Let's begin reading here in Acts chapter 10, at verse 1. I'm going to read to verse 8, and we'll get into our study. Acts chapter 10, beginning at verse 1, moving on to verse 8, laying the foundation, moving into the study, and then moving to application. In chapter 10, verse 1, Luke writes, there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what is called the Italian regiment, a devout man and 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 Joppa and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He's 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. So when he had explained all these things to him, to them, he sent them to Joppa. Let me give you some background on this. We're looking at the first Gentile Christian. Now as we've been going through the book of Acts, Luke is the one who was inspired to write this report for us and Luke had just reported that Peter had been ministering in Northwest Israel. He's in an area called the Plain of Sharon and staying in the city of Joppa. Now ancient Joppa was a seaport and we remember that from the book of Jonah. It was a city that Jonah had fled from God's call to preach to Nineveh and Joppa is now called Joppa. So Peter has been ministering in Joppa and was staying with Simon who is called Simon the tanner. And we've seen how God has been training Peter how to minister. Now he had learned to minister to Samaritans. Then he had lived with a tanner and each of these things was stretching him and training him in ministry because the Jews previously had no dealings with Samaritans and Jews would not have necessarily stayed with the man who was a tanner because he dealt with dead animals and thus they could have become religiously unclean. But God is moving him to speak to those that previously may not have had the opportunities as are now being afforded. And so God is training Peter how to minister. Now while Peter is ministering in Joppa God is moving in the heart of a Gentile. His name is Cornelius. He lives in a city called Caesarea. If you're looking at a map, Caesarea is to the north. It's about 30 miles north of Joppa or Joppa. And so let me show a couple of pictures of this that we've taken on our trips. And that's basically the harbor area there in the city. This is the amphitheater that they have here. And we do Bible studies there and we'll enjoy that. This is called the hippodrome. This is where very, very heavy people run. And I think that's just an overhead of the same place. They used to have chariot races in that area. And so this is Caesarea, that's ancient Caesarea. Let me give you a little information about Caesarea. Caesarea is named Caesarea in honor to Augustus Caesar. And because of the beauty of the city it became the residence of many Roman political officials as well as Roman troops. Because it was the chief seaport of Israel and the Roman capital, it was also their military headquarters. Caesarea had a 40 acre harbor that used concrete that hardened underwater and could accommodate 300 ships. It had a theater, we just saw it, that's at 3,500 and was covered with skins to provide shade. It had the hippodrome that seeded more than 20,000 for chariot races. It had water provided by an aqueduct that utilized gravity bringing water from springs at the base of Mount Carmel which is almost 10 miles away. Now Caesarea was the headquarters of Pontius Pilate. It was where Paul was imprisoned for two years. It was a home of Philip the Evangelist and his four daughters. And after Jerusalem was destroyed it became the center of Christianity in Israel. And so that's the city of Caesarea where it says in verse one there was a certain man in Caesarea. Well the certain man is Cornelius. Now it says Cornelius was a centurion of what is called the Italian Regiment and he's described in verse two a devout man, one who feared God with all his household and gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. Again, I'm laying a foundation for you. So Caesarea in this city lives a man named Cornelius. He's a high ranking military leader. He's in charge of a hundred soldiers. I was looking up what his rank would be equivalent to today and it's hard to find a place to put him. So he would be between what an army, being an army veteran, I'll use army, an army command sergeant major and E-9. He'd be between a command sergeant major and a sergeant lieutenant. So he was somewhere in there. He had high, in other words, he had a high and very powerful rank. Roman legions were divided into groups of 10 cohorts and each cohort had 600 men. Each centurion commanded a hundred men. Each legion had 60 centurions. And so this man is a high ranking official in the Roman military and he commands what is called the Italian cohort. The Italian cohort simply means that these were Italians whom he was in command over. But notice in verse two how he's described.  Now what is a devout man? We don't use the word devout. The word devout means a religious, a very religious person. There's a word that used to be used to describe men who are devout. They were called pious. And so he's a religious man. He's motivated, the scripture would say, when referring to him as a devout man, he's motivated by awe, by the reality that there's one greater than him. There is a God. Now I wanna develop this for just a moment because Luke calls him devout. What is it that would have made him devout? Just basically he's called a devout because one, he is what is called a God-fearer. He wasn't a convert to Judaism, but he valued the Jewish religion. A second thing, as a God-fearer, he was someone who influenced his household. Now the household would have included not only blood relatives, but it would include the servants. So this is a man who was very devout who had great faithful impact on his entire household. He is one who was seeking to bring his family and his servants to a knowledge of God. A third thing is that he gave his alms. He did his charitable deeds. He gave