Bible Guys Classics: Acts 10 Part 2

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So today we're continuing on the story of the Italian

Stallion Cornelius.

Yes, because you said that because he was the centurion

in charge of the Italian Regiment. Is that why he

said that? Yes, the Italian Stallion. Okay, well he's Chris

and he is Italian, and I'm Jeff and we're the

Bible guys. Boom, it's got that big explosion at the end.

It does it does? It lasts too long? Hey, So

last week you asked me a segment and you said,

what made Chris mad this week?

Yeah, that was very enlightening. You were mad about shopping carts.

Shopping carts, Yes, and I said that anybody who doesn't

return their card is not a nice person. Yeah.

Yeah, it's implied they might not even be on the

way to heaven.

Okay, so this week it's appropriate that I turn around

for this segment and ask you what has made you mad?

Oh? So what made Jeff mad this week?

Yeah?

Oh you know what? So I have a problem. Well

we all know that, Yes, I mean, well, this is

a bad problem.

Which one?

So I get angry? Do you get angry?

Uh? I don't think I do? My daughter?

Does I do? I? And so I feel bad because

for some reason, I don't know, I just got really

out of sorts with Bonnie, my wife, this last week.

And she's like, I just think we need some time apart.

Yeah, and she didn't mean mad, not separate, now separated, just.

Jeff, you need to go get somebody and calm yourself down.

Yeah, there we go. Okay.

So I just remember, it's like everything said, every decision

anybody around me was making just made me mad. It's

just stupid. Everything was stupid, just made me mad. I

didn't know why. So then I go and I can't remember.

I had a taco or something, and then everything was better.

Everything better.

So I don't know why I get angry, but I do.

And everything irritates me. I'm serious. The color of this

guy irritates me. The breeze on my face here, everything

makes me angry. And then you know it just takes

a little sandwich or a little sandwich everything better.

Yeah, i'd be honest, I don't think, But then again

I probably wouldn't know, so you'd have to ask my wife.

Yeah, oh, I know, I can tell like I'm just

getting out of control. Yeah, you can tell your shay

I'm spiraling. Okay, So I thought you were saying you

could tell. I'm like, get away from me. I just

want to growl it over.

Yeah, I don't think I want to go on record

and say I don't think I get angry at all.

So what makes Jeff mad? I think the answer is

not having lunch.

A late lunch, not having food, that's right, A.

Late lunch makes me angry, that's funny. So I'm sorry, Bonnie,

and I'm glad that she let me sleep indoors. That

very nice, very nice. So once I had a sandwich,

I was fine. So we are containing hey real quick? Yeah?

Yeah, do you make your own sandwiches most of the time,

or does Bonnie make them for you?

Oh? I demand them.

A woman.

Yeah, I'm making myself. I do not all, but I

do a lot of the cooking. Yeah, I love it.

Well, that wasn't like a wife homemaker reference.

Yeah, but you set me up for it. I had

no choice.

Well, no, no, I don't care about that. I mean

I care about the fact that every home has their

own system.

Yes, right, that's what I was meaning.

So you have your own system, you make most of

the food, so therefore you lot sandwiches. Well, in my house,

my wife is the one who grew else.

Oh yeah.

And I don't know why people have to share. I've

always thought I've always thought, yeah, you my wife can

share grilling recipes. I've always thought that that I would

do the grilling. But then she just sort of did

it one day, and then she likes it, and I

was like, well, that's okay. I don't really have that

big of a desire to do it. So I think

that consequently, she just makes better sandwiches than I do.

Oh wow, she just does.

So I just so a lot of times, you know,

she won't even tell me what she's making.

It's super convenient that you're able to be so complimentary

about how amazing she isn't making sandwiches.

It is convenient.

That's a that's a tremendous strategy. Young men, all of

you brand new married men, just compliment your wife on

how amazing she is. You're so much better than I

am making these amazing sandwiches. Okay, you keep doing that.

