Peter Tan Chi - The Truth That Matters Most, Share It
This morning I will continue our series on the Book of Acts. This is related to Jesus and his resurrection. Let's read together: The most important truth. What is the most important truth? Let me share with you some elements of truth that are important to you. Number one, it has to be important. Second, it has to be relevant to you, because what's most important to me may not have anything to do with you, and you don't care. Third, you want to make sure it affects your life. So let me give you an example, if I were to tell you that the capital of France is Paris, is that true or false? louder please! Yes. But if you don't know, does it matter to you? It really has no impact.
If I tell you that I have a cure for cancer, does that matter to you? This is not necessarily true, but it will be important to you if someone (a relative or friend of yours) has cancer. What if you get cancer yourself? I tell you, I have a cure for cancer, does that matter to you? Why? This is important and affects your life. So my question today is, the most important truth, why should we take the time to read the Book of Acts? The reason is simple: The Book of Acts is about Jesus Christ. After Jesus rose from the dead, what happened to the early church? What did Jesus do after his resurrection? The Book of Acts is about the work of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit in the lives of His people. So Jesus Christ works in the lives of His people through the Holy Spirit.
So what is the first message preached? You'd be surprised, in the book of Acts, the first message the apostles preached, the first sermon the public heard, and if you want to know, the most important message they preached, OK? What they preached 2,000 years ago is all written here. Everyone: In Acts chapter 2, what is the first sermon about? So you killed him by crucifying him with lawless hands. Jesus died and rose again. Next sermon, Jesus Christ died and rose again. Next sermon, Jesus Christ died and rose again. The most important truth in the entire book of Acts is this: Jesus Christ died and rose again.
Question: Why is this important? Let me tell you, from the Bible, let's read it together, 1 Corinthians 15, please read: Brothers, I now declare to you the gospel I preached to you before. The word gospel means evangelio, good news. What is this good news? 2 And you will be saved through this gospel. This is relevant because this gospel will save you, so it is important and relevant to you. What is this gospel? What is the most important truth? Please read the next verse together. The first thing I received and passed on to you is this: Paul is saying, this is the most important thing. What is the most important thing? Please read: Christ died for our sins according to the Bible, was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Bible; so what is the most important truth that the Bible tells us?
Christ died for our sins, and He rose from the dead. Why is resurrection important? This is so important that he goes on to say, and this is true, let us read together: And it was revealed to Cephas, that is, Peter, and then to the twelve apostles; 6 And then to more than five hundred brethren at one time, these are Living witnesses, most of whom are still alive today, but some have fallen asleep; He was later revealed to James, the brother of Jesus, who wrote the epistle of James, and then revealed to all the apostles; If you continue to go Read next, he said, and show me at the end, ladies and gentlemen, what is the most important truth? That's what God wants you to know. Jesus died and rose again.
Why is the resurrection important? Folks, let's read it together, together. The all-important question is not whether you like what he taught, but whether he rose from the dead. This is very important. Some people don't like what the Bible teaches. They say, I'm afraid I don't agree with everything the Bible says. The truth is this: If your moral life is out of order, if what you are doing is not in line with the Word of God, you really like to make excuses. So the question is not whether you or I like what the Bible says, or whether you agree with what Jesus said, but what is the key to the question? The thing is, folks, if Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept everything He said. If He didn't rise from the dead, why worry about anything He said? Do we understand?
In other words, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, ladies and gentlemen, don't waste your time studying the Bible, don't waste your time going to church on Sunday, you know why? That's just another religion. But if Jesus really died for our sins on the cross and rose from the dead, then everything changes. Why? Because the Bible tells us that the resurrection proves beyond a shadow of a doubt who Jesus is, Romans 1:4 Our Lord Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the spirit of holiness. In other words, the entire Christian faith, the entire teaching of the Christian faith, rises or falls based on the fact that Jesus died and rose again.
If Jesus had not been resurrected, ladies and gentlemen, Christianity would be just another religion. You can believe whatever you want, because the truth is not true, because Jesus claims: I am the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus declares: There is no other way but me. He proves this by saying I will die, but on the third day I will rise again, and that, my friends, is pure first-century Christian doctrine. 1 Corinthians 15 was written while these people who saw Jesus were still alive. It became a creed. 1 Corinthians 15 became a creed, a belief, a motto, a music. They would This became a poem, like poetry. Jesus died for my sins and He rose from the dead.
This is the teaching of the apostles, this is not some lie to us... You know, if you watch the movie The Da Vinci Code, a lot of this information came out hundreds of years later, and that's not true at all. The early church, even before the end of the first century, the first generation of believers worshiped Jesus. Why? Because Jesus died and rose again. So my friend, if Jesus died and rose again, what does that prove? First, it tells me that Jesus is who He claims to be, Jesus is the Son of God. Second, it tells me that forgiveness of sins is real and that He died for my sins. He paid the ransom. This tells me that eternal life is guaranteed. Jesus promised that I would rise from the dead so that you would know that there is such a thing as eternal life.
