Uh, man, I'm so glad that you're here today. I'm glad I get to be a part of, of this day with you. It is a little bit of a, a unique day, uh, in the, in the life of our church. If you don't know, uh, man, lemme just give a quick shout out to our church online family. So glad that you're here and that you're with us today.

Um, across all of our campuses, we kind of pull back, we do this about 6, 8, 10 times a year, where normally we would kind of broadcast our message from this campus, from Lincoln Road to all of our campuses across South Mississippi, but a few times throughout the year. And today's one of those times, we, um, all of our campus pastors come together and we do some planning together around the word and what God has for us and, and for our campuses. And then our campus pastors get to preach, um, to their campus specifically. And so today's one of those days. Um, but if you got to see the baptism just now, Craig is man, just, he's giddy is what?

There, there was a moment where like, I kind of wish Craig was an emotional guy, you know, like I just, I kind of wanted to see him cry there. Um, but just he's, he's giddy, right? I mean, just giddy that he gets to celebrate with Rosie and with his family. Um, and so I get the privilege to kind of step in and hang out with, with our Lincoln Road and our church online family today. So men, I'm excited, excited about the word and what God has for us today.

We have been, lemme just kind of catch you up real quick, okay? We've been in a series for several weeks now, walking through the book of Acts together. And if you're unfamiliar with the book of Acts in the New Testament, it really is kind of like our origin story. Like, like this thing the church. It's, it's how this thing began centuries ago, thousands of years ago, people gathered together for the purpose of pursuing God together and across centuries, across nations, across languages, throughout governments, persecution and, and pandemic and war, all of that.

The, the church has persisted. I mean, when you really look back over the course of history and all that, that this thing has walked through and has experienced, it doesn't make any sense that, that, that we're still here today, that the church still exists, and yet we are, because the promise of God's word is that not even the gates of hell will stand against the church. And we've seen that all throughout history. And we, we see the beginning of that in the Book of Acts, how, how this thing begins, and really the, the power that that keeps this thing going throughout all of history and will throughout all of history. So we, we've walked through this story for the past several weeks, and if you remember, we began in, uh, acts chapter one, eight.

Jesus gives us, uh, the promise of his spirit. He says that, that the spirit, his spirit, the spirit of God is gonna fall, is gonna be present with, with the people of God, that we will, as his followers, have, have access to the power and the presence of God himself through his spirit, in and through our lives. And Jesus says through that power, through the power of the spirit, that, that his people that you and us as followers says, will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. It's Acts one, eight, you. Now, if you're, you have a church background, and then maybe that language sounds pretty familiar to you, probably sounds pretty familiar to, it's a very common verse that will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Now, if you don't have a church background, then, then that language probably isn't resonating with you all that much, right? Because like where in the world is Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem's really just, I mean, it's, they're, they're always in war, right? What does that have to do with me? Well, here's what Jesus is saying in that, okay? And this is why this is important to us.

From the very beginning of this thing, from the very beginning of, of the church and the people of God gathered together to pursue the presence of God together, he has always said that the, that the purpose of this thing is that his message, his Gospel, a message of hope and love and rescue, that his message through you and I will cross every cultural barrier imaginable. That it'll break down every barrier and it'll cross every line that culture says we can't cross. His Gospel will go forth. It's always been the promise, and it's always been the plan. And you and I, like, we, we, we live in a cultural moment that just quite honestly is not all that different from the beginning of acts and where this story begins, right?

Because for the people in acts that that first hear that promise from Jesus, that you're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judaism, Mary, to the ends of the earth like they were living in a moment where, where like this, this Jesus thing and this church thing, and the message of Jesus like that was okay over here, right? Like it belonged to this, this honestly kind of small sect within Judaism. And it was cool if it was there, but don't bring it over here. You tracking with me on that? Like, like, that's fine.

If you wanna worship this Jesus guy, that's fine. If you wanna talk about him and his message and, and what he taught over there, but don't bring him into my space and don't bring him into to government and don't bring them into this conversation. And you and I like, we're, we're in a moment. That's, that's really not all that different in that lines are being drawn, right? And barriers are, are being built.

