For our pastor dear God, please bless him as he preaches your word tonight in Jesus name we pray. Amen
All right
We're in acts chapter 10 this evening
And act chapter 10 is pretty popular because of the fact that it has a story of cornelius
the uh
the centurion who gets saved and it's a great story to read through and to show us that
God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and more specifically, you know
He wants people outside of israel to be saved, right?
He wants people who are romans who are gentiles to be saved and we see that a very sincere man is seeking after god
He's doing things that you know as far as what he knows is best
He's responding to the light that god gives him obviously that's not going to get him saved
But those are things that he's doing on his behalf to show god that he's actually looking for the truth
And so it's a great story here and we're going to learn a lot this evening regarding cornelius
And especially in how we apply that to today when it comes to soul winning now look down in your bibles verse number one
We're going to look at cornelius responding to the light that god gives him
It says in verse number one
There was a certain man in cesarea called cornelius a centurion of the band called the italian band
A devout man and one that feared god with all his house which gave much alms to the people and prayed to god
Always he saw a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of god coming to him
Coming into him and saying to him cornelius and when he looked on him he was afraid and said what is it lord?
He said unto him thy prayers and thy alms are come up for a memorial before god
And now send men to japa and call for one simon whose surname is peter
He lodgeth with one simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do
So what happens here is that he's simply going about his business. He's worshiping god as he knows
You know the best way he knows how
And in light of that god sees that he considers it a memorial
He remembers that and so he allows him to see a vision now
We obviously see later on in the chapter that this man is actually fasting, right?
And maybe he's fasting to find out the truth to seek after god
Well in response to this god basically sends him a vision of an angel the angel tells him
Hey, you need to go down to japa to find a man whose name is peter
This guy is going to tell you what you need to do now in chapter 11
He reiterates that story and we see that greater clarity is given to that statement
He actually says he's going to show you basically how to be saved. Okay what to do in order to be saved
We see that in chapter 11. We're going to look at that in just a bit
so
he being a centurion and a man who is
Basically has a lot of people under him sends his servants down to japa to find this man
At the same time god is giving peter a vision and we see that he goes into into a house top
It's basically lunch time. He's hungry
so god uses his physical needs to give him a vision of different types of animals because you know
When you're hungry, you'll eat anything. Amen. So he shows him these animals a sheet comes down from heaven
It's knit at the four corners and on this sheet is these beasts unclean beasts unclean animals according to the levitical law
And peter, you know god is telling peter hey rise kill and eat
You know kill and eat the pig kill and eat the the the the what do you call it the shrimp or whatever?
Kill and eat this which you would consider to be unclean kill it eat it now
He's not necessarily trying to feed him. He's trying to teach him something, right?
Peter's just like lord nothing on you know common or unclean has ever entered into his mouth
So he had to repeat the vision three times over in order for peter to understand and even then he still doesn't get it
It's not until in tandem you have these men actually come to his house
And speak of this man named cornelius who's looking for the truth that he basically puts two and two together
And he realizes maybe god is telling me this because I consider the gentiles to be common and unclean. Okay
Because he's considering the gentiles to be common or unclean, you know
He's not going to go preach the gospel to them
And this is what we see the majority of the disciples doing they're just preaching the gospel to jews those who are of israel
And they're really negating the rest of the people who god told them to go reach the rest of the nations
So god has to give peter this vision to say hey
These people are not common. They're not unclean. In fact, they are cleansed now look down at your bible at verse number 13
Let's read that it says and there came a voice to him rise peter kill and eat
But peter said not so lord for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean in other words
He's saying look i've kept the levitical law
You know, I know that pigs are unclean and these people these these animals are unclean
And so i'm not going to touch it the voice may come to him again the second time what god hath cleansed
That call not thou common. He said look if i'm telling you to eat it eat it, right?
Don't say that it's common or unclean if god himself the creator has told you you can eat it now
This isn't a sermon on veganism or vegetarianism
But this is a good point to park it out when it comes to this, right?
Because god is saying hey don't call an animal unclean or common, you know
As long as we receive it with thanksgiving according to first timothy chapter number four
You know trying to tell people to abstain from meats is actually a doctrine of devils according to the bible
Okay, veganism and vegetarianism is not biblical
It's a doctrine of devils god said that we should rise kill and eat
And those aren't the only verses that we use to prove that, you know, we should eat meat. It's just a great
Text story to use amen
And so this was done thrice verse 16 and the vessel were received up again into heaven. So why does he say
You know don't call common or unclean what god hath cleansed
Because obviously, you know the the connection he's trying to make there is that these animals are symbolically representing people
And more specifically gentiles, right?
So why is he saying that gentiles have been cleansed now when we think of cleanse we think of you know being cleansed of our sins
We've been cleansed from all of our unrighteousness when we believe on jesus christ
In this passage of scripture, that's not what it's referring to at all
Go, uh, skip down to verse number 34 here
Go to 34 at this point
Peter has basically made his way
To cesarea and uh, he begins to preach the word of god unto the people and he reckoned he realizes man
You know what? Maybe god wants to
Actually wants us to go preach the gospel to every creature like he told us originally. I guess he was really serious about that, right?
And notice he says creature, right?
