Acts 10
This morning I am going to do something that I do not usually do. I am going to preach on a passage I have preached on here before. It was when I started here at Fowler First Baptist. But, being as we are coming to Acts 10, and I think the lessons that we can learn from this passage are as important now as they were then, I have chosen to preach on Acts 10. Rest assured, even though much of the outline is the same, the sermon was put together again this week.
But before we dig into the Scripture I want to tell you a story. A true story that happened to an American Baptist pastor several years ago. A story of something amazing that happened in a quite ordinary place.
Tony Campolo tells a story of being at a speaking engagement in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was an east coast guy, trained from an early age to rise early in the morning. And when he got to Hawaii, his internal clock was all messed up. So he ended up in a Diner between one or two in the morning looking for something to eat. An old, run down, gritty diner.
The cook and the wait staff were as gritty and tough as the atmosphere. Then about 3 in the morning these gals walked in. It did not take long to notice that these young ladies were prostitutes. The people in the diner talked with the table, and with one another.
It came up that one of the women had a birthday the next day. She shared that she had never had a birthday party. She had been abused by her parents, run through foster care homes and children’s homes until she ran away and made her way to the streets.
The girls left after their meal to get back to work.
Dr. Campolo came up with an idea. He gave the cook some money. He said, “I want you to make a cake. A big one. And I want you to get ice cream with all the toppings. I will go get the rest of the stuff. We are going to have a birthday party tomorrow. I will get the candles and the party hats and a gift. Can you just have the cake and ice cream ready?”
Are you sure?
Positive?
Sure I can have that ready.
And the next night the whole diner was set up for a birthday party. And that streetwalker walked in. And there were kazoos and streamers and candles and singing.
And there was laughter. And small presents. And tears. Lots of tears.
As the women went back to work, the man who ran the diner asked Campolo, “What do you do anyway?”
“I am a preacher,” he said
“What kind of church do you go to” he asked
“The kind of church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3am,” Campolo responded
“No you aren’t. The Man said. Because I would go to a church like that!”
Now maybe you aren’t called to sit at a truck stop in Pueblo at 3am and looking for drug addicts and prostitutes to throw birthday parties. But unless we are willing to open our hearts to people, unless we are willing to make changes in what we do and how we do things, unless we are willing to break away from our pet traditions and our normal routines, unless we are willing to be led by the Spirit to grow and change we will miss the hope that God has set before us.
The Scripture tells us about what happened when the church first started out on the move to reach the world. And this true story happened 2000 years ago in Israel. And involved several people, but most noticeably the apostle Peter and a centurion, which is something like a general, called Cornelius
Peter has been busy in his visits to the churches of Israel. He is being hosted by Simon the tanner in Joppa. Joppa is a seaside community north of modern day Tel-Aviv. He went up to the rooftop terrace to pray. Eventually he got hungry. A meal was being prepared for him. Peter looked out at the Medditeranean sea, took in a nice ocean breeze, and his eyes started to get heavy. Soon he was taking a nap during his prayer time, and God spoke to him then through a vision.
The dream went something like this. There was this giant sheet that seemed to come down from heaven. It went as far as he could see in the sky. As the sheet got down to where he could look over it, he saw the sheet filled with all sorts of animals. Many of which were considered unclean by a kosher Jew. God tells Peter, “Rise, kill, and eat”. Peter says he cannot, that he has never eaten food that was not kosher. The voice said, “What God has called clean, you must not call common, or unclean”. Then the sheet went up. This vision happened three times.
A day earlier there was another man who was given a vision by God. He was a Roman soldier. His name was Cornelius. Cornelius was a devout man. He gave to those in need. He prayed constantly. The Bible says he feared God. This is another way of saying he was a “God-fearer”. “God-fearers” were people who practiced faith in the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, but had not become Jewish and been circumcised.
In that vision Cornelius was visited by an angel. The angel told him that his prayers had been heard and his giving had been noticed by God. And then the angel told Cornelius to send some of his people to Joppa, to the home of Simon the Tanner, and to ask for Peter.
Now after Peter had seen his vision about not calling what God has called clean unclean for the third time, the servants of Cornelius came to the gate of Simon the Tanner’s house. They were asking about Peter.
Peter could hear the commotion from the rooftop. As he was beginning to check things out, the Spirit said to him that these men were sent by God, and he should not be afraid of them and afraid to go with them. This was helpful because they were Roman soldiers, and going with them to who knows where might be a little scary.
