean coastal town in the Palestinian area.

I mean, it's just beautiful, and it's named after Caesar himself because it was the Roman outpost or capital city for Rome in the Judean area.

And you go, never, Lord, here.

But yet he wasn't any typical centurion.

He was a God fear.

He actually leveraged his power and his resources for the good of others and those who were in need.

It goes on to say, one day, about three in the afternoon, he had a vision.

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

I don't know if the angels actually had that high pitch of voice.

He probably said, Cornelius.

Sorry, I just realized it sounded a little strange.

Uh Cornelius stared at him in fear, obviously.

What is it, Lord?

He asked.

The angel, the angel answered, Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.

Now send men to Joppa, that's about 35 miles south down the coast there.

Uh send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.

He is staying with Simon the Tanner, a bunch of Simons hanging out in one house, whose house is by the sea.

And so Cornelius grabs a few of his guys and sends them down to Joppa immediately.

The next day it says, about noon the following day, as these men were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

He became hungry and wanted something to eat.

And while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.

He saw heaven open and something like a large sheep being let down to earth by its four corners.

It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds.

Then a voice told him, Get up.

Where did it say?

There it is.

Get up, Peter, kill and eat.

And then here's Peter's response.

Surely not.

This is where we get the title of our series.

One translation says, Never, Lord, Peter replied, I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.

And for us to understand why Peter has such a strong response to this vision of God unfurling these, you know, animals and saying, get up and kill, it's not that he was squeamish about killing as some of us, I certainly would be.

It's actually goes back to when God led the people of Israel out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses.

And as he's establishing a new nation, he gives them these laws by which they're to live by that sets them apart from all the other nations.

In fact, they're to be a blessing to all the other nations.

All the nations are to look on the way they live and the blessing and favor of God and be drawn to God.

That was the goal and that was the purpose.

And so, so Moses on Mount Sinai receives these laws from God about how uh Israel is to go about their ways of life.

In fact, it's a lot of laws, 613 laws to be exact, and we call it the Mosaic Law or the Law of Moses.

But what we often miss or don't really totally get is there's actually three types of law in the Mosaic law or in the Old Testament, in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.

The first law is one we all know and get, the moral law.

It's the Ten Commandments, you know, don't lie, don't murder, uh, don't uh commit adultery, don't steal.

We get that, the moral law.

And in fact, all of the moral laws reiterated back into the New Testament.

As Christians, we are under the moral law.

And it's fulfilled in what's known as Christ's royal law, to love our neighbor as ourselves.

In fact, all of the moral law is just the lowest barrier to loving someone.

Think about this.

Like I'm loving you by not lying to you, right?

If I don't lie to you, that is a loving act.

If I don't steal from you, right?

That's the lowest bar possible of love.

Uh, you know, the lowest possible bar of love is not murdering you.

Yeah, thank you very much.

Not gonna do that.

The Mosaic law, the first law is the moral law.

That's what something that all of us as followers of Jesus and all of humanity, this is the way God has designed and ordered life to operate and to work.

The second, though, and we're not as familiar, is the civil law.

You remember, God's establishing a nation.

Uh, and so they need civil laws in which upon which they are to go about their life, you know, just like the laws we have in our land.

So if somebody injures my ox uh and I'm not able to do my work, what what then compensation do I get from the person who injured my ox, right?

Though that is a that's actually a legitimate thing in uh Leviticus there.

And the civil law is unpacks those sort of things, eye for an eye, would be the idea of a civil law that are specific for the nation of Israel.

And then finally, the third law that we find in the Mosaic Law is the ceremonial law.

The ceremonial laws are the things upon which the people of Israel uh did to separate or to keep themselves consecrated for God or clean, uh, to worship in a way that was utterly distinct from the nations around them.

And so there's this ritual and these ceremonies, uh, and some of it had to do with washing, some of it had to do, uh a lot of it had to do actually with what they ate.

We know that uh in our day, we talk about it as kosher, and that for them to eat certain foods, i.e.

like a pig or something like that, that would make them ceremonially unclean and unable to worship in the temple of God.

