Please get your Bibles and let's turn to the book of Acts this evening. I want to consider this evening just one verse here in Acts 10, which we have been in quite a bit over the last month as we've looked at Acts 10 in the morning preaching. But I want to focus on one verse that we haven't had a chance to kind of think about and really mine for some of the riches, I think, that are there and helpful for us. And that is verse 33. And I want us to consider this evening the presence of God in preaching. So, preaching and the presence of God. Now, maybe by way of review, For those of you who haven't been here through the sermons through Acts 10, and it's quite a long chapter. I'm not going to read the whole chapter, but you'll maybe remember, or maybe you don't know, Acts 10 is the account of a centurion, a Roman soldier named Cornelius, who is a really godly man. He's a God-fearer with all his house. Amazing description of this man. He is praying, he regularly prays in his home, and while he's praying he has a vision, and an angel appears to him, and the short version of that vision is that he says, send for a man named Peter, Simon Peter, and call for him. And Peter then, the scene shifts and Peter is is in his house. Actually, he's not really in his house. He's in Simon the Tanner's house. He's hungry, and while people are making him food, he goes up on the rooftop to pray. And while he prays, he goes into a trance and he sees this vision of something like a sheep coming down out of heaven, and it's got all kinds of animals in it, animals that he's not supposed to be eating, according to the law. of Moses, but he hears a voice, rise, Peter, kill, and eat. And he says, no, Lord, I've never done, I've never eaten these things. And the Lord tells him, what I call clean, do not call common. And this happens three times, and then the sheet's taken away. Well, just then, Cornelius has dispatched two two of his servants and a soldier with them and they show up and they're calling out outside of Simon's house and say, is Simon who's called Peter here? And Peter comes down and says, yeah, I'm him. Why are you here? And they say, well, and they give the story of Cornelius. He was praying and we were sent to look for you. And so they stay with Peter and the next day they head home They head back to Caesarea and they come to Cornelius's house. Now, with that background, that was a little longer, probably would have been shorter just to read it. But so let's pick up with Peter coming into the house at verse 25, Acts chapter 10, verse 25. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, Stand up, I too am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. And he said to them, You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask you then why you sent for me.' And Cornelius said, four days ago about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea. So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now, therefore, we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. Please bow with me briefly in prayer. Father, we ask that You would please attend the preaching of Your Word now by the power of Your Spirit, and that again, as we've prayed already this evening, that You would be our teacher tonight, that we would listen for Your voice, that You would speak to us, that You might bring words of comfort to those who need them, that You would bring words of conviction those of us who need them, that you would build us up in our faith tonight, that we would again be drawn to Christ, in whose name we pray now. Amen. A while back in a sermon I mentioned the problem of consumerism in the modern church. That is people go about thinking about church kind of in terms of the way they think about almost any other commodity in life. They think and they kind of weigh things and think about the value of certain things in light of the cost that it will be to them. Is this going to be a good exchange, a good investment for me in light of my felt needs? Sometimes it's the issue of, does the church have a good program for my kids? Or it could be the issue of, does it have good community? Is there enough people my age or people in my station in life to really feel connected? And sometimes it's whether or not, and this is what I really want to get to this evening, whether or not the preaching is good. Quote, unquote. It's the preaching good. Now, I want to acknowledge each of those are important issues. And I think all of those issues I mentioned are somewhat inescapable. They will influence our decisions when it comes to the questions that we mill around concerning church But it's really that final one there, whether the preaching is good, that I want us to think about a little bit this evening. In fact, I really want to challenge you tonight on how you evaluate worship services in general, but really our tendency to reduce a worship service down to really judgment of whether or not the preaching was good. The passage before us this evening is extremely important, I think, for our understanding of preaching. Interestingly, it is brought up, it's actually used as a proof text at least twice in our own confessional standards. It's used as as a proof text to back up the importance of how we hear the word. In the larger catechism, question 108, that question is about worship and among other things that are to take place in a worship service like prayer and praising God. Question 108 says, that also there should be the reading and preaching, and then it gives it its own category, and hearing of the Word, and it cites this verse, Acts 10, verse 33, as a proof for that point. But I want to contend this evening that there are actually three factors that are involved whenever the Word is preached. In other words, this verse is not just dealing with how you hear the Word. It is also dealing with how I preach it. And it is also dealing with God's presence when His Word is being preached. So this passage this evening tells us something important about you. It tells us something important about me and other preachers. And it tells us something important about God. when preaching is actually happening. But a first observation I think that should be made as we start to get into these points is that this entire account, if you ever thought as you read through Acts chapter 10, this entire account, this whole