Welcome to this podcast from Harvest Community Church of Huntersville, North Carolina, where our vision is to make disciples who make disciples. I'm your host, Liz Stefanini. From 1920 to 1925, in college football, the California Golden Bears went 50 straight games without a loss. They won 46 and they tied four during that stretch. They were so dominant, they were called the Wonder Teams. Well, just a few short years later, 1929, they were playing in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. And on that day, January 1st, a man became famous, not for a reason that he wanted to become famous. His name was Roy Regals. Roy played on the offensive line, he was the center, and then he played on the defensive line as well. And midway through the second quarter, One of the Georgia Tech players fumbled the ball on about his 30 yard line. He was only 30 yards away from the end zone. He fumbled the ball and Regals recovered it. And so he started running. But instead of running towards his own end zone, in the course of all of that, he got turned around and he started running 69 yards in the opposite direction. and he's running down the field and the fans are screaming and the people on his own team are on California, they're crazy and they start chasing after them. In fact, one of the fastest players on the team, Benny Lom chased him down and he was screaming behind him, you're right. the wrong way, you're running the wrong way, but there are thousands of people in the stands and he didn't hear him, but finally they tackled him on the one yard line after running 69 yards in the wrong direction. And he was given the nickname that he's been known with ever since then, Wrong Way Regals. He was on the right team, but he was going in the wrong direction. The passage that we're gonna look at today, there is a key figure in it that that story reminds me of. He is the Apostle Peter, and we're gonna look at Acts chapter 10. In this story in Acts chapter 10, we learn that Peter is on God's team. He's an apostle. He's a leader. And yet there's some things about Peter that he doesn't quite understand yet. So let me set the context for you. We'll look at the passage in just a minute. But here's the context. At the beginning of Acts 10, God began the process of breaking down the walls between Jews and Gentiles by sending a vision to Peter. Now, the walls between Jews and Gentiles were great in the first century. We'll talk more about that in a minute. But God began the process of breaking down those walls. Now this passage continues or completes that narrative by showing how Peter obeyed God and he took the gospel to a man named Cornelius and to the Gentiles. So this is the setting. There was a lot of animosity between Jews and Gentiles. If you were a Jewish person, you had boundaries. And Peter was a Jewish person, he had those boundaries. There were dietary laws in the Old Testament, in the Mosaic law, there were things you could not eat. Peter had those. Peter had that practice. And yet the Mosaic law did not tell the Jews not to associate with the Gentiles, but not to eat those foods. And of course, they extrapolated and built on it that if I am at a Gentile's house, then I'm going to have to eat that unclean food. So they built extra tradition around the original commands from Moses. And there were just these huge barriers and they were built on race and religion. There was the Jewish race and religion were really tied tightly in the Jew Gentile dispute of the first century. Enter the vision of God. Peter. at the beginning of Acts chapter 10 is staying with a man named Simon the Tanner and the roofs were flat in Palestine. He goes up on the roof to pray and God brings a vision and there's a huge sheet and on that sheet are all kind of animals ones that would have been considered clean and ones that would have been considered unclean for Peter. And the voice from heaven says, eat it, rise up and kill and eat it. And Peter's like three times he objects. No, I have never eaten anything unclean. And God says to Peter, don't call what I have made clean, unclean. And so then the sheet disappears and Peter's thinking about what does this vision mean? And right about that time, Some messengers arrive at his house. They are from a man named Cornelius, who is a Roman centurion. He had a vision from God, and he was a God-fearer. He wasn't a Jewish person. He wasn't a Christian. He just feared God, and he prayed a lot and did good things. And God gave him a vision and said, you go send for Peter. He had done that. He sent those messengers to Peter's house or where Peter was staying. And all of a sudden, here's Peter. He invites them in. They talk to him and say, Cornelius wants you to come to his house. And they spend the night. And that's where we pick up the story. Now this is, this story is a narrative. That means it's a true story. And often when we look in the Bible, And we see these narratives, we see these stories. We focus a lot on the human characters. We focus on what is Peter doing or what is Cornelius doing or whoever. And that's okay to look at that. We have to look at that and examine that. But a more important question is what is God doing? What is God doing in this narrative? And that's the way we're gonna walk through this passage together. So I'm gonna walk through and show four things that God is doing in this passage. And we'll, we'll show you each of these and then we'll come back at the end and apply it to us and our lives today. So God was revealing his heart to Peter. God was spreading the gospel to the Gentiles. God was continuing his work through what is known as the Gentile Pentecost. And God was unifying two formerly separate