They say, Hey, look, keep your Jesus there just not over here. You wanna, you wanna pray? Hey, that's fine. Then look, you and your people, you go pray. Just don't pray with my people, right?

Like you, you wanna talk about living with love and joy and peace and be like, that's great. Do all that, but don't tell me how I should live. And, and, and we create these, our culture has created these lines and created these barriers that says, Hey, look, Jesus is fine there, but don't bring 'em over here. And just, quite honestly, I think we do the same a lot in our lives individually, don't we? W where we look at our life and, and maybe we won't say it quite this way, but, but there's always places.

I think for most of us, there's always those places in our lives where like, Jesus is fine here. Like he, he can teach me this, he can show me this, he can, man, bless me this way, right? But, but I don't know. Hey, don't touch this over here, right? Like you say, man, I, I'm, I'm for your blessing.

I'm for your love and your joy and your hope. Like I need all of that. And yeah, man, come in and teach me how to live that way and do that thing, but don't tell me who I can have sex with. Don't we? Barriers and lines that say it's fine here, but I don't know about there.

And here's what I want you to see, okay? This is kind of the big idea. I'm gonna say this in a lot. I'm gonna say this in a couple of different ways, but I'm gonna say it a lot today. Okay?

Here's kind of the big idea so that you kind of know where we're going. The Gospel, the message of God, the word of God, his story of hope and rescue. And the Gospel breaks down barriers. And my hope and my prayer today isn't, isn't so much like convince you of that, but rather man, my hope and my prayer is that God will, will reveal to all of us where those barriers exist in our story. And maybe even through our story, like those places where we've looked at God and said, God, you can't, God, you can't touch this place.

God, you can't touch, you can't have this habit. You can have that thing, but you can't have this relationship or those places where we've said, God, I I don't think I can. God, I can't, I can't step into that conversation. I can't, I can't go there. I can't give up this thing.

Those places where we've, we've drawn those lines and we've created those barriers where we say, God, you, you belong here, but let me have this over here. But the Gospel breaks those barriers. So Acts chapter 10 is where we're gonna hang out, okay? Acts chapter 10, we've been walking through, uh, this story together. Acts chapter 10, starting in verse one.

We're gonna read a little bit, okay? And then we'll, we'll kind of pause and we'll pick a little bit back up. It says this, at Cesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort. He was a devout man who feared God with all his household, who gave arms generously to the poor. And he prayed continually to God about the ninth hour.

That's about three o'clock, about the ninth hour of the day. He saw clearly a vision, an angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius. And he stared at him in terror and said, what is it, Lord? And he said to him, your prayers and your arms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon, who's called Peter.

I'll pause right there. Luke, as he writes the book of Acts, he kind of tells the history of the church and this movement and this gathering. Luke introduces us to this man named Cornelius. And Cornelius. What we, what we see here is that he is an Italian military leader stationed in Rome.

Okay? He's Italian military leader who's stationed in Rome. And now Cornelius is what Scripture, what the good Jews as Peter is, is Jesus was in, in this story that Cornelius is, is what Scripture would call a Gentile. Okay? You've heard that word?

Maybe not. I don't know. A gentile is me. It's probably you, likely you a gentile. Is, is anyone born outside of Judaism?

Okay, a a gentile is any non-Jew. A gentile is any person in Scripture when you see that word. Gentile is any person that does not have claim to a Jewish bloodline. That's Cornelius. He's an Italian military leader in Rome.

He's not a Jew. He does not have a background in Judaism. He is a Gentile. And I'll tell you why that's important in just a minute, okay? But what we see about Cornelius in this is that man, he's a good man.

He's a good guy. Somewhere along the way, even though he, he does not have a history in Judaism, that's not his life, that's not his bloodline. Somewhere along the way he's been introduced to the Jewish God, to God, to, to Yahweh. And he fears him. He, he worships God.

And because he worships God, it says that he, he gives generously, he's a generous man. He helps others, he gives to the poor. He fights for social justice. Like he is a good dude. But he doesn't know Jesus.

