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Good morning.
Good morning. I'm Tonya and I'm part of Oikos in the Oaks small group and the Women Reading Women monthly book club.
Today's scripture reading is from the Acts of the Apostles, chapters 10, verses 1 to 3 and 27 to 48 as printed in your liturgy.
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.
He and all his family were devout and God-fearing.
He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.
One day at about three in the afternoon, he had a vision.
He distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him and said,
Cornelius.
While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.
He said to them,
You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile.
But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.
So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection.
May I ask why you sent for me?
Cornelius answered,
Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon.
Suddenly, a man in shining clothes stood before me and said,
Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.
Send to Joppa for Simon who was called Peter.
He is a guest in the home of Simon the Tanner who lives by the sea.
So I sent for you immediately and it was good of you to come.
Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.
Then Peter began to speak.
I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism,
but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.
You know the message God sent to the people of Israel,
announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
You know what has happened through the province of Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached.
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power,
and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil,
because God was with him.
We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They killed him by hanging him on a cross,
but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.
He was not seen by all the people,
but by witnesses whom God had already chosen,
by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one
whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.
All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him
receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
While Peter was still speaking these words,
the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.
The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished
that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles,
for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Then Peter said,
Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water.
They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.
So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Thank you, Karen and Tonya.
Today is something of a finish line for me.
As you heard a moment ago,
our other pastor Andrew is wrapping up his four-month sabbatical this week.
We've made some transitions in our music ministry.
We've onboarded our new groups and formation director.
And so grateful for your prayers for me and for our team during this unique season.
And I want to especially thank you for rescheduling your crises during these past four months.
And now that that time is coming to a close,
you can feel free to email us your struggles, problems, and needs.
It's Andrew at Christ Church East Bay.
That's A-N-D.
Well, I'm going to be catching up on a little sleep this week.
Our daughter is moving to college next Monday
and soaking up some last-minute time with her before she hits liftoff.
But, you know, today is also something of a finish line for us as a church family.
We're coming to the end of this sermon series in the book of Acts.
And I hope that you have come to love this exciting narrative
and the many case studies that we've been looking at
of what it means to be a living church.
What does it mean to be a spirit-filled church?
And I hope that you've also come to appreciate
that this is the only authoritative account of the church that we have in our Bibles.
And so it's so important for us to know what it is and what it means for us.
And I want to dive in one last time here in God's Word in Acts chapter 10.
This amazing case study of God's work in two people pretty much like a lot of us,
Cornelius and Peter.
And I want to talk about three things.
I want to talk about God's purpose, God's peace, and God's power.
I want to think together a little bit about God's purpose, God's peace, and God's power.
And let's start with God's purpose.
Here we have a story of two men.
They're 40 miles apart.
They're about a two-day's journey from each other.
One of them is a Jewish Christian named Peter.
The other one's a Gentile pagan named Cornelius.
And the story is about how God brings them together through prayer.
And if you read the whole story, we couldn't print it all, but if you go back and read the
whole story, Cornelius is calling on God one day at 3 p.m.
And then the next day, Peter's calling on God at 12 p.m.
And within this 24-hour period, God reveals himself to both of these people in prayer so
that Cornelius, the Gentile, sends for Peter, the Jewish Christian.
And Peter, the Jewish Christian, who's been trained all of his life to have nothing to
do with Gentiles.
Those unclean people.
God has been preparing him to welcome them to his table and then to go and enter into their
house, this house of uncircumcised, non-kosher Gentiles and spend days with them teaching
them about Jesus.
So he's crossing over a boundary, an ethnic boundary.
He's crossing over, intentionally crossing a cultural barrier.
And what's God's purpose in this?
What is God doing to prepare Cornelius and to prepare Peter for this divinely appointed
encounter?
And I want to start with Cornelius because we read about him in verse 1 that at Caesarea
there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.
This guy's a company commander of 100 battle-hardened soldiers.
His unit is directly tied to the heart of the empire in Rome.
They're stationed at a base in a place that's named after Caesar Augustus.
And do you think Jews, like Peter, are excited to have these folks in their backyard?
This occupying power that, you know, if you get out of line, we'll just put you up on a
cross.
They're not super excited about that.
But Cornelius is an interesting guy because he's earned his rank through his discipline
in the barracks, through his distinctions on the battlefield.
And he's the guy you want in your foxhole.
He is trustworthy under pressure.
He's the kind of guy who can lead 100 people into battle.