people. So let's walk through this passage and let's take a look at each one of these, how God was revealing his heart to Peter. So let's begin at verse 23. And this is right at the point in the story after they've spent the night there in Joppa. And verse 23 says, the next day, Peter started out with them and some of the believers from Joppa went along. Now these believers that go along with Peter are going to become witnesses to what God is doing. They are going to carry out an important function as the story develops. Acts 11 verse 12 says there were six of them. So they traveled the 37 miles north up to Caesarea, apparently staying somewhere Overnight along the way and the next verse verse 24 says the following day He arrived in Caesarea Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends as Peter entered the house Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet in reverence But Peter made him get up stand up. He said I I am only a man myself. And while talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them, you are well aware that is against our law for a Jew to associate with or even visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. How did God show him that? He gave him that vision. And Peter came to understand that this sheet with animals on it, even though he was told to eat the animals, it had a deeper meaning. This wasn't just about eating certain foods. This was about the way that Peter, all of his life, had looked at a different group of people. The world was divided into Jews and Gentiles. If you were Jewish, you were Jewish. If you were not Jewish, then you were Gentile. Peter, as a Jewish person, had always stayed away from Gentiles. He had always viewed Gentiles as unclean. God gives him this vision, and he talks about the food that indeed was unclean, But in the progress of revelation, now God is making it clean. And the point is to Peter, this is not about food. This is about people. And that's what Peter says to Cornelius. God has shown me that. So, verse 29, when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me? Cornelius answered. Three days ago I was in my house at this hour at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the Tanner who lives by the sea. So I sent for you immediately and it was good for you to come. Now we are all here in the presence. of God, to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us. How's that for evangelism? You go to somebody's house and they say, we're in God's presence, you tell us. We don't often have a door much more open than this one, right? So in verse 34, Peter began to speak. I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. Now, Peter was a bright man. Peter knew that if he went to Cornelius's house, it's almost certain based on the culture and the customs of that day that he was going to be served some food. And it's it's most likely that that food is going to be unclean, right? That's one side of the impurity that Peter had to overcome. The other side is that Cornelius was a centurion in the Roman army. And as a soldier and being out where he was, he would have been exposed to all of the false deities and the pagan rituals In other words, this is not the kind of guy that Peter's gonna hang out with. This is somebody who is a Gentile, he's impure, he's unclean, he's probably exposed to at least all of this paganism. There's a wall there before. Peter's on this side of the wall. He's a Jewish person who's trying to stay away from people like that. And yet God has showed him something. God is revealing his heart to Peter and the heart of God is no favoritism. God doesn't look at people in categories. God doesn't say this category of people are worthy of my love and this category of people are not. God was starting to show his heart to Peter. And look what Peter says. I have come to realize that God doesn't show favoritism, but he accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. A person's acceptance before God does not depend on their nationality, but on their heart. the one whose fears him." And then it says, and does what is right. Now, don't rest that last phrase out of context and think Peter is teaching somehow that if you do good, then God will accept you. This is just one statement, one part of a statement. Peter himself in other places will preach and teach the truth that the way a person is saved and acceptable before God is by admitting they are sinful, repenting of that sin, and putting their faith in Jesus Christ. This is about Peter saying, wait a minute, it's not nationality. It's not just that God is going to only accept Jewish people. God is not going to show favoritism. If people's hearts are right before Him, they will put their trust in Christ and then of course they will end up doing good. Those are the ones that God will accept. So that's what is happening. God is doing something here. God is changing Peter. The second thing that God is doing here is he is spreading the gospel to the Gentiles, and we see that in the next few verses. After this opening statement about God not showing favoritism, Peter preaches the basics of the gospel. Verse 38 is the life of Christ. 39, the death of Christ. 40 and 41, the resurrection of Christ. 42, Christ returning as judge. Then in verse 43 his offer of salvation So I just want to read those verses to you and I want you to hear them. I want you to see them and Hear them and this is the good news of the gospel to you today I don't know what your background if you're watching our live stream or recorded or you're sitting here in this audience today I don't know where you are with God but this is the gospel this is the truth and Let's read this. This is what Peter says. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what happened throughout the providence of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him. We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross. But God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach the gospel. Well, he said, preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. That's the good news this morning. That's the gospel. Jesus was God's son. He hung on a cross to pay for your sin and mine. He was buried. He was killed. He was buried. He rose three days later. He's coming back to judge. And now if you believe in him, I mean, put your faith in him, your trust in God, not just intellectually knowing about him. But if you deliberately choose to put your faith in him as Lord and savior, you too can receive forgiveness of sins. Have you done that? Have you opened your heart to him? I hope you have. I hope it's not just about religion for you, but I hope you've opened your heart to Christ in that way. He will be there for you. And this is what God is doing. So as God is showing this vision to Peter and showing this vision to Cornelius, He's spreading the gospel out to a new group of people. Acts chapter 1 had said, you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Now the gospel is spreading to these other places. Well, the third thing that leads us right into the third thing, that God is doing here. He is confirming his work through what we call the Gentile Pentecost. Let me read those verses and I'll explain what I mean by that. Verse 44, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers, that was the Jewish people, who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. And then Peter said, No one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have. So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And then they asked Peter to stay with them in a few days. So as Peter preaches the gospel, they receive the gospel in their heart. And to give an evidence of that, they began speaking in other languages. Now, does that mean that every time a person receives Christ, the evidence of that is speaking in other languages? The answer is no. It's very, very important in the book of Acts to distinguish between what is described and what is prescribed. So for instance, there are a lot of things that are described that just happened, but God doesn't make them happen that way every single time. So for instance, remember in Acts chapter one, when they, after Judas had betrayed Jesus, they needed to replace him, and there were two men they were trying to decide between, and one of them was Matthias, and they cast lots, well, That's not teaching us that whenever you're choosing a new leader in the church, you just cast lots and you just, you just pick that. Now we have people on our interview team that probably wish we had done it that way. It's just something that's described. There are many things like that in the book of Acts. And when Ananias and Sapphira lied to the church leadership about how much money they gave, they instantly died. And we wouldn't say that God prescribes that to happen for every time that you lie to the church leadership. And everybody says, So there are things that are described. And then there are things that are prescribed. If you look through the rest of the New Testament, like husbands love your wife, like Christ loved the church, or tell the truth, don't lie, or pray without ceasing. Those are things we're told to do. But some things in Acts, many things in Acts, we're shown. What's this about? What's going on? Why does sometimes in Acts, when people become believers in Christ, they start speaking in other languages? And most of the time in Acts, when they become believers, that doesn't happen. There's a specific reason for it. Four times in the book of Acts, we see this occur, four times. And every time it happens is when the gospel goes to a new group of people for the very first time. So Acts chapter 2 was the first time that people spoke in language after they were saved. They were speaking in other languages, other known languages, and these were Jewish people. All of them were Jewish people. They had gathered from all over the world on what was known as the Day of Pentecost. They came to Jerusalem for the festival. Peter stood up and preached. 3,000 people were saved. They were baptized, and they were speaking in other languages. This was the first time the Holy Spirit came to live inside of people that was Jewish people. Then in Acts chapter 8, it happened again, but it was a different group of people. It was Samaritans. And now, Acts chapter 10, it's the Gentiles. So that's why we call this sometimes the Gentile Pentecost. This is the first group of Gentiles that say, We want to be saved. God saves them. And the Jewish people who are watching it, it's like they were astonished. That's what happened to us. That's what happened on the day of Pentecost. It gave the Jewish people more evidence that, you know what, we're equal. We're one in the body of Christ. It's not like the Jewish believers are really way up here and, okay, well, if God accepts the Gentiles, maybe they can be down at the bottom. No, this was an evidence from God. Does this make sense, what God is doing? That is what God is doing here. Related to that is the fourth thing that God is doing in this passage and that is he is unifying two formerly separate peoples We go into chapter 11 to conclude this narrative this long narrative verse 1 the Apostles and believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. Okay, word is spreading. And all the people who are Christians so far are Jewish, except for this one pocket