Oh, how he loves me. Oh, how he loves you. Thank you for that. I don't think you've ever heard the phrase, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. I know I just introduced a brand new phrase to you, and I love it when I can do that because it just shows my intelligence, my intellect, my knowledge of history. No, of course you've heard that, and it's famous, and it should be. What an amazing thing Neil Armstrong said as he stepped off the ladder of the lunar lander and stepped onto the surface of the moon. We're actually gonna talk about something even greater than that, if you can imagine. We're gonna talk about a small step for Peter, but a giant leap for us Gentiles. And not everyone in this room is a Gentile, but most of us are. And it is so amazing to know what God did in the heart of Peter to bring him to the point of seeing how important it was for all people to hear the gospel. And this is a challenge for us because there's some people you don't like. There are. There's some people you just don't like. And there's a lot of people that aren't likable. And you're probably one of them when you first wake up in the morning. All the spouses said amen. But Peter, the chief apostle, he was the leader of the apostles, he had just had a vision. The vision came from God. It's really funny because right before the vision, he was on the rooftop praying, and he was probably smelling the wafting of the food that was being prepared below. And it said he was hungry. And there's nothing that makes you hungrier than smelling good food cooking. I don't have to tell you this, but I like food. And boy, that smell, it can just get you really hungry. And then he goes into this trance. And in this trance, he sees a large sheet being let down from the sky, from heaven, with every corner of the sheet being held up. And on this sheet, all manner of animals, beasts, creeping things, and birds. You say, what a weird vision. And then the voice from heaven, the Lord said, Peter, arise and eat, which is really interesting because he was hungry. It was around dinnertime. But the problem was he noticed on this sheet full of animals and birds and insects that there were some unclean animals. And he said, no, I can't do that. They're common. When they say common, it's a reference to unclean. And the Lord said a second time, arise, kill and eat. And he said, no. Does this sound familiar? Does Peter ever need to hear it three times? Well, the third time, the voice said, don't call unholy what I've called holy, what I've called clean. And Peter, the third time, got the message. It takes some of us more than three, so don't be too hard on Peter. We're gonna pick up the story in Acts chapter 10 as we're in this series to the ends of the earth. Talking about the book of Acts and the awesomeness of this transitional book from the gospels to the epistles to the rest of the New Testament. And this is a very important moment. What we're gonna see today is a transition from the early church into what you might call the, not the middle church, but certainly it's moving away from just a Jewish-centric message and outreach. Of course, it had gone from Jerusalem up into Judea and Samaria. Remember the Samaritans were considered kind of half Jews, and certainly the Jews didn't like Samaritans, Samaritans didn't like the Jews. But the gospel had gotten there, but the gospel hadn't gotten into the uttermost, hadn't gotten to the rest of the nations, hadn't gotten to the Gentiles. And that's what we're gonna see today. In verse 17 of Acts 10, the Bible says, now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, And that's really interesting. I think it actually had something to do with being okay to eat non-kosher. I really do. But much more than that. So he's trying to figure this out in his brain. Behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius, you remember Cornelius? He was a Roman centurion that feared God and prayed to the Lord, a Gentile that didn't know Jesus, And God had said, hey, go send your men to Joppa. There will be a man named Peter there, and ask Peter to come to Caesarea, that's up the coast in the Roman port city of Caesarea, and he will share with you what I want you to know. So these men had come. They had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate. and called and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. So y'all remember Simon, that was his early name, and Jesus had a nickname, a new name, Peter. He was the one that would be the piece of the rock, Petros. And there was Peter, and they had come. While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. So he had just had the vision, he had just heard the voice of the Lord. Now the Spirit says, There's three men looking for you. Arise therefore, get thee down, and go with them. Doubting nothing. That's so hard, isn't it? We are so full of doubt, but when we know, we know. When you're really seeking God's will, you're gonna know, and there's not gonna be any hesitation. And the Spirit says, don't doubt because I have sent them. Verse 