Open your Bibles to Acts chapter 10. Our text today will be Acts chapter 10 verse 1 through 8. Here's the word of the Lord. There was a certain man in Cessaria called Cornelius, a Centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man in one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius. And when he observed him, he was afraid and said, what is it, Lord? So he said to him, your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Japa and send for Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon a Tanner whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do. And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. And when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Japa. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this gospel. We thank you for your word, your living word. Sharper than any two-edged sword. Father, take your word today and buy your Holy Spirit indwelling your people. Teach us, guide us, mold us and shape us. Father, would you transform us and conform us to the very image of Christ, our Lord? Do this, Father, that we would be a people to give glorious witness to your name for it is what you command. That we give witness to your name, that we make disciples of the nations, so that your name, your image and your glory would fill all of your creation. We ask this Father in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, Acts chapter 10 verses 1 through 8. Peter is getting ready to experience something that he probably could not have imagined most of his life. Peter is God's prepared vessel for what God is getting ready to do. God prepared Peter to be his chosen vessel for the task of formally introducing the gospel to the Gentiles. God arranged this introduction by first leading Peter to Japa via the miraculous healing of the paralytic in Lida and then raising Tabitha also called Dorcas from the dead in Japa. And this is where Peter is now. He's in Japa staying at the house of Simon a Tanner. And while Peter is there at the house of Simon the Tanner, God is sending an angel to this Gentile, this Centurion, this Roman soldier named Cornelius. In a vision, he sees an angel come to him and commanding Cornelius to go and to get Peter and bring him to his house. It obviously, this tells us something about the prayers of Cornelius. We know he's a man of prayer. We know he's a devout man. It doesn't tell us what prayers came up before the Lord as a memorial, but I think the answer we see here is the angel coming, the vision, the command of the angel informs us something about the prayers of Cornelius. And those prayers of this Gentile must have had something to do with him wanting to know this God that he now worshiped. And God arranged this introduction by getting Peter in a position and getting Cornelius in a position. It was necessary that Peter be the one to introduce the gospel to the Gentiles. Peter walked with the Lord Jesus, having been the first to confess him as the Christ, the son of the living God in Matthew 16, 16. Peter was also the first to introduce faith to the Jews at Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. Now God had chosen Peter to introduce the faith to the Gentiles. Peter had the credentials, so to speak. He was seen as one of the leaders of the Jerusalem church and he was highly respected by the believers. Peter was given the introduction, but later we're going to see that it is the Apostle Paul that will eclipse Peter in his ministry to the Gentiles, to the believers in Jerusalem and to the leaders of the church there, saw of Tarsus, though a believer now, and though he was once a renowned Pharisee, he is now seen as an outsider from both sides. Remember, he had to escape Jerusalem and he sailed to his home city of Tarsus. All the while, God was preparing Saul, also called Paul, for his ministry to the Gentiles, but it would be Peter who would initially open the door of faith to the Gentiles and recognize them in terms of perfect equality with the Jews. And that ultimately is what the New Testament teaches. It was very controversial for the Jews to accept this. The Gentiles would be seen as perfectly equal with the Jews and without the necessity of circumcision or the provisions of the law. God would use Paul to teach this. We're still learning from him today through his letters. Peter would first open the door to the Gentiles, and later Peter would use both, or God would use both, Peter and Paul to open the hearts of the Jerusalem Council. God would use both of these men to open the hearts and the minds of the Jews who were in leadership in Jerusalem. Peter would give his testimony of God's mighty moving among the Gentiles and Paul and Barnabas would also testify before the Council. However, it would be noted that God chose Peter first to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. We see in this story of Peter taking the gospel to the Gentiles one certain Roman centurion who had become a devout man following the religion of the Jews. For that man from another continent to be in that place with that position of authority that he held as a centurion, hungering for truth, we can see that God literally worked across centuries and across continents, working in the smallest of details all to orchestrate this single event. And this event would change the church, and it would change the world. It certainly changed us. It's why we're here