Are You Surprised?!

0:01 Nu, I thank you for my friend and my brother, rabbi Ari. Would I thank you that his walk is in step with you, and he searches your face and he searches his heart to see where you are, what you're working on, just as he searches your word to see where you are and what you're speaking about. We thank you for the leadership that you have in him here at BHS, the leadership of his home, or for his friendship and his fey to your name and all things. We bless him, and we, we ready our hearts to hear your word be. Amen. I mean, thank you, Casey,

0:49 As I've been doing for 420 days or something in that, like I'll give just a few moments on what's going on in, in Israel and the Middle East. And if you haven't been paying attention, what started on October 7th as a, um, it really is an invasion. A a ground air and water invasion of Israel, uh, has now spread to a multi-front war, uh, reaching really beyond Gaza. And if, if, well, if we really open our eyes,

1:38 it actually encompasses really most of the world in, in terms of who's involved and maybe not in, maybe not to the level that we were with World War I and World War ii, but, um, certainly the world is involved and in fact, the world is now making judgements, uh, as can be seen through the un resolutions and, and votes. What I will say, I I I, I read yesterday, Israel and Egypt have been working behind the scenes and have now proposed a new ceasefire deal, uh, to Hamas

2:24 who has yet to respond. I don't know if that's a surprise to any of you. Certainly is not. To me, there's no response. And when there is, I suspect the response will be no. Why? Because their charter calls for the destruction of the state of Israel and the annihilation of every Jew from the river to the sea. And it's not just there. The practical application of that statement is the removal of the Jewish people from the world. That's really the end game. In addition to the proposed ceasefire,

3:12 there is now another, uh, government nation state government that is in the midst of collapse. The Syrian government is on the verge of collapse. If you haven't really been paying attention, this started over a decade ago. Uh, in fact, I think it was 13 years ago, maybe my, my count might be off just a little bit, but perhaps you remember the Arab Spring when, when there was a rebellion among the populace in the Arab countries, and they overthrew their dictatorship governments, uh, all except for one, which America continued to back at the time, which was the government of Syria

4:01 to prevent the overthrow of the Syrian government. Well, Assad is on the verge of collapse. The, it, it, it's actually quite astounding when you look at what they have Assad's government in, in alliance with Russia, the weapons, the military assets that they have, and the rebels are just sweeping through these cities, and it, it's kind of like a vice grip. They're coming from the north and they're coming from the south, and their goal is to meet in Damascus and overthrow the government. And, uh, they have, uh, overtaken the cities of hamma and hams as they're going, uh, southward, they took over

4:50 Aleppo last week, which is in the far north. You may be cheering for the rebels. That's fine. You can cheer for them because Assad is, well, the the nicest way I can ever say anything about Assad is he's a piece of work. Um, he has butchered tons of people. The problem with the rebels is they are, um, uh, allied with or in cahoots with, uh, perhaps someone you may recognize, which is Al-Qaeda. You look at the, you look at the, the players that are,

5:36 they're involved in Syria, and really it's hard to know who to root for to be like, I, I I I think you're a great person. You are a hundred percent my guy. The collapse of Syria or the, the near the, the, uh, what seems to be the oncoming collapse of the Syrian government, uh, is actually a threat to Iran because Iran also backs, uh, president, president, I think he's a president dictator Assad. Um, Iran also supports them.

6:23 And if, or when Syria collapses, I don't know, you may, you may remember this, the, it's actually everything that's happening in Syria and has been there for 13 years-ish is what, um, in part propelled, uh, I don't know if we want to, I don't know what it's called, but the migration of refugees into Europe and into America, even from Syria. There were millions. I i, if my memory says there were 4 million, uh, immediately, and then maybe, uh, millions that continued onward. I can't remember exactly, but I do, I I I give you these things not to frighten you, not to, um,

7:08 not just to inform you, but also to make you aware of how to pray, because prayer is perhaps one of the most effective things that we can do. Excuse me if I cough a little bit. Prayer is important. I have a friend who, uh, was deployed into Gaza this week. Um, like me. He's about my age, rotund in the middle, you know, a fit soldier, um, with young children. And the night before he was being deployed, one of his kids,

7:58 as they were going through their bedtime routine, one of his kids said to him, dad, can we pray for the children in Gaza? There are no winners in this, but you can continue to pray for the wisdom and the will of the Lord to be done. That the evil that's rooted in Gaza and elsewhere, that's not just Gaza by the way, that the evil that's rooted in finds his expression in Hamas, that the Lord is able to uproot it and remove it not just for the benefit of Israel.