his gifts. He did so in a generous fashion and it says he gave generously alms generously to the people. It would give us an insight that he was generous in his giving to the Jewish nation, not just to people in general, but he would make donations for the temple upkeep and various things that related to the Jewish faith and he prayed to God always. He was a man of prayer. So he's a God-fearer lifting up his prayers to the God of Israel. We'll show you some things about that in just a moment that that's who he is. You see, Cornelius desired to know God and he prayed that God would reveal himself and he would have heard of the evangelist Philip because Philip was in Caesarea. According to chapter eight, verse 40, Philip had come to Caesarea. Philip had been preaching in all the cities. Undoubtedly he was preaching in Caesarea. Cornelius would have heard of this and would be praying and more than likely would be praying as if asking God is this message that he's giving this man, is it true? And so as we look at this devout man and all in verse three, it says about the ninth hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, 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? Now that word Lord is again being used in the context of what is it sir, or somebody who's greater than me, not necessarily calling him Lord as we call Jesus the Lord or God as our Lord. It's a word that speaks about respect. So we said to him, your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. So there's this conversation going here now. This is a man who is a Gentile. Now this is important because again, we're looking at the first Gentile Christian. And we need to understand that Jesus gave the command. He had said, you shall receive power. After that, the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then into the uttermost parts of the earth. You're to go throughout the whole world, he said in Matthew 28 and 19, and you're to preach the gospel. Mark said to every living creature. So you're taking this message, it's not intended just for the nation of Israel, but this is a message that's gonna go beyond the borders. That's gonna go into the regions. Even regions that you do not respect. Again, the Jews had no dealings with Samaritans, but you're gonna preach this message to Samaria. Not only that, you're gonna take it to the Gentile nations, right? And so we've been seeing that unfold as we've gone through acts, but now here's a Gentile by the name of Cornelius that's about to receive understanding as to who Jesus is and what he did. Now at that time, Gentiles in Scripture are referred to as those who are without God and they're not part of his promises, but God is about to bring them, visit them with salvation. In the Old Testament book of Hosea, one of the minor prophets, it says in chapter one, verse 10, the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered, and it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there it shall be said to them, your sons, the living God. God is gonna reach out. Now this is a God-firrer. He worships God according to the best of his knowledge. He observes certain Jewish rights that never fully converts to Judaism. He was an uncircumcised man who never became completely Jewish.  And so this is what's taking place here. Notice in verse four, because the angel had said to him, his name Cornelius, when he observed him, he was afraid, he said, what is it, Lord? So he said to him, your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. When it says your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God, the word memorial speaks of an act of religious faith. It's like an offering. He's saying your prayers and your good works have been seen by God and have been received. Now when he observed him and he said, what is it, Lord? He is openly stating that he'll do whatever he's commanded to do. And so in verse five, he says, send men to Joppa, send for Simon, whose surname is Peter. He's lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do. And so send men to Joppa. Again, he's gonna tell you what you must do. He's gonna tell you what you must do to be saved. He's gonna tell you what the gospel is. That's what he's saying. So he's gonna tell you what you must do. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. He's gonna tell you how that's gonna take place. But he says, send men to Joppa and send for Simon. Well, it goes on to say in verse seven, when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants, 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 Joppa. So he sends three, two devoted household servants, a devout soldier. The household servants were God-fearers, as was the soldier. So, verse nine, the next day as they went on their journey, drew near the city, Peter went up on the house top to pray about the six hour, about noon. He became very hungry, wanted to eat. But while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners descended to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, birds of the air. And a voice came to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat. Peter said, not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean.  