Acts chapter 10.
We finished last week, but let me just
get us up to speed here.
Cornelius was a God-fearing man who was
fasting, and God sent Peter to him to
present the gospel to him, to present the
good news.
So Cornelius feared God, but he didn't know
about Jesus Christ.
So Peter was sent to him, and in
verse 44 of chapter 10, it said, while
Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell
upon those who heard the word and they
were baptized.
Now it's almost as if he's preaching the
gospel at their house, he's laying out the
plan of salvation, who Jesus was, and as
he's speaking, the Holy Spirit descends upon them
and overshadows them and comes upon them in
a powerful way as he's presenting the gospel.
So it's not like a person has to
get through the whole presentation.
I've had this happen many times.
You know, you think 10 minutes or 15
minutes or 20 minutes.
I mean, they were ready at five minutes
into it.
They were ready to receive as soon as
their heart opened up.
There wasn't a special prayer prayed.
As soon as their heart was opened up
to the things that God wants to do
in their life, the Holy Spirit descended upon
them, and they were filled with the Holy
Spirit.
So now we get to verse 11.
The title of the message is biblical thoughts
on contention, contending, and worldliness.
I'm trying to tie all that into this.
So now we fast forward to chapter 11.
Now the Apostles and the brethren who were
in Judea heard that the Gentiles had received
the Word of God.
So the Jews just heard that the Gentiles
had received the Word of God, and when
Peter came to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision
contended with him, mainly meaning those Jews contended
with Peter.
Now contention is different from contending.
They contended with him.
They asked him, why are you going into
the house of Gentiles?
Why are you doing that?
You went in into uncircumcised men, and you
ate with them.
So for a Jew, a true follower of
Yahweh, to go into a Gentile's house and
fellowship with them, and because really more so
back then than now, but fellowship and food
were a tight-knit group.
You didn't fellowship and break bread with someone
who wasn't your friend and didn't share the
same things.
So they're challenging him, Peter why did you
do that?
But let me stop here for a minute
on the difference between contentious and contending, because
some people use this scripture to berate others
and to beat people up and to be
contentious.
See, they were questioning Peter.
Well, good contention, I'm going to go back
and forth on the words here.
These Jews who were believers were contending for
the faith.
They were curious, why did you do this?
And also, it's a good time to point
this out, in a healthy church sparks will
fly a little bit.
See, sometimes we want to walk around, no
sparks, nothing, just let us do whatever we
want, but iron sharpens iron.
So it's okay to ask questions, why are
we doing these things?
Why did this happen?
Don't you see this?
And one of the areas sometimes I work
with, and we talk with Brandt, is on
the worship songs, and the lyrics that people,
you know, sometimes they come out with, and
looking at the lyrics, and well, we might
not want to say that theologically, and iron
is sharpening iron, people come to leadership, or
leadership goes to people, and we contend, and
that's healthy if the attitude is right.
That's the difference maker.
If a loving, spirit-filled believer wants to
offer advice, I go like this, please tell
me, but if I have a contentious, angry,
nasty person, all they want to do is
be critical, I do this, and you have
to be able to spot those who truly,
because those who are truly concerned for you,
and want the best for the church, you
have to listen to their advice, because in
the multitude of counsel, there's wisdom, there's safety
there.
So we have to be careful in this
area of contending, and being contentious.
Here's a couple questions, were these people being
contentious, and critical, or were they simply contending
for the faith?
Ask yourself this question, do you want to
guard others, or do you want to expose
them?
If we just go around wanting to expose
others, have you seen, have you heard, and
we want to expose everything, and point out
their flaws, and go around sin-sniffing, right?
We can be contentious, because that's a critical,
contentious heart.
Now, if you are truly wanting to guard
others, and not expose them, love and humility
is guiding your decision more often than this
person, because the New Testament encourages us, it
actually, here's, this is, you can test this
out on your own, go through the New
Testament, it actually encourages us to err on
the side of grace.
If you're going to err, you err on
the side of grace, not on the side
of judgment.
Now, for all those type A people in
the room, that like to contend for the
faith, I know it's kind of, what about
this, and what about this, and what about
that, what about, yes, I didn't say that
we, we, we guard, and we actually sweep
sin under the doormat, let me lift it,
hurry, quick, get under there, hide it, we're
not talking about hiding sin, and we're not
talking about, well, don't, you know, just don't
ever, but, but the immediate, the immediate reaction
in your heart, is it to pound that
gavel, and cast a judgment, or is it
to protect, and say, you know what, let
me hear the other side, I don't want
to do that, I don't want to hurt
this person, and, and it's, it's really the,
the heart, because it's, it's good to expose
things when they need to be exposed, but
the heart behind it has to be right,
that's the difference, and I've seen, this is
one of the issues with Bible believing, conservative
churches that, that want to deal with sin,
that want to be true to God's Word,
one of our flaws, if you will, is
not having the right heart, because we want
to point out sin so much, that sometimes
we can hurt the other person.