Nobody can do this like you. I cannot put this

meat down on this bread. Not possible. I cannot put

the slices in between these stupiece of bread.

Leg Are you doing voodoo in the kitchen? Oh, it's brilliant.

You are a genius.

Thank you.

You're an evil genius.

You're awesome. I love you.

That's great.

So, by the way, she's in the bathroom right now,

putting on her makeup for going to work, is listening

to this.

Yeah, okay, every day, every day, every day? Yeah? All right, Well,

now you know one of his secrets, Liz. Don't let

him get away.

With it, Okay, okay.

So we are finishing up the story of Cornelius, right,

and he's the leader of the Italian regiment. He's a centurion.

He's a good guy. But even good guys need Jesus right,

and so good guy, but he still was separated from God.

And so God sends Peter. God has to overcome Peter's biases,

and Peter goes, I'm not comfortable being here. You know,

I'm not supposed to be here, but God told me

to be here. And so Peter walks through the door.

And then here's the rest of the story. So we're

going to start in verse thirty four in Acts, chapter ten,

and it just says, 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. And 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 Jerusalem,

and 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 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 ordered us to preach every 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 who believes in him will have their sins

forgiven through his name. Even as Peter was saying these things,

the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to

the message, and the Jewish believers who came with Peter

were amazed that the gift the Holy Spirit had been

poured out on the Gentiles too, for they heard them

speaking in other tongues and praising God. Then Peter asked,

can anyone object to their being baptized now that they've

received the Holy Spirit just as we did. So he

gave orders for them to be baptized in the name

of Jesus Christ, and afterwards Cornelius asked him to stay

with them for several days. Wow, that's so cool. So,

as far as we know, this is the first gentile convert,

non Jewish convert, as far as we know, it's the first,

first one mentioned in the Bible.

Yeah, it's an accuracy and making an.

Emphatic statement that this is the first gentile that became

a Christian in the book.

Okay, he's saying that because we because the heading on

our note says Cornelius is the first gentile convert. And

I made a comment, and here's the comment. And this

comment is irrefutable, by the way I'm laying irrefutable. I'm

laying the line.

There's an open minded person, please tell us.

Well, no, I mean facts are facts. Yeah, this table

is would Yeah, okay, and it's this the first gentile convert.

I said, well, it's actually the first gentile convert convert

mentioned in the Bible. Yes, right, So unless the Bible

goes out of its way to say, hey, just Crnelius

was the first John, I agree.

I just said it.

Yeah, he said it the way you told me to

say it, did you. Yes, Just now I think we

should rewind the tape on that one. Oh no, no, you

said he's the first gentile.

Convert that we know of in the Bible.

I said it that way, Okay, all right, So anyway,

I'm I have this.

I feel like sometimes you just want to fight, just

to fight.

Well, you beat me at the fall kickoff, and I

feel still bitter about it. So let me just say this.

I do have a little bit of a thing. Yes,

and so I could just talk about this for two secs.

Why I brought it up.

Yeah, So anybody who attaches something that isn't in the

Bible irritates me. So for instance, there was a speaker

at my old church and he was talking about a

lot of these Jewish customs and mentalities. And the woman

who touched Jesus' garment, remember that, he said, Jesus turned around.

He goes, let me tell you why Jesus turned around,

And the why wasn't because of the power drained. It

was something else. And then he said and then he

noticed blah blah blah. And I actually thought to myself

and I said this to him later, which he did

not appreciate. I said, are you literally telling me that

you know the why behind jesus motives, what he was thinking,

what he was feeling, what his motives were. When it's

not given in the Bible. Now, all of it could

be completely be okay. With one single tiny tweak. You

can say this, he probably turned around for that reason,

or it's.

A good maybe, or maybe yeah, have you ever thought

maybe he turned around?

But if you want to lean toward confidence, you could

say there's a good chance. Right, So you can say

all those things, but you have to you have to

not You can't say definitively that Cornelius is the first

convert in the Bible, because there's a good chance that

maybe he was.