today talking about this. Had Peter not been obedient, had Cornelius not been obedient, we might not be here talking today. Thank God for the grace of God that ensured that both of these men were right where they needed to be to do exactly what they needed to do. So verse 1 says, there was a certain man in Cessaria called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian regimen. There was a certain man. God always has a certain man, a certain woman. God never works in generalities. It may seem like he does. It may seem like God's not paying attention to the details, but God is always paying attention to the details. And God works in the very smallest of details to bring about His plan and His purposes. God works in specifics with specific people, in specific places, at specific times, with specific purpose. You are a certain man or a certain woman or a certain child, yes, God uses children, that God has specific purpose for. It says there was a certain man in Cessaria. Cessaria was once an ancient Phoenician city, but Cessaria was rebuilt and enlarged by Herod the Great between 22 and 10 BC. It was called Cessaria for the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar. It was the seat of Roman military and commercial power in the region that was called Palestine. And therefore this city carried much symbolism. It was a mostly Gentile city. And everything about this location is significant. In other words, it's not accidental that Cornelius is in Cessaria. And it's not accidental that Peter was in Japa just miles down the coast from Cessaria. God chose this city purposefully to be the one where the door of faith was opened to the Gentiles. The gospel would no doubt spread to other parts of the empire from this strategic location. And this certain man was called Cornelius and he was a Centurion. Cornelius will soon be the first Gentile Christian mentioned in the book of Acts. We're given his name here at the beginning of chapter 10, but he hasn't met Peter yet. And he hasn't heard the gospel yet or not officially heard it. He's not a stupid man. Obviously he's a Centurion. And so the word of the gospel, the word of Jesus Christ, the knowledge that there was this man who was crucified. And there are these people now who are following this man, would have been known to Cornelius. But Cornelius had not had a formal introduction yet of the gospel. Peter is going to provide that. He was a Centurion in the Roman army that meant that he was a commander at least 100 men. That's what the name Centurion means. He was a commander of 100 men. He was part of the Italian regiment, which has its own meaning. And we see that God was preparing well for his gospel to be exported to the reaches of the Roman Empire. This Italian regiment meant that Cornelius was Italian, which might sound like duh. Of course he was. But the Roman army was made up of men from all over the known world. As Rome would conquer territory, they would conscript the people that they conquered and make them part of the army. It worked out well at first, but as the empire got bigger and bigger and bigger, and things got farther away from Rome. And there were more foreigners who were part of the Roman army than there were Italians that were part of the Roman army. And that problem started occurring. And that was not a small reason for the fall of the Western Roman Empire. But here it tells us, Luke tells us specifically Cornelius was of what was called the Italian regiment. Or a cohort was one-tenth of a legion. It would have been 600 men. A legion was about 6,000 men. A cohort was one-tenth or 600 men. And Cornelius was a leader of 100 men of that regiment or that cohort. All of these men of the Italian regiment were from Italy. They were not from Palestine. They were not from some conquered nation that had been conscripted into the army and forced to serve Rome. And the reason for this was because Cessaria was the seat of Roman government in power in Palestine. And Palestine was a troubled area. It wasn't the favorite place to be assigned to if you were a Roman because there was always trouble there. Because the Jews were always causing trouble because they didn't want to be under Roman rule. And so there was a lot of politics taking place. There was a lot of gentlemen or not so gentlemanly agreements between the Jews and between the Romans, between Herod who was the king of the Jews. Yet he wasn't really even Jewish. But he was put in place by Rome. And the people who ruled the temple recognized that they needed to get along with Rome. But Rome had put men in Cessaria that they could trust that could take care of any trouble should it arise. Thus the Italian regiment was there. God had a different reason for putting Italians in Cessaria. For Rome it was a security reason but for God it was a gospel reason. Since Cessaria was the seat of Roman government in power these soldiers from Italy were stationed there. And this is significant for it meant that as the gospel spread through the Italian regiment it would be spread to family and friends back home in Italy. That means God strategically placed Cornelius with his whole regiment in Cessaria to await the arrival of the gospel. And since Cessaria was such an important Roman city God had orchestrated all of this so that the gospel of Christ would be exported from there to the ends of the earth. Verse 2 tells us that