Now, this is coming from somebody who likes
to point out sin, and likes to preach
on it, and likes to warn people, but
I also want to come up, and be
gracious, you hit my car, and you left,
so wonderful, that was my first response, was
not to go find them, and be nice,
was it?
Well, you don't know, but I'm telling you,
it wasn't.
Ten minutes before the baseball game is gonna
start, and my wife tells me, and I'm
like, oh, that's wonderful, they hit it, and
ran, so I'm thinking, okay, who was this,
we're gonna put out Facebook, and then God's
kind of, come on Shane, this, I could
be using this for a different reason, and
it's working in my heart, so my, my
first response was not to guard them, it
was to expose them, get them on Facebook,
we know the license plate number, let's go
get them, but it's it's God working in
the heart, so just think about that, do
we want to guard others, or expose them,
so when sin comes to the, to the
church, or when you hear about this person's
doing this, and doing this, are you like,
yeah, let's go get them right now, you
grab the pitchfork, and I'll grab the, the,
the, whatever, you know, pitchfork, and a, and
a, and a sword, and we'll go get
them, or as a heart of, oh man,
this is sad, how can we come alongside,
and help them, but eventually sin comes out,
eventually you have to talk about things, so
it's really an issue of the heart, number
two, these are convicting, because I was convicted,
are you quick to find faults, and are
you looking for them, see we're talking, there's
not a lot of AMN's at this service,
it's just like stone-cold, oh no, he's
going down my, he's calling me out on
this one, well, yes and no, it's good
to call these types of people out, I've
been one, and I can go in this
side real quick, so calling myself out, because
what this does, when I'm called out in
certain areas, it should soften my heart, and
I should say, God, I don't want to
be that way, God help me in this
area, that's repentant, and then change can take
place, but if all we're doing is this,
and we're not receiving this loving rebuke, then
change doesn't take place, so are we quick
to find faults, are we looking for faults,
have you ever met those people, that's all
they do, is they, yeah, but this, and
this, and this, and I mean, there's people
who can tear churches apart, I get emails
from them, and I can tell, I can
go into a church, and I can tear
it up, somehow, if you're going there to
find faults, so we, so when we're talking
about being contentious, a critical heart, or contending
for the faith, there is a big difference,
then the third question on this, do you
only see the negative, do you only see
the negative, and it's okay to question, if
you're truly open to hear the answer, these
people, I believe we're truly open to hear
the answer from Peter, so one who constantly
questions, is often contentious, that's what the whole
point I was getting at, if we're constantly
questioning this, and we're constantly questioning that, we
have to look at our heart, are we
contentious, is there something, now you can go
from humble, and broken, to being contentious, it's
a process sometimes, you get, you get, kind
of get bitter, you get upset, or you're
tired, I'm tired of this person pushing me
around, I'm tired of this, and we develop
a critical heart, so here's, here's that first
point, either pray for boldness, if you're not
contending for the faith, or pray for balance,
if you're contending too much, and you've developed
a critical heart, Lord help me in this
area, that's the whole point of bringing these
things out, is for God to help us,
so that's the contention aspect, and then we
see here, I don't want to, I don't
want to rush ahead, because I think there's
a lot here, what about worldliness, how do
we reach sinners, if we always avoid them,
Peter was in the world, but not of
the world, now this could be a whole
sermon, I'll just tell you up front, but
the point was, they said, why did you
go into their house, to minister to them,
or to eat with them, why did you,
that's not, you're not supposed to be doing
that, you shouldn't identify with that group, now
this is an interesting topic, especially now, with
the media, Facebook, YouTube, conferences, who do we
align ourselves with, and who don't we, we
have to be careful, who we say, share
the stage with, and who don't we, who
do we go to events with, and who,
it's, so it's a very interesting concept, I
wish I had time to fully unpack it,
but I think there's some principles that can
help, and I think we have to understand
that God works in somebody's heart, maybe a
little different than he's working in your heart,
and there are gray areas, for example, I
remember, I think it was John MacArthur, who
passed up an opportunity to speak at the
large Mormon tabernacle at their headquarters, but Ravi
Zacharias took the opportunity to speak about the
true Christ, at their conference, and I had
to process that one for a while, oh
I see his side, I see, man, I
see John MacArthur's side, because he would, he's
like, oh see, he's validating it, he's validating,
he sees, is he becoming a Mormon, and
I can't identify, I can't do that, and
then you see this other side, like, you
can walk in, thousands upon thousands of people
will hear about the real gospel, from an
apologist, one of the best, wow, and you
could, boy, Facebook, I Facebook, but the media
lit up, and this thing, so you have
to be careful, because God does work differently
with different people, and how involved do you
get?
How involved in the world do you get
to minister to people?