This was done three times and the object was taken up into heaven again. And so God was preparing Cornelius, even as he was preparing Peter. Notice he says it's around the six hour, it's noon, Peter's praying. Verse 10 says he became hungry, he fell into a trance. Now you hear the word trance, a trance is a dream-like state. It's like you're awake and yet you're dreaming. And he's having this vision, the vision involves eating, maybe part of it is because he was hungry. Verse 11, he saw heaven opened and this sheet is supporting clean and unclean animals. Now this is reflecting something, this is developing something because the clean and unclean animals reflected Old Testament instructions concerning that which is called kosher. Kosher laws were intended to distinguish the people of God from the pagans surrounding them. That's what the kosher laws were intended to do. In Leviticus 20, which speaks to us concerning these laws, it says in verses 25 and 26, you must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the round, those which I have set apart as unclean for you. You are to be holy to me because I the Lord am holy. I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. And so kosher laws, one of the reasons for it was to make them distinguishable from the pagans. Dietary law was visible, a visible reminder that Israel was set apart from the Gentiles, but it also helped to reveal the uncleanness of human nature. There's so many people who don't realize that the problems we have isn't just because of bad laws or even bad people, if you will, that rule over us. It's our own natures. And so very often we think that we're actually born good. Those who believe that you were born good, you're not a parent. Because if you had kids of your own, you'd say definitely there's a sin nature and it came from my wife. You would definitely know that. Well in Mark 7.15 it says, there's nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him, the things which come out of him. These are the things that defile a man. In 1 Corinthians 8 verse 8, food doesn't commend us, it doesn't bring us closer to God. For neither if we eat are we the better nor if we do not eat are we the worse. Well Peter was a man who was a Jewish. From birth he was observant of the law. He was kosher and kosher law had been ingrained in him. He could not grasp what God was doing. He didn't see that God was making the Jew and the Gentile one in Jesus Christ. He's already seen some maritans come to Christ but now it's gonna be Gentiles. Again Jesus had preached to the world. He didn't say make the Gentiles Jewish. He said bring them to Jesus Christ. And what's happening here is the wall of separation is coming down. When you study the book of Ephesians chapter two, the apostle Paul in verses 13 through 16 says this, in Christ Jesus speak into Gentiles, the Ephesians were Gentiles. In Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace who has made the two, the Jew and Gentile made the two one and has destroyed the barrier. The dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two thus making peace. And in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which he put to death their hostility. He was intending to make the Jew and the Gentile one in Christ. Now in verse 13 the voice came to rise Peter, kill and eat. God uses this vision because he knew Peter wouldn't minister to Cornelius. Peter had yet to more fully grasp that the law was fulfilled in Christ. Later on in Colossians in chapter two verse 16 and 17 it reads let no one judge you in food or in drink regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths which he says are a shadow of things to come but the substance is of Christ. Well Peter when he says to in verse 13 rise Peter, kill and eat notice Peter says not so Lord. How do you do that? How do you say no and Lord at the same time? How do you say you are my Lord? The very word Lord is a very strong word which speaks concerning the absolute power that God has over us. There is no way that you say no to the Lord and yet he's doing that. Not so Lord. Once again it's like the apostle Peter is instructing God when God is speaking to him. Rise, slay and eat. No, I'm kosher. I've never eaten anything like this. I've never had a chicharron in my life. I don't like it and he says no I won't. That's my translation. He says it in verse 14. He says I've never eaten anything common or unclean but he goes on. Would God as cleansed you must not call common. It was done three times and the object was taken up to heaven again. No, but God says you don't understand what I'm doing. Well, this vision is repeated. God speaks three more times. It makes it very clear. Well, verse 17, while Peter wondered within himself with this vision which he had seen meant behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate and they called and asked whether Simon whose surname was Peter was lodging there. Well, Peter thought about the vision. The Spirit said to him behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down, go with them, doubting nothing for I have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius and said yes, I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come? And they said Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear words from you. He doesn't have much time to wonder because even as he was wondering what is taking place, God had timed it for the men to arrive. He's thinking about it, but the Spirit commands him to go and he's to go doubting nothing. In other words, don't argue within yourself because I have sent him. Well, Peter is obedient to the instructions of the Spirit. He's been instructed to go, he's been instructed to give them the gospel. And so in verse 23, he invited them in and lodged them on the next day, Peter went away with the men and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him. They had arrived late in the afternoon, they spend the night in the next day, they depart. So verse 24, the following day, they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up saying, stand up. I myself am also a man. And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together. He said to them, you know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or to go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Well, when Cornelius sees him, notice how it says, Cornelius met him and he fell down at his feet. Notice Peter's response, stand up. I myself am also a man. This kind of action is reserved for God alone. You don't show this homage to me, this obeisance to me. You don't fall on your face before me, I'm a man. We live in a time I think that we need to remind or be reminded of that. We sometimes become a bit confused and we give worship and attention to some who perhaps, though they're worthy of respect and even some aspects of their life are worthy of using as models of faith, yet we forget that there's only one that is to be worshiped and that's God. No man should be worshiped. No woman should be worshiped. I came out of the Roman Catholic background, many of you did. I know our fellowship has got quite a number who will understand my illustration when I say this. And as I was raised going to the different religious classes I went to as a child and all, I was taught to do a certain veneration for Joseph or Mary and all of that. My mom taught me at very early age that if I had a prayer request that I was not to bring it to God personally. She said, if you need to ask God for anything, talk to his mother.  