00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
I appreciate that. All right,
and praise God for the glory that thrills our soul as believers
and for the joy that is ours. We'll dismiss the children to
go to class with Mrs. Schor. What age is Mrs. Schor?
Seven and under, all right. So if you're seven, six, five,
four, three, two, or one, you can walk. I think, William, you're
just not quite qualified to go to that class. All right, we'll
dismiss them there. Acts chapter 10 in your Bibles.
Good to see you this morning. Praise God for our church. And
these are exciting days, really fun days for us and really special
times that we're going to look back on and say, hey, remember
when? And we're going to have all those memories made together
in this place that God's given to us and in the work that God's
doing as God's growing the church and working in our hearts and
lives. I've shared before that my boys and I enjoy watching
documentaries, how it's made, Legos factory, or helicopters,
the carbon fiber blades and things that go into them, or expensive
automobiles like Bentleys, handcrafted, wood stored at certain temperatures,
and then each dash is just custom designed, all that kind of stuff.
I saw a TV documentary, and I think I've told you about it before,
but it's about the President of the United States and an airplane
that he flies on. The airplane is called Air Force
One. And I kind of gave it away by
the way I said that, but if I were to ask you what is Air Force
One, most people would say that it's the President's plane. And
that's partly true, but it's actually the plane that the president
is on, when he steps on that plane, it becomes Air Force One,
because there's actually two identical planes. And so if you
look at the hangar where Air Force One supposedly is kept,
which it's not Air Force One when he's not on it, but they're
sitting there, identical planes, everything about them is the
same, he can get in either one. One, I guess, could be a decoy
or one could fly ahead if there's turbulent weather and find the
ideal place to fly and things like that as they go on these
trips. It's really interesting, you
know, to get on that plane and to see it, the president's office,
you know, to see the staff that are there, to see the soundproof
conference room that they have on board so they can have very
important high-level meetings in the air. As they're flying
there's 40. I think so 40 phone lines. They're there some are
encrypted some are not you got all the people down there You
know doing the encryption on those lines as it's happening
Military pilots military staff. It's all it's all military, but
they they fly in civilian clothes so they kind of blend in when
they get to whatever destination that they're going to It's got
a full kitchen with real knives and real fire. They actually
have real food and things like that, not airplane food that
they're eating. And as you watch this documentary, I think I'll
show it to you sometime, you can come over to my house. But one of the amazing
things is that All the work that goes into getting ready for something.
I kind of thought about it, you know, with the building here.
We're going to put in all this work and somebody's going to
come and they're just going to see a wall that's beautiful and
they're not going to think about it. Not going to realize everything
that went into making that wall beautiful or the work that went
in outside or things like that. Sometimes we just don't really
think about what goes into something. And to get ready for a presidential
trip, There's 200 people that fly ahead a couple weeks ahead
to that location, whatever that nation is. And they begin to
prepare for the arrival of the president and that plane. They
mark out on the tarmac the exact point where that front wheel
is going to stop. The plane, by the way, arrives right at
that moment. It pulls up right at that moment. It parks right
at that moment. Everything is done very to the clock. There's
undercover food purchases that take place. civilian clothes
that they go out in to shop for the food that they're going to
prepare. They test the jet fuel. They lock it up, you know, and
secure it, make sure nobody can tamper with it, things like that.
And then they've got C-130 cargo jets that bring over everything,
including all the vehicles that they're going to use, including
the beast, the President's limo, that's also a blast shield in
case there's an attack or something like that. And so you look at
this thing, and you just go, wow, I didn't realize. I just
thought maybe he went to that place, he arrived, and that was
it. That went into it. And so we don't think about things
like that. But without preparation, the president's arrival would
be postponed. And you might think, well, big deal. This is the president
of the United States. But when one of the premier world
leaders arrives in a country, he's there. to negotiate deals
with that nation, and it's to the benefit of that nation that
he's there. So say they're not ready, and they say, hey, we're
not ready, then the president can't come, can't come, can't
be a blessing or help, or whatever negotiation that needs to take
place with that nation. It doesn't happen because whatever
was not prepared was not ready. You know, this warning I believe
this. I believe God desires to come
to Lone Head and do a great work at SFBC as well as in our community. That there are things that he
desires to do that would be really good for our area. If I asked
today, how many of you think it's important that God come
to Lone Head? You know, in the sense that I'm speaking about,
that God do a significant work here, that he really show himself
as in the idea that he has arrived here, that he is here, that he
is present, that he's working. I think all of us would say,
hey, Lone Head really needs that. You know, I know that this area
needs the gospel. I know that this area needs God
to do a significant work. But I also do not believe that
God is going to do the work that God, I believe, intends to do
or desires to do if as a church or as a people, as believers,
we don't get ready. There has to be groundwork that
goes into this idea like, hey, we desire God to do great work.
We really want God to come here and to do something very significant
in this area. But if we don't leave the work
and don't get ready, I just wonder if God, even though he desires
to come, he can't really come in the way that he desires to
because we're not prepared for God to work. And so that's the
idea I wanna look at with you this morning from the Word of
God, Acts chapter 10, is we need to get ready for God to work.
As a church, we really desire to see God do something significant. And I think there's some things
that we can look at in Acts chapter 10 where God is working incredibly.
