WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.779 Why are we here? Why? This week, that's what the Lord's been stirring in my heart. It's 00:00:08.779 --> 00:00:16.000 ! What is my, as theologians would call, what is my ecclesiology? What is church really all about? 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:22.440 Why are we here? And I don't know about you, but those mission statements I find are so for me. 00:00:22.780 --> 00:00:27.300 We have some lovely people handing out Bibles because we believe in the Word of God and only 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:34.340 the paper version, Danny. So please, if they offer it to you, please feel free to grab one. 00:00:37.240 --> 00:00:38.420 There we go. Thank you, Rocky. 00:00:41.260 --> 00:00:47.880 If I may, I look at the world, I've been looking at the world this last week or two. It's not a new 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:52.960 thing. And I see brokenness and then it breaks my heart. I'm like, what is the church supposed to do? 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:58.520 Is the church doing what it's supposed to do when everything else around us seems to be more and 00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:03.640 more divisive, more and more polarized, falling apart? What are we supposed to do? Are we doing 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:10.939 our job as the body of Christ? I'll share a quote with you that my brother shared with me in his, 00:01:11.060 --> 00:01:16.740 some of his reading as he's been studying. A theologian pastor called Dallas Willard, 00:01:16.739 --> 00:01:22.819 who's maybe, maybe John Mark Comer before John Mark Comer. And he was asked the question, 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:26.819 what's, what's the problem with the church in the West these days? And he said, well, 00:01:26.819 --> 00:01:32.560 the church in the West, the problem is it's stopped making disciples of Jesus. We're so bogged 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:38.319 down by building properties, by running programs. We've stopped making people who look like Jesus. 00:01:39.399 --> 00:01:45.859 If that mission statement reminds you of anything, it's that the whole purpose of us being here is to 00:01:45.859 --> 00:01:50.900 glorify God and to know him and enjoy him. And by doing so, we become more like him. 00:01:51.459 --> 00:01:55.700 And as I sit here and as I look around, all of us here, myself included, I put a mirror in front 00:01:55.700 --> 00:02:02.259 of me going, do I look like Jesus? Does me being here, week in, week out, make me look more like 00:02:02.259 --> 00:02:06.879 Jesus? That's the only question you should be asking yourself to. Not whether the worship is good, 00:02:06.960 --> 00:02:10.539 not whether the sermon is good, not whether the community is good, or whether the football team 00:02:10.539 --> 00:02:14.979 this afternoon is going to win. Those are important questions. But the most important thing is, 00:02:14.979 --> 00:02:21.120 am I looking more and more like Jesus? And then he said, every church needs to ask two questions of 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:25.539 itself. And that's it. Two questions. The first question is this, what is your plan for discipleship? 00:02:26.299 --> 00:02:32.099 And then the second question is, is that plan working? All that to say, it's really only about 00:02:32.099 --> 00:02:37.839 are we walking with one another in a way that points each other to Jesus? And by doing so, 00:02:38.060 --> 00:02:41.939 we start to look more and more like Jesus, whether we have lots of hair or no hair at all, 00:02:41.939 --> 00:02:49.240 we look more and more like Jesus. That's the goal. And I, and I asked myself that question, 00:02:49.340 --> 00:02:57.139 am I discipling you? I don't know. I look at you, Trevor, am I discipling you? And we can be kind 00:02:57.139 --> 00:03:02.840 and say, well, I think I am through maybe just the pulpit here. And I'm opening up the word of God to 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:09.919 you and I'm pointing you to him. I think so. Or maybe I'm discipling you by, okay, Jackie, I've maybe 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:16.399 sat down with you once or twice and had a coffee and had a breakfast. Then I'm like, oh, I think I 00:03:16.399 --> 00:03:21.179 can stretch it and say, I am discipling you. But then I can also say, I don't think I'm discipling 00:03:21.179 --> 00:03:26.899 you the way Jesus discipled his people. And it really got me to think, well, what is our plan 00:03:26.899 --> 00:03:33.099 for discipleship? What is our plan for making each other look more like Jesus? And so as I was praying 00:03:33.099 --> 00:03:38.759 through that, one of the things that I, I felt the Lord kind of challenged me was actually, 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:44.919 you might need to come up with something, some structure that would form you, that would form 00:03:44.919 --> 00:03:49.000 your community. So you can actually have things in place to actually make disciples of Jesus. 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:54.199 It can't just be, oh, let's just see how it goes. There's got to be more. The structures that are 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:58.620 around us are the ones that form us. I was like, what is it that we need to do? So I started talking to a 00:03:58.620 --> 00:04:02.939 few different people who I'm walking with. Actually, hey, I know you're hungry for God. What if we 00:04:02.939 --> 00:04:07.140 started something together? I always hold on to what Tim Keller says, which is every church needs 00:04:07.140 --> 00:04:12.060 to be an organism, one that has life. We've all maybe been part of churches that, oh, that doesn't 00:04:12.060 --> 00:04:16.860 look like there's this life there. It needs to be filled with life. It needs to be an organism, but it 00:04:16.860 --> 00:04:20.660 also needs to be an organization. It also needs to get self-organized. Otherwise it's just a mess. 00:04:21.300 --> 00:04:25.879 And so then I said, okay, well, what if we started to put something together that we can actually 00:04:25.879 --> 00:04:30.560 intentionally walk with people so I can actually spend more time with you so you can open up the 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:34.939 word of God with me and so that we can then grow together so we can look more like Jesus together? 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:41.259 What is our plan for discipleship? And is that plan working? And I want to hear to be here sharing 00:04:41.259 --> 00:04:46.600 with you today. I think we're going to start some sort of plan. We gather here and this Sunday is 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:50.040 called the gathering, but there's something else that we're going to start. And I asked a few people 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:54.100 just to say, what do you think? What should we do here? And actually, thankfully it wasn't just five 00:04:54.100 --> 00:04:57.600 people that were interested. It wasn't just 12. It was 20 something people who were like, okay, 00:04:58.280 --> 00:05:03.060 count me in, whatever this is. Because the other thing I'll say is this, Hong Kong is probably one 00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:08.260 of the hardest places to make disciples. Why? Because we are surrounded by poverty. Yes, real poverty 00:05:08.260 --> 00:05:14.020 that we cannot ignore, but we also have a poverty which is the poverty of time. And so I look around 00:05:14.020 --> 00:05:19.800 at some of the, especially those who are working professionals who are like, I want to. I want to be 00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:25.160 discipled. I want to be more like Jesus, but I don't, I'm just working six days a week. I start at nine 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:31.780 and I finish at nine and I'm calling home and I can't, I don't have time for this. And I say, I get it. 00:05:32.980 --> 00:05:37.680 But if you can tell me one more thing in your life that is more important than becoming a disciple 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:42.259 of Jesus, we won't try. We won't do it. And for those who are really following and trying, they're like, 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:48.580 