Crossing Cultural Boundaries

Kicking off at verse 34 of the 10th chapter of Acts.

Then Peter began to speak.

I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.

They killed him by hanging him on the cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.

He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen, by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.

All the prophets testify about him, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

Today's message is entitled, Crossing Cultural Boundaries for the Sake of the Gospel.

Culture is a significant barrier, wouldn't you agree?

Culture.

It's the shared way of life of a group of people, how they think, speak, act, relate, eat, celebrate and worship.

It's the invisible script we learn, even without realizing.

It's a formidable barrier.

I don't know if you've traveled anywhere in the world, but it's easy to cross a line without knowing it, isn't it?

In another culture, say the wrong word.

It's close, but it's not quite, or you put your feet in the wrong direction and it's disrespectful.

Culture is a really significant barrier.

In Acts 10, the Spirit of God is teaching us about the power of the Gospel.

It transcends culture.

The Gospel is for everybody, amen?

The Gospel is not for just the Jews or just an enclave of people who call themselves Christians.

It's for the whole world.

If you travel to Israel, there are many places you can visit that are so fascinating, but two of the places that are really significant in the Bible are Caesarea and Jaffa.

Jaffa is just close to Tel Aviv on the coast, and it's Joppa.

It's the new name now, but it's where Jonah went to escape God's call, and it's where Peter is today, Joppa.

Sixty-five kilometers north is Caesarea, and Caesarea is a Roman port built by Herod, and it's like a bastion of Roman power in Judea.

So God wants to teach his church, as I said before, that crossing cultural barriers is what the Gospel is all about.

Excuse me.

Sorry.

Sometimes I sit there and I think, my throat's heading towards thorn in the flesh territory.

And sometimes it goes there.

Let me tell you what happened in Joppa and Caesarea in the lead up to what Graham read for us.

So there's a guy in Caesarea, a Roman centurion, his name is Cornelius, and he's a centurion, so he looks after a hundred Roman soldiers.

And he is devout, he's not a Christian per se, but he's a God-fearer, generous to the poor, he prays regularly, and one afternoon he sees a vision, and an angel comes to him and quite amazingly says, Cornelius, God has seen your prayers, he's seen what you do, what you're doing with the poor, and he wants you to do a job for him.

And so then he explains, I want you, God wants you to go to Peter, who is 65 Ks south, down at Joppa, and ask him to come and speak to you.

And so Cornelius obeys immediately, he doesn't go himself, he's a man with a lot of power and authority, he sends two servants and a trusted soldier.

The text says that next day, they near Joppa, and Peter is on the roof praying, and we're told that he's hungry, and he has what you might call a hungry vision.

A sheet comes down from heaven filled with all these animals, and he's hungry, and he's like, wow, this is great, but they're the wrong animals.

They're animals that Jews are told not to eat, and so he's hungry, but he sees these animals, and then he hears a voice that strangely, curiously says, get up, Peter, kill and eat.

Of course, Peter, he's a devout Jew, he says, I've never eaten anything impure or unclean, I can't eat this stuff.

The voice again says, don't call anything impure that God has made clean.

Three times it happens and then the sheet is taken away.

So, while Peter is puzzling over his vision, the spirit tells him, three men are looking for you, go with them, I have sent them.

So the men arrive and Peter invites them in and they explain Cornelius' vision.

The next day, Peter goes with them and some other believers from Jobba back to Caesarea.

The first time Cornelius sees Peter, because he sort of heard about this great friend of Jesus and he'd done the Pentecost sermon, he wants to sort of fall down and worship Peter and of course Peter's like, no, please don't do it.

And Peter enters and sees the crowd and he says, you know, it's against the law for a Jew to visit a Gentile.

I'm breaking the rules here, but the Spirit of God has told me to come and shown me not to call anyone impure or unclean.

So he's starting to catch on that the animals are a symbol of people as well.

Don't call anyone unclean.

So Peter says, why have you sent for me?

And Cornelius says, for four days ago, I was praying.

A man in shining clothes stood before me and he said, God had heard my prayers.