episode of the Lord by His Spirit orchestrating Cornelius and Peter to get together so that Peter could proclaim the gospel to him is an entire passage that really underscores that God has chosen to use preaching to save and sanctify his people. In other words, I mean if God wanted to tell Cornelius the gospel by way of an angelic minister, an actual angel. He could have had that happen. In fact, he had an angel there meet him and tell him, go meet Peter. Go meet this guy Peter. But I mean, I've often thought, why didn't the angel just tell him the gospel? Paul talks about in Galatians, if we are an angel from heaven, preach another gospel. I mean, the angel could have preached. a gospel to him. If he wanted him to just immediately somehow hear the word, that could have happened, but that's not what happened. God, by his spirit, orchestrates that Peter would come and he would proclaim the word to Cornelius and his family. For some reason, God has chose, and I love the old King James or New American Standard translation of 1 Corinthians 121, that God uses the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For some reason, God chose to bring human being to human being, that a flesh and blood minister of his word would be the one that would proclaim person to person a very audible, visual, experience between people so that his word would be heard by others. Well, let's begin by asking the question, what is your part in preaching? What is your part in preaching? Right before Peter actually preaches here, his sermon starts in verse 34. We're in verse 33. So right before Peter preaches here, Cornelius has gathered his whole family, he's gathered all of his friends, and he says, did you hear, and look at what he says there, now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. And very simply, that is your part in preaching. Come ready to hear the word of the Lord. Come ready to hear the word of the Lord. In other words, you are not, and I wanna say it this way and I wanna say it carefully, but you are not coming to hear a good sermon. You are not coming to be entertained or intellectually stimulated so that you can go out to coffee and then chat about it and think about the cool connections that you heard. You are to be coming to hear the word of the Lord. In fact, the prayer that should be on our lips, the prayer that should be coming from our heart every time we come into a worship service, each time the preaching of the Word is about to take place, is that prayer that Eli taught Samuel in the temple. Speak, Lord. for your servant-hearers. You come listening not for a good sermon. Come listening for the voice of God. And you need to realize, and I think this is an extremely important matter that we have to adjust to and learn as modern hearers of the Word. You need to realize and learn and adjust to the fact that God often speaks in ways that we are not expecting. You see, we are conditioned. We are normally looking for the beautiful. We are impressed by the powerful, the elegant, the eloquent. We are listening for the entertaining voice. But here's the thing. more often than not. God speaks in a way that requires careful listening, that actually involves engagement and effort from us. It's like how he spoke to Elijah in that low whisper. It's this really interesting passage In 1 Kings chapter 19, listen to the passage, a great and strong wind tore the mountain and it broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire. but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, the sound of a low whisper." It's like he said to Zerubbabel, not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit. We need to come ready to hear. We need to come listening carefully for the voice of the Lord. We need to come praying, and frankly, throughout the sermon, I would be encouraging you to pray right now. Speak, Lord. Talk to me. I need to hear your voice. Speak, Lord. Your servant hears. That's your part. Well, what's my part? What's the preacher's part? But look at the text. Cornelius says there, now, we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. That is, I am to preach what has been commanded by the Lord. I'm not called to entertain you. I'm not called to practice eloquence. I'm not called to preach myself, to preach my performance, to preach my preferences. I'm called to preach the gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ, calling you, commanding you to come to Him. In fact, can you hear it here? This is an echo of the Great Commission. an echo of what Jesus said as he, after he rose from the dead, he meets with his disciples on that mountain and commissions them to go make disciples. How? By baptizing them, and do you remember the second part of that? Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded. That is what you are to be listening for. That's what you're listening to hear. And that is what I'm called to preach. That's what Jason is called to preach. That's what Joseph is called to preach. In fact, that's what makes preaching the Word of God. I mean, think about this. If I don't preach the Word of God, then my preaching is not the Word of God. I'm just up here talking. I'm telling you stuff I wanna say. If I don't preach the Word of God, then my preaching is not the Word of God. But if I preach the Word of God, if I proclaim His words to you, then by definition, that is the Word of God preached. I know it doesn't, it's like, huh? Messing with us right now? It's that simple. And that is the biblical understanding of preaching throughout the scriptures. To Ezekiel, God said, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. You take my word and you tell them my word. That's preaching. That's why preaching is the proclamation of the word of God. Jesus said that the spirit would give his messengers the words to say. That's why preachers are preachers of the word, not just preachers. Preachers of the gospel, preachers of the word. I love the, Paul's most succinct understanding of the message that he preached. It's 2 Corinthians 11-7. He calls it God's gospel. I came and I gave you God's good news. This is his gospel. It's not mine. It's not something we made up. This is God's gospel. This is the good news from your God. that He has given His Son, that there is life in Him. My part, the preacher's part, is to labor to fulfill Paul's