You know, how, it's an interesting thing, being
in the world and not of it, but
I'm gonna share some points that I hope
help you.
Are you the light, or is the light
fading?
So when you go to an event, or
when you get involved in the life of
a person who doesn't know Christ, are you
the light, or is the light fading?
In other words, are you in that setting,
and you're the light, you're calling the shots,
people are looking to you, or is your
light fading, and you're just being drawn into
what they're doing?
And put a different way, do you persuade
them, or do they persuade you?
Basically, who is the influencer?
Who is the influencer?
For example, it'd probably not be a good
idea for me to go to Lake Havasu
with a group of my high school buddies,
where there's just beer all weekend long.
It's just not, probably, probably not gonna want
to listen to Shane right then, are they?
But if that same person calls me on
Sunday, hungover and sick, and he's direction for
his life, let me meet you down where
you live, I'll drive there.
See, now you're on my turf, now you're
in my ballpark, now I can influence you,
and I'm not being influenced.
So that's how you're in the world of
it.
There are some places I believe Christians should
avoid.
It's hard to, well Jesus was among sinners,
absolutely, we should be too, but he also
wasn't in the brothel.
He wasn't, you want me to get a
little bit more technical here?
He wasn't engaging, he wasn't in those places
that all this stuff was taking place.
He was selective, he was the light, he
was the influence.
He ate with them, he talked with them.
So that's one way to be in it,
not of it.
Are you being conformed into the image of
Christ, or are you being conformed into the
world's image?
Now a lot of this might not apply
to you, but it applies big time to
young adults, because this is what they're struggling
with.
As they're being the influence in their college
campuses, or around their friends, are they being
conformed into the image of Christ?
They're holding on to their faith, they're leading
people to the Lord, they struggle, they fall,
understand?
But they're being strengthened, or are they being
conformed into the image of the world?
And that light is fading, and they're being
drawn away.
Then they are of the world, and the
world has infected them.
Are you being selective, cautious, and using wisdom?
Selective, cautious, and using wisdom.
Seek godly counsel.
I wish I could do a sermon just
on this.
Here's a little note about godly counsel.
I have rarely seen a person go wrong
by seeking godly counsel and waiting on God.
Now ask the right people, of course, but
the right people can say, you know, from
my perspective, knowing you, knowing your situation, you
get godly counsel to look at you, because
they don't look at you biasly, like we
look at ourselves, right?
We usually say, Lord, here's what I'm doing,
bless my plans.
And our flesh gets in there, I want
this, I think this would make me look
better, I think this would bring in more
money, I think this thing, and we're, because
of sin, because of sin, we don't have
always pure motives.
We don't see clearly, we see through it
mere dimly, Paul even said right now.
So others can come alongside and say, I
don't think that's healthy, I don't see you
doing that, I don't think that's a good
idea.
And if you've got three or four strong
Christians offering something and you go against that,
I have seen nine times out of ten
where that didn't work out for the person.
Because in the multitude of their counsel, there
are safety.
Now, of course, you have to be careful
who you ask, right?
You don't want to ask the lady at
the nail salon who just got back from
Lake Havasu and Laughlin, and what do you,
you should leave that man, you should get
rid of him, you should walk out today.
No, that's the wrong counsel, that's not godly
counsel, that's worldly counsel, and they will tell
you different things.
I see I'm very careful who I go
to for counsel.
I'm very careful because I know, I know
there's, there's, there's, there's, there's flesh in there,
right?
A sad fact, I'll just tell you, I
don't know if I should, if it's a
bad idea that I won't do it at
11 a.m., but when we were thinking
of stopping the 11th of the Saturday night
service, right, I wasn't probably going to go
ask pastors in Lancaster what I should do.
Yes, stop it, get Shane out of Dodge,
right?
Get him out, yes, stop it, stop it
for sure, stop it, stop it, right?
Because ulterior motives.
There is competition in churches, let's just be
honest, we have to fight that, just like
anyone else, there's competition in business, everybody's going
to that church, why is nobody going to
mine?
And you have to fight that because it's
a work of the flesh.
And then when you get to, I surrender
all before the message, you give it all
to God and let him, let him figure
out the results.
That's one of the hardest parts, the hardest
time sometimes for many pastors is the Sunday
after Easter, because attendance goes, boom, and they
rate it by attendance.
But I learned a long time ago, if
you've ever heard the story, when God dropped
the church down to 50 some people, and
I went home going, Lord, I don't know
what to do, I'm just going to preach,
and if you're 50 or 500, or you
bring 5,000, it doesn't matter, I've got
to do what you called me to do.
But he used that time to prune away
things, because when we start measuring it by
man's standard, we can run into trouble.
So again, be careful who you ask, I
was careful on who I asked in regard
to that decision, and we actually left it
up to leadership team, a big leadership team
seeking godly counsel, brought in children's ministry and
worship and ushering and deacons and elders.