Right the first gentile convert.

Here's where it makes sense. It makes sense that, you know,

the Holy Spirit gets poured out to the gentiles afterwards,

it makes sense that Cornelius is this huge influence because

of his position as a Roman centurion. Makes sense that

he would have been the first convert.

Well, the next chapter also Peter gets hauled in for

leading a gentile to Christ and has to justify why

you baptized him. That's great, right, so the consequences, Yeah, so.

Then there's probably, yeah, very.

Likely, so he is the first gentile convert in the Bible, right,

we just don't know that he's the first gentile convert

in christ in the history of christian.

And the history. Yeah, so my big tweak for pastors

and teachers isn't a big tweak at all. Just say

most likely or probably, or I believe, even I believe

is subjective.

Right, Well, this is the reason why I want to

bring this up is because you know you'll hear us say.

Sometimes you hear me say when I'm speaking. The reason

why I want to use more scripture and less of

Jeff's words is because Jeff's opinions don't matter any more

than anybody else's opinions. What the words of God say

in the Bible, that's what matters. So if the words

say it, we believe those words. If the words leave

stuff out, well then we shouldn't. We can try to

connect the dots and fill in the gaps, but we

can't definitively say that God said those things because the

words of the Bible don't say he was the first

convert in all of Christianity, the first gentile convert. But

he appears to be, at least in the storyline of Scripture.

He's the first one mentioned, and it sure seems like

it stirs up pot afterwards, and so evidences are Cornees

was probably the first gentile convert. But the Bible doesn't

specifically say that, so it's fair to kind of wrestle

with it a little bit. And I think I think

that your your opinion on that is very solid. Be

careful about saying things the Bible doesn't say. Just say

the things the Bible does say, right.

And so there isn't I don't remember where this is.

I think it might have been in Deuteronomy, where it says,

and it has the weirdest words. It says, don't add

a jot or a tittle to God's word. And a

jot and a tittle were the smallest marks. They were

sort of like equivalent to today is like apostrophes or

right or commas. That's how small they were jots and

tittles in that language. And so but it would say

don't add a jot or a tittle, in other words,

don't add a single thing that isn't there. So it

just it just is a great challenge for all of

us to say. And by the way, you could say,

I fully believe with all my heart this thing. And

that's fine if you want to go strong on something.

So that being said, and I just really want to

spend it because we spent a big time yesterday on

this story a little bit, but I wanted to cover that.

I thought that was a great idea. But what you

have here now is Peter explains the gospel. Now, the

gospel is not just you all people need Jesus. That's

not the gospel. The gospel is we're sinners all y'all

people need Jesus. Right, that's not the gospel. Your opinion

that people need to be Christians is not the gospel.

Our idea that more people need to pray or go

to church, that's not the gospel. The gospel is we're

all sinners separated from God. Jesus died on the cross

and rose again, and if we'll have faith in Him,

we can have forgiveness of sins. We repent of our

sins and place our faith in him, we can have

forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God in heaven.

And this is basically the storyline that he's telling it.

And then he says, and we were witnesses of the

fact that he died and rose again. Right, So this

is the gospel presentation that he's making. Cornelius and the

others they received Christ, and the Holy Spirit falls on

Cornelius and the other listeners at that point. So Peter

isn't just giving his own opinions here. He's explaining the

gospel from a biblical the actual events of the death

baron resurrection of Christ.

So let me tell a real quick story. Yesterday I

did a funeral and I officiated a funeral. And it

wasn't a family that I knew. It was a funeral

home that needed a non denominational pastor. Apparently, she the deceased,

was ninety six years old, by the way, So that's

a pretty good long life, isn't it. So she grew

up in the Great Depression. It's pretty fascinating you're.

Ninety six years old. It doesn't matter if she'd gotten

hit by a bus. It was still natural causes. Right

at that point, you've lived a long time.