Because what you see in Acts chapter 10 is a revival that
takes place, not just in the family of a man that gets saved,
but in the surrounding area as neighbors get saved, other people
get saved. God does something significant, but there were some
things going on ahead of time. that made it possible for God
to work. So I want to clue in on those things today and really
kind of look at those things and say, are those happening?
Or if they're not, can we make them happen? All right, can we
look at that and say, all right, I'll take that on board. I can do
that, I can do that, I can do that, because that's gonna help
God to work in our area. So let's pray. I say, Spirit
of God, help us to become the Word of God. Father, thank you.
for your grace to us. We've had a fun morning already.
We had a fun day yesterday at the work day and I just want
to praise you for the work that was accomplished yesterday and
each one that came out and participated in that and the fun and the camaraderie
and the things that we enjoyed. I thank you for all your working
today. Lord, there's so many blessings already in our hearts
that our hearts are full of the goodness of God and it's been
a blessing already to be in the house of God. But finally, as
we look at this text and we consider what is happening in Father,
I ask that the Spirit of God would help us to look out in
our area and say, you know what, God needs to work here. We really
need God to come and to do a dynamic work. But I think, Father, in
my own personal study, you spoke in my heart about some things
in this text that we can look at and say, you know what, if
God's gonna work, then I've gotta get ready for God to work. And
I pray that on a personal level, Lord, as individuals before you,
I pray that on a family level, I pray that, Father, as a church,
as the local assembled body of Christ here in this area, I pray,
Lord God, that we be everything that we could be for you. I can't
speak without your enablement. I do ask that the Spirit of God
would guide me as I speak, that what I say would be pleasing
in your sight is in Christ's name I pray, amen. All right,
so we need to get ready for God to work. So to get ready, we
need to get in step with God, all right? Get in step with Him.
So Peter's in Caesarea at Cornelius' house. We're kind of jumping
into this story where we've already read it, that Cornelius was praying,
God said, send for Peter. He sent for Peter, Peter came.
Peter's there at Cornelius' house because Peter was in step with
God. The Bible says in Amos 3.3, can two walk together except
they be agreed? You're not going to go with anybody
anywhere. You're not going to walk down
the street with anybody that doesn't want to go where you're going. They're
not going to be walking with you. Dr. Doolittle had a fictional,
you know, that story. Dr. Doolittle, there's a fictional
character called the Push Me, Pull You, and it's got two heads. It's going two different directions.
It doesn't really work. I mean, that's not together. Together it's like I'm in step
with you, and obviously God walks with us when we walk with Him,
right? God's going somewhere. He's gonna
be walking a certain way. The path of righteousness is
where Jesus is going to be. So really, it's us agreeing with
Him. And to get there, we've got to
get in step with God. How do we do that? Well, Peter
was in step with God because Peter was teachable. He was somebody
that was teachable. Look at verse 25. It says, and
as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his
feet and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying,
Stand up, I myself also am a man. And as he talked with him, he
went in and found many that were come together. And he said unto
them, You know how that is an unlawful thing for a man that's
a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation. But
God hath showed me, he's teachable, that I should not call any man
common or unclean. You know, for Peter to get into
that Gentile man's house, God had to overcome tremendous prejudice
that was in the heart of Peter. It was from his culture. I mean,
the Jews were separated, and part of that was God-ordained.
Part of that was real Old Testament come out from among them, be
separate, say, but Lord, touch not the unclean thing. There
are gonna be differences. Judaism took that to another
level where there was a real separation from anybody that's
a Gentile, that there's gonna be uncleanness about that. But
God began to work in Peter's heart in such a way that even
though it's a little bit like rubbing a cat the wrong way,
Peter's like, okay. He submitted to it. Why? Because
he is teachable. Now God did it very clearly.
God gave him a dream, if you know the story. It's a dream,
and Peter's in a trance in the middle of the day. You could
say a daydream. He's up on the rooftop. He's
hungry, and God lures down in his dream a sheep that has all
these unclean animals in it, and God says, Arise, Peter, kill
and eat. And there's pork there, there's pigs there. Peter goes,
no, no, no, I'm a good Jew. I've never eaten anything that's
unclean like that because God had said you're not to eat these
that are, you know, the clove and hoof thing, or if they chew
the cup and they don't do this. And there were all these dietary
rules that they had to follow. That's called the ceremonial
law. It's not the moral law. The moral law is that sin, all
right? The ceremonial law is God said
to do this. You gotta obey God because God said to do this.
And there are a lot of kind of almost ritualistic things that
they did in obedience to God, but God said, hey, that ceremonial
law that's done. Arise, Peter, kill and eat. Praise
God. If you're having pork today for
lunch, that's okay, because God said it's okay. Arise, Peter,
kill and eat. And so God gives Peter this dream,
and he looks at it and says, okay, God has showed me that
I should not call any man common or unclean. You know, let me
ask you this morning, will you do what's against the grain for
you to do if God says that's what you're supposed to do? It
might be against the grain for you to knock on somebody's door.