no, there is nothing more important. I say, well then let's, let's try. How about you call yourself 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:54.560 a situation you're dealing with? You call yourself higher and me as your pastor, I'll just hold you 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:59.319 up there. I'll just try my best to hold you up there. So I'm not trying to put things on top of 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:05.660 you to burden you, but actually you decide what do you think living all out for Jesus looks like for 00:06:05.660 --> 00:06:10.400 you without needing to quit your job, without needing to move into the village. How can you do 00:06:10.400 --> 00:06:16.560 that in the city whilst working your job? And I'll be honest with you, I was having breakfast with my 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:20.920 mentor this morning and he was like, and I was telling him about, he's like, Oh, I don't know 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:27.439 if I've seen young working professionals really live all out for God and be willing to sacrifice 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:33.740 all the things that are in the world. I think they want to, but they can't. So what you're trying is 00:06:33.740 --> 00:06:37.959 very, very hard. I said, Oh, I think it is very, very hard. And actually he said, I don't think I've 00:06:37.959 --> 00:06:42.560 ever seen it done well before. I was like, that actually relieved me because it means, okay, well, 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:49.939 let's just try. No one else has succeeded, but if this is all that matters, then we'll try it. 00:06:49.939 --> 00:06:52.920 And so what does it look, what does this look like? And I'm going somewhere with this, I promise. 00:06:53.139 --> 00:06:58.779 So I got these people together and then the vision is actually, we'll try one round and then we'll get 00:06:58.779 --> 00:07:02.160 this. Of course there's another round already waiting. So we're like, okay, we'll try it one 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:05.660 round and then we'll do it again afterwards. And the hope is that we'll do it again and again, 00:07:05.740 --> 00:07:10.120 again. And everyone in this room, ideally my dream is that everyone in this room signs onto something 00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:15.019 like this caught the fellowship where actually for nine months, what we're going to do is a small 00:07:15.019 --> 00:07:20.600 group of people committing to read the word together every day. Okay. Actually the Chinese 00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:25.199 side is doing something already, actually much longer, much more hardcore. We're just, we're 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:28.620 just going to try something small here, which is, can we read the word together every day? 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:33.879 And can you actually just open up your reader and then write a reflection into a WhatsApp group and 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:37.280 then respond to each other. And the second thing we're going to do is why don't we pray together 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:43.099 every day? What does that look like? Well, barring us all showing up here, maybe at 6am every day and 00:07:43.099 --> 00:07:48.179 becoming monks. What if it looked like we all just jumped on a WhatsApp call for five minutes, 00:07:49.019 --> 00:07:54.199 pick your time, get into groups of three or four. Let's just try it. Let's just do it. Will it succeed? 00:07:54.279 --> 00:08:01.019 I don't know. I will let you know, but I'm like, I think I would like to die trying. I would like to 00:08:01.019 --> 00:08:07.259 figure out what this is in a city like this. How can we become disciples of Jesus? So we're going to 00:08:07.259 --> 00:08:13.659 try it. Now, one thing I want to say right here, this is not an exclusive thing. Everyone here at 00:08:13.659 --> 00:08:18.259 some point will be asked the same question. If you're worshipping here at the gathering is, 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:23.339 would you like to be a part of the fellowship? And my hope is that eventually we'll work. We can't, 00:08:23.420 --> 00:08:27.779 we can't do it all right now altogether. So I'm doing a pilot project and thank the Lord for the 00:08:27.779 --> 00:08:32.100 people who are willing to be guinea pigs just, just to experiment with me. Go, actually, what does work? 00:08:32.100 --> 00:08:36.060 Because we might come back two months later. Oh, that was crazy. We, we, we, we, we went ourselves 00:08:36.060 --> 00:08:41.000 out doing that. I actually sincerely think that actually that won't happen because when you hunger 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:45.840 and thirst for the Lord, I think he is just faithful and whatever little margins we think 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:52.060 we have, I think he will expand them. And so here's my just first intro and just to ask you to watch this 00:08:52.060 --> 00:08:56.279 space and go, actually, if you're hungry for the Lord, if you're, if you're trying to figure out what 00:08:56.279 --> 00:09:00.819 it means to be a disciple of Jesus in this city, I want you to know our church, we are trying, 00:09:01.419 --> 00:09:05.059 we have a plan for discipleship and we're going to keep asking question number two, which is, 00:09:05.179 --> 00:09:11.259 is that plan working? And honestly, this side of heaven, I don't think we'll have the final answer, 00:09:11.539 --> 00:09:17.179 but we're going to keep trying. And so I invite you, would you consider, would you pray actually, 00:09:17.259 --> 00:09:23.600 why am I here? Am I becoming more and more like Jesus? And maybe one day we get to do this more 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:30.639 intentionally together. Because as we look at scripture time and time again, God uses people, 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:37.680 not programs, not big events, but he uses people like you and I, we've been going through the book 00:09:37.680 --> 00:09:43.460 of Acts and you just see Acts 7, Acts 8, Acts 9, he's just going to people and converting them and then 00:09:43.460 --> 00:09:48.560 he's using them to then spread the news even more. And time and time again, he's using people, 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:52.960 but it's not actually the people that are doing the work, it's who? It's the Holy Spirit. 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:57.379 If you look at this book of Acts, it's, it's, it says the Acts of the apostles. And I've said this 00:09:57.379 --> 00:10:01.620 before, if we just to kind of expand it a little bit, no, it's the Acts of the Holy Spirit through 00:10:01.620 --> 00:10:06.659 the apostles. It's the Holy Spirit. He's the one who's doing stuff. The question I have for us is 00:10:06.659 --> 00:10:11.240 actually, what do you think the Holy Spirit does? I'm posing this out here so you can avoid eye 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:16.040 contact if you want. I may or may not pick you. What do you think the Holy Spirit actually does? 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:25.019 Any brave soul with any kind of suggestion or answer? J1, can I start with you? What do you 00:10:25.019 --> 00:10:30.139 think the Holy Spirit does? Convicts and corrects. 00:10:35.319 --> 00:10:40.419 Correct. John 16a, he's come into the world to convict the world of sin and righteousness. He's 00:10:40.419 --> 00:10:44.879 coming to show us what's right and what's wrong. Correct. What else does the Holy Spirit do as you 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:49.139 look into scripture? What are the things that he does? Agnes, what do you, what, what do you think 00:10:49.139 --> 00:10:55.799 the Holy Spirit does? Teaches us to understand his word. Do you get confused when you read this book? 00:10:56.379 --> 00:11:01.899 I do. I do, especially in the Old Testament. And I'll sit and I'll go, Holy Spirit, I'm going to need 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:07.600 you today. I'm going to need you today to help explain what this just means. So absolutely, 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:14.240 it teaches us more. What else? Dr. Brown. He's not actually a doctor, by the way. He's, he hates me for 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:18.639 doing this, but he's actually a Mr. Brown. But anyway, he talks like a doctor, don't we think? 