Look what it says in verse number
30
Excuse me verse 34 then peter opened his mouth and said of a truth
This is what he's saying to cornelius and his house and his friends of a truth. I perceive that god is no respecter of persons
What is what is he insinuating that he's a respecter of people?
Right, so he's imposing his own beliefs upon god
He said well, I guess god is not a respecter of people like I am
He says in verse 35, but in every nation
He that feareth god, excuse me, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him now keep in mind again
This is not referring to accept that as in salvation
Okay
What he's saying is this is that people who respond to the light that god gives them?
God will accept that as your next basically step to finding out the truth. Okay
And that's what he means when he says cleanse that which is you know, don't call that which is common or unclean
God has cleansed what you're calling common and unclean and what he's basically saying is this because the opposite of cleanse is to be defiled
Right and you think of the old testament sacrifices god will not accept that which is defiled
Okay, but he does accept that which is which has been cleansed
so
The interpretation there is that god is basically saying hey, I want the gentiles to be saved
Don't call them common or unclean or defiled because i've actually accepted them. I want them to be saved is what he's saying
They're not saved yet
But I want them to be saved, you know, jesus christ is the savior of all men
But especially of them that believe but he is the savior of all men
That's not to say that everyone's going to be saved
He's just the savior of all men. He's going to be the one to save them if they were to get saved
Okay, so we see that take place they go down there he gets he gets a bunch of people saved
And a great revival happens in the house of cornelius now a few thoughts to consider in light of these verses here
Of course this is a bible study
So we're just going to go through some of the verses look at verse number two. It says a devout man
One that feared god with all his house which gave much alms to the people and prayed to god always now
These are great things but none of this is going to get him saved
But you know today we have people who think that right
They literally think well, you know, i'm a god-fearing person. I'm devoted to my religion. I give to the poor
You know that that that lazy bum who's on the street corner who's an able body who's able to work?
I give them money
You know, I give alms to those people
And I pray to god always I mean how many times have you run into people when you're out soul winning?
And you say are you 100 sure that if you die today you go to heaven. They're like why pray every day?
I pray to god
You know, I know god I pray to god I give to the poor they always list their works
But they never necessarily list the works of christ, right?
And folks not by works of righteousness, which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us
You know therefore we conclude a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law
Works cannot get a safe for by grace. Are you safe through faith and that not of yourself? Hey fearing god is of yourself
Giving much alms to the people that's of yourself
Praying to god that is of yourself. But you know what salvation is not
This is not of yourself. It is the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast
But here's the thing if there's an individual out there who's doing these things
They're not necessarily an evil wicked person some people are sincerely doing these things hoping to be saved
They're not going to get saved
But you know, they're hoping that that's what's going to save them
They're actually responding to the light that god gives them because they recognize there is a god. I need salvation
Maybe if I pray to him, maybe if I give of my alms, maybe if I try to be a good person
I'll get his attention somehow you understand obviously they're wrong, okay?
But god looks at that and says okay this person is responding to the light that i'm giving them
All right
Now what does this teach us what teaches us that even those with the pagan background?
You know, they know who the true god is
Because think about this cornelius
is a centurion
under the operation of the roman empire, right
He's part of the italian man. You know what the roman empire's religion
Was polytheism right they believed in multiple a plethora of gods
They worship jupiter and saturn mercury and venus and mars, you know
They've worshiped all these false gods who they adopted from the greeks. Okay, and today we have a form of that
It's called roman catholicism
Right roman catholicism
You know, they don't worship other gods. They wouldn't say they worship other gods, but they worship saints
Okay, and where do you think they got that from well, there's a reason it's called the roman catholic church, okay
They're well, we don't worship them. We venerate them. Well, yeah, but when you look at the veneration
It's basically defining worship is defined as their veneration, right?
When you look at how they venerate it's like well, you know and you compare it to the word of god you see
Well, that's called worship. It doesn't matter what you call it. You can change the word and the terminology. It's still worship
Yeah
But we see here that this guy comes from a pagan background yet he recognizes there is one true god
I mean it says one that feared gods no one that feared god
Which gave much alms to the people and prayed to gods always no prayed to god always now
We don't know what seeds were planted in this man's life throughout his life. Obviously there were christians in those days
But you know what the truth was available to him just like it's available to any human being on this planet
Okay, every individual on this planet has the opportunity to be safe folks
The heathens, you know from from cornelius to the heat, you know
The stupid illustration that people give you of the of the african in the jungle and the congo
You know who doesn't have any church or whatever. Are you trying to tell me that if that guy dies he'll go to hell
Yes, he will
Okay, not because we want him to but because of the fact that for the wages of sin is death
Obviously we need to go out and preach the gospel to every creature
But every individual has the knowledge of god, okay
The pagan who grows up in the mayan aztec culture
They know of the one true god
No, they don't that's where they're worshiping false gods. How is it that they know that there's false gods
But not a true god
I mean think about that
So you're trying to tell me that they somehow are are worshiping this plethora of of gods
And you know the god of the sun the god of the moon the god of fertility
You know, but so there and they just didn't hear about the one true god who rules the entire universe. It's nonsense folks
But these are the kind of you know theories and postulations that people come up with
You know to try to guilt trip you to think, you know, you think a loving god
How can a loving god send this person to hell?