Cornelius was a devout man. A devout man and one who feared God with all his household who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. A devout man and one who feared God, Luke describes Cornelius as a man who feared God. In doing this Luke is letting us know that Cornelius was what the Jews called a God fear. We've actually found, used to be thought that maybe this wasn't a real thing, that there wasn't really a segment of people or a category of people called God fears. But we've now found archaeological and historical evidence for instance synagogues that was built finance by a centurion, a known centurion, and on the plaque that put everybody's name and thanked everybody for contributing to the building of this synagogue, just like we do today when you walk in churches or hospitals, you see plaques with people's name. Well on this particular plaque there was a reference to a list of people called the God fears. So you had Jews, you had proselytes, a proselyte was a Gentile who converted to Judaism and he actually converted all the way. Cornelius was not a proselyte, he was a God fearer. And what that means is, and this is what Luke is telling us here, when he says Cornelius feared God with all of his household, he was a God fear. It was a term used by Jews that referred to Gentiles who demonstrated reverence and devotion to the God of Israel but had not yet fully converted, meaning that they had not been circumcised. They did not keep all of the provisions of the law, yet they worshipped and prayed and gave alms and went to synagogue and lived devoted lives to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They couldn't go to certain parts of the temple because they were Gentiles. Cornelius was a non-Jew who worshipped the God of the Jews and Luke described him as devout, meaning godly, reverent and especially pious. He was a God fearer, not just Cornelius but Luke tells us all of his household. So Cornelius was a devout man and one who feared God with all of his household, meaning that he was the head of a household of God fearers, his wife, his children, his servants, everyone that was part of his household according to Luke, all of his household. Fear God with all of his household. This centurion, this devout Gentile, wasn't just personally devout but he taught his whole household and modeled his religion and his devotion for all to see and all to know and taught them to do the same. Imagine once he receives the gospel and he begins to teach and command the gospel. He tells us he gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. Cornelius feared God with all of his household. He gave alms generously to the people. All of this means he didn't keep his faith and his devotion to God only to himself. He was not ashamed to worship the true and living God even though he was a Roman and he would not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet the Bible records that this man prayed to God always. Perhaps we can say that Cornelius prayed without ceasing or that he lived in an attitud of prayer but Luke tells us he prayed to God always. That could not have been easy as a Roman centurion. There had to be difficulties involved with that. This Italian, this Roman forsaking the religion of his ancestors and now embracing the religion of this people that the Romans really did not care for. That tells us something about the character of Cornelius. He was not afraid to stand up for the truth. You couldn't be a centurion and be afraid to stand up for what you were commanded and what you believed was right. So God obviously heard his prayers, saw his devotion, his generosity. And it appears that God gave this man great favor in his description of Cornelius. Luke is more clearly defining who can be part of God's people. Now it's not just Jews, it's not just Samaritans, but now Gentiles will be brought into the fold. The barriers that had existed for many centuries were beginning to crumble. We're literally seeing the wall of separation that Paul writes about in Ephesians 2 being brought down. Peter, a Jew, was getting ready to be called to a Gentile named Cornelius. And God would miraculously show that the dividing wall has been brought down. Cornelius in verse 3, we see that he is a praying man. So he's a certain man. He's a devoted man. He's a praying man. Verse 3 tells us about the ninth hour of the day. He saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him Cornelius. When the Bible gives us specific times and days you should always pay attention to those. About the ninth hour of the day, what does that tell us? What should we know about that? The ninth hour of the day would be 3 p.m. our time. So it's about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. And Cornelius has a vision. What was he doing? Was he taking a nap? Was he mowing his grass? No. What happened? What did Jews do at the ninth hour of the day? At 3 p.m. in the afternoon? That is called the hour of prayer. They prayed. So what Luke is telling us is that Cornelius is praying to God. He's praying to his God. And in the midst of his praying, God gives him a vision. And in this vision, he clearly sees an angel come in and call his name. So this is the hour of prayer. This was also the hour of the evening sacrifice every day in the temple, just like every day in the tabernacle. For centuries, millennium, every day at 9 a.m. a lamb was