Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
Praise the Lord.
So if you could turn to Acts chapter 10.
Don't you love just going through the whole Bible?
It's like, you know, it's just so beautiful to just capture everything in its real text.
True meaning.
So before we dive in, I just want to mention, yes, my dear friend, Mike Foney.
We've known him.
He and his wife, Deneen, for 30 years, something like that.
And we've known him through two churches before this.
And so he's coming out to share about evangelism.
And I've experienced firsthand so many ways that he has ministered to people.
And he's a business guy.
He's just a normal business guy.
But he's a great spokesman, really a great public speaker.
But he has just purposely taken people under his wing
and led them to the Lord in your normal business situations.
And it's really remarkable.
And so I'm really happy that he's coming out and sharing at the men's breakfast.
So men don't miss it.
Great speaker, great content, and great man.
So I hope you can join us next Saturday morning at 9 a.m.
And so today's title, as you might have seen in the bulletin,
is two worlds, one kingdom, when two worlds converge.
And Acts chapter 10 is, I think, just such an amazing story
about the gospel spreading outward and to more and more people groups.
So let's pray and thank the Lord for speaking to us through his word.
So, Lord, talk to us, God.
We ask your spirit to really use your word to penetrate, Lord,
and carve out things that just need to leave.
And, Lord, infuse things that need to stay.
Lord, we want to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, Lord God.
You do all the heavy lifting in our lives, Lord.
You do all the work.
Lord, we rest in you.
We thank you for your spirit that illuminates your word
to help us learn it and apply it to our lives.
So, Lord, we thank you in Jesus' name.
Amen.
As we've been watching the gospel spread out in the book of Acts,
it started, of course, in Jerusalem with Jews, right?
And then from there, it spread to Samaria,
which the Samaritans were half and halves.
They were blended people.
They were Jewish, but also they intermarried with Gentiles
way back before all this.
And so they were like half-breeds, in a sense.
And then we learned about how Philip ministered to the Ethiopian eunuch,
and there the gospel went to Africa.
And now we're going to read about how a household of Romans
are going to accept Christ.
And really, this is a remarkable picture
of how the gospel wants to reach everyone, right?
Because in Christ, there is no partiality.
He wants all to be saved.
God so loved the whole world, right,
that He gave His only begotten Son.
So He wants to reach everyone.
I just love that about God, you know?
We think about, I think I love when people groups come together,
like international, various people who speak other languages,
and they all come together for one reason.
I thought the World Cup in the U.S., that was just awesome.
I didn't get to any game.
I know a couple of you did.
But it was so awesome just to see all these cultures,
all these countries come to the U.S. and enjoy a soccer game.
It came all this distance to come here and enjoy a soccer game.
In fact, I met a couple of people's friends,
and Monday I met your friend from England here to watch a game.
And it was just awesome to just see people enjoy the same thing,
and yet they come from such drastic differences, you know?
And yet it's all to enjoy a game together.
And how much more for the Kingdom of God,
when people from all different origins and places come together
and enjoy the Kingdom of God?
Can you imagine what heaven's going to be like someday,
when we all come together and we're probably all singing the same language,
speaking the same language, and we're all unified?
It's going to be wonderful.
Jill and I had some great opportunities in our lifetime to go other places
and experience this, you know, the Kingdom coming together.
We went to Nicaragua a few times with the McRoberts.
We went to the Dominican Republic a few times
with actually the McRoberts and some other people.
We went to Turkey with a bunch of you guys here and enjoyed that.
We went to Morocco.
We went to South Korea.
We also went to Australia for blended reasons,
but also for ministry, yeah.
I'll probably never get back there again, I don't think,
but it's a beautiful country enjoying that.
Israel, of course, you know, but just, you know,
seeing Christ shown in different skins, does that make sense?
Different people, different tents, you know,
different colors, different languages, different shapes, everything.
But the Lord is the same in all of us.
I love that about God, how He wants to really show up in all different ways.
And a lot of times, culturally speaking, you know,
it's such a vast difference against the same Jesus.
I remember being in a service down in Nicaragua,
and I mean, the music is just like, you just can't stop moving, you know?
