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Pastor Mike will be speaking on How to be Free From Prejudice Part 2. He will be reading out of Acts 10:1-48.
The gospel is not just for Americans. The gospel is not just for your family. The gospel is to go to whoever and he will save whoever believes in him and calls upon his name. The forgiveness of sins will be upon their life.
This is Hope Worth Having and I am your host Pastor Mike Sanders and we are looking forward to sharing the hope that is only found in Jesus Christ with you through our radio program and today we’re going to be right back in Acts chapter 10 and we’re continuing that study on how to be free from prejudice.
Just a reminder that the Bible teaches us that the ground is level at the foot of the cross and the Bible invites all to come, repent and believe in Christ. So let’s learn more about that as we study together.
There is a God who is watching and he hears your prayers. He is near and dear to the broken heart of the scripture says we see that Peter was a man of prayer. We see that he was seeking divine guidance.
We see that God was using prayer to change Peter. Let me tell you something about prayer is that so many of us we look at prayer and we’re like hey God we want to tell you what’s going on as if God didn’t know.
We want to say hey God we just want to make sure that you know what is happening but I assure you that we have a God who knows all things but prayer is not so much for you to inform God as much as it is for God to inform you because prayer is that moment when our hearts are humbled and surrendered before an almighty God and where God is aligning our hearts with his heart where God is changing us to be more compassionate and he is changing us to be more committed and devoted.
it to his cause and his purpose in the world. What was God doing in the moment of prayer and the life of Peter? He was changing Peter because Peter was committed to the old covenant. Remember we study the book of Acts and the Bible says at the early beginning of the book of Acts that they were daily going to the temple.
What’s that tell me? That tells me that the early church, that many of those Jewish believers were still, they were still stuck in that regiment of the Old Testament of going to the temple daily. They were still stuck in some of those traditions of the old covenant.
It’s not till we get to Acts 15 that the church begins to break away from some of these traditions that were being forced upon them through the Jewish faith. And so Peter is on the housetop. He is praying and God is trying to help him to see that God is going to…
make a change. And God is going to change Peter to accomplish that. How does God prepare us through circumstances? He prepares us through circumstances. We see that Cornelius as well as Peter were going through some unique circumstances.
Peter was very particular. He was just hungry. He was just hungry. And what does God do? He uses that hunger and to cast a vision upon Peter so that he would see that all that God has created is claimed.
The Jewish people under the old covenant, they could only eat certain foods and they could only partake of certain animals. And so Peter being that good young Jewish man, he was not about to violate the old testament or the old covenant.
But the Bible tells us in verse 15 that God said to Peter, what God has planned, you must not call common. The centurion Cornelius, he was a man who was seeking God and God was using even his affluence and his prestige and his accomplishments.
He was showing him that none of these things never satisfy. These things don’t fulfill the heart. These are the things that may be popular in the world, but they do not change the heart. They do not fulfill you.
There’s always that vacuum in the heart of someone who is looking and searching and they try everything that the world has to offer that they might be fulfilled only to find. They’re at a dead end road.
Cornelius was seeking God, looking for answers. God uses circumstances in all of our life. That’s why I’m telling you, you say, why is God doing this? Why is God doing that? It may be that God is preparing your heart that you might share with someone who doesn’t know Christ and he is preparing their heart so that they’ll look to him.
So many people look to their wealth. They look to the military might of a nation or they look to the political favoritism of a government. And what they find is that none of those things will answer what the great need in their heart is.
The only answer to the heart of sin is Jesus Christ, who saves us from our sins. Yeah, church. Now you need to wake up, church. I know you’re struggling. It’s Sunday morning, but God is working. God often allows circumstances into our life, hear me, to address our weaknesses.
God allowed something in Peter’s life to help him see his bias, to change his prejudice that he had to those who were beyond Judaism and of the ethnicity of the Jews. I also wanna tell you that God changes us and prepares us through his word.
We said through prayer, through circumstances, through his word, it took Peter three visions from God and a word. from the Spirit of God, before he finally got the message. But he finally got it. God speaks to us, God sent a messenger, an angel to Cornelius.
He sent the angel with his word to Cornelius on what to do and how to meet with Peter and to find this true salvation. God used his word. He usually has a messenger who brings his word into your life.
Peter brought the message of the gospel to Cornelius who was in need of salvation and God will speak into our lives through his word and God will open his truth to us and God will use his messengers to help share his wonderful message with us so that God can prepare us to do what he has called us to do.
But the question is, how many times does God have to speak to you before you will respond to him? How many times does God have to bring a tragedy in your life before you will finally surrender your heart to God and do what he has called you to do?