What do you guys think?
What are you sensing?
What do you, what do you, and you
seek that counsel, God, it's a wonderful way
to get direction.
Number five, is everything you do bathed in
prayer, and are you waiting on God?
Now before this is in one ear and
out the next, think about this.
There's two key words here, bathed in prayer.
This isn't driving to work, oh Lord help
that business decision, I'm thinking I'm doing the
right thing, thanks.
That's, that's not bathed in, bathed in prayer,
you know what bathes, right?
Bath.
Your prayer, it's on a daily basis, Lord
I'm needing direction here, God show me, bring
insight, bring insight God, and I'm waiting on
you, I'm not gonna rush, I'm waiting on
you, I'm waiting on you.
You ever met those people like everything they
touch turns to gold?
Have you ever met those people, Christians?
Well guess what, here's a little secret probably,
they're praying for weeks or months, and they're
waiting on God, and they're waiting, and they're
waiting, so when God touches it, it's confirmation,
they already know they're not moving ahead of
God, so it's not them touching everything they
touch it works out, it's they're waiting on
God, praying, and moving patiently, and slowly, God
you've got to show me, I'm not gonna
move ahead until you show me.
Do you think God says, well you really
blew it there, I wish you would have
just rushed ahead, and got ahead of me.
He's looking for the heart, he's looking for
the prayer that says, God I'm going to
wait on you.
I don't know what that looks like, and
if you haven't heard that song from Fireproof,
while I'm waiting, go on YouTube, go on
YouTube and listen to that song, while I'm
waiting.
I wish every person going through marriage problems
could listen to that song, while I'm waiting
God, I will serve you, while I'm waiting,
I will wait upon you, I'm not gonna
argue, I'm not gonna bicker, I'm not gonna
bait, I'm not gonna go to the nightclub,
and try to find plan B.
I'm gonna wait on you God, while I'm
waiting, you will move, while I'm waiting, you
will see me through, while I'm waiting, you
will change the heart of my spouse, while
I'm waiting God.
It's powerful, you can't go wrong waiting on
God, and bathing it in prayer.
That's why I mentioned microwave Christianity, we've got
this form of microwave Christianity, God you've got
four minutes this morning, and you better move,
and if you don't move by Monday afternoon,
I'm on it myself.
Who told us that God was in a
hurry?
You know what happens is the world's mindset,
right?
We get back to the, and I don't
know if you've realized it or not, but
with the television, with media, you, I just
remember, I even remember it, my grandparents, I
don't know now, 40 years ago, I mean
sitting on the back porch making ice cream
with those things, and nobody's in a hurry,
and the meat, but now you got, you
know, two-minute commercials and, or one minute,
or 30, and you got to draw them
in, our attention span, our attention span.
See Shane, things are just attention, changing our
attention span.
No, it's because the influence of the world.
Gotta go quick, gotta go quick, don't like
your car after 20,000 miles, go get
a new one.
Don't like In-N-Out Burger, go to
Carl's Jr., they'll be, if your meal's not
ready in three minutes, and now the unicorn
drinks at Starbucks, don't get me started on
that.
All I had to see was 80 grams
of sugar, 4 grams to a teaspoon, 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17,
18, 19, 20 teaspoons.
I just, I read back to this because
that'll be a whole sermon on, on what
we're putting in our bodies is not a
good thing, and I'm more, I'm more convicted
of that.
Every hospital home I go to, every, a
lot of the sickness I see, a lot
of that is self-created.
We are not taking care of this incredible
gift that God has given us.
I want you to try this, go watch
NASCAR, and you go tell one of the
drivers, you've got this cheap fuel, but you'll
give them to him for a good price.
Who's going to put that in their car?
I'll tell you, no one, no one.
What's the difference?
What's the difference between what we put in
here?
We're too tired, we're too lazy, we're too
lethargic, we can't do anything for God, and
everything has to fit our schedule, and it's
this lazy mentality that I can fall into
too.
Preaching to myself, let me come sit down
there, I'll just look up here at myself
preaching.
I can fall into that too, folks, and
it lines up the, what does this have
to do with the world?
I'm glad you asked, because it's the world's
influence.
Think about this, many times nothing, nothing that
they're advertising is good for you.
Nothing.
A car you can't afford, a house you
sure can't afford, food you shouldn't be eating,
and now all these billboards around town, big
oops on it.
Have you seen it?
Oops, with the wedding ring, oops, I made
a mistake, quick divorce, call this number.
So we see oops, we see this, we
see this, it's no wonder we look like
the world, we have no power of the
Holy Spirit.
So again, don't say, Lord, here's what I'm
going to do, please bless it, because that
rarely works.
Now you can say, Lord, I've been praying
about this, I think you're calling me to
do this, I've got to take a step
here shortly, court date, education, schooling, you've got
to make a decision at some point, then
that's stepping out in faith.
