I know, first off, before I get into reading my scripture at Silver City, I want to tell you, for me and Jen, we're very glad and thankful to be here. You've been welcoming to us and our little family since we moved our letter, and we greatly appreciate it. If you want to turn in your Bibles, I'll be in Acts chapter 10. We were in Bible school last week. I forget what day it was, but this scripture and this chapter was talked about and I studied it and read it before and didn't think anything about it. Well, this morning I got up and I had a heavy heart. The Lord came by and I was like, well, you know, I'll just you know, I'll be obedient I'll read I'll open my Bible. I'll start studying a little bit the same thing I've been studying over over here for you know It seems like three or four weeks and out of nowhere this scripture come to me and I said well And it kind of stuck and I just said Lord. I'll be obedient to you because ultimately if it wasn't for Jesus and Christ and what was done on Calvary, and Him calling me, not only to be His Son, His adopted Son through saving my soul, but calling me to preach, I couldn't stand behind this sacred desk and do what He's asked me to do. But I'm gonna start reading, and I'll probably start reading in the ninth verse, but to give a backstory, Cornelius is a centurion, and he's seen a vision, And the angels come to him and said, go send men to find this Simon Peter. And so he does. And at the same time, this is where verse number nine picks up. It says, on the morrow, as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. And he became very hungry and would have eaten. But while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven open and a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth, wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. And I believe that's all that the Lord would have us to read. Daniel, would you lead us in prayer this morning? As we begin to study and think about this scripture and what the Lord has shown us, we see Cornelius was a Gentile. Gentiles and Jews are... Gentile is everything that is not Jewish people. And at this moment, that's all I can think about. And we are all, unless you were born of Jewish descent, you are a Gentile. I can always speak, know that I'm a Gentile. And so this Scripture really resonates with me sometimes because I realize that in the Old Testament, I, being not part of God's chosen people, am unworthy, I'm unclean. Because God chose the seed of Abraham, the Jewish people, to be His chosen people, and I, being outside of that, am not, in the Old Testament before Jesus, would not be worthy of any type of righteousness because I'm not His chosen people. Okay, so Cornelius here is a Gentile, and the Lord has come to him, an angel has come to him in a vision and said, go find Peter. Go find Peter. So that's what he does. Cornelius sends his men to go find Peter, and at the same time as these men are coming to Peter, Peter being the one who walked on the water with Jesus, he was Jewish, he was one of Jesus' closest friends, he walked with him, through all that time, and we know all that Peter did, and we know the good things about Peter, but we also know that Peter denied Christ three times. But we know that Peter was a changed man, because after the resurrection, he was totally different from Peter. Peter was a changed man after the resurrection. At this point in the time, he's one of the leaders in the Christian church, being there in the first part of Acts. He's a very prominent person. So the Lord puts Peter in a trance and shows him this sheep coming down from heaven, I assume over a table. and covers all the animals, if you'll have it, all the things of the world. And if you'll know anything about the Old Testament, the Jewish people were not allowed to eat of certain food. They couldn't eat pork, and I don't know all the ins and outs of it because, like I said before, I'm a Gentile. I've never been under that law. So Peter, he knew the law, he understood what he could and couldn't eat, and he sees that God has covered this table with a sheet and removes it three times. And the Lord tells Peter, He says, Peter, rise, kill, and eat. Peter says, I'm not doing that, God. I've never eaten of anything that is unclean or uncommon. And the Lord looks at him, and I believe that God looked at him just as sweetly and as softly as you could and said, Peter, everything that I've created, you can't call it unclean anymore. You can't call it common anymore because I've created it. And at that moment, it seems like, well, Caleb, he's talking about food here. He's talking about animals. Church, he's talking about the Gentile people, because at this moment in time, for the majority, the church is made up of that of Jewish people. The followers of Jesus Christ at the time were mostly Jewish. So they're only preaching to their own people. And Cornelius is a centurion. He's of the Italian band. I'm sure he's from Rome. He is a Gentile. And he's on his way. And God is showing Peter, hey, now we can start preaching to the Gentiles. Now we can start preaching Jesus to the people that before were unworthy to be preached to. Church, that ought to fire us up because in this moment, We have an opportunity. I know that it was done on Calvary. Everything was finished on Calvary. But at this moment, Peter is starting to see, hey, this is much bigger than just what's going on here in Israel. This is much bigger than what's going