Years ago, probably should have a asked Brooke how long ago this was. 'Cause she remembers, and I don't, um, probably about, I dunno, 10 years ago or so, uh, Brooke and I, my wife Brooke and I, we, um, we spent some time in South Africa. We, we were connected with some people. We, we went to South Africa and kind of served along, uh, side a missionary that was on the ground there. And I don't know if you know much about that area, that region, um, but it's incredibly diverse place, incredibly diverse place in the world.

I'm not talking race economics, like all of it. It's also incredibly segmented. There's a lot of lines drawn that say, Hey, you belong there, but you don't belong over here. Right? Diverse but segmented man.

And, and so I, I can remember one day while we were over there, the missionary we were working with, he kind of took us into this one part of town. And, and, and he told me like, Hey, listen, these are gonna be some of the most difficult conversations you have the whole time. You hear all the people you talk to, this area, this place, it's gonna be some of the most difficult conversations you can have. And when we walked into this part of town, man, it just like was, it was dark, like oppressive, like just, just heavy. There, there were, there were witch doctors on, on, on nearly every corner.

I mean, just, just all sorts of, of sacrifice going on. Like it was a, a dark heavy, it was an evil place, is what it was. It was an evil place. And he said, these are gonna be some of the most difficult conversations you have. Not because this place is evil, not because of the presence of the witch doctors.

They were actually some pretty interesting people. But because these people, they've actually heard of Jesus before. They know the name of Jesus, people who have been here, and they've, they've told them about Jesus. They, they know the name. They, they, they know the story.

They know how to answer your questions. But the problem is they've taken Jesus and they've mixed them in with all the other stuff that they worship. And I thought, man, the irony, and I'm all the way over here in South Africa having this conversation when I don't have to leave South Mississippi to find that and listen, like we may not name our gods in the same way, right? We, we may not have witch doctors and we might not be sacrificing in the same way these other gods, but, but we worship affluence and pride and passion and influence, and we take the Gospel and we take the message of Jesus and we take the story of Jesus and we mix him in with all this other stuff that we're worshiping and we're pursuing. Can I tell you one of the, one of the scariest truths for a South Mississippian?

I grew up here, right? One of the scariest truths, truths for a South Mississippian is that, that being good isn't good enough. When's the last time you described somebody as good people? Last week, I said at least once a week. Oh yeah, man, you, you know old Justin, they were at church last week.

Yeah, man, they, they, they good people. Oh yeah, Sarah, man, whew. Rough. But man, her family, like she comes from good people, right? And like that, that's a measure of success, isn't it?

Oh yeah, they're good people. Yeah. They're, they're, they're fun to be around. You'd like being around them. Yeah, that'd help you.

Your truck's in the ditch. Don't worry. They got you. They're good people. But being good isn't isn't good enough.

It is a terrifying, honest, it is a terrifying reality to me that, that we can be so close to the things of God. And yet so far from the heart of God, like Jesus tells us that there are gonna be many people who step into eternity with a list of good things. It says, look, look at all the things that I did. I gave, I went to church, I prayed, like, look at these things I did. Look at the things that I, I didn't do and still hear that line depart from me.

I never knew you being good simply isn't. It's not good enough. Cornelius was a good man, but he didn't know Jesus. He, he was missing Jesus. Jesus.

And now what, what he did have going for, like what made a difference in Cornelius's life is that he, he positioned his life to hear from God. It said that he, he prayed continually this little, uh, detail that about the ninth hour, about 3:00 PM He, he was praying, right? That that's kind of clueing us into the, the fact that Cornelius likely took, took part in the, the, the like Jewish custom of praying three times a day where they would set aside three hours and say, Hey, look, all work, all conversation. Everything's stopping 'cause we're gonna pray. He did that.

He prayed continually. He prayed regularly. And because of his prayers and because of his persistence and prayers, God gives him a vision. He says, there's this man in this other town you've never been to. As a matter of fact, you probably shouldn't go there because you're a military leader and things are gonna get sideways if you go over there.

But there's this man over there named Peter. Go get him. He's got what you're missing. Cornelius had no idea who this guy named Peter was. He had never been to Japa.