Does God have to knock you flat on your back, put you in the hospital where you can only look up before you will finally say, Lord, I am surrendered to you? Or are you walking with the Lord and you hear his sweet gentle voice and you know when he’s speaking into your heart?
Does God have to break you down before you’ll finally obey and you’ll finally follow what his good work of preparation is in your heart? We said to you at the outset that if we’re gonna be free from prejudice, we must believe God’s sovereign preparation in our own hearts and in the hearts of others.
But number two, we must demonstrate a submissive will. I want you to come to verse 21. The Bible says Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius and said, yes, I am he whom you seek.
For what reason have you come? And they said, Cornelius, Centurion, a just man, one who fears God, and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear words from you.
Then he invited them in. This is Peter. He lodged with them. On the next day, Peter went away with them, and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him. And the following day, they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them and called together his relatives and close friends.
As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him. He fell down at his feet, and he worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up and saying, stand up, I myself also am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together.
Then he said to them, and I want you to see this, you know how unlawful. It is for a Jewish man to keep company with or to go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
You see, when Peter finally heard the vision and he finally responded, he was submissive to God’s will for his life. The Lord is looking for surrendered hearts. He’s not looking for better methods and stronger people.
He’s looking for hearts that are fully surrendered. God works through people and God will work through your life when you are surrendered to the will of God. When you say, Lord, okay, I don’t understand it, but this is what you’ve called me to do.
Okay, God, you want me to step out and do this. Now, there’s two key things for me to have a consistent, surrendered heart to God. I want you to write these two words down. Number one is obedience. You must be willing to obey God.
You must be willing to obey God even when it doesn’t make sense. You know, sometimes the commands of God, why they seem odd or maybe they seem different. But let me tell you how the economy of God works.
The economy of God is not like the world and the world says, I believe it when I see it. But God says, believe it and you will see it. Do you understand that? And sometimes what God says, like this Molly getting baptized, people say, well, I don’t understand why we got to do that, pastor.
Let me tell you why, because if you say you’re a believer and you’re not willing to obey Jesus when he tells us to get baptized, what makes you think he can trust you to obey him down the road when he needs you to do A, B, or C for him.
Obedience is your first step. Obedience and baptism is your first step. of spiritual maturity and a surrendered heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why all through our journey, we are called to obey God.
Remember Abraham? Remember that God said Abraham, pack up everything and take your family and get out. And I’ll tell you where to go later. Now again, most of us, we would want to budget. We wouldn’t want to know our destination.
We would want to know details and we’d be texting God and we’d be saying, now God, I need to know this and I’d need to know that. But you know what God wants is obedience. He wants obedience. The second thing to help me have a surrendered, sustained, surrendered heart is faith.
It is faith, I want you to understand something. The scriptures teach us in Hebrews 11 six, without faith it’s impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
It is by faith that you please God. You say, my heart is submissive and surrendered, Pastor Mike. Well, then I say to you, walk by faith. The Bible does not say the just shall live by explanation. The just shall live by faith.
Do you trust God? The Bible teaches us in Proverbs three, verse five and six that we’re to trust the Lord with all of our heart. Not half your heart, not a quarter of your heart, not three quarters of your heart, not even 99%, but trust the Lord with all your heart.
The Bible says, and acknowledge him in all your ways. And the Bible teaches us that he will direct our past. We are called to trust the Lord. We are called to follow him by faith. Now there are three ways in this generation that you and I can display obedience and faith as we’re reaching out to people.
Now listen, hang on to this. First of all, make sure that you show no hesitation of befriending people who are unlike you. You remember what Peter did? He opened the door, come on in. And he developed a friendship with these people.
And he told them up front, you know the Old Testament tells me that I’m not supposed to be with you. I’m not to hang out with you because you people are unclean. But I wanna tell you that God in the new covenant through the power of the cross and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that he has now launched a new covenant, that Christ has fulfilled all that was required and necessary in the old covenant.
And we live in a new covenant. And in that new covenant, we are called to love God and we are called to love people. And even people, are you with me? That are unlike us. I know you have your people that you hang with.
But have you ever tried to love people that are unlike you? Did you know that there are people out there? They’re not like me, and they’re not like you, but they need Jesus Christ. And unless you build a friendship with them, I’m telling you, they may never hear the gospel.