00:11:19.080 --> 00:11:19.240 All right. 00:11:23.500 --> 00:11:33.580 It allows us to be set back to our factory setting the way that human beings were meant to be created. 00:11:33.779 --> 00:11:35.139 It allows us to fulfill that purpose. 00:11:35.500 --> 00:11:39.799 Allows us to fulfill that purpose. And if I was just to quote a famous doctor that spoke a few weeks 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:45.379 ago, that that purpose is to be that place where heaven meets earth, correct? Where Christians are 00:11:45.379 --> 00:11:50.919 made in the image of God. And from that moment, we become the heavens vessels almost into earth. 00:11:51.079 --> 00:11:54.039 And that's what we're supposed to do. But we, we, we stray, we fall away from it. 00:11:54.879 --> 00:12:00.779 And if I keep going along that line, the Holy Spirit is here to make Jesus real to us and make Jesus real 00:12:00.779 --> 00:12:06.579 in us. The Holy Spirit is here to point. Jesus, in his last words from John 14 to 17, he's talking 00:12:06.580 --> 00:12:10.660 about, Hey, I know I'm going, but don't worry. There's someone better. There's someone better 00:12:10.660 --> 00:12:17.980 who's coming. Who's going to show you me. He's going to shine a light onto that. So it's all 00:12:17.980 --> 00:12:23.780 the Holy Spirit's work. The question for us is why does, why, why do we find it so hard to really 00:12:23.780 --> 00:12:30.500 follow the Holy Spirit? Stephen, before he was stoned to death, he said, you stiff neck people 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:37.539 resisting the Holy Spirit. Why people are just prideful. You look at the world and, and you see 00:12:37.539 --> 00:12:41.759 the polarization that's happening here, everywhere around the world. And I always say, if you want to 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:47.139 lose faith in humanity, just go to YouTube and read the comment sections. And you're like, wow, 00:12:47.860 --> 00:12:55.039 Lord Jesus, come back now, please. The pride that is in us, the sin that is in us stops the Holy 00:12:55.039 --> 00:13:00.879 Spirit from working. Yet when the Holy Spirit is working, what does he do? He brings us together. 00:13:01.799 --> 00:13:09.639 There's a unity. We're just, when Philippians 2, when he says, actually don't consider yourselves 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:14.279 less significant than those around you, let each of you look to the interests of others and not to 00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:18.199 yourself. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. How do you do that? Because 00:13:18.199 --> 00:13:23.659 the Holy Spirit lives inside us. Jesus, as he leaves, literally his final prayer in John 17, he says, 00:13:23.659 --> 00:13:30.500 let them be one, let them be together, because only when they're together will they believe in me. 00:13:30.579 --> 00:13:37.039 The Spirit, when he comes, he makes Jesus real to us and in us, and he unites us. This passage here is 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:42.339 fascinating because the church back then, as we're looking in the book of Acts, their biggest problem 00:13:42.339 --> 00:13:48.240 was discrimination, was racism. The Jews against the Gentiles. That was the biggest conflict that they 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:53.559 had. And this, I think, is probably a watershed moment for the church. It's been building up. 00:13:54.659 --> 00:14:01.860 Acts 7, the deacon Stephen. Acts 8, Philip starts to head off, goes into Samaria, and then he meets 00:14:01.860 --> 00:14:10.839 the Ethiopian. Acts 9, Paul, the Pharisee, gets converted. And Acts 10, you can almost see all of 00:14:10.839 --> 00:14:16.839 this come, this collision course of what's happening with God trying to move this kingdom from Jerusalem 00:14:16.839 --> 00:14:22.279 to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And it's a fascinating story. I'm going to read the 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:26.980 word of God to us today. I wasn't organized enough to find someone to read it for us. The other thing 00:14:26.980 --> 00:14:30.419 is I wouldn't wish this on anyone because it's actually a long passage. So as I invite you to 00:14:30.419 --> 00:14:33.399 stand, I just want you to remember one thing as you soak in the word of God, and you're like, 00:14:33.439 --> 00:14:37.939 why are we still standing here? Just to encourage you that actually back in the old days, you would 00:14:37.939 --> 00:14:42.620 stand for the whole time whilst I would sit and preach. So just to give you comfort when we're 00:14:42.620 --> 00:14:46.279 standing for a little bit longer. So just actually, just count yourself grateful that it's only for five 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:52.799 minutes. Can I empower us to stand for the word of the Lord? Father, we submit ourselves to your word. 00:14:56.220 --> 00:15:01.240 We're hungry, Lord. Would you speak to us? That song that we sang just at the end there, 00:15:02.939 --> 00:15:07.959 seek my face. And Lord, yes, we say, here we are. We seek your face and we seek your words. And so 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:15.460 we read from the book of Acts chapters 10. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:20.920 a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his 00:15:20.920 --> 00:15:26.300 household, gave arms generously to the people and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of 00:15:26.300 --> 00:15:31.940 the day, he saw clearly in a vision, an angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius. And he stared 00:15:31.940 --> 00:15:36.519 at him in terror and said, what is it, Lord? And he said to him, your prayers and your arms have been 00:15:36.519 --> 00:15:42.439 ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 00:15:42.679 --> 00:15:47.460 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. When the angel who spoke to him had 00:15:47.460 --> 00:15:51.659 departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him. 00:15:51.819 --> 00:15:56.860 And having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. The next day, as they were on their 00:15:56.860 --> 00:16:01.819 journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray, and he 00:16:01.819 --> 00:16:06.240 became hungry and wanted something to eat. But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance. 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:11.480 And saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:15.559 corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 00:16:15.779 --> 00:16:22.980 And there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, by no means, Lord, 00:16:23.159 --> 00:16:27.620 for I've never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice came to him again a second 00:16:27.620 --> 00:16:33.620 time, what God has made clean, do not call common. This happened three times, and the thing was taken up 00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:38.860 once to heaven. Now, while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen 00:16:38.860 --> 00:16:43.539 might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, 00:16:43.740 --> 00:16:47.879 stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was lodging there. 00:16:48.179 --> 00:16:53.159 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the spirit to him said to him, behold, three men are looking 00:16:53.159 --> 00:16:58.720 for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them. And Peter went 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:02.899 down to the men and said, I am the one you're looking for. What is the reason for your coming? 00:17:03.420 --> 00:17:08.400 And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man who was well-spoken of by the 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:13.380 whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear 00:17:13.380 --> 00:17:18.900 what you have to say. So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with 00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:22.880 them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. And on the following day, they entered Caesarea. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:28.300 Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, 00:17:28.440 --> 00:17:34.280 Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter lifted him up and saying, 00:17:35.260 --> 00:17:40.140 stand up, I too am a man. And as he talked with them, he went in and found many persons gathered. 00:17:40.500 --> 00:17:45.900 And he said to them, you yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone 00:17:45.900 --> 00:17:51.500 of any other nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 00:17:51.500 --> 00:17:58.559 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I asked then, why you sent for me? This is the 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:04.099 word of the Lord. Please take a seat. Thank you. Thank you very much for bearing with me. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:10.259 This is a grab your popcorn kind of moment, because this doesn't happen. And I'll explain a little bit 00:18:10.259 --> 00:18:15.500 more why this doesn't happen as we go through this story. But let's start with the two characters 00:18:15.500 --> 00:18:22.400 that we have. Okay, we have Cornelius, a centurion, a centurion of the Italian cohort. He was in charge 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:27.400 of 100 people at least. Okay, that's where the name comes from. And so he was a powerful man in 00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:33.500 charge of the place that he was in. But interestingly, he was also a devout man. So he was actually a 00:18:33.500 --> 00:18:39.700 convert to Judaism and he worshipped the God of the Jews. And a devout man who feared God, 00:18:39.700 --> 00:18:43.940 this is verse two, I'm just going to keep going. So you can follow along. With all his household, 00:18:44.360 --> 00:18:48.840 gave alms generously. So he was a generous giver to those who were in need. And he prayed continually 00:18:48.840 --> 00:18:53.059 to God. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision, an angel of God come in and 00:18:53.059 --> 00:18:57.960 say to him, Cornelius. So he actually follows the Jewish traditions and he prays at different points 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:02.380 in the day. So he's spending this time with God. Can I just say just at this moment, this Roman 00:19:02.380 --> 00:19:08.420 soldier in charge of 100 people, probably one of those most powerful people around at that time, 00:19:08.420 --> 00:19:15.220 he's just following the traditions of the Jews. He's praying continually to him. How countercultural 00:19:15.220 --> 00:19:20.000 would that have been? If you understood the ancient world, if you understood the culture that they 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.680 existed in, you would recognize that actually he did not need to do that. Later, you see his CV, 00:19:25.060 --> 00:19:30.560 verse 22, it says, Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man who was well spoken of by the 00:19:30.560 --> 00:19:38.340 whole Jewish nation. A Roman soldier put in charge and authority over the Jews. 00:19:38.420 --> 00:19:45.060 Yet all the people that he was in charge of actually spoke well of him. Can we think of one leader 00:19:45.060 --> 00:19:53.160 that has everyone speaking well of him or her? This is different already. And what's really 00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:58.500 interesting is he's spending that time praying to God and then God answers him and says, 00:19:58.500 --> 00:20:05.380 Cornelius, Cornelius, I love it. God calls us by name and it happened with Saul. He just comes in and 00:20:05.380 --> 00:20:10.180 he says, Cornelius. And you see, actually, this whole time, I know we're going to focus on Peter 00:20:10.180 --> 00:20:14.440 and Cornelius, but you can just see the Holy Spirit just doing everything. He's the one who's doing all 00:20:14.440 --> 00:20:18.940 this, all this pulling together and it's fascinating. So then he says, Cornelius, and then he says, 00:20:18.980 --> 00:20:22.660 what is it, Lord? Which is exactly what you'd say. Though he did say, it does say here, 00:20:22.660 --> 00:20:28.480 and he stared at him in terror, which we must not forget. But God is that big. Everyone who sees God 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:33.820 is either blinded or is completely lying on the floor or would die. And so here's things are changing. 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:38.700 Something's happening here. And he tells him, your prayers and your arms have ascended as a memorial 00:20:38.700 --> 00:20:43.600 before God. What does that mean? Someone who doesn't truly, truly know who God is yet, doesn't have this 00:20:43.600 --> 00:20:50.660 intimate relationship yet. God hears every word. God hears every prayer that comes from Cornelius and 00:20:50.660 --> 00:20:56.800 comes from us. And God chooses to answer. This watershed moment for just where the kingdom of 00:20:56.800 --> 00:21:02.440 heaven is going to go. And then he tells him about this guy called Peter. And he says, you have to send 00:21:02.440 --> 00:21:09.060 him. Bring this man. Meanwhile, so that's one scene, boom. And then the film stops and then moves into 00:21:09.060 --> 00:21:15.400 another scene. And you see Peter on his rooftop praying. Of course, Cornelius praying is a bit of a 00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:20.540 surprise because his people wouldn't be doing this. But Peter praying is pretty normal. What's really 00:21:20.539 --> 00:21:25.339 funny how I love how the scripture just brings this out is that Peter is also a human. Have you prayed 00:21:25.339 --> 00:21:31.059 before and then suddenly realized that you're just hungry? You're like, actually, I'm hungry. And so it 00:21:31.059 --> 00:21:35.819 actually just says it here. And Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And then he 00:21:35.819 --> 00:21:42.480 became hungry. Ham cha. He's like, I'm hungry. I should go and eat something. And so he has someone 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:45.839 prepare some food for him. And in that moment, whilst he's still praying and waiting for the food, 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:52.480 boom, he's in a trance and God shows him a vision. And the vision that we just read there, 00:21:53.539 --> 00:21:57.779 the sheep that descends being let down by his four corners upon the earth, all in it were all kinds of 00:21:57.779 --> 00:22:02.099 animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice, rise, Peter, kill and eat. 00:22:02.099 --> 00:22:08.519 Again, you need to understand if Cornelius lived in a place and he was completely countercultural, 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:13.980 Peter here is just shocked. And later it says, verse 17, he's actually inwardly perplexed. 00:22:14.019 --> 00:22:21.299 And he's so confused. God has to do this three times. He says, kill and eat. Why? Because Peter, 00:22:21.740 --> 00:22:28.000 as a Jew, would grow up. There's so many things you can't eat. So wait, God, wait, you're telling me to 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:35.240 kill and eat. Wait, that's against everything I've ever known about approaching you, the most holy God. 00:22:36.339 --> 00:22:41.400 Honestly, I cut Peter a lot of slack here because I would be confused. Imagine you've never ever 00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:48.279 touched a piece of tar seal before. And then you're like God saying, hey, you can now eat tar seal. 00:22:50.119 --> 00:22:56.680 He doesn't even know what he's missing. And so he's confused. This tells me something interesting 00:22:56.680 --> 00:23:02.740 as the Holy Spirit's pulling the strings. That actually, whether it's Cornelius who had this 00:23:02.740 --> 00:23:07.940 incredible CV, just like Paul, by the way, there's still something that he was lacking. He was still 00:23:07.940 --> 00:23:12.160 lacking this encounter with the Holy Spirit. And God was choosing this moment to introduce himself. 