I mentioned the tracks that are back there. It might be against
the grain for you to give somebody a track. That's not really me,
Pastor. It's kind of uncomfortable for me to confront somebody,
or it's uncomfortable for me to speak to them about the gospel,
or it's uncomfortable for me to dress differently in the world. I'm going to go out in the world,
and they're going to see me, and they're going to go, who are you? You
must be a Christian, because you don't dress like we dress. It's uncomfortable
maybe to change our language, change our actions, the places
we go, the places that we don't go. But if we're so unteachable,
God says, hey, this is what I want you to do. We go, all right,
God. It's all right. And so he was teachable. He got
in step with God. And then Peter was in step with
God because he was guideable, if that's a word. Guideable.
Verse 29. Therefore came I unto you without
gain, saying, I didn't argue about it. As soon as I was sent
for, I asked therefore for what intent you have sent for me.
Okay, Peter responded immediately to God. Okay, God said, you're
to go with these men, you're not to ask any questions, just
go with them. And so he did, he gets there and he goes, what
is this about as he got there? Now again, with Peter, God had
to prove it to him that was God. I mentioned the dream that Peter
had, but I refer to that again here in verse 17. If you look
at it, Peter saw that happen, but after it happens, he kind
of begins to question, is it my hunger that's causing me to
think this, or what's going on? So verse 17, now Peter doubted
in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean. Behold,
the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for
Simon's house, and stood before the gate, and called and asked
whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. While
Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold,
three men seek thee, arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with
them, doubting nothing. I have sent them. All right,
so God's Peter doubted himself. What's what's going on here?
And then the Bible says that he thought on the vision again
He's trying to figure it out But then God very clearly says
go with them doubting nothing for I have sent them again as
God speaks us if God makes it very clear Am I somebody that's
guideable? You know somebody that says hey
this I know what David said I will run the way of thy commandments
When thou shalt enlarge my heart God, if you make it clear that
it's of you, then God, I will. I will do this. Hudson Taylor
did this when he got saved. The great missionary that went
to China. This is about him after his conversion, there was peace
and joy in Hudson's heart and in his gratitude, he offered
himself to God to work wherever he might. Then go for me to China,
God said. The call seemed as clear as if
God had spoken in an audible voice and the young man did not
hesitate. He told a Sunday school teacher
of his call and was encouraged and given a copy of the gospel
of Luke in a Chinese dialect. He tried to prepare himself in
every possible way for the life of a missionary. He gave up his
feather bed and other things he had enjoyed so that he would
be used to a rugged life. Plenty of outdoor exercise made
him stronger in body and Christian work strengthened his soul. He
felt that if he wanted to win souls in China, he must begin
at home. So he distributed tracts, taught a Sunday school class,
called in the sick and the poor, and did everything he could to
find to do for God. He went doubting nothing. As
God spoke to his heart, he's like, right, I'm on that path,
I'm gonna follow that completely. Again, as we look at our life,
somebody that's teachable, God says, this is what I say, and
we go, I got that, God. Somebody that's guideable, God
says, this is where I want you to go, this is what I want you to do,
and we go, right, that's where I'm going to go. What is that?
That's getting in step with God. Again, as we look at our church,
we say, God, There's a great need for you to work in Lone
Head, and we really desire, God, that you do a great work. Well,
part of that is us just saying to God, God, I am going to be
in step with you. And then secondly, to get ready,
we need to get serious with God. We need to get serious with God. You know, do you really want
God to work in your life, in your family? in your community,
in your church? I mean, we gotta ask ourselves
that question. Do I really desire that? I mean, is that even on
my radar? Is that something that I really desire God to do? When
we look at Hudson Taylor, we know he's serious about what
God's gonna do in his life, because you see things changing in his
life. On a physical level, he's preparing himself. On a spiritual
level, he's preparing himself. You know, somebody can know if
somebody's earnest about sports, right? Somebody can know if somebody's
earnest about hobbies, if they're earnest about their work, if
they're earnest about, you know, their garden, if they're earnest
about their dress or the way they look or things like that.
You can tell that that is really something that somebody is in
earnest about. I was wondering this morning,
what spiritual evidence can we offer to show that we're sincerely
desirous of God's working? I mean, what can we say to God?
God, you can tell that I'm really serious about seeing you work
because this is something that is in my life. And let's look
at this story, because I think there's things that we can look
at about Cornelius' life that we go, you know, he is serious
about seeing God work. And so get serious with God by
fasting. It says in verse 30, and Cornelius
says, four days ago, I was fasting until this hour. He's not even
a New Testament believer. He's not even born again at this
point. He's kind of like an Old Testament believer that believes
the Messiah is coming, he's praying to God, he's devout, he's got
this walk with God, but he doesn't know about Jesus Christ, he doesn't
know about salvation by faith in Christ and Christ alone, and
he's crying out to God, and he's fasting as he does that, he sets
aside food to seek God. Now let me just say, there's
a fast that does not please God, and that's this, if I fast but
I'm not in obedience to God, right? Like, I can't kind of
earn favor with God, get bonus points with God, if I'm just
fasting and there's things in my life that aren't right with
God. That doesn't please God anymore. You know, what God wants
to obey is better than to sacrifice, right? To hearken than the fat
of rams. But if I'm right with God, then fasting is great to
say to God, God, I'm serious about seeking you. I'm serious
about finding you. You know, if you ask most people,
When's the last time you did without food? What would they
probably say? Well, hey, it's either been a
long time or I had this medical thing that was happening and
I had to fast or maybe it's a diet that I'm on and there's some
diets right now where you fast and you only eat between certain
hours, maybe something like that. But I wonder where are the believers
that would say, you know, I'm so desirous of seeing God working
by himself, my family, my church. my community that I have set
aside food for 24 hours, 48 hours, 36 hours, whatever to seek God
and to see God work. You know, I'm concerned as we
look at the church in our day that we've forgotten that this
is biblical, that there are times that we need to fast. And even
recently, you might remember the message that we looked at
of Ezra and Ezra's taking all that money and all those people
through a wilderness journey to get to Jerusalem to rebuild
the temple. He doesn't want to ask the king
for help because he's talked to the king about how great his
God is, how capable God is. And so the Bible says that they
fasted for three days by the river. They got serious about
seeking God's blessing upon that trip. Remember Esther, before
she entered into King Ahasuerus and risked her life, but there
was a lot at stake. The Jews' lives were at stake.