Finally, my future is glorious. You go read 1 Corinthians 15. Everything I told you is in that chapter—the resurrection from the dead. Because of Jesus, your forgiveness of sins is real, because of Jesus, your eternal life is guaranteed, and because of Jesus, your future is great. You see, today, people are worried. Some of you may have various problems. Some of you may be facing various disappointments. How do you deal with the various disappointments in your life? Praise God, Jesus is risen, what will you say? Jesus is resurrected! No, no, no, no, you don't sound excited. You have to be excited, okay? Jesus is resurrected! My friend, don't take this truth lightly. Imagine that there is life after death. Imagine that after your earthly life, which is only temporary, there is the entire eternity of eternity, Jesus promises, if you walk with me, if you trust me, you will have eternal life.
My friends, isn't that exciting? I realize that many Christians are not excited about Jesus and worshiping because you haven't thought clearly about what you really believe in. This has become a religion. This has become a ritual. Now let's I tell you, religion will not save anyone, so the message of today's sermon is very simple. It is about the Acts of the Apostles. Which chapter? Last week you discussed Chapter 9, remember? Pastor Ricky said that we should help each other. Today we will talk about Acts Chapter 10. Acts 10 will answer one of the most important questions, what is the most important question? Everyone Read: Can a good person enter heaven without Christ? Logically, from a secular perspective, from a worldly perspective, I'm not talking about you, because you guys are the theological experts, but generally speaking, I would say, logically, most people you would say, a good person should go to heaven, right?
Logically speaking, I'm talking about the human mind, but now that you know the answer, should I continue or stop talking? Well, let's look at how the Bible explains this wonderful truth. Can a good person enter heaven without Christ? In Acts, chapter 10, there is this outline: Cornelius, a good man, Peter, a messenger of God, Next, Peter and Cornelius met, and you want to know what they talked about. Because the question here is, can a good person go to heaven? In chapter 11, verses 1 to 18, it's a summary of Acts 10, verses 1 to 48, so Acts chapter 11, part one is a summary, and it's so important that it needs to be reviewed again Overview. So, are you ready? Okay, what's the message for today's sermon?
Please read: The most important truth, what is the most important truth? Please pretend with me like you didn't listen to my introduction for the first five minutes, okay? So now you are ready to hear, what is the most important truth? And then I want you to share this truth. are you ready? Okay, I want you to imagine right now, you're watching a movie, scene one, Cornelius, and let's read it together, and there was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion from the "Roman camp". He was a pious man. He and his whole family feared God, gave much to the people, and prayed to God often. A person is introduced here. What is his name? Cornelius. Who is Cornelius? Cornelius was a centurion, an army officer. Not an ordinary army, but the most elite army of that era - the Roman army.
The Roman Empire was ruled by their most trained soldiers, a centurion was the leader of a hundred men who were part of a legion, and a legion was six thousand men, and then there were the brigades, and here you have the centurion, which is The commander of a hundred soldiers, the qualifications of a centurion, first, according to history, he must be of a peaceful nature, second, he must have great self-control, he must not be a soldier who is easily incited to fight, he must have a good mind Calm, so Cornelius was a good officer, he was a centurion, and not only that, he was a pious man, what does the word pious mean? Pious, God-fearing, the Bible tells us that he is a worshiper of God, and he means it sincerely. Can you imagine?
Next, he is a good leader, and the whole family is God-fearing. I have seen many men who are good leaders in business, but at home they are disasters, and they cannot influence their children. Sorry, that's not the case with Cornelius. Cornelius was able to influence his entire family to fear God. That, my friends, is an amazing leader. The Bible tells us that he was a pious man. He and his whole family feared God. He gave much to the people. He was generous to the poor and to the Jews. I am the conqueror of the conquered people. I am an officer in charge of the Roman camp the Roman army, but I helped the conquered people. He was a good man who prayed to God constantly. Listen to me, one of the best tests of spirituality and godliness is, what do you do when things are going well for you?
Let me say it again. The test of spirituality and godliness is not when you're in trouble, because when you're in trouble, you have a tendency to pray fervently, when you're in financial trouble, or you're in trouble in your family, when You have health problems, and I can almost guarantee you that if you had cancer, you would pray more fervently, right? Because usually trouble brings us closer to God because you know you're dependent on Him, but what happens when you don't have trouble anymore? What happens when you are like Cornelius? Your career is going well, you are financially well-paid, your children are doing well, and you are in good health. Cornelius has all of the above, but the Bible tells us that he prayed to God constantly, so the question Is: Was Cornelius a good man? Louder please! Yes! Can a good person go to heaven without believing in Christ?
The most important truth, let's find out. One day, about three o'clock in the afternoon, while he was praying, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God coming in to him and saying, "Cornelius"! Oh my God, this man It must have been a shock. Here appeared this angel talking to him. 4 Cornelius looked at him intently and was frightened and said, "Lord, what is it"? The angel said, "Your prayers and your alms have come before God and are remembered". In other words, God wants you. People know that every good deed, every good deed, every prayer you make, God will pay attention to, so never say: God does not know, God knows everything, including a sincere person like Cornelius. When you do good, God knows. God sees everything.
Read the next verse. The Bible tells us that Cornelius sent some people to Joppa to call Simon, who was called Peter. "I live in the house of a tanner, Simon, by the sea". So there are two Simons here. One is the owner of the house, he is a tanner, and he works in leather goods. There is also Simon Peter. Where do they live? They lived in Joppa. How far was Joppa from Caesarea? About 30 miles. How far is Caesarea from Jerusalem? 60 miles. Cornelius garrisoned in Caesarea, which was the capital of the Roman garrison of Israel, Herod founded this most amazing city in Caesarea, he built a port, Caesarea was a developed Place, Cornelius lived in this amazing city, the capital of the Roman garrison in Israel.