He didn't know what was going on, but God gave him a vision and he obeyed. And so, look, here's what I want you to see in this, okay? This, I'm, I'm gonna tell you this many times today, okay? The Gospel breaks down barriers when the people of God are positioned to hear And they're prepared to obey The Gospel breaks down barriers in our story, right? Because we have those barriers, we have those lines.

It breaks down barriers through our story, through the, in the, in the culture and the world around us. When we are positioned to hear from him and We are prepared to obey him. He had no idea who this guy named Peter was. He had no idea what was going on in Joppa, but God was doing something unbeknownst saying God was doing something not only in his story, but in this guy named Peter and his story as well. So look at this.

Let's jump down to, to verse nine. Lemme show you this is, this is what God is doing in, in Peter's story, the same time he's, he's speaking to Cornelius says the next day as they, uh, as they were on their journey. So what happens is Cornelia sends some of his dudes to go get Peter. So as they're on their journey the next day approaching the city, Peter went up on the house, stop about the sixth hours, about noon to pray, and he became hungry and he wanted something to eat. But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance.

Don't oversize that too much. He zoned out. He was hungry and he zoned out verse 11. And he saw, and Peter saw the heavens opened up in something like a great sheet, descending being let down by its four corners upon the earth in it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat.

But Peter said, by no means the Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is common or unclean or impure. And the voice came again a second time. What God has made clean do not call common. This happened three times and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. Now, Cornelius was a good man who was missing Jesus, right?

Peter is a religious man. Peter is an apostle man. He has followed Jesus throughout his entire earthly ministry. He was kind of like the leader of the apostles. He is.

Peter is like the, the leader of this startup church. Like, like dude gets Jesus, right? He knows the teaching of Jesus. He has walked with him faithfully. He is a, a religious man.

He is a faithful man. And yet in this moment, he's missing something that God is doing, both Cornelius and Peter, that they're missing something. Both of them have positioned their lives to hear from God and they, they receive a vision from God and both of them having no idea what's going on in the other person's story, they obey And barriers come down. Lemme say it again. The Gospel breaks down barriers when the people of God are positioned to hear And they're prepared to obey.

Now, Peter's vision is obviously a lot more entailed. There's, it's a lot more nuance than Cornelius is like Cornelius had it simple like, go get Peter, go get him. Peter's a whole different story. He zones out this, uh, he sees this sheet that that comes down and on us, all these different kinds of animals, some clean, some unclean. Now, if you don't have a, a background in, in, in Judaism or the Old Testament, it's okay.

Most of us do not. Um, so you, maybe you don't get this. Here's what's going on in the Old Testament, the Jewish people had certain dietary restrictions. God simply said this, you can eat this, you cannot. And it was kind of that straightforward and, and some of that, some of those restrictions were for health reasons.

Like you can, you can kind of make that argument that it was because of, of how some of the food was prepared in that time. Most of those laws and most of those restrictions were for the purpose of separation. So that the people of God kind of stood out so that they were unique so that they were different from the other nations and the other people around them. It's kind of like a vegetarian in South Mississippi. You stand out like I'm sure you do that for a good reason.

I I'm go ahead and tell you, the rest of us talk about you. You stand out. And for the people of God in the old, like there were these, God said, Hey, don't, don't eat this. You can eat that, but don't eat this. And part of that was for, for a separation.

Part of that was so that they stood out so that they were, they were different. But here in this moment, God is doing something different. God is doing something new in the covenant and the new covenant that that was signed by Jesus and his death and his burial and his resurrection. There's no longer a separation. There's a coming together.

The veil has been torn in two. And what has separated some from the presence and the power of God, God has welcomed all in o one pastor said it this way, that, that in this moment, God is reminding God's telling Peter that he's less interested in what is on the table. And he's far more interested in who is at the table. There's no longer a separation, but there's a a coming together. Barriers are being broken down, lines are being erased where the Gospel did not or could not go before.

Now the Gospel is breaking down those barriers. It is conquering new territory. And here's a fun part of the story of Acts. God's inviting Peter to be a part of it. And God's inviting us to be a part of that with the Gospel.