So, Peter went with the men. And they went from where Peter was staying in Joppa a little further up the road in Caesarea where Cornelius the Centurion was stationed. He brought a few of the church leaders from Joppa with him.
Peter heard that Cornelius had a wonderful reputation among Jews and Gentiles alike. He was devout. He was prayerful. He was generous with those in need.
Peter soon arrived where Cornelius was staying. Cornelius had gathered friends and peers for Peter’s arrival. When Peter walked into the house they treated him like a rock star. In fact, they got so excited that they began to worship him.
Peter stopped this fuss over him immediately. He said that Jews don’t usually go into homes of the Gentiles, because Gentiles are considered unclean and unholy. But, God told him he should not judge Cornelius as unclean through a dream, so he was there to do what God said. So then, Peter asked, “What did you bring me here for?”
Cornelius told Peter about his regular prayer time. And how during his prayer time he was told to seek out Peter. He told Peter how God led him directly to the house that Peter was staying at. And he told Peter that God would bring Peter with the message that he would need to hear that would be the answer to his prayers.
Peter’s eyes lit up. He now had even more confirmation that God was bringing him to this house of Cornelius to tell Cornelius and his men about Jesus.
So Peter told everyone there about how Jesus was the Messiah that was promised in Scripture. Peter told them about how Jesus had died and rose again. Peter told them how Jesus had the power to forgive sins and give them new life.
Even as he was speaking, people started to believe. And as they started to believe, they began to speak in tongues. And they began praising and worshipping God. All the Jewish believers were astonished! The Holy Spirit was coming upon Gentiles, Romans no less, just like the Holy Spirit had come upon them. It was becoming obvious that the gospel was for these Gentiles as well as the Jewish believers in Jesus.
Peter asked the people with him, “Can we come up with any reason not to baptize them?” I imagine there was probably joyous laughter at that moment. And the people who came to faith were baptized. And Peter stayed at the house of the Centurion for a few days. Then he headed back to Joppa, and eventually to Jerusalem.
I love this story! I love all the things that it can teach us.
I love this passage because it tells us that God is always working beyond what we expect. He is always doing more that we have ever imagined or hoped for. Just when we think we have God understood to where what he is doing is completely predictable and we can have every little situation under control, he puts us in a situation where nothing is under our control. But everything is under his control. And he blesses us. And he blesses others through us.
I love this passage because it shows us that nobody is outside of the love of God and his grace. Jesus did not just die for people who were raised in the church. And thank God! Because if the gospel was only for those who were raised in religious and morally upright families I certainly would have been left out! But Jesus came for everyone! Nobody is outside his grace and forgiveness.
But if you had to ask me what the most important insight for me with this passage was, I would have to tell you it is a lesson that the people of God always have to learn and relearn. It is the lesson Israel was taught when God told them “If my people who are called by my name will pray and humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways I will hear their prayers and I will heal their land”.
To me the most important message here is that in order for Cornelius to be reached, for he and his friends to accept Christ, it was Peter that needed to do most of the changing, not Cornelius. And when Peter and his friends had their hearts changed, then they were able to bring change into the world around them and reach it for Christ.
God always works to change the world from the inside out. From inside a believers heart out into the world. From a revival in a church and change in their hearts, to then being able to have effectiveness in reaching their community.
So, Let us look at our little outline in our bulletin here. And I can illustrate my point.
When one thinks of a Roman soldier in the ancient world, one generally thinks of a greedy, immoral persecutor. A man who has blood on his hands. A bully to the Jewish people.
Cornelius, however, was nothing like this.
Again if you look at your outline you will see that
He was seeking GOD and seeking TRUTH. He even knew God well enough that when he saw the angel he said, “What is it Lord?” He knew the Lord’s voice! The Lord was working in him and speaking to him even before he accepted Christ.
He was moral. He had a reputation for giving to the needy. He was an enemy occupier, but all the Jews held him in high regard as a good person.
He was hard working. He had to be. Climbing to rank he had was no easy task
He was a leader. Did you notice how his people were loyal to him? How so many were gathered for Peter’s arrival?
He was inviting people on a spiritual journey. He was an evangelist before he even knew Jesus. He was inviting people to hear about and follow God even before he had heard the knew Jesus.
