Acts Chapter 9:36-10:7

The angel had all these conversations with Cornelius. Why didn't he just tell him? The angel didn't tell him because it's not the angel's job.

It's our job. God could thunder the good news from the sky in his voice. He could write it in the clouds, but he has decided somehow in his infinite wisdom to use us to reach others. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is a senior pastor of the Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. What does a serious Christian always do? Well, as a Christian, we seek the Lord, His will, and His ways for our life. Today, Pastor David explains how we can seek God more as he continues teaching in the Book of Acts chapter 9.

Now, here's David McGee with part two of his teaching, Fruit Happens. We are in Acts chapter 9 now. Acts chapter 9, verse 36. At Joppa, there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds, which she did.

But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. And when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. And since Lidda was near Joppa and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. Then Peter rose and went with them. And when he had come, they brought him to the upper room.

And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. But Peter put them all out and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up.

This is interesting. Peter put them all out. To me, that's just very fascinating because it shows what a spiritual man Peter is. He put them all out. I think he knew what God was getting ready to do. But he asked everybody else to leave. Well, Pastor David, where are you going with us? Well, what didn't happen is he didn't all of a sudden begin Simon Peter Healing Ministries International Incorporated and begin touring the world.

It's not what he did. He said, you know what? Everybody needs to step out. Man, may you and I be that humble when God uses us in mighty ways.

He has everybody step out. What would you do if you knew you were getting ready to to pray for somebody that was dead and God was going to bring them back to life? What would you do? This is so convicting. Golly, isn't it? I know what I'd do. I'd ask them if they could, you know, lay them out here on Sunday morning.

I'm being honest. I mean, I hope that that I'm, you know, in part because I think it would be very encouraging for us all to see a dead person get up and walk away. It's a little, it's getting quiet. It's kind of, that's real convicting, isn't it? That's what Peter did. Verse 41, then he gave her his hand and lifted her up. And when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. Man, wait, do you think that was encouraging? She had been dead and now she's alive. You got to say that slow to get the full effect.

She was dead and now she's alive. That's an amazing thing. And you know what?

I'm sure that encouraged the people. A verse 42 and it became known throughout all Joppa and many believed on the Lord. So it was that he stayed many days and Joppa was Simon, a tanner.

Now Joppa is a modern day Yaffa and it's a suburb of Tel Aviv. Notice it says a tanner. What does a tanner do? A tanner creates leather from animals. Now, when you are getting this leather from the animals, let me just ask a fairly obvious question. Is the animal alive or dead? The animal's dead. When you begin working with the leather, the skin of the animal, and there's various skins, there's goat skins and cows and stuff, but oh, Pastor David, what's your point? The animal's dead.

What do you think the Jewish people thought of people who were tanners? Because we know from Leviticus and other places that they weren't supposed to touch or be around dead animals. Now we have Peter, who was raised from his infancy as a Jewish young man in a Jewish nation, and he's hanging around a guy that hangs out with dead animals.

God's beginning to soften his heart. Now not only, I probably ought to get a little more graphic. Not only was he working with dead animals, but you probably ought to understand, I mean, I don't want to get too graphic, but, you know, there was like dead animals laying around and hanging in this guy's house. How do you think that smelled? It probably didn't smell real good. As a matter of fact, they tell us that you never had to really ask for directions to the tanners' house.

You could find it with your nose. Now I remember being in Chinatown in San Francisco when we were traveling around in ministry, and it freaked me out that they had like chickens and stuff hanging from the ceiling that they would cut your lunch from and serve you. That's all weird to me, but to have these dead animals serve you around this guy's house, and then I got to tell you this because I know part of the way they processed these skins was using dog manure. I know that's a pretty graphic picture, but here is Peter, again, raised from his infancy as a Jewish man to avoid dead animals and all things unclean, and all of a sudden he finds himself lodging, staying with Simon a tanner. They were looked upon so bad that in the Mishnah, a Jewish commentary, a woman could divorce a man for simply being a tanner.

That's how low on the corporate totem pole you, if you will, a tanner was. So we see Peter getting ready. Chapter 10, verse 1, there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, centurion of what was called the Italian regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. Now we're told a lot of stuff in verse 2, a devout man, one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always.

Let's look at those four things. A devout man, that means a spiritual man, one who feared God. He respected God and noticed that God is singular, which was unique for a Roman. Romans, they believed in a lot of different gods and understand that, you know, the Romans never killed Christians for believing in God. The persecution happened because they believed in God alone. They said there is one God. That's why they were persecuted.

And you know, you look into the world today and the followers of Jesus are being persecuted because they're saying, no, there really is only one God. And then it says, feared God with all his household. Cornelius obviously was leading his family well, who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. What we're going to discover, Cornelius is looking pretty good right now. Any, I mean, you read this verse and go, Cornelius is a good guy.