8:48 It's for the benefit of the people who live there because they have been oppressed. They have been murdered, not as the world would have you believe by Israel, but by their own leaders. Now for 17 years, Hamas is, was since Hamas was voted democratically, if you wanna call it that, into leadership, and then said, no more voting because we're in charge. So we can pray for Israel's leaders to make wise decisions during this time, because the decision making going on right now is extremely difficult.

9:35 We can pray for the emotional and physical health of the families, of the soldiers who are going into battle. And the soldiers, you know, the soldiers get deployed. Some of them, I, I, I know that, I think he's the commander of, of, of the, of everything that's going on for the IDF and Gaza. He's been there since October 8th. He has a family, but he's never left because he is of the conviction that as long as his soldiers are there, as will not go home, I can only imagine what it is for his kids and for his wife. I don't know. Some of us in this room probably can do more than imagine, can actually understand

10:21 because you've been that way. You know what that gives you, that gives you an insight of how to pray for that person, for those soldiers, for those people in this situation. And finally, well, not finally, but there's lots of things you can pray for, but you can also pray for the release of the hostages that are continuing to be held for over 400 days in conditions. None of us could even really imagine. So those, I, let me just encourage you to pray for those. In fact, I'm gonna take just a moment right now and we'll pray together, but you can pray at home for these things. A Venus, sha sha, may, our Father in heaven, Lord, we come together as a community right now, Lord.

11:07 We lift up the leaders and those decision makers in Israel who are, who are figuring out what to do and how to best do it. Lord, we ask that you would give them wisdom and discretion. Lord, we ask that you would, that you would guide their steps as they are, as they are, uh, guiding this war. Lord, we lift up the families and the soldiers and the children, Lord, we ask that you would protect them, that you would guard them. Lord, we lift up those innocence in Gaza. Lord, we ask that you would watch over them. Lord, we ask, not even for the innocence, but for the perpetrators, Lord, that you would reveal your son Yeshua to them today

11:54 in a clear way and cause them to repent from their evil and to turn to you, Lord. And finally, we lift up The remaining hostages who have been there for so long. Lord, you know where they are. You know their thoughts, you know the number of hairs on their head. Lord, I ask that you would minister to them today, that you would give them hope and that you would draw them out from where they are. We bless you in Yeshua's name. I mean,

12:42 last week we, we left off with a little bit of a dramatic pause. We left off. Peter was talking, Peter was sharing with Cornelius. Well, maybe I just, for for the sake, if you, if this is your first week here, let me just give you just a little bit more information. We are in Acts 10, acts chapter 10. What has happened is Cornelius had a vision to go, uh, had a messenger from the Lord, tell him to go send someone to Peter. Cornelius is in Caesarea. Peter is in Joppa about a half days to a day's walk, uh, south. And he sit to, to ask for Peter

13:29 and have Peter come and share with them. Meanwhile, Peter is in Joppa and he is on top of the, the, the roof of his, uh, the house where he's staying, and he's meditating before the Lord and the, and, and he has a vision from the Lord of a sheet filled with all kinds of animals that are not edible to Jewish people. And that sheet comes down before him, and the Lord tells him, kill and eat. And that voice says it three times, kill and eat. And Peter says, Lord, you know, I've never eaten anything unclean. Nothing's ever passed these lips. And and maybe I can just take a pause here to to note.

14:17 Most pe most people who, who, uh, go to church have been taught that this passage really has to do with, um, what we eat and, and what we can and cannot eat. But the reality is, is that's not at all what the passage is dealing with. The passage is dealing with the way we view others, other human beings. And the way you know that is by reading the rest of the passage. You see, most people stop right after the vision of the sheet and say, God said, you can eat it. Now, the problem is Peter never ate of that food. So there's number one,

15:02 but number two, literally the Lord gives the interpretation for the vision to Peter himself and says, there are three people waiting at the gate who, who are not Jewish? Don't be afraid to go to them and do not call unclean what God has made clean. Why? Because in the Jewish mind, we talked about this on Wednesday in the Jewish mind at that time, and probably to some degree, unfortunately, even today, there is a difference between Jews who were clean and Gentiles who were unclean

