Participants:
Series Code: PJU
Program Code: PJU190013A
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00:03 Were the people in the Bible any different to us today?
00:09 Or ordinary people like you and me. 00:21 What can we find out 00:23 from their lives that will help us? 00:29 Find out with Pastor Geoff Youlden 00:31 and Rosemary Malkiewycz 00:32 here on People Just Like Us. 00:37 Some people teach that God only saves those He chooses to, 00:41 to give salvation to, 00:43 whether it is certain individuals, 00:45 a particular nation or some other group. 00:48 The early Christians had to learn 00:50 to accept God's way to grace because as Jews, 00:54 they had been taught 00:55 that they alone were chosen by God 00:57 and ordained to salvation. 00:59 But God had a lesson to teach them 01:02 before they could go 01:03 to the world as His representatives. 01:06 That salvation is for everyone 01:08 who chooses to be saved by God's grace, 01:11 which is received through faith in Jesus Christ. 01:15 Today, Pastor Geoff is going to tell us 01:17 the incredible story about this amazing lesson. 01:19 So welcome, Geoff. Thank you very much, Rosemary. 01:22 Yes, well, the story of "The Roman Centurion" 01:26 is really a watershed event in the 1st century. 01:29 Because up until that stage, 01:31 the Jews believed that the only people 01:33 that could be saved were them. 01:35 You know, they were the anointed one, 01:37 and so this idea of a Gentile coming in to the church 01:43 is just such a new thought, 01:47 and it really caused disruption in the early Christian Church. 01:51 And they thought that they, 01:53 that the Gentiles had to become a Jew? 01:55 Yes, yes. That's right. 01:57 If they allow a Gentile into the church, 02:00 it wasn't a given that if they allow a Gentile 02:03 to come into the church, 02:04 they certainly had to become a Jew first 02:07 and follow all the Jewish practices 02:09 including circumcision, 02:11 so forth, in order to become accepted by God. 02:14 And a Christian, and a Christian as well. 02:18 Yes, well, Christian Jew. 02:20 Yeah, because the Judaism said, 02:24 Paul was fighting against so much of the time, 02:27 they was saying that 02:29 the Gentiles had to be circumcised, 02:30 so that they had to become a Jew first. 02:32 Because the Jews believed to be accepted by God, 02:35 you had to be physically circumcised. 02:39 Where as in Deuteronomy and in Jeremiah 4:4 for start, 02:44 as well as in the New Testament, 02:47 God says that it's a circumcision 02:49 of the heart. 02:50 So it's actually in Old Testament teaching 02:53 that Paul talks about, 02:55 it's not the physical circumcision 02:57 that God wants, 02:58 it's the circumcision of the heart, 03:00 the fleshy heart to be there and not this heart of stone. 03:05 Yes, well, actually, Rosemary, 03:07 the story even gets worst as we think about it, 03:11 because the Jews detested the Gentiles, 03:15 and said some very, 03:16 very horrible things about them. 03:19 And they said, for example, 03:20 the Gentiles were idolaters 03:23 and they ought to be killed. 03:26 And kill with the sword. 03:28 And then they said, the best Gentile is a dead one. 03:32 That's a bit rough. It is. 03:34 And then they taught, out of all the nations, 03:36 God only loved Israel. 03:39 So you can understand that, 03:41 that there was a tremendous resistance in their mind. 03:43 They had been brain washed 03:45 with this thinking for so many years. 03:47 And the rabbis taught that it was not lawful 03:50 for a Judah help a Gentile women give birth, 03:54 as it would be helping bring another Gentile into the world. 03:57 So you can see how ingrained it was. 04:00 And if a Jew dared to marry a Gentile, 04:03 he was from that time forward considered dead. 04:07 In fact, just entering a Gentile 04:10 home would make a Jew unclean. 04:13 And so a Gentile 04:14 visiting the Jewish temple in Jerusalem 04:17 was only allowed to go 04:18 as far as the court of the Gentiles, 04:21 which really was the first and lowest 04:24 of the various courts 04:25 in the introduction to the temple. 04:27 But even if a Gentile came there, 04:29 he was not really welcomed as is often shown 04:33 by the contempt that they had for Gentiles. 04:37 This was the area where the Jews sold, 04:40 and bought, and traded their animals and change money. 04:43 Then that was followed, Rosemary, 04:45 by the court for women, 04:48 and then there was the court of Israel 04:50 and finally the court of the priests. 04:54 Now, if Gentiles approached the court of women, 04:58 they couldn't get pass the barrier 05:00 that had been erected. 