of Samaritans over here, but now they hear that Gentiles have also received the word of God. So Peter went up to Jerusalem, or when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, you went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them. Think about that. Here's Peter. He's overcome all of this. He had to have a vision from God. He went through there. He saw these people get saved. It is awesome. It is amazing. He has seen it. And then he goes to tell other Jewish people about it. And what do they say? They criticize him. Peter, you went to the unclean people. You know, it's unfortunate that since the first century, when God starts moving and people get out of their past traditions and past comfort zones and they spread the gospel that people are going to criticize. That's what's happening here. They are criticizing him. They're not rejoicing. They're not saying, oh, isn't it wonderful that they're Christians, too? They're criticizing Peter. Well, verse four, what did Peter do? Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story. Now, we're not going to read all the verses because it just repeats the story again. This story is told three times. So Peter tells them the story. I want to pick up at verse 15 as at the end of the story, after Peter's explained to them what happened, he says, as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said. John baptized with water. but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God's way? When they heard this, they had no further objections and they praised God saying, Praise God saying, so then even to Gentiles, God has granted repentance that leads to life. Now, a large portion of this Bible that you have is narrative. It tells stories. And maybe, maybe in narrative, maybe that's the one genre of scripture that has been misunderstood the most. Cause there are people that will read a story out of the Bible and then they'll pick one little thing out of it and they'll run with it and they'll make that the lesson. And the question is, how do you understand narrative? How do we know what God is really trying to teach us when we read a story like this? People, like I said, people sometimes will pick one little statement and they'll just go crazy with it. And it might be true, but it's not what that particular passage is really all about. Well, there are some keys. One of the keys is, of course, the larger context. You look at the whole sweep of what's happening in that book, and that helps you do it. But let me give you another key. This is very, very important. When you're reading a story, watch for dialogue. Watch for the words that either the narrator, maybe the narrator might tell you the story and then the narrator might make a comment. I think of like the story in the Old Testament of David and Bathsheba when he committed adultery with her and then he murdered Uriah. And all it is, it's just telling you all this story. And it's fairly obvious that God doesn't like that, but the narrator throws that in at the end and says, And what David did displeased the Lord. So when the narrator makes a comment, that's important. It's also important when the key character makes a comment. The key to this entire story that we've been talking about last Sunday and this Sunday is verse 17. Look again at verse 17. Peter is telling the Jewish brothers what happened about the Gentiles being saved and about how he preached to them and the Holy Spirit fell on them. And look what he says. So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who was I to think that I could stand in God's way. Who was I to think that I could stand in God's way? Peter realized this isn't about visions. This isn't about food. This is not avoiding unclean food. This is about people. God is in the business of reaching people. And God cares about all people, people of all races and all religions and all lifestyles. God wants all people to be saved. That's what God is doing. And it was Peter's former prejudice against a certain group of people that could have kept the gospel from going there. And Peter realizes, this is an important statement. Telling all this account and he says, who was I? To think that I could stand in God's way. Now let me ask you a question. What does it take for us to work with God rather than against God? That's what Peter's dealing with. I mean, he's an apostle, but if he doesn't go to the Gentiles, if he's not willing to go eat with the Gentiles, if he's not willing to go in the Gentile home, if he's not willing to share, he's not gonna be on God's team. He's not gonna be contributing to God's work. He's gonna be standing in the way of God. He's gonna be opposing God. So this, this is indicates to us as we start to apply it to our lives today, just the fact that we come in and sit and go to church doesn't mean that we're, we're really walking with God and serving God all week long. And the question I want to ask you is what does it take for you to work with God rather than against him? Well, let me give you three things. First of all, grasp and embrace God's heart for all people, all people. Not just people who look like you. Not just people who think like you, whose skin is the same color as you, whose background is the same as yours, whose politics are the same as yours. All people. And where do we get that? Where is that revealed? Where is God's heart revealed? Well, for Peter, it was revealed in a vision. But for you and I, it's revealed in God's word. God tells us in his word what his heart is. Jesus told his followers, Matthew 4, 18, come follow me and I will send you out to fish for people. He told them in Matthew 28, go make disciples, not of other Jewish people, but