And all of a sudden, we end up getting up and running around all the chairs,
like in a circle, as the music's going on.
I don't know if Doug or Betty are in here, but they would attest to that.
What a great time that was.
I'm like, why can't we do this at home?
You know, and maybe we will someday, but there's no area to run.
We have to figure something out.
Maybe we'll just run up and down the middle of the aisle, I don't know.
But it's just fun to see Jesus showing up in different ways, you know?
And here, we're going to see Peter,
who is a Jewish guy who was raised in the Mosaic and Levitical law.
And I'm sure he wasn't extremely religious compared to some people,
but he was still a religious Jew, you know?
And here, he is going to be told to go to Gentiles' homes.
I remember last week, he was kind of prepared for it,
because he was staying in an unclean environment at the tanner's house,
won't get into all that again.
But so here, he's being told to go to this household,
and he's going to go in and just experience like, is this reality?
Like, am I really here, and am I really doing this?
And are these Gentiles really accepting the same Christ
as I've accepted?
You know, because when you think about it,
no one came from the kingdom of God.
We're all newbies.
No one has it right.
We all come the way we were.
Lost, depraved, sinners, no hope.
And we all came to Jesus the same exact way.
It doesn't matter what your origin was,
what you've done in the past, it doesn't matter at all, right?
It's all about Jesus Christ.
And everyone comes in the same way.
And I think Peter is just going to have a revelation.
Like, this is amazing.
Like, what is happening is just phenomenal.
And we're going to read about that today.
And just to kind of remind you that Peter last week was down in the,
as we read, he was down in Lydda,
where he raised a paralyzed guy who was paralyzed for eight years.
Then he raised a woman in Joppa out of Tabitha,
who was dead.
He raised her back to life.
And he's hanging out in Joppa, okay?
And we have a picture.
We have a little map.
I always love just getting areas kind of in my mind,
for some reason helps me.
And so Peter came down from Jerusalem,
raised that paralyzed guy up.
Then he went to Joppa because they requested him to.
He raised up Tabitha, and he's hanging out there.
And this is all going to happen in Caesarea,
where Cornelius is going to send a small contingency to go get Peter
and bring him back about a 30-mile distance between the two places.
And he's going to be invited there to speak and lead them to the Lord.
So think about this, too.
Peter was raised in a monotheistic culture, right?
One God, Yahweh, right?
And here Cornelius was raised in a polytheistic environment.
They had more Gods than you could think of, right?
And he adopted most of them from the Greeks.
And so they were all kinds of different Gods and Goddesses.
And then at that time, there was also the Roman imperial cult,
if you've ever heard of that.
Like, they were worshipping emperors, okay?
Ever since Julius Caesar, after he was assassinated,
a comet flew over one of their coliseum sporting events.
And when they all saw the comet, they said,
it's Julius Caesar.
He has risen.
Like, how do you come up with that one?
So from then on, the emperors were Gods.
So there was even that going on.
But somehow Cornelius desired the one true God
that he met, in a sense, through the Jews.
And that's why he cared a lot for the Jews because of Yahweh.
So you're ready to dive in?
We're only going to stop a couple of times, but I want to warn you,
we're going to read the whole chapter.
You're going, what?
Forty-some verses.
Wow, you're all signed.
Just hang with me a minute.
But listen, it's a story.
Don't think of it as I have to read a chapter of a book.
It's a story.
Really, just relax and enjoy the story.
Because I think if we leave anything out, we'll be sorry.
And the thing is, we're not going to dissect all of it.
But we're going to get to the end
and then talk about the application of it all.
Because all of us can apply our lives to what is happening here.
Amen.
Okay.
So I don't know where my glasses went to.
But anyway, can I borrow?
I had them a minute ago.
Anyway, okay, whatever.
Reds, leopard, I don't care.
You don't care, do you?
All right, we got the red ones on.
All right, so let's dive in.
We're only going to stop a couple of times, okay?
But really, just if you don't have something to read this story,
just listen, okay?
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius,
a centurion of what was called the Italian regiment.
And a devout man and one who feared God with all his household,
who gave alms generously to the people
and prayed to God always.