15:55 In terms of the temple. It had to do with ritual purification and being able to enter into the temple. Why was that important? Because entering into the temple was the basis or the foundation upon which our relationship with God was built. So you had to come into this in a particular way, so as to, uh, to make yourself presentable before the Lord. Now, I want you to know God will take you however you want. I I'm sorry. However you are. Excuse me. I don't mean however you want. I do mean wherever you are in life, if you turn to him,

16:43 he'll say, come on. But when he says, come on, he doesn't tell you to stay where you are, It actually requires you to go through a, a, a physical, a, um, for some of us. And it, it, he causes you to go through a transformation where what it it, it puts into practice what Paul says, where, uh, I think it's in first Corinthians or second Corinthians five, I think, is where it's where he says, put off the old flesh and put on the Messiah what is put off the old flesh. Put off the old fleshes. Get rid of greed and pride and all of these elements.

17:28 Now, does that mean when, when, when you meet God, when you meet Yeshua and you turn to God, all of a sudden those things go away? No. It means you're going to struggle for the rest of your life getting rid of those things. I don't mean to discourage you, but you will struggle with them for the rest of your life. It doesn't matter if you are 12, and it doesn't matter if you're 85, you'll struggle with those issues for the rest of your life. But the idea is, is that we are continuing to let God dwell within us, let the Holy Spirit dwell within us and work out some of those issues. And every now and then,

18:14 The Holy Spirit will shine a little flashlight on you and go right there. That's the one I want you to deal with right now. And then you go, I didn't know that was there. Or you go, I knew that was there. I didn't know you knew that was there. Well, those are really one of your, those are your options. And you're like, uhoh, okay, we're gonna have to deal with this one. Now, it doesn't mean if you clean toilets or if you're up here on the stage giving sermons that you are any different. We are all on the same road, just in different spots. The reality is, men, we all probably deal

19:00 with mostly the same issues. Women, I don't know your issues. Go, I'll talk to my wife. No, that's not true. I know some of your issues, but I'm not allowed to address them. That's my wife's job or someone else's, some other lady's job. Listen, husbands and wives, we know each other's issues, and we often point them out in an incorrect manner, and then the other person doesn't hear us and thinks we're being critical. All right, this is away from my message. Let's keep going. Here we are in, in Acts chapter 10, Peter takes this understanding from the Lord and, and the release from the real, from the Lord actually to go

19:45 and interact and even be in the dwelling place of Cornelius. And he travels with these three men. The Lord says, don't the the Lord said, the the voice from the from the Lord says, don't even have any misgivings. Livings. Do you know what that would be if three men who show who you've never known before? And, and, and if you can for just a moment, identify as a particular group. Okay, let's, let's play politics for a moment. Perhaps you voted red and three blue people showed up and the Lord said, go with them and don't have any misgivings to their leader. Or think about it the other way. Perhaps you vote blue and, and, and three, three people, that sounds bad.

20:30 Three red men showed up. Three, three men show it up who vote red and they want to take you to their leader. How many of you are like, let's go right now. But the Lord says, go with no misgivings. So Peter goes, goes to Caesarea to meet with Cornelius and his family and friends, and he even enters into the house and gives the disclaimer and says, look, you all know it's not permissible for me as a Jew to be here in a Gentile's house. He says, what do you want? And Cornelia says, please share with us what the Lord has put on your heart.

21:17 Excuse me on your heart. Share what the Lord has put on your heart. And we have, and we covered it last week, the beginning, the recorded beginning of Peter's message. In this message, he, he, he goes through all the points that we would expect, um, and, and he starts with himself and he says, I, I now understand that God doesn't show favoritism, that it's those who fear the Lord and do his will in every nation. Those are the ones who are righteous. And then he says, you know this, you know this, you know this. And then he says, we are witnesses talking about him and the group, uh, who come with him. He says, we are witnesses to what has been done.

22:04 And we talked about last week how if we look at Peter's other messages from Acts two and Acts three in particular, he may be guiding his message to an ending calling for repentance. We don't see it in his message here with Aelius For a particular reason, which we'll get to in just a few minutes. But before we get to that, I want to just go back and recap for our understanding Acts chapter two and what happened in Acts chapter two and Acts chapter two, the followers of Yeshua, uh, and namely the, the what we would call the 12 disciples or the 12 apostles, and the others who, who feared Yeshua, uh, who feared his name and followed him.

