WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.240 And Peter went down to the main and said, I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming? 00:00:09.240 --> 00:00:14.560 And reflecting upon the Saroni verses as we think of these words. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:21.400 When we read the Bible, it is clear that God has a mission. 00:00:21.400 --> 00:00:29.980 And that mission is clear from the very first creation, where God says to Adam and Eve, to be fruitful and multiply and do. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:37.600 To fill the earth. God's mission is to fill the world with people who bear his own image. 00:00:38.100 --> 00:00:53.500 We'll read on through the Old Testament and we see in God's word to Abraham in Genesis 12, that he promises to bless all of the nations through the family of Abraham and through his seed. 00:00:53.500 --> 00:00:58.100 We follow that through to the very New Testament and the end of the New Testament. 00:00:58.100 --> 00:01:07.939 And we see that there is in Revelation chapter 7, a great gathering around God's throne from every nation, tribe and kindred and town. 00:01:08.859 --> 00:01:14.099 God has a mission to have people from every nation in the earth around his throne. 00:01:14.099 --> 00:01:21.059 And along with the mission of God, there is the mission of the people of God. 00:01:22.199 --> 00:01:31.099 And we see that from the Old Testament people of God in Exodus chapter 19, where God reminds his people that they are the kingdom of priests. 00:01:31.099 --> 00:01:35.619 They are to be the holy nation that will be a light to the world. 00:01:35.620 --> 00:01:38.740 And there is a mission for the people of God. 00:01:39.620 --> 00:01:48.200 Jesus picks up on that in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28, where he says to the disciples, go and make disciples of all nations. 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:57.219 At the beginning of this book itself, Jesus reminds them that they are his witnesses in Jerusalem and even to the ends of the earth. 00:01:57.219 --> 00:01:58.219 There is a mission of God. 00:01:58.219 --> 00:01:59.219 There is a mission of God. 00:01:59.219 --> 00:01:59.219 00:01:59.219 --> 00:02:00.219 There is a mission of God. 00:02:00.219 --> 00:02:01.219 There is a mission of God. 00:02:01.219 --> 00:02:02.219 There is a mission of God. 00:02:02.219 --> 00:02:07.219 And to carry that through, there is the ministry of the Gospel. 00:02:07.219 --> 00:02:14.219 And we see the journey of the disciples of the apostles in this lecture. 00:02:14.219 --> 00:02:20.219 They go from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and ultimately to the ends of the earth. 00:02:20.219 --> 00:02:26.219 They are carrying the ministry of the Gospel as Philip, for example, goes down to Samaria. 00:02:26.219 --> 00:02:36.219 As we see Philip going down to Gaza and the journey that we see to this point in the book of Acts, there is that movement. 00:02:36.219 --> 00:02:44.219 The people of God are mobilized in the mission of God to bring the Gospel where it has never been before. 00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:47.219 So there is the sense of the kingdom of God expanding. 00:02:47.219 --> 00:02:53.219 There is a sense of the boundaries of the kingdom of God being stretched and pushed out. 00:02:53.219 --> 00:02:56.219 And that is what the church is for. 00:02:56.219 --> 00:03:17.219 And we are here tonight as those who belong to that movement, as those who are the people of God, who are involved in the progress of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in order to build the Church of Christ here and beyond as we minister around us and as we minister in the wider community and in the wider world. 00:03:17.219 --> 00:03:26.219 And bearing that in mind this evening, I want us to think for some time on the mission of God and the ministry of the church. 00:03:26.219 --> 00:03:33.219 I want us to think first of all of the progress of the Gospel and the readiness. 00:03:33.219 --> 00:03:39.219 And we see that in particular in the experience of this man Cornelius. 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:46.219 We see at the beginning of the chapter, he was a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort. 00:03:46.219 --> 00:03:53.219 He was a Roman centurion and by his very name, he was a Gentile. 00:03:53.219 --> 00:03:57.219 He was beyond the Old Testament boundary of the people of God. 00:03:57.219 --> 00:04:02.219 He was outside of, he was on the other side of the boundary. 00:04:02.219 --> 00:04:12.219 And we find that he is in Caesarea and he is there where there is a large Gentile population. 