Saying, God, you know my situation, you know
I have to make a decision.
God, please bless this, please show me, and
that's different.
But you know those people here, I'm making
my plans and God, you bless it.
Doesn't matter what I'm doing, God, you bless
it.
Also, in regard to in the world but
not of it, is there conviction?
Is there conviction in a lack of peace
about what you're doing?
Is there conviction in a lack of peace
about what you're doing?
Then that's often God's way of getting us
out of the situation, folks.
A believer cannot stay in a wrong, whatever
you call it, situation, or a wrong event,
or a wrong thing without conviction and having
peace.
They won't have those.
A friend of mine, actually I told you,
he's got a large church in Bakersfield, and
we've been going back and forth, they actually
send a team to minister inside of a
pornography conference in LA.
And so I'm trying to get a hold
of him, just like, how does that work?
Like, is it hopefully just women?
I mean, and they're called of God to
do that because that's not a good environment
for most people to go into and bring
the gospel.
But is it an environment you never touch?
I don't know about that.
Sometimes in the sex slave industry, if you
heard some of the testimonies and how you
have to get those women out, I think
God calls people to certain areas, but you
have to be ready.
You have to know what he's called you
to do.
For example, he has not called me to
do that.
I know that.
But other people say, how do you speak?
And there's atheists there, there's a satanic group,
there's all, how do you do?
I couldn't, I would be, no, he's called
me to do that.
But he hasn't called me to do what
you, see, he gives us different giftings.
Chapter 12 of 1st Corinthians.
Same spirit, but different gifts.
So is there conviction?
Let's talk about this for a minute.
Is there conviction that you shouldn't be doing
it and a lack of peace, but we
do it anyway?
Here's what most people say, but it pays
the bills, brother.
But it pays the bills.
What you shouldn't be doing, yeah, but it
pays the bills.
I know people in jobs that they shouldn't
be in.
Working in places they should not be.
Compromising and all these, but it pays the
bills.
So so that goes above God's will.
Yes, it's risky to step out in things.
I mean, when I remember Morgan, I remember,
actually it's my daughter's birthday today, so tell
Aubrey happy birthday when you see her.
But yeah, it was probably 12 years ago,
we had this conversation where she was working,
I was working, and for her to stop
working, because I believe, you know, stop working
and with the home, and it wasn't gonna
happen.
It was just impossible with the bill.
You look at the bills, we just bought
a house in Lancaster over by the prison.
Great location, right?
And and it's just not gonna work.
We said that for a week, it's not
gonna work.
It's impossible to do it.
Well, can her mom watch it?
Well, we decided, well, you know what, let's
just pray.
God, we think this is the heart of
God.
We think this is obviously what's best, and
we're stepping out in faith.
Lord, we're gonna trust you in this.
And after that, no problem at all.
To me, I could go back in a
lot of different things.
What he did within construction, and I was
allowed to buy my own heavy equipment.
Construction was booming, and I was busier than
I'd ever imagined to be.
But God honoring those types of things.
Now, we haven't made perfect decisions all the
way through.
I don't want people to be left with
that impression, because pastor's not supposed to be
the hero of every story, right?
I never do anything wrong.
It's the opposite.
I've learned many times, and I want to
share those things with you.
So be careful if it's just about paying
the bills.
I've seen people trapped in the wrong job,
or in the wrong situation for years, sometimes
their whole life, because it's about the money,
or it's about this, and not what God's
Word says.
And it's often not until we trust God's
Word that he begins to move.
Because we want it without faith, don't we?
Oh, I just, my aunt in Nebraska died.
Nebraska.
My aunt in Nebraska died.
Didn't know I had an aunt.
She left me $400,000.
Oh, thank you.
Now I can make the right decision.
That's not faith.
That's not, that has nothing to do with
faith.
That's just a good open door, right?
Or a good, that's a God may be
open.
Faith is saying, Lord, your Word says this.
I need to start obeying your Word.
Regardless of this, I'm going to honor you.
I'm gonna have faith, and I'm gonna trust
you.
Your Word says, will I not open up
heaven for you?
Will I not show you great things if
you trust me?
So I'm gonna trust you.
Yes, it might be difficult for a day,
or a week, or a month, but you're
living with that peace, that you know you
made the right decision.
So again, it has to do with in
the world, not of the world.
Finally, is there fruit?
And yes, I turned an expositional sermon to
a topical sermon, in case you're wondering.
Is there fruit?
Is there fruit in what you're doing in
the world, but not of the world?
If you're involved in the things of the
world, like most of us are, right?
I'm coaching baseball, and many of those people
are not Christians.
And it's a very difficult environment.
I hope I'm being the light.
I'm hoping I'm not being influenced.
And is there fruit?
Yes, we see fruit, hopefully, at some point,
you know.