He tells the story again.

He said, send for you.

And now in the presence of God, here I am with all my family.

Please tell us what God has put on your heart.

So from what Peter says to Cornelius, we're going to see that the gospel is a message without favoritism.

It is a message of peace through Jesus, a message grounded in history and a message that demands a response.

So firstly, a message without favoritism.

Peter begins to speak.

I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

So let's let that beautiful text ring out.

God does not show favoritism, but accepts people from every nation who come in a submissive, repentive attitude by faith, we know later in Jesus.

Now, it's interesting, the Old Testament is full of scriptures that explore and reinforce the idea that Israel are special.

In the Old Testament, sometimes Israel were told by God to kill other people.

So all the way through the Old Testament, there was this very strong sense that the people of God, like Deuteronomy 7, you're a holy people unto the Lord.

The Lord chose you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

You are his treasured possession.

You're different, Israel.

Peter has been inculturated in this understanding all of his life, and yet now, the Spirit of God is saying, the Gospel's for everyone.

The good news is for everyone.

But is it?

I want to take a theological pause, a little detour, a little wander down some doctrine that you find in beautiful theology, reformed theology.

So, Martin Luther, Calvin, they were characters in the 1600s that were used by God in the 1500s to begin the Protestant Reformation.

And so, we had this wonderful unveiling of truth that it's only scripture, it's only grace, it's only by faith that we get saved.

We're familiar with that.

And we want to put on a pedestal, reformed theology.

But I feel like sometimes reformed theology misses other parts of the Bible that need to be held in tension.

And so, for just a couple of minutes, go with me.

I want to do this theological little detour and have a think about the five points of Calvinism.

That are so important.

They're pillars.

And it will make sense in a couple of minutes.

So, the number one, the first point of Calvinism, of reformed theology, of good doctrine, is T, it's tulip, T-U-L-I-P.

T stands for total depravity.

Because of sin, every human being is completely corrupted.

Good doctrine.

The Bible says, no one seeks God.

Romans 3 verse 10.

It means we're completely spiritually dead.

And in classic Calvinism, repentance is a work.

No one gets saved by works, so no one can repent in and of themselves.

It's a gift of God.

So, total depravity is what it's all built on.

We are so sinful, nobody ever is going to respond to God with faith until He makes us born again first, and then we respond in repentance.

The second one, tulip, is you for unconditional election.

Unconditional election.

God chooses people for salvation, not based on anything they have done, but purely out of His sovereign grace.

In fact, there cannot be anything, even a smidge of anything about the person that He liked, because they would be earning His grace.

So, He chose us in Him before the creation of the world.

Ephesians 1.

There are verses that back this.

So, God chooses who gets saved in good reformed doctrine.

And you must accept that double election is true for this doctrinal stance.

He chooses who doesn't get saved.

He chooses who doesn't get saved.

Limited atonement, T-U-L.

L stands for limited atonement.

Jesus died on the cross, his blood being shed, not for the whole world, but for those elect.

It's limited atonement.

The key verse, John 10, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

He didn't lay it down for the whole world, he laid it down for the sheep.

Limited atonement says the blood of Christ is for his elect.

Irresistible grace, T-U-L-I-P.

God calls a person to himself and his call is irresistible.

It cannot be resisted if you're the elect.

They come to faith because of God's grace.

John 6, all that the father gives me will come to me.

Now, there's truth in this, isn't there?

Because you're not gonna come to God without the beautiful and wonderful grace of God drawing you.

But I find it hard because you've got to hold the whole scripture for the wisdom of God.

What about Matthew 23, where Jesus says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, are you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you?

How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, yet you were not willing.

Is there any sense in Jesus saying you're not willing if there's no chance they could have been willing?

Are you with me?

This is the problem.

He's suggesting they could have been willing.

But good reformed theology would say, well, no, they will only be willing if God makes them willing.

The last part, perseverance of the saints.

Those who persevere to the end demonstrate that they were chosen.

And so, if you are a Christian, you could never lose your salvation in good reformed theology.