00:04:12.219 --> 00:04:25.220 So we have a setting where we have an individual who is part of a larger group of people and they are currently beyond the known boundary of the kingdom of God. 00:04:25.220 --> 00:04:36.220 And we see this man Cornelius, we see how he was ready for something to happen by his very activity. 00:04:36.220 --> 00:04:47.220 And we see that he was devoked, he gave alms generously and he prayed continually. 00:04:47.220 --> 00:04:53.220 He was beyond the boundary, he was a God fearer. 00:04:53.220 --> 00:04:55.220 He was kind to the people around him. 00:04:55.220 --> 00:05:01.220 He loved his neighbour and he engaged with God in prayer. 00:05:01.220 --> 00:05:07.220 He was not, he did not belong to the visible Church of Christ in the world at this time. 00:05:07.220 --> 00:05:11.220 But here he was, he was waiting for God. 00:05:11.220 --> 00:05:19.220 We understand that he was praying to God because God had a promise that the gospel was for all nations. 00:05:19.220 --> 00:05:30.220 And we can imagine this prayer fixing on the Old Testament promise and kind of saying to God, this is what you have said that you would do. 00:05:30.220 --> 00:05:36.220 Here am I as one of the people of these nations that your promises refer to. 00:05:36.220 --> 00:05:41.220 And I pray to you to fulfil your promise. 00:05:41.220 --> 00:05:46.220 The readiness and prayer. 00:05:46.220 --> 00:05:50.220 We tonight are gathered as a connegation of God's people. 00:05:50.220 --> 00:05:55.220 We are looking for the progress of the work of the kingdom. 00:05:55.220 --> 00:06:04.220 And we are doing so, we pray and hope as those who are reaching out to God in prayer because we sense that we have a need. 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:17.220 Not that we are outside of the boundary of the kingdom of God, but being inside it we are sensitive to the need of having a fully established ministry of the gospel around us. 00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:22.220 A team ministry that will carry the work of the gospel forward. 00:06:22.220 --> 00:06:24.220 We are prayerful. 00:06:24.220 --> 00:06:31.220 And as we move on we can remind ourselves of what James says about Elijah. 00:06:31.220 --> 00:06:34.220 He prayed fervently. 00:06:34.220 --> 00:06:37.220 In other words, he prayed in his prayer. 00:06:37.220 --> 00:06:46.220 And that reminds us that we can pray with words on our lips without having the heart engagement with God. 00:06:46.220 --> 00:06:51.220 And tonight we are seeking the kind of prayerfulness that Elijah had. 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:53.220 The kind of prayerfulness that Cornelius had. 00:06:53.220 --> 00:07:00.220 That we are engaging with God because of the purpose of God and because of the promise of God. 00:07:00.220 --> 00:07:07.220 And because of Cornelius' readiness, God was ready. 00:07:07.220 --> 00:07:10.220 God was listening. 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:13.220 And God was answering. 00:07:13.220 --> 00:07:16.220 And that's what we read the verse number four. 00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:22.220 He stared at him in terror and said, sorry, before that, an angel of the Lord came in and said to him, Cornelius. 00:07:22.220 --> 00:07:26.220 And he stared at him in terror and said, what is it, Lord? 00:07:26.220 --> 00:07:33.220 And he said to him, your prayers and your arms have ascended as a memorial before God. 00:07:33.220 --> 00:07:36.220 God is hearing the prayer. 00:07:36.220 --> 00:07:42.220 God is remembering that this man is here in Caesarea amongst the Gentile nations. 00:07:42.220 --> 00:07:47.220 And he's loving people and he's giving expression to his love for God. 00:07:47.220 --> 00:07:53.220 And this rises up into the presence of God as something which is pleasing to God. 00:07:53.220 --> 00:07:54.220 God. 00:07:54.220 --> 00:08:02.220 And because it is pleasing to God and it is heartfelt and he is engaging with the word of God. 00:08:02.220 --> 00:08:06.220 God is ready to hear. 00:08:06.220 --> 00:08:17.220 God is ready to supply the needs of this gentleman and also to supply the needs of this people. 00:08:17.220 --> 00:08:27.220 And when we see God's readiness, we understand how precise the message of God to Cornelius is. 00:08:31.220 --> 00:08:34.220 And now send men to Joppa. 00:08:34.220 --> 00:08:35.220 Who's in Joppa? 00:08:35.220 --> 00:08:37.220 Simon Peter. 00:08:37.220 --> 00:08:39.220 And bring one Simon who is called Peter. 00:08:39.220 --> 00:08:46.220 He is lodging with Simon Atanar who is on, who is, his house is by the seaside. 00:08:46.220 --> 00:08:49.220 God's prescription is specific. 