05:01 It was about two meters in height, 05:04 and the barrier was called the wall of partition, 05:08 the middle wall of partition. 05:10 Now, I've heard of that in the Bible. 05:12 Yes, and we'll refer to it in a moment. 05:14 If a Gentile went past that, the penalty was death. 05:17 Because you may remember that Paul 05:19 now he lost his life, and at one stage 05:22 because it was reported that 05:24 he took a Gentile past this barrier. 05:27 So, Rosemary, you can understand 05:29 the reaction of the Gentiles and if you were regarded 05:32 by that by the Jews. 05:33 You can understand that, 05:34 there's going to be a reaction and there was. 05:36 And the Gentiles hated the Jews as were seen by the Romans. 05:41 Oh, that's right. They were heathen. 05:43 Yes, and they persecuted them mercilessly. 05:47 But as far as God is concerned, 05:49 that division between Jew and Gentile was taken away. 05:52 In fact, the verse that you're referring to, Rosemary, 05:56 is found in Ephesians Chapter 2. 05:59 It'll be good if we just read it from, 06:00 I'm in Ephesians Chapter 2. 06:03 In fact this whole chapter is about, 06:05 getting rid of petitions. 06:07 Yes, yes. 06:08 Well, verse 15 makes reference 06:09 to this middle wall of partition. 06:11 It says here, "Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, 06:15 that is, the law of commandments 06:17 contained in ordinances, 06:19 so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, 06:23 thus making peace." 06:26 Because the verse before, 06:28 it talks about the middle wall of partition 06:30 or division been taking away. 06:32 Verse 14, yes, the middle wall of separation. 06:34 Well, it's... 06:35 That's the language, it's coming from the temple. 06:39 I never realized that. 06:40 And every person would understand exactly 06:41 what Paul was writing about. 06:43 And so the Bible teaches that there is no such thing now 06:46 as a Jewish Church or a Gentile Church. 06:49 It's really only one church that has no barriers of race 06:54 or color or gender. 06:56 And little did Peter realize that 06:58 the day he walked from Joppa, 07:01 up north down to Caesarea 07:05 and into the home of a Gentile soldier, 07:07 what a huge event this was going to be 07:10 in the Christian Church. 07:11 Because already the Samaritans 07:13 had been invited into the church, 07:15 and this had been followed 07:16 by the Ethiopian Jews proselyte, 07:18 and now a full blooded Gentile 07:21 and his family were going to come into the church. 07:24 Oh, that's a real change. 07:26 A proselyte is one thing, but then an actual Roman... 07:30 Yes, and particularly considering the standing 07:34 that he had in Rome as well, 07:36 I'll refer to it in a few moments. 07:37 And soon churches 07:39 would spring up everywhere in Europe 07:41 and in Asia, Galatia, and there was Corinth, 07:45 and there was Ephesus, and of course in Rome. 07:50 And soon Antioch would replace Jerusalem 07:53 as the churches capital. 07:56 And Greek would replace Hebrew 07:57 as their language of the Bible, 08:00 and Gentiles would far outnumber Jewish believers, 08:04 as they accepted the teachings of the apostles. 08:09 Now, it's interesting that at a city called Caesarea, 08:15 it was, it's situated today on the Mediterranean coast, 08:19 and it was lead there by a Roman, 08:22 by the name of Cornelius. 08:23 Now, Caesarea is between Tel Aviv and Joppa 08:28 down in the south, and Haifa in the north. 08:30 Yes, that's right. 08:31 Sort of, almost halfway between. 08:33 In between, yes. 08:35 And this seaport, that is Caesarea had been built 08:39 by Herod, who named it in honor of Caesar Augustus. 08:44 You know, if we were living back 08:46 in those days, we would probably have thought 08:48 that Herod was trying to do 08:49 a little bit of a crawl to Caesar 08:51 by naming the city in honor of him, 08:54 he would get some kudos from that. 08:57 And Herod was a great builder, actually, if you read his story 09:00 and his aim was to create a metropolis 09:03 that would outdo Alexandria in Egypt. 09:07 Caesarea, you see it was on the direct trade route 09:10 from Babylon over to Rome. 09:13 And here he built a forum, he built barbs, 09:17 and offices, there were temples there, 09:20 houses and marble statues. 09:23 There was actually a lighthouse of all things 09:26 that guided the ships into the port, 09:29 because it was a very difficult port 09:31 to get into, so they built this lighthouse. 09:34 And one of the most amazing things 09:36 that you can still see there today 09:38 is this aqueduct. 