The picture here of Cornelius is not of a man who needs to make drastic change. He just needs someone to help him understand more of who God is and what God is doing in his life. He needs someone to come and help him find what he is missing and does not understand. Cornelius does not need to get off the path he is on, he just needs someone to point him in the right direction to the next, very important step. He needs someone to tell him about Jesus, and help him bring everything he has known and heard about God together.
The picture of Peter is quite different. Peter is an apostle. Peter is the leader of the early church. But in order to reach Cornelius, God really needs to work on Peter’s heart. Peter needs to grow and change, or he will fail in the mission God has given him and the church.
Look at our outline. What was Peter like?
The apostle Peter was prejudiced. That is why God had to send him the vision with all of those unclean animals to eat. He had prejudices against people who were not Jewish, and had no intention of reaching out to them.
Peter was spending time with people that were just like him. Which means primarily Christian believers of Hebrew decent.
Peter felt apprehensive and afraid. He kept arguing with God about the animals not being able to be eaten because they were unclean. God had to tell him to go with the men who came to get him and tell him not to be afraid. God generally tells people not to be afraid when they are in fact, afraid. He reinforced when he arrived that he was only at the centurion’s house because a dream had told him to come.
In addition to these challenges Peter had some good qualities. Qualities that allowed him to reach Cornelius and his friends. Those qualities were:
Peter was obedient to what God commanded
Peter was open to growing and changing when prompted by God to do so.
This much is true. Both Peter and Cornelius needed to change. But if you really looked at who had to change the most in order for Cornelius to be reached, well it was Peter that needed to change.
So what does that mean for us, here at First Baptist Church of Fowler?
Well it means a few things. If you will look at your outline you will see:
If we are going to reach our neighbors, then we are going to need to be the ones that grow and change.
Friends, I hate to say it, but if you are waiting for the world to walk through the doors of the church and decide to join our little congregation and be just like us you will die waiting. IT WILL NOT EVER HAPPEN.
If you are waiting for the world around us to all the sudden become more eager to understand Christianity and receptive to Biblical values, and run to your front door or through the doors of our sanctuary in droves to understand what Jesus is about, you will be waiting a long time. The world is the world.
No, when the world changes it changes because Christians are willing to grow and change, and then take that change into the world as humble ambassadors of Jesus. The world changes because we change. The world changes because believers are not happy with the way we are. We are not content to coast along in the backwash of half-hearted Christianity. Our community changes because we as Christians and as a church are willing to respond to the convicting, prompting words of the Holy Spirit
Revival, one missionary that I worked with told me a while ago, is like a fire. You don’t start a fire by taking a blowtorch to a big log in your fire place. You start a fire by putting out a little fire starter, some tinder, and some kindling. Then as the fire grows you add the big heavy pieces of wood.
Passionate Christians are the tinder and kindling that starts the fire of revival. Then as the revival grows like a fire, it begins to have an effect on half-hearted Christians, and then the world seeking to know Christ. But a spiritual movement that has an impact on our world begins with you and me.
It is like the quote you see for point #2
The Bible says if MY people who are called by MY name will HUMBLE themselves AND pray AND seek my face AND turn from their wicked ways …. (2 Chron. 7:14)
If you want this community to be more full of Jesus, we need to allow this church and our hearts to be consumed with a passion for serving Christ and reaching others for Christ. And if that pushes us beyond our traditions or the way we grew up or what our preferences are, then so be it.We, as the Scripture says…need to humble ourselves and allow God to do a work in our heart.
If our church gets stronger, it will be because WE CHANGED.
It will not be because everyone else has mysteriously been convinced by God to join our ministry. It will be because we allowed God to let us see others differently, to love others more freely, to share the gospel with greater effectiveness and humility.
This is because churches and communities, and people for that matter, change from the inside out.
You allow God to change your heart. Then God starts to move in our church. Then things start happening in our community and world. But if you are not willing to learn, grow, change, be challenged, and be pushed to act differently and see things differently, then don’t expect anything to change around you.
Unless we are willing to humble ourselves, and be willing to make following Jesus our passion instead of just our hobby, we will continue to struggle in our spiritual lives, in our relationships, in our congregation, and in our witness. Unless we are willing to let God challenge us and grow us beyond our narrow perspective, we will not grow. Unless we are willing to make those uncomfortable steps to begin to hope and dream of new ways to reach and disciple our children, our friends, our neighbors, and our community, we will miss the opportunities for vital ministry that is ahead of us.
I hope we won’t let this moment called today, pass you by. God has got great things in store just down the road.