21 of Acts 10, then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius. and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek. What is the cause wherefore ye are come? Why are you here? I think he was still hungry, maybe hangry, I don't know. And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of a good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by a holy angel to send for thee into his house and to hear words of thee. Wasn't that a really interesting sentence to hear? So God is at work with a centurion, with a Gentile, with somebody in the Greek-dominated culture city of Caesarea, and he wants to hear from me. Verse 23, then called he them in and lodged them, And on the morrow, Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. So this is a really interesting concept, right? That it wasn't just Peter, Peter could have just gone by himself, but Peter knew something big was happening, and he brings a certain number of certain brethren, these would have been Jewish believers, from Joppa to go with him. We later find out there are six different people accompanying Peter, and we now know it was so that they could be a witness and a testimony to what God was about to do. Now, I think it's a major miracle for Peter to invite these three men, these were very likely Gentiles, into the house that he was staying at. That's a big deal. It's a big deal that Peter would accompany them up into this Gentile city, and it's a big deal that Peter would entertain the idea of going into the house of a Roman centurion. This is a sea change. This is shifting major paradigms that he even brought them into this house. Again, I think it's because he knew something big was gonna happen. And then he was going to journey to Joppa. The journey would have taken a couple days. Here's a map for those of you that are watching or in the room. For those of you listening on a podcast or radio, let me try to describe it to you. I have a map here of the coastline of Israel. The left side of the map is the Mediterranean Sea. And this is a beautiful coastline. And if you've ever been there, the town of Joppa is just below Tel Aviv. And then below that are the ancient cities of the Philistines, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and then just below that is Gaza. So not far from Gaza. Just to the south of Tel Aviv is where Peter is, and he's right on the Mediterranean. There's a traditional house there even today that you can see, and it's Simon the Tanner's house. The Tanner is a person that would tan hides. And then you would go up the coast on a road, the coastal road, and you go up to Caesarea. Caesarea is an important Roman town. It was an artificial port and it was a city built there because of that port by Herod the Great. This was a place that Paul would later use to come in and out of and other people for missionary journeys. And we know it was the door to the gospel for the Gentiles as we will learn today. But that would have been about a two-day walk, the distance between those two towns. But I'm guessing that the centurion, Cornelius, had sent them other conveyances. So they might have had a chariot, wagon, I don't know, some sort of a, or animals to ride. So I'm guessing that this could have taken in just one day. That's what the text seems to apply. It says in Acts 10.24 that on the morrow, the next day, they entered into Caesarea. Caesarea. Now, what I wanna do is play a clip from an In Grace episode that we filmed probably about seven years ago now. It's crazy how fast time goes. This was the first in a series of videos, and we called them all Discover Hidden Israel. This was the first one. This was with Dr. Carl Ball. Dr. Carl Ball is a good friend of our ministries. He's the director, founder of the Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, Texas. And he is an astounding man, discovered almost 20 dinosaurs and has incredible displays in his museum. And him and I went all over Israel and we looked at a lot of things. If you ever wanna go back and watch those, they're on our YouTube channel, Discover Hidden Israel. We're all the way up to, Discover Hidden Israel 6. They're airing right now. We filmed these in June with Dr. Scott Stripling. We did one about Mary Magdalene. We found the ancient harbor of Cursi, where Jesus came ashore to heal the man with a legion of demons and cast them into the pigs. We actually went swimming in the Sea of Galilee. I think we found some Bloated pigs, can you imagine that they lasted that long? No, we do think we found the harbor of that episode in scripture. We also did a series on synagogues and that's out. and we have a new one coming out on Friday and it'll air on TBN on Saturday that is about the crucifixion and the death and resurrection of Jesus. And we also had Dr. Craig Evans on those episodes. So I encourage you to watch all the Discover Hidden Israel series now that we have six and we have the seventh one we're planning now. And it's amazing. All of them are four parts. All of them are about 40 to 45 minutes in their full length. The