00:23:13.019 --> 00:23:19.160 And then you see Peter, the rock upon whom Jesus will build the church, still was lacking in 00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:23.980 something. He still needed to learn something. It reminds me that actually spiritual growth itself 00:23:23.980 --> 00:23:31.059 is as much unlearning as it is learning. How many times have I heard maybe here or even back home in 00:23:31.059 --> 00:23:35.440 England? Yeah, I grew up in a Christian school. I grew up in a Catholic school. I went to church for a 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:42.000 while. And then I was like, oh, I can't wait to hear and see your spiritual growth. But I know it's 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:48.259 going to involve lots of unlearning. There's going to be so many things before you grow is you're going to 00:23:48.259 --> 00:23:54.079 have to let go of. Richard Rohr says this, much of spiritual growth is subtracting what you already 00:23:54.079 --> 00:23:59.099 thought you knew, unlearning what you were sure of and letting go of the ego's need to be right. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:04.940 Transformation is more about unlearning than learning. Dallas Willard says, unlearning the old 00:24:04.940 --> 00:24:09.740 ways of the world and having our habits, instincts, and assumptions conform to the reality of the kingdom 00:24:09.740 --> 00:24:16.559 of God. I sit here and I look at these two men. I was like, oh, there's so much they had to unlearn. 00:24:16.559 --> 00:24:20.559 There's so much we have to unlearn when it comes to approaching the most high God. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:26.839 Look at Nicodemus in John 3. He sees something's up with this Jesus guy. All his colleagues and all 00:24:26.839 --> 00:24:31.339 his friends are like, oh, we need to get rid of him. He's like, well, I'm not going to outright 00:24:31.339 --> 00:24:34.319 oppose you right now. But in the middle of the night, I'm going to go find out a little bit more. 00:24:34.399 --> 00:24:39.899 And what does Jesus tell him? Unlearn everything you know. Wipe that slate completely clean. You have to 00:24:39.899 --> 00:24:44.519 be born again. Can you imagine for Nicodemus, who's committed his whole life to memorizing 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:50.539 this book? And then wait, you're telling me to be born again, young man? Jesus, remember, 00:24:50.980 --> 00:24:58.000 was still just 30 years old. Do you know who you're talking to? I've been memorizing this 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:03.759 book before you were in nappies. And now you're telling me I need to be born again? I need to 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:09.119 unlearn everything? I don't know where we all sit with our own experience of the faith. 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:13.959 But I do think many of us have a lot of unlearning to do. 00:25:15.739 --> 00:25:19.759 Had a lot of, actually, where did that come from? Where does that concept of this heavenly 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:24.599 father that I have come from? What do I think the gospel actually even means? 00:25:25.819 --> 00:25:30.419 Keep trying to become this good person, trying to become this good Christian, but only now 00:25:30.419 --> 00:25:33.439 to find out there's no such thing as a good Christian. It's just someone who recognizes 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:39.759 they are bad and that they need a savior. So much unlearning that we have to do that 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:44.840 we see Peter and Cornelius needing to do here. So what happens then? Both these guys get 00:25:44.840 --> 00:25:51.420 a vision. Then they start going. So Cornelius sends his guys to go and collect Peter. Knock 00:25:51.420 --> 00:25:56.799 on the door, Peter's praying. And then they go and they explain, hey, our boss came to bring 00:25:56.799 --> 00:26:01.380 you. And Peter's like, I know, I've already been told. And so he goes. They travel two 00:26:01.380 --> 00:26:06.960 days to get to Cornelius's house. And then there's this fascinating scene. Okay, so we're 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:11.820 fast forwarding now. So you can see, don't worry, I won't be here forever. And on the 00:26:11.820 --> 00:26:16.500 following day, they entered Caesarea, verse 24. Cornelius was expecting them and had caught 00:26:16.500 --> 00:26:20.740 together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell 00:26:20.740 --> 00:26:26.720 down at his feet and worshipped him. Stop there for a second. So Cornelius gets this 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:30.800 vision. He's like, go and find this Peter. And so he sends his guys, finds Peter. 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:34.740 And in those, well, it takes two days to get there to Peter. It takes another two days 00:26:34.740 --> 00:26:38.019 to bring him back. So that's four days. And so during those four days, what's he doing? 00:26:38.180 --> 00:26:44.159 He's inviting his friends. Most powerful person in this town was inviting his friends and his 00:26:44.159 --> 00:26:48.819 family. Hey, come, there's going to be someone who's coming. You imagine the most powerful 00:26:48.819 --> 00:26:51.960 person you know. I don't know what that might be. Just someone who is the top of society, 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:56.799 who's inviting you to come to his house because he's about to introduce you to someone. 00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:01.359 That's the context that's here. And they're waiting. There's no find my iPhone. There's 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:04.480 no tracking. They're just waiting there. They're just gathering because Cornelius said, 00:27:04.579 --> 00:27:09.899 hey, he's going to come soon. My guys are bringing him. And so imagine here, I've gathered 00:27:09.899 --> 00:27:12.960 all of you. I mean, I don't have this many friends and family, but thank you for being 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:17.139 just for now. Imagine I invite you to come here. Hey, I've got a guy who's coming and you 00:27:17.139 --> 00:27:22.059 need to meet him. And you're here because you respect my authority. You're here because I'm 00:27:22.059 --> 00:27:24.960 the who's who. And so you just want to be connected with me and you want to, you want 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:29.799 to, you're curious as to why I am the way I am. All right. And then Peter finally comes 00:27:29.799 --> 00:27:39.559 in. The moment Peter walks in with his guys, what does Cornelius do? Just falls down in 00:27:39.559 --> 00:27:44.500 front of his friends and family. Have we, have you ever seen the most powerful person that 00:27:44.500 --> 00:27:53.000 you know, humble himself in such a dramatic way? Well-intentioned, misdirected. But the 00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:59.539 message that that would have sent to the yi ma gu jie, to the uncles and aunties who have 00:27:59.539 --> 00:28:10.000 no idea about this God, suddenly Cornelius falls to his feet. As I was journaling this 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:16.200 week, that was the thing in John three that I saw that actually the only key into the kingdom 00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:24.140 of heaven, the secret code, the only recipe that works is humility. When you fall down 00:28:24.140 --> 00:28:30.519 at your feet, when you realize who he is in Cornelius didn't even know he didn't have the 00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:34.980 full picture yet for now, he only sees in part. And so he thinks this Peter guy is it. 00:28:34.980 --> 00:28:41.599 And so he falls at his feet. I think that for friends and family that were around, they 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:45.980 must have just been completely shocked. I guess the question for us is, as you're in 00:28:45.980 --> 00:28:49.539 your workplace, as you're in your school and you have friends and family who don't know 00:28:49.539 --> 00:28:55.759 Jesus, how do they see you responding to Jesus? Do you have the same, just humility and reverence 00:28:55.759 --> 00:28:59.660 and awe for this God? Or actually, do you just treat him pretty casually? Oh yeah, yeah, 00:28:59.660 --> 00:29:05.940 Jesus. I need Jesus because he helps me get through my exams. I need Jesus because I've 00:29:05.940 --> 00:29:10.200 got this really annoying guy at work and I need Jesus to remind me to be kind to him and 00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:14.940 to be patient