Her life was at stake if she walked in, but all the Jews were
gonna be killed because wicked Haman had made this ungodly law
about exterminating the Jews, and she's gotta go in there.
What'd she say? She says, let's fast, because this is vital,
that we have God's blessing. You know, if I ask the average
Christian today, do you see any need to fast? If I were really
to ask that question, do you see any need to fast? I'm just
scared that a lot of believers are like, it's fine, it's okay. And maybe, and I hope that our
church understands this aspect of what I say, but somebody can
say, I'm fine with the way the church is. I'm fine about people
hating God. You know what I'm saying? Like
we could as a church just be used to it. That's the way it
is. It's the last days. You know, it's fine, but we got to ask
ourselves, you know, kind of like, it's time for thee, Lord,
to work, for they have made boy thine long. We're living in an
incredibly ungodly day. We're living in a day where Christianity
even has become very shallow, very kind of, if I could just
say this, Sunday morning only. It's like, well, that's enough.
Listen, there's a lot of unbelievers that give God that much, so I
understand they're not really giving it to God. There's no
heart for souls. There's no real passion to see
God work. Does that make sense? And so
if we looked at around today, I think we could look at families
that are being destroyed by sin, Christian families. Christian
families that are ending in divorce, Christian families where the
young people are not growing up to be godly and to live for God.
There ought to be something in our heart that says, God, we've
got to see you work. But there we could say, am I
serious about seeing God work? When's the last time I said,
I'm just going to give up some food so that I could show God
I am serious about that. We have got to see God work. Get serious with God about fasting. And then get serious with God
by prayer. It says that at the ninth hour I prayed in my house.
And behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said,
Cornelius, thy prayer is heard. Acts 10 verse 2, a devout man,
one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms
to the people. And he prayed to God always. And so Cornelius is earnestly
seeking God's help by fasting and what? He's praying. And he's getting on his knees.
He's seeking the face of God. He is absolutely desirous of
seeing God work. You know, the ninth hour that
it speaks about, he was praying until, that's 3 p.m. I imagine
he started in the morning. That he's been praying all day,
seeking God. God, we've gotta see you work. You gotta work
in my family. You gotta work in my neighbors,
in this area. And he's seeking God by prayer
and fasting. I don't want you to answer this
question out loud, but does it really matter how long we pray?
It's kind of an interesting question, isn't it? It doesn't really matter
how long we pray. Our family has enjoyed going
to the Dunhill League's golf tournament, and we haven't done
it for a few years. I don't think since COVID, but
you go there, and it's a pro-am tournament. There are major professionals
that are in that tournament, and when they're done with their
rounds, you can get their autographs. And so people queue up there
to get those autographs. My boys and I, we enjoy doing
that, so we'll be standing there having them sign hats, sign different
things. Don Dillman, if you know him,
Pastor Dillman from Livingston, he's not that interested in that.
He might stand there for a second with us, and then he goes and
gets a coffee. There's other guys that, that's their business.
They get those autographs, they sell them on eBay, they make
a ton of money. And I mean, those guys get there probably super
early. They stay super late. The golfers know them by name
or something like that, because they're always there, you know,
to get those autographs from them. You know, what person of
the three, my boys, Don Gilman, or those autograph hounds, are
going to get the most autographs? The guys there, they're the longest,
right? Because they're earnest about it. They're there. And
so if they're there, they're going to get the autographs. Why? Because
they're present and asking and requesting those things. You
know, if I asked this morning, who's going to get more answers
to prayer? Somebody that prays five minutes and with hardly
a thought or somebody that's serious about seeking guidance,
beginning to put some time into prayer. Somebody that's serious
and saying, hey, I gotta get to God, I gotta see God work. You know, Jesus was serious about
prayer. Matthew 26, verse 40, he cometh unto his disciples,
he findeth them asleep, he saith unto Peter, what could ye not
watch with me? You remember the answer? One
hour. And see, a lot of us would say,
pastor, are you serious? Are you asking us to spend an
hour in prayer? And Jesus just kind of comes back to his men.
