1 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:08,360 This is ERC Sundays, the messages at Emmaus Rd. 2 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:12,240 Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people 3 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,320 striving to grow in Jesus and make him known to others through 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:19,560 our faith, words and actions. Find out more about our church 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,400 at emmausrdonline.org. Here's this week's message. 6 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,600 Well, friends, good morning. It is. 7 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,680 It's so good to be with you. I really mean that it's it's 8 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:32,280 wonderful to be worshipping with you. 9 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:36,240 And I was just, you know, there's something fun that 10 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:41,080 happens when I I have the opportunity to exit my own 11 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:46,920 thoughts and just worship and certainly able to do that this 12 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,160 morning and in the freedom that God gives us. 13 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:51,720 It's incredible. It's amazing. 14 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,720 I I can't get into all of that because we'll just be here 15 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:57,320 forever. But thank you for worshipping 16 00:00:57,320 --> 00:00:58,800 with us. I really mean that. 17 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,000 And it is just a gift to be with all of you. 18 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:06,040 As we get started this morning, I I wanted to bring up an idea. 19 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:08,400 Oh, did I lose it? I think I'm OK. 20 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:10,400 Can you guys hear me in the back? 21 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:12,480 Yeah. OK. 22 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:14,560 One second, JT. There it is. 23 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:16,680 OK. I could have just yelled. 24 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:21,360 I tend to do that anyway because I get excited, but it's probably 25 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,000 not great for you. Well, anyway, I wanted to bring 26 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,360 up this, this man who I've been kind of thinking about and 27 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:30,800 researching a little bit. His name is Ralph Waldo Emerson. 28 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:34,680 And the interesting thing about him, he, he lived in the 1800s 29 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:38,280 and he was an American philosopher and essayist and 30 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:39,680 writer and all these kinds of things. 31 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:44,000 Well, Ralph Waldo Emerson, he wrote this really interesting 32 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:45,840 essay. Oh, I lost it again. 33 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:48,160 Wait for it. Hey, there he is. 34 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:53,000 He wrote this really interesting essay called, Now I've Just Lost 35 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,040 it, self-reliance. Yeah, excellent. 36 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:58,720 So he wrote that essay called self-reliance. 37 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:03,440 And I'll tell you what, if you go and read it, it's, it's worth 38 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:05,360 your time. But I'll tell you one thing for 39 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:06,480 sure. It's flawed. 40 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,360 It's flawed because in his philosophy, one of the things he 41 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,520 does is he brings forward this very humanistic perspective as 42 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:16,360 if like we're the real deal, Like we're everything on Earth 43 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:18,920 that matters. And the other thing that's kind 44 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:23,280 of flawed about his philosophy, I think, is that he finds that 45 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:25,840 humans are the deciders of ultimate truth. 46 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,320 Now, I think there's some problems in that, but rather 47 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:31,800 than get into all that, let me tell you the one thing that I 48 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,280 read in that philosophical essay that I think is really 49 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,920 important, that I think is really spot on. 50 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:40,120 He says something along these lines. 51 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:46,960 In order to be truly free, I have to be able to full stop 52 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:52,160 disagree with my previous self. In order to be truly free, I 53 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:55,440 have to be able to full stop disagree with my previous self. 54 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:59,080 Now that previous self could be a month ago, a week ago or two 55 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,320 minutes ago. But I need to have the freedom 56 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,320 to look at my former self and say I was wrong. 57 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,840 And that's real freedom to to be able to not be held back by my 58 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,640 pride in all those things. Now why is this really 59 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:14,080 important? Let me get to that. 60 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:22,400 If we are not willing friends to take a hard look at the words 61 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:25,960 that we choose or the, the lifestyles that we live, or even 62 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:28,560 the greater culture that we live in, if we're not willing to take 63 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:32,320 a hard look and criticize those things, ultimately where we end 64 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,880 up is we end up just kind of being a cog in the wheel of our 65 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:38,280 culture. We, it's so easy to be 66 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:41,960 influenced by what the rest of the world around us says is true 67 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,400 and right and good and the things that we should prioritize 68 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:45,680 and do and all those kinds of things. 69 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:48,840 And when we don't stop and examine that and examine 70 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:51,680 ourselves and be willing to say, hey, I'm wrong. 71 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:56,000 Sometimes we just, we become a robot of our culture. 72 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,600 And that's not actually terribly helpful for any of us. 73 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:03,960 So, and I thought about this too for myself. 