I said, yes. She said, that's how it is.  And that's how I was raised. And so when I came to faith in Christ and I started reading the Bible and I read that the scripture says there's only one God and one mediator between God and man and that's the man Christ Jesus. That opened my eyes. When I read that Jesus said that he's the way, the truth and life. No man comes to the father, but by him that opened my eyes. And I realized that there is only one mediator. There's only one that I go to and that is God because his ears are always open unto the cry of the righteous. And that comes to the righteousness we've received by faith in Christ who's cleansed us and imputed given to us his own righteousness. See, I didn't know that. Now, I had a young lady who was going to a Bible study. She became my girlfriend. Her name's Marie and obviously my wife now. But when we were dating, I was at her place and sitting there on the sofa. She had been a Christian for a couple of months or so. And she had walked away and her wallet was there so deserves to be looked into. And so I opened it up to see how many pictures of me she was carrying and as I looked at it she had a picture of St. Joseph. So she came walking in and I said, I thought you were my girl. She goes, I am your girl. I said, you're two timing me. She says, what are you talking about? I said, you've got a boyfriend. She goes, what? I said, I saw his picture. Don't deny it. You're going out with Joe. This is a true story. This is really, this is a true story. I said, you're going out with Joe. She goes, Joe, what do you mean? And I opened it up and there's a picture of St. Joseph. And so I said to her, you know, Marie, when you came to faith in Christ, you don't need to be carrying around these kinds of things anymore because you have a relationship now with God through Jesus. And so respect what he is, but don't venerate him. She also had a little statue of Joseph.  And it would face traffic. It was on her car, on the dashboard. And his hands were like this because of the way she, she drives. And what happened is the sun had melted it. So it's all like this. So, you know, but I learned it in early age. You venerate, you worship only God because that's what the Bible teaches.  I said, no, I say, no, that's not true because in John's gospel at the wedding feast, they're in Cana of Galilee and Mary walks up to Jesus and says they have no water. And Jesus asks her the question, woman, what do I have to do with you? My time hasn't come. She turns, all you need to do is read your Bible, John chapter two.   What is it that he says? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved. It's that simple. We complicate things by adding things. So here comes Peter into the room. Here's Cornelius, a gentle man on his face before him. And Peter has to say to him, stand up, I myself am also a man. Now we see something similar twice in the book of Revelation, but in Revelation chapter 19 verse 10, John is writing the apostle. He says that this I fell at his feet, an angel's feet, to worship him. But he said to me, do not do it. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus, worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.  And as he's beginning to speak to him in verse 27, he talked with him. He went in, found many who had come together because he had called together his relatives and his close friends. Again, that's something that we ought to do when the Lord is, when we've come to faith in Christ, we invite our friends and we invite our relatives. We tell them about the Lord and that's what he's done. And so the apostle's going in and he found many who had come together verse 28. And then he says, you know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Now this was traditional phariseic teaching. It's not necessarily the law of Moses itself. They wouldn't go to the Gentiles because they didn't observe ceremonial cleanliness and therefore they could become unclean. But notice in verse 28, he says, God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. The word shown, the word shown means to give evidence or proof of something. God has given me evidence that he intends to save Jew and Gentile alike. God has revealed to me that I can fellowship with Gentiles because he intends to save them. So in verse 29, he asks, what reason have you sent for me? Well, in verse 30, Cornelius said, four days ago, I was fasting until this hour. And at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa, call Simon here whose surname is Peter. He's lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner by the sea. When he comes, he'll speak to you. So I sent to you immediately and you've done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God to hear all the things commanded you by God. We are open. We want to hear. Tell us what God wants us to know. Tell us what God wants us to do. One of the things, and I'll touch it briefly, in verse 33, when he said, we are all present before God to hear all the things commanded you by God. That's a great attitude guys to have when you come to church, to the building that holds us, the church. Why have we come? I think today, and I'll say this briefly, but some of you are aware of it. I think that today sometimes we come not to hear all the things that God has commanded. Sometimes we can come for whatever is the latest thing that's going on around our community or in this world. And not necessarily coming to hear a study of the word, but coming for a different reason. These people came to hear what God's word has to say.  