YouTube version is about 22 minutes each. So I'm gonna show you a clip from Discover Hidden Israel one, part one. This is the very first thing that we filmed in this series. And this was filmed at Caesarea. We're just north of the port. We're just in the area where the aqueducts come in from the Carmel Range and they bring fresh water down into Caesarea. This is really astounding because they're still standing. Can we build something today that would still stand 2,000 years later? I think not. But these are still standing and they had to have the perfect pitch for water to flow by gravity all the way in to bring that city water. And Dr. Baugh and I are discussing that and a bunch of other things here at Caesarea. Caesarea, oh, one of the ancient and modern marvels of engineering. The whole, really the whole city, the harbor, that wasn't a harbor. For the ancients, 2,000 years ago, to build a deepwater harbor pouring concrete underwater, that's highly technical, and it's astounding that they knew how to do it. The arches, the knowledge of those people, of course, they were closer to creation. True. And the knowledge of those people, led by Herod, directed by Herod, with constricted labor, but some excellent engineers, plus he himself was brilliant, wicked but brilliant. The arches today, even though the ravages of time have pitted the rocks, they're still in place. I believe they carried water for like 1,200 or 1,300 years. At what kind of distance? I think it was 10 kilometers. They went from Carmel all the way to Caesarea. really wasn't an ideal place, because it didn't have the deep water harbor, and they had to construct it, and they fabricated one. It didn't have the fresh water. Of course, the criticism had been made that Pilate didn't exist, that he was a fabrication, of course, governing the trial of our Lord Jesus. You know what I tell people, Dr. Baugh, is if you can't find something in archeology, But the Bible says it happened or this person existed. I say, keep digging. Sure. And it'll turn up. And so they did. They sure did. Why don't you keep rolling that, Paul? I think we started a little early. Keep going from there. Or is it a clip that you clipped out? It's a clip. OK, so you all got a little bit of a taste of Caesarea. and it's right on the Mediterranean. It's absolutely beautiful. There are incredible Roman ruins. I think if you go to Israel, if you just went to Caesarea, it's worth it. Now, there was another town called Caesarea Philippi, and you can tell that they wanted to name things after the Caesar, which is very smart if he's the dictator of your country. But Caesarea, sometimes this is called Caesarea by the sea or Caesarea Meritema. And at Caesarea, we mentioned the Pontius Pilate inscription, how that shut down the critics of the Bible. They said, well, we've never heard of a Pontius Pilate, so the Bible must be wrong. And then in Caesarea, they find an inscription with his name as the governor of Judea. And we know that he was instrumental in condemning Jesus. Pontius Pilate, was the only man that I've ever known about that declared someone innocent three times and still condemned him to death. And so poor man, I'm sure he is not happy with his decision now. But another famous person in Caesarea is famous because of Acts chapter 10 is Cornelius. Cornelius. And now Peter is there. He is in the town. And this is where he's going to make his small step. Okay, it's one small step. When Peter steps from the road and arrives at the house of Cornelius, he has to step into the house, the threshold into the house. You say, well, why is that such a big deal, stepping into the house? Well, this was the house of a Gentile. The Jewish people, the strict ones, would never do this. The observant ones would be really, really, really afraid too. The ultra strict ones called Gentiles dogs, okay? So it's a miracle that he stepped into this house, this small step, Acts 10, 24. And Cornelius waited for them and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. I love this. Think about this for a second. Cornelius is already witnessing to people before he even puts his trust in Jesus. Isn't it incredible how that might put us to shame a little bit? A man that literally doesn't even know the gospel yet has already assembled a bunch of folks to hear what he's gonna say. It really reminds me of a story that happened this June in Israel, and I've shared this before, let me share it again. On my earlier trip to Israel, on the NRB fact-finding mission trip that we went on, on my way home to come do the graduations, I met a family. a Jewish family and they were going to get some rest. And I was just happened to run into them and we spoke for at least an hour and a half to two hours on the airplane. And the woman was in tears because I told her that we love the Jewish people. And she couldn't believe it. She didn't know any Gentiles that would say such words. She thought the rest of the world hated Israel and hated the Jewish people. And obviously some do. And it's awful that anyone would do that. But