You say, Pastor, this is Franklin County. People will always even indirectly hear the gospel. How about that testimony we heard from a young lady who lived down in Green Castle before COVID? She testified to our church that she grew up in Green Castle, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and no one ever told her the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So she went to Penn State University, and there were Bible studies on that campus, and somebody invited her to the Bible study, and she heard the gospel for the first time. She was so overwhelmed, she broke down in tears and gave her life to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don’t assume, don’t assume, that people have heard. But we’re doing every available means to reach every available person, but I rest assure to you that you still have a responsibility to make sure that every person that you come in contact has heard the gospel, and even if they’re not like you.
Let me give you a second way to live out this submissive will through faith and obedience, that is to always show hospitality towards everyone, and opening your home to people and your lives to people.
Hospitality, people say, Mike, why are you so friendly? It’s not that I always want to be friendly, but every time I see someone I don’t know, I think about, are they saved? They need Jesus. Maybe they are saved and they just need encouragement.
I was yesterday at a place and this guy, he said, Pastor Mike, I said, hey, I said, do I know you? He said, no, but I know you. I listen to you on the radio. And I got to talk to him and be an encouragement to him.
He was already saved, trusted Christ. But listen, I could be isolated and I could push people out of my life and I could just be like, I’m not gonna talk to anybody. And I could be that person that says, hey, I don’t need to talk to anybody, but you know what, friends?
God wants you to be hospitable to the young church. He wants you to be a hospital to the sinner. He wants you to be hospitable to people in your lives that he puts in your past because God has called you to be a blessing.
You say, why does God so good to me? Why has God blessed me with so much? Why has he taken care of me? I’ll tell you, because you are blessed to be a blessing. If you’re unwilling to be the conduit of his blessing, he’ll take the blessings away and give it to somebody else, Jerry, who wants to be a blessing, amen.
Brother, I tell you the third thing is show humility before all people. Show humility before all people regardless of their skin color, their income, their education, whatever walk of life, what they’ve done or haven’t done, show humility.
You know how you treat others says a lot about you. Do you agree with that? Do you remember that we read in the text here? Do you remember that when Cornelius finally came into the presence of Peter that he bowed down and he began to worship him?
Verse 26, Peter lifted him up. He said, get up, man. Stand up. I myself also am a man. Now Peter is an apostle. Peter is a Jew. His culture would look down upon Gentiles and he could have just bought in and ate up the human worship.
But you know what? Peter showed humility and said, buddy, I’m just like you. ground is level at the foot of the cross. Listen to me, there are people who are hurting, who are hopeless, who are struggling.
You wanna know how to connect with them? Be humble, be humble. Don’t look down on people. Don’t judge people. Don’t say, listen, I’m the guy that is gonna tell you what you did wrong. But I want you to be humble and accept people where they’re at.
Jesus, listen, he hung out with sinners. Jesus found himself in places and with people that he was accused of being a wine bibber, which means simply he was a drunkard. He was always partying. He was put down because he was around prostitutes.
And I’m just trying to say to you is this, that whoever God puts in your path, don’t look down upon him. Jesus was always reaching out. Jesus was always connecting with people. Why? Because every person, I don’t care what their lifestyle is.
I don’t care what their confusion about their gender is. I don’t care what they have done or have not done that every person is created in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore they are worthy of kindness, care and love.
You say, well, they’re not out of my political stripe, it doesn’t matter. Jesus loves them, amen. You mean Jesus would go to the cross and die for somebody who’s not the same political party as me? Do you understand how we have biases, church?
Do you understand how we can not just be prejudice and maybe somebody’s skin color, but somebody’s political background or somebody’s ethnicity? We have to watch out for that. And so I’m challenging you to be a humble person before God almighty.
Look, I want us to demonstrate. to submissive will to God. The third step in being free from prejudice is accepting God’s spiritual plan. In verse 34, I want you to jump down. The Bible says that Peter opened his mouth and he said, in truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.
But in every nation who ever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him, the word which God sent to the children of Israel preaching peace throughout Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth of the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him.
And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God has raised up on the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before God, even to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead.
He commanded us to preach to the people, to testify that it is he who has ordained by God to be judged and of the living and the dead. To him, all the prophets witness that through his name, whoever, underscore that in your Bible, whoever believes in him will receive remission or forgiveness of sin.
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. I remind you of the context that Peter was in the home of Cornelius, and Cornelius had invited all his family and his friends to come.
Who knows how many were there? He probably lived in a nice house and he had it filled with people, and Peter went in there and he preached Jesus unto them. God has a spiritual plan, church. Peter accepted that spiritual plan.
Every one of us must accept this spiritual plan, and that spiritual plan involves that everyone should hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. You say, Pastor, why do you give to missions, and why do you get behind missionaries, and why do you try to encourage these young people to go where they’re called into other nations and to other ethnicities and people groups?