Read revelation 21 8 he shows you how he sends them to hell
Read revelation 20 verse 14 and 15. It shows you how he does it
Now look, he's not willing to finish your parish and he doesn't want people to go to hell, but that's a dumb question folks
It's a dumb theory. It's a dumb question to try to say. Well, what about that little african kid?
Well, let's go reach the little african kid
I guarantee you the little african kid knows that there is a god
A god the one true god, okay
Even if they never heard a clear presentation of the gospel
You know to say well, no, I don't agree with that
There's plenty of people out there and in southeast asia in the 1040 window
They never heard the name of christ folks. The bible tells us ask me now and I shall give thee the heathen for that inheritance
God doesn't just want you know
The people to be saved who are refined or as joe biden will put it the clean and the fresh or whatever the educator whatever
You know
He wants everyone to be saved. He wants the heathen to be saved. Amen
He wants the person. Yes the heathen in africa
Who's worshiping false gods he wants the the pagan in the amazon jungle?
He wants the mayan and the astic he wants them to be saved
He wants the heathen to come to the saving knowledge of jesus christ. Go to romans chapter one hold your place there in act chapter 10
Even those with pagan backgrounds know the one true god. I'm not saying
That they know him deeply or they know what the bible says about him, but folks they have enough witnesses
Of god
Surrounding them
Dwelling within them to know that there is one true god
Because think about it. They have what the bible talks about creation, right?
as a witness
They have the law of god written in their hearts the bible says, okay
And I guarantee you look
If someone responds to the light that god gives them the light referring to creation the light referring to the the law of god written
In their hearts god will give them that third light which is a soul winner
Guaranteed I believe that with all my heart. Okay, look at romans 118
For the wrath of god is revealed from heaven
Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. So what is he telling everyone knows that there's a punishment
The wrath of god is revealed
Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. So these fools who tell you I don't believe hell exists you liar. You know, it exists
You just hate god
And therefore you go around lying to people saying that it doesn't exist people know everyone knows the hell exists
Everyone knows that there's a punishment for sin
They may not know the intricacies of hell, but they know because it says there the wrath of god
Is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness because that excuse me because that which may be known of god
Is manifest in
Them for god look what it says had showed it unto them
So god's not just like trying to hide himself
You know, oh, I don't want this person to know about me. He wants the heaven's declared the glory of god folks
His glory is declared throughout the whole world, right?
Why because he had showed it unto them. He wants them to come to the knowledge of god through jesus christ
Verse 20 for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen
Being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and godhead so that they are without excuse
So look, even if someone doesn't realize that they have the law of god written in their hearts, which is impossible
Because any culture will tell you murder is wrong
Any person will tell you that you know pedophilia is wrong and if they tell you it's it's not it's because they're a reprobate themselves
But here's the thing let's say let's let's just say that the law of god's not written in their hearts, let's just pretend okay
Well still they have the eternal power and godhead being manifested to creation
They can look up at the sky and recognize there is a creator
Now there is a false teaching out there and I even heard it in bible college that says people could get saved looking at the stars
What in the world?
Like what kind of stars are you looking at?
So
What kind of peyote are you doing where you see the gospel presentation up in the sky
You know, what's that drug from amazon the amazon
Way too many people know about that drug in this place, okay, ayahuasca
What kind of ayahuasca are you doing when you see the roman's road in the sky?
You know
And they literally said I remember a teacher got up and said yeah people could be can be saved
through creation false
Absolutely false creation doesn't speak of jesus
What does creation do it speaks of the godhead?
It speaks of the creator
And when a person observes the creation the glory of god's creation they come to the conclusion a reasonable conclusion
There must be a creator
Who created all of this of these wonderful things and what is that?
That's a person responding to the light that god has given to them
Well, I just think people are just you know
Not everyone comes to that conclusion. No everyone comes to that conclusion. It's just that not everyone accepts it
Some people say they're like, oh no, that's not one god. It's it's the sun god. It's the moon god
It's evolution
They come up with all these other theories and stupidity
And what is that? That's them not responding to the light to god again. That's them rejecting the light
And you know what to whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required
And if god gives you light and you reject it, then he's not going to give you anymore
Okay
So
even if a person
Is in the congo the jungles of the congo and man, I mean they got creation right there
They have all the trees and the lions and the and all these animals. I mean folks you got lions chasing you
You better be looking for god
right
Hey some of the most receptive people are gang bangers, you know why because they're always on the brink of death
Right, so it should be the same with these
But here it says
god says
They are without excuse
So it's not like they're in heaven like oh god, I no soul or king it's like well you didn't respond to the light
You thought you came from a stupid monkey
Yeah
You thought everything happened on accident, even though you know that I made it
They're without excuse
So you have that and then you have the law of god written in their hearts
Because here's the thing. You don't have to be a saved christian to know that murder is wrong stealing is wrong lying is wrong
These are things that god has instilled within us to know
naturally, right
and when your conscience is is is is is violated
By by recognizing that you broke god's commandments. Hey sin is the transgression of the law
And what it's supposed to do is supposed to behave as a schoolmaster to bring us unto christ to help us to recognize that we can't
Save ourselves because we're not perfect, right?