to him. Is that all? Is Jesus just your tool in your pocket that you use 00:29:14.940 --> 00:29:19.880 whenever you need something to get out of something or to deal with an issue? Or do you realize 00:29:19.880 --> 00:29:24.279 he's actually the Lord of your life? And that if he was to step into the room, you would fall 00:29:24.279 --> 00:29:29.799 down and you would humble yourself regardless of whoever else was around you. I think the 00:29:29.799 --> 00:29:34.160 world needs Christians, those who not only say that they believe in Jesus, but actually 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:41.680 follow him and actually submit to him and go, take everything. Cornelius, bless him, does 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:47.639 it with Peter. So he's a little bit misdirected. So Peter tells him, hey, chill, call it, stand 00:29:47.640 --> 00:29:54.720 up. I too am a man. I'm not the one you should be bowing down before. And then he says, hey 00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:59.040 guys, do you realize what's happening here? Peter says this. And honestly, Peter doesn't 00:29:59.040 --> 00:30:05.460 fully, fully get it either. Okay. So he said, do you realize I have never stepped foot in 00:30:05.460 --> 00:30:10.720 the house of someone like you? My religion doesn't allow it because you guys are evil. 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:16.539 My people were set apart. So this has never happened before. But because I got a vision, 00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:22.140 because I was hungry, and then I, and then I got this prayer and this vision and God told 00:30:22.140 --> 00:30:25.039 me that I have to come here. That's why I'm here. That's the only reason why I'm here. 00:30:25.180 --> 00:30:30.460 I'm learning or unlearning just the same as you. That's what he's saying here. 00:30:33.700 --> 00:30:38.039 And then Cornelius retells the story. This account happened. He just keeps retelling the 00:30:38.039 --> 00:30:42.700 story, Luke. So it just shows how important it is. And so finally, in verse 34, which 00:30:42.700 --> 00:30:47.899 I hadn't read before, before now. So Peter opened his mouth and said, truly, I understand 00:30:47.899 --> 00:30:52.460 that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is 00:30:52.460 --> 00:30:59.159 right is acceptable to him. He's like, I think I truly get it. I thought it was just the Jews. 00:30:59.500 --> 00:31:03.480 I thought it was just us that were the chosen people, that we would have salvation. But I'm 00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:06.940 beginning to see the Holy Spirit showing me that actually there's racism in me. The 00:31:06.940 --> 00:31:12.220 discrimination in me. I've actually not been a proponent of unity here. I realize I've 00:31:12.220 --> 00:31:15.960 been missing the point, but finally I get it. It doesn't matter if it's just Jews. It's 00:31:15.960 --> 00:31:21.279 anyone who chooses to call upon the name of Jesus. That will be enough. So he's learning 00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:25.299 this and then he goes into sharing the gospel again, which I won't go through right now. 00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:30.160 Here's the interesting thing is Peter understands this in this moment because he's in the house 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:35.779 of this foreigner, not really knowing why he's there. And he learns, okay, I can't be racist 00:31:35.779 --> 00:31:41.960 anymore. I need to let go. I need to unlearn what I've been conditioned to follow all of 00:31:41.960 --> 00:31:47.420 my life. It's funny because actually 14 years later, we know that he's still struggling with 00:31:47.420 --> 00:31:55.160 this because Paul writes in Galatians 2, actually he goes and finally meets, after his conversion 00:31:55.160 --> 00:32:00.099 is Acts 9, Paul actually heads off. And he doesn't really meet these guys until much later, 00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:04.779 Peter and the whole crew. When he meets them, he sees, what's Peter doing? He's just been 00:32:04.779 --> 00:32:09.059 taught this lesson to not be racist and not to be discriminate. And yet he's actually 00:32:09.059 --> 00:32:14.779 only eating with his own people. And so Paul comes in and goes, wait, don't do that. And 00:32:14.779 --> 00:32:18.579 actually Paul basically just grasses on him in Galatians 2. Peter never talks about this, 00:32:18.899 --> 00:32:22.920 but actually Paul's just like, actually I caught those guys doing that and I actually had to 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:27.339 confront them because the Holy Spirit is moving, not just amongst the Jews, but towards the ends 00:32:27.339 --> 00:32:32.639 of the earth, to every ethnicity, to every people. So Peter is on this learning journey 00:32:32.640 --> 00:32:37.020 that doesn't stop right here. He's not converted in one moment, which encourages me and encourages 00:32:37.020 --> 00:32:40.700 you hopefully, because it's not just an overnight thing where we suddenly become holy people, 00:32:40.860 --> 00:32:46.540 but there's this journey of learning, of unlearning, of reminding ourselves of the heart of God and 00:32:46.540 --> 00:32:51.920 what the Spirit of God is actually doing. So he finally gets it and he's praying. And it's funny, 00:32:52.060 --> 00:32:56.700 while Peter was still saying these things, so he's not finished the sermon, I'm in verse 44 now, 00:32:56.920 --> 00:33:00.860 while Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word 00:33:00.859 --> 00:33:05.319 and the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift 00:33:05.319 --> 00:33:12.399 of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. It was mind-blowing that this was happening. 00:33:12.500 --> 00:33:18.159 He hadn't even finished his sermon. And the Holy Spirit comes, boom, and people start speaking 00:33:18.159 --> 00:33:23.659 in tongues and actually prophesying. Not just anyone, people that for the whole of his life, 00:33:23.740 --> 00:33:29.159 he thought these are not holy people, God will never be with these people because he's only chosen us, 00:33:29.160 --> 00:33:34.820 the Jews. And he sees them suddenly and he's like, what on earth is happening? This is mind-blowing 00:33:34.820 --> 00:33:44.519 for him. And then he says, well, can anyone withhold them? It says, verse 47, can anyone withhold 00:33:44.519 --> 00:33:49.340 water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? If they've just 00:33:49.340 --> 00:33:53.380 had the greater baptism, baptism in the sense that the Holy Spirit is now inside them, why can't, 00:33:53.380 --> 00:33:59.420 why not? Before, to be a Jew, before, if you were to join the way, you'd have to do so many things, 00:33:59.620 --> 00:34:04.960 go through so many rituals to follow their way. And yet he was like, you know what, if you already 00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:08.599 have the Holy Spirit, let us baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and let's 00:34:08.599 --> 00:34:13.519 just get moving. Who am I to stop what the Holy Spirit is doing, is what he's saying here. 00:34:13.519 --> 00:34:21.599 And so then he baptizes them. I'm concluding now, but actually I want to stop here and rewind a little 00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:26.639 bit because I don't think we, I didn't think I truly got the full picture of what is happening here. 00:34:26.940 --> 00:34:32.420 A man who grew up his whole life not being able to enter into someone like Cornelius' home, 00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:39.119 and he actually says it. I shouldn't be here, but God called me here, so here I am. 00:34:39.119 --> 00:34:47.119 Why were the Jews so separate from the Gentiles? To understand that, you have to go further back 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:52.920 and look at just ancient society and look at the context with where the Jews were operating. If 00:34:52.920 --> 00:34:56.259 you look at the Roman world, I mean, I don't know, if you've watched Russell Crowe's Gladiators, 00:34:56.639 --> 00:35:01.819 that gives you a mild picture of what it might be like. The ancient world was not a friendly place. 00:35:02.380 --> 00:35:07.779 We think the world is dark right now. It's been a lot darker. It's been a lot, 00:35:07.780 --> 00:35:15.420 a lot darker everywhere around the world. Child sacrifice, pretty normal. Rape, pretty normal. 