And so the question, when we think about how Cornelius is described here, do you think that
his time in the Roman army was an ideal place that was super conducive for spiritual exploration?
Think about that, the Roman army.
What do you think that was like?
Do you think if you went to your commanding officer and you said, hey, you know, I'm no
longer going to participate in the state religion and all the sacred customs of our military.
I'm no longer going to pray to Caesar or to Jupiter or to Mars for help.
How do you think that would go over?
Well, that tells you a lot about Cornelius who broke ranks to embrace a different God.
He embraced the God of Israel.
And like that man that we met last week from Ethiopia, he was no longer satisfied with the
pagan worldview that he had grown up with.
And so he upgraded to a better worldview, to the Jewish worldview.
And I won't repeat what I said last week about all the doctrines and ethics and practices of
worship that were involved in that.
But you can see how his life had been changed in verse 2.
It says that he and all his family were devout and God-fearing.
He gave generously to those in need and he prayed to God regularly.
Israel's scriptures say that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
And he has an awe.
He has a respect for the creator God.
He has a certain reverence for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And he's transferred his faith from all those gods of his empire to this one true and living God.
And how does that embody itself in Cornelius' life?
Well, it says that he gives generously to the needy and to the poor.
And that he prays morning, noon, and evening to God.
So he's devoted.
And that devotion is expressed vertically in his piety and horizontally in his charity.
And this is a good man.
This is the kind of man that you want your sons to become.
It's the kind of man you'd want your daughter to marry.
This is a good guy.
But what's amazing about this story is that even though he's spiritually and morally righteous,
it's not enough.
And how do we know that?
Well, look at verse 30.
And this is kind of like a Christopher Nolan film.
There's a lot of flashback, flashforward.
This is verse 30 where he's looking back and he says,
Three days ago, I was in my house praying at this hour.
At three in the afternoon, suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said,
Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.
So send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.
God gets the attention of Cornelius through prayer.
And he says in that strange moment, he says,
Cornelius, you need to talk to a Christian.
You need to hear about the apostles' teaching.
You need the deep inner transformation that only the message Peter has can give you.
And that's amazing because Cornelius is part of the greatest government that the world has ever seen.
He's a high-ranking officer.
He's powerful.
He's wealthy.
He's not let it go to his head.
He's not let it corrupt him like everybody else.
And now here he is.
He's participating in the world's greatest religion.
And he fears the God of Israel.
He's a generous and a praying man.
He's a man of virtue.
He's a man of character.
He's a good man.
But God, when he comes to Cornelius, he doesn't say to Cornelius,
Well done.
Keep going.
I'm sure if you just try harder and don't give up, you'll find salvation.
No, God says to Cornelius, you're not enough.
Your spirituality and your morality is not enough.
You need something more.
You need to send for this Christian named Peter.
And you need to hear the message that Peter has to give you.
And that's stunning to me.
Because the same thing happened to this other guy in the Bible named Nicodemus when he went to Jesus.
And he had this encounter in the Gospel of John chapter 3.
Nicodemus is very much like Cornelius.
He was brilliant.
He was accomplished.
He was wealthy.
He was powerful.
He was a man of impeccable credentials.
He wasn't a proud and self-righteous man.
He's humble.
He's open.
He's teachable.
He says, Jesus, we know that you're from God and that God is with you.
We want to learn from you.
And so what does Jesus say to Nicodemus?
He says, well, Nicodemus, you're a great guy.
You know the Bible.
You're a teacher of Israel.
You're spiritual.
You're moral.
And what you need, Nicodemus, is just to be kind of topped off.
And touched up here and there.
And maybe add a few things.
We'll complete the picture.
No, what does Jesus say to Nicodemus?
He says, Nicodemus, you must be born again from above by the Holy Spirit.
You must be converted.
You must be regenerated.
And unless that happens, you cannot even see the kingdom of God, much less enter into the
kingdom of God.
It's not about being topped off.
It's about being reborn as a new creation and starting over from scratch.
And notice again, in the story of Cornelius, like that Ethiopian man we met last week, that
God is the one who takes the initiative with Cornelius.
And it's God who enables Cornelius to see.
It's his purpose that Cornelius would come to see that he is not enough.
And that only the authentic, apostolic Christianity that Peter is going to bring to him has what
he needs so that God works through prayer to bring a Christian into Cornelius' life.
So maybe some of you here are like Cornelius.
You're spiritually searching.
You are exploring.
You're intellectually hungry.
You're existentially thirsty.