These men were leaders in the church. He said, hey guys, could
you not watch with me one hour? No, they were tired and they
were struggling, but Jesus is gonna have a three hour prayer
meeting right before he goes to the cross. And when he finds
the future of the church, these men are there and he challenges
them in their prayer life. And so he gets serious by fasting,
gets serious by prayer. and they get serious with God
by generosity, by generosity. It says, and thy alms are had
in remembrance in the sight of God. Okay, alms are donations
to God or to others. It said, be benevolent and to
be generous in that which we have. Acts 10, verse two, it
says about Cornelius, a devout man, and one that feared God
with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and
he prayed to God always. He was a generous man, for God
and for God's work, he would take what he had and he would
use that for the Lord. It's interesting that God sees
this man's testimony of his giving, isn't it? As God comes to him
and looks at him and says, I see you're serious, you're fasting,
you're praying, and he notices that he is benevolent in that
which he is giving to God and to God's word. You know, Matthew
6, 24 says no man can serve two masters. For either he will hate
the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one
and despise the other. You cannot serve God in manhood. There are some that would say,
I really want to serve God, but I really like these things, or
I really focus on this about earning money or earning an income,
and I just don't have time to do those things. The Bible says
no man can serve two masters. One of those things is going
to be preeminent. Back in the days when they kept
checkbooks and ledgers, I heard creatures say, show me a man's
checkbook and I'll show you what that man loves. It's true. You can look at somebody's
checkbook and say, hey, they love sports. They love things. You just look there and say,
what has captured my heart? What I invest in is the thing,
the very thing that has captured my heart. How does what I give
show that I'm serious about the things of God? Praise God. I praise God for our church and
the giving that is in our church. We had Barry Webb, evangelist
here. We had Fausto and Maria Pia that were with us going to
Italy. And I just praise God for the generosity of God's people
that gave. But how did you respond when it was an opportunity to
give? Is that exciting to get to give to God and give generously
to God's work? We've got tithes and offerings here at our church.
The tithe is the Lord's. God's blessed us with 100%. And
it's good for us to give back 10% to God and to God's work
for the local church. You know, how do I view that?
Does God see that I am generous with what I give to God's work? And again, somebody could say,
well, pastor, surely, you know, money isn't connected to my heart.
You're trying to say that there's a spiritual aspect about finance,
but Jesus absolutely connects it to our heart when he said
to the rich young ruler that he lacked one thing. He said,
go and sell what you have and give to the poor. And then he
said, come and follow me. Why? Because where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. And I'll tell you this,
as a preacher, would I love to see God's people being generous.
And if you think that as a pastor, that my primary idea with that
is that I'm burdened to see, you know, get somebody's into
somebody's pocketbook or something like that for the church, that
would be incorrect. Because as I, as you look at
the word of God, what you find is that if God's really got our
hearts, then he's got our finance. that they're intertwined. And
I know this too, that God will bless those that take of their
resources and invest it in God's word. Given it shall be given
unto you good measure, pressed down and shaken together. gentlemen
given to your bosom for with the same nature that you meet
with all it shall be measured to you again and again the Bible
says for where your treasure is there will your heart be also
and God loved the cheerful giver and I would say this if anybody
hears that you know me preach ever on finance or anything like
that thing I don't want to give anything to God I would say that
person do not give anything to God because that's not what God
desires God desires us to look at and say you want I am a part
of this I want to invest in this This is for God and for God's
glory. And I love the things of God. And so this morning,
again, we want God to work, get serious with God by fasting prayer
and by generosity. Then thirdly, this morning, To
get ready with God, for God to work, we need to get in the house
of God. We need to get in the house of
God. You know, we're living in a day where hearing from God
is not exciting or interesting. It's not something that really
thrills a lot of people today, the idea of going to a church
or something like that. Sports is interesting. We get
excited about that, right? Yesterday was a big football
game, I guess, here in Scotland. And I mean, there are a lot of
people you saw, William was with me, we're driving around and you
see the guys in their kilts. They're all excited about that.
But I bet today, as you go by the church houses, that you're
not seeing cars parked that deeply, you know, because there's not
a lot of excitement about that. News is interesting to people.
Entertainment is interesting. They can take hours to follow
entertainment. If I were to ask today, why is
God's house so unappealing? I think the answer would be we've
lost our appetite for it. We've lost that desire for God's
word. Matthew 5, 6 says, Blessed are
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. Katie and I went on a date on
Thursday night, I think it was, and it was the 13th anniversary
of our arrival in Scotland as a family. You know, we ate at
a place called Bread Meets Bread. Have you eaten there? All right,
it's at Fort Kinnear. This is a little bit of a commercial.
It was awesome. And the sandwich I got was called
the Luther Burger, and it was a glazed donut on the top, meat,
cheese, some honey mustard, and a glazed donut on the bottom.
And it was really, really good. I've got an appetite for that,
and I have a desire to go back and to eat that again. And I
just again, as we think about spiritual things this morning,
blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. If you ask me, Pastor, you want
to go eat that again? Absolutely. But do you have an appetite for
the word of God? Do you get excited at night? It's time to go to
bed. I'm read my Bible when I go to bed. I'm looking forward to
that. It's hey, church day. Church is open. I'm excited about
that. I want to get to the house of
God. I want to feed on the word of God. I want to take it in
and let God work in my heart. Jeremiah 15 verse 16 says, Thy
words were found and that I did eat them. And that word was unto
me, the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by
thy name, O Lord, God of hosts. I didn't eat them. It satisfied
me. It was what I needed. You know, I praise God as a preacher.
