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How God Wants to Grow Our Church
Acts 10:23-36
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - Feb. 23, 2014
*Think about the answer to this question: "On a scale of 1 to 10, how committed are you to seeing our church grow?"
Church: We need to be more committed than ever before.
A five-minute look around our country or our community makes that clear.
*We need to be more committed than ever before to help our church grow.
If we're a 2, Lord make us a 4! If we're a 4, Lord make us an 8! We need to be more committed, because the Lord is fully committed.
On a scale of 1 to 10, He's a million, right?
God wants His church to grow!
And in this Scripture He shows us how He does it.
1. First: God will grow our church with the same kind of men we see in this Scripture.
*God will grow our church with the same kind of people we see in vs. 24-33, so what kind of people do we see here?
[1] In vs. 24-26, we see someone who highly exalted Jesus Christ.
24.
And the following day they entered Caesarea.
Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends.
25.
As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.
26.
But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I myself am also a man.''
*Peter was saying: "Stand-up!
Don't worship me.
I'm not God.
There's nothing really special about me.
I'm just a sinner like you.
If you really knew me, then you would know I even denied the Lord on the night before He was crucified.
I'm a sinner.
But I'm a sinner saved by grace!
I am a sinner saved by the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ!"
*Peter never forgot who he was, and who Jesus was.
Peter was always careful to give the glory to God.
We saw this demonstrated back in Acts 3, when Peter and John went to the temple to pray, and they met a beggar who had been lame from the day he was born.
*Listen to what happened when the man asked for money:
6.
Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.''
7.
And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8.
So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them walking, leaping, and praising God.
9.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
10.
Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
11.
Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed.
12.
So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
13.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.
14.
But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
15. and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
16.
And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know.
Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."
*In 1 Peter 1:3, Peter said: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
*And Peter opened his second letter with these words:
1. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
(2 Peter 1:1-2)
*Peter never forgot who Jesus was, and Peter never forgot who he was.
Yes, he was an Apostle, but Peter would have said, "I'm just a sinner, saved by grace."
*You may have heard of Garrison Keillor on NPR.
He was the creator behind the weekly radio show "A Prairie Home Companion."
Keillor told the story of his Thanksgiving dinners as a child.
His Uncle John usually gave the prayer, and that caused everyone to squirm.
*As Keillor said, "Everybody in the family knew that Uncle John couldn't pray without talking about the cross and crying. . .
Sure enough, Uncle John prayed, talked about the cross, and cried.
Meanwhile, the rest of us shifted nervously from one foot to the other and longed for the prayer to end."
Then Garrison added this powerful observation: "All of us knew that Jesus died on the cross for us.
But Uncle John had never gotten over it."
(1)
*That's the way Peter was.
And God still uses people like that today: Christians who have never gotten over the cross, Christians who highly exalt the Lord.
[2] God will also grow our church with Christians who have obedient hearts.
*We see Peter's obedience in vs. 27-29:
27.
And as he (i.e.
Peter) talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together.
28.
Then he said to them, "You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation.
But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
29.
Therefore I came without objection as soon as I was sent for.
I ask, then, for what reason have you sent for me?''
*Peter could have said, "Lord, I am not going to that heathen Roman's house, no matter what!
I don't want to go, and I don't even know why You want me to go."
But Peter had an obedient heart, so in vs. 28-29, he said:
28. . .
"God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
29.
Therefore I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. .
."
*That's the kind of obedience God can use to grow His church, and God will grow our church with Christians who have obedient hearts.
[3] He will also grow our church with people who are seeking the Lord.
*Cornelius was the seeker in tonight's Scripture.
In vs. 29, Peter asked this Roman soldier: "For what reason have you sent for me?''
And starting in vs. 30:
30. . .
Cornelius said, "Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,
31.
and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God.
32.
Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon here, whose surname is Peter.
He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.
When he comes, he will speak to you.'
33.
So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come.
Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God.''
*Everybody needs Jesus!
Unfortunately, not everybody is willing to listen.
But Cornelius and the people with him were ready.
And the good news is that at least some people around us are ready today.
*People are ready, because as Sam Shoemaker used to say, "Everybody has a problem, is a problem, or lives with a problem."
Bill Bouknight pointed out that "in the absence of Christ, millions of persons are in the clutches of addiction and materialism."
And Bill said, "I don't see anybody doing very well without Jesus. . .
On top of that, two billion people have never even heard the Gospel."
(2)
*In John 4:35, Jesus told His followers to "lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!" Church: The fields are still white!
And God wants to grow our church with these seekers.
2. God will grow our church with the same kind of men we see in these verses.
He will also grow our church with the same methods.
*The Lord will grow our church with the same two basic methods we see in vs. 23-24.
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