74 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,920 Here's the thing, I'm not above like those cultural norms and 75 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,080 I'm certainly not above being influenced by them. 76 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,960 And, and to be honest with you, like confession time of my own 77 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,880 accord, Here's what I would do without, without God just 78 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:20,839 working in and through me. Here's what I would do. 79 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:24,200 I would justify all of my bad choices. 80 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:26,520 I can find a way to do that pretty easily. 81 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:28,800 I'm smart like that. I'm sure you are too. 82 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:33,800 But I would justify all my bad decisions and, and quite 83 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,200 honestly, what my priorities would be, how can I find the 84 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,680 greatest comfort for me at the least amount of resistance? 85 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:44,520 How can I do that? And I think honestly, that's 86 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:46,640 where a lot of us are. We're like, I need to be 87 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,920 comfortable, I need to be happy. I'm going to prioritize that and 88 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:52,560 I need the least amount of resistance in order to do those 89 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:54,600 things. And anything that does get in my 90 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:58,360 way for those things, I'm going to just kind of like, see you 91 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:05,120 later, right? But do I have the strength? 92 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:10,320 Do I have the courage to admit that I'm selfish and I'm wrong 93 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:14,200 and that me, myself and I is not what's important here? 94 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:16,000 Do I have the courage to say that? 95 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,440 I don't know. I don't know. 96 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,640 I think with God's help we can have that courage, But outside 97 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,680 of that, probably pretty difficult. 98 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:30,800 We look at that, we look at ourselves, or at least maybe I'm 99 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,120 just talking about me, and all of you are just fine. 100 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,440 But then on the other side of the coin, there's God. 101 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,760 There's God who's never considered his own comfort, as 102 00:05:41,840 --> 00:05:45,880 in his own happiness, as the primary reason for him to do 103 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:48,680 anything. No, this is the God who gave up 104 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:54,320 his only Son, who sacrificed his only Son so that we, the 105 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:56,280 unrighteous, could become righteous. 106 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:00,560 That's what he did. Comfortability and happiness was 107 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:07,040 not in his plan for his son. Now those things aren't bad, but 108 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:10,480 man what if? What if we could be just a 109 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:12,120 little bit more like him each day? 110 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,360 What if we could come to the end of ourselves and through what I 111 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,400 would call blessed self forgetfulness, start thinking 112 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:22,200 about other people and start saying I was wrong. 113 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,720 Imagine what could happen. It would change our communities, 114 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:31,000 I'm sure of that. Well, anyway, we've been in the 115 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,160 book of Acts now for the summer, and we're going to continue all 116 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:36,920 summer. And today we arrive in chapter 117 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:38,800 10. And in chapter 10, we're going 118 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:43,720 to see this interesting story where the two primary people, 119 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:48,160 you would say, are Peter the Apostle and a Roman centurion 120 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,920 named Cornelius. Now, the thing about all of this 121 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:54,440 is that the things that we've already kind of brought up and 122 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:58,960 talked about today, this story of Cornelius meeting Peter, it's 123 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:03,000 going to be kind of the maybe the kind of the penultimate 124 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,480 example of these truths that I've already brought up. 125 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:09,240 And so as we do that, I'd love for you to be able to kind of 126 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:11,320 see where we're going. And we're going to, we're going 127 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:13,880 to look at this through the lens of three different things. 128 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,200 We're going to see that good is not good enough, and Cornelius 129 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,640 is going to teach us that. We're going to see that freedom 130 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:21,440 comes in God's truth, not our own. 131 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:23,480 We're going to learn that through Peter's experience. 132 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,600 And finally, we're going to see that belief changes everything. 133 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,960 And that goes for all of us. Are you ready? 134 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:31,960 Yeah. I got some nods. 135 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:34,840 That's, that's better than the last week because as you know, 136 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:36,400 I'm going to do it. I'm going to, I'm going to keep 137 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:38,800 going anyway, So be ready. It's fine. 138 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:43,560 All right, Well, we're going to read Acts chapter 10 verses 30 139 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,880 through 48. And we read all these things in 140 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:52,080 the name of Jesus. And Cornelius said, Four days 141 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:55,720 ago about this hour, I was praying in my house at the 9th 142 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:59,600 hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and 143 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:03,400 said, Cornelius, your prayers have been heard, and your alms 144 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,600 have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa, and ask 145 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:11,320 for Simon, who is called Peter. He is lodging in the House of 