I don't, as your pastor, I don't want to be dull or unprepared
or, you know, I want to give my best as we come to the services. But I can take comfort in the
fact that God has spoken from a donkey before. God has spoken
from babies before. Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings hast thou ordained strength. that God uses weak
things, things that are not to bring to naught, things that
are. I want to do my best as pastor and pray for me, please,
as I prepare to preach God help pastor to understand the word
of God and be able to give us the food of the word of God.
But what I can't ever give to our church is an appetite for
the things of God. If you ever try to Just think
about trying to get somebody to really desire something if
there's no desire there that that we got to ask God God give
us in our church that Desire the appetite for the truth of
the Word of God that just wants to take in the truth of the Word
of God And so if we want to get ready, we need to get to the
house of God get ready for preaching and It says in verse 32, send
therefore to Joppa and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter. He's lodged in the house of one
Simon of Tanner by the seaside, who when he cometh shall speak
unto thee. Yeah, as he called for Peter,
Peter wasn't going to come with a praise band. He wasn't going
to come, you know, with a truth that we're going to put on a
play or something like that, a drama. He wasn't going to come
and try to physically excite the people and whip them up into
some frothy emotion. Peter was coming with a message
from God. He was going to stand there. He was going to say, let
me tell you about Jesus Christ. I've noticed at times that people
don't like preaching. I don't mean that in our congregation
here. I mean that in witnessing. You ever speak to somebody about
the gospel and they say, don't preach at me? Don't preach at
me. And this happened yesterday as
I was witnessing to somebody here in our church. As soon as
I would quote scripture, there's a reaction and aversion to that.
It just wants to step back from that. Why? Because they don't
want to hear an authoritative message from God. 1 Corinthians
1.18 says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved is the power
of God. There's something that as a believer, like the preaching
is preeminent, the lifting up of the word of God is preeminent. 1 Corinthians 1.21, for after
that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. There ought to be some excitement
again in our hearts that we just, God, by your grace, I want to
be there in the house of God to hear the word of God. We're
coming up to men's camp in the 13th through the 15th. We're
going to have opportunity to have something like three to
four sessions a day of preaching. One of the greatest things about
men's camp is sitting under the word of God, assembling before
God. It says in verse 33, It says,
immediately, therefore, I sent to thee, and thou hast well done
that thou art come. Now, therefore, are we all here present before
God? Cornelius wasn't just there by
himself, but he had assembled his friends and his neighbors
to come and to hear the word of God. Verse 24 says, And tomorrow,
after they entered into Caesarea, and Cornelius waited for them,
and had called together his kinsmen and his near friends. Cardenas
is like, we're going to hear from God tomorrow. This man's
coming. I know this. He's been praying. He's been
fasting. You got to come. You got to be here to hear the
word of God. You know, we're reading as a
family about God working on the Isle of Lewis, and they spoke
about the Wednesday prayer meeting was more attended than the Sunday
morning service before the revival took place, when the revival
happened. That their midweek service had a greater congregation
than the Sunday morning service used to have because people just
got burdened about assembling to hear from God. They're all
present before God. Sadly, right now, there's a lot
of churches that are canceling services. Nobody comes. Why have a Sunday night service?
Why have a Wednesday night service? You know, and why have a Sunday
school hour? And pretty soon, why have a weekly meeting? You
know, it's just like churches are cutting back and cutting
back. And yet the word of God says that we're to do the otherwise
when it comes to the last days. The Bible says in Hebrews 10,
25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a manner
of some ends, but exhorting one another and so much the more
as you see the day approaching. God's Word teaches us that we
ought to say, by God's grace, we're going to keep the services.
That we're going to be here in the house of God. They were assembled,
and they get ready to hear from God. It says in verse 33, to
hear all things that are commanded thee of God. All right, we're
here not to hear partial truth. We're not here to hear a little
bit of truth or truth that makes us feel good, maybe about ourselves,
but we are here because we desire to say, what does God say about
this? What is God's message to us? In the Southern United States,
they're very verbal in the way that they respond during the
preaching of the word of God. They'll say things like, preach
it, when it gets a difficult truth. They'll say, come on preacher. They'll say amen. They'll say
basically encourage the preacher to in a sense step on our toes. If that's what we need, step
on our toes to help us to be more like Christ, to help us
to get that message from the word of God. 2 Timothy 4.3 says,
for the time will come when they will not endure our sound doctrine. shall they heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears. You know, in our day, do we stand
in a day where people really say, preach or preach it as it
is, or are there a lot of people today that would say, I don't
want to hear about sin, I don't want to hear about faithfulness
to God, I don't want to hear about really having a life that's
dedicated to God, I don't want to really hear a message that
says, my life needs to change, or I need to put some, the rubber
meet the road in my Christian walk. There's a lot of people
that would just draw back from that and say, that's not why I go
to church, I just want to hear about God, I want to hear about
who God is or how great God is. I want a message of hope. I want
a message of love. And yet so many times as believers,
what we really need is by the grace of God, maybe a coaching
session where God speaks to us and say, look, you could be so
much more for God. And God just begins to work in
our hearts about these areas, about being more for Christ. You know, again, this morning,
is that something that's in my heart where I can just say to
God, God, I'm assembled to hear everything that you desire to
teach me. To get ready, we need to be in
the house of God. And then to get ready, we need
to be in tune with God. We need to be in tune with God.