We're not perfect. We can't keep god's commandments perfectly we sin and therefore we need a solution. Okay, that is the response there
So that's the first thing we see man cornelius
You know, he's not saved but he's doing everything he can to respond to the light that god is giving to him
And you know who they're who are the people that we want to talk to the cornelius
The people who are responding to the light that god gives them
You say what happens if a person doesn't respond to the light? Well, they become hearted
Okay
And then eventually they'll become darkened
and then eventually
They become reprobate
Where they can no longer be saved
I didn't say they're gonna die, but the bible says they become twice dead plucked up by the roots
In other words god basically views them as though they're already in hell
And we want to reach people before they get to that point because at that point even though they're living and breathing walking and talking
There's no hope for them. Okay
Look at verse five or go go back to uh, act chapter 10
So we see here that even those with pagan backgrounds know the true god, okay
Okay
You know, by the way, i'm not for the creation gospel either
You know where people want to use science to try to reach people and get people safe look I understand it has its place
But nothing nothing can replace good old-fashioned gospel preaching
I'm all for using it as a tool where at the end you give a clear presentation of the gospel
And you tell them what the bible says about eternal life
But when you're only trying to use that as a means to reach their intellectual part of their being
It's not going to help folks because it's by faith
If you're trying to help them to get saved by proving by showing the facts of creation, that's not going to get them saved
They need to accept the truth by faith. Okay. In other words. The evidence is not all there. Right? The evidence is the word of god
And you have to trust what it's saying is true
So another thing I want you to notice is that the angel sends cornelius to peter to be saved he doesn't tell him himself
He's not like hey
God sent me here. He saw that you're responding to the light
Let me show you how to be saved because angels cannot preach the gospel
Okay, he says verse five and now send men to japa and call for one simon whose surname is peter
He lodged with one simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside
He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do now go to chapter 11 hold your place there
And let's let's see a further expansion of this statement here in verse 13 of acts chapter 11
It says in verse 13 of acts 11
He showed him to us how he had seen an angel in his house
Which stood and said unto him send men to japa and call for simon whose surname is peter who shall tell thee words
Whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved
So it's not like well, he's just going to tell you how to be filled with the holy ghost
No, he's going to tell you how to be saved
Why because only men?
Only saved men and women
Can get people saved
He didn't tell them we'll go read this this track
He didn't tell him we'll go here, you know, someone over there has the bible just go read it starting the book of john
You know, you know
Romans isn't written yet. You know paul's not you know, he's we're working on it
But just read
The book of isaiah and you're gonna get saved not gonna happen
Folks it's right there
What did the angel tell cornelius to do go to a man
In fact go to a saved person go to peter he's going to tell you what you need to do
Okay
It says in verse 15 as I as I began to speak the holy ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning
Then remembered I had the word of the lord how that he said john indeed baptized with water
But you shall be baptized with the holy ghost
For as much then as god gave them the like gift as he did into us who believed on the lord
Jesus christ, what was I that I could withstand god?
So this is a rare instance where you see people they get saved and they just immediately get filled with the spirit
Okay, it doesn't happen all the time. But here in this instance we see this
But the important thing that I want you to notice is that it took a person to get a person saved
And more specifically a saved person
Because look why would he tell him to go all the way to japa?
Japa is you know, or excuse me, why would he tell him to go to cesarea? No, wait
To japa, excuse me cornelius is in cesarea. Why would he tell him to go all the way to japa?
To go get this one guy to give him the gods. Why couldn't he just find just some random individual?
some unsaved person
Who has the word of god and just use that person as a vessel
To get them saved i'll tell you why because unsaved people can't get people saved
That's why
So
Now look this is old ifp teaching
That states that people can be saved from just reading a gospel track
I mean you've heard something like that
Okay, i've heard it many times because I went to an old ifp church and they would often tell us this
And look, let me just start off by saying that i'm not against tracks. We have tracks
And in fact, i'm not against with you leaving tracks on a door
If the person doesn't answer
What I am against is only relying on the track, right?
But let me just tell you something though because if you give someone a track and you choose not to preach the gospel into them
Right you give someone a track and you don't want to preach the gospel into them
They're going to read that and you know what's going to happen. They're not going to get saved
Very clearly the bible tells us that the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of god
Neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned
So, how is an unsaved unregenerated person able to discern what the word of god says in regards to salvation just by reading the bible
It doesn't happen that way
You need a saved individual to do that
Now I will say this is that when you give an invitation to an individual who's not saved
Let's say you're in a rush or whatever and you just give them that invite read the back of the invitation
It'll show you some verses there about the bible regarding eternal life when they read that seeds are being sown for sure
Seeds are being sown
And look folks people that you meet who get saved right off the bat. That's not the first time they heard the gospel
They've heard it from multiple people or they read the word of god themselves. They saw these phrases
They saw the verses
And those seeds were being sown in that person's heart
But it requires an individual to go to them and help them to recognize. Hey, you need to call upon the name of the lord
Okay
An unsaved person cannot get an individual saved it's impossible
Right, you know why everything brings forth after their its own kind
Right
I mean, isn't that the pattern of things of this world whether spiritual or natural?