We want to know what you have to say, but we also want to know what we're supposed to do. And so we've assembled here, anticipating here and from you that we might be able to do those things that God would command us. So we're open, our ears are open, our hearts are wide open, tell us. And so Peter is looking at them and verse 34, Peter opened his mouth and he said, in truth I perceive that God shows no partiality in every nation, whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel preaching peace through Jesus Christ. He's Lord of all. That word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed by the devil. God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews in Jerusalem whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people, to testify that it is he who was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him, all the prophets witnessed that through his name. Whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins. He preached the gospel. It's God's desire to save both Jew and Gentile. Verse 35 says that in every nation whoever fears him, those who walk in the light that has been afforded them, those who do what is right and just to their fellow men. Now this obviously would be specifically referring to Cornelius who is a God-fearer. So God is willing to grant salvation to those who seek to know him. Jew and Gentile alike. In Romans 3, 29 and 30, is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there's only one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Now Cornelius was devout, he was generous, he was prayerful and he was unsaved. God's Holy Spirit had begun a work that's gonna result in salvation. Notice in verse 36, the word which God sent to the children of Israel preaching peace. The word speaks of the message, the message God sent to the nation. It's a promise of peace to their Messiah.  Well he says in verse 37, that word you know. The main facts are something you've heard of. You're familiar with how God verse 38 had anointed Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy Spirit and power. Jesus he's saying is the Christ, he's the anointed one, he's the Messiah. When he calls him the anointed, Jesus Christ is the anointed one and Israel kings and priests were anointed for their office, the point he's making is Jesus has been anointed to do good. In Luke 4, 18 and 19, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressor to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And we're witnesses of the things which he did. That's what Jesus has said, you shall be witnesses to me and that's what we are. And he was resurrected, but not all people saw that, just those who were appointed. That speaks of his walk and his knowledge that he has with Jesus Christ. These are the ones who ate and drank with him when he arose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify. We've been commanded to preach forgiveness in the warn of judgment. Jesus is the savior and faith in him results in the remission of sins. The gospel is the message of remission of sins through Jesus Christ who died on the cross as a sacrificial lamb bearing upon him our sins. And it's the gospel that transforms people. Nothing else will change us from the inside. It requires a changed heart that will produce a changed life. That's why pastors are commanded to preach the gospel. I was in Chicago years ago now, we had a radio program in the city and we had what was called a radio rally. And I would walk around the crowd that was there. Couple of reasons, one, I just wanted to walk around. But two, they never knew who I was because they only knew my name and we didn't put pictures. You don't have pictures on the radio, right? So they only knew my name. And I knew that because of my last name, they were expecting to see somebody entirely different when he showed up. So I'd stand, I always open up by saying this.  I said, you have confused me with raw Reese. And I would make them laugh and tease like that with them and all of that. Well, so it was a lot of fun to do that. And so I said, but this is me and so I would share. Well, after I shared this young woman and a young man approached me and the young woman says, I wanna share with you something, Pastor David. And the young man says, no, let me share. And she says, this is my husband. And he says, Pastor David, I wanna share something with you. He says, I was depressed and I made a decision that I was gonna kill myself.  He said, for some reason I was gonna take a bath. I wanted to take a bath.  He said, I turned on the bath water. He said, I started to step in the tub. When I remembered that my brother had given me a tape, then he had asked me to listen to. He said, I don't know why, now I do, but I didn't know why then, but I thought I can't go into eternity knowing that I didn't do something my brother asked. He said, so I climbed out of the tub and I got the tape and I got a little tape player. You can tell how long ago this happened. I got the tape player, I put it on. He said, it was the tape of a study you were giving on the book of Revelation. As I laid in that bathtub, I listened, and as I listened, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ.  That's what the gospel does. That's what the gospel does. See, we have to remain teaching God's word because it's God's word that transforms lives. That's what changes people from the inside. I was sharing this morning first service about a friend of mine in New York because we were on the radio in New York. And he and I got to know each other.  