admonition to preachers. The one I'm thinking about here is 2 Timothy 2, 14 and 15. Let me read that. Remind them of these things and charge them before God not to quarrel about words which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. But do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed because he rightly handles the word of truth." passage is so important because it really brings together all three of the points that I'm hoping that we can see from this verse that's before us this morning. Did you hear there, there's the acknowledgement of the hearers. If you've got a guy and all he's doing is quarreling about words, that's bringing ruin to you, the hearers. That's what Paul acknowledges, the hearers. He says you gotta be careful how you preach so you don't bring ruin to those who are hearing. Then there's the acknowledgement of the workers, those who have the job of the proclamation of the word, the preachers. That's myself, that's others who preach. And then there's the acknowledgement of the presence of God. Did you hear Paul say that? Remind them of these things and charge them before God to do this. That just brings us then to the final point for us to see this evening, and that is God's part in preaching. God's part in preaching. I think that maybe the most important and the most neglected part of this passage, and I think that which is the least appreciated part of preaching in the church today, is that God is present when His Word is preached. It is His Word. God is present when His Word is preached. And it is interesting, I got musing on this when I was studying Acts 10 in our preaching series just on how often the presence of God is associated with the preaching of the Word in the New Testament. This is not, Acts 10.33 is not the only time it comes up, but here it is. I really want you to see that. I want it to be something that becomes a deep conviction in your heart. Look at, here's Cornelius. We are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. There's an acknowledgement of the presence of God, and then Peter preaches, and the Holy Spirit falls upon them. 2 Timothy 4, 1 and 2. Paul says to Timothy, did you catch these? We know these passages, but these are so important. The connection is here. Paul says to Timothy, I charge you in the presence of God and Jesus Christ, preach the word. And then he goes on, be ready in season and out of season. There's the presence of God and the preaching of the word. Speaking of his own, Paul talks about his own apostolic ministry In 2 Corinthians 2.17, listen to this. For we are not, Paul says, we are not like so many peddlers. We're not peddlers of the word of God, but listen to what he says. Here's his consciousness of what he's doing when he's preaching. We are not like so many peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God, We speak in Christ. Complete acknowledgement that when I preach, this is in the presence of God. And thus how Paul could say, how he could say in 1 Thessalonians 2.13, and we also thank God constantly for this. What is he thankful for? To the Thessalonians? We constantly thank God for this. that when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the Word of men, but as what it really is, the Word of God, which is at work in you believers. Congregation preaching is no mere lecture. It is no mere teaching time. It is no mere performance to be evaluated like so many other types of speaking events that we encounter in our lives. It is not a TED talk aimed at stimulating you intellectually. It is not a motivational speech just trying to change your behavior, but rather it is in the truest sense of the Word. It is a supernatural encounter with the Living God. He has come to address us, His people. If the Bible is His Word, if this is His Word, the Word of God, then He is speaking when His Word is being preached and his people, you as people are called to hear him. And since that's true, we have to, we have got to adjust ourselves as to how we listen to the preaching of the word. I mean, if God were here right now Speaking to us, would you be listening in the same posture, the same manner that you are listening in right now? Would you let your mind drift? Would you distract yourself with doodling? Or would you seek to hear Him and heed Him? Now, I get it. It is sometimes hard to listen to the one who is preaching. But I wanna challenge you for your part to commit to listening better. I need to preach better and you need to listen better. And we all need to do our parts because God is present when his word is open and being proclaimed. And maybe we can begin to move away, and I'm not gonna get overly technical on words, but maybe we can begin to move away from evaluating preaching in just terms of, was it good? Maybe we can begin asking, was God present? Was his word, was his word preached? Did I hear his voice? Jesus Christ, is the Word of God in the flesh. And no one wanted to hear the Word that way. Many people in Israel despised the packaging. They did not like to hear God by way of the incarnate Word. Very often we don't like to hear the way the Lord brings us His Word. that he has caused me to work a little bit and listen a little more careful. But you are called to listen in a careful and an engaged way. Jesus, right after he gives the parable of the sower and the seeds, which is all about the word and how we hear it, one of his points at the end is, be careful how you listen. Be careful how you hear. One of our retired ministers in our denomination, he's a very, very gifted man, both writer and preacher, Gordon Keddy. Many of you, most of you know him, have heard his name. Commenting on this verse, and I'll end with this, Keddy said, might we cry to God that people everywhere would give such a reception to those who come to them with the gospel. Well might we pray that ministers everywhere would preach only what the Lord has commanded them to preach. And well might we rejoice to receive everything that God is teaching us in His Word. Maybe if we were more like that, on both sides of the equation, those who preach, those who hear, maybe if we were more like that, we might experience and know the presence of God by the ministry of the Holy Spirit each time the word is preached. Would that be a lovely, glorious thing? that we would know He was present. Let's pray together.