Acts Chapter 10:24-29

Our lives should be built around these things, to love and serve God, to love and serve others, to show and tell others about Jesus. Now, included in this is coming into a relationship with God, worshiping God, and learning about God.

But, you know, Jesus Himself said all the law hangs on these two things, love God and love others as yourself. If we did this as a believer, we would be impacting the world in a much more significant way than we are. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of The Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. As Christians, we live an action faith, not one that's just sitting around, but one that's impacting the world. Today, Pastor David explains what this faith looks like as he continues teaching in the book of Acts chapter 10.

Now here's David McGee with his teaching, The Church Expands. We're in the book of Acts and what's happening at this point, it's a very historic chapter, Acts chapter 10. It's historic in the sense that up till now, those who wanted to trust in Jesus have been Jewish. And there were some, we were told Hebrew speaking Jews and there was Hellenized or Greek speaking Jews, but only Jewish people were in the church up to this point. And, you know, some people weren't born Jewish, but they were proselytized or they converted to Judaism and then joined the church.

But again, chapter 10 changes everything because what happens is Cornelius, a man up in Caesarea, which is a very real town, you can visit there today, he has this vision and he sends some friends down to talk to Peter, who Peter at the same time is having this vision about opening the church up, opening and telling others about Jesus Christ. And again, it's hard for us to comprehend what the Jewish people thought about the Gentiles. I mean, they thought they were unclean. They thought they were horrible. They wouldn't hang out with them. They wouldn't touch them.

They would walk on the other side of the street. And the Gentiles thought that the Jewish people were just religious elitists who weren't glorifying God in their lives. And, and so that's kind of the setup.

And so there's a lot of walls that need to be broken down. And, and so where we're going to pick up as verse 24, where these men from Cornelius have gone to Peter, Peter has joined with them, and now they're going to back to see Cornelius verse 24 says in the following day, they entered Caesarea now Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. Yeah, I like this. And I like Cornelius. Cornelius, you know, we're told in early in this chapter was a devout man. He was a good man. He was a prayerful man. He, he helped out the poor. And yet we're going to see in chapter 11 that he was not saved. He did not have a relationship with Jesus.

He had not yet asked for the forgiveness of his sins. Now, and again, these are real places that Joppa and Caesarea and, and still exist to this day now, but look, Cornelius has had called together his relatives and close friends. It's really cool. And you know, what's really awesome is to see that happen in here. And, and we don't expect you to get your friends all cleaned up or get your family acting right before you get them here. I mean, that didn't happen with any of us, did it? I mean, we got here and then God started changing our lives and, you know, the church isn't somewhere you go when you have it all figured out and, and you're doing everything right.

It's when you go, when you don't have everything figured out and things aren't going well, that's the very place you run to. I came across an interesting statistic that suggests that 40% of people who don't believe in Jesus are open to having conversations about Jesus in the Bible, 40%, four out of 10. Now, when you hear that statistic, you think, Oh, no way. I think there is a way, you know, I've shared my faith a lot and had a lot of conversations with people. And it's been by far the rare exception that somebody will turn to me and say, you know what?

I absolutely do not want to talk about any of this. There's an openness. Now, what do we do with that?

Openness is the question. See, because if there's 40% that are open to having that conversation and we're not pursuing those conversations, we're not doing what Jesus told us to do. And we need to be busy about his business. The key verse in the book of Acts, and we'll refer back to it a lot. Acts chapter one, verse eight says, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth, we should be making a difference. Now, according to the Bible, our life should be making a difference.

Not, not just as a church corporately, that's true, but also as individuals, we should be making a difference. Now maybe you're sitting and you go, well, I'm kind of overwhelmed with that. Let me tell you a story. I was down at, I think it was North Myrtle beach. I was at some beach and some storm had happened and maybe, you know, a biologist or somebody could maybe explain this a little more, but there were grasshoppers all in the surf and they were drowned and they were dying. So I went around picking up the grasshoppers and putting them back in the seagrass.

You know, I'm looking down the, the beach and there's just, I don't know, there's thousands of them, but you know, I kept grabbing them and putting them in the, and you know, Nora was like, what are you doing? I said, well, you know, saving these grasshoppers and, and maybe you're sitting there and go, pastor David, that's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard, you know, or you're going, oh, you know, one of the two. Is that an important thing to do? I can only tell you that through the grasshopper that I picked up, it was very important.

It was very important. Some of your friends and family are waiting for an invitation to come to church with you. And there are certain things you can do. Hey, come with church with me. We'll go out and launch or come to church with me.