About the ninth hour of the day, about 3 p.m.,
he saw clearly a vision, an angel of God coming in
and saying to him, Cornelius.
And when he observed him, he was afraid and said,
what is it, Lord?
And so he said to him,
your prayers and your alms have come up
for a memorial before God.
So let's just stop there.
This is one of the two stops, okay?
Think about this, like,
so this man, Cornelius, who was never per se
one of the people of God,
because he was an Italian, he was a Roman, right?
And yet he was praying to Yahweh,
and Yahweh heard his prayers,
and he also observed his generosity.
You know, that says a lot to me,
because, you know, a lot of times we say, well, you know,
they're unbelievers,
but God still cares about what they're doing,
because he wants to draw all people to himself.
So he's watching Cornelius,
and he cares about what he is doing.
You know what it reminds me of?
Remember when Jesus said in Matthew 25, he said,
so when the Son of God comes, okay, to rule,
and he looks out, and we'll read it,
and then the King will say to those on his right,
come, you who are blessed by my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food.
I was thirsty and you welcomed me.
I was naked and you clothed me.
I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison and you came to me.
And so some of you all have probably done
at least a few of those things, if not all of them at times.
You know, I know I have, you know,
God set me up for an opportunity.
But, you know, people do these things all the time.
Now that, doing these things aren't going to save someone.
But I believe the Lord observes people's heart
that they are desiring God.
They're pursuing God in some way
and really want him,
but they don't know what they're searching for.
And I believe he's drawing them in.
He's hearing their prayers.
He's seeing their actions.
He sees that they're loving those he loves.
They're loving the least of these, right?
In fact, he says,
when you did it for the least of these,
you did it for me.
So when people serve fellow humans,
in a sense, they're serving Christ.
Now, again, we need Jesus to be saved.
But I'm just saying that the Lord observes and he notices,
and I believe he is sending the messengers.
He's sending people to draw them in.
In fact, a friend of ours is an oral surgeon,
and he used to go down to Guatemala
and repair people's cleft lips.
And more than that, he would go in
and rebuild the upper part of their mouth, okay?
They would have a hole that you could look right up
into the sinuses.
It was drastic, right?
They would have no noses, really.
Literally, their faces were almost split.
And they would go down there and rebuild their faces.
And he would bring in all of these unbelieving surgeons
that would attend these camps and serve these little kids.
And so many of these medical people would end up
knowing the Lord just through experiencing,
serving the least of these.
These people that just live up in the mountains
and whatever reasons they were being born this way,
and they were restructuring their whole faces
so that they could look at themselves in the mirror
and say, who is that?
Like, I don't recognize this person.
I mean, it's just so beautiful,
because the Lord cares about what humans do
for and to one another, right?
And he cares about their prayers, too.
And, you know, I can't help but think about this, you know,
in that, you know, Muslims pray five times a day,
you know, religious ones.
And they're praying to Allah.
Now, to them, he is the creator of the universe, right?
So they believe in a God.
Now, they don't believe in the same God we believe,
but they believe in a God.
And I have to think the Lord is seeing this,
this urge, this zeal to meet with God for whatever reason.
You know, it could be, you know, obviously it's religion
and so forth, but I'm just hoping and praying
that the Lord meets them in that place of pursuing him.
Now, of course, there is demonic influence in everything.
There was so many ministries, even Christian ministries, right?
The enemy influences and he penetrates.
And so, of course, fundamental, you know,
Islam where it's terrorism and everything else, you know,
I'm not saying God is sanctioning any of that.
I'm just saying, I'm hoping and praying that he meets those
who are pursuing him and he meets them, and he is.
I mean, many of you have heard about Muslims meeting Jesus
in visions and dreams.
And, you know, I was trying to really research statistics,
and I'm not one for saying fake statistics, you know.
And, you know, it would sound great if I said,
did you know 80% of all Muslims have met Jesus in a dreamer?
Oh, you know, they sound awesome.
But you can't really find reliable statistics.
But all I do know is so many people who served
in Muslim countries have met with either a light
or someone in white who they later found out was Jesus.
Isn't that right, Danny?
You heard that, right?
Get an amen or something?
A little amen.
But they're meeting.
They're meeting Jesus, you know, through some way.