on in Jerusalem and these small groups of people. This could really go to the outermost parts of the world like Jesus said it could, and it would, and that is the moment that, hey, this is much bigger than just Peter. This is much bigger than just an individual. And I don't know all the back story and what goes on after, but I believe that this moment in time when that Cornelius later on in the chapter, him and his family, him and his people come to know Jesus and they are baptized. And it is through that that I'm sure that he starts telling, you know, they talked about they can't help it. I'm sure Cornelius couldn't help it. He couldn't help but tell his friends and his family back in Rome, back wherever he resided, about this man Jesus that was preached to him by Peter. And because God showed Peter that nothing that he created is uncommon, or is common or unclean. Nothing that he created is unworthy. Now, I say that, I'm unworthy. And my individual, I'm unworthy. but through the blood of Jesus Christ and the love and the sacrifice that He made on Calvary, I am clean. I am not uncommon at that point. I am clean and I am made through Him, I am righteous. Not of my own accord. And that's what we've got to understand, churches, is that through Jesus, it's all possible. through Jesus eternity actually sounds like something that would be fun. I know that sounds like the simplest way to put it, but I know as a child, I remember thinking, you know, I don't know that I want, you know, as a small, small child, I didn't know if I wanted to go to heaven because I just want to go to church all the time forever. But as you get older and you start realizing that there is something so much bigger than just sitting in church, but you're actually worshiping and you can see and touch and just witness what God has made that is bigger than all of us, that sounds like something that'd be a lot of fun. That sounds like something I really want to spend forever doing, and through Jesus Christ, I'm able to do that. Now, without Jesus Christ, if I didn't have Jesus Christ, I feel like that Hell would be a little bit more like sitting in church that's deader than a doornail, that's just boring. And I know that may sound bad, but I know that I've been in services and I've been in churches where it just feels like nothing's going on, and it's dry, and it's dead, and it just not... the way that it needs to be done. And I know that hell is described in the Bible, but just that fear of missing out, that knowing what's going on in heaven and just having to sit there in that misery and realizing I had my opportunity. I had my opportunity to be a part of that great feast, that great time that's going on in heaven, but instead I'm here. And I'm here where the fire is not quenched and the worm doth not. I'm here in this hot place, and it is because of my actions and my lack of choosing Jesus Christ that I'm here. That's the sad part. We're all pointed. We're all given the choice. We're all given the opportunity to choose, and thankfully, Thankfully, God intervenes and gives us those opportunities. And church, I hope and pray that I'm not stepping on anybody's toes, but if today is the opportunity for you and the Lord has dealt with you through Bible school, has dealt with you for some time, I know for me it wasn't just a one service and done. I actually spent weeks and thinking about it and one night the Lord came to me as a 13 year old boy in revival and he spoke to me loud and clear, but I had heard the voice of the Lord. I'd heard him speaking to me, but this was the time that it got really real. And friend, maybe you've been here all week at Bible school and you've heard that little voice, and you just go, you know, I'll wait till tomorrow. I'll wait till, you know, we're coming back on Sunday. I'll wait till Sunday. Maybe today is the day. Maybe today is the day that you have to say, hey, I'm done running. You can't push it off any longer. Maybe that is today. And if that is today, I bid you to come. Not so that I can get any glory or anything like that, but that you can know the joy that I feel, and know the joy that Russell has clearly talked about this morning, and the joy that they've sung about, because that joy is greater than anything that this world has to offer. That joy is something that that just almost oozes out of you from time to time, that just overtakes you and makes your day so much better. And you say, Caleb, you're crazy. I've been saved for however long and that ain't never happened to me. Maybe you need to come find your joy, find the Lord again, and not to be resaved, but build that relationship. Maybe this is the day that you just need to pray and say, hey God, I need your help. Because I have plenty of those days. I'm not perfect, I can't speak for anybody else, but I know that there are days, and it seems like day after day after day, there may be a week, two, three week stretch where I have to go, hey God, help me today. I can't do it alone. Because I can't, I'm nothing. But God is the author of all things. He created everything that we know and see. And sometimes the beautiful thing about it is the man who spoke all that we know and see into existence, he just said, let there be light and there was light. He actually wants to hear from you. He actually cares about you individually. and wants to hear from you. It may just be, you know, just the Lord help me, but He wants to hear from you. Y'all come with the song.