146 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:16,200 Simon, a Tanner by the sea. So I sent for you at once, and 147 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:17,800 you have been kind enough to come. 148 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,440 Now, therefore we are all here in the presence of God, to hear 149 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,880 all that you have been commanded by the Lord. 150 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:31,080 So Peter opened his mouth and said, truly, I understand that 151 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:35,559 God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears 152 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,360 him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 153 00:08:38,919 --> 00:08:41,799 As for the word that he sent to Israel preaching good news of 154 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:45,000 peace through Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all. 155 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:47,840 You yourselves know what happened throughout all of 156 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,360 Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John 157 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:55,800 proclaimed, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy 158 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,520 Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and 159 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:01,560 healing all who are oppressed by the devil. 160 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:06,640 For God was with him, and we are witnesses to all that He did, 161 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:09,280 both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. 162 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,800 They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. 163 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:16,680 But God raised him on the third day, and made him appear, not to 164 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:20,440 all people, but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses 165 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:24,240 who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. 166 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:28,720 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that 167 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:32,560 He is the one appointed by God to be the Judge of the living 168 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:35,320 and the dead. To Him, all the prophets bear 169 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:40,240 witness that everyone who believes in Him receives 170 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,800 forgiveness of sins through His name. 171 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:47,440 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit 172 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:49,280 fell on all those who heard the word. 173 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:52,200 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with 174 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:56,680 Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was 175 00:09:56,680 --> 00:10:00,840 poured out even on the Gentiles, for they were hearing them 176 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:03,440 speaking in tongues and extolling God. 177 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:08,000 Then Peter declared, Can anyone withhold water for baptizing 178 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,720 these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have, 179 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:15,440 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus 180 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:17,960 Christ. Then they asked him to remain 181 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:20,880 for some days. Here ends the reading of God's 182 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:29,760 Word. I have had, I believe, the good 183 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:35,400 fortune of being around what I think by most standards are 184 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:37,680 really good people the majority of my life. 185 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:42,480 And I say that because as, as I've lived, it has been apparent 186 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:45,240 to me that the vast majority of people that I've known have 187 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:49,600 tried very hard to do the right thing in any given circumstance. 188 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:54,760 Rarely have I met somebody who is just outright looking to harm 189 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:56,880 somebody. That hasn't happened a lot. 190 00:10:57,360 --> 00:10:59,440 It has happened, but it's it's not super often. 191 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,800 So again, I feel very blessed to be able to say that like, I've 192 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:04,680 generally been around very good people. 193 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:09,120 And even as I thought about our congregation here, man, what a 194 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:12,120 gift. I don't say that lightly. 195 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:16,480 It is a gift to be able to live with people who are actively 196 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:20,240 trying to do the right thing. And we don't get it right all 197 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:22,800 the time. I understand that, but it's 198 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:25,920 worth the effort. Now, I was doing some research 199 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,880 this week and what I found because I was curious, like, 200 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:32,160 what makes a person good? Like, how do we, how do we even 201 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:34,520 grade or judge that? And so I did all sorts of 202 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:38,400 research and I end up finding this this doctor, this 203 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:41,320 psychologist. And I actually thought this list 204 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,360 was pretty good because based on everything that I've read like 205 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:46,160 this, this summed up things pretty well. 206 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:50,560 So our modern Western idea of a good person looks like this. 207 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,800 You have empathy, you're compassionate, you're kind, you 208 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,280 exercise altruism, which is thinking about others more than 209 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:59,800 you think about yourself. You have integrity and you have 210 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:03,280 an inclusive attitude. Those are the things that our 211 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:06,880 modern Western society says, OK, do these things and you'll be a 212 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:09,320 good person. Do those things. 213 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:13,560 Now, what I find interesting about this especially, and we 214 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:17,760 talked about this recently, we tend to live in a very me first 215 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:20,440 culture. But if you pay attention to this 216 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:25,200 list, those things that people say are good, five out of six of 217 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:27,720 those things have to do with how I treat other people. 