I don't have time to preach Peter's message this morning, but Peter
preaches a message of peace and of power and of purity and of
pardon. And I think what we'll do for
sake of time that maybe we'll come back to this text next week
and look at it and study it more out, but to consider this message
that Peter had to preach that there is strength that our world
needs. We'll put up a sign that asks
that question, is there really peace? Is there really hope? We met somebody this past week
that came and said, My life got shattered last year. There was
an incident that happened in this man's life that just kind
of destroyed him, put him on a path that took him to drink
and just shattered his life. As I heard what he said, I just
thought, you know, there's a lot of people that in our area that
need Christ. And they need the message that
Peter had to preach. They ought to be the person that's
fasting. They ought to be the person that's praying. They ought to
be the person that is absolutely seeking after God, saying, God,
you've got to work in my life. And you know, they're probably
out there somewhere that there's someone crying out and saying,
I'd love to have God just kind of break through in my life.
But they don't have that message that we preach. And so this morning,
I'll just, I'll end here this morning. We'll come back maybe
to this text next week. But as I watched that video and
see the president coming and what he's gonna do and realize
everything that goes into that, for that to take place, how important
it is that they get ready. And as I look at this text this
morning, I look at a story and I go, wow, God, you've worked
incredibly in coordinating us in this life. But there were
things that were taking place that they were getting ready
for God to work. And so this morning, am I in
step with God? Am I something that is teachable, where the
Spirit of God says something, I say, God, I get that, I see
that. Am I guideable, where the Spirit of God speaks to my heart,
like, okay, that's where I want you to go, that I say to God,
okay, God, that's where I'm gonna go. Am I serious with God? Is there fasting taking place
in my life? God, we've gotta see work in our family, we've
gotta see work in our church. What about prayer? What about
generosity giving? and then getting to the house
of God, assembling and encouraging others to attend and giving attention
to the word of God. And again, I praise God for our
church. What my desire would be this morning is not to discourage
us, but encourage us. Not to tear us down, but build
us up and say, you know what, by God's grace, God desires to
do a great work in this area, but for God to do a great work,
we as a church got to get serious. We as a church got to get ready.
We as a church need to be everything that we can be by God's grace
so that we can see God. And so may God just take that
message to our hearts here this morning. Let's pray and ask God's
blessing upon him. Father, I thank you for the word
of God this morning. I thank you for the story and
life of Cornelius. I feel like I presented it not as well as I'd like to present
it. Because Father, as I look at
this text, it stirs my heart. Father, it reminds me that God
is able. And Father, in our church, I know that we're still growing
as an assembly, we're still really gathering some steam, as it were,
and there's some great things that are happening, and I do
not want to discourage us this morning. But Father, I pray that there
would be something in our heart that says, you know, God desires
to do a great work in this area. And Father, just to stop and
think, what can I do to help God with that? Well, am I teachable?
Am I guideable? And Father, to answer that, we'd
have to answer the question, well, what have I done that I
didn't really want to do, but I did it because God said to
do it? And then Father, to think about, you know, am I serious
about it? How's my prayer line? Do I fast? Am I generous to God
and to God's work? Am I investing in what God desires
to do? And Father, and then, am I assembling? If we knew that tonight at 6
p.m. the Spirit of God was gonna do
an incredible work in those that were gathered here, Father, would
we call our friends, would we invite our neighbors and say,
I'm gonna be at the house of God, I want you to be there with
me because God's gonna do a great work, we're gonna hear from God?
And it wasn't the preacher, it was just the message of the truth
of God. And Father, is there a desire in our hearts to say,
you know, go ahead, step on my toes, it's okay. It's okay, because
I want to hear from God. Father, I pray that as a church,
there'll be something in the hearts of our people that would
just cry out for that and say, you know what, I don't want pastor
to tone it down. And Father, I want to be a gracious
preacher. I want to be a loving preacher. but I don't wanna feel
like I have to hide the truth of the word of God ever from
our church, because I know that maybe somebody would come to
our church and they really don't wanna do that, or they really
don't wanna follow that, and so I'm gonna hide what God says
in his word. But Father, if we seek to please
men, we're not pleasing God. I pray that you'd help me be
gracious. I pray that our church would be burdened to pray for
me as pastor, and I need it. Oh, I need it. And Father, I
confess I need it. Father, rather than maybe preaching
a good message this morning, I really desire us just to, in
our hearts, just look at the Word of God and say, that's New
Testament. God could do that here. God could
save souls here. Father, when's the last time
we saw somebody saved in our church? When's the last time
we saw Scott saved? When's the last time we saw the
Spirit of God just break through in our ministry? Father, what
about our prayer meetings on Wednesday night when we gather
together to pray? Father, this last Wednesday night, we couldn't
have our Bible study, we didn't have people. And Father, I don't
say that against anybody. I understand there's gonna be
times we can't come. I understand there's gonna be sickness, there's
gonna be conflicts with work, there's gonna be maybe a broken
down vehicle, there's gonna be all sorts of things. I understand
that. But I believe that you want us
to have Wednesday night. I believe you want us to have
Sunday night. And Father, I believe you want us to have Sunday school.