And then when somebody tells him about him, I think,
I think I met that guy.
I think I've heard this before because I believe the Lord
is trying to reach them, you know.
He's trying to reach everyone.
In fact, even Paul, the Apostle Paul, we're talking about Peter,
but Paul, when he was going through Athens,
he's walking around and he's seeing all these statues,
all these plaques and everything else.
And he saw one altar with nobody on there.
And it says to the unknown God.
In other words, when we meet him, we'll put him up there, too.
And he's walking around.
And in Acts 17, we're going to read some day.
But he says, you know, I see that you're a religious people.
OK, there we go.
Thanks, Tammy.
He was in the midst of the Areopagus.
There you go.
And said, men of Athens, I perceive that in all things
you are very religious.
And he has made from one blood every nation of men
to dwell on all the face of the earth
and has determined their pre-appointed times
and the boundaries of their dwellings
so that they should seek the Lord in the hope
that they might grope for him, meaning like feel,
reach out to him, right?
Though he is not far, oh, I'm sorry,
and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
For in him we live and move and have our being.
So, you know, the Lord is perceiving humans
that are trying to meet their maker,
trying to meet their creator.
And I believe the Lord is sending messengers.
And guess who's he sending?
That's us, right?
So let's read on, or else we're never going to get this done.
Okay, so 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 verse seven, and when the angel who spoke to him
had departed Cornelius called to his household servants
and a devout soldier from among those
who waited on him continually.
And so when he had explained all these things to them,
they went, they sent them to Joppa.
The next day, as they went on their journey
and drew near the city, Peter went up on the house top
to pray about the sixth hour,
and then he became very hungry and wanted to eat.
But while they were made ready,
the food he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened
and an object like a great sheep bound at the four corners,
descending to him and let down to the earth.
In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth,
wild beasts creeping things and the birds of the air.
And a voice came to him, rise Peter, kill and eat.
But Peter said, not so Lord,
for I have never eaten anything common or unclean.
And a voice spoke to him again the second time,
what God has cleansed you must not call common.
And this was done three times
and the object was taken up into heaven again.
Now while Peter wondered within himself
what this vision which he had seen meant,
behold the men who had been sent from Cornelius
had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate.
And they called and asked whether Simon,
whose surname is Peter, was lodging there.
While Peter thought about the vision,
the spirit said to him, behold, three men are seeking you.
Arise therefore, go down and go with them,
doubting nothing, for I have sent them.
And then Peter went down to the men
who had been sent to him from Cornelius
and said, yes, I am he whom you seek.
For what reason have you come?
And verse 22, and they said,
Cornelius, a centurion, a just man,
one who fears God and has a good reputation
among all the nation of the Jews,
was divinely instructed by a holy angel
to summon you to his house and to hear words from you.
And then he invited them in and they enlarged them.
On the next day, Peter went away with them
and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him.
Verse 24, and the following day they entered Caesarea.
Now Cornelius was waiting for them
and had called together his relatives and close friends.
As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him
and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.
But Peter lifted him up saying, stand up,
I myself am also a man.
And as he talked with him,
he went in and found many who had come together.
And verse 28, and then he said to them,
you know how unlawful it is
for a Jewish man to keep company with
or go to another nation.
But God has shown me that I should not call any man
common or unclean.
Therefore, I came without objection
as soon as I was sent for.
I asked then, for what reason have you sent for me?
So Cornelius said four days ago,
I was fasting until this hour,
and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house
and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing
and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard
and your alms are remembered in the sight of God.
And send therefore to Joppa and call Simon here,
whose surname is Peter.
He is lodging in the house of Simon a tanner by the sea.
When he comes, he will speak to you.
So I sent to you immediately and you have done well to come.
Now, therefore, we are all present before God
to hear all the things commanded you by God.
Verse 34, then Peter opened his mouth and said,
in truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.
Think about that.
God shows no partiality.
But in every nation, whoever fears him
and works righteousness is accepted by him.
Verse 36, the word which God sent to the children of Israel
preaching peace through Jesus Christ,
he is Lord of all.
That word, you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea
and began from Galilee after the baptism
which John preached.