And Jose walks up to me and I still remember meeting Jose because he was wearing a black baseball jacket and he had three friends, all four of them Puerto Rican guys, all of them good-looking men with real black hair and their colors were popped and they looked like they were part of a West Side Story. I expected them to walk up, snap, and their fingers like. And he has this real thick New York accent, pasta. He calls me that, pasta, pasta David. And I go, he goes, my name is Jose. He said, I want to tell you something. He said, I was using cocaine regularly. My wife and I were both heavy cocaine users. She works for the hospital, a hospital there in Manhattan. And he worked for some publishing company. He said, I began to drive and listen to the radio programs because you were on the radio here in New York. And he goes, and I heard two things. He said, one is I heard your last name. He said, and being a Puerto Rican, he says, I just had a natural kind of, I want to hear this Latino talk. He said, and then secondly, he said, you mentioned you had served in the military in the 82nd. He said, so did I. So I had an immediate connection with you because you are a vet, a Latino, and you served in the same unit I did. I started listening. He said, heavy use of cocaine, heavy use. He said, every day I was listening. And every day I began to think, what he's saying is true. But how can I have that? I don't know how. He said, you never told me how to get saved. The program would end and you'd say, God bless you. He said, so one day I listened to you and then Greg Laurie came afterwards. He prayed with me. He said, I got saved through Greg, but you're my daddy. He is now pastoring his own church in Manhattan. The gospel changes lives. Good people. You can be a very good person. You can go to church. You can serve. You can be in the choir. You can be generous at the end of the year for your tax deduction, but you do so. You give generously. You do all of those things. You can teach your kids how to pray. You can take them to church. But you're still lost. Cornelius was a devout man. The scripture says it. Highly pious, religious. And he's asking God, how? How can I know? And the Lord says, you go ask for Simon. I'm working on him, if you will. He's gone to the Samaritans. He's living with the tenor. He's learning something about my love for the world. And go and ask him. Here comes Simon. I perceive, I see, now my eyes are being open. God will reach anybody. From the cocaine addict to the devout person who sent his kids to Christian school and everything in between. Why? Because we all need the same Savior, Jesus Christ. That's how it works. And so that's what's going on here. And he says, this is what's going on. I was sent to tell you. He says, I was sent to share this. Verse 42, he commanded us to preach to the people to testify that it is he who was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him, all the prophets witnessed that through his name, whoever believes in him will receive remission of sin. All of us need Jesus Christ. And what's going on? Well, while Peter's still speaking, verse 44, speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word and those of the circumcision, the Jewish believers were astonished. As many as came with Peter because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues, magnify God, and Peter answered, can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized? Who have received the Holy Spirit, just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days. We've already seen in chapter two, the day of Pentecost. We've also seen how the Samaritans had been baptized in the spirit of God. And now what we have is called the Pentecost for the Gentiles. The Holy Spirit baptized them as they were listening. They were believing even as they were listening. And the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and magnified God. And they were baptized because they had been saved. And one last thing in verse 48, they asked him to stay a few days. Why? Because they wanted to know more. When I got saved, I wanted to know more. It wasn't enough to just know I'd been saved. I wanna know more. I wanna know more about God. And from that journey back then to where I am right now, it's always been motivated by the same thing. I just wanna know him, but I wanna know more about him. And I've been teaching since around September of 1973. This month I mark as my 50th anniversary of opening this book and talking about Jesus Christ because I want to know more. And I want you to know more about him too. That's what is called the Christian faith. They received Christ. They were baptized in the Holy Spirit. They were water baptized, but they said, tell us more, we wanna know. And Father, I ask that that would be the heart of every one of us in this room. Everyone who's listening right now on the net, those who will hear later on that we may know more. Even as our eyes are closed, our heads are bowed, there may be some right now that can run anywhere between the spectrum of somebody very good like Cornelius was or somebody who's very evil. But you have one thing in common that Cornelius had in his household, she needs the Lord. And you've heard the word. And if you need to get right with God, you can. As our eyes are closed and our heads are bowed, if you need to get right with the Lord even right now and you need prayer, would you raise your hand and let me pray for you right where you're at? Raise it so I can see you. Father, you see these hands. You know the reason why these hands are being raised to you right now. In Jesus' name, I ask that you would reach down and touch each person whose hand is raised, do a work in them, wash them, cleanse them, forgive them and fill them with your presence. And may they have, from this day on, may they have a hunker to know you, a growing love for you and may they even have a passion for you. Forgive and wash, cleanse and make new.  