Everything brings forth after its own kind. So if the bible tells us that how is it that an unsaved individual can produce a saved individual?
It's impossible. Well, they have the word of god, but here's the thing. They don't know how to explain the word of god
Folks
It's dangerous to put the word of god into the hands of an unsaved individual who doesn't know what they're talking about
They'll twist and pervert the scriptures. Just look at calvinist
All right
Just look at dispensationalists
Look at all the perversion that they come up with. This is what happens when unsafe people try to teach you how to be safe
I think people could get saved listening to robert breaker. Are you are you insane?
I mean
The guy is a heretic you think people get saved listening to john mccarther
Well, I mean, I mean obviously not them, but i'm just saying the regular joe schmoe folks no unsaved person can do it
Because everything brings forth after its own kind the bible says look folks
The bible says that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel. What does that require boldness?
What does that boldness come from the spirit
The spirit of who the spirit of god that dwells within a believer
And look i've heard this argument and look there's safe people who believe this
Okay, safe people great people
They believe this they're just wrong
And they may be sincere about it
I know the point that they're trying to make
But they're just wrong
Because i've heard them use this they'll use luke 16 when the man is in hell
And you know, they'll quote verse 29 where it says abraham sent them to him. They have moses and the prophets let them hear
them
Because a lot of people will say, you know people could get just get saved
Listen reading the word of god because here it says they have moses and the prophets let them hear them. There you go
Well, hold on a second. Moses and the prophets were dead by then
When the bible says let them hear them
Let me just help you to understand what that means let them hear them at the mouth of another person
Let me give you proof of that. The bible says this if any man speak let him speak as the oracles of god
Put that to bed
If any man speak let him speak as the oracles of god go to act chapter 26. I'm chasing a rabbit here, but it's good
Any time you hear the bible talking about
listening to the prophets listening to moses
Folks, it doesn't take rocket science to understand. This is referring to listen to them out of the mouth of a safe person
Who's preaching them?
Hey, you're listening to moses right now, right if i'm quoting moses you're listening to moses
But look folks preaching requires
The reading of the scripture and the expounding of the scriptures as well
Right to expound it to give the application you read the scripture you expound upon it and you give the application
Unsafe people cannot do that
Please do not tell me that an unsafe person can read the scripture and expound and apply it to you
Even though they don't have the spirit of truth dwelling within them
That's the russian roulette right there
Look at the bible says in acts 26
and verse 22
Paul speaking here says having therefore obtained help of god. I continue into this day
witnessing both to small and great
Saying none other things than those which the prophets and moses did say should come
So, what's he saying because i'm not saying anything else other than what moses and the prophets are saying
So is he saying that he's just going to people in the bible just
Like what are you trying to tell me
What he's saying here is like i'm just going to repeat what moses and the prophets are saying
Verse 23 that christ should suffer
and that he should rise and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead and show light into the
people and to the gentiles
Folks don't twist scripture like that
When it says hear them it's referring to hear them out of the mouth of a person who's preaching them
You know, if you would have believed moses you would have believed me he wrote of me
Right, isn't that what jesus said
So, you know this thing of of well people could just get saved reading the track
That's a dangerous kind of ground to tread upon
Because here's the thing the individual teaches that it's not going to allow himself to just give out a track
But the individual listening to him
will
Leave it out of track
Because what we do in moderation
Our followers will do in what?
Excess
If you had the standard here, guess what your followers are going to have their standard here
Much worse. If you have your standard here
They're going to dip down to here
So yeah, you may believe that people could get saved from the track
But I guarantee you the people who are teaching that are not letting themselves
Just leave it out of track right an invitation
They're going to preach the word of god, but you know the individual who's listening to that person
Who esteems their teaching and esteems their leadership
They're going to allow themselves to slip through the cracks and not be
Thorough not preach the gospel because so-and-so taught that you understand
This is not like a false doctrine a false gospel in the sense of that's like damned old heresy. It's just not wise folks
Look open your mouths bully to make known the mysteries of the gospel, okay?
And the reason I say this because I came from an old ifb church where they emphasize that a lot
At the expense of sowing, I mean they literally would call that sowing
Where they drop off a bunch ten thousand tracks
Fifteen thousand tracks twenty thousand i've given out fifteen thousand tracks me personally have given out at least fifteen thousand tracks
Because that's what I was taught
How many say people zero as far as I know?
zero
In fact, I remember one time when I was working at that church plant
They're like we got to give out twenty thousand tracks. I think it was like fifteen or twenty thousand
For easter, you know what? I mean? Just just hand them out put them on every door
We're gonna have such a big easter sunday. It's gonna be great
Come easter sunday not one individual came from those tracks
I take that back one person came but it didn't come from the track. They found us on the internet
Oh, did you get an invite out of your door and they're like no I just found you guys on on your website
Just looking up churches
Well, can you say you got an invite on your door or something?
I remember it was at that point that I realized I messed up
I was like, this is not working. This is not the right way. This is not how to reach people. Okay
We're mailmen
We're just mailmen
Bible says in first corinthians three five who then is paul and who's appauls by but ministers by whom he believed
Even as the lord gave to every man speaking of john the baptist it says in john chapter one in verse number six
There was a man sent from god whose name was john the same came for a witness
to bear witness
of that light that all men through him
Might believe did you get that?