I'll meet you outside or I'll come pick you up. Those little things, they can make a huge difference. They can make a huge difference. And we want to consciously reach out to people. Now here's the life lesson. We are supposed to impact the world with our faith. And again, what we try to do is we try to teach you how to do that. We try to walk with you down that road. We want to make sure on Sunday mornings that you know, you're assured that there's going to be an effective presentation of the gospel every Sunday morning so that you can bring these people. That's why we have these cards and these invites and all these things. And together we can build an environment to love these people. You understand that Jesus is very concerned about two things, about us reaching people and what we do with them when they come, how we respond to them, how we treat them, how we love them. That's very important. You know, and so, you know, we've got the greeters and the parking lot attendants and the guest services.

Why? To love them to people when you bring them because we're representing Jesus together. Remember that next time during meet and greet, we're representing Jesus. Look around the room, see who's not being greeted. See who's kind of standing off to themselves and make it a point to go to them and say, Hey man, I'm so glad you're here.

It just can make all the difference in the world. Verse 25. As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down on his feet and worshiped him. Peter lifted him up saying, stand up.

I myself am also a man. Now, when it says he worshiped him, it's a word in the Greek that could in fact mean worship. And it might also mean reverence. In Roman practices, you often would bow yourself before somebody that was of a higher authority than you.

That could have been the case. And Peter being a Jewish person may not have been familiar with that, but notice what he says. He says, get up, don't do this.

Don't do this. Now we need to understand our spiritual leaders are people. They eat, they sleep, they need time to do those things. They mess up sometimes. They, you know, they're real people and we need to understand that.

And Cornelius, I'm not sure he understands this. And, you know, oftentimes we put, I think unrealistic expectations on people in ministry. I'm not speaking to myself specifically.

I'm just saying in general and be careful of that. Be careful of putting people on a pedestal because God's the only one that needs to be worshiped and elevated and stuff like that. And obviously, and it's interesting, Cornelius does this to Peter. Peter says, don't do this, but look what one section of the church has done to Peter, St. Peter, and they've elevated him, elevating to the point that, you know, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, as people come by, they kiss his big toe. And so many people have kissed his big toe that it's worn off. You think Peter would be okay with that?

Well, as I read this, I don't think he would be. And let me be honest, I've got no desire to kiss Peter's big toe. I mean, he's obviously an awesome brother.

I look forward to meeting him when we all get there, but kissing his big toe is weird, but that's part of the thing. Roman Catholicism also says that Peter was the first Pope. It's kind of interesting because Peter was married. Peter was married, you know, I mean, did God know Peter was married when he made him Pope? I don't, you know, I'm kidding. God, God knew he was married.

There's, I'll give you the reference in case you ever need it. Um, Luke chapter four, verse 38, it says, now he arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house, Simon Peter, but Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever and they made requests of him concerning her. Have you got a mother-in-law? You know what that means? It means you're married. It means you're married his wife's mother. And I've heard the nonsense that that's not what it means, but that is what it means.

And so Peter was married. You're listening to pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be right back with more in just a moment, but I want to remind you of the free resources available to you on crossthebridge.com. There's a team of hundreds of people that will pray for somebody to be saved. You have a loved one that needs to know Jesus as savior. You need people to pray for him.

You need someone to present God's word to him. Every day we're presenting God's word to him here on Cross the Bridge with pastor David McGee. We can pray for them as well, just by simply going to crossthebridge.com and click on the pray for the lost button. All you need to do is put in the first names of the people you love that need to know Jesus as savior, click on submit, and immediately hundreds of people will begin praying for your lost loved ones.

And what an awesome way to bring your loved ones to Jesus. Here's a word from associate pastor DA Brown. We want to take just a minute to pray for some cities in our listening audience, specifically York, Pennsylvania, and Bluffton, Charleston, Columbia, Conway, Florence, and Greenville, South Carolina. Lord, thank you for the people living in these cities.

Lord, thank you for what you're doing there. We pray that your Holy Spirit would pour out and draw many people into a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus. Father, that people would put their trust in you, receive your forgiveness, and get plugged into a local Bible teaching church. Give the pastors discernment and wisdom on how to bless and lead these people, Father. Lord, we pray that we'd walk in unity. Lord, we pray for the city leaders that you would bless them and give them wisdom, the mayor, the fire chiefs, the police chief, Father. Lord, that we would be admirable servants of you so that people might see our unity and want a relationship with you also. Lord, we love you.