Set them free, set them free. And use them for your glory. Thank you. You can put your hands down. And there may be some now who are going through a physical problem and you would like prayer for healing. Our God is a healing God. And if you would like me to pray on your behalf, would you raise your hand that we might pray for you? Father, you see these hands. You know what's going on in these bodies. God, you are the healing God. I just ask that you would do the work according to your will and according to your power. Lord, we just would ask that you would touch and bring healing. We receive by faith and say, yes, Lord, please touch our bodies, bring healing and you get all the glory. And we thank you, Lord. Thank you. You can put your hands down. And Jesus, I ask you to keep moving in every one of us. Lord, fire yourself through us. In your name, we pray, amen. Let's all stand. Amen. We'll close with a prayer and a song. I had mentioned recently a friend of mine named Bill. I had mentioned he's a friend that I've had the longest friendship. We were in kindergarten together and we became friends as dear friends when we were about nine years old.  And I wanted to share with you that I talked to him this week and he said that the doctor was a Christian man and he and the doctor were able to talk about the Lord together and pray and all of that. And before he went in for his operation, Bill owns a small boat and he said, he said, you know, we always name our boats. He said several, he said, and I had a dream and the dream was second chance. So he said, so I put second chance on the boat. He said, not knowing why, then I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and the chances of survival are very slim with pancreatic cancer. He says, but we went in, the doctor had to remove his like a third or two thirds of his pancreas. He had to remove some of his intestines, his gallbladder. He said, but when he came out of surgery, the doctor said, we got it all. And I just want to keep him in prayer again. Thank God, thank God, because he's very dear to me. His friendship has been meaningful for many, many years. And I had mentioned this to you. So thank you for any of you who lifted up a prayer on his behalf. I'm sure he's grateful also. And Father, we thank you for your good hand.


Hi, Jerry Murkulski again, story threading for Unfinished 21, and if my previous story threading adventures were a little much, this one is going to blow your mind, because Tracy and Erin were fabulous and there was just endless material here to work with. So let's just look around a little bit. Early on they mentioned Inayat Khan, who is a Sufi priest and is sort of the founder of Universal Sufism, the Sufi order of Inayati, and father of Velayat Inayat Khan, that's just a little briefing and passing. They also mentioned Cassius Marcellus Clay, and I didn't realize this, I had this kind of screwed up in my brain. I had Cassius Marcellus Clay in my brain as an abolitionist and an eccentric person, but I kind of had him in a way that looked like he was the father of Cassius Marcellus Clay, who is actually the father of Muhammad Ali, whose birth name was Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., but it turns out that Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. was named after this politician by his father, Herman Heaton Clay. So Cassius Marcellus Clay, the politician, is white and an abolitionist, but kind of not quite sure, because Muhammad Ali drops his name and takes a Muslim name when he converts to Islam, and feels like his original name is in fact a slaveholder name. So there's a whole digression there for a minute here, but kind of worth going through it, and also this conversation caused me to go fix things that weren't actually quite right in my brain. Early on, they talk about Thich Nhat Hanh, who is a personal hero of mine. I never got to meet him, but several friends of mine went to Plum Village and spent time on retreat there, and one of my favorite, favorite, favorite ways of being in the world, which is going to cut in now into some of this narrative, comes from Thich Nhat Hanh, and this is the idea of deep listening and loving speech. It connects up to listening well, but this is a particular way of being in the world, and so I've connected deep listening to common themes across the unfinished 21 sessions, but not so much the other. And Thai also, there's also a lot of other really interesting things and ways in which Thai was connected into this session. Let's go back to Tracy and Aaron, here we go. And in fact, Tracy, let me go and actually talk about Tracy and Aaron separately, as I'm doing each time. So Tracy has his own agency, is a practicing Buddhist, and is married to Cecile Berenzma, who is a literary agent and comes up in the session early because she was Thai's literary agent, which is really interesting. So there's sort of loops upon loops here. Then Aaron, who is also known as Brotherful Filment, is a kind of retired Buddhist monk, who is now a Dharma teacher, and here's his Twitter account at Brotherful Filment. Tracy also mentioned Vipassana Sitt, and Vipassana was already in my brain. I have never done a Vipassana Sitt, but it's been on my to-do list for a long time. He also mentioned S.N. Golinka, who is kind of the fellow who recorded the original meditations that are part of the Vipassana process and started this whole thing. You can actually go do Vipassana for free at a Vipassana center around the world. You just need to find a schedule and go to it. And then Tracy also mentioned a kind of meditation called Shikantaza, which I had never heard of. I knew about Sokto, which is the school that it comes from in Japanese Buddhism, but I didn't realize that Shikantaza was sort of like sitting Zen or Zazen in Buddhism. These are kind of different versions of similar sorts of things, but in Shikantaza you don't have an object you just sit and meditate in emptiness, which was really interesting. I