00:35:16.240 --> 00:35:21.500 Violence, pretty normal. Abuse, all kinds of abuse, pretty normal. People wouldn't bat an eyelid to 00:35:21.500 --> 00:35:25.480 the things that we look at and are horrified by, but in the ancient world, so many of the things would 00:35:25.480 --> 00:35:33.040 be completely normal. And it's in that place where God calls the Jews and says, can you be different? 00:35:33.039 --> 00:35:37.739 I'm going to choose you and I'm going to set you apart. You're going to be holy and you're going to 00:35:37.739 --> 00:35:44.759 follow my laws. So this is the context. You see the shock of Peter seeing the Holy Spirit fall 00:35:44.759 --> 00:35:52.539 on the Gentiles. Moses would have fallen off his chair because Moses spent the whole of his life 00:35:52.539 --> 00:35:57.559 trying to convince the Israelites, you have to follow these laws. Why? Because the only way the 00:35:57.559 --> 00:36:04.779 Spirit of God will be on us is if we are clean, people. There is no way. We are so far. I saw the 00:36:04.779 --> 00:36:11.299 burning bush. Trust me. You do not want to be near it. If we got close to God, we would die. 00:36:12.099 --> 00:36:17.840 So please follow these laws. And that's where the Levitical laws come from. Stay clean. Stay set 00:36:17.840 --> 00:36:25.179 apart because the society outside of you, God will not be able to enter in. That is unclean. 00:36:25.179 --> 00:36:30.219 You go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. The moment they chose sin, the moment they chose to 00:36:30.219 --> 00:36:34.419 go their own way, they were separated from God. And from that moment, the Spirit of God actually 00:36:34.419 --> 00:36:40.079 doesn't rest on that many people in that many scenarios. Can anyone think of any places where 00:36:40.079 --> 00:36:44.339 the Spirit of God actually rested on someone in the Old Testament? 00:36:44.340 --> 00:36:53.360 Samson. Samson. Samson. For sure, Samson. In those moments where he just was strong. 00:36:55.360 --> 00:37:01.700 There's a fascinating one called Bezalel in, I think it's Exodus 31. This is just before the 00:37:01.700 --> 00:37:05.740 golden calf incident. And he says, my spirit is going to fall on this guy and he's going to create 00:37:05.740 --> 00:37:11.660 beautiful designs. For all you artists out there, that's just really cool to see. He says, 00:37:11.659 --> 00:37:14.819 my spirit is going to fall upon this person and he's going to just design the most beautiful 00:37:14.819 --> 00:37:19.799 things for my sanctuary. That's one of the places. There's another place where actually 00:37:19.799 --> 00:37:24.559 Moses is having this interaction with God. I think it's in Numbers 11 where actually God 00:37:24.559 --> 00:37:27.639 says, okay, we're going to appoint some elders. I'm going to take some of the Spirit that's 00:37:27.639 --> 00:37:33.659 on you and I'm going to distribute it to the 70 elders. And then Moses said to sing, if 00:37:33.659 --> 00:37:39.239 only everyone got the Spirit of God, wouldn't that be cool? Then we'd all be able to hear 00:37:39.239 --> 00:37:45.779 from God. So he's dreaming out loud, but he's never seen it before. The Holy Spirit didn't 00:37:45.779 --> 00:37:52.139 really rest on that many people because we weren't set apart. We weren't clean. And so 00:37:52.139 --> 00:37:56.959 that's why the laws were put in place to try and get us there. In Isaiah 6, when Isaiah sees 00:37:56.959 --> 00:38:02.500 God on his throne, what does he say? Woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips. I can't get anywhere 00:38:02.500 --> 00:38:07.619 near this God. So for the longest, longest time, the Holy Spirit would not be able to land 00:38:07.619 --> 00:38:12.880 on people and dwell within people. Why? Because there is so much sin. There is so much flesh. 00:38:13.239 --> 00:38:18.159 There is so much selfishness there. And so those laws were put in place. And sometimes 00:38:18.159 --> 00:38:21.739 we approach Christianity and go, there's so many laws. There's so many rules about what 00:38:21.739 --> 00:38:25.559 I can be, how to be a good person. Well, do you know why those are all there in the first 00:38:25.559 --> 00:38:31.159 place? It's because God was trying to say, these rules will help me have a relationship 00:38:31.159 --> 00:38:38.500 with you. That's why. Don't just focus on the rules and think I'm a bad person. These 00:38:38.500 --> 00:38:42.319 rules are here so that they would allow for human flourishing. And when humans flourish, 00:38:42.399 --> 00:38:47.019 they are the most connected with me. And so if you follow these, you shall be clean. And 00:38:47.019 --> 00:38:51.440 then of course, even the priests, every year before they enter the holiest of holy places, 00:38:51.440 --> 00:38:55.199 they would have to go through all these rituals to get to a place where they would be clean. 00:38:55.239 --> 00:38:59.440 And of course, they would have to slaughter a lamb and use the blood to cover and to clean 00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:03.659 them. So you can see all through the Bible, there are not many cases where the Holy Spirit 00:39:03.659 --> 00:39:10.760 actually falls on people until many years later, the prophet Joel says, there will be a moment 00:39:10.760 --> 00:39:17.200 where the spirit will fall on all people. There will be a moment. And when was that moment 00:39:17.200 --> 00:39:21.480 when there was finally someone, you see in Psalm 20, 24, David talks about this. He says, 00:39:21.480 --> 00:39:27.500 who shall ascend upon the hill of the Lord? Who? Does anyone remember? Those who have clean 00:39:27.500 --> 00:39:35.760 hands and a pure heart. Wonderful Chris Tomlin song. Only those who approach the throne with clean 00:39:35.760 --> 00:39:41.800 hands and a pure heart will be able to be in the presence of God. And finally, finally, there was 00:39:41.800 --> 00:39:50.880 one with clean hands. Finally, there was one with a pure heart. Jesus of Nazareth, where the Holy 00:39:50.880 --> 00:39:56.480 Spirit falls upon him and says, this is my son with whom I am well pleased. He's the only one 00:39:56.480 --> 00:40:06.139 whom my spirit can dwell in because he is sinless. And through him and by him, the rest of people, 00:40:06.280 --> 00:40:12.360 the people will be able to have my spirit dwell inside them. What is true of him shall be true of 00:40:12.360 --> 00:40:17.840 all these other people because of what he's about to do. He's about to lay down his life, spill his 00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:22.940 blood. And that blood is the thing that will clean all these people so that my Holy Spirit can dwell. 00:40:22.940 --> 00:40:29.920 The majority of this book, the time that this book covers, the Holy Spirit does not dwell on people 00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:35.940 because it simply cannot, because we have chosen our own way, because we are unclean. And yet now, 00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:46.840 at the name of Jesus, is all it needs, whether Jew or Gentile, the Holy Spirit can fall on. 00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:55.740 If Moses, I've said this before, if Moses walked into this room, he'd be stunned, speechless 00:40:55.740 --> 00:41:01.000 with the 200 burning bushes that are here because the Holy Spirit dwells inside you. 00:41:02.059 --> 00:41:08.180 Peter would come in here. Wow. I thought I saw it all at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit went, 00:41:08.280 --> 00:41:15.920 came on all Jews. Acts 10, it's not even just the Jews, it's everyone. Who's a Jew here? 00:41:15.920 --> 00:41:26.300 No one. Yet the Holy Spirit dwells on us. Why? Because the Spirit of Jesus now lives inside us. 00:41:26.720 --> 00:41:33.800 We're sat here today because of this moment here in Acts 10. So what does the Holy Spirit do? 00:41:33.800 --> 00:41:44.280 It levels everything. He levels everything. He unites everything. How? Jesus. 