Well, think about the question, how has God been trying to get my attention?
How is God working in my life?
How has God introduced a Christian or several Christians into my life?
Why am I even here on a Sunday morning?
And think about God's purpose, like with Nicodemus, the Ethiopian, Cornelius, to bring you to what
you really need, to bring you beyond yourself to that thing that you really need.
Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 18, truly I tell you, unless you change, unless
you turn, unless you convert and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom
of heaven.
But you see, God's purpose here is bigger than just Cornelius because he's also working on
this Christian named Peter.
He's working on him through prayer and through the revelation of his word.
And he's saying, Peter, you need to grow in your faith.
You need to develop and mature in your faith.
Peter needed to learn about the wider horizons of God's mission.
Peter needed to learn that God didn't just bless Abraham and bless Israel.
He wanted to bless them so that through them they could bless all the nations of the earth.
Peter needed to know that God's grand purpose for this world was for his people to be a light
to the Gentiles, a light to the nations.
And so God's purpose is to prepare this Christian, Peter, to begin to do new and uncomfortable things.
To go out of his way and to inconvenience himself to reach new people like Cornelius.
God's purpose was not just to draw outsiders into Christ.
His purpose was to push insiders out to the world.
So that Peter would go on this 40 mile walk that he had not intended to do.
That he would take a two day journey.
That he would seek out these people, these strangers that he did not know and begin to talk with them.
And if you're a Christian, the question for you is are you willing to do that?
Are you willing to make sacrifices?
And go out of your way like Peter went out of his way.
And by the time Peter gets there, it says in verse 27, while he was talking with Cornelius,
Peter went inside and he found a large gathering of people.
And he said to them, you are well aware that it's against your law for a Jew to associate with Gentiles
or to visit them, but God.
But God has been working on me.
And God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.
See, this meeting would have never happened apart from God's purpose to transform this Christian
and to compel him to cross over barriers and cross over boundaries
that normally would have kept these two people apart,
but rather to begin sharing meals with people he didn't know.
Developing a bond of friendship with total strangers
and entering into a relationship with them.
And the question is, if you're a Christian,
is there any class of people, any category of people
that you think should be avoided
or that you think should be dismissed as beyond God's grace?
For example,
has God put a Republican in your life?
Or has he put a Democrat in your life?
Or has he put anyone in any category,
economically, politically, socially,
and on and on,
who your tribe of people
is telling you you should look down upon
and feel superior to?
Because here in this story,
Peter says,
God has shown me
that I should not call anyone
impure or unclean.
And I should not think that anyone
is beyond the reach
of God's saving grace.
And this is a watershed moment
for the history of the Christian mission
because there was now no person
who was seen as beyond the reach of God.
There was now no boundary or barrier
that Christians would not cross
in order to get this message out to the people.
And this is what gives rise
to the transnational,
multicultural,
polychromatic church.
If you just look around,
it's the way it is
because of this moment right here.
And it's all about God's purpose.
It's God's purpose.
But I also want to talk about God's peace.
God's peace.
Because when Peter gets to this house
of these non-kosher,
uncircumcised Gentiles
that he's not supposed to be with,
what does he say in verse 36?
He says,
God sent the message
announcing the good news of peace
through Jesus who is Lord of all.
He comes to them to talk to them
about the good news of peace.
Now I want you to imagine
two nations that are at war.
And I know that's hard for us
to imagine right now.
Two nations that are at war.
One of them, the lesser power,
has rebelled against the greater power.
And there's this enduring conflict
that seems like it's never going to end
until this greater power
offers terms of peace,
terms of surrender,
terms of reconciliation.
And Peter's saying to them,
that's the story of the world.
That the human story
is one of rebellion against God,
but the creator, God,
has made a way of peace
through his Messiah,
who's now the Lord of all.
And you see, Cornelius
and all of his household,
they'd heard the gospel of Rome.
They'd heard about Caesar
and the Pax Romana.
They knew that if you wanted his peace,
you had to bend your knee
to Caesar and call him Lord.
And so Peter comes into this house
and he says,
I'm talking about a different peace.
I'm talking about a transcendent
and a cosmic peace.
I'm talking about a different Lord.
A Lord who's higher
and a Lord who's more powerful.
And Peter begins to share with them
in verse 37,
the story of Jesus.
He says,
Jesus was anointed by God
and by the Holy Spirit
and by God's power
and therefore he went out
and he did good to the poor
and the needy
and he healed the sick
and he healed the demonized
and God was so clearly with him.