Here Cornelius said, Go find a man named Peter, thirty miles away, and so he did this: 7 After the angel who spoke to him had gone, have I read this? He called some men and told his people...he sent them to Joppa. So he did what the angel told him to do and went to Joppa. Now I want you to take a look at the movie, the second act, now the second act, you know Peter. The next day, as they were traveling and approaching the city, Peter went up to the housetop about noon to pray. Noon is 12 noon. According to our time, it is 12 noon. Let's pray. He was hungry and wanted to eat. While the family was preparing dinner, Peter fell into a trance. This is Peter. In the first act, Cornelius, a good man, devoutly seeks God.
In the second act, Peter is praying, and he is in a trance. He saw the heavens being opened, and something like a large cloth descending by its four corners, lowered to the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of four-legged animals and creeping things of the earth, and birds of the air. I want you to imagine now that when Peter was praying, he suddenly saw something, and the heavens opened, and he saw a white sheet. Please imagine that it was a white sheet, okay? Can you imagine it now? A white sheet, and on that white sheet there are all kinds of animals, reptiles, all kinds of animals, and then what are the instructions? The instruction was this: "Peter, get up, kill and eat"! 14 But Peter said, "Lord, this is not allowed! I have never eaten anything common or unclean".
Now for us, you You may not understand what Peter is talking about, but if you read the Bible, Leviticus tells the Jews: I want you to be sanctified because you are my people. Do not be like the other nations around you, so you can only eat these foods. So God told them a very strict food recipe called the Leviticus food recipe. What did it look like? You are not allowed to eat unclean animals. How do they define clean animals? A clean animal, listen now, has to have a four-chambered stomach, chew grass, after the grass has been digested a little bit, then chew it again, spit it out, chew it again, and then swallow it, so what kind of animals are these? Sheep, goat, get it deer? Where's the pig?
The pig is unclean because its stomach is different, in other words, God is saying, you can eat the following, clean animals, cows, beef, mutton, sheep, fish, not all fish, grouper, OK, tilapia, OK, but fish without scales cannot be eaten. Did you know that it was only recently that doctors discovered the health benefits of the Leviticus diet? But you and I love suckling pig, right? You like all kinds of fish, but they discovered fish scales, and fish with scales was the only fish the Jews could eat. Don't eat fish without scales. Doctors have found that fish with scales can protect against mercury very well, because the scales can absorb mercury, so God knows what is healthy and what is unhealthy. But then God said, and this is the wonderful thing, Peter said, I must not eat any of this. Then a voice came to him a second time and said, "What God has cleansed, you must not call it common".
This happened three times, and then the thing was taken back to heaven. Three times in a row, so Peter was thinking, what does this mean? Peter was wondering what the vision he saw meant. Then, look! The men sent by Cornelius had visited Simon's house. They stood outside the door and shouted, "Does Simon named Peter live here"? Now notice God's control over time. While Peter was thinking, At the time, mind you, you know, maybe I could make a video and I would do that. What is Peter doing? thinking. What does it mean? Then the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit said to him, "Three men are coming to you. Get up, go down, and go with them. Do not doubt, go with them"!
See how God is working. In Caesarea, God is Prepare Cornelius' heart. Cornelius, you are a good man, but you need to hear something. God is preparing Peter's heart. Peter, you need to be obedient. You need to share this good news with someone you may not like. Who are these people? Cornelius was the first Gentile. Listen to me. Cornelius, he and his house were about to hear the most wonderful news. So Peter went down to see those people. Say: "I am the one you are looking for. Why did you come"? Cornelius and the others told Peter, read it and see how repetitive the Bible is about who Cornelius was. Cornelius the centurion was a righteous man, fearing God, and was praised by all the Jewish people. Imagine the Roman soldiers. They conquered a conquered nation, the Jews, and the conquered nation, the Jews, had good things to say about their conqueror, which meant that Cornelius was a good man, a respected man, he was a good man. He was instructed by a holy angel to invite you to his house and listen to your words (to hear a message from you).
I was instructed by a holy angel to tell you, is this still happening today? My friends, I have countless stories to tell you, and this is happening even today in Iran, in Iran, a very sectarian Muslim country in the Middle East, where there are far more Christians today than there have ever been in the country's history. At any given time, there were only 100,000 people in the past, and today there are more than three to four million people who have turned to Jesus. How did they turn to Jesus? God is really using ISIS to show Muslims that there is really something wrong with your religion. Yes, kill people. But most importantly, God is appearing to these Muslims through visions and dreams.
Let me tell you a story. There was an Iranian who was a priest. He went to a store to buy water. When he went to a I went to the store to buy water, and there was an Iranian soldier there. The Lord moved the pastor's heart and gave him a Bible, but the pastor refused because when he saw the soldier, he said: I don't want to give him a Bible. After buying the water, he returned. When we got to the car, his wife said... I don't know exactly what his wife called her husband, Honey, baby, if this is my family, honey, did you give the soldier the Bible? : No. I don't want to go to jail. The wife said: Dear, you have to give the Bible away. Have you ever had this happen in your home?