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:51.220 The passion, the place. 00:08:51.220 --> 00:08:54.220 And Cornelius responds. 00:08:54.220 --> 00:09:02.220 He immobilizes his people to go exactly where, where, where God told Cornelius to find the passion. 00:09:02.220 --> 00:09:05.220 God is ready. 00:09:05.220 --> 00:09:08.220 He's prepared so that when we are ready, 00:09:08.220 --> 00:09:14.220 and of prayers, he is ready to point us in the right direction. 00:09:14.220 --> 00:09:23.220 And tonight we are seeking to be sensitive to the voice of God. 00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:31.220 That in our prayers, it's not one way traffic to God, but that in our prayers, we, we are hearing from God. 00:09:31.220 --> 00:09:43.220 And that the more that we are engaged prayerfully, fervently before God, the more we sense that God is guiding with his counsel. 00:09:43.220 --> 00:09:44.220 That's what we need. 00:09:44.220 --> 00:09:45.220 That's what I need. 00:09:45.220 --> 00:09:47.220 That's what we need together. 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:52.220 To have this readiness for the progress of the ministry of the gospel. 00:09:52.220 --> 00:09:53.220 That we have the readiness. 00:09:53.220 --> 00:09:55.220 That we have the readiness. 00:09:55.220 --> 00:09:56.220 That we have the readiness. 00:09:56.220 --> 00:10:01.220 Which speaking with, with all respect, that we have the readiness, which makes God ready. 00:10:01.220 --> 00:10:05.220 And then there is precision. 00:10:05.220 --> 00:10:06.220 Here is the man. 00:10:06.220 --> 00:10:07.220 Here is the place. 00:10:07.220 --> 00:10:10.220 Go and send to him. 00:10:10.220 --> 00:10:14.220 That is the progress and the readiness. 00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:20.220 Secondly, what I noticed that there is the progress of the work of the kingdom and the resistance. 00:10:20.220 --> 00:10:25.220 And for the resistance, we find Peter. 00:10:25.220 --> 00:10:28.220 Daring Peter. 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:33.220 The Peter who stands at Pentecost, the apostle of Jesus Christ. 00:10:33.220 --> 00:10:41.220 When all are laughing at what God is doing by pouring his spirit, he stands up before the people and he said, these are not drunk with wine. 00:10:41.220 --> 00:10:45.220 This is what God said through the prophets. 00:10:45.220 --> 00:10:48.220 He is daring Peter. 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:51.220 He understands his Old Testament scripture. 00:10:51.220 --> 00:11:00.220 And he is telling the people at Pentecost, this is in fulfillment of all that God has said. 00:11:00.220 --> 00:11:07.220 And as he himself is engaged in prayer and goes up onto his rooftop and he becomes hungry. 00:11:07.220 --> 00:11:14.220 And then we read at the end of verse 10, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet. 00:11:14.220 --> 00:11:19.220 A great sheet descending, being looked down by its four corners upon the earth. 00:11:19.220 --> 00:11:22.220 God intervenes. 00:11:22.220 --> 00:11:27.220 He comes into the experience of Peter. 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:29.220 The Peter who knows the Bible. 00:11:29.220 --> 00:11:32.220 The people who knows the mission of Christ. 00:11:32.220 --> 00:11:35.220 The people who knows that God is fulfilling his promises. 00:11:35.220 --> 00:11:37.220 He sees this vision. 00:11:37.220 --> 00:11:51.220 And in the vision that there is that sense of being brought before him in that great sheet that is descending all kinds of reptiles and of birds of heaven and of quadruples. 00:11:51.220 --> 00:12:00.220 And all kinds of creatures that were forbidden by the law of God. 00:12:00.220 --> 00:12:12.220 And when Peter sees all of these animals and these creatures, he is connected immediately with Leviticus chapter 11, where God said, you shall not eat this and you shall not eat that. 00:12:12.220 --> 00:12:18.220 And everything that Peter sees before him, there are things concerning which God said, you shall not eat that. 00:12:18.220 --> 00:12:19.220 Why not? 00:12:19.220 --> 00:12:28.220 Because I want you to have a lifestyle and a behaviour that shows you are separate from the Gentile nations, from the nations out there. 00:12:28.220 --> 00:12:35.220 So, so you see, you see the challenge that Peter is confronted. 00:12:35.220 --> 00:12:39.220 He's being asked to eat the things that he knows God's laws forbidden. 00:12:39.220 --> 00:12:43.220 What should he do next? 00:12:43.220 --> 00:12:52.220 And when the command comes to go and eat by no means, Lord, I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:54.220 The resistance. 