We thank you for these people. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 27. And as he talked with them, he went in and found many who had come together.

So this is cool. Again, Cornelius kind of gathered up his friends and got them all together. Verse 28. Then he said to them, you know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Now, previously in this chapter, Peter has this vision when he's hungry on the rooftop of looking at all these animals that were unclean. And God is saying, you know what, they're not unclean. Don't call anything common that what God has cleansed you must not call common is the verse in 15. And so Peter is being taught this lesson. So he shows up and he's being taught this.

But notice the parallel he makes. He says in this verse, I should not call any man common or unclean. Now, we went over this last week, but there were animals that you weren't supposed to eat in the Hebrew scriptures and there were animals that it was okay to eat. And we talked about the fact that it goes into great detail in the book of Leviticus. Here's kind of a trick question of how far back does clean and unclean animals go? It goes past the book of Leviticus, past Abraham, all the way back to Noah.

Because there's a verse in there. Genesis chapter seven, verse two says this. This is God speaking to Noah and he says, you shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female to each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female.

So seven of the clean, two of the unclean. How did Noah know? God told him way back then God revealed to Noah what was clean and what was unclean. So it's not only part of the Levitical law. Now the book of Leviticus goes into more details about this, but it goes back to Noah.

Now let's understand that this issue of separation too, because there's something that we can, we can learn from this. Why did God tell the Jewish people to be separated from the Gentiles? Well, let's go back and remember what Gentile means literally. We interpret it now as anybody that's non-Jewish. What it literally meant was idol worshipers, those who worshiped idol. And God said, I don't want you hanging out with these idol worshipers.

You know, as I was thinking that there's kind of a play on words there in there. Cause you think idol worshiper, I D O L, idol worshipers, those who worship idols, but what if you spell idol, I D L E worshipers who are idle, who aren't active in their faith and serving the Lord. I don't think we should be either. I don't think we should be I dole worshipers. And I don't think we should be out of worshipers not doing anything, but this was the stumbling block. And as you go through the Hebrew scriptures, as you go through the Old Testament, you know what you see time and time again, the Jewish people are stumbled by these idols and they take part in these ceremonies.

They got no business taken part of, and they're stumbled by these idol worshipers. So there was a concept and there is a practical application of that concept for us this morning, the life lesson. Don't hang out with people who stumble you. Don't hang out with people who stumble you. Well, I got to reach out to them and give them the good news. You know what? If you're struggling with alcohol and you go to somebody that drinks and you end up drinking with him, what news is it that you're sharing?

How different are you than him? You know what? Give it a rest.

Take it to season. You know, make sure that you grow in this area. And then at some point you can go back and begin sharing the good news. But if you just go back and you're stumbling and floundering right in front of them, bro, that's not doing anybody any good. So be careful with this, whether it's drugs or alcohol or idolatry or gossip, be careful with that one because you can stumble people. And if they're stumbling you, you know what?

You may need to change relationships for a season until you grow in these areas. So the concept was a good one. Don't hang out. But here's what happened. The Jewish people began looking at the practices of the Gentiles and instead of understanding that the practices were unclean, they started looking at the people as if they were unclean. Do we ever do that? We do it all the time.

We do it all the time. There are people that, yeah, they're doing things that God says not to do. You know, they're smoking dope, snorting dope, shooting dope, and homosexuality and lesbians and all these things. But we need to remember God died for each and every person that's on this planet. And his hand of redemption wants to reach out to them.

Now, let me make sure we're clear. Those things are wrong. The Bible says they're wrong. But they can be forgiven and people can be, they can be restored and they can be healed of those things. As long as we understand that what they're doing is wrong, but they themselves, God is wanting us to reach out to them. And what had happened is it had gotten to such a religious point that, look at Peter's opening statement to this group in verse 28. You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. He's saying, you know what? You guys are unclean.

You guys are, that's, that's, that's one way to start a message, I guess. But you know, it's kind of a, it's kind of an interesting thing and a strong statement to them. And what's interesting is it really, and we talked last week, Levitical law is contained in the book of Leviticus and other parts of the first five books of the Bible. Rabbinical law is stuff they added later. Really what Peter's talking about here is a little of both because they weren't told not to go to anybody of other nations. There were certain people groups they weren't supposed to marry, but it wasn't said, it wasn't expressed that they should never go to one of another nation.

So what happened? Religion and crept in. And before we start throwing stones at the Jewish people for religion creeping in guys, you don't have to look very far today to see how religion has crept in to Christianity in America.