Now you have to take action! His wife said: You gotta give the Bible! I know sometimes it's not the Holy Spirit speaking through your wife, it might be another... but this time it was the Holy Spirit. I don't want to go to jail. The wife said, OK. So the husband drove away and the Holy Spirit came back and he took the Bible and went to see the soldier, He didn't even dare to make eye contact, he just said: Here you go. The soldier took the Bible and said... After looking at it, the soldier said: I am not from this village. I've been standing here for three hours because the Lord told me someone would give me the book of life. Thank you for giving me the book. This happens everywhere. It happens because God is alive. Jesus is alive and at work. The question is: Are you willing to join God's team? Or do you just refuse to listen?
You see, the truth is that God is talking to us, but you are never. Not listening to God, if you don't take the time to listen, prayer is listening to God, and this officer, Cornelius, listened to God, and he was praying so he could hear. Peter wasn't too busy with ministry, but he didn't have time. He was praying, and he listened. Many of us, you're so busy surfing the Internet, looking at your cell phone, playing computer games, that you don't have time to hear that God is at work, but maybe He needs to get your attention, and that's why I tell people, when God allows you to Don't always be angry when disappointment occurs in your life. Because disappointments and trials are God's way of bringing you to your attention. Because God loves you, I know some of you feel hurt. Maybe some of you have family issues. You tend to say, God doesn't love me anymore.
Instead, Jesus is real and He is calling us to Himself. Because He wants you to embrace this most important truth, my friend. If you're too busy to listen, you won't hear. He got up the next day and went with them, together with six of his brothers from Joppa. How many people did Peter bring with him? Six, how do you know? You go read Acts chapter 11. Acts 11 tells us that he took six brothers with him. It's nothing to you, but it's important to me. Because when you study Roman law, you need seven witnesses to prove something very important. If you want to prove a will, an inheritance, you need seven witnesses. Peter brought six, plus himself. Seven of them went to witness a great event.
For the first time in history the Spirit of God, the gospel was preached to the Gentiles. Now you have to understand this culture. Jews don't interact with Gentiles. That's the background. That's why the Bible tells us, it's a wonderful story, 24 And the next day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius had invited his relatives and close friends to wait for them. Can you understand this story now? Cornelius knew that a man named Peter was coming to preach a wonderful sermon to him. He decided to hold a Bible study at his home. He invited his close friends. He invited his relatives. How many people came? how many people? Do you know why you can't answer me? Because the Bible doesn't talk about it, haha. I don't know either. But one thing I know, and I will show you later, there are many people, the Bible says, there are many people.
Think about Cornelius. Do you think he had friends? Many friends. Do you think Cornelius, a man who has a family, has any relatives? There are many. How many of you have close friends and relatives now? Please raise your hand. Anyone still alive, please raise your hands. Because I'm encouraging you, it's your duty, your close friends and relatives, to hear the truth. Your job is not to force them to believe, your job is to share the truth with them. Cornelius had not heard the truth yet, but he knew it was coming soon. Because God told him that the man would tell you something so important that as soon as Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet…. This is such an amazing story, thank you. Can you imagine? A Roman officer bowed down to a Jew, whose status was lower than that of a Roman citizen. But look what Peter said, and Peter pulled him back and said, "Get up, don't do this. I'm just a man".
Now listen to me, if you're Peter, everyone likes to be a hero, and someone's coming to You fall down, what will you do? Kiss, mano, mano, mano ?? 36:17 Would you do this? My friend, Peter is a godly man who knows who he is. He is a simple man. Please look at Revelation Chapter 22. I, John... fell down at the feet of the angel who showed me instructions to worship him. You see, John, when the angel showed him what was going to happen, he was so surprised that he fell down and worshiped, and look what the angel said. Everyone read: "No! You and I are fellow servants. Worship God"!
You see this over and over again in the Bible. Revelation Chapter 19, another angel, I fell down at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, everyone read: Never! You and I are both servants, and you must worship God! Why didn't Jesus say: Get up quickly when the disciples were worshiping Him! Why did Jesus accept their worship when the disciples fell down to worship Him? The answer is: Because Jesus is God! No normal man of God would accept worship. He would say: Don't worship me! Worship God! Peter knew that he was not God. So he told Cornelius: Sir! Do not do this! I am a human being. Be careful, if any leader wants you to worship him, be careful, we are all human, who do you want to worship? Only God. While Peter was talking to him, he went in and saw many people gathered there.
There were many people, including relatives, cousins, and cousins. There were many people gathered there. He said to them, This is what Peter said: You know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with people of other nations. But God has shown me that no one is to be considered common or unclean. You see, God prepared the heart of Peter. Peter was a Jew. Jews look down on people of other races. Racial discrimination, racism, can only be abolished when you come to Christ. Jews were racist. We do not associate with the Gentiles, and we do not eat with them. They were second class citizens, but God needed to open Peter's mind, Peter, you have to accept everyone, are we all equal in Christ? louder please! In Christ, there are no blacks or whites, there are no Chinese, British, whites, or yellows. We are all gathered together, rich or poor, all in Christ, amen? My friends, we are all equal in the eyes of God. Peter knew this.
