Gtcotr/ss082519
31st
Anniversary as Pastor of Golden Triangle Church on the Rock.
On
Wednesday evenings we have been going through the book of Acts together and
enjoying revisiting the accounts of how the Holy Spirit worked in and through
the first century Church and Believers. Each week we endeavor to cover one
story from the next chapter and develop the truths God reveals.
This
past Wednesday evening we studied the Roman Centurion named Cornelius in Acts
chapter 10. It was very interesting and highly instructional. We discussed
several life affirming principles, but time ran out before we got to cover some
important facets of his life. Since concluding Wednesday’s service, I’ve been
feeling like I didn’t get to say everything God wanted me to say from the
account of Cornelius in Acts 10.
So,
after seeking God’s guidance, and even though I have tried to steer my studies
in other directions, I concluded that we need to revisit Acts 10 for the rest
of the story. There a lot of people in attendance on Wednesday nights, but I
know many of you could not be in here because you were working with our
children, youth, security and other ministries, or were otherwise unable to
attend.
So
allow me to catch us up on a few things we discussed on Wednesday night while
you turn to or access Acts 10 in your Bible or Bible App if you wish. As well, thanks
to diligence and hard work of our Executive Pastor, Casey Sitter, his wife
Dana, and Jessica Wilson, our Media Director, the scriptures for today will
be brightly displayed on the screens behind me.
By
the time we get to the 10th chapter of Acts, Church membership had
grown to thousands in Jerusalem. There was a great persecution taking place against
the Church and many Believers had been scattered throughout that part of the
world and had taken the message of the Gospel of Jesus everywhere they went.
Seeds of the Good News revealing that salvation had come were being sown in
hearts and lives in many cities. However, the message of the Gospel was being
preached only to Jews by Jewish Believers.
God
wanted all people, Jews and non-Jews to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. But this
was as yet a foreign concept to the Jewish Believers … they had not heard about
this before and it didn’t fit their paradigm or make them comfortable. Their
imagination was that a person needed to be a Jew in order to receive Jesus and
be Born-Again. God was ready to show them His greater plan.
Acts
10 is the first time God makes His plan to include Gentiles in salvation known
to the Apostles. We all owe Cornelius a debt of gratitude because had it not
been for him, or someone like him, you and I might not know that Jesus came to
forgive our sins and save us too. He was the first pioneer of the Gentile
inclusion in Christ. Cornelius and his family and friends were powerfully
saved, filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized in the name of Jesus. Let’s
recap a little to set the stage for the Word this morning.
Acts 10 NKJV
1 ¶ There was a certain man
in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian
Regiment,
2 a devout man and one
who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people,
and prayed to God always.
3 About the ninth hour of the
day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him,
“Cornelius!”
This is as far as we got this past Wednesday.
The questions we asked were:
·
Why did God choose Cornelius?
·
What will make me the person God will choose
and use?
Wednesday night we concluded that: Everyday
ordinary life is the chance God gives us to impress Him.
God chooses and uses people He can depend on.
And by the way … God is going to love, forgive, save and take to heaven every
person who believes upon the name of Jesus and receives Him into their heart as
Lord, whether they ever do anything to impress Him or not. God loves all of His
children. However, we all want to become more like Jesus and be used by God to
bring salvation to others who are lost and without Christ. What can we do to
show God we can be trusted like He evidently trusted Cornelius?
Acts 10
7 When the angel who spoke to
him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout
soldier from among those who waited on him continually.
8 So when he had explained
all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa.
There
were evident qualities in the life of Cornelius which made God know that He
could trust Cornelius to work hard and follow orders. Evidently these same
qualities also existed in the lives of these two household servants and this
devout soldier Cornelius chose to use as well.
Can
you imagine Cornelius, after being visited by an angel and given the most
important opportunity of his entire life, choosing someone he couldn’t depend
on? Can you imagine Cornelius choosing someone who was lazy or selfish or
distracted or unfaithful or a greedy, arrogant, self-willed, angry, discontent,
or a reactionary person with low or loose morals? Neither can I and neither
would God. The same qualifications you would look for in a trusted servant are
the same ones Cornelius looked for and the very same set of character qualities
God looks for today when He has a job He wants done.