00:12:54.220 --> 00:13:01.220 Immediately, he is telling God, I can't do this thing that you're commanding me to do. 00:13:01.220 --> 00:13:06.220 Setting up the scene for this Peter who in his heart saying, I can't go there. 00:13:06.220 --> 00:13:09.220 God is addressing his resistance. 00:13:09.220 --> 00:13:13.220 He is preparing to, to have his message into that. 00:13:13.220 --> 00:13:19.220 And I think that that's very important for us to consider in the progress of the work of God's kingdom. 00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:31.220 That in the experience of the minister of the gospel, who is being prepared by God for a particular ministry, there can be that resistance. 00:13:31.220 --> 00:13:35.220 That naturally speaking, I'm not going to go there. 00:13:35.220 --> 00:13:38.220 That naturally speaking, I cannot see myself being there. 00:13:38.220 --> 00:13:44.220 And justifying that with all good reason. 00:13:44.220 --> 00:13:50.220 Arise and eat the resistance of the minister of the gospel. 00:13:50.220 --> 00:13:59.220 And as we move on to see what happens, that kind of resistance can be in our hearts as well. 00:13:59.220 --> 00:14:05.220 Not just in the heart of the minister of the gospel, but a resistance in the hearts of the people of God. 00:14:05.220 --> 00:14:15.220 A resistance to the will of God, to the prompting of God, to the directing of God, to the counsel of God. 00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:21.220 So we are looking for a place where, where the minister of God's choosing is not resistant to God's call. 00:14:21.220 --> 00:14:25.220 And where we ourselves are not resistant to God's call. 00:14:25.220 --> 00:14:30.220 And where we ourselves are not resistant to our hearts to the passion that God, we believe, has prepared for us. 00:14:30.220 --> 00:14:32.220 Peter. 00:14:32.220 --> 00:14:40.220 And God gives the command to him, what God has made clean, do not call common. 00:14:40.220 --> 00:14:42.220 What does that mean? 00:14:42.220 --> 00:14:47.220 It means that God has taken away his Old Testament laws. 00:14:47.220 --> 00:14:49.220 He's taken the boundary away. 00:14:49.220 --> 00:14:52.220 And he wants his people to go beyond these boundaries. 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:58.220 And to reach all of these nations, which they were forbidden to mix with in the past. 00:14:58.220 --> 00:15:01.220 God takes away the boundary. 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:04.220 He makes everything clean. 00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:09.220 In other words, Peter, don't pass judgment on people. 00:15:09.220 --> 00:15:14.220 Don't pass judgment on my word, which is wrong judgment. 00:15:14.220 --> 00:15:19.220 But understand that here is where we're at in the kingdom of God. 00:15:19.220 --> 00:15:22.220 That there are people like Cornelius. 00:15:22.220 --> 00:15:29.220 And they need the gospel that you in the kingdom of God has so far known. 00:15:29.220 --> 00:15:33.220 And now it is ready to move on to them. 00:15:33.220 --> 00:15:38.220 And as soon as God says that, that's why we read the verse, verse 21. 00:15:38.220 --> 00:15:43.220 Peter went down to the man and said, I am, I am the one you're looking for. 00:15:43.220 --> 00:15:46.220 What is the reason for your coming? 00:15:46.220 --> 00:15:50.220 And it's in that, in that encounter. 00:15:50.220 --> 00:15:59.220 That the whole message becomes clear to Peter as if, as if the, like a light bulb moment and the penny dropping. 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:04.220 Ah, this is what that vision meant. 00:16:04.220 --> 00:16:13.220 That here is, here are men sent from Cornelius for me to go with them to Caesarea. 00:16:13.220 --> 00:16:20.220 And Peter, when the penny dropped and the men spoke to him, he was ready to go with them. 00:16:20.220 --> 00:16:26.220 The next day he arose and went away with them. 00:16:26.220 --> 00:16:28.220 The barriers were removed. 00:16:28.220 --> 00:16:35.220 The physical connections were made because there were spiritual connections. 00:16:35.220 --> 00:16:42.220 And these are the kind of networking that we do in the kingdom of God. 00:16:42.220 --> 00:16:49.220 That through spiritual experience and through spiritual exercises that we are led in this way. 00:16:49.220 --> 00:16:59.220 So that there is this kind of encounter where God shows to his people, that God shows to his servants, what should take place. 00:16:59.220 --> 00:17:02.220 He rose up and was ready to go with them. 00:17:02.220 --> 00:17:10.220 The readiness follows through because God has removed the resistance from Peter's heart. 00:17:10.220 --> 00:17:19.220 And finally, that is the progress of the kingdom of God and the result. 