218 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:31,800 Interesting, right? So there seems to be like a 219 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:34,520 cognitive dissonance here. There's some, there's some logic 220 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:38,160 that's not hitting because again, in ourselves, it's like, 221 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:41,320 make me, me, me, me, me happy. I live for that, right? 222 00:12:41,560 --> 00:12:44,520 But at the same time, we consider good people ones who 223 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:46,760 think about others more than they think about themselves. 224 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:51,120 Interesting, right? It's almost like there are a lot 225 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:53,560 of hypocrites in this world. Weird. 226 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:56,800 I can't believe it. I'm shocked. 227 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:01,200 I'm shocked. Well, to to get us moving 228 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:02,960 forward towards Cornelius. Here's the thing. 229 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:07,200 Cornelius we learned in the text, if you read all of chapter 230 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:10,600 10, he's a really good person. He really is. 231 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:14,320 By the standards of his day and even the standards of our own 232 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:17,360 day some 2000 years later, this is a good guy. 233 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,560 Like you can rely on him. And so let me just give you a 234 00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:22,120 couple of things. We didn't read all this, but 235 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:25,360 I'll give you a, a short list of the qualifiers that make 236 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:28,080 Cornelius good. First and foremost, he feared 237 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,840 God and he prayed. That's a great start. 238 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:35,160 Now, in a, in a very secularized world, we might go, OK, big 239 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:37,920 deal. But from my perspective, man, he 240 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:40,320 checks a really important box for me if he's going to be 241 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:43,120 considered a good guy. He fears God and he prays. 242 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:45,760 What else? The, the, the text says that 243 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,920 he's upright. That's that Greek word decayos, 244 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:53,400 which means fair. So get this, Cornelius is what 245 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:57,000 would be a modern day captain in the military and he's got 246 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,520 control or power over 100 soldiers underneath him. 247 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:06,200 And so he definitely as a Roman citizen and as a commander of 248 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:10,040 100 people, he absolutely has the right and the power to do 249 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:13,520 pretty much whatever he wants in his in his like little part of 250 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:16,080 the world. He can command them to arrest 251 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:18,040 people and do whatever. But he didn't do that. 252 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:21,400 Everybody around him said, no, he's really fair. 253 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:24,760 And, you know, if you've ever spent any time with little kids, 254 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:27,800 that's really important because that's not fair. 255 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:29,640 It's not fair. Oh, yeah, it is. 256 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,080 It is, but anyway, no, he's, he's really fair guy. 257 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:35,800 He it says the text says that he gave alms. 258 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,200 In other words, what that means is he was very charitable. 259 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:42,560 So the the downtrodden and the broken and the poor of the 260 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:45,480 mistreated. Apparently he used his financial 261 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:50,000 resources to help them. If we could all say that all the 262 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,240 time again, I think we would probably have a little bit 263 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:55,800 better culture than we do now. But he certainly did that. 264 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:58,720 He included his family and his friends in the things that he 265 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:00,560 found really important in life giving. 266 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,040 And we know that because he invited all of them when he knew 267 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:05,480 Peter was going to come and visit. 268 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,320 And he said this is going to be really good and I want to share 269 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:10,480 this. Good thing I'm not my faith. 270 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:12,480 It's personal, but it's not private. 271 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:15,600 I'm going to share it with you. And that's and that's a really 272 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:17,720 neat thing. And then finally, he was 273 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:22,160 incredibly humble again, for a person with this much power in 274 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:24,440 the position that he has, he's humble. 275 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,200 And we know that because when Peter shows up, he falls to the 276 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:29,600 ground. He falls to the ground. 277 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:32,680 Now come on, this is a Roman soldier who could have this guy 278 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:35,200 locked up for life. And instead of like kind of 279 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:38,200 lording his power over him, he falls down at his feet. 280 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:43,800 That's humility and that definitely is a sign of what we 281 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:47,960 would call a good person. Now, now that I've blown this 282 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:51,760 guy up and made him look like Superman, let me tell you that 283 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:54,440 good isn't good enough. How do we know that? 284 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:58,600 We know that because if good was good enough for God, here's what 285 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,840 would happen. God looks down on on a Cornelius 286 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:04,480 and he says, oh man, you're really nailing this thing called 287 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:06,080 life. You're so kind and you're 288 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:08,240 generous and you're and you're and you're humble. 