He says he came to be a witness
To bear witness of the light that all men through him
might believe
How is an individual going to hear how's an individual going to get saved through us?
We save people. Yes, you heard right
We didn't die for them but folks the the the the life jacket is what saves them
But you know what the lifeguard who's tossing them the life jacket is necessary
right
Yeah, a life jacket can save any individual but you know if there's not an individual tossing that person the ring or the life jacket
They're screwed
person who's drowning in the ocean
We got to get that person a life jacket who yeah a person has to get him the life jacket
It's supposed to get him the life saver
There's supposed to be a lifeguard who goes out on a seadoo
And throws him the lifeline throws him the life saver the life jacket in order to save him
No one's denying that people don't get saved by the word of god
But folks it requires a person who's distributing the word of god to get them saved
You know, why did that person drown I don't know man he could have been saved by the life jacket
He should have just swam to the land and got grabbing himself one and then you know brought him back
Folks it requires an individual to get another individual saved. Okay
I
Just want to make myself clear on that go back to act chapter 10
And again, i'm not against tract we have a bunch of them we give them out
There's times when we are in a rush for whatever reason and we can't talk to an individual
We'll give it to them. But you know what? We never depend just on that
Okay, that's lazy
That's not thorough. We want to be a church that's thorough with our gospel presentation
Hey, we want to be a bold church
Where we say, you know what? This is the invitation, but let me just open my mouth
And tell you what the bible says about this
You know, we have this treasure the bible says in earthen vessels not in a track
Okay
So instead we see angels directing people to save other individuals now
What's a couple things that we can learn from cornelius? Well, we see that he's a law himself verse four
We already read that let's skip down to verse number, uh, go to verse 33
I'm sorry, go back to verse four. We already read verse 33
So verse four look what it says and when he looked on him, he was afraid and said what is it lord?
And he said unto him thy prayers and thine alms
Are come up for a memorial before god. So what does that mean? What he's saying is like god is remembering
He's keeping him remembers the things that you're doing
He sees what you're doing. Okay, and look I guarantee you there's people here that prior to salvation
There are some things that there's there's light that you responded to
You know, maybe it was an individual
Maybe it was a message that you heard or a conversation that other people were having that piqued your interest
And got you to think about the things of god
I'll give you my testimony, okay
Mother don't give your testimony. We're now preaching the gospel. Okay
you know, I remember uh when I
Wanted to get saved. I didn't know what it is that I had to do to be saved
And uh, but here's the thing like I knew that the bible said to believe on jesus christ
I knew that the bible said that I just didn't understand what that meant
What in the world you just didn't get savory in the bible like that just said it right there
Well, because I didn't understand that i'm i'm i was a natural man
So I couldn't understand it's like well believe on jesus christ
I knew it said that but I didn't understand what it meant
And so I remember when I came back from guatemala, I had taken a trip to guatemala. I was born here. Okay, don't worry about it
Did you are you're an immigrant ice, you know people are going to be threatening me
You know, I came back from guatemala and and I remember thinking myself, you know what I need to start like searching for god
You know, I need to get myself a bible, you know, I need to like seek after god
and
I tried the best that I could I would like
You know listening to calvary chapel preaching
You know, which obviously is not going to get you saved, you know
And um, I had a friend who worked at my at a job there the company that was at and he was a pentecostal guy
and uh
You know
I don't think he was saved because he even showed me what the bible says about salvation as far as believing on jesus christ
And eternal life, but I still didn't get saved
And I was like, okay, you know and he would take me to his pentecostal church and I was just like well
This place is weird, you know, because they would speak in tongues and
And I was just like, I don't know how to do that. You know, I can't do that
And so I was sincerely seeking after god and I remember like telling my brother like hey
If you hear about any churches around our area
You know
You know if someone mentions something let me know because i'm trying out different churches. I lived in downey at that time
I was like I just trying to look for a good church
I just I would visit these different churches and nothing ever sat well with me
Like I just felt like well, maybe maybe this is the best there is, you know, I don't know
and so
I was having a conversation at my job
And there's this individual who overheard me
And her name her name was jane mcconnell
And this lady, uh attended, uh, my old church pacific baptist church
And she came up to me and she said hey, I heard you talking about god and jesus and stuff like that
I go to a baptist church
Now she was a very tall white lady
And prior to being an independent fundamental baptist, I always thought like baptist churches were like black churches
Oh like you go to a baptist church with all the
I'm like man
And she's like well, my pastor is actually white
He's italian. I was like what?
She's like i'm not a southern baptist. I'm not a missionary baptist. She's like i'm an independent fundamental baptist
I was like i've never heard that before
And she said come to the church and she gave me an invite
She said we're having a youth conference or whatever, you know
You can come by there's going to be some preaching
and
Keep in mind that prior to that, you know
I saw the hoopla and all this nonsense and tongue speaking and hey waving hands and all this
And I just wanted something of substance
you know
so I ended up going there the following week and I remember I thought to myself hey, this is
This is nice. Like they're singing normal songs
There's no guitar
There's no drums
You know, there's no like craziness going on people look like they they they dress like they're going to church
Which caught my attention as well
I like why these people seem to know what they're talking about and then the preacher got up
And the preacher started ripping face
And I remember he's like bob gray jr. He was preaching and he just looked right at me
And I was just like dang, who's this guy?