This morning I am going to do something that I do not usually do. I am going to preach on a passage I have preached on here before. It was when I started here at Fowler First Baptist. But, being as we are coming to Acts 10, and I think the lessons that we can learn from this passage are as important now as they were then, I have chosen to preach on Acts 10. Rest assured, even though much of the outline is the same, the sermon was put together again this week.
But before we dig into the Scripture I want to tell you a story. A true story that happened to an American Baptist pastor several years ago. A story of something amazing that happened in a quite ordinary place.
Tony Campolo tells a story of being at a speaking engagement in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was an east coast guy, trained from an early age to rise early in the morning. And when he got to Hawaii, his internal clock was all messed up. So he ended up in a Diner between one or two in the morning looking for something to eat. An old, run down, gritty diner.
The cook and the wait staff were as gritty and tough as the atmosphere. Then about 3 in the morning these gals walked in. It did not take long to notice that these young ladies were prostitutes. The people in the diner talked with the table, and with one another.
It came up that one of the women had a birthday the next day. She shared that she had never had a birthday party. She had been abused by her parents, run through foster care homes and children’s homes until she ran away and made her way to the streets.
The girls left after their meal to get back to work.
Dr. Campolo came up with an idea. He gave the cook some money. He said, “I want you to make a cake. A big one. And I want you to get ice cream with all the toppings. I will go get the rest of the stuff. We are going to have a birthday party tomorrow. I will get the candles and the party hats and a gift. Can you just have the cake and ice cream ready?”
Are you sure?
Positive?
Sure I can have that ready.
And the next night the whole diner was set up for a birthday party. And that streetwalker walked in. And there were kazoos and streamers and candles and singing.
And there was laughter. And small presents. And tears. Lots of tears.
As the women went back to work, the man who ran the diner asked Campolo, “What do you do anyway?”
“I am a preacher,” he said
“What kind of church do you go to” he asked
“The kind of church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3am,” Campolo responded
“No you aren’t. The Man said. Because I would go to a church like that!”
Now maybe you aren’t called to sit at a truck stop in Pueblo at 3am and looking for drug addicts and prostitutes to throw birthday parties. But unless we are willing to open our hearts to people, unless we are willing to make changes in what we do and how we do things, unless we are willing to break away from our pet traditions and our normal routines, unless we are willing to be led by the Spirit to grow and change we will miss the hope that God has set before us.
The Scripture tells us about what happened when the church first started out on the move to reach the world. And this true story happened 2000 years ago in Israel. And involved several people, but most noticeably the apostle Peter and a centurion, which is something like a general, called Cornelius
Peter has been busy in his visits to the churches of Israel. He is being hosted by Simon the tanner in Joppa. Joppa is a seaside community north of modern day Tel-Aviv. He went up to the rooftop terrace to pray. Eventually he got hungry. A meal was being prepared for him. Peter looked out at the Medditeranean sea, took in a nice ocean breeze, and his eyes started to get heavy. Soon he was taking a nap during his prayer time, and God spoke to him then through a vision.
The dream went something like this. There was this giant sheet that seemed to come down from heaven. It went as far as he could see in the sky. As the sheet got down to where he could look over it, he saw the sheet filled with all sorts of animals. Many of which were considered unclean by a kosher Jew. God tells Peter, “Rise, kill, and eat”. Peter says he cannot, that he has never eaten food that was not kosher. The voice said, “What God has called clean, you must not call common, or unclean”. Then the sheet went up. This vision happened three times.
A day earlier there was another man who was given a vision by God. He was a Roman soldier. His name was Cornelius. Cornelius was a devout man. He gave to those in need. He prayed constantly. The Bible says he feared God. This is another way of saying he was a “God-fearer”. “God-fearers” were people who practiced faith in the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, but had not become Jewish and been circumcised.
In that vision Cornelius was visited by an angel. The angel told him that his prayers had been heard and his giving had been noticed by God. And then the angel told Cornelius to send some of his people to Joppa, to the home of Simon the Tanner, and to ask for Peter.
Now after Peter had seen his vision about not calling what God has called clean unclean for the third time, the servants of Cornelius came to the gate of Simon the Tanner’s house. They were asking about Peter.
Peter could hear the commotion from the rooftop. As he was beginning to check things out, the Spirit said to him that these men were sent by God, and he should not be afraid of them and afraid to go with them. This was helpful because they were Roman soldiers, and going with them to who knows where might be a little scary.