We've actually developed our own language now. Christian ease makes it very difficult in our religiosity for people to understand what we're talking about. If you, you know, you can't go up to an unbeliever and go, Hey brother, have you been saved, sanctified, anointed, and you know, washed in the blood of the lamb.

What that means nothing to somebody that doesn't know the Bible. Now it may mean a lot to you, but what good is it if it doesn't mean anything in the ears of the listener? So that's why, you know, often when I'll say things of the final, like when I use the word grace, you know, I say, grace, you know, great grace, grace, you know, and some of you might think, well, that's what you say over the meal, you know, that grace is God's unmerited favor towards us, unearned favor towards us. And you may say, grace, I know grace and I'm familiar with the word. There are people all around us that don't understand grace. So if you're talking about grace to somebody, you probably ought to explain it because people outside of the church have no idea what grace means. Grace is like something, the way a ballerina moves, they're filled with grace.

Now that's not our definition, is it? So you should explain these things. Verse 29, therefore, I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. I asked them, for what reason have you sent for me? This is a weird question. Peter shows up to this group and goes, why am I here?

I mean, that is a weird question. I mean, certainly if I came out on a Sunday morning and said, why am I here? You know, you guys would be fairly concerned because you're thinking, well, I don't know why you're here, Pastor David.

And I'm kind of, I was kind of hoping Peter knew what he was going to do, but he asked a question. What am I here for? What am I doing?

It's a great question though, isn't it? Why am I here? What am I doing? Why are you here?

What are you doing? It's a good question. It's a good question.

These are answers that you really need to know, you need to have. Well, I'm here because, you know, I got saved or I need to get saved or I need to be forgiven or whatever. But let's remember that the moment we asked Jesus to forgive our sins, you know what doesn't happen? And we talked about this before here, but you know what doesn't happen? The moment you ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins, it's not like, boom, you're gone. You disappear. You're out of here.

That would make altercalls very strange if that happened. You know, people are like, people probably wouldn't come forward, but God leaves you here. Why? Good question. So you can tell other people, not just with your words, but with your actions and with your life. And we should be asking ourselves, what is it all about? If you think life is about a 40 hour workweek, man, you are being ripped off.

If you think it's about money, you've been lied to and bought into it. What are you living for? What's your passion? What are you about? Are you just about your whole life? And you know, for a little while on Sunday morning, you let God invade your life.

Is that it? Certainly Jesus meant more than this when he said, I came to give you life and more abundantly. He didn't say I came to give you life and more abundantly on Sunday mornings.

She said, I came to give you life more abundantly. Period. Are you living that life?

Here's the thing. The life lesson. We should be asking ourselves the questions, why am I here?

And we should be able to come up with three real quick answers. To love and serve God, to love and serve others, to show and tell others about Jesus. Our lives should be built around these things. To love and serve God, to love and serve others, to show and tell others about Jesus. Now, included in this is coming into a relationship with God, worshiping God, and learning about God.

But you know, Jesus himself said, all the law hangs on these two things, love God and love others as yourself. And guys, if we did this as a believer, we would be impacting the world in a much more significant way than we are. But we have to ask ourselves why?

Because these answers will motivate what we do and the way we express ourselves. If your answer, you know, why am I here is just, well, you know, I'm just a big cosmic accident that happens to be here and I'm just moseying through until it's my time to die. Then you're going to live your life like that. But if you understand the concept of these answers, you will live your life like that. And you know what, if you're living just as a cosmic accident, you know what, there's so much more to life than what you're experiencing. If you have asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, but you're not loving God and loving and serving others, you know what, you're still not experiencing the fullness that God intended for you to have in your life. You're being, you're being ripped off. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name. Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven, you've been born again.

So congratulations, friend, you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. Visit crossthebridge.com and click on God's Plan for New Life to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. God wants to bless you and encourage your relationships today. Whether you are married, considering marriage, or engaged to be married, we have a resource for you. Pastor David wants to send you his four-part video series, Allies Stay Friends. Allow God to minister to your marriage through his word today.

This was an unforgettable weekend that encouraged many marriages and you and your spouse can be encouraged too. Allies Stay Friends is our thanks for your generous gift today to help more people hear God's truth on this station and beyond so they can cross the bridge from death to life. Please visit crossthebridge.com today to give a gift of any amount and get your copy of Allies Stay Friends. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Those are terrific and it's easy and it's free. So folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse through the book of Acts.