sacrificed every day at 3 p.m. a lamb was sacrificed. And 3 p.m. was also the hour of prayer in the afternoon. And so Cornelius is praying at the hour of prayer and God gives him this clear vision of an angel. The timing of this heavenly vision, in other words, was not accidental. He saw clearly in a vision. He was wide awake. This is not a trance. It's a vision. He's not asleep. He's not having a dream. He was having a vision. And in this vision, he sees clearly an angel. It's just like the angel is before him speaking to him. He saw the angel clearly in a vision and the angel of God came in and said to him, Cornelius, imagine how disconcerting that would be. You might think you would like to see an angel, but I think if you actually ever did see an angel, it would be quite disturbing. But praise God, God doesn't speak to us through angels any longer. According to the book of Hebrews, he now speaks to us through his son, through his word. We don't need angels. But Cornelius needed an angel because the word was still in process of being assembled together. They have the Old Testament scripture, but Cornelius doesn't even know when this is happening that he's going to become part of the canon of Scripture. His story is part of the canon of Scripture that God gave him. The angel calls him by name. Heaven knew the name of this Gentile. God knew his name and God had sent his angel to this Gentile officer of the Roman army, a hated group of people by the Jews. And so, Luke tells us that Cornelius was a man who feared God. And when he observed him, when Cornelius observed the angel, he was afraid and said, what is it, Lord? And the response of the angel was, your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Cornelius saw the angel, he was afraid. It's hard, if not impossible, for us to imagine what that would have been like for him to experience this angelic visitation from the throne of God. This angel appeared to him and then called him by name. It's not unprecedented. We've seen it with Mary, we've seen it with Joseph, we've seen it with others in the Old Testament. And now, here is this Gentile having an angelic visitation. And Cornelius in his fright says, what is it, Lord? There is a reverent and humble acknowledgement of God here by this devout Gentile. Cornelius is asking what it is, this divine messenger has for him to do. There is an immediate submission to the divine will here. And that immediate submission, that immediate attitude of obedience indicates a healthy fear of God. Cornelius was a man who feared God. And this is consistent with him and all his household being God fears. So the angel says to him, your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. It was not just his prayers that day. It was the prayers that Cornelius prayed regularly as a devout man and as a worshiper of God. It was the faithful prayers of Cornelius. It was the faithful giving of alms to the people by this man. It was his faithful devotion to God that had now come up as a memorial before the Lord. He would be faithful now in the upcoming matter that God would command him concerning. So the angel says to him, your prayers and your alms have come up as a memorial before God. Verse 5, now, sin to Japa and sin for Simon, whose surname is Peter. This demonstrates that Cornelius was a faithful man. Verse 6, the angel gives him more detail. This Simon, whose surname is Peter, is lodging with Simon a Tanner whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do. You notice the lack of detail that the angel gives to Cornelius. He gives him just enough detail to do what must be done. But he doesn't really tell him any more than that. He said, Peter is going to tell you what you must do. Now, that might not be a big deal to us. But if you think about it, here is an angel that has appeared to this Roman centurion. Roman centurions typically didn't like the Jews. They didn't like having to be stationed there. That's a generality. But if you read your history, that wasn't the place that you wanted to get your duty station assigned to. There were other places in the empire that were much more favored. And that conflict between the Romans and the Jews was constant. And here is an angel of God coming to this Roman centurion. And he says, go and sin for this Jew, Simon, whose surname is Peter, fetch him, bring him, and he'll tell you what you must do. There's a part that you might think that this Roman centurion could be thinking, why don't you angel tell me what I need to do? Why do I have to hear it from a Jew? Why does a Jew have to tell me what I must do? I would much rather receive it from an angel come from God. After all, I'm a man of authority. But that's not who Cornelius is. If that would have been who you realized there were thousands and thousands of Roman centurions that God could have chose, but he didn't choose them, he chose this one. Because he's a faithful man. Because he's a man who feared God. Because he's a devout man, a praying man. Now, sin meant a Joppa and sin for Simon whose surname is Peter. God entrusted this task to a faithful man. Think of how God has prepared Cornelius for this task long before Cornelius could have imagined being part of this plan of God. God was working so far upstream ahead. Cornelius could not even begin to think or imagine what God was going to do with him. God did this in the life of Cornelius and God