00:41:45.640 --> 00:41:51.440 Flow at the beginning of our service just read from Ephesians 2. So you stole my thunder because I was 00:41:51.440 --> 00:41:58.080 going to finish there. But I guess how powerful is that? That the Holy Spirit is just showing us 00:41:58.079 --> 00:42:08.400 that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. That what Jesus did when he came and preached peace to 00:42:08.400 --> 00:42:12.940 those who were near and to those who were far, the Jews and the Gentiles, he's saying, hey, 00:42:13.599 --> 00:42:22.920 just remember you, Jew, Christian, you were separated from God. You were strangers to the covenant. You were 00:42:22.920 --> 00:42:27.480 without hope and without God in the world. Yet Jesus came to you and preached peace to you. And by the 00:42:27.480 --> 00:42:32.680 blood of Christ, we are all united. He came and he broke down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew 00:42:32.680 --> 00:42:38.099 and Gentile, between black and white, between left and right, between blue and yellow. He broke down all of it. 00:42:40.180 --> 00:42:44.340 And now through the cross, we all have access to him, to the father through him. 00:42:44.340 --> 00:42:54.260 And now we, because of the cornerstone, we are being built into the dwelling place of God. The Holy 00:42:54.260 --> 00:43:01.559 Spirit of God now dwells here because of what Jesus did. I think we completely take that for granted. 00:43:03.360 --> 00:43:07.700 Even the amount of people in the Bible, in the Old Testament, who wouldn't have been able to be 00:43:07.699 --> 00:43:14.559 in the presence of God, have the Spirit of God. And yet we sit here with the presence of God living 00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:19.399 inside us. I think we take it for granted. I think I take it for granted. I don't approach it with the 00:43:19.399 --> 00:43:23.000 same, with the appropriate level of fear and reverence and awe that I should. 00:43:26.279 --> 00:43:32.799 Peter starts his journey and finally understands that when the Spirit comes, it brings humility, 00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:43.360 unity. It brings unity. I'll finish here and just ask, which of those stories resonates with you the 00:43:43.360 --> 00:43:48.900 most? Is it Cornelius? You have all the right intentions. You've done all the right things. 00:43:49.019 --> 00:43:52.920 Everyone likes you and approves of you. And yet you're still actually lacking the one thing that 00:43:52.920 --> 00:43:59.320 you need, which is the Holy Spirit and the relationship with him. Or are you Peter? You are filled with just 00:43:59.320 --> 00:44:04.640 passion and power. And God is using you mightily, yet there are still so many things that you need 00:44:04.640 --> 00:44:10.980 to unlearn. There is still pride in you. There is still discrimination in you. The gospel is for all. 00:44:11.080 --> 00:44:20.380 The ground is level at the foot of the cross. Would we humble ourselves and allow him to unite us? 00:44:20.380 --> 00:44:28.640 I don't know what the answer is. I don't know what the answer is, how this body here can help the 00:44:28.640 --> 00:44:37.340 brokenness that's outside. But I think by his Spirit, if we stay together, keep our eyes on Jesus, 00:44:38.700 --> 00:44:42.000 he will use us to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth. 00:44:44.700 --> 00:44:49.079 Each individual here as a burning bush because the Holy Spirit lives inside you and me. 00:44:50.380 --> 00:44:56.320 I'm going to stop here now. I'm going to spend just a little time just to invite you to just hear from 00:44:56.320 --> 00:45:02.240 God yourself. That's the whole point. The Holy Spirit can work through me, but he can just speak 00:45:02.240 --> 00:45:08.500 to you directly. Do you want to listen? Have you noticed that all the people who hear from him 00:45:08.500 --> 00:45:15.200 so far are the ones who are praying and talking to him and listening out for him? 00:45:15.199 --> 00:45:22.899 God's so gentle that he doesn't just crash into your world and force you. Sometimes he does, actually. 00:45:23.500 --> 00:45:26.099 Acts 9, Saul was doing his own thing. 00:45:26.099 --> 00:45:38.099 But for the rest of us, spend that moment just to go speak, for your servant is listening. 00:45:39.159 --> 00:45:44.599 Let's just spend a moment of silence now as we ask him what he wants to say. 00:45:44.599 --> 00:45:44.659 Amen. 00:45:44.659 --> 00:45:44.659 00:45:44.659 --> 00:45:44.659 00:45:44.659 --> 00:45:44.659 00:45:44.659 --> 00:45:44.659 00:45:44.659 --> 00:45:44.659 00:45:44.659 --> 00:45:44.659 00:45:44.659 --> 00:45:44.659 00:45:56.099 --> 00:46:05.360 The song we're going to sing to respond, and we sang it earlier already, but it's from the psalm that, yes, I do quote probably the most. 00:46:06.900 --> 00:46:07.819 Psalm 27. 00:46:07.820 --> 00:46:17.200 One thing have I asked of the Lord that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, 00:46:17.320 --> 00:46:20.300 to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. 00:46:21.900 --> 00:46:26.700 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. 00:46:26.700 --> 00:46:32.960 He will lift me high upon a rock, and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, 00:46:32.960 --> 00:46:39.000 and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. 00:46:39.960 --> 00:46:43.780 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud. Be gracious to me and answer me. 00:46:44.740 --> 00:46:51.320 You have said, seek my face. My heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek. 00:46:52.220 --> 00:46:54.240 Hide not your face from me. 00:46:54.239 --> 00:47:05.779 I'm actually going to ask the team to sing this song over us, and I want you to remain seated and just continue to hear, 00:47:06.159 --> 00:47:08.059 and continue to ask God to speak to me. 00:47:08.199 --> 00:47:11.139 I'm seeking your face. Be gracious to me and answer me. 00:47:11.500 --> 00:47:14.799 Do not hide your face from me. I am here to seek you. 00:47:14.800 --> 00:47:21.740 And as they sing over us, we just continue to reflect on those truths. 00:47:35.840 --> 00:47:37.120 Lord, we wait for you. 00:47:37.119 --> 00:47:48.259 With fear and trembling, we come to you. In reverence and in awe, we worship you. 00:47:54.940 --> 00:47:59.480 You are so much bigger than we make you out to be. 00:48:03.699 --> 00:48:04.779 So much more loving. 00:48:07.119 --> 00:48:09.539 So much more holy. 00:48:14.079 --> 00:48:15.259 We all fall short. 00:48:22.400 --> 00:48:24.079 Of representing you to the world. 00:48:28.359 --> 00:48:30.440 Forgive us when we take part in the division. 00:48:31.440 --> 00:48:34.299 We take part in the inflammatory comments. 00:48:35.519 --> 00:48:36.699 Forgive us when we take part. 00:48:37.119 --> 00:48:38.059 And the discrimination. 00:48:40.659 --> 00:48:41.920 When we keep to ourselves. 00:48:43.199 --> 00:48:44.679 When we resist your spirit. 00:48:50.319 --> 00:48:52.039 Help us not be a stiff-necked people. 00:48:53.719 --> 00:48:56.359 Help us be a people of open hands and open hearts. 00:48:59.960 --> 00:49:00.940 To welcome others. 00:49:01.679 --> 00:49:03.179 As we have been welcomed by you. 00:49:03.179 --> 00:49:14.159 If there is any superiority in us. 00:49:14.159 --> 00:49:15.460 In any way. 00:49:21.259 --> 00:49:22.379 Just like Cornelius. 00:49:22.379 --> 00:49:25.679 We fall down and we humble ourselves. 00:49:25.679 --> 00:49:30.359 There is only one who is good. 00:49:30.359 --> 00:49:31.599 There is only one who is holy. 00:49:32.399 --> 00:49:33.359 One who is worthy. 00:49:36.559 --> 00:49:37.899 Jesus, you and you alone. 00:49:37.900 --> 00:49:38.500 Thank you, Lord. 00:49:38.500 --> 00:49:39.400 Thank you, Lord. 00:49:39.400 --> 00:49:44.380 Thank you, Lord. 00:49:44.639 --> 00:49:45.340 We wait for you. 00:49:49.480 --> 00:49:54.119 As we go from here, would you have your spirit go with us? 00:49:54.380 --> 00:49:54.860 Guide us. 00:49:55.099 --> 00:49:55.539 Lead us. 00:49:55.539 --> 00:50:04.519 You who are filled with grace and truth. 00:50:05.239 --> 00:50:05.840 We trust you. 00:50:05.920 --> 00:50:06.400 We love you. 00:50:06.739 --> 00:50:07.579 We worship you. 00:50:07.679 --> 00:50:08.259 We follow you. 00:50:09.860 --> 00:50:10.980 And it's in your name we pray. 00:50:12.820 --> 00:50:13.159 Amen. 00:50:13.159 --> 00:50:13.259 Amen. 00:50:13.259 --> 00:50:13.259 00:50:13.259 --> 00:50:13.259 00:50:13.259 --> 00:50:13.259 00:50:13.259 --> 00:50:13.259 00:50:13.259 --> 00:50:13.259 00:50:13.259 --> 00:50:13.259 00:50:13.259 --> 00:50:13.259 00:50:13.259 --> 00:50:15.259 Amen. 00:50:15.259 --> 00:50:15.259 00:50:15.259 --> 00:50:15.259 00:50:15.259 --> 00:50:17.259 Amen. 00:50:17.259 --> 00:50:17.259 00:50:17.259 --> 00:50:17.259 00:50:17.259 --> 00:50:17.259 00:50:17.259 --> 00:50:17.259 00:50:17.259 --> 00:50:17.259 00:50:17.259 --> 00:50:17.259