Verse 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and with power,
who went about doing good and healing all
who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
And we are witnesses of all things which he did
both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem,
whom they killed by hanging on a tree.
Him God raised up on the third day
and showed him openly, not to all the people,
but to witnesses chosen before by God,
even to us who ate and drank with him
after he rose from the dead.
And he commanded us to preach to the people
and to testify that it is he who was ordained by God
to be judge of the living and the dead.
Verse 43, to him, all the prophets witness
that through his name, whoever believes in him
will receive remission of sins.
Hallelujah.
Verse 44, while Peter was speaking these words,
the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word
and those of the circumcision,
in other words, the Jews that went with Peter,
who believed were astonished.
As many as came with Peter
because the gift of the Holy Spirit
had been poured out on the Gentiles also,
for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.
And then Peter answered, can anyone forbid water
that these should not be baptized
who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?
And he commanded them to be baptized
in the name of the Lord,
and then they asked him to stay a few days.
Amen. See, we did it. Hallelujah.
It wasn't so bad, right?
I mean, we needed all that.
We needed all of it, the whole story, you know?
And so think about this, you know, Peter preaches the baptized,
the Spirit baptizes every one of them,
and they're astonished, and then he even stays.
He doesn't run out the door. He stays with them a few days.
You know, they were unclean a week ago,
or three days ago, right?
Now, he's hanging out with them.
I mean, that is remarkable, isn't it?
So what can we really learn about this?
Like, what are the takeaways, you know, the applications?
We might as well dive in right to it, right?
And first, the first application,
if we could put that up, Tammy,
is we have to love those whom God loves.
Who does God love?
Everyone. Everyone made in his image, right?
He loves them. So who should we love?
Everyone, right? I know this is elementary.
But still, I have to be reminded,
I don't know about you.
I'm preaching to myself right now.
I have to be reminded that I'm supposed to love everyone.
And you know what's interesting?
We don't always have to like everyone, okay?
I just want to say that.
Like, you know, there's different words in Greek for love,
and one is phileo, which means love being around them.
Just very fun. Like, they're great friends.
They're everything. And then there's agape.
You love them regardless, okay?
So we have to agape everybody.
It's good if we can phileo everybody, but it might not happen.
But we still have to agape, love them sacrificially, right?
And so we have to love those whom God loves,
and we have to love them more than fearing them or hating them, right?
Because love is greater than fear and love, isn't it?
We have to love them more than we fear or hate them, right?
We just love them.
I have a graphic that AI helped me make if you could put up that next.
And that's pretty cool.
I know AI, evil, wicked.
Well, you know, I use it sometimes.
Yeah, it's a tool. It's a tool, okay?
We had this discussion yesterday.
Yeah, it's a tool, okay?
And look, that's pretty cool for just speaking into a device
and they created that thing.
I don't think that existed before I spoke it in there, but who knows?
Hey, that's kind of indicative of it.
All right, never mind.
She's saying, all right, stop.
All right, but anyway.
So you see, isn't that cool, though?
Like, love.
Love is the bridge over fear and hatred, isn't it?
And I love even the graphics.
They're so cool because hatred, that fiery hatred,
is wanting them to burn, right?
Right?
And then remember when James and John went through Samaria, you know,
and they wouldn't accept Christ,
and James and John, the sons of thunder,
is, should we call down lightning like Elijah?
And he's, what kind of spirit are you of?
This is not the spirit of God that I want to torch the city
because they wouldn't accept me, right?
And so, but love is that bridge.
Love, like, crosses over all boundaries.
It's just simple love.
And then, as you look at that, I took it a step further
because aren't we like Christ in every situation?
Like, who else is qualified to be like Christ?
So the same picture is really, if we're demonstrating Christ's love,
it's not even about how we feel about it.
It's about Jesus loves them.
He doesn't hate them.
And he certainly doesn't fear them.
He loves them.
And we are like Christ to everyone we meet, right?
So we could just take ourselves out of the equation.
We just don't matter.
Yeah, that's good to sometimes tell yourself, isn't it?
You know, it doesn't really matter what I think.
It doesn't even matter what I feel.
What does Christ want to do?