22:51 And they were the ones who were being obedient because Yeshua's last words were, stay here until I have poured out the power from on high. The Spirit from the Lord upon you, which happened about 10 days later, stay here until then. So they're there being faithful and following Yeshua's words, and they're there in Jerusalem. And so they're gathered on Shavuot in one place. And then there's the sound of a roaring wind followed by tongues of fire that, that settle and rest on top of each one of them. And at this moment, they're all filled with the ruach. Those who are there gathered in that place, they're filled with the ruach, and they begin to speak in different languages as the ruach enabled them

23:41 As this, sorry, sorry. If you are unfamiliar with the term, ruach is spirit in Hebrew, as the spirit enabled them, the ruach was sent again, because as I just mentioned, Yeshua said, power will come upon you when the spirit comes upon you. And for, for a purpose, though, it's not just the pouring out of the spirit, so you can stand up and dance around and speak in different languages. It's because what Yeshua said is you have a task. Your task is you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. This is why the spirit of the Lord is poured out,

24:26 And it's the text says, many Jews from all nations heard them speaking in their own native tongue, and they were amazed. Why do I share that? Because it's important, because something similar happens here in Acts 10. You see what happens in Acts two, despite if you've been told otherwise, what happens in Acts two is solely a Jewish thing. There's only Jews present at the Jewish Festival of Shavuot at the Jewish temple on that holiday. Now, maybe you can make an argument, and I wouldn't disagree because the text says it, that there were ProSites or converts, but they also were now considered Jews

25:14 or considered to be within the family of, of, of Israel. At that point, they were also there, but for all intents and purposes, it's only Jews in Acts two. And what do we have here in Acts 10? We have a group of Gentiles who, uh, earlier in the text, Cornelius, is called a God fearer. A God. Fearer means that he was already following the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And if Cornelius is doing it, maybe we, we live in a different society today, but at that time, it would've been very different. When the head of the house is doing something, the house does it. I have a friend who went to, uh, to Africa.

26:02 I think he was, um, I think he was in Zimbabwe, but I can't remember for certain. He was in Africa and he led, um, one of the chiefs of the town, uh, to faith in Yeshua. Do you know what the whole town did? Turn to faith in Yeshua. Why? Because that's the way a tribal culture works, is when the head goes, everyone else follows. It's, this is relatively similar. When Cornelius is a God fear, you can assume that everyone else that's around him and under his direct line of authority where he has input in their lives is likely also of the same mindset of a a.

26:47 So to me, and, and Peter even says, you know what Jesus did when he walked through the countryside? You know, all of these things, maybe they were already followers of Yeshua. We don't know that for certain. But what we have here is a gathering relatively similar to Acts two, and Peter begins to share with them a message. So now we'll get into the message starting in verse 44 of chapter 10. While Peter was still speaking these words, this is the message that I just told you about. You know, he says, I, I didn't like, I now understand. And he says, you know this, you know that, and we're witnesses of Yeshua, the Messiah, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Ru Hako

27:34 fell on all of those. Hearing the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were astonished. You know, another translation of that word is amazed. They were all amazed or astonished because here's the why, because the gift of the ruach, the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they were hearing them speak in tongues and magnifying God, okay? We're going to, we're gonna dig into this for just a few minutes. Peter is still speaking. He's given his message. He perhaps he's even prepared notes. You know, he had a half a day's journey to,

28:21 to prepare for all of this. Perhaps he's got his notes going, and he's in the middle of his message when all of a sudden there's a commotion. Now, I want you to think back to Acts two. There was the sound of rushing wind. Uh, let me, lemme put it another way, uh, because I, I actually connect Acts two, um, to the Sinai experience with the, with with Egypt, uh, with Israel in, in the Book of Exodus. And it says, in the Sinai experiences, in the Sinai experience, it talks about it. It's, there's the sound, uh, of it, it says sound of wind in some of your translation, but it also, it says the sound of trumpets maybe, or the sounds of thunder, uh, which would be relatively similar to something. If I were to get up here and have someone blow a shofar like

29:09 you, there's this kind of overwhelming sound. Think about, listen, we all live in North Texas. Think about the sound when one of those storms from in Texas comes through and you can hear it blowing through your window panes. That sound is an overwhelming sound. And if you look outside, the trees are doing this, going back and forth, praising the Lord. There's this thunderous sound of wind in the Acts two experience. I imagine something as similar as going on, and there's tongues of fire that come down. It's extremely disruptive. Now, I just, you, you may be like, ah, I'm not sure that I really follow. Just imagine if there's a little commotion in here,

29:56 I don't know, somewhere right in the middle, kind of midway back and, and I don't know, maybe it's a child crying or something, and maybe it's a phone ringing. It starts off really quiet and everybody's like, oh, somebody will get it in a second. But it gets, it keeps going and it gets louder. And what you'll notice is, I don't know, the immediate, I don't know, four or five people will begin to look, and then after about, I dunno, maybe five seconds, there's, it kind of like begins to spread. It's like a ripple through the congregation. And if it's still going at 30 seconds, you know, everybody in the congregation's looking. And if it's you with your phone, you're like, it's silent. Why isn't it going to silent? You're like trying to find the button. You're like, I don't know why this button's not working. And all of a sudden, everybody in the room is looking at you.