And then in verse 39,
he says,
ultimately people killed him
by hanging him on the cross,
but God raised him from the dead.
That's how God makes peace.
Through his Messiah,
through his death
and through his resurrection.
And Peter goes on in verse 40
and he says,
but God raised him from the dead
on the third day
and caused him to be seen.
He was not seen by all the people,
but by witnesses
whom God had already chosen,
by us who ate and drank with him
after he rose from the dead.
Now sometimes we say,
if only the dead could speak.
Well, in this particular case,
here is one who was dead
and now is alive again
and did speak.
And for 40 days
after his resurrection,
Jesus was with his disciple community
and he's giving them convincing proofs
that he's alive.
And if Jesus was really just a spirit
in that moment,
if he was just a ghost,
I don't know how he sat down
and I definitely don't know
how he drank with them.
That would have been
really, really messy.
Peter does not say,
listen, we had a vision
of the resurrected Jesus.
We had a hallucination
of the resurrected Jesus.
We had projected wish fulfillment
of the resurrected Jesus.
No, you don't ask a hallucination
to pass you the bread.
And even if you do ask
a hallucination
to pass you the bread,
they're not going to pass it to you.
And if you say
that they pass it to you,
well, you're nuts.
Unless he actually does
pass you the bread
and then you know
it's the real Jesus.
You see,
if the resurrection
didn't happen,
Christianity
is a complete waste of time.
You are totally wasting.
You could be at brunch right now.
You're wasting your time.
But if it did happen,
that means
that everything Jesus claimed to be
and all of his work on the cross
to atone for our sins
and to bring us peace with God
is true.
And so Peter goes on
and he says,
in those 40 days
after the resurrection,
Jesus not only convinced us
that he was alive,
but he gave us marching orders.
And he gave us
a precise description
of the content
of the message
that we are to proclaim
to the world
of which Jesus is now
the rightful Lord.
And what that means
is that everything
Peter's saying here
is not just authentic Christianity.
It's not just apostolic Christianity.
It's Christ's Christianity.
Everything that he's saying
is straight from the lips
of Jesus.
His perfect life.
His redeeming death.
His bodily resurrection.
And then he comes
to verse 42.
He commanded us
to preach to the people
and to testify
that he is the one
whom God appointed
as judge
of the living
and the dead.
And all the prophets
testify about him
that everyone
who believes in him
receives forgiveness
of sins
through his name.
Now some of you
have noticed
in the past few weeks
that our services
have been a little bit full.
And you've been asking
how we're going to make room
and create some space.
Well I figured
we'd preach today
on the Christian doctrine
of judgment.
And then
if that doesn't work
we'll do the Christian
ethic of sexuality.
And then if that doesn't work
we'll preach on tithing.
And then there should be
plenty of seats
here in the coming weeks
and months.
But verse 42 says
that this good news
of peace
this good news
of peace
from God
through Jesus
it involves
a divinely appointed
judge
and a day
of judgment.
And this isn't just
Peter
Paul
when he gets
to Athens
he's speaking
to the philosophers
there
he's speaking
to the
Epicureans
and the Stoics
the philosophy
department
at Cal
he's telling them
Acts chapter 17
verse 32
he says
for God
has set a day
when he will
judge the world
with justice
by the man
he has appointed
he's given
proof of this
to everyone
by raising him
from the dead.
And some people
say well I don't
like Peter
and I don't
like Paul
I like Jesus
well okay
here's the gospel
of Matthew
chapter 25
Jesus says
when the son of man
comes in his glory
and all the angels
with him
he will sit
on his glorious throne
all the nations
will be gathered
before him
and he will
separate the peoples
from one another
these will go away
to eternal punishment
but these righteous
to eternal life.
And that's just
one of many examples
Jesus says
in the gospel
of John
chapter 5
the father
judges no one
but he has
entrusted his
judgment
to the son
very truly
I tell you
whoever hears
my word
and believes
him who sent
me
has eternal
life
and will not
be judged
but is already
crossed over
from death
into life.
Now I imagine
some of you here
that's hard
to digest
that's hard
for you to believe
probably
for many
different reasons
and I'm thinking
about our
worldview class
last week
and later today
but perhaps
your worldview
is naturalism
or materialism
and so you believe
by faith
in the extinction
of the human person
at death
and you say
you know
we're not
eternal souls
we're not
immortal beings
we're just gonna
cease to exist
the day we die.