did it in the life of Peter. Guess what? God is doing it in your life even now. God is working now, preparing things you will only realize in your future. Things you know not of right now. But God is always working, always carrying out His divine and sovereign plans and purposes. Cornelius was a man of authority, verse 7. And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. This devout soldier is also an Italian, a Roman. How did he become devout as Cornelius became devout? Do you think Cornelius might have had something to do with his soldier under him also becoming devout? Do you think that centurion might have seen something in the life of his superior that caused him to think that this God that my commander is worshipping has brought to him a peace, a kindness, a gentleness, yet not weakness? That I don't see in other commanders and other centurions? Perhaps that soldier, that devout soldier wanted to know the God that his commander worshipped. You see how that works? You see how that witness works? So Cornelius doesn't sin just any soldier. He sins a devout soldier, one who understands what's taking place because he also worships this living God. So he sins two of his household servants and he sins this devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. Cornelius didn't have to do a lot himself except what he needed to do himself. He had people who continually did things for him and served him that was the life of a Roman centurion. He wasn't spoiled, he was privileged because of the authority that he carried. Cornelius, we see here in verse 7 that he humbly received his orders from the angel and after the angel had departed Cornelius called in two of his household servants in the devout soldier. In other words, he hand picked three people who would carry out this unusual mission. Cornelius exercises his authority to accomplish the will of God. And this shows us that Cornelius is also an obedient man. He's a man of authority but he's an obedient man, verse 8. So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Japa. Did Cornelius have to explain all these things to his servants? He didn't have to but he did, which also tells us something about this man and his character. He didn't just bark orders to his servants and his soldier, though he could have done that, and maybe many other centurions would have done that. It isn't just any other centurion. Cornelius took the time to explain all these things to them and then he sent them on their mission. Cornelius sent his servants to Japa armed with the necessary information for them to carry out the mission that had been entrusted to them. Cornelius obeyed the command of the angel, which was God's command to send men to Japa to bring Peter there to speak to Cornelius and to his household. All the while Cornelius is being instructed, Peter knows nothing about what's happening, what's taking place, yet God had been and was preparing Peter to receive the party of men that were coming to fetch him and take him back or take him up to Caesarea to the house of Cornelius. In other words, God was getting ready to take two very different, yet very ordinary men to do something very extraordinary. Well, what kind of person is the kind of person that God will use in such cases? Well, God will use a prepared man. God is preparing you right now. The preparation of Peter and Cornelius had been taking place unknown to each of them, just as God is preparing you in ways you do not know for things you cannot imagine. Things not yet revealed. God uses certain men. God always has a certain man to carry out the job. God never chooses just any man or any woman. He always has a certain man or a certain woman for the task to be carried out, even if it is just faithfully carrying out the trash. You know, carrying out the trash matters. We don't think it matters because we don't live in a country where the trash isn't carried out. But if you have ever been to a country where they don't have trash pick up, you realize why carrying out the trash matters. I mean, if you remember just the little bit of hardship we had a few years ago when they couldn't pick up the trash because everything was frozen, and all the dumpsters were piled up and there was trash everywhere. We'll live like that for a while and you realize even carrying out the trash matters. What certain things has God entrusted to you to carry out. As that certain person he's chosen for the task at hand, no matter what it might be, great or small. God uses devout men, men who are devoted to Christ into his church as they... as those two things cannot be separated, Christ in his church cannot be separated. They are one as the head is one with the body to love Christ must be to love his church. You cannot love Christ and not love his church. It's impossible. You deceive yourself if you believe that is actually possible. To love Christ is to love his church, to love his bride, to love his body that God has gracefully made you a part of. God uses a praying man. We're all to be people of prayer, not in a legalistic way, but in an absolutely devoted, faithful and obedient way. Prayer is a privilege that God gives us and allowing us to come before his throne of grace to bring our petitions with thanksgiving, abounding in our hearts, or at least that's the way it's supposed to work. Pray with a thankful heart, practice possessing a thankful heart. Let