30:43 Here we are. Peter's in the middle of his message, and the ruah gets poured out and it, and it sound, and it's, it has the, what, what is further, uh, said in verse 46, they hear them speaking in tongue. So now they're talking, it would be like if there was a conversation going on, and then all of a sudden it got a little heated and, and, and it gets a little louder, and all of a sudden everybody starts looking. You're like, what's going on back there? Like, I can hear the conversation all the way up here, but here it is. And it interrupts Peter, and Peter recognizes it. Now, I want you to think about this. Peter experienced it in Acts chapter two, and here he is looking at it in Acts chapter 10,

31:30 and he's, listen, I can just think Peter's probably going a little bit. Oh, that's what we looked like. Oh, no wonder everybody thought we were drunk. It's a little bit odd look at this. But before we get to that point, they're all amazed. They're astonished. Peter. And all of the circumcised believers who are, who were with him, because the Ruach is being poured out on the Gentiles, the text says, even on the Gentiles, they're sitting there going, what? So last week, you know, I talked about, oh, there seems like there's at least three, three other, um, party, uh, in this circumcised party.

32:16 Y'all, I want you to know this is always the case. The answers are in the back of the book. If you just keep reading, you'll find there's six, which we'll find out in next week's text. There are six who are there with Peter observing all that's going on, members of the circumcision. So there are six Jewish men there who are watching this, and you can imagine their jaw drops and they're astonished, they're amazed. By the way, it's the same terminology from Acts chapter two, when all of those who are watching Peter in the 12

33:03 and all of the other followers come out and, and speaking in tongues that the nation that were understood by all of the nations, it says they were amazed. I don't know if you remember that in Acts chapter two, Peter now ex gets to experience the same level of amazement. It's the same Greek word to talk about their reaction. I also want to point out, this is why I have the view that up until this point, we haven't entered into what might be called evangelism of the nations. And you're going to, you're gonna look at me and say, well, there were the Samaritans and there was, uh, the Ethiopian eunuch to me,

33:48 the Samaritans there, there, I mean, even Yeshua says, you worship on one mountain, we worship on another, but there's a, there's a level of connection between the two that's closer than say, Cornelius or some other, or let's just go even further. Caesar and Israel, there's a level of connection that's closer. And it's also why I have the opinion that the Ethiopian eunuch is Jewish, or at least a convert. But, but I'll tell you from my own experience and, and from others, that the, the history of Judaism, of the Jewish people in Ethiopia dates back now

34:35 3,124 years, or something along those lines dates back to King Solomon when the Queen of Sheba came, and then they had a child together. And that's where the Jew, there are Jewish people in Ethiopia today who date their lineage and the presence of Jewish people in Ethiopia back to that time period. And if there are Jewish people and perhaps even royal Jewish people, why wouldn't the cheat the, the CFO of Ethiopia go to, to check out what's going on? And if he's Jewish, why wouldn't he go? Because he's commanded to go and he knows the scriptures, which is quite obvious because he's reading the book of Isaiah, uh, the scroll, the scroll of Isaiah at this point, we have a book.

35:22 He had a scroll. And in neither one of those cases with the Samaritans or with Phil, uh, or with, um, the Ethiopian eunuch, does Luke note that they were astonished or amazed? Luke, who is perhaps one of the most precise authors in the New Testament, or perhaps even in in the whole Bible, Luke, who, who lives on precision, doesn't use the same word in, uh, to denote those other two experiences, but he uses it here to denote this connection. So to me, there's multiple things going on.