And yet, here's what we know is that in the birth of the church, uh, God's doing something completely uh new, and the spirit of God is now deposited inside every single person.

And so you don't have to go to a place anymore.

Uh the temple is no longer a place, but it's in the people of God.

And so God's showing up and he's saying to him, this incredible line, you know, uh, the voice that spoke to him a second time, do not call anything impure that God has made clean.

And Peter said, I've spent my whole life, I've never broken the I can't even think of how to say it again.

Ceremonial law, thank you very much.

I've never done these things, and now you're saying this is okay.

And this happens three times.

And he's sitting and he's trying to figure out okay, what is going on?

God, what are you doing?

He's thinking about this, and and as he's pondering uh this reality, uh, the Spirit of God says, Hey, there's three men downstairs looking for you, and I want you to go with them.

So you go down, greet them, and then wherever they're going, you go with them.

He goes down, greets them.

And uh, since he was hungry, he said, Why don't you come have dinner with me?

They have dinner.

The next day they set out back for Caesarea to go to Cornelius' house.

And we pick it up and says, the next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along.

The following day he arrived in Caesarea, Cornelius was expecting them, and he called together his relatives and close friends.

Now, notice this as Peter entered the house.

Now, this is incredible because because of the ceremonial law, a Jewish person would not enter the house of a gentile afraid of becoming unclean.

A Jewish person wouldn't eat with another Gentile, afraid of being unclean.

A Jewish person wouldn't associate with the Gentiles.

And so you see how this all of a sudden changed in a day.

As Peter entered the house, that's an incredible line.

Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence.

But Peter made him get up.

Stand up, he said.

I'm only a man.

While talking with him, Peter went inside, found a large gathering of people, and he said to them, You're well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objections that I may ask, uh may I ask why you sent for me.

He still doesn't fully know.

And so Cornelius says, Well, I had this vision.

He tells him the whole thing about the angel, and he says, We're here to listen to what you have to say.

And this is an incredible moment.

Listen to what Peter says.

He says, I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation, unheard of in the ancient day, by the way.

The one who fears him and who does what is right.

You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of not just the Jewish people, of all people, for all people.

The text goes on to say, then Peter began to preach about Jesus and what he did and who he was.

And as he was preaching this good news, the Spirit of God fell on the Gentiles and on Cornelius' house and all those who were hearing.

And he's, I mean, Peter's just astounded, and he's looking at this, and and in that day, his entire household gets baptized in those who were there.

Often, often a forever good is on the other side of a never Lord.

And it was this moment that opened the gospel for all people on the other side of Peter's never Lord.

Forever good for you, forever good for me, that opened the door that we might be a part of the forever family of God.

Powerful.

It's amazing.

God actually wants us to, by way of application, change some of the narratives of our nevers.

Change some of the storylines that we're telling ourselves that keep us from experiencing that forever good, from being a part of that story, from experiencing God's own goodness in our lives in deep and profound ways.

And there's a couple just main narratives that I hear over and over from people when it comes to never, Lord, that He says, I want to change that narrative.

I want to change that storyline.

Listen, here's the first changing the narrative of never.

The first one is this never I hear all the time.

God could never use me.

God could never use me.

I'm not Peter.

I'm not a pastor.

I'm not trained.

I'm too old.

I'm too young.

I have doubts myself.

I'm struggling.

It's been a hard year.

I'm not gifted enough.

I don't know enough.

I'm not smart enough.

And we believe this narrative that God could never use me.

And here's the crazy thing: the Bible is filled, absolutely filled with people who on the outside look like God could never use.

I mean, just chock full of it.

Think about Abraham, who's the father of our faith, and call God said, You'll be the father of many nations, and he's old as dirt, literally 90 years of age, and still doesn't have a child, not many child, a child.

And God says, I can use you wherever you are.

Think about Moses.

Moses who led Israel out of bondage from Egypt.

I mean, Moses, he murdered the Egyptian.

He he fled, hid out in the wilderness with tendon sheep, hiding.