So
And I remember thinking myself like
You know, like this is that that's like some pretty offensive preaching there
I didn't know like the term hard preaching. I was just like that's like offensive, you know
And he was getting in people's faces. He was like ripping and at the end
He was just like some of you are not saved in here
And he's just like and we did the old-fashioned altar, you know
And I came to the altar and I got saved
And I remember a guy who's the song leader there he taught me about eternal security
You know, and I told him I said hey can so I can never lose my salvation. He says no
He says the bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves
It is the gift of god not of works that any man should boast and it's like the light bulb went on
And I was like, I understand that now
I get what you're saying
But looking back I see it all of the
Times that I responded to the light so to speak
Where I easily I could have been like, you know what the stupid pentecostal church i'm out of here
You know, and by the way, obviously the pentecostal church is not, you know, it's it's a very, you know, it's it's a false church
But they're preaching out of the king james bible. So there's a little bit of light there
A little bit not enough to get them saved
But there's enough light for me to see the word of god and desire the truth
That's what it was. I wanted the truth when we say response to the light basically says we want the truth
And I was making an effort
To seek after god to know the truth
And you know what going to the independent fundamental baptist church?
You know, I wanted to know the truth and you know what by the time that guy got up and preached
My heart was ready
And it was god who was guiding me that entire time
He was guiding me that entire time
But here's the thing if at that point if I was walking down that driveway to to that independent baptist church
And I said this is stupid. I'm done with this. I've already tried too much and walked away from it. No more light
No more light
So here's the thing folks, you know
We need to recognize every individual that comes to that door
is an individual
more often than not that's
They want some light
They came there for they came here for a reason
Whether they're invited by a friend or they heard about us
There's something in their mind that says I needed like draw close to god. They don't know how to word it
Obviously, that's not the terminology that we would want to use
We never want to say oh, yeah come close to god and get saved but you know, that's terminology that they use
And what we want to show them is the right way of salvation get them saved go to roman chapter two roman chapter number two
You know, I think about that illustration
I gave a couple weeks ago when when we took my my son to go get his stitches removed
And it was like in south pasadena or some some some foreign city that i'm not really familiar with
And my my
Sorry, if anybody lives in south pasadena, does anybody live in south pasadena in here? See everyone? It's four and twelve you guys, right?
I didn't really know it like
You know leave me in los angeles leave me in long beach
Blindfolded and I can find my way anywhere there. I was just like, I don't know where i'm at
And I went there and you know, they wouldn't let two both parents in because of the whole covet thing
So she took him in and I took my kids to go get potoloco
And to go to like a park I was like, well, let's just look for a park
And we find this park and we get there and there's this old guy there reading his bible
And we eat and come to find out he's reading a keen james bible. We spark up a conversation the guy ends up getting saved
And he was very I just remember thinking to myself like this guy. This is a divine appointment
And god like was working on this guy, you know god moved this guy
To come to the park at this time
To be here at the same time that we're going to cross paths
Why because he's sitting there reading the bible
What is he doing? He wants the truth?
Folks, he had a king james bible, too
Talk about wanting the truth
I mean, you know if you had an niv god, you know, god bless him
He just you know his ignorant but folks when he's just he told me he's like king james bible is the only bible
I'm like heck. Yeah, this is you're you're right for the picking man
And the guy was sincere he got saved, you know, why because he responded to the light that god gave to him
Look at romans 2 verse 11
Very familiar what to what paul said verse 11 for there is no respect of persons with god
For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law
Oh, what if people out there don't have a bible? Well, they'll perish without the bible
And as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law
What is he saying by the way those who have the bible and they still go to hell
Well, guess what to whom suffer much is given of him shall be much required that person will suffer the greater damnation because of that
That's why the pharisees are in like the lowest part of hell
You know with their phylacteries and their scriptures on their foreheads
You know
Trying to act all yeah god's gonna they're they're like in the core of hell right now
Because god's like you even have scripture on your forehead
You wore the scripture on your forehead you jew and you still didn't get saved
Verse 13 for not the hearers of the law just before god
But the doers of the law shall be justified for when the gentiles which have not the law
Do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are law unto themselves. So what is he saying?
Look, okay. Yeah, the individual doesn't have the bible
In his hand, but you know what? He has the law in his heart
Thou shall not kill is in his heart
Thou shall not steal is in his heart
Thou shall have no other gods before me. It's in his heart
So he is a law unto himself the bible says
Verse 15 which showed the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness
And their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another don't give me this. I didn't know any better folks
Your conscience told you you were doing wrong
When you're worshiping that false god
When you're partaking of dia de los muertos
Which I need to start talking about
You know the closer we get to october
In the day when god shall judge the secrets of man by jesus christ according to my gospel
Let me skip a couple verses here
Go to john chapter 3 hold your place in roman chapter 2
I just want to show you this just a couple verses to to prove this here
Look what it says in john 3 verse 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned
But he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god
And this is the condemnation
The light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil for everyone that doeth evil
Hated the light
Neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved so there's wicked people out there
Who are like, I don't want to hear the truth because the truth is going to go against the grain of what I believe
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light. What is he saying? He's responding to the light
That his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in god
The person who loves the truth loves it even if it goes against their own grain
Even if it steps on their toes if it makes them feel bad, they just want the truth
And let me say this even after salvation folks still keep responding to life
Not for salvation, but just for biblical truth
And there's a lot of people out there's christians who get saved they keep hardening their hearts
They're hard in their hearts. They harden their hearts and they just don't want the truth and god says, okay
I'm gonna take truth from you
There's pastors out there who don't want the truth. You know what god does he makes them stupid
He makes them brute a bunch of brutes because they're like, oh you don't want the deep things of god
Okay, then i'll just extract truth from you. I've known pastors and christian individuals who knew the word of god
They knew it very well. They knew the deep things of god
But over the years as they grow older in the lord what happens they resist the truth
the based truths
The based and red pill truths, right?