Now listen, "Therefore when I am invited, I come without turning away." Now let me ask you: What's the point of calling me here? You notice, he told the story again. Cornelius said: "At this time four days ago, I was praying at home, and suddenly a man wearing bright clothes stood in front of me". That's why he knew it was an angel, wearing bright clothes. Say, "Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms have been remembered before God. Never say that God does not listen to the prayers of unbelievers, whether He hears them or not". Yeah, God listens to all prayers, right? Especially God looks at the heart. God is telling Cornelius, you go to a guy named Peter, you know why? God loves Cornelius, God loves everyone, God loved the family of Cornelius, and He made sure that they would all be there to hear (the gospel).
The Bible tells us, "You are to send people to Joppa", remember? It's 30 miles away, a two-day journey. Go back two days, so four days later, and invite Simon, who is called Peter, to come to the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea. "So I sent for you immediately. (Praise be to you, God!) Now we are in the presence of God to hear everything the Lord has commanded you". In other words, listen to me now, what do you think God commanded Peter to tell Cornelius? Can you guys take a guess? What's the most important question? How does one go to heaven? Can a good person go to heaven if he does not believe in Christ? God commanded Peter, you now tell them the following information. Do you want to know Peter's answer? What was the message of Peter's sermon?
Now remember, Acts chapter 11 is a summary of chapter 10, remember? Part One, So let me paraphrase this chapter in another version, the man tells us how he saw an angel standing in his house and said, 'Send to Joppa and call for Simon who is called Peter. Come, 14 He has something to say to you, by which you and your household may be saved. ' It means that you are not saved yet, but you will be saved. He will tell you something so that you can be saved. What does the Bible say? No matter how many good things you do, no matter how many righteous deeds you have, it cannot make you worthy of going to heaven. Why? Think about this. Why did God send Peter to a good man named Cornelius to hear the gospel? Because being a good person is good, but it's not good enough. Let me repeat. Doing good deeds is good, giving to the poor is good, praying is good, but it is not good enough.
What is the problem? Let's find out. are you ready? People say, are you sure God is still at work today? You know, those good people in Palawan, those good people in Africa, how do they get to heaven? Let me tell you, God is still at work today. Our most recent trip to the Holy Land, there was a guy there who was sponsored by his brother to go to the Holy Land, and when he came on our tour, just last week, a couple of weeks ago, he came on our tour, and he Announced to his roommates, This is my last Quora. What does the last Quora mean? I'm here to enjoy the ride because when I come back I'm going to kill myself. Why do you want to commit suicide? And then he talked about his family, how his family was a mess, how his wife left and took away the two kids, and he was depressed, and he said, I told the carpenter to come to my house, because I'm going to put a? Shangarila? He was lying to the carpenter, who prepared a hook so that he could hang himself with it.
So when he told my friend, this is my last rollout 44:58 When I come back to Manila, I'm going to kill myself, you know what my friend said? Do you want to hang yourself? Let me tell you something, I tried to kill myself seven times, and this guy said, this guy is a veteran. He attempted suicide seven times. Now listen to me, out of billions of people, why would God take this man to the Holy Land, to be with our group, and to have a roommate that he had never met before, and the roommate didn't know him, and they had something like experience. A man wants to kill himself, but his roommate is an expert at killing himself. And this veteran knows the Lord. He started sharing. There is no need for you to commit suicide. This man was surprised. How wonderfully God arranged all these things. How on earth did I eat at the same table with this man?
You know, I'm very busy. We went to the Holy Land with more than 200 people, five buses, and I tried to get to the bus where he was, and I tried to eat with different people, but can I tell you, God loves you. I told this man, God loves you. That's why we met, can I tell you some good news? By the grace of God, he gave his life completely to Jesus, he was baptized, and I believe God was using him. I wouldn't be surprised if he was among us today. Because God is using him. Do you know why? The most important truth is the truth that changes your life. It was the truth that changed him. Ladies and gentlemen, is God still at work? Now, would you like to hear this truth? Well, here's the truth: Then Peter opened his mouth and said, "I have seen that God is no respecter of persons, 35 but everyone in every nation who fears the Lord and does righteousness is acceptable to the Lord".
Peter began to tell Cornelius, "You know what? God loves you. God is a righteous God and He wants all of us. Wow, so far so good. But remember, the most important message is this. What? It's not enough to say that God is righteous. You need to speak about Jesus. The next word is that God preached the gospel of peace to the people of Israel through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all". Notice, Peter is now changing the subject from God to Jesus, God wants to give you peace, my friend, this is the gospel, God loves you and He wants you to have peace, a Roman centurion, understand peace. The importance of peace, who doesn't want peace? Of course he wants peace. Many of us are troubled to this day. You are troubled for this reason: You like to be in control, my friend, I can tell.
Do you share something? I was young, and I'm not that young anymore. I've learned that I'm not in control, I can't control my future, I can't control other people, I can't even control what happens to me. thing. But one thing I know, God is in control. One thing I know, God loves me, so no matter what happens to me, I can have peace. That peace comes through Jesus. Amen? The reason why we don't have peace is because our relationship with God is wrong. The Bible says that there is something wrong with us. That peace can only come from Jesus Christ - He is everything. Yes. Now I don't know if Christ is Lord of all of you. For many of us, Christ is only Lord of Sunday. You come on Sunday, but listen to me, Monday through Friday, Saturday, you are your own master. Your lifestyle makes me wonder if you are a follower of Jesus. Do you know why? Because many of us live a disconnected life. From Monday to Friday, we show Instead of Christ, we may show Christ on Sunday.