When God called him, he's like, you know what, God, I'm not a good speaker, and you want me to speak to Pharaoh?

I have a speech impediment.

And God used Moses to lead the people of Israel out of bondage and into freedom.

I think about Rahab.

Rahab, who's who's amazing.

If you look in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew chapter one, she is in the genealogy of Jesus, in the storyline of the Savior to come.

And Rahab wasn't an Israelite.

In fact, she was a prostitute for the enemy city of Jericho.

And God says, I want to use you.

And he used Rahab.

Think about David, who was the greatest king Israel ever had.

He was known after as a man after God's own heart.

And when Samuel showed up, think about this when Samuel showed up to anoint a new king over Israel, David's own dad didn't even invite him to the party.

He's a young Ruddy kid, he just sent to look at after the sheep, and he's got other boys.

He said, Surely these are king material.

See, God can use you.

Well, let's take Peter.

I mean, Peter, the great founder of the church, that Jesus said, Upon this rock, Peter, I'll build my church.

Remember?

He's just kind of a loudmouth.

Just always put his foot in his mouth.

Brash.

I mean, at one point, talk about never.

He said, I'll never deny you, Lord.

Never, ever.

And then he denies Jesus three times and just sulks away.

And God says, I can use you.

I can use you.

See, the narrative that needs to change of our narrative, of our never, that is, is God could never use me.

Listen to how Peter says it now on the other side of the never.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession.

That here's why.

That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Like God chose you.

We talked about that last week.

A royal priesthood, a holy nation, special.

He says, that you may declare, I want to use you.

I want to use your life and your giftings to declare my excellencies of how I called you out of darkness into my wonderful light.

This is who you are in Christ.

God longs to use your life.

You know, I'm actually terrible at receiving compliments.

In fact, I've been told I'm no fun to give compliments to because I deflect them.

I say it's no big deal.

I often critique and say, you know, this is how I could do it better, or this is, you know, begin to nitpick things.

Um and I got to grow in that because I'm actually, words of affirmation is like a love language of mine.

And yet then I push those down in there.

And I remember Judy, who we're praying for, saying to me, or really actually reproving me, this powerful line.

And it's changing the narrative of never.

And here's what she said: never minimize the gifts God's placed in you.

Never disdiminish or dismiss the gifts God's placed in you.

Our tendency is to say it's no big deal.

You know what?

It comes naturally.

I, you know, and we just push it down.

Do not put down the gifts God's put in you.

You see, humility, humility is not thinking less of yourself.

It's actually thinking accurately of yourself and then thinking of yourself less.

And going, God has gifted you.

God has deposited gifts inside of you.

And He wants to use you in such incredible ways.

And when you just begin to look in and go, you're chosen, you're royal, you're holy, and you're gifted by God.

And don't minimize it, don't dismiss it, don't uh, you know, disu diminish it and go, okay, God, you've placed this in me to use me to declare your excellencies of him who's called me out of darkness into his glorious, wonderful light.

Changing the narrative of never.

God can never use me, change it to never minimize the gifts God's placed in you.

The second never is God could never reach them.

I know I'm talking to somebody right now, and the minute that came up, a family member came to mind who's always made fun of you or put you down for your faith.

Who, when you're sitting around at the family gatherings and uh, you know, they they just can't help like, you know, throw those little daggers at you, and God can never reach them.

Or maybe it's a friend, maybe somebody you've known your whole life that you grew up with, but but so antagonistic to your faith and you love them dearly, but they just seem so far from God.

Maybe it's a coworker, uh, you know, and maybe it's your boss, or maybe it's an employee where the environment just feels so hostile.

They're not spiritual, they're not even interested in things.

God could never reach them.

Maybe it's some of your neighbors, maybe it's people, you know, that your kids play sports with.

Maybe it's friends that you hang out with at the gym.

That you can really be at the gym right now.

But then we go, God could never reach them.

And the reality is, is there's no lost cause with God.

Remember last week what we said, we said there is no path you can go down where Jesus is not also lovingly pursuing you.