So, Peter went with the men. And they went from where Peter was staying in Joppa a little further up the road in Caesarea where Cornelius the Centurion was stationed. He brought a few of the church leaders from Joppa with him.
Peter heard that Cornelius had a wonderful reputation among Jews and Gentiles alike. He was devout. He was prayerful. He was generous with those in need.
Peter soon arrived where Cornelius was staying. Cornelius had gathered friends and peers for Peter’s arrival. When Peter walked into the house they treated him like a rock star. In fact, they got so excited that they began to worship him.
Peter stopped this fuss over him immediately. He said that Jews don’t usually go into homes of the Gentiles, because Gentiles are considered unclean and unholy. But, God told him he should not judge Cornelius as unclean through a dream, so he was there to do what God said. So then, Peter asked, “What did you bring me here for?”
Cornelius told Peter about his regular prayer time. And how during his prayer time he was told to seek out Peter. He told Peter how God led him directly to the house that Peter was staying at. And he told Peter that God would bring Peter with the message that he would need to hear that would be the answer to his prayers.
Peter’s eyes lit up. He now had even more confirmation that God was bringing him to this house of Cornelius to tell Cornelius and his men about Jesus.
So Peter told everyone there about how Jesus was the Messiah that was promised in Scripture. Peter told them about how Jesus had died and rose again. Peter told them how Jesus had the power to forgive sins and give them new life.
Even as he was speaking, people started to believe. And as they started to believe, they began to speak in tongues. And they began praising and worshipping God. All the Jewish believers were astonished! The Holy Spirit was coming upon Gentiles, Romans no less, just like the Holy Spirit had come upon them. It was becoming obvious that the gospel was for these Gentiles as well as the Jewish believers in Jesus.
Peter asked the people with him, “Can we come up with any reason not to baptize them?” I imagine there was probably joyous laughter at that moment. And the people who came to faith were baptized. And Peter stayed at the house of the Centurion for a few days. Then he headed back to Joppa, and eventually to Jerusalem.
I love this story! I love all the things that it can teach us.
I love this passage because it tells us that God is always working beyond what we expect. He is always doing more that we have ever imagined or hoped for. Just when we think we have God understood to where what he is doing is completely predictable and we can have every little situation under control, he puts us in a situation where nothing is under our control. But everything is under his control. And he blesses us. And he blesses others through us.
I love this passage because it shows us that nobody is outside of the love of God and his grace. Jesus did not just die for people who were raised in the church. And thank God! Because if the gospel was only for those who were raised in religious and morally upright families I certainly would have been left out! But Jesus came for everyone! Nobody is outside his grace and forgiveness.
But if you had to ask me what the most important insight for me with this passage was, I would have to tell you it is a lesson that the people of God always have to learn and relearn. It is the lesson Israel was taught when God told them “If my people who are called by my name will pray and humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways I will hear their prayers and I will heal their land”.
To me the most important message here is that in order for Cornelius to be reached, for he and his friends to accept Christ, it was Peter that needed to do most of the changing, not Cornelius. And when Peter and his friends had their hearts changed, then they were able to bring change into the world around them and reach it for Christ.
God always works to change the world from the inside out. From inside a believers heart out into the world. From a revival in a church and change in their hearts, to then being able to have effectiveness in reaching their community.
So, Let us look at our little outline in our bulletin here. And I can illustrate my point.
When one thinks of a Roman soldier in the ancient world, one generally thinks of a greedy, immoral persecutor. A man who has blood on his hands. A bully to the Jewish people.
Cornelius, however, was nothing like this.
Again if you look at your outline you will see that
He was seeking GOD and seeking TRUTH. He even knew God well enough that when he saw the angel he said, “What is it Lord?” He knew the Lord’s voice! The Lord was working in him and speaking to him even before he accepted Christ.
He was moral. He had a reputation for giving to the needy. He was an enemy occupier, but all the Jews held him in high regard as a good person.
He was hard working. He had to be. Climbing to rank he had was no easy task
He was a leader. Did you notice how his people were loyal to him? How so many were gathered for Peter’s arrival?
He was inviting people on a spiritual journey. He was an evangelist before he even knew Jesus. He was inviting people to hear about and follow God even before he had heard the knew Jesus.