it turned into her and her husband inviting Karen and I, as we just went back a few weeks later or a week later, to their home. And they invited us for a special meal. And we get to the house and they've got all their neighbors assembled at the house. They didn't tell me, hey, would you come and I'm gonna invite some neighbors over. They were just in there. And it was like they were, you know, he was introducing me as, you know, he's got a TV show and this and that. And I'm like, I'm just some guy and we're happy to be here. We're really thrilled. But it was so odd that this was happening. I really feel like this is what Paul walked into. And then as we sat down to dinner with the family, they asked me to explain Isaiah 53 to them. It was unbelievable. And wait till you read, wait till I read through this and we read through this and it's gonna seem so similar to that experience we just had in Israel. And verse 25, and as Peter was coming in, this is that small step, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. Now, no one worshiped us. No one fell, no one's ever fallen down at my feet, except for Karen, when I said, would you marry me? No, I was the one on my, I fell down on that one. But, but I mean, talk about unbelievable, like what is happening here? And Peter, by the way, there's a real temptation for people that God is using and become popular and have a lot of people that are listening to that person. There's a big desire in the human flesh to accept that and to start thinking that you're pretty good and you're pretty big deal. A lot of these celebrity preachers, people say that everyone likes them because of what they say on TV, but they really don't like them when they're in a green room, a green room backstage waiting to come out. Like they said, nobody likes them. They don't treat people right. They really think of themselves highly. And I've met a few that way. And I would say 100%, I agree with that. Beware of celebrity preachers. I'm not saying all of them, but something happens to people when they start thinking that they're pretty good, pretty popular. And of course, we've seen so many falling. It's just terrible. Maybe if they had done what Peter did in Acts 10, 26, they wouldn't have fallen. And Peter took him up, saying, stand up, I myself also am a man. And may I remind every pastor, that's all we are. We're men. We are like everyone else. And unless we humble ourselves and stay humble before the Lord, then we have the possibility of falling into this idea that we're something that we're not. And Peter corrects him right away. And as he talked with him, he went in and found many that were come together. And there he finds the house full, not just of Cornelius' family, but probably also those that worked for them and friends were assembled in that house. And here's a reminder for anyone that might be thinking of themselves too highly. Peter would later teach in 1 Peter 5.5, yea, all of you be subject one to another. And if you're gonna wear something, wear humility. Be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. So the small step is Peter walking in over that threshold, the giant leap. The giant leap was what was about to happen. The Gentiles were about to hear the gospel, Peter starts to launch into a sermon and doesn't get very far with his sermon. Acts 10 28 says, and he said unto them, ye know how that it is unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation. So this is a truth. This was part of the law of Moses. This was part of the way that God wanted Israel to live, to be set apart. I don't think that meant to keep the gospel from Gentiles or to call them dogs, but certainly they were to keep themselves pure from immorality that other nations were practicing. But God, the Bible continues, hath showed me that I should not call any man uncommon or unclean. The vision, this was the main point of the vision. In verse 29, therefore came I unto you without gain saying, as soon as I was sent for, I asked therefore for what intent ye have sent for me. And I'm guessing there was maybe a bit of a pregnant pause right there. But this was a big deal. He's stating that. This is a big deal that I'm even here, that I've entered into your home. What is it that you want to know? I'm guessing that Peter probably knew what they wanted to know. I'm sure that he remembered the words of Jesus in Acts 1. The very last few things that Jesus said to them, ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, that's the area around Jerusalem, and in Samaria, by the way, don't call that the occupied territories, the occupied West Bank, it is not called that. In the Bible, it's called Judea and Samaria. Let's be biblical. When you say occupied territories of the West Bank, you're saying that land does not belong to Israel, but it does. It belongs to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob forever. and we better never pressure Israel to do anything but take those as God has instructed them. That's not to say they should be cruel or unjust to the Palestinians, the