your requests be made known to God with thanksgiving. Prayer is not to be haphazard, though in any moment you can haphazardly pray. But prayer is not to be haphazard. It is to be purposeful, where to raise our petitions with purpose knowing they are powerful. God uses a man who fears him, a man who fears God just like Cornelius. We should seek God, pleading that he returned to his church to his people, the fear of the Lord. There is a chronic lack of the fear of the Lord in our land today and in his church today. God uses for his purpose all sorts of men, but his wisdom, his knowledge, and his understanding are reserved for those who fear his name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. God can use mightily a man who fears his name. God uses a faithful man. Faithfulness does not make excuses. Faithfulness does not find all the reasons why you cannot do something. Faithfulness does what God has made known needs to be done. Faithfulness is not complicated, though it is not always easy. Faithfulness is simply faithfulness in his people, and is greatly honored by a faithful God. God uses faithful men. Man of authority. We have been given authority in the name of Jesus. There is no greater authority. In under authority or often more apt to exercise well, the authority entrusted to them. This was exemplified by another Centurion in Matthew 8.9 when this Centurion says to Jesus, don't bother Jesus. Just say the word, for I also am a man under authority having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, go, and he goes, and to another come, and he comes. And to my servant do this, and he does it. Cornelius understood authority, but did not abuse his authority. Just as Jesus never abused his authority. And Jesus never sought to grab power. Instead, he humbled himself. And as a result of his complete obedience and complete humility, his name was exalted above every other name in heaven and on earth. And therefore his is the name above every other name. And you and I have been given that name, sent forth with that name, with the authority of that exalted name above all names. You are a man. You are a woman. You are a child with authority in the name of Jesus. God uses obedient men, a Samuel said to Saul, to King Saul, to obey is better than sacrifice. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. May we be a people prepared and ready for every task, for every day that we live, that God has ordained for us. Our obedience is in large part a measure of our devotion to God, our faith in God, and our fear of the Lord. It is our obedience or our disobedience that reveals where we truly are in our relationship with God. Faith works. Faith works. Faith without works is dead. We can say it like this, faith without obedience is dead. It's not real faith. Obedience and faith must go hand in hand. God blesses and uses obedience in the lives of his people. It was God's grace that prepared Cornelius to hear the gospel, just as it was God's grace that prepared Peter to deliver it. And it is God's grace that has been and is preparing you. It is preparing you now for all that God has ordained for your life. Some of those things may be monumental for you, relatively speaking. Monumental things happen to us. It doesn't necessarily mean they're known, they're famous, but they're monumental for us. Mostly it is the daily mundane things of life that God uses and prepares us for. The reason being it is in the ordinary and the typical things we do each day in our less than exciting routines of life. That the greatest differences are made. It's not the big things that make the greatest difference. It's the little things that make the greatest difference. It is daily life that molds and shapes us most firmly and lastingly. Before birth we are daily being shaped, from before our birth we are daily being shaped, in unknown and unseen ways until the accumulation of all those mundane workings culminate in those moments or events that we do notice, that we do note. That do become monuments of our life. Those are the exception, they're not the rule. God is continuously working in the midst of all that is mundane, all that we might be tempted to call ordinary or even boring. The reality is there is nothing boring about life. It is often our perspective, not our life that needs to change to see his glory. It is God's grace that chooses us, prepares us, and makes it possible for us to be a chosen vessel for his glory. But God does not work apart from our own obedience and yes our own disobedience. Some of our greatest lessons in life are learned through our disobedience. And yes, that is the grace of God. Our willingness, our devotion, our work that we perform is all part of God's grace in our life. God's grace was working in both Cornelius and Peter, yet each had a very different path to that moment when they met. Just like we all have very different paths from one another. Yet God is working something sovereign through all of us and all of our different paths and it all culminates in his glory, in his plan, in his purpose, that has brought all of us in our variety and diversity and different paths together in the world. In this room, even this morning, it is amazing. God changed the heart of that Gentile centurion to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, instead of the pantheon of God's ancestors worshiped. That change was