And so, is there fruit in what you're
doing?
Is there fruit?
Or are we just using that as an
excuse?
But Shane, but Shane, I'm witnessing to them.
I've had, I've known pastors my age that
will sit in yard house, and have a
couple pints of Yale and ale beer, and
tell me they're witnessing to the waitress.
She went to church yet?
No, but I'm trying.
It's not gonna happen.
It's not gonna happen, folks.
You see, the message and the messenger go
together.
The message of the gospel and the messenger
have to be together.
What would you guys think if I went
and got a big Mickey Mouse sticker, and
put, fill this whole thing with a Mickey
Mouse sticker?
And then Barney next to it?
And then what's all the stuff now?
Frozen next to it?
Look, isn't this cool?
The kids can relate now.
You'd be going, what is wrong with Shane?
The messenger and the message.
See, they go together.
I've seen the way that they have, the
dangers of pornography are terrible, and we all
know that.
But sometimes the way they promote these conferences,
I can't go into details.
I did in one of my books.
I can't tell you what they do, but
it's ridiculous how they promote these things.
Trying to reach the world, and we'll leave
it at that.
Ask me, I'll tell you afterwards.
But the message and the messenger go together.
The messenger and the message go together.
They're married.
So when you're, are you affecting the world,
or is the world infecting you?
So that was all tied into Peter.
He went in what we would call, you
can't go into that place.
Don't do that as a Christian.
He walked into that place, and God moved
in a powerful way.
So here's the shift we see.
Let's, well let's shift it for a minute.
Are you teachable?
Were these people teachable?
So when Peter said this, did they get
contentious and angry, and try to put him
down?
Or were they teachable?
Because Proverbs says, always hear both sides.
That might be, that might be something for
somebody this morning.
That has helped me more times than I
can tell you.
You hear this side right, and you're like,
I'm gonna go get him.
And you hear this side, and you're like,
what?
Wait a minute here.
What happened?
Because the truth is often in the middle.
Because we tell things from our perspective.
Right?
We'll build this up, but we'll leave this
out.
We'll say this, but not that.
And Proverbs encouraged us to go to both
sides.
So let's see how these men reacted.
Verse 14, I'm sorry verse 4 in chapter
11.
Now we see contending.
They're contending for the faith.
But Peter explained the dream to them.
The dream he had of God showing him
basically that it's not wrong to go with
these Gentiles.
And as Peter began to speak, as I
began to speak, Peter's talking, the Holy Spirit
fell upon them as upon us at the
beginning.
Then I remember the word of the Lord,
how he said, John indeed baptized with water,
but you shall be baptized with the Holy
Spirit.
Well it's a controversial chapter, isn't it?
Baptizing the Holy Spirit.
By the way, they spoke in tongues.
Uh-oh.
Here we go, right?
I mean, the book of Acts is, the
book of Acts is recording church history.
Then I remember the word of Lord, John
will baptize you with water, but you shall
be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
What was happening is John the Baptist was
baptizing people into the Jordan River.
Baptism into repentance.
Get your life right with God.
Baptizing into repentance.
But Jesus said, when I'm gone, the Holy
Spirit's going to come, and he's going to
baptize you with fire.
That's the difference.
People in the Old Testament, they're being baptized,
okay, I come out, I'm right with God
because I baptized, no big deal.
But when the Holy Spirit came upon them,
they were radically changed.
They became new people, basically.
Dead to the things of God, now alive
to the things of God.
If therefore God gave them the same gift
as he gave us when we believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that
I could withstand God.
So Peter's preaching the gospel, the Holy Spirit
falls upon this family, Cornelius' whole house, the
Holy Spirit falls.
It's probably like, have you ever tried to
witness even to young adults?
They're like, whatever, you know, or they're listening,
and people, you can tell when they're bored,
right?
They're not really paying attention.
Well, Peter's, who knows, if they're standing, they're
sitting, the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and
they are just hit with the awesomeness of
God.
They are baptized in the Holy Spirit, they
are anointed, there's anointing there, and this whole
family's changed.
As a result, don't get mad at me,
the Bible says, I'm just reading the Bible,
it says they spoke in tongues.
That's what the Bible says.
See, the problem with people who don't believe
that is, you got to go and cut
out chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, while you're
at it, cut out chapter 13 on love,
and while you're at it, because he's using
love to say, they're talking about the gifts,
and then chapter 14, he's talking about more
of this.
Go cut out all three of those chapters.
We just don't see that.
So when they heard these things, they became
silent.
In other words, the Jews heard Peter talking
about Cornelius' family receiving the Holy Spirit, and
they were all, they all began to glorify
God.
So these people didn't say, nope, that didn't
happen, because here's what a critical person will
do, Peter, I don't care what happened, that's
not right.
You shouldn't have went in their house.