36:09 Number one, Peter and them are going, whoa, we is a different type to the end of the earth than I thought. But also it means that there's a connection between Acts two and Acts 10. In Acts two, they were PE Peter, uh, well, the text notes that they were hearing them speak in tongues, uh, this is in, in Acts 10, they were hearing them speak in tongues and magnify God. And in Acts two, Peter and the circumcision, this group that's with him, by the way, I presume based upon my arguments last week, I presume that these six that are with Peter have been with Peter now for over three and a half years,

36:55 because they followed with Yeshua from the beginning of his time to this point and, and have now, or they're, they're with Peter. So in Acts two, that means that this six would've been part of that group that came out, and the spirit was poured in and they came out and they were speaking in some tongues that people from all the nations heard. And by the way, I know I'm going back in time, ooh, and I'm looking at the clock and I need to hurry up, but in Acts two it says, from all the nations, but it's talking about Jews from all of the diaspora. That's why they have all of these different native tongues. Just like today, if I went to Israel, my native tongue is not Hebrew. My native tongue is English. Well, it's Texan,

37:40 but um, a variant of English. Um, and, and, and I know some of you in this room who are Jewish, your native tongue is Spanish, and some of you in this room, your native tongue might be something else. But all we are no different today than in Acts two. Jews are everywhere. They're in every nation. And so here we have Peter in the circumcision, able to witness what happened to them in Acts two now in another, uh, setting. And Peter, by the way, quoted Joel two in Acts two, which talked about the pouring out of the spirit on all flesh,

38:28 Which at that point, I presume he was thinking all the Jewish people, because all the Jewish people of all the, the nations are here. But all of a sudden now you can, you can think the Lord has quickened to his mind his message from Acts two, and he's going, oh, this is all flesh. I see. And we begin to witness the readers or or those who are hearing the text being read, begin to witness a fuller understanding of what the Lord is doing to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to all nations. And this fuller understanding, Peter starts off with by

39:14 by saying, I now understand the Lord doesn't show favoritism, that his spirit will be poured out on all flesh. Now, in the Acts two account, it doesn't say it explicitly. Here in Acts 10, in the Acts two account, the pouring out the Ach, uh, is evidenced. Well, this is what what Acts 10 says is evidenced by speaking in tongues and magnifying God. But in Acts two, which is the parallel passage for this, it talks about them speaking in, in different languages that people, that the Jewish people from all of the nations understood. Unfortunately, this verse in particular has been used to promote an idea that when a person has the spirit

40:00 of God within them, the evidence is speaking into in tongues. In other words, if I can go backwards, for those of you who are who do math, you can go one way or you can go the other. If I can go backwards, if you speak in tongues, it's, it means that you have the Spirit of God who dwells within you. Now, I'll tell you, that's not my opinion. I think the spirit of God manifests in, in, in all of us differently. Now, it doesn't mean that this doesn't happen, but it doesn't mean that this is the only way for God to manifest. If we say God has to present himself in one way. You know what you just did? You made your God about this big. Because the reality is I can look out across this room,

40:46 not two of us are the same. Uh, in fact, I don't even see twins in here. Twins are the closest thing that you can get to, to the same, but even twins aren't the same. If we are not the same and the spirit of God pours into us, it's, it seems logical that we're gonna react a little bit different. Casey may say, may react in one way. I may react in a different way. It's okay. We may also react the same because we've been friends for long enough. But it's important to understand that this passage, and I've used this before,

41:32 and I'm gonna credit Marcus Raven again. This passage is descriptive of what's happening, which means it's describing what's happening, not pres prescriptive, which means it has to happen in this way always, because this is how God always does it. Man, I got so many illustrations about God not doing things always the same way, but I think we should just move on. And you just need to understand and accept, and you can go through the Bible and read in every book that God doesn't do things the same way, even with the same person. And I think particularly of Elijah in one Kings 18 and 19, you can go read that a different time.

42:19 This passage, in my opinion, is less about the people's reaction of speaking in tongues and more about us understanding that there is an equality between the way God pours out on the Jewish people in Acts 10, and the way he pours out on those from the nations, I'm sorry, the Jewish people in Acts two and those from the nations in Acts 10, there's no difference, which means this, by the way, this is the proof of what God showed Peter in the dream, uh, in the vision God showed Peter that there's no difference, or he says, don't call what's clean.