09:40 Yes, actually I've got photos. Have you? 09:43 I've got some photos of Caesarea, 09:44 would you like to see them? 09:46 I'd like to see them. Okay. 09:47 I'm sure everyone would like to have a look at it. 09:48 This here, this photo is of the amphitheater 09:51 and everywhere that Herod went, he built amphitheaters, 09:54 because they were very Roman. 09:55 And this is how close it is, that's the Mediterranean Sea 09:59 over the back there, so it's really close to that. 10:02 And then, that's me standing by this amphitheater. 10:06 They were beautifully made and they worked marvelously. 10:09 The person down in the centre of the amphitheater, 10:13 at the front of it, 10:14 they could whisper and everybody could hear them. 10:19 It was just amazing, the acoustics. 10:21 Well, they were amazing builders. 10:23 Oh, they were. 10:24 And I've got some other photos too. 10:26 This area here, where you can see 10:27 the water in that big square, 10:29 that was the swimming pool 10:32 that Herod had built out into the water. 10:34 He hated salt water, 10:36 that's why he built the arch aqueduct. 10:37 And so he would have swimming pools 10:41 everywhere he went. 10:42 He always built a swimming pool for recreation 10:45 for his guests and all. 10:46 And that's what the remnants of that are. 10:48 This is the hippodrome 10:50 where they used to have chariot races, 10:51 and you can see the seats up there. 10:54 I'm sitting on the seats that they used to actually sit 10:57 on those stones during the chariot races. 11:01 So I'm sitting where the people 11:03 that did sit back in those days. 11:04 It's quite amazing to think that 11:07 they are that old, you know? 11:10 And then, I've got a picture here of the harbor. 11:14 You can see there, the rocks coming out 11:16 on to both sides 11:17 and the ships would come into this little haven here, 11:21 the Mediterranean Sea in the background. 11:24 This is some of the mosaic floors. 11:26 You could see how rich they were throughout 11:29 all of their buildings there, they were just beautiful. 11:32 And some of the ruins that they are digging up today, 11:36 they're always finding more things. 11:39 And you can see how they're excavating 11:41 so much of the city now. 11:43 This was all under dirt and here's the aqueduct. 11:46 It was about 40 miles long I think. 11:50 Not 40, 14 or something. 11:53 It was very large and there is John standing 11:54 in one of the archways. 11:56 He's keeping it up. Yes, he is. 11:57 He's being Hercules. 12:01 And he's there underneath the, where the water would travel. 12:04 Well, they brought the water 12:06 in this aqueduct from Mount Carmel... 12:08 Yes. 12:09 At 14 kilometers away, so it's quite amazing. 12:12 And the Roman engineers had overcome some 12:15 very, very difficult problems to build the harbor. 12:18 They had even been able to use hydraulic concrete 12:21 which hardens under the water. 12:23 Mm, that's amazing. It is amazing. 12:25 And the city was an outstanding monument 12:28 really to the Romans' ability at building. 12:30 The very fact that 12:31 it's still standing after all of these years. 12:33 Yeah. 12:34 It is actually a very fascinating place to visit 12:36 and to know that Cornelius was there in 12:37 and that Paul was there talking to Agrippa 12:40 and things that makes it 12:42 a very biblically historic place, 12:43 but it was very, very Roman, 12:47 and you know that the things that went on 12:49 in there would've been extremely materialism, 12:53 you know, ruling and bad behavior. 12:56 The stands are almost talking to you 12:59 when you visit these places. 13:01 Now, Cornelius that we are talking about today 13:04 was a noncommissioned officer 13:06 in the 10th legion of the Roman army. 13:09 And he had a cohort of a thousand Italians, 13:14 whose duty it was to keep the peace in Palestine. 13:17 And Cornelius was chosen for his ability to lead men, 13:21 and his men were chosen for their courage 13:24 and for their willingness 13:25 to stand and fight till the last man. 13:29 Now, Cornelius was a God fearing Gentile, 13:32 the Bible tells us. 13:33 And he had become disillusioned 13:35 by the pagan religions of the day, 13:37 and was greatly attracted by the morals and the ethics 13:40 and the spiritual beliefs of the Jews. 13:44 There must have been some Jews around for him to, 13:47 to notice to and actually be able 13:49 to come to know of their God. 13:51 Yes. 13:52 Well, he would have been traveling around. 