I don't care if the Holy Spirit fell
upon them, and they were speaking in tongues
and preaching.
I don't care.
You shouldn't have done that.
You know who that reminds me of?
The Pharisees.
Jesus, you shouldn't have healed on Sunday.
Why'd you heal that man on Sunday?
So it showed me their hearts were like,
hey, we're contending, why did you go into
the house of unbelievers?
Oh, God fell upon them and saved them?
Surely, surely we cannot cast the first stone
and be judgmental.
That's what they said, and they glorified God,
saying, then God has also granted to the
Gentiles repentance to life.
It wasn't just for the Jews.
So again, don't rush to judgment.
Hear both sides.
Now this is interesting too, the fruit was
unmistakable.
See, it wasn't, he was, Peter was preaching
to Cornelius, and Cornelius believed, right?
And Peter says, so you believe?
And Cornelius is like, yeah, I believe.
Really?
Yeah, I guess so, I'll believe it.
I mean, okay, well, how do you know,
right?
I mean, they take their word for it,
but he saw the fruit of it.
A whole family, I don't know if you've
experienced this before, and I of course want
to be careful, because I'm not into experience
-oriented things, but I'm also know that I
want to experience God.
And if you've ever seen the Holy Spirit
fall upon a place, it is absolutely amazing.
It's a life-changer.
I've spoke about it before, a couple times
that come to mind.
Hope Chapel happened many years, three years ago,
and it's hard to even explain.
I was speaking at a men's conference, and
the worship was just, it's like the air
feels thick.
I couldn't even go up and preach.
The guy's, you know, he's like, hey brother,
you know, you got, and I'm just there
weeping in my chair, and the guys next
to me began weeping, and the guys, 300
guys in a men's conference, and they're on
their knees, and they're weeping, and they're crying
out to God, and you just can't, well,
oh, that's emotionalism, you know, hogwash.
It's because you never experienced it.
That's why you don't like it.
And people say, oh, but that, when God
actually does that, it's amazing.
It's not weird, and it's not out there.
It's God breaking His people.
God, wilt thou not revive us again, that
we may rejoice in you?
And that's my prayer.
It doesn't happen often.
I don't know why.
You can't turn on the switch, and turn
on that switch.
I don't know why.
I just know that even, and I can
take you to revivals in the 1700s, to
the Welsh revivals, the father Methodist fathers of
Wales.
They write biographies on the 1700s.
Men like Griffin Jones, Hal Davis, Daniel Rowlands,
all these men that D.
Martin Lloyd Jones talks about.
Many good guys I talk about.
A great American awakening in America in 1906,
and off the islands of Scotland, and all
these things.
God visits it in a powerful way, exactly
what we're reading to hear, reading today, and
that's why it's hard for us, is because
many people read that, and they go, I
don't know what that's talking about.
I don't know.
So maybe it doesn't happen anymore.
That's how we get out of it, right?
That doesn't happen anymore.
But I believe it can happen.
I believe God is waiting for an empty,
not an empty altar, but an altar of
sacrifice.
Ourselves, living sacrifices.
But the fruit was unmistakable.
The Holy Spirit came down upon them, and
the fruit was unmistakable.
Well, let's revisit some fruit.
Do you have this fruit?
And yes, I talk about this a lot,
and I probably will until the day I
die, so if you don't like it, fire
me.
I love worship.
I want more of God.
I'm not in a hurry.
The Bible comes alive.
I'm more conscious of sin.
Did you know that?
The more I feel the Spirit, the more
conscious I am of sin.
Even the little things.
I shouldn't have pulled out in front of
that person.
I shouldn't.
Lord, you're more conscious of sin.
However, I desire God's grace more.
God, thank you for your grace.
So you're close to sin and seeing it,
but you're close to grace and mercy.
You're filled with the Spirit of God.
I want to restore what I've broken.
Here's a true sign of somebody filled with
the Spirit who is truly repentant.
They want to fix what they broke.
They want to seek forgiveness.
They want to repair any damage that I
have done.
I want to repair that.
That's why when you see a man who
is truly broken and repentant, he will come
home weeping and say, I want to fix
what I have broken.
I want to rebuild my life with the
children.
I want to help.
I want to fix it because God is
working in my heart.
If you don't want to fix anything and
you're just doing things to pacify, the Holy
Spirit's not working in your heart.
Something else is.
That's fruit.
That's genuine fruit.
While we're on this topic, why does the
Holy Spirit get a bad reputation?
Have you ever thought about this?
Well, maybe before I was younger.
Some of you remember the 1940s, 1950s.
Would it be okay to say I'm throwing
a gay party?
What did gay mean 50 years ago?
Happy.
I actually remember when a fundamentalist was a
word.
Pastors wanted to be called fundamentalists.
Now, oh, right?
The modern day ISIS is in America.
Those fundamentalists blowing up abortion clinics and putting
Trump in office and all the fundamentalists and
this bad term, you know.