Right. So she has one daughter and a son in law,

and they were my contacts, and we were collecting information

about her life and things, and so you know, it

was a hodgepodge where the dad was Catholic, she was

a Presbyterian, and the daughter was Methodist. It was pretty crazy,

so they called me. So anyway, I go in there

and I sit down with this gentleman and his first

name was Dave, and Dave said, Dave said two things

that stood in my mind. The first thing he said

is he said, well, I grew up in a certain

faith that taught me that it's that all the other

faiths are bad and mine's the only faith. And so

he had this sort of issue at the fact that

you know that I was even there, right, And he says,

if you're not of this faith that I grew up in,

then then you're not You don't you don't count. And

I laughed, and I said, you know what's so funny,

Dave is I was sort of taught the same thing

growing up. And I said, it took me a long

time to sort of unlearned that. And it really depends

on where you believe the authority comes from, because if

you believe the authority lies with man commissioned by God,

you know, and the church has the authority to speak

on behalf of God, then you know that's that's a

whole different story. But if you believe the authority with

the word of God that I'm going to tell you

that Nowhere in the Bible does it say that. And

he said, really, doesn't say that in the Bible. I

said no. So that was his first thing. He was like, huh,

I've never heard. I've never heard that. I always had

the Bible said that, and I said, no, doesn't say

that in the Bible. Okay. First thing. Second thing was

whether that's extremely relevant to Cornelius, right, being brainwashed by people? Right?

And then and then the second thing was I stood

up there and I gave the gospel, which is exactly

what Peter did with in Corneus's home, and I said,

you know, Jesus Christ died in the cross for only

one reason, to pay for your sins and mine fully completely.

And finally, and then and I said, most people believe

they get to heaven based on their good versus they're bad.

But we just have to believe in what was done

for us at the cross of cavalry. So we get done.

And you know, and I only share like five or

six minutes some comforting promises of the scriptures. We get done.

And now, granted, you have to understand they're they're playing

a last song, they're going to do final respects. People

have come up and passed by the casket, like there's

still more funeral to happen, Right, So I get up

and I walk out. This dude gets up and follows me, leaves,

the funeral comes and follows me in the hallway and

he goes. I have never heard that, And so what

he was really saying was and all of his time

associated and he got offended by the church in nineteen

sixty nine hadn't been back. But in all the time

growing up, he had never heard his claims where he

had never heard plainly that that's how you get to heaven.

Wow.

Yeah, And I thought that's unbelievable.

Well, this is the story of Cornelius.

Right.

Cornelius was a good man who did a lot of

good things. He might have been the best Roman soldier

as far as morality goes, but he still needed the

Gospel to penetrate his life. He still needed his sins forgive,

and he still needed to place his faith in Jesus Christ. Right,

there's so many good people, people who do good things,

but you can't get into heaven just good deeds. Cornelius

wasn't on his way to heaven until responded to the

good news that Jesus paid the price for our sins

right and rose again. And so what a powerful thing

for many people when they discover there's no way to

heaven except through Jesus Christ. Right, it's not your good deeds.

So this is Peter back to the very first verse

we read. He said, I see very clear that God

shows no favoritism. This kind of goes back to the

conversation we had a little bit yesterday. The racial thing,

the social thing, all those things, and then God accepts

those who fear him. That's really the issue. Some of

us reject God, reject Christ. And God's fine, I'll let

you do your own thing. But if you fear Me

and you come to me, then I will receive you.

I'll accept you. And this is what's happening in this context.

And then what do they do. The Holy Spirit comes

on them at salvation, so there's not some other secondary thing.

It's at the moment they trust Christ, the Holy Spirit

comes on them. And then Peter goes, we need the

baptizem or is anybody going to objective I baptize these Gentiles. Now,

most of the Christians would have objected, probably right, But

because Peter goes, nobody's gonna object here are they. Right.

Peter's using kind of his apostolic authority and his influence

in the church, being maybe the most influential Christian leader

at the time. He's going, nobody's gonna argue me, argue

with me about baptizing Cornelius. And this this is a

very significant moment. So he orders them to be baptized

in the name of Jesus Christ, and then he stays

and teaches Cornelius for a little while.