289 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:12,200 Keep doing what you're doing and I have little doubt that you're 290 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:14,160 going to have salvation. You're going to earn your way to 291 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:15,160 heaven. Good job, buddy. 292 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,880 You keep it up. But God didn't do that, did he? 293 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:24,520 He didn't do that at all. Instead, he says in some way 294 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:27,760 you're not complete yet. You need to send for my servant 295 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:31,880 Peter so he can tell you the whole truth, so that this 296 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:35,080 goodness that you've been exhibiting can be complete in my 297 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:37,560 son. That's how that works. 298 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:42,000 That's how that works. And so we, we have to recognize 299 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:43,520 that good is just never going to be good enough. 300 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:45,520 Let me give you a story to prove that point. 301 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:49,120 There was a college and I actually brought this up in 302 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:52,480 Bible study a couple weeks ago, but there was a college ethics 303 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:55,480 class and I can't remember what the college was, so forgive me. 304 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:59,360 But in this college ethics class, the the professor had his 305 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:02,800 students go and read the Sermon on the Mount. 306 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:06,400 You can find that in chapters 5 through 7 of Matthew, the Sermon 307 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:08,079 on the Mount. I'll give you the short version 308 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:12,079 version of it, and it's this. Jesus takes the 10 commandments 309 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:16,119 and he puts them on steroids. It's insane. 310 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:19,480 So what happens to these college kids is in this ethics class, 311 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:22,319 they come back after the weekend and they're like, professor, 312 00:17:22,319 --> 00:17:25,000 this is ridiculous. This is insane. 313 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:27,359 Nobody can live to this standard. 314 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:30,360 They're right. They're right. 315 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:36,880 And let me tell you, in Matthew 548, Jesus says, therefore you 316 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:40,320 must be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect. 317 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:47,160 How are you doing with that? Yeah, it's not great, is it? 318 00:17:48,360 --> 00:17:51,480 I don't feel good about my chances if if the mark is 319 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:53,280 perfection. I'm not, I'm. 320 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:56,280 I'm telling you, man, it's not going to go well for me. 321 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:02,280 So what do we do? What do we do if the standard is 322 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:07,240 perfection? Well, the only thing that we can 323 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,560 do is we have to look at somebody who is perfect and that 324 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:14,240 somebody who is perfect also has to be kind enough and, and 325 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,320 giving enough to say, you know what, like I'm going to impute 326 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:20,280 my perfectness to you. I don't want credit for being 327 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:22,120 perfect. Let me give that to you. 328 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:26,040 That's Jesus Christ. That's exactly what he's done. 329 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:29,840 He's given us his perfectness because quite frankly, again, 330 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:35,040 there's just no way. The standard is ridiculous. 331 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:40,400 God expects perfection. Don't miss that because there is 332 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:44,560 an entire world of people out there who, who's looking at God, 333 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:46,480 quote UN quote. And they're saying, well, God 334 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:48,360 loves everybody all the time, no matter what you do. 335 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:49,880 So it's great. Go ahead and do whatever you 336 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:50,840 want. Blank check. 337 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:56,560 No, God expects perfection, but inside that perfection, He's 338 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:59,840 also chasing every single one of us. 339 00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:03,720 And there is not a human on the planet that God is not going 340 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:06,120 after. There isn't 1. 341 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:11,120 And so in all of this, let me kind of sum this up so we can 342 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:14,320 keep moving forward in all of this, man, the standard is 343 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:17,120 lofty. It's ridiculously high. 344 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:22,160 But if we believe, and it sounds so simple, it sounds like I'm 345 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:23,880 trying to sell you a bridge somewhere. 346 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:28,360 If we believe that's enough, that's enough. 347 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:33,320 So let's keep moving forward and let's, let's look at let's look 348 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:35,880 at Peter and let's look at this idea of freedom. 349 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:41,680 Now, despite the fact that Peter spent three plus years walking 350 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:46,400 and hanging out with Jesus, his, his theology still wasn't quite 351 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:48,000 there. And that's OK. 352 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,120 I don't, I don't want to beat up on Peter. 353 00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:53,520 Too many people do that from from the stage and and I don't, 354 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:56,280 I don't love that for him. So we're going to we're going to 355 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,320 give Peter a pass here and say, you know what? 356 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:03,240 It's OK, we mess up too. And so the relation. 357 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:06,680 So why is Peter the way he is? Why was this such a big deal for 358 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:09,160 him to go and see Cornelius? Well, here's the background. 