He's a good guy. Yet, had he been forgiven of his sins? No.

Yeah. Acts 11, 14 will tell us that in more detail, but we can see right here, God's about to do something. Cornelius, good person, looking after the poor, looking after his family, praying to God, devout is unsaved. He has not been forgiven of his sins. So you have to stop and ask yourself, what does it take to be forgiven of your sins? See, because a lot of us, especially if you grew up in the South, I grew up in the South. My family's been here like 280 280 years, but we grow up and we're told, well, you do the best you can. And God honors that as long as you're good, outweighs your back.

You're in. Is that biblical? Absolutely not.

Absolutely not. Now, maybe you're sitting here this morning. You think, well, pastor, do people really think that?

Well, do me a favor. Ask them, ask your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers, how they're getting to heaven. Well, first ask them, you know, are you going to heaven? And then the next question is very telling them.

Why do you think that you'll get some interesting answers? I guarantee it. You'll get well, because I'm basically a good person.

Really? You want to know what the Bible says about you being basically good says you're not Romans three, 10, three 23. There's none righteous. No, not one all fallen short of the glory of God or her.

How about the classic? Why do you think you're going to heaven? Because I go to church. So you think you're going to heaven because you go to church. So going into a building actually makes you a Christian.

That's an amazing thing. I asked people, why do you think you're going to heaven? Well, cause I believe in God. I'm sorry. That neither forgives your sins nor gains you entrance into heaven.

Now you're listening to nurture. A lot of people believe in God. As a matter of fact, James chapter two, verse 19 says, you believe that there is one God you do well, even the demons believe and tremble. So your definition of a Christian is somebody that believes in God.

Guess what? By your theology, demons are Christians. Now you've got a problem. Demons aren't Christians and they're not going to heaven.

We struggle with them enough down here. I don't want to see them when we get there. So it's more than belief.

Oh yeah. To me, some it's amazing how religious somebody can be and still not be safe, how good somebody can be and still not be safe. But that's what the Bible says. Cornelius knew his good works wouldn't serve, wouldn't save him.

He knew his good works wouldn't save him. And we're told later Romans 10, nine and 10 and 13, how it is you get saved. You ask God to forgive you of your sins. You believe that he died for you and you call on him before the service ends.

I'll give you that opportunity to do that. If you're sitting here now wondering, well, I've, I was one of those people. I'm one of those people thinking that I got to be good enough to gain entrance into heaven. Now, just so you know, I know that he knew that he wasn't saved. If you followed all that acts 11, 13, and 14, the next chapter would jump ahead and then we'll jump back. And it says, and he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house who said to him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who would tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved. He knew he wasn't saved.

He's doing all these good things. And I believe his works opened the door for his salvation. Just like going to church doesn't make you saved, but by going to church, you can become saved if you're going to the right church.

So the works kind of opened it up. 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 them. You need someone to present God's word to them. Every day we're presenting God's word to them 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 D.A.

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 3. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius.

That gets your attention, doesn't it? Verse 4. And when he observed him, he was afraid and said, What is it, Lord? So he said to him, Your prayers in your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Your prayers in your alms? Your prayers, everybody knows what prayers are.

Alms are gifts, sometimes financial gifts, sometimes to the poor. Your prayers in your alms have come up for a memorial before God. God has seen what you've been doing. And here it's saying that God notices your giving. Now, two groups of people in here this morning, when you hear God notices your giving, some of you are, Praise God. God notices my giving. And then there's another group goes, God notices my giving. It's a biblical concept, guys.

Now, we don't pass a plate. I don't see it in the Bible. We don't do it here. We have the boxes in the back, but please know that I believe every mature Christian should be tithing to the local church he goes to.

I believe that. I do that. I give a minimum of 10% to this church. Now, I think everybody should be doing that. Now, can you give and not be a mature Christian?

Well, yes. Just because you give doesn't mean that you're a mature Christian. Can you be a mature Christian and not give? No, you can't. I can't.

You can't. Because a mature Christian is somebody that's following Jesus, reading the Bible, applying that to his life or her life and following what God says. And if you're not doing that, friend, I can't describe you as a mature Christian. Now, if that hurts, so be it. So be it.

Here's the thing. Luke 21, 4. Jesus is sitting in the temple and I want you to see this. And it says, and he, talking about Jesus, looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. Jesus was sitting in the temple watching what people were giving and how they were given. In verse two, and he saw also, he's watching the widow, a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So he said, truly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all for all these out of their abundance of put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty, put in all the livelihood that she had.