And Father, I confess, I am weak. I am so weak. Father, these days
that we've gone through, and I want to praise you, you brought
us out into a wealthy place, but I confess before the church this morning
that in the last three months, I've had the toughest days of
my ministry ever. And Father, I've been tested
and tried. I don't know if I've succeeded in everything, but
I mean, just the responsibility of taking on this facility, the
pressure from the community against our church and against our position. And Father, my burden is not even so much
our ministry. My burden is the fact that Midlothian
needs Christ. Father, my burden is that everyone
needs Christ. And Father, I pray, my greatest
prayer would be just, Spirit of God, please, I pray, help
us. Work in our hearts. I love our church family. I love
every single one. I love them, I do. I love them
to death. I pray, God, your richest blessing
on them individually. I pray your richest blessing
on their families. I pray, Father, that they would
have a great life. I pray they'd have great finances.
I pray they'd have great houses. I pray they'd have great things.
But my prayer, God, make us godly. God, give us grace to really
just be on fire for God. Father, we need deacons in our
church. We need leadership. Father, the early church, we
can study it out. Acts chapter one, they was in
need. They had to have people to provide for the feeding of the Grecian
widows. But there were men that were called of God to that ministry. morning but when God works there's
extra work to be done we did that yesterday you worked you
gave us a building well there's a lot of extra work with that
but I didn't come with a gardener it didn't come with a secretary
it didn't come with somebody to clean it it didn't come with
anything other than here's the building it's our responsibility
but you worked praise God by the minibus. The lights out this
morning. The tire was flat last week. We're thankful for it. You gave it to us, but it's a
blessing from God. God, you worked, but it's a responsibility,
and so there's work to be done. And so Father, even as we cry
out this morning, and again, I feel inept this morning. I
feel inadequate this morning. But Father, when we pray and
say God save our neighbors, God save these little girls like
Kamiah and these kids and people that desire to come to church.
It takes work, Father, to get them here. It takes work to disciple
them. It takes work to minister to
them. It takes work to be faithful and to get to the house of God
and to be somebody that could be accounted upon. And Father,
I'm a pastor, but I'm a person. My wife is a pastor's wife, but
she's a person. Father, we are not SC super Christians
because I've been called to preach, or I've been led into the ministry,
or God has guided us here, or God, you have answered prayer,
providing this excellent facility. Father, we are nothing without
God. And Father, it's the same for everybody. We stand on equal
ground today. Father, I'm not greater than anybody in our church,
and I'm not better prepared to be a godly person than anybody
other in our church, except by the grace of God and the maturity
that you've given me through personal Bible study, personal
decisions, personal consecration, personal commitment. And Father,
I am what I am by the grace of God, and I'm not beyond or above
anything. And so I just pray this morning,
my greatest prayer. Father, my biggest prayer is
revival. My biggest prayer is, oh God,
work. I pray, oh God, work. Father, I would love it. I would
love it, Father, to have the hearts of God's people rise up
and say, I am gonna be counted for Christ. And I, again, I'm
not looking down at anybody this morning and thinking they are
not what they should be for God. I know we are at different levels
of spiritual experience and understanding, but I pray, oh God, that your
spirit would just touch the hearts of this group. Here we are, Father,
before you. I pray 10 years from now, Father,
if we look back and say that's the leadership of our church,
because God worked, because God did something incredible, because
the Spirit of God stirred. I would love it, Father, if some
that are here right now would be called of God into ministry,
that your Spirit would just speak to their heart about serving
God. Father, I'm just maybe burying my heart a little bit this morning,
and again, I just I want to challenge us. I want
to help us because someday I'm going to stand before God and
I'm going to give an account to God for how our church is
responding. It is not okay for me ever to
look at our people and say I'm just going to accept that that's
the way we're going to be as Christians. But I got to look
at it and say, what does God expect? What does God say in
His word? What is the standard of God's truth? And so Father,
again, I'm just baring my heart a little bit. But Father, we
got to see work. I pray God send it. Father, we have prayed, we have
waited, Father, for 20 years. We're praying for revival. But
I wonder sometimes, I wonder what would happen if we get ready.
Father, what would happen if we said, you know, pastor, we've
got to see God work. Father, I'd love it if anybody
in here ever says to me, Pastor Robert, we need to spend more
time in prayer, then I am there. Lord, I am there. And Father,
give me wisdom. I need to lead in that. I need
to guide in that as pastor. I need to say, hey, we're gonna
have a prayer time. We're gonna have this or that. But I pray,
Spirit of God, give us that desire. God, give us that burden. Father,
we're asking, please. Father, only you can do it. And
so I just lift it up to you today, again, to share my heart a little
bit. But Father, would you work by
your grace, help us, Lord, help us. It's in Christ's name I pray,
amen.
Get Ready
Maybe God can't work as He would desire to work, because we're not ready for God to work.
| Sermon ID | 32623122808147 |
| Duration | 52:45 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Acts 10 |
| Language | English |
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.