I’ll tell you why. Because God wants the nations to hear the gospel. The gospel is not just for Americans. The gospel is not just for your family. The gospel is not just for those who cut their teeth on the pew and grew up in the church.
The gospel is to go to whoever, and he will save whoever believes in him and calls upon his name the forgiveness of sin. will be upon their life.” The Bible says that the Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness but as long suffering to us were not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repent.
Did you know the proclamation of the gospel has a eschatological impact upon the world? What do you mean it has an impact upon the end times because Jesus said in Matthew 24 verse 14 when he was given the signs of the times and they said Jesus tell us what will be the signs of your coming.
He said to his disciples that this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a end is not coming until every person has heard. about Jesus. The end, the second coming of Christ. I’m not talking about the rapture.
The rapture is another event, but I’m telling you the coming of Christ, Jesus said that it would not happen until the entire world. Why do we give? It is not only that we give to missionaries because we have a burden and we love the lost people of the world.
We want to see them come to Christ no matter what their ethnicity is, no matter what their background is, their education might be, what their hurts and their hangups may be in this world. We want them to hear the gospel, but we want them to hear also because it brings faster the coming of Jesus Christ.
How many of you are ready for Jesus Christ to come? I hope that you are ready. My final point to you, and I know you’re super happy, and that is that if we are going to live prejudice -free, we have to pursue sweet fellowship with people outside of our comfort zone.
Jump down to verse 48 of chapter 10. The Bible says he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord, and then they asked him, referring to, they asked Peter to stay a few days. Now Peter could have rejected this request.
He didn’t. He stayed with them. The proof of your conversion is your desire to fellowship with God’s people no matter where you go. I remember when I went to France, Bayou, France, and I couldn’t speak the language, and I was kind of caught off guard because, you know, Pete tried to prepare me and he said they’re gonna want to give you a kiss on the cheek there, Pastor Mike.
And you know I’m not a hugger. I don’t want you hugging me. I want you to stay out of my bubble, okay? If some of you are in conversation with me and you see me backing up, it’s because I think you’re too close to my bubble.
I’m just giving you a little inside of Mike. But man, not only did they they kiss you on your cheek but they kiss you on the other cheek and then they do it twice. And so I was a mess. But I tell you it was such sweet fellowship to be with God’s people in another land, in another country and another language that I could not even understand.
But the one thing that we had in common was the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God verified to us that we were brothers and sisters in Christ and it was just wonderful to be with the people and even though I could not understand that 90% of what they were saying, I was enjoying all the food that they were given.
And they love for you to eat and those people, they start eating dinner at eight o ‘clock at night and they just eat, it’s wonderful. You say how do the French people stay so skinny? They walk everywhere and perhaps we should pick up this new practice because gas prices are so high, we should walk more, amen?
But what I want to simply say to you is this. Ephesians 2, 19 and 20 reminds us, now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostle and prophets, Jesus Christ himself, being the chief cornerstone.
Church, we are not strangers among each other, whether it’s in this local fellowship, in the community, or it is in other lands. We are not strangers because of Jesus Christ. We are brothers and sisters in the family of God, and we must make every effort to have sweet fellowship, even if it’s outside of our comfort zone.
I know you got your people, and I know you’ve got your walls, and I know you got your fences, and you only wanna be with those people, but let me tell you something. God’s calling you to step out of your comfort zone.
Fellowship with people that you may not even know, who culturally may be different than you, who educationally may be different, or maybe they just have different quirks about them, but it’s okay because there’s not one person on this planet that God does not love.
God loves, cares for every person. He went to that cross, so all who would believe in him should have eternal life. Peter is coming to terms with his own prejudices in his heart, and God is tearing down those barriers and working effectively in Peter’s life, and it’s such a blessing to watch this because it’s a reminder to all of us that God wants to use us, like Peter, to reach people from all walks of life and nationalities,
and that our goal is to spread the gospel unto the ends of the earth, and that’s not just physically relating to location, but that’s also reaching out. to people who are from different nations or ethnic groups, whatever and however you want to describe it.
We are called to reach them all because that’s what Jesus has asked us to do. So I really am appreciative of this message and what it teaches us in Acts chapter 10. Now we are encouraging you to check out our podcasts.
If you’d like to learn more about some of these things that we’re teaching, you can certainly go to our website and you can check us out there. You can also pick up some of our podcasts on our app, The Open Door Church PA and just at the bottom hit the ministry button and there you can pick up some of the podcasts that are going on that we’re putting out there for you and all designed to enrich you,
strengthen you in the faith. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope, worth having.