You know, another thing that we can learn from this

passage is it says that as Peter said these things,

the Holy Spirit came down. And then it says the

Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed at the

gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on

the Gentiles too too. Right, Also, what like like the

same God for me is for them.

So here's here's shocking when when you have the awareness

that God loves your enemies as much as he loves you, Right,

that's a that that messes you up.

So so here's here's the lesson for us here's another Yeah,

another lesson hidden in this passage. Don't underestimate the power

of influence. Don't underestimate the fact that Peter led the way,

and that those who were thinking the same thing that

Peter was thinking when he was praying on a flat

rooftop and God shows him in a vision clearly that

you know that God shows no favoritism. You know, those

other guys didn't have the dream. Those other guys didn't

you know, here's what happened. They watched Peter show no favoritism.

They watched Peter preach the gospel, and then they saw

God working in gentiles, and so they were influenced by Peter,

who led the way. And you know what it is.

It is an amazing thing when you see someone take

a stand in the moment and then watch other people

finally who are afraid to take a stand finally say oh,

thank goodness that person took a stand so I can

align with them or voice my opinion, you know, because

it all it takes is just you know, it's like

that movie I'm famous for movie quote, say we bought

a zoo? Yes, okay, remember twenty seconds of courage? No

what Okay? Doesn't matter.

I saw the movie.

Okay, So Matt Damon said, I watched.

A movie and like fifteen minutes later, I don't remember anything.

Okay. Well, the premise was all you need is twenty

seconds of courage that could change your life. And it

was the twenty seconds of courage that he ran and

asked his wife out for a date that set his legacy.

So anyway, that's the point. And so for you to

take a stand when nobody else is taking a stand,

or speak up or do what is right, or to

actually just say, you know what, I kind of disagree

with everybody in the room, or I believe this, or yes,

I do have these values in my life. You can

make fun of me all you want, but I'm going

to say it out loud. And if you take that stand,

watch how many other people who were afraid to align

that way fall right behind you because they're thinking that

they're feeling it. But all they need is a leader. Yeah,

and it doesn't take much to lead.

I think a lot of words are said about equality

and about favoritism and bias and all these things, and

I think one of the best things that can happen

is anybody who has any influence. Parents, the best thing

rather than preaching to your kids about accepting other people,

demonstrate it, live it right right, leverage your influence, advocate

on behalf of those who don't have a voice, those

kinds of things where you just model it and you

show this is what we do and this is how

we behave. We're not going to get caught up in

the fights. We're not going to get caught up in

the arguments. We're not going to argue polemics, We're not

gonna argue all these things. Instead, I'm just going to

model the fact that I don't show favoritism to other people. Right,

we treat everybody the same. And the modeling of it

was huge here. And because he didn't pick a fight,

he does ask is anybody going to object? But he's

pretty much letting them know nobody's going to object. That's

what he's doing right, right, And he leverages his influence

and they baptize them. So for some people, there's this

big holy spirit moment right in this moment, for Cornelius

and his other people, for the apostles in the upper room,

there's a big, huge holy spirit moment. Did you notice

there was no giant Holy Spirit moment. For Paul, there's

never a time where it goes and there was a

mighty rushing wind and he begins to speaking tongues right, right,

So something he did have scales phosph Yeah, but it

wasn't the Holy Spirit moment. It doesn't say anying about

the Holy Spirit there. So so we do know from

Cornelius the story you receive the Holy Spirit at salvation.

Right.

Sometimes it's dramatic, sometimes it's not, and both are okay,

right now, go live in the power. The Holy Spirit

really is the is the answer, and that's always going

to be producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit, love, joy, piece,

all those kinds of things and God's God's going to

do in your life, and also going and making other

believers operating. You will be my witnesses, right, and so

that's really cool.

Well, that's a great place to end, and we will

see you next time on the Daily Bible, guys,