He who began a good work in you will complete it to the day of completion.

Philippians 1, 6.

I look at a passage like Revelation 2, 7, where Jesus is talking to Christians in Ephesus, and I find it strange because he says, to the one who is victorious out of you Christians, I will give the right to eat from the tree which is in the paradise of God.

Because you got to be victorious by God's grace, to the one who holds on to their faith.

So, in classic Calvinism, which is awesome, so good, because humanity is totally depraved and could never repent on their own, God irresistibly calls and regenerates people, and then as redeemed people, they repent.

He does this to some people and to the vast majority, they are left to the fate of their sin.

And yet, I want to say, and shout from the rooftops to every amazing great Calvin-loving person in the room and in the world, what do we do with Acts 10?

Because he says, Peter says, God doesn't show favouritism.

Are you with me?

At least are you with me in the tension?

God does not show favouritism, but get this, accepts people from every nation, the one who fears him and does what is right.

And, which is a response that comes out of faith.

You never earn his salvation.

So I would just suggest to us that the Bible is a complex book.

When you say to your grandkids, you know, all you need to know is Jesus loves you this I know for the Bible tells me so.

That's true, because the gospel is so simple.

And then it's also true that it's so profoundly mysterious, it does our head in.

Both are true, but I want to hold on to this beautiful text today and drive it home.

God does not show favoritism.

In fact, 2 Peter, Peter's the guy, right, who went to Cornelius.

Peter's the guy who was in Job and went, and he's the one who writes in 2 Peter 3, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.

Instead, he's patient, not wanting anyone to perish.

This is Peter.

He learned the lesson.

He's not willing that anyone would perish, but everyone to come to repentance, because God does not show favoritism.

So what does this mean, this beautiful truth for us today?

It means your husband, who's not a Christian, could become a Christian.

You don't have to think, I wonder if he's not elect.

Oh, that sort of is awful, but well, God chooses.

What about your wife who doesn't know?

Yeah, they could, because God doesn't show favoritism.

Amen.

He has died.

My Bible says, John 3.16, Jesus died for the world because God loved the world, not just his elect.

He loved the world.

It means also that the person who lets you down, who hurts you and me, the person from a culture that you don't appreciate, they're eligible to actually, because God loves them.

He doesn't show favoritism like we do.

The people we get on with, we're a bit more favorable towards.

God does not show favoritism because He's willing that none should perish.

You and I, and in fact, everybody who would call on the name of the Lord can be saved.

And this is good news.

God does not show favoritism.

We share a message of peace through Jesus.

Let me read from verse 36.

You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus who is Lord of all.

That's the message.

There is peace.

It is only available through Jesus.

Cornelius and your family, you need to know this.

You think Caesar is Lord of all.

Well, I'm telling you, Jesus is Lord of all.

He's the Lord of all.

You know what has happened through the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee from the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him.

There is a piece that is available, Cornelius, in Jesus.

You know that there's a God out there, but he's done something specific through his son in our day and our time.

Now, you think about Cornelius, a Roman centurion, he knew about the Pax Romana, didn't he?

The Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, about a 200 year period, just before the birth of Christ, to about 180 years after, the Roman Empire gave a peace that society had never seen, the world had never seen.

Stable governance, efficient infrastructure, the roads that were allowed to be used by God to take the gospel around, clarity of laws.

Peter here is explaining to Cornelius, you know that Pax Romana is amazing, but I want to tell you about an everlasting peace.

It's much bigger, it's grander, it's more amazing.

The message of everlasting peace is what God has done.

The God you know and pray to, he has done something through Jesus to reconcile us all, to be at peace with God.

Cultures all over the world need to hear this message, don't they?

There is peace available with God.

You know, if you travel and you talk to people, like they believe really different things.

The world believes that you have to work, typically, to earn the right to be at peace.

I was reflecting on it.

I've traveled to places that have all of these beliefs and been there for some weeks or months.

And I can just say from my own experience, this is true.

I've met real people who believe this.

So, traditional animistic cultures, Africa, Pacific Islands, so generalized, Southeast Asia.