Ladies and gentlemen, that's not true Christianity. True Christianity is that Jesus is Lord, He is Lord at home, He is Lord at work, and in your private life. He is Lord in your double life??? 49:56 He is Jesus, the Lord, and you will never have peace until you understand this and surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, Cornelius Astonished, for to him Caesar was the Lord, not Jesus. You yourselves know what happened in all Judea, starting in Galilee. So Peter began to tell the story of Jesus' ministry, starting with his baptism, by the time he was preaching around, you knew Jesus... He was saying: Cornelius, you knew Jesus, of course Cornelius had heard of Jesus, this is a historical fact, How God Anointed Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and Power The man Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. You see, people knew what Jesus did, he did good things. He destroys the works of the devil. He was helping people left in mire???
Then Peter said, We are witnesses of all these things, and of all the things that he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, and then notice that you must never speak of this most important truth without mentioning it. Jesus, you killed him by hanging him on the cross! Note the pronouns he used, They killed him, not you. Because the Roman soldiers just obeyed what the priests, those religious leaders wanted to do, remember? Pilate said, I can find no fault in this man! What did the priests and religious leaders say? Crucify him! Crucify him! Pilate said again: I can find no fault in this man! This man is innocent. And then these people shouted, these Jews shouted: Crucify him! Crucify him! You see, Cornelius knew this story.
Do you know what Peter said? "God raised him up on the third day. My friends, the good news is that the truth is that Jesus died on the cross and rose again on the third day, and God allowed Him to appear. Not to appear to everyone, but to appear. To God's pre-chosen witnesses, those of us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead". Do you know what Peter is talking about? This Jesus died, but He rose again. He died for our sins, but He rose again. We are witnesses, we saw it with our own eyes. We ate with him. He commanded us to preach to the people, proving that He was appointed by God to judge the living and the dead. host. My friends, do you understand the most important truth about Jesus? He is more than a man, He died for you, and He rose again, proving that He is God. Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead.
My friend, I am concerned for many of us, because you seem to be living your life without having to answer to Jesus. Many people don't care about Jesus. What proof do I have? Just look at yourself, are you taking Jesus seriously? Do you love him? Do you serve him? You see, a lot of us, we're shallow, we don't realize the truth about Jesus, and the Bible tells us that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead, and that's why I take my Christian faith very seriously. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not going to waste your time, and I'm not going to waste my time talking about Jesus if I don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the coming King and Judge.
My friend, I have given my life to Him, what about you? If you don't take Him seriously, it's because you don't know Him. If you don't take Jesus seriously, it's because all you have is religion, but you don't have Jesus. You can never have Jesus and not be transformed. Let me say it again, you can never have Jesus and not have a change in your heart and in your life. Maybe all you have is religion. You know, a lot of people have religion, they don't have Jesus. I tell my son that my faith is my faith, that you have to develop and decide for yourself who Jesus is. I praise God for my five children, that the day comes when each of them has dedicated their lives to Jesus, today my five children are serving God, they love God, they obey Him, and they respect Him.
Do you know why? They all met Jesus personally. And you? Cornelius was about to meet Jesus in person. The Bible tells us: Jesus is the coming judge. Please read, Christianity, if it is false, it does not matter, but if it is true, it is extremely important. So the only unlikely scenario is if it's more important. Listen to me, people, you have to take Jesus seriously. You have to take the Bible seriously, Peter said, I tell you solemnly, He will come to judge the living and the dead, so the question is: Are you ready to meet Jesus? And the most important truth, Peter goes on to say: Not only is He coming to judge, but there is good news, and the prophets bear witness to Him: "Whoever believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins through His name."
Ladies and gentlemen, here's the most important thing. It 's good to be a good person, but that doesn't get rid of sin. Prayer is good, but it cannot take away sin. You see, it is my duty to be a good person, but the problem is, I am a sinner. Most of us have this idea that because of my sin, if I do enough good things, if I do enough work, if I'm pious enough, if I pray, on the Day of Judgment my sin will be taken away. Where did you get these ideas? Listen to me, the problem with Cornelius is that he was a sinner, and no amount of good deeds can take away your sin. Let me give you an example, if someone raped someone you loved and killed someone you loved, let's say that person you loved was your sister, or your mother, imagine now, Someone raped and killed someone you loved.
Now think about it. He was caught by the police. He was brought before the judge. He told the judge: Judge, from now on, from now on, I will treat women well, I will give my money to women, I will help women go to school, I will help pregnant women give birth to their children, I will never abuse women again, I will never rape them again, I will never kill a woman again, Judge, Can you forgive me? What will the judge do? How would you feel if the judge said: You are pardoned and you don't have to go to jail? Would you agree? louder please! Why not? Righteousness. Where is justice? You see, a judge cannot show mercy. A judge can show justice, not mercy.
Ladies and gentlemen, when Jesus died on the cross, God satisfied both justice and mercy. Why? The wages of sin is death. What did Jesus do for us? He died for you. Remember the story of a good king in China? He was a good king and the people loved him. Why? He practiced justice, and one day they caught a person stealing. The king was very sad because the person who stole things was his mother, so everyone was curious about what the king would do. This king has a problem, he loves his mother, and at the same time, the law is the law, and the law states that if you are caught stealing for the first time, you will be taken to the center of the square, take off your clothes, and they will whip you You hit 40 times. If you do it again, chop off your hands, chop off your arms, because you are too greedy.
