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September 4th 2022
Series: The Book of Acts
Sermon Title: It’s hard to change!
Topic: Journey through the book of Acts.
Key Passages: Acts 10: 1-48
Sermon Blurb: It can be hard to change.
It is even harder to change when our entire community, and upbringing, affirms our outlook on things.
In this message, you will see how God usher some MAJOR change into the early church.
Sermon:
Well, hello everyone!
Family Moment
Like normal for us, we pick up where we left off in the book of Acts.
If you have your Bible with you…open it back up to Acts 10
New Person Bible Talk
App Talk
If you are new or newer to family church we are so happy you are here today!
Let me catch you up.
We are on a journey through one of the books in our Bibles called Acts.
The book of Acts is a GREAT one for churches to study because it is all about how the early church operated right after Jesus launched it!
Let’s backtrack, let me remind you of some important details and walk forward today….
We saw Jesus in Acts 1 say to stay where they were and wait for Jesus to send them a helper.
We saw who that helper was in Acts 2, it was Jesus’ Spirit sent to live inside them and help them.
Then in Acts 2 all the way up to this point we have seen the church exploding in growth.
Then we see some church people, and church leaders, are telling everyone about Jesus and the church is growing.
Then in Acts 3 we saw some CRAZY miracles happen and how the church kept growing.
In Acts 4 we see how the early church preached.
In Acts 5-9 we see some persecution of the church.
PAUSE
So, with that background, we pick up today….
Acts 10: 1-48 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.
2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.
3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision.
He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear.
“What is it, Lord?” he asked.
The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.
6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
Now I want to pause here,
I want to draw your attention to a few things.
Look in your Bible…..
Cornelius was a centurion.
Which also means Cornelius was a Roman.
Being a Centurion also meant Cornelius commanded at least 100 other soldiers to do the bidding of the emperor.
And I want to pause here because there is something I want to make sure military people see.
Military people…..
I know some of you struggle with what you did in your past.
I know a lot of you struggle with things you have seen.
You struggle with things you were commanded to do.
Let’s be real….
There is NO question Cornelius had killed people.
There is NO question that since Cornelius was a commander, he would have issued orders to kill people.
Death was a very common part of their job.
All kinds of hard things would have been a part of their job.
And if you know Roman culture…if you questioned the orders from above you were killed or tortured.
So don’t think for a second that somehow this guy had lived a squeaky clean life….
PAUSE
But do NOT miss what is said in verse 2…put that back on the screens.
2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing;
Look at what the Bible CLEARLY says.
In the midst of doing his job….
In the midst of at times maybe doing things he wished he did not have to do.
The Bible is clear Cornelius worshiped God.
He prayed…and he led his family to God….
And bear in mind Cornelius was NOT a Jew!!!!!
He would not have been accepted to enter any of the Jewish temples because 1 - he was not a Jew and 2 - he killed people or was around people who were killed so he was unclean.
PAUSE
Let me share another thing that makes him so interesting….
It is not clear how he came to believe in God or why he gave so freely to those in need, but he did.
Now……Understand in the Roman culture you did not give away money to people in need unless it furthered your purpose.
So….. what he was doing was not normal.
But in the midst of a culture that told him not to do anything kind…..he did….and he did it freely!!
And look at what God said to him in verse 4,
“Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.”
PAUSE
That is a BIG statement!!!!
Because…..
Culture would not have accepted what he was doing.
The Jewish church of that day would not have accepted what he was doing.
But God looked down and accepted it!!!!
Amazing, isn’t it????
PAUSE
Doesn’t that show you how forgiving and generous our God is!
That he is not looking to hurt you.
He isn’t looking to judge you!
He isn’t looking to catch you doing bad things!
That God is instead looking for those little nuggets of faith in us to CELEBRATE!
PAUSE
How different is that view of God….vs what a lot of us think of God….
PAUSE
I hope that gives all of us more hope; because see we all fall short of perfection.
God looks down on all of us in the midst of our brokenness and if we honor Him, He accepts it!
I mean right here God is speaking to someone that the GOOD CLOSE followers of God would say would NEVER hear from God!
Don’t miss that!
PAUSE
You and I have no idea who God is working in.
We have no idea who God is working through.
And so often what we see in the Bible is God working through the people we would least expect…..
PAUSE
Let’s keep reading…..Verse 7
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants.
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