Arabs that are living there, but certainly don't tell them that if they give up sovereignty, that they'll have peace, because Gaza proved that's not true. They gave up Gaza, they pulled out the settlers in Gaza for 18, 19 years, and then they were attacked without mercy. And so, Jesus said, you're gonna be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. This is going to be like the rocket. It's not in Houston, it's not in Cape Canaveral, it's not in Texas, the rocket pad is Caesarea. And it's about to launch and it's about to carry the gospel to the Gentile world. all over the world, and it has reached us, hasn't it? Thank God for Caesarea. Thank God for Cornelius. Thank God for Peter's boldness in bringing the gospel to this group. Let me also mention one other thing. When Jewish people come to this church, and we've had them coming lately because of our Israel events, remembering the Hamas attacks, we just did that a little over a week ago, and we've had hundreds of Jewish people coming to this church. A number of them do not yet believe that Jesus is the Messiah. For them to come here is huge. It's absolutely huge, and a lot of them are worried. They don't know what to do. They don't know, you know, what do I wear? Do I stand? Do I sit? Where do I sit? Because in synagogues, you can't just sit. The front rows are actually very expensive in the synagogues. they don't realize Baptist churches, nobody sits on the front row unless they're college students or the beautiful Roman family. And the reason that Bev insists that Jeff and her sit in the front row is because Jeff's easily distracted. So if he's sitting behind you and you're scratching your ear or nodding off, that's all he can think about. So they don't know where to sit, they don't know where to go, what to do, they're just really scared and, they would consider us Gentiles, and we are for the most part, although there's a number of Jewish people that attend here, praise God. But it's a big deal that they've come, and everyone that's come in, they've come in and they've left amazed at the spirit that they see here. They know something is different, and that's what the Bible wants us to do, provoke them to jealousy, to see that we do have God in us, we do have God in this place. And I just wanted to point that out. As Paul came into this home, that was a big deal. It was a giant leap. So it is for Jewish friends from the community to come into this building, to come into your lives. Karen and I have been invited to a Sukkot lunch next week. Sukkot is starting. It's the next of the holidays, the Feast of Tabernacles. And they build little huts outside and they remember their tabernacling, their wanderings through Egypt. And of course, we also remembered Yom Kippur recently, the day of atonement. And so here the gospel is going about to launch forth, about to launch forth. Now, Peter's gonna get criticized for this. In the next chapter, the next time we talk, we're gonna look at people criticizing him. You shouldn't have done that. Hey, if God tells you to do something, do it. Make sure it's him, make sure it wasn't indigestion or something else. But if God clearly speaks from his word, through counsel, whatever the ways that he's going to convey something to you, make sure you do it. He would be criticized in Acts 15. They actually had a whole big meeting about the Gentiles. What is their place among us? And we'll be going through that a lot in this series. But this was a monumental sea change that was happening. Number three. God hears Gentiles prayers. We're gonna read about Cornelius in Acts 10 30, recounting his story as he heard from God. He said, four days ago, I was fasting until this hour and at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Isn't that interesting? Gentile man that doesn't know Jesus God heard his prayers and he was doing the right thing Sometimes those that don't know the Lord actually are living better than believers and that's wrong, obviously But it's interesting to me that that is true. He said The angel told him, send therefore to Joppa and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter, who is lodged in the house of Simon the Tanner by the seaside, who when he cometh shall speak unto thee. Immediately therefore I sent to thee, and thou hast well done that thou art come. And now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. I don't know if you've ever, if ever a pastor has walked into a more awesome situation. The pump has been primed. As soon as Peter starts lifting and lowering that handle, water is gonna come forth. And this is the dream of every pastor. But there is salvation. Salvation is not by being good, by being religious, by giving alms, by fearing God. Salvation is by Jesus. There is, in Acts 4.12, we've already studied this, there's salvation, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And here's one thing that I want to tell anyone that's anti-Semitic. I would wonder how an anti-Semite could be saved because you have to put your faith in a Jew to save you. Isn't that