They need to hear that there is peace available through Jesus, peace with God.

Because the typical belief of an animistic belief culture is that the world is filled with spirits, ancestral spirits, nature spirits, demons, and they must be appeased to avoid misfortune.

So, people live with the need to do rituals and carry charms and offer sacrifices and watch out for taboos to keep the spirits on their side.

There's a constant awareness of fear.

There's no clear assurance of favor from God.

You reckon they might benefit from hearing the message of the gospel?

If you could cross barriers into that and say, there's a way through Jesus to not feel scared because He's bigger.

He walked on the water where the demons were.

He is bigger.

He's Lord of all.

There is peace with God through Jesus.

Folk Buddhism, a generalization, Thailand, Cambodia, parts of East Asia.

The core belief is life is suffering caused by bad karma.

Most of them believe in rebirth.

So you're coming back depending on how well you did.

You accumulate merit in these systems, these world views, and you give offerings at the temple which accumulate merit.

You feed the monks.

You do ritual observances.

It's filled with anxiety.

Millions, if not billions of people, filled with anxiety, endlessly striving.

What does the message of Christianity say to them?

Jesus offers you peace because he has done what needs to be done.

Amen?

There is peace available.

Doesn't the gospel have to cross these boundaries?

Because otherwise they won't hear.

Folk Catholicism, I remember this in Guatemala, Latin American, syncretised religion of Catholicism with indigenous beliefs.

God and the saints must constantly be appeased through rituals.

Fear is immense.

The fear of curses, witchcraft, ancestral wrath lingers.

So you've got to do processions and superstitious practices.

Guilt, fear, spiritual forces.

What does the gospel say?

Jesus has done it all.

Believe in him and there is peace available.

Islam.

I know I'm a bit cheeky being so general in saying these statements, but I honestly believe it's a fair generalization.

In Islam, you've got the five pillars, and you need to do them to please God.

Daily prayers, fasting, charity, pilgrimage, moral striving.

And normally people have no assurance.

It's just hoping, hoping.

So the underlying tone is uncertainty.

What does the gospel give us?

Peace with God through Jesus.

Romans 8.1 says, There is now no condemnation.

Hallelujah.

For Christ has paid it all in our place.

A relationship of peace with Father God is available.

How about you today?

What have you believed all your life?

Is this news to you?

Can I put it to you that it's pretty good?

It's good news.

If it's true, imagine it's true.

I would put it to you that it is true because it's a message grounded in history.

The gospel message is a message of peace, but not just some mythical idea.

It's grounded in history.

Verse 39, Peter says, We're witnesses, get this, we're still alive.

We saw him.

We're witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.

They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.

He was not seen by all the people, but by the witnesses whom God had already chosen.

There's some of that sovereign part of the Bible.

It's not as though it's not there.

It is.

By us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

So, Peter is saying, this is not made up.

We are witnesses.

And it's the most compelling aspect of the resurrection.

There were people who saw it happen.

Most scholars date the Gospels between 30 and 40 years after Jesus.

But some of the creeds that you'll find in places like 1 Corinthians 15 are dated about five years after the death.

So, what that means is, the eyewitnesses were still alive.

They could have been cross-checked.

There could have been all sorts of debate to debunk this story.

But it never happened.

Let's have a think about some of the reasons why we should believe that it is a historical story.

It's part of what happened in human history, the resurrection.

The Gospels have embarrassing facts.

You may know this stuff, but let me just remind you again, Peter's denial.

Why would you sort of put these embarrassing failures?

Women as the first witnesses.

They couldn't be witnesses in a court of law.

Why would you have women as the first witness?

Well, because it's real, it's true.

The disciples filled with fear and confusion until Jesus returned again.

Historians, including many non-Christians, generally agree on four core facts about the historicity of the gospel story.

Jesus died by crucifixion.

You may think to yourself, well, there's no proof that Jesus actually even died on a cross.

I mean, it's probably just a story was made up.

You can't get off that easily.

I'm sorry, you just can't.