13:54 But Cornelius drew the line, and you can understand 13:57 by what we were saying before 13:59 he drew the line at becoming a Jew. 14:02 You can understand that with the feelings 14:04 that existed between the Jew and the Gentile. 14:08 Rosemary, you may have also 14:09 read the expression in the Bible 14:11 where it talks about the proselytes of the gates. 14:14 No, I haven't. 14:16 And also sometimes God refers to these people 14:19 or the Bible refers to him as God fearist. 14:22 And now as far as the Jews were concerned, 14:25 these proselytizes were still Gentiles and, 14:29 of course, outside the blessing of God, 14:33 even though they were interested. 14:36 In fact, back in the Book of Acts Chapter 10, 14:38 let me just read this, this is interesting. 14:41 Acts 10:1-2, here it says, 14:47 "There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, 14:52 a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, 14:57 a devout man and one who feared God 15:00 with all his household, 15:01 who gave alms generously to the people, 15:05 and prayed to God always." 15:08 Do you notice there, 15:09 it says a couple of really interesting things about him 15:13 that he actually gave alms 15:15 is meaning you helping the poor, 15:18 and it said he gave it generously. 15:20 He was giving up his own money to help Jews, 15:23 they weren't, it wouldn't have been Romans 15:25 who were the poor ones. 15:27 And so he's giving to Jews who are poor, 15:30 that is an incredible thing for him to be doing. 15:32 But also his whole household believed as he did. 15:37 And that would have been his servants as well, 15:39 because they were close to his household. 15:41 Yes. 15:42 So and then it says he prayed to God always. 15:44 Now, the sad thing about this, 15:46 Rosemary, is that the Jewish Christians 15:48 cared little about him. 15:50 This is the sad thing. 15:52 I mean, in the eight years since the day of Pentecost, 15:55 nobody from Jerusalem had come from Jerusalem to tell him 15:59 anything about the fact that Jesus had died on the cross, 16:03 that He had been raised from the dead, 16:05 and that He ever lives for us today, 16:08 and He wants us to be His friend and His helper. 16:12 And Caesarea too was a city that no Jew would visit. 16:18 I didn't know also. 16:19 No, it was a Gentile city and they didn't want to be 16:22 contaminated by being there. 16:23 So they had little concern obviously 16:26 for its inhabitance. 16:27 You can understand that was their attitude 16:29 they didn't wanna be contaminated. 16:30 They didn't want to be made unclean. 16:32 They can go to hell, and let them stay there. 16:33 You know that would be the Jewish attitude. 16:36 So it's interesting that God had to actually send 16:39 an angel to Cornelius, 16:43 because no one else would have told him. 16:45 But it's interesting 16:46 what the angel said and didn't say. 16:49 Because the angel didn't preach the gospel to him, 16:53 because God had given that to mankind to do. 16:56 He only allowed the angel to say one thing, in fact, 17:00 in verse I think it is here in 10:5 it says, 17:05 "Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon 17:10 whose surname is Peter. 17:12 He is lodging..." 17:14 This is verse 6, "He is lodging with Simon, 17:17 a tanner, whose house is by the sea. 17:20 He will tell you what you must do." 17:24 Now, that's interesting 17:26 because that's the only instruction 17:28 that the angel received. 17:29 Don't tell him anything else, just say you go to Simon 17:33 and you'll find over there tanner and find... 17:37 But that's even interesting, go to Simon, 17:39 who's a tanner by the sea... 17:41 In Joppa, I mean, 17:44 there's a bit of coastline there. 17:45 You've got to find the right house, 17:47 but that was enough. 17:49 Yeah, well, I think, 17:50 I just think that's a very, very interesting thing. 17:53 Now, the Jews, of course, Simon being a tanner, 17:57 the Jews held being a tanner in disgust, 18:01 as it involved handling the skins of dead animals. 18:04 So to touch something dead rendered them unclean 18:07 according to their Levitical law. 18:10 So according to Rabbinic law, a tanner's house had to be 18:13 at least 50 cubits outside the city walls, 18:18 because for fear of contamination. 18:21 And also... There's always contamination. 18:22 Yes. 18:23 Well, also if a Jewish girl married a man 18:27 and then she found out after she had married him 18:30 that he was a tanner, the Jewish law allowed 18:34 their marriage to be annulled. 18:36 That was Jewish law, not Biblical law. 18:39 No, Jewish law. Yes. 18:41 So the Apostle Peter 18:42 was really getting over his prejudice, 18:46 if he could stay, imagine this now, 18:48 Peter is now staying with this Simon the tanner. 