Do you understand this law? What should this king do? Now if you were that king, what would you do? Tell me what would you do? What would you do if that were your mother, or if that were your daughter? This king had one problem, I love my mother. This king had another problem, justice. How can I implement this law in this country? If I don't enforce this law on my mother... do you know what this king did? He said: Go ahead and do it. When they tied the mother in the middle and were about to take off her clothes, the king said: Stop! He took off his crown. He put his arms around his mother and said, "Take off my clothes". And they began to beat the king. What did the king do? This King satisfies justice and mercy. This King satisfies justice, grace, and forgiveness. Two thousand years ago, Jesus did the same thing, and the Bible tells us, Acts 4:12, There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. The Bible is very clear that apart from Him there is salvation.
So what's the answer to my first question? Can a good person enter heaven if he does not believe in Christ? The answer is...why? You see, the problem is not good works, the problem is sin. What are you going to do about sin? It is my duty to do good, but doing my duty will not eliminate sin. There is only one way to get rid of sin—forgiveness. I need forgiveness. The only way to have forgiveness of sins is through Jesus, because He died on the cross. No wonder... If you look at a few weeks ago and this week, a few weeks ago, you discussed the life of Paul. Paul was a Jew, a scholar, very pious, he had been a persecutor. Today, we have Cornelius, a Gentile, a military officer, a true seeker, a good man, both of them in need of forgiveness, both of them in need of Jesus, both of them transformed by Jesus, amen? Is God good? Praise God!
Now, what happened? Okay, before we end, please read this together: The most important truth, what is truth? Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead to make it possible for you to have eternal life. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished when they saw that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out also on the Gentiles. You see, God interrupted Peter. While Peter was talking, God saw the heart of Cornelius, and everyone believed. When everyone believed, boom! The Bible says that He poured out the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit came upon everyone who heard the word.
The circumcised Jewish believers who had come with Peter were astonished to see that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out also on the Gentiles, but Peter did not lay his hands on them. He did not lay his hands on them. Just hearing the word, they believed, boom! The Holy Spirit has come. How do we know that the Holy Spirit has come? Just like Acts Chapter 1, because they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God. The word "tongues" here refers to various languages. They heard others speaking in their own tongues, praising God! That's the real language, so they know it. 47 Then Peter said, Read this: "'Who can forbid the baptism of water, since these have received the Holy Spirit as we have?' And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ". They invited Peter to stay for a few more days. I will tell you whether it was Peter himself who baptized, or whether his men baptized, and all of them, many of them believed.
Friends, in Acts Chapter 11, it is explained this way: If God has given them gifts, just as God gave them to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who am I that I can hinder God? When everyone heard this, they became silent and glorified God, saying, "So God has also given grace to the Gentiles, giving them repentance and life". You see, this is a historically significant event. Peter and the people who were following him were shocked that Gentiles were worthy of going to heaven. They were not expected to go to heaven. The Bible tells us, I'm not going to give you a theological explanation. Summary. How do you get the Holy Spirit? If you want to be sure today, how do you get the Holy Spirit?
Read with me, Ephesians 1:13, in whom you heard the word of truth, as you have heard today. Yes, Jesus died for you, and He rose again. In Jesus is the forgiveness of sins, which is the gospel of your salvation. Everyone read: You have also believed in Christ. If you believe today, if you are willing to believe, what is it? will come to you? You will receive the promised Holy Spirit as a seal. The Holy Spirit will enter your heart. What is the evidence that you are a Christian? Please read, Romans 8:9, but you are not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. If the Spirit of God dwells in you, read with me: The Spirit of God dwells in you, Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I bring you good news; I can't force you to believe, but if you believe today, the Holy Spirit will come into your heart today. The Bible says, if you have the Spirit of Christ, let me repeat: If you have the Spirit of God, you belong to Him. The Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. No matter how many times you come here every Sunday, if you do not have Christ in your heart, you are not a true follower of Jesus. How do you know that you have Jesus in you? Has your life been changed? Do you have a new desire to study God's Word? Or is Jesus just a ticket to heaven? You don't have the Spirit of God. Why do I say this? Because the Spirit of God has changed my life. Do you know that whenever I do something wrong, I feel uncomfortable? Whenever I say something wrong, I feel uncomfortable. Feeling bad, you know why I feel bad? The Holy Spirit is very real in my life. I don't have the ability to live a Christian life, but how can I live a Christian life?
My own power is through Christ. You know the most important truth the Bible tells us, 1 John 5:11-12. This is the testimony that God has given us eternal life. Please read: And this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son of God has life; but whoever does not have the Son of God has no life. Do you have Jesus? Let me end with a story that someone sent to me via text message. I think you all have it on your phone. Maybe you have all seen it. This story is about a rich man who likes to collect paintings. He is willing to buy paintings from all over the world, including Rembrandt and Van Gogh, all masterpieces. Then he and his son love famous paintings. Then the Vietnam War broke out. The son joined the army. The son died while trying to save a comrade. When the father heard the news, he felt sad.
A few weeks later, a stranger came, a young man. The man said: Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier that your son risked his life to save. Your son saved my life. He died to save me. But he told me about you. He told me how much you loved famous paintings. Here I have a nice painting for you, I painted this painting. When the father opened the painting, it was his son. When the father saw this painting, he started to cry, because this painting painted his son beautifully. The father loved this painting very much, and he said: How much should I pay you? The man said: Sir, I don't deserve any money. You can't pay. I did this because your son laid down his life for me. This is yours.