brought about by God's grace, period, nothing else brought about except the grace of God. Yet, yet Cornelius had to choose who he would worship. He had to actually pray and seek the face of the true and living God. He had to learn and practice his devotion to God. The grace of God does not relieve us of our responsibility. On the contrary, grace empowers us to do the things we learn, the things we effortlessly make, part of our daily routines, as well as the things that may take more or great or at least greater effort to become part of our daily routines. If you go to the gym, you know that's true. If you don't go to the gym, you know that's true. God's grace required that Peter do something completely foreign to him outside of his comfort zone to change his perspective on what and who is now to be called clean or unclean. Those very ordinary and typical things of life ultimately define us more than the extraordinary things. We may remember those extraordinary moments and events, and they may even change us. But it is the sum total of all the ordinary things, all the mundane things of daily life that ultimately mold us and shape us. Therefore, it benefits us greatly when we pay attention to those things that are so easily ignored, that we do with such effortlessness, that we don't even think about it. Yet every time we do it without thinking that is being further ingrained into who we are, God is working now. God is working powerfully in the mundane things. He's always working. He's never not working. God is working now. And may we pay attention to His work. May we pay attention to the things we're tempted to not pay attention to. May we think about the things that we do effortlessly. May we think about how those things are molding and shaping us. How God might be using those. Or how God might use something better, different if we would only pay attention. And if we will not grow weary while doing good, Cornelius didn't grow weary. He continued to pray. He continued to give arms. He continued His life of devotion, of faithful devotion. And because He did not grow weary in doing good, God moved. He reaped from His faithfulness. He reaped from His devotion. May we pay attention to work together for His glory. May we not grow weary in well doing for in due season. We will reap if we do not faint. And the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Here's your charge, church. When we think about the story that we're looking at here in Acts chapter 10, the story of Peter and Cornelius. And you realize that Peter and Cornelius were two very different men from two very different backgrounds, from two very different nations. And they each represented a people that had legitimate hatred for one another. And there was in large part throughout Israel at this time, generalizations of hating a people because they are simply that people. Not being able to see an individual but only seeing a people or a people group that was hated, that was rejected, that was troublesome. In other words, those stereotypical views and perspectives became the things that defined people, individuals. Many people would have looked at Cornelius and automatically defined him one way because he was a Roman centurion. Others would have looked at Peter and illiterate fishermen and they would have defined him one way because he was a Jew, a fisherman. Never allow yourself to think or to believe about yourself based on what others think about you. Never allow yourself to think or to believe that God is not working, not preparing you, not changing you into who and what he has ordained you to be, what he has ordained for you and for his divine plan and purpose. And all those around you, don't judge your life or your worth according to the world's standards and measures of success. By his grace he has made you a child of God, you are chosen by him, you are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, he has chosen you and worked by his grace to make you and your life proclaim his praise. He called you who once was darkness, out of darkness and into his marvelous light and now you are light in the Lord. Therefore Christian walk as children of light. Life does not always go as we foresee. Today marks the two year anniversary of my wife's death and the death of my children's mother. But this is the day the Lord has made. Two years ago this very day once the day the Lord has made. And I will rejoice and be glad in it. And you will, I pray, rejoice and be glad in it. Because I know my wife is rejoicing. I know all those who have gone before us are rejoicing. The Bible commands us, rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice. That's not, that's just not words filling a page because Paul had to get so many words in his letter to the church at Philpah. Paul pin those words because he believed them because he had experienced his own loss, his own reason to not rejoice yet he chose to rejoice. God tells us rejoice. So rejoice. Don't let the world define you. Let God define you. Let Christ define you. And be a witness so that others will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. And perhaps by God's grace they too will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and escape an eternity of separation and hell. Amen. A sing our thanks. Praise God. Praise Him, our love, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. The Lord be with you.