Now think about this.

No one would have thought, no one would have imagined that a gentile, centurion military leader, his family, his household, and his friends in the Caesarea would have stepped into faith in Jesus.

No one would have thought that Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of the faith on the road to Damascus to enact such harm, would encounter Jesus, give his life to him, and then become the most prolific preacher for Jesus to the Gentile world.

No one would have thought that a persecution that broke out on the church would have then opened up the doors for a revival to take place in the Samaritan area, where there was such deep animosity between Jews and Gentile.

And all of these friends, in their day was lost causes and what you would think beyond their reach.

God could never reach them.

And the truth is, God is never, they are never beyond the reach of God.

Listen, then this is why Peter yet again says this.

As a result, then, but in your hearts revere or set apart Christ as Lord.

Always be prepared.

See, if we think they could never be reached, we'll never be prepared.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have, that you're in people's lives and they see your life in such a way, and it's so distinct in the midst of turbulence, so distinct in the midst of uh the craziness of a world that they go, there's something hopeful about your life.

There's something that's at peace in the midst of the storm.

And I can't quite put my finger on it, but I want what you have, and that means we have to be living in proximity in relation to people.

And he says, but do this with gentleness and respect.

Our answer, our response, and our preparation is always going to be in humility and gentleness and respect.

There is no one that's outside or beyond the reach or the grace of God.

And so here's the narrative change for us.

From God could never reach them, here's what I want us to embrace instead.

Never say someone's no for them.

Never say someone's no.

We do this, I do this.

Oh, they're not interested.

They're not really spiritual or the religious type.

It's not their thing, or they're too busy.

They don't seem to need Jesus.

And I don't know if this is true for you, but this has been my experience over COVID and shelter in place, like being isolated from everybody, like the avenues upon which I was in life with people was taken away.

And I work at a church, and so everybody I'm around is Christians.

Around virtually most of the time.

You know, and even the times we used to hang out with our neighbors because of uh COVID, we no longer would do those outdoor gatherings.

And we have to be so intentional, and I'm preaching to me right now.

We have to be so intentional because sometimes our no's isn't like we're not inviting someone, it's just that we're not in their life.

We're not connected, we're not with them, and it takes such great intentionality and effort in this season, doesn't it, to be in somebody's life because we don't cross paths the way we used to?

And we're never gonna say they're never beyond their reach, we're just not gonna say someone's no for them.

And I just wonder, I just wonder, how would our prayer life change?

How would our prayer life change if we really believed there was no one beyond the reach and the grace of God?

You know, when we started this series, I left us with a prayer leading into Easter.

And it's simply this prayer, and it's a prayer we've prayed many, many times as a church, but it's one that I find my heart that I have to re-engage consistently.

And it's the prayer that says, Heavenly Father, would you give me an opportunity to share with someone in some way about you today?

But I don't know what that some way is, and it might just be an encouragement, it might just be being present, it might be that they they're asking, you know, hey, could you pray for me?

Or could I pray for you?

But Heavenly Father, would you give me an opportunity to share with someone in some way about you today?

See, often a forever good is on the other side of a never Lord.

And just imagine, just imagine if Peter never moved beyond never Lord, where we would be, where the church would be.

And aren't you so glad?

And I'm so glad that he did.

And what is it for us?

What is the nevers in our lives that God's saying, I want you to move to the other side.

There's a forever good in your life, there's a forever good in someone else's life.

There's there's things that I'm wanting to do, but but the never Lord is in the way, and we go, okay, God, instead have your way.

I'm yours.

And imagine what God wants to do in and through.

Let's pray.

Jesus, I pray for my friends right now as we're hearing your word and challenged.

And when the nevers come up because of our own fears, our own insecurities, our own doubts.

And God, right now, would you move in this moment to draw us closer to you, to say, Lord, have your way that we might be used of you to declare your excellencies, your grace, your love, your hope to a hurting world, to hurting friends and co-workers and family with gentleness and respect.

Would you make us that kind of church?

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

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