00:17:19.220 --> 00:17:20.220 What do we see happening? 00:17:20.220 --> 00:17:27.220 As we read on later on in the chapter in verse 24 downwards, we see that there is an induction. 00:17:27.220 --> 00:17:31.220 We see that Cornelius and Peter, that they meet together. 00:17:31.220 --> 00:17:38.220 We see that Cornelius buzzed down before Peter because he's marvelling at what God has done. 00:17:38.220 --> 00:17:52.220 And in that induction of Peter to Cornelius and his group, there is at this very centre the double confession that all of this happened because God was working. 00:17:52.220 --> 00:17:57.220 And Peter relates the message about his own vision, how God took away the resistance. 00:17:57.220 --> 00:17:59.220 That's why I'm here. 00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:08.220 And Cornelius relates his own vision that he was praying and God told him to sing for this man, Simon, called Peter. 00:18:08.220 --> 00:18:16.220 An induction where there is the confession on both sides of the marvellous working of God. 00:18:16.220 --> 00:18:18.220 That's the result. 00:18:18.220 --> 00:18:22.220 That's what we look for in the kingdom of God. 00:18:22.220 --> 00:18:35.220 That there is a point, a moment in the future when these connections will be there, when these confessions will be there, and when it will be clear God was in it. 00:18:35.220 --> 00:18:39.220 And that's what will produce the results. 00:18:39.220 --> 00:18:46.220 And we read on that version of the 34 and we see that we Peter open his mouth and he preached the gospel to them. 00:18:46.220 --> 00:18:51.220 That they should know about Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified on a tree. 00:18:51.220 --> 00:18:57.220 That they should know that Jesus was raised from the dead, that he was anointed by the Spirit of God. 00:18:57.220 --> 00:19:00.220 That they should know all of these things. 00:19:00.220 --> 00:19:09.220 And as Peter preaches to them the mission of God through the Son of God and his finished work, we see the progress. 00:19:09.220 --> 00:19:15.220 The Spirit fell on those who heard the word. 00:19:15.220 --> 00:19:20.220 They became the children of God because the boundaries had gone. 00:19:20.220 --> 00:19:29.220 Because the servant of God, Peter, and the church of God, because they were mobilised in the right direction. 00:19:29.220 --> 00:19:42.220 And we read in version number 45 that the circumcised people, people like Peter, who loved the Old Testament setup, that they rejoiced. 00:19:42.220 --> 00:19:53.220 Because the nations, the Gentiles themselves, had the Holy Spirit poured out upon them as it had been poured out on them. 00:19:53.220 --> 00:19:56.220 And so the mission of God continues. 00:19:56.220 --> 00:19:58.220 The blessing. 00:19:58.220 --> 00:20:00.220 People saved. 00:20:00.220 --> 00:20:02.220 People added to the church of God. 00:20:02.220 --> 00:20:09.220 And there was local joy in the sense of the way in which the people there were excited to praise God. 00:20:09.220 --> 00:20:21.220 And there was the wider joy where the church sent really, where they heard of all that happened and they glorified God. 00:20:21.220 --> 00:20:26.220 The mission of God and the ministry of the gospel, the ministry of the church. 00:20:26.220 --> 00:20:34.220 Let's seek in the progress of the ministry of the gospel to have the readiness that Cornelius had. 00:20:34.220 --> 00:20:39.220 Let's ensure we don't have the initial resistance that Peter had. 00:20:39.220 --> 00:20:48.220 But that through the blessing of God and our prayers, we ourselves will have the readiness that brings God into the picture. 00:20:48.220 --> 00:20:52.220 And that brings the way forward, makes it crystal clear. 00:20:52.220 --> 00:20:58.220 So that further down the line, we may experience something of what they experienced. 00:20:58.220 --> 00:21:09.220 Not that we receive the Spirit of God for the first time, but that those who have not yet received the Spirit of God, that they will receive the Spirit of adoption, crying, Abba, Father. 00:21:09.220 --> 00:21:12.220 We want children to be born to the Lord. 00:21:12.220 --> 00:21:15.220 And that's the result that we have here. 00:21:15.220 --> 00:21:20.220 That the babies of the kingdom are crying for the milk of the gospel. 00:21:20.220 --> 00:21:23.220 That's the result that we are praying for tonight. 00:21:23.220 --> 00:21:45.220 And we pray that God help us to focus our minds on the model that God has given to us in these chapters and in other parts of the Bible, so that we go forward waiting upon God, guided by God, and doing the work of God's kingdom in God's way for God's glory and for the good of his kingdom. 00:21:45.220 --> 00:21:52.220 May God bless his word to us.