359 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:15,240 The Jewish people, you know, of Peter's day, and for a long time 360 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:18,800 before that, they didn't always particularly get a well along 361 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:21,120 well with their neighbors. Why is that? 362 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:25,040 Well, Jewish people are monotheistic, meaning that they 363 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:29,080 love and Revere one God. Everybody around them is 364 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:31,880 polytheistic, meaning that they have a lot of different gods, 365 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:33,960 right? So that's a, that's a pretty 366 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:38,240 important difference. Also, of course, Jews have the 367 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:40,840 law. They have these very high, 368 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:45,040 ridiculously high moral standards, and they have pretty 369 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:48,120 strict food laws too. And so you look at their 370 00:20:48,120 --> 00:20:51,240 neighbors and the neighbors are like, man, my standard of 371 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:55,120 morality is pretty much whatever I can get away with, right? 372 00:20:55,360 --> 00:20:57,400 And, and some people still live like that. 373 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:00,960 So I'm only living within the bounds of like, you know what, 374 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,640 what's, you know, our civil society says. 375 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:05,400 But and I'm even going to push that. 376 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:09,040 I mean, come on. Like who doesn't go 70 in a 55? 377 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,640 Come on, man, you know, you do, you know, you do. 378 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:15,920 Now State Farm is tracking me, so I try not to do that. 379 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:19,320 But that's a whole different topic anyway. 380 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:23,360 But yeah, so of course, Peter, who grew up in this, in this 381 00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:26,800 culture, in this society where Jewish people look down on 382 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:30,080 gentiles, that is all non Jewish people, they look down on him. 383 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:32,520 And they said, you know what? They're really kind of gross. 384 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,480 They're kind of, they're kind of dirty and they eat nasty food. 385 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:40,320 Like, come on, who eats bacon? That's disgusting, right? 386 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,800 And so like there's all these things that they would look down 387 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:46,200 on them. And so Peter's a, he's a product 388 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:49,000 of his culture. And so when God tells him like, 389 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,080 hey, you need to go talk to this guy, Cornelius, he's like, I 390 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:55,960 don't know about all that because if I go spend time with 391 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:57,600 him, I'm going to have to eat in his house. 392 00:21:57,600 --> 00:21:59,640 And Lord, I don't eat unclean things. 393 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:01,920 I am far above that. You know, I am. 394 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:06,880 And God's like, don't call anything unclean or common that 395 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,440 I have made clean. Don't you dare do that. 396 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:14,480 Don't you dare use your cultural prejudice to look down on my 397 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,720 people. Don't do that, right? 398 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,920 And so Peter has to Peter has to admit something and, and here's 399 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:25,880 what he ends up admitting. Peter opened his mouth and said, 400 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:29,160 truly, I understand that God shows no partiality, but in 401 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,560 every nation, everyone who fears him and does what is right is 402 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,040 acceptable to him. Do you know what's happening 403 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:39,800 here? Do you see that regardless of 404 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:44,000 socio economic status, regardless of race, regardless 405 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,880 of gosh, pick something under the sun, regardless of all those 406 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:52,080 things, God is chasing down every single one of us. 407 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:56,760 And it doesn't matter what I have done in my past and it 408 00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:58,640 doesn't matter what I'm doing today. 409 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,560 God still wants to be in a relationship with me and He 410 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:05,560 wants a relationship with you. That doesn't change regardless 411 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:08,880 of what you've done. He is chasing all of us. 412 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,120 All of us are his people. All of us are made in His image. 413 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:16,280 And there's only one way. And we know that's true because 414 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:19,480 Jesus quite famously says I am the way in the truth and the 415 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:21,520 life. No one comes to the Father 416 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:27,720 except through me. So, so what's what? 417 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:31,400 What, what can Peter do? He has to, he has to say, you 418 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:32,880 know what? I was wrong. 419 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,280 Gosh, you went on. How hard must that have been for 420 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:40,040 Peter? He, he, he goes in this guy's 421 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:43,520 house and he's probably really uncomfortable and there's bacon 422 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,200 cooking or who knows what he's like, Oh, no, I could never. 423 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:52,800 And God says, don't you dare, Don't you dare look down on my 424 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:56,760 people. They are mine as much as you are 425 00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:58,600 mine. Don't you dare. 426 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,160 Now here's the thing. Here's why it's emotionally 427 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:13,640 taxing to talk about this because we have a history in our 428 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:18,200 country of doing just that thing, of taking somebody made 429 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:24,520 in God's image and making them less than God says. 430 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:28,760 Don't you dare. They're mine and they are worthy 431 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,800 of your love and your respect. I am seeking all of my children 432 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:35,240 from every nation, from every corner of the earth. 