So my father hung the painting in the center of his house. Every time people came to see his painting, the first painting he showed was of his son. A few months later, he died. After his death, there was an auction for the paintings. Do you know who attended the auction? All the rich people, all the influential people, they come to the auction. The auctioneer began to say: The first painting, guess which painting it is? That son's painting. "Okay! Let's begin! Starting bid: $100"! "Anyone wants it? $200"! No one bid. The rich people in the back said: let's not waste time, we don't care about this painting of our son, we only want the masterpieces of the masters, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, the auctioneer said: no, no, we start from this The painting starts. Who is willing to bid for this painting? Someone else said: Stop wasting our time! The auctioneer said: No, who is willing to bid for this painting? One hand was raised, and a gardener, the son's gardener, who knew the son and knew the father, said: I don't have much money, I'll give you $10! People shouted: OK, OK, give this painting to him!
The auctioneer said: $10! Anyone offered 20? 20? No! 10! once! twice! make a deal! 10 USD! Then he said: This auction is over! The auction is over?? We are here to buy those expensive paintings! No, the auction is over! Why?! This is the father's will. Whoever gets his son's painting gets everything, including the real estate. The auction is over. Friends, he who has a son has eternal life. 2,000 years ago, God gave the same message, if you have Jesus, you have everything. But this information has not been shared, and many of us keep it to ourselves, so I want to share this with you. God loves you because God is at work. But I cannot force you to want to have the Son. But one thing I want to tell you, He is the Son, and in Him is life. If a man does not have the Son of God, he does not have eternal life. We're going to end with a prayer, and I want you to think, do you really have Jesus?
You may be as good as Cornelius, but that is not enough. You need forgiveness of sins. Some of you are like Peter. God has been telling you to take the initiative to contact people like Cornelius, but you refuse. You just want to keep this precious information to yourself. You are biased. You are biased against others. Maybe they are not the same people as you, so you don't want to share the gospel, and you need to change. In this synagogue, you need to understand that God wants to use you. You see, God could have said to the angels: Just give them this good news and tell Cornelius everything. There was no need for Peter, but God didn't use the angels. God used Peter. God could have used a monkey to share the gospel, but not this way. God says, I'm giving all of you this privilege to be partners with me. Do you realize that sharing the gospel is a privilege? But first you have to experience the gospel.
Let's bow our heads. If God has spoken to you, and you are truly serious about Jesus, and you know you have always wanted to go to heaven, and you are a good person, but you know you are not good enough, you want Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, could you please raise your hand? Praise God! You finally understand that you need Jesus, He is the Son of God, and in Him is life, and if that's your desire, I want you to stand up, yes, stand up, that's your desire, and you pray this prayer with me. That's your desire, you want to be sure, you want to have Jesus, remember Jesus said, He who has a Son has eternal life, stand up, you know what, the Bible is very clear, He is the Son of God and in Him is life. This is between you and the Lord, and I want to pray for you.
Is there anyone else? Today is a sacred moment, because the Bible tells us that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. If you have not surrendered your life to Him, if you have not yet believed that He is your Savior, I suggest you today Acknowledge Him, stand up, confess Him openly, and praise God. Are you saying: I want to stop fooling myself, I want to stop lying to myself and others, I want to take Jesus seriously, praise God, and anyone else? I know God is speaking to many of you. Some of you are struggling. Do you know why you are struggling? Because you have an enemy, and that enemy is the devil, and he doesn't want you to give your life to Jesus, but I'm asking you, the most important truth is Jesus, anyone else? Praise God!
I want to pray for you, and before I pray for you, I want to speak to the second group of people who are sitting still. The second group of people, if you are willing to accept this challenge, like Cornelius, invite you. family, invite your loved ones to hear the gospel. If you are willing to be like Peter and step out of your comfort zone to tell others the good news, what are you willing to do this week? Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone and tell people like People like Cornelius, they've been waiting a long time, but they're waiting for you to tell them this good news, and you don't know who these people are, and I want you to stand up, and I want you to say, "Lord! I want to hear your voice, I like to be sensitive to your guidance, I want to share this good news with others", stand up, and you ask God: "Lord! Forgive my stubbornness for not taking the initiative to preach the gospel". But today I also want to be like Peter, step out of my comfort zone, tell my loved ones, tell my family, stand up.
Father God in heaven, we pray now for the first group of people to stand up who want to have you as their Lord and Savior. Please hear their heartfelt prayers. You know who they are. I know at this moment that because they believe in you, they believe that you are the Son of God and that you are the Savior, there is forgiveness in you, because of the fact that they now believe in you, you have come into their lives, Lord Jesus, giving them assurance that their sins are forgiven.
For those of you who are raising your hands for the first time, please pray this prayer:
Lord Jesus, I commit my life to you. I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God. Please come into my life and be mine Savior.
Lord, I pray for a second group of believers who are now willing to step out of their comfort zones to share the gospel. May you give them opportunities. May you help them listen to your voice. Please help us to be obedient like Peter. Thank you. Forgive us our sins and truly give us eternal life. More importantly, thank you for giving us a glorious future. We will be with you forever. We pray all in the name of Jesus. Amen, amen!