It's verified by Roman sources, Tacitus, a Roman historian.

They've got no benefit to be backing what these Christians said.

Josephus, the Jewish historian, he acknowledged that Jesus died on a cross.

New Testament crucifixion was a public humiliating death.

It happened, that happened.

So was his tomb found empty?

Well, it's recorded in all four gospels he was.

The women, they reported it, as I said before, an unlikely choice of a witness in a patriarchal society.

The Jewish leaders didn't produce a body.

That's all they need to do.

But they couldn't.

There were 500 plus witnesses at one time.

But that's it with you.

500 people saw Jesus.

He was seen by other individuals on a closer level.

And the disciples were radically transformed.

They were fearful people before the resurrection and Pentecost.

Afterwards, they changed and the world was transformed.

Did it really happen?

Was it a stolen body?

The disciples, they had no motive, means or opportunity.

Why would they die for a lie?

Why would they die for a lie?

Basically, they all died apart from John, who was the last one to die.

Of course, he died, but he wasn't killed by anybody.

The wrong tomb?

Well, the authorities could have easily corrected that.

What's the best explanation?

Maybe he actually lived and died and rose again.

Could it be?

Could it be that he is the Lord of all?

Well, that explains an empty tomb and eyewitness claims and the explosion of the church and transformed lives back then and now.

It's a message without favoritism.

It's a message of peace that we need, and it's grounded in history.

This is not something that was like Joseph Smith started the Mormon Church.

And he he said that he had angelic people come and read this hieroglyphics.

No one could have said that it was wrong until people later came and could decipher the hieroglyphics.

And it was proven to be completely false.

It continues on, that religion, that alternate religious movement, because of deception.

But not every religion is based in truth, amen?

Look into it, if you haven't.

Christianity is robust.

It's a message that finally demands response.

He commanded, verse 42, He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.

All the prophets tested by about Him, that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name as peace.

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.

The circumcised believers who had come with Peter, so like the Jewish ones, they were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.

Why?

Because God does not show favoritism.

This is the moment.

For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter says, verse 47, Surely no one can stand in the way of them being baptized with water.

They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have, so we order that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

Anyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

This is the good news.

It's available for everyone.

There is no set of eyes that you will ever look into and through the eyes see the soul.

You will never look into the living soul of a human being that God does not love passionately.

Amen.

It's the truth.

He doesn't show favoritism.

You know, as I mentioned slightly briefly at the start, it's incredibly poignant these two cities, isn't it?

Joppa.

Jonah's like, no way, I'm not going to the Ninevites.

They're monsters.

They're horrible people.

I'm not going to the Ninevites.

Joppa.

And in the whole story of getting swallowed by the fish, and it was a...

the message was, no, go where God tells you to go, because he loved the Ninevites.

He was wanting someone to go and share a message of repentance.

Caesarea.

It's, as I said, the bastion of Roman rule, the tyrannical Romans.

Why?

Because God wants his church to know he loves even the Romans.

And so, God is working all things together for good, and he's got Cornelius there with his family, and they all get saved.

And do you remember who was a key character in the early church at Caesarea?

This is a really sort of classic, deep Bible knowledge trivia question.

Who was a key character at Caesarea in the early church?

I've given you enough time to ask Siri, and you still don't know.

Philip the Evangelist.

Philip the Evangelist, isn't this just an interesting thing to think about?

You've got Cornelius, and he gets saved, and so his family, you know, they're part of the early church there, but we read later on that Acts 2, leaving the next day, we reach Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven.

He had four unmarried daughters.

Philip, it tells in other pages of Acts, he's a significant character in the church at Caesarea.

What a classic guy to have in your church.

Do you remember Philip, Philip the Evangelist?

He's the guy who crossed cultural boundaries because the Spirit took him to see that chariot, and he's empowered by God to run alongside it, and then tells the Ethiopian eunuch about Isaiah, and then he baptizes him, and then Philip was taken away.

He's the guy in your church.

I mean, I'd be like, hey, Philip, can you tell me some stories?

It's amazing.