433 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:37,600 Don't you dare call them unclean. 434 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,440 You probably have a person in your life or two or multiple 435 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:50,040 that you know and you won't say it out loud because our culture 436 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:54,480 wouldn't like that. But man, you don't like him and 437 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:55,600 you think you're better than them. 438 00:24:58,360 --> 00:25:03,280 God has a word for you. Got to check your heart. 439 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:09,520 Now before I wrap up this point real quick, I do. 440 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:12,240 I do want to say something because you may have heard me 441 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:16,600 say something that I didn't say. So I'm going to give you a quote 442 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:18,600 from New Testament scholar NT, right? 443 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:22,360 And he's going to clear up any misnomers you may have heard and 444 00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:26,800 what I just said. He says this God has no 445 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,280 favorites. That doesn't mean that God runs 446 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,640 the world as a democracy, or that he simply validates and 447 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:36,680 accepts everyone's opinion about everything or everyone's chosen 448 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,800 lifestyle. It means that there are no 449 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:44,520 ethnic, geographical, cultural or moral barriers any longer in 450 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,520 the way of anyone and everyone being offered forgiveness and 451 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:50,400 new life. This is a message that is far 452 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:53,160 more powerful than the easygoing, laissez faire 453 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:57,480 tolerance with which temporary Western society so easily 454 00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:01,080 embraces. Cornelius didn't want God or 455 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:05,200 Peter to just tolerate him. He wanted to be welcomed, 456 00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:07,760 forgiven, healed and transformed. 457 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:14,640 And so he was in his belief. I hope that makes sense. 458 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:17,520 And if it doesn't, we can get coffee sometime. 459 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,560 I'll explain it a little bit further through his belief. 460 00:26:23,360 --> 00:26:27,960 Completely justified. And so let me get to the right 461 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:33,360 thing here. Make sure I'm there, this 462 00:26:33,360 --> 00:26:36,520 belief, it's a, it can change everything. 463 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:39,880 And I don't mean to be like overly dramatic when I say that 464 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,760 I'm not trying to get a rise out of you or anything, but it 465 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,640 really does. Your faith in Jesus Christ. 466 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:47,640 It absolutely changes everything. 467 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,800 And if it's not changing some things in your life, I guess 468 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:55,600 what I would ask you is to examine a little bit further, 469 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:59,200 pray a little bit more and see what happens. 470 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,400 God is going to do some good work through you. 471 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:05,640 Now one of the things that happens here at the towards the 472 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:11,000 end of this story is that Peter, Peter talks, he opens up his 473 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,480 mouth as the Bible says, and he gives this, he gives this great 474 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,320 kind of overview of what the gospel is. 475 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,160 And he says this. And we are witnesses of all that 476 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:23,320 he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. 477 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:25,920 They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. 478 00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:29,480 But God raised him on the third day and made him to appear to 479 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:31,160 him. All the prophets bear witness 480 00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:35,040 that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins 481 00:27:35,360 --> 00:27:38,120 through his name. Preach. 482 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,680 Let it go. Peter, man, my guy, my guy. 483 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:48,120 Here's the thing. I think it's easy for the 484 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:51,720 original hearers of what Peter said to catch something that we 485 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:54,120 don't get in our in our modern culture, right? 486 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,840 It's 2000 years removed. Sometimes we miss things. 487 00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:59,880 But here's the thing. When Peter says that they hung 488 00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:03,680 Jesus on a tree that is going to perk up their ears in a way that 489 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:06,280 it probably doesn't ours. Let me explain. 490 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:11,640 For hundreds of years, the kind of worst people in in that 491 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:13,680 society, what would they do to them? 492 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:18,280 They're going to publicly execute them in such a way that 493 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:23,280 they believe that anybody who was hung on a tree was cursed by 494 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:26,400 the divine. That's why they did that, 495 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:28,480 because it's not enough just to kill you. 496 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:30,240 It's not enough just to humiliate you. 497 00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:34,920 We want you to be cursed by God himself, right? 498 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:38,520 The the Biblical encyclopedia puts it this way. 499 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:43,120 A curse from the Lord often signifies divine judgment and 500 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,400 withdrawal of his favor and his protection. 501 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:50,200 So are you hearing what they heard now? 502 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:54,320 The withdrawal of God's favor and his protection? 503 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,400 Friends, if you're not picking up on this, let me help you out. 504 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:05,120 Because Jesus Christ as God's only son, man, favored by the 505 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:08,560 Lord, right? So favored, in fact, that God's 506 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,640 like, hey, why don't you take a vacation to earth? 