put that, oh, and you'll see that I also put Shikantaza under Types of Meditation. This may entertain some people. Here's Hugging Meditation, Insight Meditation, Kamantana, which comes from the Thai forest tradition, which is interesting in and of itself as part of Theravada Buddhism. And here are some practitioners of the Thai forest tradition. And I don't know, I couldn't tell you a thing about Ajansau Kantathilo, but that he's in my brain and we can go back and look around. But Types of Meditation is also under Meditation, of course, which is broadly about, it's a psychotechnology and relaxation technique. It's a discipline that gives you a height in the state of awareness and so on and so forth. This is all about meditation, but also you may be amused to know that at some point years ago I realized I had many, many types of thoughts. So I created a meta-thought called just Types. And so here's Types of Advertising, Types of Addiction, Types of Activism. So if I go to Types of Addiction, for example, there should be process and substance addictions. And then under Substance Addictions, you should find drug addictions and alcohol and all those kinds of things. But if I go back to Types, you will note that these are alphabetic. And I'm just going here, well, Types of starts most of them. This is just Types of A. This is a scroll bar down here. So all of these are Types, Types of Band, Types of Bird, Types of Break, Types of Doctor, Types of Engine, Types of Knot, Types of Knife, Types of Photography, Types of Pasta. I've just been scrolling things away in this brain for 23 years. And this is what happens. So let's go back to Tracy and Aaron, because they said a lot of super interesting things. And this is all plot spoilers for their conversation. So if you haven't watched the video yet, please watch it before listening to the rest of this. So one of the things that hit me really hard was when Tracy says, toward the end of the session, American black men, our names are really traumatizing. And in particular, he says, I have the name of my great-great-grandmother's rapist. And that's just, I just had to sit with that. That hit me really hard. And I was trying to figure out what that meant in his life and how that goes. He also talked about his vipassana sit. So when he had his first vipassana sit, he left the sit of vegetarian and a tea totaler. And then also, I should connect this over here, because on day four of Tracy's sit, his passed away mother came and sponged away his pain. And he had chronic pain, so let me figure out, here we go. I can connect it to Tracy's athletic pursuits, left him with chronic pain, which I already had there obviously from my notes. But this was a really significant and riveting moment in the story of Tracy's life. And that made me realize that he was an athlete. He did all sorts of sports. He got beat up a lot. He also did rugby, which is particularly punishing sport because it's like football without the pads, only among gentlemen. And it made me realize that his injuries weren't tissue that needed demand, but in much of his body, joints that were holding pain. And so there's this whole notion, here's back to the thought about their conversation. There's this notion that our bodies hold trauma. And the most famous book on this is called The Body Keeps the Score, Brain, Mind, and Body and the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Fanderkulk, who is an expert on trauma. In fact, I have a thought with lots and lots and lots of material called Healing from Trauma, where I have other people who are experts on trauma like Jim Gordon, Irene Lyon, Gabor Mate is here somewhere. Where are you, Gabor? There he is. Kathy Kane, Peter Levine. I have a lot of things on Gabor Mate. So here he is. Here's his son, Aaron Mate.  And I recommend, unfortunately, I recommend all of these. One of my favorite experts in trauma died long ago. She was a Swiss psychotherapist named Alice Miller, who wrote a famous book called Drama of the Gifted Child. Here we go, The Drama of the Gifted Child, Das Drama des Begabten Kindes. And a very early girlfriend of mine introduced me to this book and to Alice Miller's thinking. And changed my brain, changed my mind many, many years ago. So end of this little digression. Let's go back to the conversation and pick up another thread. He also talked about the wide awakes. And I had the wide awakes in my brain.  So the question, who would the wide awakes be now, was really, really interesting to me. But the wide awakes were a youth movement way back in the day that helped get Abraham Lincoln elected. They were abolitionists. They wore oil skins and carried lamps, which were kind of distinctive. And this whole thing is really interesting. So here's a New York Times article titled A Civil War Political Movement Reawakens, Complete with Capes. So I was thrilled that the wide awakes were playing a role in this conversation because movements are really important right now. We're busy trying to figure out what should we do next, right? And movements can be pretty negative. Adolf Hitler comes to power because of movements as well and because of a lot of other things that happened before him. But there are a lot of really positive movements happening in the world right now, and I'm thrilled about those. Then there's a fun anecdote about nuns who had been abstaining from sweets and all sorts of things and got buzzed eating ice cream and having the sugar in ice cream. But I think I'll let this conversation sit at this point. There's plenty more about Chi and an artist named Hank Willis Thomas, who I did not have in my brain, but added and went and researched some about him. Here's a video of him talking about how artists should be working in society subconscious. And that is a talk he gave at 99U, and I have a bunch of other 99U talks listed in here. So Jerry Mikulski again, sorry, threading for Unfinished 2021. And happy to be on this journey with you.