of all nations. Go make disciples of all nations. That's number one. Number two, be willing to step out of your comfort zone. Peter had to step out of his comfort zone big time to go to Gentile's house, a Gentile's house. That was really out of his comfort zone. For some of us, it's hard to reach out to somebody who's different than we are. It's hard to engage with them. It's hard to sit with them and understand them and know them. But again, this isn't about just so we can all get along. This is about everybody needs the gospel. And if we allow any barriers to keep us from loving people like Christ does, then we're working against God. And so we have to be willing to step out of our comfort zones. And then third, go to where they are and share the word of God. That's what Peter did. I've got to go to where they are. Maybe that's across the cul-de-sac. Maybe that's to the mobile home community near us. Maybe it's on a mission trip overseas. Maybe it's to your circle of friends and relatives and associates and neighbors, but go to where they are. In the circle of life, God has put people out there and God is building his church. And what happens when God builds his church? This passage shows us when God builds his church, it crosses barriers to love people and share the gospel. That's what happens. When God builds his church, it crosses barriers to love people and share the gospel. Well, who do we share the gospel with? Well, people, all people. All people. Some people have a hard time sharing the gospel just with somebody else because of various reasons. People who are different from you that live nearby, maybe right in your neighborhood, maybe in your school, maybe in your office, maybe on the sports team, people that are different from you. In the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi, he shares that while he was a student in England, he seriously considered converting to Christianity. That seemed to be a real solution to the caste system which he saw as oppressive in India. So one Sunday he attended a Christian church and he wanted to ask the minister there to enlighten him on salvation. and other Christians doctrines. But when he entered the sanctuary, the ushers refused to seat him. They suggested, well, maybe you should go somewhere and worship with your own people. And Gandhi never came back. He said to himself, if Christians have cast differences also, then I might as well remain a Hindu. It's sad. God wants us to reach out to people who are different, who are nearby, and people who are far away. This is what missions is all about. This is about going to all the nations. So let's start to wrap this up. And I want to give you a minute to do something. I want you to see there that the red represents Peter and there's a wall. And on the other side of the wall, that's Cornelius and all of his friends. You didn't know that's what they looked like, did you? I didn't either. But the wall that separated them was race and religion. And I want to ask you the question, what are the barriers, what are your barriers? What is the wall, or what are the walls, what are the bricks in the wall maybe, that separate you from people that need Christ. What are the things that might keep you or make it challenging for you or hard for you? If you are a Christian, you know the call of God to share the gospel with everybody, but there may be walls, right? So what I want you to do, I'm gonna give you like three minutes just to turn to somebody around you, a couple of people around you, and just think this through together and talk about it. What are some wall, what would be on your wall? There's race and religion, that's obvious, that's what's in this passage, but let's apply it. You ask that question and talk about it for two or three minutes, and then we'll wrap it up. I'm sure there were many interesting things said, and I encourage you to keep thinking those things through and talking about them with each other. Let me just throw up a few ideas that I came up with that might be in people's walls. It might be busyness. It might be apathy. It might be fear. Oh, what will they think of me? How will they respond? You know, will they reject me? It might be bad theology. Bad theology like, like for example, the bad theology would be the view or the statement that evangelism is somebody else's responsibility. Evangelism is the pastor or the missionary's responsibility. Whereas good theology is, it's everybody, every believer's. Or that evangelism is your responsibility alone. God puts us in a church. He puts us with others to do things together. So are you willing today to be like Peter and to overcome barriers? Are you willing to cross some barriers? Are you willing to overcome prejudice? Are you willing to reach out to people? Are you willing to pray for the Holy Spirit to work and watch for signs that He is working? The title of this sermon is On the Same Team. On the Same Team, and there's a double entendre there. It means that the Jews and Gentiles were on the same team, right? But it also indicates that we want to be going the same direction as God. We want to be like wrong way regals running as hard as we can in the wrong direction. We want to be running with God because when God builds his church, it crosses barriers to love people. and share the gospel. So harvesters this week. Go love people. Go love people. Go share the gospel. Go cross those barriers. Thanks again for joining us today from Harvest Community Church. This podcast is also available on our website HarvestCharlotte.com. Please go there if you want to send a question or comment, learn more about our ministries, or find out how you can donate to support the podcast.