And the hope of God is conquering new territory. God is inviting us to be a part of that story. But first, there are some assumptions. And quite honestly, there are some prejudices that, that have to be broken down in Peter's life. And, and probably even in our life and our story, so that we can join into to, to what God is doing.

Gray, our campus pastor at the Hunt Club Gray said it this way, man, this line has just been stuck in my head. I can't get past it. Grace said, what God is doing in you isn't just for you. I love that what God is doing in you isn't just for you. Because sometimes what God is doing in you is he's blessing you, right?

Success and joy and, and finances like, like God is blessing you in incredible way. And, and one of the things we've said before is that, that when man, when God is blessing us, we're not meant to be buckets, we're meant to be funnels, right? That doesn't just hold all the blessings in, but but funnels it to the world and the people around us. Sometimes what God is doing in us is blessing us. And sometimes what God is doing in us is convicting us, is challenging us, is changing us, is breaking down barriers and assumptions and prejudices in our own stories because he's inviting us into something new.

'Cause he's inviting us into the new work. Last week we talked about if you were here, we talked about Philip taking the Gospel to Samaria. I don't know if you remember that or not. Hopefully it was just a week ago. Um, we talked about Philip taking the Gospel and the word of God into Samaria, to the Samaritan people.

And and if you remember like the Samaritans, like they, they were outcast. They were always outsiders. They were always on the, the fringes of society they were talked about. But even though that was a difficult task, because I mean, these were people that again, we, we all kinda whispered about. These people were at least half Jews without getting into much of a history lesson for you.

Okay? They, they were, they were kinda like half Jews. They were muggles, right? But, but they, but it kind of counted. It was okay, but the Gentiles Cornelius man, that was unthinkable.

No way. It's like you're going on a date with somebody that doesn't like Taylor Swift. Like no way. That's unthinkable. This, the, the presence of the Gentiles is like, like it was, it was, it was honestly like defiling to to a good Jew like Peter.

I mean like, it just, just being in their presence, just being in my presence would would've made him unclean. It would've defiled him. Later on in this chapter, he's even gonna say to, he goes to the house of Cornelius and he, he sees Cornelius in his family and his friends and even tells him in that moment, like, dude's bold, Peter's bold. He says, you know, it's unlawful for me to be here. Like I shouldn't even be here with you.

But look at, look at this language in verse 15. I think it's so important. Here's what God says to Peter in the middle of this vision. He says, what God has made clean or what God has made pure do not call common. Do not call unclean or, or impure.

'Cause I made it clean. Here's what I love about that. Okay? God doesn't tell Peter, Hey, you're thinking too highly of yourself. You need to get down on their level.

Somebody says he, he doesn't say, Hey, look, I know those are peasants beneath you, but I I'm doing a work among the peasants, so get down there with them. That's not what he says. He says, no, you don't understand. I've raised them up. You considered them unclean.

You considered them impure. But I've made them clean. I've, I've brought them up. It's not that, it's not that you're thinking too high of yourself, it's that you're think you're thinking too low of them. I mean, let's be honest, how many times have we approached the work of God with a very similar thought process?

Well, we're gonna go to the poor neighborhood and we're gonna do a mission project. The people are not projects. Listen, I'm, I'm not trying to get hung up on seman, on semantics. I promise I'm not. However words, words do matter.

Um, 'cause words create worlds. But my my point is the, the heart of that, right? Like how many times has God invited us into a work that he is doing, invited us to step into somebody's story? And we either did not do so or we did so reluctantly because we felt like we had to humble ourselves down to their level. That's not what God says.

He says, no, you don't understand. I've made 'em clean. I've brought them up. God always gives value, whether we're talking about race or, or gender or socioeconomic status, God always gives value. And what he's telling Peter, what he's telling us in this moment is, you're missing the value I've given them and I'm doing a work in their story and I'm inviting you to be a part of it.

And here's what, look, here's how Peter kind of sums up this moment. Verse, um, 34. So Peter goes to the house of Cornelius. He tells these dudes, Hey, look, you know, I'm not even supposed to to be in here with you. It is defiling.