The picture here of Cornelius is not of a man who needs to make drastic change. He just needs someone to help him understand more of who God is and what God is doing in his life. He needs someone to come and help him find what he is missing and does not understand. Cornelius does not need to get off the path he is on, he just needs someone to point him in the right direction to the next, very important step. He needs someone to tell him about Jesus, and help him bring everything he has known and heard about God together.
The picture of Peter is quite different. Peter is an apostle. Peter is the leader of the early church. But in order to reach Cornelius, God really needs to work on Peter’s heart. Peter needs to grow and change, or he will fail in the mission God has given him and the church.
Look at our outline. What was Peter like?
The apostle Peter was prejudiced. That is why God had to send him the vision with all of those unclean animals to eat. He had prejudices against people who were not Jewish, and had no intention of reaching out to them.
Peter was spending time with people that were just like him. Which means primarily Christian believers of Hebrew decent.
Peter felt apprehensive and afraid. He kept arguing with God about the animals not being able to be eaten because they were unclean. God had to tell him to go with the men who came to get him and tell him not to be afraid. God generally tells people not to be afraid when they are in fact, afraid. He reinforced when he arrived that he was only at the centurion’s house because a dream had told him to come.
In addition to these challenges Peter had some good qualities. Qualities that allowed him to reach Cornelius and his friends. Those qualities were:
Peter was obedient to what God commanded
Peter was open to growing and changing when prompted by God to do so.
This much is true. Both Peter and Cornelius needed to change. But if you really looked at who had to change the most in order for Cornelius to be reached, well it was Peter that needed to change.
So what does that mean for us, here at First Baptist Church of Fowler?
Well it means a few things. If you will look at your outline you will see:
If we are going to reach our neighbors, then we are going to need to be the ones that grow and change.
Friends, I hate to say it, but if you are waiting for the world to walk through the doors of the church and decide to join our little congregation and be just like us you will die waiting. IT WILL NOT EVER HAPPEN.
If you are waiting for the world around us to all the sudden become more eager to understand Christianity and receptive to Biblical values, and run to your front door or through the doors of our sanctuary in droves to understand what Jesus is about, you will be waiting a long time. The world is the world.
No, when the world changes it changes because Christians are willing to grow and change, and then take that change into the world as humble ambassadors of Jesus. The world changes because we change. The world changes because believers are not happy with the way we are. We are not content to coast along in the backwash of half-hearted Christianity. Our community changes because we as Christians and as a church are willing to respond to the convicting, prompting words of the Holy Spirit
Revival, one missionary that I worked with told me a while ago, is like a fire. You don’t start a fire by taking a blowtorch to a big log in your fire place. You start a fire by putting out a little fire starter, some tinder, and some kindling. Then as the fire grows you add the big heavy pieces of wood.
Passionate Christians are the tinder and kindling that starts the fire of revival. Then as the revival grows like a fire, it begins to have an effect on half-hearted Christians, and then the world seeking to know Christ. But a spiritual movement that has an impact on our world begins with you and me.
It is like the quote you see for point #2
The Bible says if MY people who are called by MY name will HUMBLE themselves AND pray AND seek my face AND turn from their wicked ways …. (2 Chron. 7:14)
If you want this community to be more full of Jesus, we need to allow this church and our hearts to be consumed with a passion for serving Christ and reaching others for Christ. And if that pushes us beyond our traditions or the way we grew up or what our preferences are, then so be it.We, as the Scripture says…need to humble ourselves and allow God to do a work in our heart.
If our church gets stronger, it will be because WE CHANGED.
It will not be because everyone else has mysteriously been convinced by God to join our ministry. It will be because we allowed God to let us see others differently, to love others more freely, to share the gospel with greater effectiveness and humility.
This is because churches and communities, and people for that matter, change from the inside out.
You allow God to change your heart. Then God starts to move in our church. Then things start happening in our community and world. But if you are not willing to learn, grow, change, be challenged, and be pushed to act differently and see things differently, then don’t expect anything to change around you.
Unless we are willing to humble ourselves, and be willing to make following Jesus our passion instead of just our hobby, we will continue to struggle in our spiritual lives, in our relationships, in our congregation, and in our witness. Unless we are willing to let God challenge us and grow us beyond our narrow perspective, we will not grow. Unless we are willing to make those uncomfortable steps to begin to hope and dream of new ways to reach and disciple our children, our friends, our neighbors, and our community, we will miss the opportunities for vital ministry that is ahead of us.
I hope we won’t let this moment called today, pass you by. God has got great things in store just down the road.
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