43:06 What I've designated is clean unclean. In other words, don't call Gentiles unclean because I've made them and they're clean if they fear my name and, and follow me. This is the proof of that. This is, if you will, the verification in the eyes of Peter and the six who are with him, that God's not treating them any differently than he treated us in Acts two. So to me, this passage is more about the Jewish people understanding the equality of humanity in the eyes of God than about anything else. And if you think, well, rabbi, I, you're just wrong, Peter says, as such, in the next verse, Peter says,

43:52 we're gonna keep moving on. Then Peter answered, can anyone refuse water for these to be immersed? Who, who has received the rock of code? That's just as we did. In other words, there's no difference between them and us. It happened just the same way. How can we refuse water for immersion? So he commanded them to be immersed in the name of Messiah, Yeshua. Then they asked him to stay for a few days. So the first question I have coming to this text, it says, and in fact, it's, it's even the verse before it says, then Peter answered, I don't know. Did we miss a question? Like, is there a question in the previous text that I missed? I would say there, if there's not a verbal question, I, I would say there probably was a verbal question

44:40 and a verbal discussion between Peter and the six. But if there's not, there's at least a an understanding that, whoa, this is, we were not expecting this. How can this even happen? And Peter is answering that doubt. And he says, can anyone refuse water? Can anyone refuse water immersion for these gentiles who have already been immersed in the RUOK as we were? So Peter, again, is connecting what happened in Acts two to him in the circumcision, in this, in this group of the circumcision, to hear what is happening in Acts 10. Now, I want you to recall something that's important for us

45:26 to note in Luke chapter three. John the I, Mercer John, the cousin of Yeshua, Yohannan, who we often call the Baptist, but is far before Baptist exists. John says, as for me, I immerse you with water, but one who is coming, one is coming, who is mightier than me. I'm not even worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will immerse you in what the ruach, the ruach, hakodesh and fire. So that's partially why I think there's fire in Acts two. And I would presume there's some sort of fire going on here, even though Luke doesn't, uh, tell us.

46:11 Do you see that the, in terms, if we were to create a, um, you know, in math you have the greater the Ann symbol, which one of these is greater than the other? You know, you can obviously tell what age child I have. If we have water immersion and immersion by the ruach, which one of these is greater, like the ruach according to John? And then we see practically according to Peter in these, in this case, the ru the Ruach, the immersion of the ruok takes far more precedence. And, and Peter is using an argument, a light to heavy argument, which by the way is in a very Jewish argument. He uses this argument to say, if this heavy thing has already occurred, who are we to

46:57 to refuse water immersion? So then he says, he doesn't even say you can be immersed. He says, the text, the text says he commanded them to be immersed. So he commanded them to be immersed in the name of Messiah Shea. Then they asked him to stay for a few days again, since they've been immersed in the rah, what's stopping them from being immersed in water? It doesn't mean that water immersion is obsolete, it just means that one is more important than the other. Now, what do we not see in this passage?

47:45 We do not see, oh, you must become Jewish to be a follower of Yeshua. We do not see, oh, you have to be circumcised before you can enter into water immersion. Cornelius and his household, as prior noted, I think I noted this last week, were acceptable before the Lord. The term acceptable, as I noted last week, is the same term, the same Greek word that's utilized in the SubT to talk about the sacrificial system and the sacrifices that were acceptable before the Lord in order what to come before God. So if Cornelius,

48:32 now Peter gets way into this, by the way, when you go read Peter one, Peter, we're not doing that today, but here he's making the, the, the distinction, Cornelius and his household, those who are here gathered, are acceptable. Again, it's the vision, it's the interpretation of the vision of the sheet, which is coming down about different animals that helped Peter prepare for this moment. And that, as I mentioned last week, in every nation, it is the one who fears the Lord and does what is right, that one is acceptable before the Lord. And their response, when, when Peter says all of this, their response is they ask Peter to stay a few days.

49:20 Now, the text doesn't indicate how Peter responds to this question, but I would assume it's probably, it's probably safe to assume that he stayed for a couple days. Who knows what happened after that? Well, Peter knows you can ask him later. So what does this mean for you and me? I, I have several questions, but I'm gonna start with, has the spirit of God surprised you recently? Just have you been in a moment in you're like, well, now I didn't expect the spirit of God to be in that person, which by the way, that's indicative of the way we behave.