I want to be just captivated to what he wants to do,
to how he feels about the situation.
And guess what?
When you go there, you're the most free
because you don't hang on to the things, your feelings, you know,
and the tentacles of the past,
the tentacles of disappointment, of unforgiveness,
and all these tentacles.
It's like, it don't matter.
What does Christ want to do?
That's what matters.
He doesn't fear and he doesn't hate.
So I want to do what he wants to do.
I just love that picture of just really loving the Lord.
You know, we don't, we're reminded again and again,
we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, right?
But against principalities, powers,
rulers of the darkness of this age
and spirits of wickedness in heavenly places, right?
These are things we don't see.
We see the flesh.
That's not who we're wrestling against.
We're wrestling against the spirit driving the flesh, right?
And so that's the real enemy.
While I was thinking about this, I came across this story,
which was just phenomenal.
And there's this, so this young boy, okay,
his name's Darrell Davis, right?
And his father was some officer,
like a military officer, a foreign service.
And so he and his family would travel
around all different countries
and he spent much of his time in international schools, okay?
And he met so many different people,
like we were just talking about,
a variety of cultures.
And typically the more of that blends together,
you start to really learn people
how we're kind of all the same,
even though we're very different.
And you become very accepting of,
just we're all a little different and we can accept that.
We're unique.
That's a beautiful thing, right?
And so as young Darrell Davis was traveling,
the world with his father and probably mom and family
and experiencing all this,
he moved back to the States when he was 10
and he joined the Cub Scouts
and he was marching in a parade for Cub Scouts.
And it was in Massachusetts
and he was only one of two black boys in his school, okay?
So it was a very white area.
And as he's marching in the Cub Scouts,
people are throwing things at him, like rocks and stuff.
This was in the 70s.
And he's like, he didn't understand it
because he didn't come from here.
He didn't understand, right?
So he said to his dad, like, what are they doing?
Like, why are they throwing things at me?
Like, they don't even know me.
Well, it's because you're black.
He's like, oh, but they don't know me.
How can they hate me if they don't know me, right?
So he was just puzzled.
And that question never went out of his mind.
He wanted to find out why people hated him
when they didn't even know him.
So he went on from there and became an amazing musician,
like a piano player, like rhythm and blues, you know?
And he played with all the greats, you know?
Chubby Checker, Jerry Lee Lewis,
and all these just amazing, like, musicians.
Played with them in the same clubs,
played in the same bands, all this stuff.
So he's in this.
So one day later on, he's, you know, an adult now,
and he's, you know, jamming, of course, right?
And he's playing in this, like, white club.
And as he's playing, this white guy comes up and he goes,
you know, I never saw a black guy
play like Jerry Lee Lewis.
And he goes, well, Jerry Lee Lewis
learned from the same guy I learned from.
So, and as he started talking to him,
the guy started taking a liking.
You know, they became kind of friendly.
And he says, you know,
I'm actually in the Ku Klux Klan, right?
And so, you know, being Daryl Davis,
kind of bold and bold, and yet at the same time,
you know, just asking questions constantly,
he says, well, can you tell me more about that, right?
And can I talk to you about it?
I'd love to learn more about the Ku Klux Klan, right?
And so, as he started talking to this guy,
over time, they became friends.
And he said, can you introduce me
to more Ku Klux Klan people?
This is amazing.
And so, he started introducing him
to, like, the grand imperial wizard dragon,
whatever they're calling him, right?
All these people.
And he's meeting with them.
And what he would have is he had a secretary.
He would have his white secretary call
because, you know, he didn't want them to pick up
that he was a black guy, right?
So he started having the girl set up meetings, okay?
And then he'd walk in and show up with this KKK guy
probably all dressed up in his garb
and he sees a black guy walking in.
Imagine that, you know, awkward,
to say the least, right?
And he comes walking in, but with his Bible.
And as he walked in, he just would hang out, talk,
and he brought his Bible because he said
he wanted someone to show him in the Bible
where this separation of races
and this hatred is spelled out,
like, just show me.
Of course, nobody could, right?
And over time, the grand imperial wizard became his friend.
Eventually, he led 200...
We've got to show some pictures.
He showed...