Or secondly
your worldview
is moralistic
therapeutic
deism
and so
by faith
you believe
that good people
go to heaven
and we're all
pretty much good
so be happy
and have a good
time.
And thirdly
perhaps your worldview
is new age
spirituality
and so
by faith
you believe
that nothing
essential happens
at death
and that each
person
is just simply
somehow reunited
with the universe
and you become
stardust.
The problem
with all those
views
is that they are
self-defeating
and none of them
really does
an adequate job
with evil
and justice.
if you hold
one of those
views
let me ask you
do you
really think
that for all
of our lies
for all
the
betrayals
for all
of our
greed
for all
of our
cowardice
for all
the murders
of the
20th century
the bloodiest
century in
history
do you
really think
that we're
not going
to be
judged?
How can
you fight
for human
rights
and for
justice
when there's
really no
ultimate
standard of
judgment
above you
or out in
front of you
in the future?
And how
can you
even give
an accounting
of justice
if there is
no God
and if the
day we
die we
just cease
to exist?
What if
you're wrong?
What if
there will
actually be
justice in
the end?
What if
a day is
coming when
all the
rubbish
is going
to be
cast out
of the
world?
When God
is going
to put
the world
right?
What if
God
really has
appointed
Jesus
as he
said here
to be the
judge
of the
living
and the
dead?
What if
that
breathtaking
claim
is true?
If words
have any
meaning
at all
then it
means that
no one
can escape
the day
when all
of us
without
exception
will stand
before this
same Jesus
who lived
on earth
and who
now is
alive
forever
that all
the destinies
of all
people
are in
his hands
and there
is coming
a day
when all
doubt
about that
will
disappear
and we
will stand
before this
majestic
figure
and give
an accounting
of our
lives
the book
of Hebrews
chapter 9
verse 27
says people
are destined
to die
once and
after that
to face
judgment
now if
that's
true
then it's
absolutely
unloving
to pretend
that it's
not true
and it's
absolutely
unloving
to withhold
that information
from people
but notice
that this
judge
and this
judgment
is part
of the
good news
of peace
remember
that
Jesus
breathtaking
claim of
judgment
here in
verse 42
is followed
in verse 43
with another
breathtaking
claim
that all
the Old
Testament
prophets
testify
about Jesus
and that
everyone
who believes
in him
receives
the forgiveness
of sins
so verse 42
he's the judge
of all people
whether you
believe that
or not
verse 43
he's the
forgiver
of all
who believe
verse 43
the Old
Testament's
looking forward
to the first
coming of
this Savior
who will
forgive our
sins
verse 42
the New
Testament's
looking forward
to the second
coming
when he will
be our
judge
and the
question is
on what
basis
will he
judge us
on what
basis
will he
judge us
well you
will either
bring before
him
your own
record
right
your own
spiritual
and moral
record
and in
which case
that day
really should
cause you
to tremble
it really
will be
for you
a day
of disgrace
a day
of tears
a day
of misery
that will
go on
without end
or
Jesus
will smile
on you
that day
and he'll
say
Jonathan
we
settled
this thing
out of
court
remember
I've
already
given you
the verdict
of this
day
a long
time
ago
that
if you
took
advantage
of my
first coming
to be
your
savior
if you
accepted
my terms
of peace
if you
looked
on my
finished
work
on the
cross
if you
received
my
forgiveness
if you
claimed
my
spiritual
and moral
record
as your
own
righteousness
then you've
already
the moment
you believed
you crossed
over from
death
to life
as I
said
so
Jonathan
it's so
good to
see you
on this
judgment
day
now
enter
into
the joy
of your
master
you see
if you
put
your
trust
in
Jesus
you
can
look
into
your
judge's
face
and
you
can
see
your
savior
there
and
you
can
know
with
absolute
surety
and
confidence
that
you
have
peace
with
God
and
that
peace
is
going
to
go
on
not
just
today
not
just
tomorrow
it's
going
to
go
on
forever
that's
what
Peter
told
Cornelius
that's
what
Peter
told
this
entire
household
of
Gentiles
it
was
God's
purpose
to
get
Peter
to
come
and
talk
about
God's
peace
and
then
what
happened
God's
power
came
when
they
began
to
actually
believe
every
single
one
of
these
articles
of
faith
the
power
of
God
came
down
in
that
place
and
what
do
we
read
about
in
verse
44
you've
got
a
whole
house
full
50
people
75
people
100
people
they're
there
in
the
presence
of
God
they're
hearing
the
gospel
of
God
and
it
says
in
verse
44
while
Peter
was
still
speaking
these
words
!