And what happens god says okay if you don't like that truth
Which is my truth that i'm going to take away truth from you
And that's why you're that's why you're going to have to depend on the commentaries
And the dispensational charts because you ain't getting it from me
Go back to romans 2
Look what it says in romans 2 verse 4
He says or despises thou the richness of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of god
Leaveth it to repentance
Think about that by the way now repentance of sin
repentance of your change of mind, right
He's saying that the goodness of god, it doesn't get you saved, but it leads you on that path
Being thankful for the things you have how many people you know, they say man thank god for another day of life
Even though they're not saved
They recognize that whatever they have it's because of god, right?
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation
Of the righteous judgment of god who will render to everman according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance
Listen to this in well-doing
Seek for glory and honor and immortality
eternal life
What is that referring to it's referring to the person who's responding to the light. They're continuously doing good
Because they want more light
Now here's the thing there's a lot of people in the truth or movement
Yeah
They act like they want the truth
But when you hit them with the truth about believing on jesus christ
That his name is jesus not yeshua
When you tell them the book of enoch is a fraud, it's stupid, right?
You tell them the truth
And they're like, I don't agree with that. Okay, you don't really love the truth then
Because this is the truth the truth is nephilim's aren't real
Right the truth is the earth isn't flat I just lost like 15 viewers right now
The truth is it's jesus not yeshua, right
And at that point they're just like well, I don't want the truth I still love the truth. No you don't
Because the truth should lead you to the feet of jesus, right?
Jesus said I am the way the truth
And the life
But here it tells us that those who by
Patient continuance and well-doing doesn't mean they get eternal life, but it leads them on that path
To where someone god will send a peter to a cornelius
To get them saved but unto them that are contentions and do not obey the truth
But obey on righteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that do with evil of the jew first and also
The gentile but glory honor and peace to every man that worketh good
To the jew first and also to the gentile for there is no respect of persons with god
So what's the lesson this evening? The lesson is simply this first and foremost
Just recognize this when people come through our doors
They're not saved. Just remember this. Oh, man. This person is responding to the light that god gave them
Because not only are they coming to church. They're coming to this church
They're coming to first words baptist church, okay
You know, obviously they want more light and look, you know, don't be mean to them
Like i'm gonna give you some hardcore truths right now
About the jews about the homos about whatever, you know get them safe first
Because look folks some lights people can't handle some light some light is just too bright for them
They need like sunglasses, you know what I mean?
me is just like
We'll take all the light we can get. Let's get let's get it brighter in here
Let's get more light
But not everyone who comes to our doors is like that folks
We need to give them like a little flashlight first
And then just make it brighter and brighter for them as they come to more services as you disciple them
You don't want to just unload on I have this flashlight that john gave me. It's this police flashlight
Or like it'll it'll blind you it'll just burn off your corneas or something if you just flash it in your eyes
Most of you that you guys want to just flash down in the lights in the eyes of people spiritually, you know
That's not what you should do
You know, just let them get used to these lights first
Okay
And then after a while
It's all right. Let me uh
I'll be talking about my favorite subject
It's called replacement theology
You know
You know get them to respond to the first light of salvation and after that give them more light thereafter. Amen
Oh by the way, look folks
There's people who come to our church
And they're just like I can't handle the preaching
They can't
And it takes them a while to digest the food
The spiritual food so you got to like be patient with people like that
That's why the bible talks about long suffering and doctrine. Amen
Let's bow our heads in our word of prayer father. We thank you so much for your word
Thank you for the testimony of cornelius. What a great story
and um
Just a centurion a man who?
Has a lot of responsibilities, but he obviously understood that there's one true god
in the light of that he did the best that he could to
Get your attention and and obviously you gave it to him by sending him
to a soul winner to get him saved and
His friends and his household and all of his associates there got saved and what a great story
Pray god that as your people even though after now that we're saved
I pray that you'd help us to continue to respond to the light
That you give us through your word that as we read the perfect law of liberty
And maybe we read something that goes against our way of thinking
That it rubs us the wrong way, but we embrace the truth even though it hurts
Because the truth is wonderful. It's beautiful
and uh if we read something
And and it bothers us. There's just something wrong with us. There's something wrong with our heart
There's something wrong with our mind because the word of god is never wrong
And I pray god that you continue to bless us with more light and in jesus name we pray. Amen