507 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:15,680 And so favored, in fact, that he's like, hey, you know what? 508 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:19,360 These people, they keep messing up, They're worshipping idols. 509 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,880 They're, they're, they're, they're worshipping the created 510 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:25,200 things rather than the creator. And you know what? 511 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:27,840 I need that fixed. And you know how I'm going to do 512 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:30,280 it. Oh, favored one, you're going to 513 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:33,680 pay for it. See what's happening here? 514 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:41,240 The favor of God was taken away from His only Son, Jesus Christ. 515 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:43,320 And where was where did that favor land? 516 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,280 It landed on you and me as we believe. 517 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:48,480 And this is how belief changes everything. 518 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:52,880 As we believe we understand that God has given us His total 519 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,240 favor. Gosh, you know what the 520 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:58,520 implications of that are? That means that we are truly 521 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:02,680 free because of the creator of all the universe looks at me and 522 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,400 says, I know what you've done. But you know what, I love you 523 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,720 anyway. I you are my favorite child. 524 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,760 I don't I never played favorites with my kids. 525 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:17,960 I don't think they might tell you different, but man, imagine 526 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:22,960 being God's favorite. Imagine that if you can put that 527 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,240 into your heart and you can put that into your head, that 528 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:28,560 changes you and it changes you because it doesn't matter if 529 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:30,120 people criticize me. It doesn't matter. 530 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:33,680 Now I can say I'm wrong and I don't need to worry about my 531 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:37,640 pride because even in being wrong sometimes I know I'm 532 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:40,720 favored by my God, the creator of the universe. 533 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,000 That Oh my gosh, friends, you put that into your heart. 534 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,320 It will change you. I promise it will. 535 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,960 The other thing he lost God's protection. 536 00:30:53,360 --> 00:31:00,520 My goodness, friends, it's not that just Jesus just lost God's 537 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:04,360 protection. It's that he took his full wrath 538 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:07,760 and he took his full judgement. There's a big difference there, 539 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,880 right? So he's beaten and he's scorned 540 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:16,480 and he's mocked. He's whipped almost to the point 541 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:18,280 where you can't tell he's a human anymore. 542 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:20,760 He's pierced and he's put on display. 543 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:22,800 That's not losing God's protection. 544 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:25,120 That's somebody's got a a beef with you. 545 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:27,240 That's somebody who's got a problem with you. 546 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:32,360 God took up a problem with his Son so that he can make you free 547 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:36,480 man. Get that in your heart and in 548 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,800 your head. Get that in your heart and your 549 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:43,440 head that that you have God's favor as you believe in Him. 550 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:47,360 You, you have God's protection as you believe in him. 551 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:49,600 And that doesn't mean that everything's going to go just 552 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:53,400 exactly the way we want it, Man, we feel that we hurt. 553 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:57,720 We go through hard things. But man, God has protected the 554 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,440 most important thing you have and that is your very soul. 555 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:03,080 He has protected it on to eternity. 556 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,720 Amen. Friends, I hope you walk out of 557 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:13,040 here feeling favored, protected and loved because you are all 558 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:15,320 those things as you believe in Jesus Christ. 559 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:23,000 Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we are 560 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:27,080 humbled. We are humbled by your grace and 561 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:30,760 your mercy towards us, which Lord, I know for me I don't 562 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:34,120 deserve that. I have done nothing to earn your 563 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:38,880 favour, yet here you are giving your Son. 564 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:43,600 Lord, we cannot thank you enough for the gospel. 565 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,760 We can't thank you enough for changing our hearts and our 566 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:49,200 minds. Lord, help us to admit when 567 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:53,520 we're wrong. Help us to see people the way 568 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:58,280 that you see people. Lord, help us to freely give the 569 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:02,280 gospel to everyone who needs it, that we might speak the truth 570 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:04,840 about Your love and Your grace and Your mercy towards us. 571 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:10,240 Use Your Spirit to infect us and change our communities that we 572 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:15,360 might multiply for the Gospel. Lord, we lift up all these 573 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:18,240 things to you in the name of Jesus Christ, who is our Lord 574 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:20,000 and our King. Amen. 575 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:27,080 Thanks for listening to ERC Sundays. 576 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:29,560 To support the work God is doing and Emmaus Rd. 577 00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:33,520 Church, visit emmausrdonline.org/giving.