interesting? There's no place for anti-Semitism, for sure, in Christianity. So here comes the gospel. I love it that the gospel is what comes out of Peter's mouth, Acts 10, 34. Then Peter opened his mouth and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. Say amen if you're happy about that. God is no respecter of person. Doesn't matter what skin tone you have or what education or what country accent. He loves you. God's the love of the world. But in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. Now you say, well, that means that if you fear God and work righteousness, you're accepted and therefore salvation is by works. No, in a minute you're gonna see that salvation is only by faith, it's by believing. So what does this mean? I think it just means that it doesn't matter where you are, if you have put your trust in the Lord for your eternal life, you are saved and you're gonna fear him and you're gonna work righteousness. Only saved people can truly work righteousness. I think that's an easy way to understand that. Verse 36, the word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. Peter's just getting going. This is just his introduction. That word I say ye know, which was published throughout all of Judea and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, it's Jesus, with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses, Peter was one of the 12, the inner circle, witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew. So he's bringing up not only Jesus' life, but also his death and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up and the resurrection, folks, the third day and showed himself openly. Tremendous. tremendous sermon that he's just getting started. And then in verse 41, Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God. Who was he appearing to? Certain people. Peter would be one. Even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. Some people say there's no bodily resurrection of Jesus. Ghosts don't eat and drink, okay? This was a bodily, physical resurrection of Jesus, and they got to eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded, Jesus commanded us, Peter said, to preach unto the people and to testify that he is which was ordained of God. He was the predicted one. He was the promised one to be the judge of the quick and the dead. And some people say that is talking about downtown Chicago streets. You're quick or you're dead. To him gave all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him, folks, there it is. How can I be saved? Believe in him, whoever believes in him, and this word's really important too, because I'm sure that those people in that room heard their name when he said whosoever, believeth in him, in who, in Jesus, shall receive remission of sins. That's the key. How can we be saved? How can our sins be blotted out? It's only by believing in Jesus. So then faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. What happened here? The gospel, the word of God is preached. The word of God is preached, but that pump was so primed that he just got going on his sermon, and what happened? What happened? Well, this is really cool. Astonishing salvation, verse 44. While Peter yet spake these words, He wasn't done. I think he was just getting started. The Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. I think when they heard whosoever believeth, they believed and at that moment they were saved. The Spirit comes upon them and they have the circumcision. These are the Jews that were with Peter observing. They were astonished. As many as came with Peter because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. This was the Gentile Pentecost. This was God's stamp, a sea change, God doing something major, a giant leap for the Gentiles. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God, then answered Peter, can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized? So not only were they baptized in the Spirit of God and they had the signed gifts that were in operation at that time, Peter said, hey, let's baptize them with water. Let's show the world the evidence of their faith. As we just had one recently and so many amazing people were baptized, showing their faith by water baptism. Which have received the Holy Ghost as well as ye. So they couldn't say no. And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. And I'm sure he did. I bet you Philip might have been there. Remember, Philip had been an evangelist and now was in Caesarea. I bet you Philip sat down with them, Peter sat down with them, the people that Peter brought, and they were teaching them the milk of the word, eventually the meat of the word. The gospel is what will save you from your sins. and the word of God is what will help you please God with your life. The gospel is simple. Jesus is God who died for our sins and rose again. If you'll trust in him, you'll be saved, not just for today or tomorrow, but forever. That's good news, my friend. That's good news. I hope you've put your faith in Jesus. If you haven't, do it right now.