the
people
were
astonished
that
the
gift
of
the
Holy
Spirit
had
been
poured
out
even
on
Gentiles
for
they
had
heard
them
speaking
in
tongues
and
praising
God
you know
God
certainly
would not
have
poured
out
the
power
of
the
Holy
Spirit
unless
these
people
were
repenting
and
believing
he
certainly
would
not
have
poured
out
the
power
of
the
Holy
Spirit
unless
these
people
were
believing
in their
heart
that
God
raised
Jesus
from
the
dead
unless
they
were
declaring
with
their
mouth
that
Jesus
actually
is
Lord
and
Lord
of
all
and
the
presence
and the
power
of
the
Holy
Spirit
coming
down
it's
proof
it's
proof
that
in
that
moment
their
hearts
are
being
converted
their
hearts
are being
regenerated
that
above
by
the
Holy
Spirit
which
Jesus
said
has
to
happen
for
you
to
enter
into
the
kingdom
of
God
when
they
heard
the
gospel
that
Jesus
on
his
cross
he
took
your
curse
so
that
you
could
get
his
blessing
when
they
heard
that
glorious
message
that
Jesus
on
the
cross
was
baptized
into
the
absence
of
God
he
was
baptized
into
separation
from
God
my
God
my
God
why
have
forsaken
me
that
he
did
that
so
that
you
could
be
plunged
into
the
presence
of
God
so
that
you
could
have
the
fullness
of
the
power
of
God
so
that
you
could
be
immersed
in
the
grace
of
God
which
leads
to
the
peace
of
God
oh
all
these
Gentiles
from
all over
the
place
they
had
the
power
of
God
coming
down
into
their
life
their
hearts
were
flooded
by
the
power
Christianity
is not
something
that
you
decide
you're
going
to
take
up
it's
something
that
comes
down
and
takes
you
up
you
see
it's
a
power
it's
the
power
of
the
living
God
and
how
can
you
tell
when
someone's
been
filled
with
the
Holy
Spirit
well
verse
46
says
they
were
speaking
in
tongues
and
praising
God
and
some
of
you
are
like
oh
my
goodness
what's
he
about
to
do
well
Acts
chapter
10
is
just
a
mini
Pentecost
it's
a
Gentile
Pentecost
like
Acts
chapter
2
Acts
chapter
10
here
as
there
they're
speaking
in
intelligible
languages
and
known
languages
why
are
they
doing
that
so
that
more
and
more
people
can
hear
this
glorious
message
about
the
peace
of
God
that
comes
through
his
Messiah
who's
now
Lord
of
all
remember
Acts
chapter
2
verse
11
it
says
that
we
hear
them
on
the
day
of
Pentecost
we hear
them
declaring
in
our
own
tongues
in
our
own
languages
the
wonderful
works
of
God
and
what's
happening
there
is
happening
here
again
that
these
newborn
Christians
are
praising
God
they're
declaring
the
wonderful
works
of
God
they're
extolling
God's
mighty
works
of
salvation
the
birth
of
the
Gentile
church
the
birth
of
the
church
that
includes
non-Jews
like most
of us
here
it began
with
joyful
worship
and that's
how you
know you
have the
Holy
Spirit
that you're
excited
about
these
things
if you
do not
have
that
joy
and that
praise
you probably
don't have
the Holy
Spirit
and you're
not a
Christian
but if
you do
have it
if you
have the
Holy
Spirit
if the
presence
and the
power of
God
has come
down into
your life
there's
praise
there's
thanksgiving
there's
uninhibited
singing
there's
rejoicing
at what
God did
to come
and make
peace
a peace
that's gonna
go on
forever
and ever
amen
so
friends
are you
praising
God
not
just
here
but
is
your
life
full
of
the
praise
of
God
it
seems
fitting
that
we
would
end
this
sermon
on
a
song
of
praise
!
so
I
want
to
invite
you
to
pull
out
your
liturgy
and
I've
asked
Rich
to
come
up
and
he's
going
to
teach
us
how to
sing
the
Nicene
Creed
Peter
covered a lot
of these
points
in his
little
message
there
to
Cornelius
and his
household
and
so
we
want
to
sing
them
we
want
to
be
as
excited
as
they
were
about
these
things
and
so
as
these
guys
come
to
lead
us
let's
stand
and
let's
praise
our
God
in
the
name
of
the
Father
Son
and
Holy
Spirit
Amen