But then verse 34, he says, so Peter opened his mouth and he said, truly, I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. And it's this thought process. God shows no partiality. God shows no favoritism, but across every nation there are the people of God across every race, color, creed, there are the people of God. It's, it's this thought process that's gonna lead to this kind of like big crescendo moment.

It's Acts 1519 where the church puts the, the stake in the ground and says, you know what? We are not going to make it difficult. We're not gonna trouble those who are turning to God. 'Cause God has opened the door for all. Lemme say it this way.

God has made room at the table for me and for them, like, I wonder who, who's your them? God's made room at the table for me and for them. Who? Who's your them? Oh, pastor, I don't see difference.

Uhuh just stop. Because like, I don't know if I can say that, but like in love, just, just stop. Because it's not about not seeing difference. Because like, one of the things that makes the church the bride beautiful is the fact that God brings different together. So it's not about not seeing difference, it's about seeing difference, acknowledging difference, and also seeing the shared value that God has called all people valuable in his presence.

Like, let's just be honest. All of us, all of us, like we're in broke. We're, we're broken, we're imperfect people. We have those thems and I'm, we we're also somebody's them, right? I got tattoos.

I come from a, I can't tell you where my tattoos are at, I'm just kidding. They're on my arms. They're all Bible stuff. It's all fine. It's all good.

Like man, I, I come from a broken home. I got tattoos. My, my truck's 15 years old. I bought this shirt at Sam's Club and, and like, just honestly, like some of that makes makes me somebody's them, Doesn't it? And man, at the same time, like, let me acknowledge, I'm, I'm a middle aged, middle class white male in America.

You don't think the enemy can get in my head with some me versus them kind of stuff? Yeah, because We're broken, imperfect people. But God said, no, no, no. Like I've made room at the table. There's room.

And so, so as a church, like we wanna be people that, like we wanna be a church that, that, that makes room at the table, not, not barriers that separate us. 'Cause there is no separation. There are no lines. Now we, there's room at the table. Like we say it, our vision as a church is to be a church for the unchurch, right?

Like, we don't wanna be a people that, that creates barriers or draws lines where people can't find God. Like you don't have to, you don't have to speak a certain lingo. You don't have to dress a certain way. You don't have to be from a certain part of town. No.

God has made room at the table and God has called all of us to sit and be present. Can I just tell you like one of the easiest ways to do that is to actually invite someone to sit at the table with you. Like just really practically, when when's the last time you shared a meal with somebody different than you? When's the last time you shared a meal with somebody that looked different or thought different than you? Barriers are broken in the presence of the Gospel when the people of God are positioned to hear and they're prepared to obey barriers, bro.

And so here's what we gotta confront, and then we're gonna, we're gonna move into a time of response. Are there barriers in your life, better way to say it, what barriers are in your life? What lines have you drawn? What barriers have you built in your story where you say, God, I don't know if you can cross this line. God, I don't know if I'm ready to give this up.

God's inviting you into a story. God's inviting you into a work and those walls are coming down. Who is God inviting you to step into? Whose story is God inviting you to step into? That may be some of those assumptions and some of those prejudices and some of those biases have to, to come down.

God is breaking down barriers. So maybe in this moment, right, I'm, I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna step into a time of response. And, and maybe what you need to do is go ahead and acknowledge that you can write it. You can leave it at the cross. Name it, name it, write it down and leave it there because he died to break down those walls.

Maybe you need to come grab communion so you can thank God in remembrance that because he died on the cross. We are one. And together by people ready to pray for you. Let me pray and then I'm gonna invite you to stand. We're gonna worship, we're gonna respond.

We're gonna move to where God is leading. Let's pray. Lord, we come before you. God, thank you God, we thank you that you've made room at the table for all of us. 'Cause God, if you didn't make room, none of us could be here.

None of us deserve to sit in your presence. God, you sent your son to die on the cross so that we could have hope, so that we can know the presence of your spirit, the power of your spirit. God, we pray in this moment that walls will come down, that that barriers will be broken, that lines will be erased in our story through our story. And God, through it all, you'll be glorified and you'll be honored. All things we ask in your name.

Amen.