He led 200 Ku Klux Klan people out of the Klan.
Is that phenomenal, right?
I mean, look at that.
There is the grand imperial wizard dragon queen.
I don't know what he was, but he was something, right?
You know?
But, like, and he just went on
and he started doing these tours and saying,
you know, we can overcome hatred
just with a lot of communication.
But I think about that.
Like, this Peter going into a Roman soldier's household,
a commander of an army, right?
This guy, all you have to do is say a few words,
and Peter's life could go very bad, if not ended, right?
Because he's in charge, right?
And Peter is of the oppressed class, right?
He could have said anything.
But he still went.
He didn't fear Cornelius, and he didn't hate him.
He says, look, the spirit told me to go and talk to this guy.
I have to go, right?
I mean, this is what the spirit wants me to do.
And Darryl Davis just saying, like,
well, if they get to know me, they'll like me.
They'll like the Lord in me.
And he just did the thing.
Isn't that amazing?
He just did it, you know?
What a tremendous story.
So the first application is what we have to love
more than we hate or fear people, amen?
And what's the next application we can take from this?
The second one is we really need to step out of our comfort zone, amen?
I like that little bubble.
Another thing I had some help making.
Don't judge.
Come on.
You know, I don't have an artist at home that could say,
oh, let me make that for you.
But I think it's pretty cool, you know, for an amateur, right?
But step out of our, really, just do the thing.
You know, Peter was living very comfortably in the Tanner's house.
I don't know about comfortable, but he was there, right?
Insulated, didn't have to be afraid of anything.
And all of a sudden, yeah, we want you to go to Caesarea
and go into Peter's household and kind of risk everything.
You know, life is pretty good right now.
And you want me to risk everything to talk to this guy that I don't know.
What if it's a trap?
It could be a trap, can't it?
Like, what about just like Darryl Davis?
It could all be a trap.
And yet just going anyway and doing what the Lord wants us to do, you know?
Going out of his way, I mean, it's 30 miles away on like walking.
That's not a short little trek.
You know, sometimes you say, can you go over to the neighbor
and talk to him about Jesus while he's, you know, picking weeds
and like a little way over there?
You know, I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding.
But, you know, we can be pretty lazy, can't we sometimes?
No guilt, no shame.
I'm just talking to myself right now, right?
But really, it's like, you know, but we have to go and do the thing.
Just like Peter did.
He just said, you know what?
If this is what the Lord wants me to do,
I want to be where he wants me to be.
We all do.
We think we're living our own lives.
We live his life, you know?
Like Paul said, for I died, I no longer live, but Christ, he lives.
I've been crucified with Christ.
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
And the life I now live in the flesh, I live to Jesus Christ.
You know, that's our lives, right?
We don't own our own lives.
He does.
And they're the best lives we can live.
Amen.
And then the last application is don't compromise the truth to make peace.
You know, really, it's like all these things, being friendly with someone, right?
That think completely opposite things.
We could think, well, like, I'm going to probably have to water down some things.
I'm probably going to have to, you know, appease a bit, you know?
Because otherwise, if I say the awkward thing, the thing that irritates them,
then they won't want me here or worse, right?
But we can't sacrifice truth to get peace.
What did Jesus say?
Don't think I came to bring peace on earth.
Well, he's the prince of peace.
You know, is that an oxymoron?
Like, I thought you were.
You're the prince of peace.
How can you not come to bring peace on earth?
Not at a cost of truth, right?
I came to bring a sword, right?
That's even going to divide households because truth is the most valuable thing.
In fact, in reality, you can't have peace without truth.
Don't you love that shirt that used to say, no peace, K-N-O-W, peace?
Right?
Or no peace, no peace.
Anyway, what was I just thinking about?
This is what happens when you just think out loud.
It's always dangerous.
But no peace, no peace.
Is that what it is?
No Jesus.
No Jesus, no peace.
Anyway, you know what I mean.
But really, as the worship team comes up to take me out of my misery,
you know, it's really, it's just, it's simple, really.
When you look at stories like this, it's really simple, isn't it?
Like, there's nothing we have to be afraid of.
You know, we don't have to fear anyone.
We don't have to hate anyone.