18:51 Yes. That's amazing. 18:52 With all his background, so obviously... 18:53 I've never thought of that. 18:55 Peter is moving in his own mind. 18:58 In fact, it says in Acts 10:9. 19:04 It says, "The next day, as they went on their journey 19:07 and drew near the city, 19:08 Peter went up to the housetop to pray, 19:10 about the sixth hour," about midday. 19:13 "Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat, 19:16 but while they made ready, 19:17 he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened 19:21 and an object like a great sheet 19:23 bound at the four corners, 19:25 descending to him and led down to the earth. 19:28 In it were all kinds of 19:29 four-footed animals of the earth, 19:32 wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 19:37 And a voice said to him, 'Rise, Peter, kill and eat,' 19:42 But Peter said, 'Not so, Lord! 19:43 For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.' 19:47 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, 19:49 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.' 19:54 This was done three times. 19:57 And the object was taken up into heaven again.' 19:59 " It's very a strange vision. 20:01 Well it's, well, it is strange for many people 20:04 I met, many people misunderstand this, 20:06 but, Rosemary, the thing that I find interesting is that 20:09 this was given three times. 20:10 Now that would indicate to me 20:12 that God saw this as very, very important. 20:15 Yes. 20:16 Things in the Bible are always repeated two 20:18 or three times if it's an important thing, 20:20 that Jesus would say verily, verily... 20:22 Yes, exactly. It's important, listen. 20:26 So this story is really a story that marks a big change now. 20:32 There's something about that vision, 20:34 that's going to completely change 20:36 not only Peter's attitude but all of Jewish attitudes, 20:42 because the church is now opened up to Gentiles. 20:46 For up until it's time, 20:48 the church consisted mainly of Jews. 20:52 That's right. 20:53 And verse 24 goes on to say here, 20:58 "And the following day they entered Caesarea." 21:01 Oh, this was the three people that Peter found that 21:05 came to the house to see him. 21:06 Yes, that's right. 21:08 And asked, if he would go with them. 21:09 Correct. 21:10 Yes, "And the following day 21:12 they entered," verse 24, "Caesarea. 21:13 Now Cornelius was waiting for them, 21:15 and called together 21:17 his relatives and close friends. 21:19 As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him 21:21 and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 21:25 But Peter lifted him up, saying, 21:27 'Stand up, I myself also am a man.'" 21:32 Now, this is the Interesting I find 21:35 because the centurion treated Peter 21:38 as if he were more than human. 21:41 Now the reason I found that interesting 21:43 is because there are many Christians 21:45 who've been brought up to believe 21:47 and been told by their church 21:49 that the leader of their church is the successor of Peter. 21:53 Yes. 21:54 And I noticed, and I'm sure every viewer 21:57 has noticed that 21:59 when this particular man shows up in public, 22:03 there are people he accepts people bowing down 22:05 and worshiping him. 22:07 And if he's supposed to be the follower of Peter, 22:10 Peter did the opposite. 22:11 He said, "Stand up, 22:13 don't you bow down to me at all." 22:15 And Cornelius would have been bowing 22:17 because an angel said, "Go and get this man." 22:20 So he would have thought Paul was some special agent of God. 22:22 That's right, yes. 22:24 So you can imagine or understand him 22:26 as a pagan doing that. 22:31 But it's just not to be done, to Christians, for Christians. 22:34 No, so here we find that this story, 22:37 that as I said that many have been bought up 22:39 to believe that they are to worship, 22:43 but the Bible says especially no. 22:46 Now something else about the story. 22:48 How many of us have ever been visited 22:50 by an angel and our address is given 22:55 by the angel to someone else. 22:56 I mean, that's a very interesting 22:58 part of the story too. 22:59 Oh, it is. 23:00 And so we find here such a wonderful story. 23:06 Now Cornelius's friends and relatives 23:08 that heard that Cornelius had seen an angel 23:10 and many of them thought, 23:11 "I can't believe that Cornelius has seen an angel." 23:13 Perhaps it was Mrs. Cornelius they've thought, 23:17 because you don't get to be 23:18 a centurion in the Italian cohort 23:20 if you're the type that sees angels. 