50:06 Do you have a preconceived idea of how God has to work and who is worthy of his grace? Because here, the pouring out of the ruach on Cornelius and his household reveals that God desires all people to be reconciled to him. All people are created in the image of God. Acts two and Acts 10 also reinforce, but Paul informs us about the priority of God. Ah, you're like, wait, I don't understand. Paul says in Romans one, y'all gonna, you're gonna be like, I know this verse by heart, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, or the good news for it is the power of salvation. Uh, is the power of God

50:52 for salvation to everyone who trusts. That's probably how, no, most of you know it. But the verse has an ending, actually, it continues on, and it says to the Jew first and also to the Greek or to to, to the nations. Do you see the way Luke has constructed and the way it happened? I'm not saying Luke made it happen. Uh, lemme just go back and give my disclaimer, which I haven't given for a while. Luke, in my opinion, is a scribe. He's writing down what the Holy Spirit is telling him to write. Now, he may think he's writing it all himself, but God is breathing into the text what he wants us to understand. So to me, the Holy Spirit is the author, Luke is the scribe,

51:37 though we call Luke the author of the book of Acts, the way acts has been constructed helps us understand this. Acts two to the Jewish people, acts 10 to the nations. It's not one exclusive of the other, but it's the order that God wants it to happen. I don't know why I'm not in charge of that department. All I know is this is what Paul says. This is what Pete, what Luke illustrates in the, in the writing of, of Luke, um, Luke and the Book of Acts. But also you may think, well, it's a little exclusionary to put put the nation second, but let me just rewind.

52:27 2000 years, it was the Jewish people in there, and there was no one else. It was just the Jewish people in, in, in, in the mindset of the Jewish people. What this is, is this is almost revolutionary or it's reshaping the way, the practice of what is, what is going on in terms of, yes, it's to the Jewish people, but it's to all of the nations. In fact, it includes everyone who fears the Lord and does what is right in every nation, as Paul says, to the Jewish person first, and then to the Greek, when the Lord moves.

53:13 This is my final question. When the Lord moves, do our preconceived notions and self-made and imposed standards prevent others from coming to Yeshua? Now, lemme break that down for you for just a second. Have we said, God has to operate in this way? He has to, he has to do things the way I understand them. And if he doesn't, then it's not God moving. Has that prevented someone from coming to faith in Yeshua through your witness? Do you know what I mean? We are the

53:58 hands and the feet of the Lord. It's, it's through us that his message gets out. It's the way we live. When someone looks at us and goes, that person's different. What's wrong? What's wrong with them? What's different about them in the world? You might say, what's wrong? What's, what's wrong? What's different with that person? I think I need to ask that person what's going on? And it's at that point where they come and investigate. You know why? That's God calling them. He's, he's wooing them through the way we live. If we don't understand that, then what happens is our witness, what we do begins to break down the message

54:46 that Yeshua has come and that everyone who turns to God and does what is right in his eyes is acceptable to him. That's challenging message for us today. So what is it in your life? And I this is, this is where, whether it's me or the Holy Spirit, you can decide, let me shine a little light in your, in your inside and go, what is it that's there that's preventing others from seeing Yeshua? Go ahead. Check it out this week. Ask the Lord. He'll tell you. The Holy Spirit will reveal it to you. If you don't already know, I would suspect that half of us probably already know.

55:32 'cause we're like, yeah, I know. I've been meaning through something about that for weeks, months, years. Yeah, I know. It's that moment when you talk to your child and you're like, I already told you about this. Yeah, I know, dad. Well, what did we discuss? I know I gotta change that, but it's just so much fun, dad. It's just so much fun to jump on the bed. I mean, like, we laugh, but I just want you to think we're like God's children. And if I view my own children who love to jump on the bed, and I, and my reaction is that bed costs $500, please don't break it.

56:20 Like I have to recognize if, if we represent his children, then to them, I'm an image of the Father. I'm not saying I'm God, I might be all powerful in my household, but oh man, I'm gonna hear for that. I'm gonna hear that one later. Uh oh. I'm just playing. I'm just playing. We have to treat our children as if they view us in a father-like manner. Men, this is really particular to you. How is it that you interact with your wife?

57:09 Because with your wife, what is the, what does Paul say? We are the bride. Yeshua is the bride groom. If we want to be treated by Yeshua in a particular way, men, how do you treat your wife that way? Dads, do we live in a manner? Do we treat our children in a way that would cause them to be, to look to our father in heaven and say, man, I'm really glad you gave me a good dad as a representative of you because it helps me think better of you. That's really what we need to be doing. And, and, and, well, I don't wanna keep going. That's it. Ask the Lord, what in your life needs to change?

57:57 That's the real question. And, and the reality is every week, that's the real question. What in your life has to change so that you can be a better witness for him? All my questions are variations in that theme. What in your life has to change so that you're no longer a distraction to those who are looking to find the Lord? May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

59:18 In the name of our Messiah, Yeshua Shabbat Shalom.