I
have developed some extensive notes under the heading: 2 Servants and a Soldier,
that perhaps I’ll get to teach at some point in my life. But for now, let’s
stick to our main character for this morning.
It
has been said that “If you want to get a job done, find
a busy person and get them to do it.” There’s a lot of wisdom in that
statement. There is a reason why many people are sitting around doing nothing
and why some are waiting and wishing they were somewhere else; with someone
else; doing something else; and why they aren’t fully engaged in what they
have, where they are, with those they’re with.
Instead
of wishing they were somewhere else, with someone else, doing something else, Joseph
and Moses and David and Rahab and Esther and Ruth and Matthew and Paul and
Peter and Cornelius and those 2 servants and that soldier were working hard
where they were, with what they had, for the person they were with.
If
we aren’t willing to take what we have, start where we are and work hard for
the person we are under, we will disqualify ourselves for anything greater with
God. Jesus said that what we do with the little opportunities we have is the
very same thing we would do if we were given greater opportunities. And, if we
are unwilling to be faithful over those things which belong to others, we will
also be unfaithful if given our own.
God
is not obligated to use people who choose themselves. He uses people He
chooses. Proverbs 25:27 says, “… for a man to seek his own glory is not glory.”
Proverbs 27:2 says, “Let another man’s lips praise you and not your own …”.
What we are doing with what we have is exactly what we will do if we
get more.
That’s the Gospel truth. There is a reason why God chose to use Cornelius.
Let’s look further into the account of Acts 10. The two servants and the
soldier went down to Joppa and found Peter just where the angel told Cornelius
Peter would be. As well, God had already prepared Peter to accept and embrace
these three Gentiles, which was something that went against Peter’s understanding
of his religious duties.
Acts 10
21 Then Peter went down to
the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius, and said, “Yes, I am he whom
you seek. For what reason have you come?”
22 And they said, “Cornelius the
centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all
the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you
to his house, and to hear words from you.”
Bear
in mind how important it is to gain favor with God and man:
Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased
in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
And
remember: Everyday ordinary life is the chance God
gives us to impress Him.
If
you want to know how someone really is, listen to their maid or butler or
employee or close friend or close family member describe them. Evidently the
household servants and the close military attaché were also impressed with
Cornelius … not necessarily with his wealth, his wisdom, his stature, or his
military tactics, but rather with his character.
Four things about Cornelius that impressed God and men
1.
He was a just man.
2.
He feared God.
3.
He had a good reputation among all.
4.
He acted on divine instructions.
Romans 14:18 For he who
serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.
We
too will become candidates to be chosen and used by God, and by others, for
things greater than we imagine if we will but live life committed and content -
serving God and others where we are, with what we have, doing the best we can
for Christ, and those to whom we are attached, with no promise of reward this
side of heaven.
This
morning I want to encourage each one of us to dig in where we are.
1.
Your
current job is a blessing.
o It may not be the
best place or the last place you will work but right now it is the only place.
o Treat it like a
blessing from God.
o If you don’t believe
your job is a blessing from God, then come up to the altar after the service
and I will agree with you in prayer that your will be let go this week.
2.
God
wants you to work on the marriage you have right now.
o Don’t be looking for
someone else, somewhere else.
o Invest in the
spouse, the family and the friends you have.
3.
There
are some situations you can change and others you can’t.
o Dig in and make an
investment.
o Be the person your
boss, your spouse, your students, your employees, your clients, your neighbor,
your Church and your God can trust.
4.
Decide
to be committed and content.
o The Bible says that
if you are called by God as a slave or as a free man, don’t spend your time
trying to change it … be the best you can be right where you are.
o Godliness with
contentment is great gain.
5.
Be
the person others can trust.
o Impress God
o Impress men
o With your character
and your commitment.
Let’s
not fall into the trap of waiting and wishing for something better with someone
better in some other place but rather let’s be faithful,
committed and content to serve and do our best right where we are until God
decides to choose and use us for His glory and not our own.