23:22 That's right. 23:23 So, then Peter explains what this vision is all about, 23:26 and he saw all those animals. 23:29 Now, many people have misunderstood this verse. 23:31 And I think that this does away with un-cleaned food 23:36 and that we can eat anything now. 23:39 But this story is telling us that, 23:41 that's got nothing to do what we eat, and what we... 23:46 and what we don't eat, 23:47 because it's not to do with that. 23:51 The story is dealing 23:52 with the issue of Gentiles and the Jews, 23:55 because the Jews regarded the Gentiles as being unclean. 24:00 That's what he talks about in verse 28 of Chapter 10. 24:05 Yes. 24:06 In fact, we can read that, 24:09 verse 28, "Then he said to them, 24:11 'You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man 24:14 to keep company with or go to one of another nation. 24:19 But God has shown me that 24:21 I should not call any man common or unclean.' 24:25 " That's right. 24:27 He's talking about human beings, 24:28 not about animals. 24:30 Now you would think that 24:31 the Jewish Church would have been delighted about 24:33 what was happening in Caesarea 24:35 or at the home of Cornelius. 24:37 Not so, they were absolutely horrified. 24:39 In fact, Peter, they felt had disgraced himself 24:42 and betrayed the church. 24:43 He was unclean now. 24:44 Yes, and practically denied the faith. 24:46 In fact, in Chapter 11, it says, 24:48 "Now the apostles and brethren 24:50 who were in Judea heard that 24:51 the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 24:54 And when Peter came to Jerusalem, 24:56 those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, 24:59 'You went in to uncircumcised men 25:01 and ate with them!' 25:02 " Wow! 25:04 Now this shows again that this is, 25:05 remember this is the church that had the Holy Spirit 25:07 poured out on them at the Day of Pentecost, 25:09 and it's only a few years later, 25:11 and it shows how they had deteriorated 25:13 in their understanding. 25:15 And their Jewish mind set was very much in charge. 25:19 Yes, so their spiritual condition 25:21 was not very good so soon after Pentecost. 25:27 And so here we find the headquarters church 25:30 acting like that. 25:31 And it goes on to say in verse 15, 25:34 "And as I began to speak, 25:36 the Holy Spirit fell upon them," 25:38 that is the Gentiles, 25:39 "as upon us at the beginning." 25:41 So Peter was giving a defense of why he had done that? 25:45 But even with this knowing that Peter's preaching 25:49 to Cornelius was of God, they never invited Cornelius 25:53 to meet the church in Jerusalem. 25:55 They never sent missionaries to Caesarea. 25:59 And we can just be thankful 26:01 that God had his man in Caesarea 26:03 by the name of Philip and he lived there. 26:07 What I really like verse 18 in Chapter 11, 'cause it says, 26:10 "When they heard these things, they became silent." 26:13 Yes. 26:14 And they glorified God's saying, 26:16 "Then God has also granted 26:18 to the Gentiles repentance to life." 26:20 Yes. They finally got it. 26:22 Amazing story. Well, it is. 26:24 It's a watershed moment in the Christian Church. 26:29 And one of the things that encourages me 26:31 about this story, 26:32 Rosemary, is the fact that God has His people 26:35 like Cornelius everywhere. 26:38 You know, in every city that may not be named Caesarea, 26:41 but it, it's named the cities that we live in. 26:45 God has His people 26:47 in those cities and I guess that, 26:49 that means that your responsibility 26:51 and mine is to make sure that 26:53 we share the gospel with those, 26:57 with those people, and we have a responsibility 27:01 the same as Peter did 27:03 and same as the early Christians 27:06 as they went out to share the message of God. 27:09 And so the lesson that I'm learning here 27:11 as I read this story, 27:13 is that there are honest hearted people everywhere. 27:17 They may not understand much about Christ and the Bible, 27:20 but they are honest and they are good people. 27:23 Jeremiah 29-11, sorry 13 and 14 says, 27:27 "If you seek for me with all your heart, 27:30 you'll be found of me." 27:31 And so that's what we've got to remember. 27:33 You know, salvation is not only for a few select people 27:37 chosen by God's will made fancy, 27:39 but for all who'll receive it 27:41 through faith in Jesus Christ. 27:44 Ask God to help you tell this incredible news 27:46 to those around you. 27:48 And as you do this, 27:49 you'll have testimonies to share like Peter did. 27:51 We look forward to seeing you next time. |
Revised 2020-01-30