Not only is he sitting there watching, but he notices that her given as sacrificial. And in other words, it was probably more than 10%. And you go through the, you go through the Hebrew scriptures and you can see that most people actually gave 20%. We, the tithe, the word Hebrew, the Hebrew word tithe means 10%. The life lesson here, a serious follower of Jesus should be praying and given. A serious follower of Jesus should be praying and given. And I know sometimes people go, well, I don't, I don't, I don't agree with the tithe. I don't agree with the tent. I don't, I think it's an Old Testament concept.

I can show you scripturally that it's not just an Old Testament concept, but here's the thing. Everybody that's ever come to me with that is never wanting to give over 10%. That's an indicator to me that perhaps there's some bias and that's going on. I don't think you should give 10%. Are you giving 10%? No, given two or 3%. You know, if somebody came to me and said, I don't agree with the tithe.

I want to give 15%. I said, God bless you. You know, give joyfully as unto the Lord. That word joyfully is the Greek word hilarion. It's where we get our word for hilarious.

Give hilariously. That's cool. That is real.

That's why I call those boxes joy boxes sometimes. Okay. Well, it's in there. So I taught it.

If you know, it's amazing. Some people go, yeah, I love that verse by verse teaching until it steps on my feet. It's verse by verse. We're going to look at the stuff as we go.

So, but here's the thing. God sees what you give and that should encourage you in your giving. Verse five. Now send men to Joppa and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the sea. And he will tell you what you must do. And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. Cornelius is a seeker. Now let's not get weird about that word for a moment.

Okay. Cornelius is a seeker. He's a real speaker. He is seeking the Lord. And we know from the Bible that those who really seek the Lord will find him.

Maybe more appropriately, the Lord will find them. Matthew six 33 says, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. And Matthew seven, seven says, and it will be given to you seek asking it and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you. These are awesome promises of God. Hebrews 11 six says, but without faith, it is impossible to please him for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he has a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So if you're seeking the Lord, you'll find him.

If you came in by happenstance or circumstance this morning, you're not here by circumstance or happenstance. You're here because you're looking for something. And many of us are here because we found something. We are to seek the Lord.

That's the next life lesson. We are to seek the Lord, his worship, his will, his way in our lives. We're to seek the Lord, his worship, his will, and his ways in our lives. Now we're talking about seekers.

Let's talk. There is a term floating around the church world. These days seeker sensitive in one way. If you, if you use seeker sensitive in the way, a lot of people use it today, you would not define us as a secret sense of church yet. I think we are very sensitive to people who are seeking the Lord. I think we are very sensitive to those people who come in for the first time. That's part of why we do the free beverage thing is to say, Hey, God bless you.

And here's the thing. I understand you guys are inviting people every Sunday in this place, you're going to hear an invitation to Jesus. You're going to hear the gospel presented and an invitation and an opportunity for people to respond. Because I know that you guys with your friends and with your family are trusting us to do that. And you have my guarantee that we will do that, that we will be sensitive to them.

Now I won't laugh at people who are not going to heaven. I won't throw things at them. I won't yell at them.

I won't point my finger at them. I know a lot of people do that. And a lot of people think that's very effective evangelism. I don't think it is, but here's the thing. If somebody comes to me and they say, what's two plus two, I'm going to give them the answer. I'm not going to say, well, you know, numbers are such a tricky thing, you know, and let me water it down a little bit so you can grasp the concept that two plus two, five, well, it could be, I guess, you know, there's, there's lots of ways to get the two plus two and I'm not going to do that. Why? Because that is not being sensitive to the seeker.

That's being very callous. If you ask me what two plus two is, and I know I got to tell you it's four, it's not 4.5. It's not 3.5. It's not three. It's not six.

It's four. And so when people say, Hey, you know, what's the way to heaven? How do you get to heaven?

I got to tell them. I'll tell them in a loving and a kind way, but I have to tell them Jesus died for our sins. And he wants us to tell people Luke chapter 19, verse nine says this. And Jesus said to him, today's salvation has come to this house because he also is a son of Abraham. We'll talk about that next week. Verse 10 for the son of man has come to seek and save that which was lost.

Let me ask you a question. Then I thought of, as I read this passage, the angel had all these conversations with Cornelius. Why didn't he just tell him? Why didn't the angel just say to Cornelius, look, Cornelius, Jesus came to die for your sins. And what you got to do is you got to ask him to forgive you ever since the angel didn't tell him because it's not the angel's job.

It's our job. God could thunder the good news from the sky in his voice. He could write it in the clouds, but he has decided somehow in his infinite wisdom to use us to reach others.

It's called the good news. Jesus Christ came and he died for our sins so that we could have access to God. We could have a relationship with God. Outside of Jesus, you cannot have access to God. 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. Jesus said, I'm going to give you my life. Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him.

And he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. 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.