You know, I'm getting kind of concerned about the focus on,
how do I say it, the different posts of,
we got to get them out of here and, you know, anti-Islam.
Look, there's only one saviour, Jesus Christ, right?
But this kind of hatred, and trust me, like, I agree.
Like, there's things happening that are not healthy for this country, right?
I mean, I totally agree with that, right?
There's very unhealthy things that are being fostered in government through Islam
that is not going to work out well for humanity.
It never has.
You look around, socialism, communism, find me somewhere it's worked, okay?
Islam, show me somewhere where people are freer because of Islam.
Just show me.
Is there anywhere, right?
There's nowhere because it brings shackles upon people.
It enslaves people.
It's not a good thing.
So I totally believe that.
But the kind of hateful rhetoric is just, that's not,
that doesn't feel like the Holy Spirit to me.
It really doesn't.
It feels like there's a lot of hatred and anger and fear.
And we can all start to get caught up in that flow of,
yeah, yeah, you know, I hate them.
And let me tell you something.
I know a lot of Muslims and they're wonderful people.
I love talking to them.
I love hanging out with them.
They're nice people.
I remember this one time I used to go to this meeting,
meeting for a better understanding, and it was Christians present.
Well, first they would present the, the Quran and, you know,
different teachings of, you know, of Muhammad.
And then the Christian would get up and give straight hardcore truth.
I mean, the, the gospel just wouldn't pull any punches.
It was amazing.
I'm like, well, I, I assumed, you know, in the midst of this environment,
they're going to soften it up.
They're going to, you know, it was boom.
No Jesus, no peace.
There it is.
Right?
Truth.
And I got to meet some of them.
I'll never forget this guy.
He was obviously the, the rainmaker of the mosque.
You know, I mean, you know, he was, I could tell he had some status and
probably some money.
And I said, yeah, I got to reach out to him.
You know, so I reached out to him.
I said, hey, you want to do lunch?
He goes, yeah, yeah.
So he goes, come on out.
Yeah.
So he's, he's wealthy, like beyond.
He, he walked me through both of his factories,
showing me all of it.
It was astounding.
He made hydraulic engines around the world.
He was an international manufacturer.
I'm like, wow, who wouldn't know?
And he's, he's inviting me all around the place.
And then I walk up to this one guy who's working.
He goes, this is so-and-so.
I forget his name.
He goes to Calvary Chapel, Philadelphia.
And his Bible is right there on his workstation.
And he's like, he's a great worker, you know, and just like, and I'm
like, and then we went out to lunch and he insisted on buying.
And we just, and like, just a sweetheart of a guy.
I know so many Muslims like that.
Okay.
Now, again, I know there's a spiritual element we're not seeing,
but that's, isn't that with everybody?
Every single situation, you know, there's a spiritual realm to everything.
But all I can say is we have to love people.
We can't hate them.
We can't fear them.
We just have to be Christ to them.
You know, I've gone out to lunch with many Muslims.
I said, do you mind if I pray for our meal for lunch?
Like, yeah, go ahead.
I pray in Jesus name.
Thanks.
You know, no big deal.
Nothing, you know, not like, all right, we're going to get them
when we get out of the car, you know, nothing, you know, it's like,
we don't have to be fearful or we don't have to be hateful.
It's just, let's just be Jesus.
Let's just be Jesus to everyone.
Just say, look, we don't have to be afraid.
You know, I mean, Daryl Davis.
That's a scary situation.
And look what, what, what God accomplished through him.
We can do it.
Jesus can do it through us. Amen.
So let's pray.
Let's stand up.
We're going to close in some worship.
Father, God, thank you for chapter 10.
Lord, God, thank you for showing us that you don't show
partiality to any people.
Lord, thank you for showing us that we don't have to be
fearful or hateful, that we can just love people the way you
love them, because if we're not going to be the ones to go,
who will?
No one else is qualified except your messengers,
your vessels, your temples of the Holy Spirit,
your royal priesthood, holy nation, kings and priests of
this world.
Lord, God, thank you.
We love you in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Let's give the Lord a round of applause.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we
praise God and discuss his word.
Don't forget to join us for Worship Live Sunday
mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!