God was up to something in Cornelius' life, wasn't he?

He wanted to start the beginnings of a Gentile community who would get saved, radically saved, in supernatural power and through visions, two different visions, at times of prayer.

God was up to something.

And then there's this powerful dude, Philip the Evangelist, who's part of the church there.

God is up to something.

Peter turns up, and God is up to something.

You see that, don't you?

God's behind the scenes.

Peter's praying, there's a bunch of three people coming down with a message.

God is doing stuff behind the scenes.

Let me ask you a question.

Is he up to something in your life that you don't know?

Is he up to something?

Does he still care about people as much as he cares about Cornelius and his family?

Philip, Peter, what do you reckon the answer is?

I believe the answer is absolutely, he cares for everyone in this room.

Why do we know that?

Someone yell it out.

Because God does not show favouritism.

He loves us all, hallelujah.

He loves us.

So I just want to wonder with you, why are you here?

Honestly, I'm not trying to be cheeky, but why are you here?

I bet you there's a hundred reasons why two hundred people are in a room.

Maybe there's more.

There's some stirring.

You weren't going to come to church, but then you did.

Maybe you knew someone, you bumped into someone, and there was some rekindling of a stirring of faith.

Maybe I should reconnect with God, or maybe you don't know anything about Christianity, and it's just a relational connection that's got you here.

Or maybe you're part of play group and Stephen the Evangelist.

We call him that in the office.

Stephen and Kathleen the Evangelist, they're always out there making connections, inviting people to church, because they believe God's up to something.

And so what is God saying to you now as you come under this, I would say, glorious story of hope and grace?

It's good news.

God's invitation to you and I requires a response.

They responded first century.

They end up even getting baptized with water.

There is a response required.

The good news is it's a message without favoritism.

You are eligible, and so am I.

It's a message of peace through Jesus.

The peace you desire is available.

That anxiety can be brought before God, and it's complex, I know, like the Bible, but he can take our fears and our anxious thoughts, and he can replace them with peace.

He gives us rest.

It's a message grounded in history.

Some of you may be here today because you're on the edge of walking away from faith, and I know some of you could be because it's been my journey for 35 years, walking with people and then seeing them walk away, because we go through tough stuff in life.

Maybe God was up to something in your life, bringing you today to hear some of these, sort of maybe a bit boring for some of us, facts, apologetics, content, to just remind you, no, this is not some fable.

This is robust, grounded in history, and it's changed the world, the story of the gospel.

But it demands a response.

And so what is that response?

That response is repentance and faith.

And to be honest, without being very jargon, jargon-esque about it, it's just two words you need to respond to God with.

Trust Jesus.

Trust Jesus with everything you have.

And He'll teach you the rest.

He'll teach you about being sorry for your sin, but trust Jesus.

Can I pray and invite you, invite you now to stand if you want to say right now, I'm trusting Jesus.

I'm going to put a line in the sand and I want to trust Jesus.

Maybe it's for the first time or maybe it's like, you know what, I need to put a line in the sand or hoist the flag again and say, no, I'm with you, Jesus.

Anybody want to join many of us by standing and respond to Jesus now as the band comes up, they're going to lead us in worship.

Praise God.

Trust Jesus, I trust you, Jesus.

If it's your first time to respond, you can pray by yourself a prayer, but it goes something like this.

Lord, thank you for loving me.

Thank you for sending Jesus to die for me, to pay for my sin.

I know I'm a sinner, and I desperately need your grace and your forgiveness.

And I receive it with my whole heart.

Please, give me your peace.

And fill me with your spirit, and teach me to walk according to your ways.

And the Bible says that he will do it.

And we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved, is what the scripture says.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

We give you all the glory today.

Thank you for saving Cornelius and his family.

The grace you showed Peter.

The grace you showed Jonah.

The way you used Paul at Caesarea to testify against the Roman governors.

Thank you, Lord God, that you're at work behind the scenes in our lives.

You are up to something.

And may you receive all the glory as what you're doing slowly becomes unveiled for us to see.

In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

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