It's like, but don't let this happen with
the Holy Spirit.
Don't let tongues are coming upon.
Don't let that happen here.
The true meaning was vital.
It's still vital for us today.
You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Is there boldness?
That's like there's a baptism of the Holy
Spirit or a filling of the Holy Spirit
or an unction.
Is the Holy Spirit in you?
And I remember too, I've talked about this
before, I think in Lancaster, but it's interesting.
When I read books, usually a hundred years
old or so, when they would call a
pastor to a church vacancy, they very rarely,
did they say, does he have a PhD
in church history?
What, does he have this?
Does he have that?
Does he have this a master's?
And those are good things, but the one
question was, has he received his baptism of
fire?
Has he received his baptism of fire?
In other words, can he preach through the
power of the Holy Spirit?
Or is he just a talking head going
through theological doctrines that will miss everybody because
he's over their head?
That's the difference maker.
And then he said, God gave them the
same gift as he gave us.
Now commentaries are divided on this.
God gave the Gentiles the same gift that
he gave the Jews.
Was that gift the Holy Spirit or was
that gift the speaking of tongues?
Now I'll let you research that, but let's
talk about that for a minute.
On this issue of tongues, I just want
to teach it because we're here.
Paul uses 1st Corinthians 12, 1st Corinthians 13,
1st Corinthians 14, 1st Corinthians 12, he talks
about the one spirit, different gifts.
Verse 13 is on love, verse 14 is
how to use the gifts.
So in the New Testament, it was evident
in the lives of many people who were
filled with the Holy Spirit.
According to 1st Corinthians 12 29, it was
a gift.
Paul said, are all apostles?
Are all prophets?
There's two controversial words again.
I just threw out two more for you.
There you go.
Right?
Somebody says, I'm an apostle.
You're like, oh goodness.
I'm a prophet.
Oh Lord, please help us.
One reason is because people don't, it shouldn't
be self-proclaimed anything.
An apostle was just somebody who would plant
a church.
A prophet is somebody who would speak boldly
God's Word.
And they were given titles, not by themselves,
but the people would say, oh that person's
an apostle.
That person's a prophet.
The people would identify who they were.
So Paul said, are all prophets?
Are all teachers?
Are all workers of miracles?
Do all have gifts of healing?
Do all speak with tongues?
Do all interpret, but earnestly desire the best
gifts.
And yet, I will show you a more
excellent way.
And then finally, for those who are curious,
it did have a purpose.
Speaking in this language had a purpose.
Paul said in 1st Corinthians 14, pursue love,
desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may
prophesy.
What is prophesying?
What I'm doing now.
Preaching.
It's not going, oh in four years, this,
you know, that's foretelling.
Some people have that gift of looking and
speaking, and hey, warning people.
We're gonna see this in the next chapter.
That people can speak and warn people because
of this gift.
For he who speaks in tongues does not
speak to men, but to God.
For no one understands him, however in the
Spirit he speaks mysteries.
But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation
to comfort men.
He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself,
but he who prophesies edifies the entire church.
So Paul was showing how this gift would
be used.
Now, this is a good reminder to remind,
a good time to remind you as well,
what you're filled with eventually comes out.
What you are filled with eventually comes out.
But I want to, I almost changed the
whole sermon with this last sentence here.
That he said, earnestly desire the best gifts,
and yet I show you a more excellent
way.
So he's telling the Corinth, the church in
Corinth, they're called Corinthians, to desire spiritual gifts.
Desire that the Holy Spirit use you in
a way to, gifts of this, gifts of
that.
But I'm gonna show you a more excellent
way.
Then he goes right into chapter 13 and
he says, though I speak with the tongue
of men and of angels, but I have
not love that prophets mean nothing.
I'm like a sound clanging brass or a
clanging cymbal.
It prophets, oh stop that, stop that.
So you can be eloquent, you can be
exhorting, but if you have not love it
profits you nothing.
And then he says, or I can have
great faith to understand all mysteries.
Great faith, this person is great faith, but
they have not love.
Paul said it profits me nothing.
I can give up my things and be
burned at the stake.
And Paul says it profits me nothing.
For love is patient, love is kind, it
does not envy, it does not boast, it's
not rude, it's not proud, it's not self
-seeking, it doesn't get, it doesn't keep track
of wrong done against it.
It forgives, it perseveres.
So the church was obviously looking at all
these gifts and they lacked the most important
thing, love.
And actually the cure for contention that we
talked about earlier is love.
The cure for contending is love.
If you don't contend for the faith, if
you don't, if you don't have that boldness,
the more you love God and the more
you love others, that will come out of
you.
And it's also the cure for worldliness, the
more you love the things of God.
The thing about love though is this, it
does not come naturally.
It has to be fought for, it has
to be defended, and it has to be
constantly nurtured.