Never Say Never | Representing Christ Well

1:59 So the book of Acts. It's the work of the Holy Spirit that happened through the lives of ordinary people. It was the Spirit of God working through the Word of God in the hearts of the people of God. And it was said of them that they turned their world upside down. Well now in the book of Acts we have sort of a shifting of the gear, if you will. and there's a change in the strategy of the church where they now seem to get a better understanding of the simple fact that they were to take the gospel to everyone. Acts chapter 10, go over to verse nine. The next day as Cornelius' messengers were nearing the city, Peter's up on the flat roof to pray. It's around noon, he's hungry, hungry. He was hungry, not hungry. And while lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance. And he saw the sky open and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners.

2:55 And in the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. And then a voice said to him, get up, Peter, kill and eat them. Verse 14, never, Lord, Peter declared. Hey, if you have a pen, underline those two words. Never, Lord, we'll come back to them. I have never in all of my life eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws. The voice spoke again. Instead of something God says is acceptable, don't say it isn't. Okay, we'll stop there. And so the idea here is this is not about food. This is about people. This sheet with all of these critters that were on it is a metaphor that God is giving to Peter and he's saying leave your comfort zone and go to a new group of people, specifically the Gentiles. And it's interesting that this happened in a place called Joppa. Does Joppa ring a bell with any of you Bible students?

3:51 Of course you remember the story of Jonah. And God called Jonah to take God's message to the people of Nineveh who were renowned for their wickedness and cruelty. And Jonah flat out refused and he got a boat going in the opposite direction from a little place called Joppa. I've been to Joppa. It's a seaport in Israel. And it's a beautiful little spot, actually. And so there at Joppa, Jonah ran from God. You know the rest of the story. A great storm came, and he was thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish. Ultimately, he repented and was given a second chance and went to Nineveh and preached to them, and a great spiritual awakening broke out. But it's interesting, it's Joppa. Joppa's the place where God was directing Jonah, and now Peter, to go to people they were not necessarily comfortable with. So here's a challenge I have for you. Would you take the gospel to people who have hurt you? Would you take the gospel to people who have offended you? Would you take the gospel to people who have mistreated you, or people you're not comfortable with, or people you don't even necessarily want to be with? Go to them with the gospel. That's effectively what Peter was being commanded to do.

5:13 And so he obeyed the Lord. Unlike Jonah, who went the wrong way, but got rerouted and eventually got it right, Peter did immediately what God called him to do. Go to Acts 10 verse 24. They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for him and called together his relatives and close friends to meet Peter. Peter entered his home and Cornelius fell to the floor before him in worship. Peter pulled him up and said, stand up. I'm a human being like you. Cornelius got up and they talked together and went inside where the others were assembled. And Peter said, you know, it's against the Jewish laws for me to come into a Gentile home like this. But God has shown me that I should never think of anyone as impure. So I came as soon as I was sent for. And Peter preaches the gospel to Cornelius. And the result was he is converted. Think of what God can do to the life of one person.

6:10 You know, Chuck Smith once said to me, Greg, everything in life is preparation for something else. And God was getting Peter ready. And God is getting you ready for something unexpected that's going to happen in your life. But you have a choice. you can be a Jonah or you can be a Peter. You can either run from it or you can run to it. Speaking of Chuck Smith, Chuck was a pastor, not an especially successful pastor. By his own admission, he had struggled and gone to a few churches. This is in the late 60s now and the whole counterculture movement is happening and all the kids are turning to drugs. The country is in chaos and there's riots in the streets and division. That's unbelievable. And so his wife Kay, Chuck's wife Kay, says, you know, honey, we should start praying for these kids. Chuck wanted nothing to do with these counterculture kids. He thought they all needed a haircut, a shower, and they needed to get a job, right? And I was one of those kids. And by the way, I was a clean hippie.

7:20 I showered every day and I ironed my clothes. That was very unhippie of me, but I did that anyway. Just wanted to point that out. So Kay said, let's start praying for them, Chuck. So they would go down to Huntington Beach and they would sit there in their car and all these young kids are walking around on the streets doing drugs and everything else. And they're praying, Lord, touch them. And Chuck still, his heart was pretty hard to the whole idea. But then it started to soften and they said, Lord, all right, help us. How do we do this? Send us a hippie. And one day, lo and behold, knocking on their door, a genuine living, breathing hippie appears. And he was a Christian. And so pretty soon they opened up their church, Calvary Chapel, to all these young kids. Well, some of the old folks weren't that excited about it. And so the hippies would sit on one side of the church and the old folks would sit on the other side of the church. But more and more young people started coming and Chuck was very excited to see them having their lives changed.

8:18 But the problem was the kids were coming in and sitting in the seats and they're those little holders for communion cups. They were poking their toes up through them and they're barefoot. And so the elders came to Chuck and said, Chuck, we can't have these hippies in the church barefoot. They have to wear shoes. And because we just laid new carpet and it was avocado green shag carpet, right? So the next Sunday, Chuck is in the foyer, the entrance of the church with a wash basin and a cloth to wash the feet of all the hippies. saw the elders said, okay, we get the message. And a revival broke out. It was a literal spiritual awakening. And we call it the Jesus Movement. And it impacted not just California, but the country and the world. Because one man. One man was able to overcome his prejudice, overcome his hang-ups.

9:14 Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of this message in just a moment. Have you downloaded the Harvest Plus app yet? This is an amazing resource. It has so much to offer. And really, every one of our listeners should have this. Well, on all of their devices, you can download the app for your phone, Android and iOS. You can download it for a tablet. You can download it for your TV. and it's so full of great material. First of all, it has all of my sermons that I'm presently in, and ones I've given in the past. It has also our movies. You know, we've done a number of really outstanding films, including Steve McQueen, The Salvation of an American Icon. We have another one on Johnny Cash called Johnny Cash, The Redemption of an American Icon. We have another one that's called A Rush of Hope, and in many more films that you can watch, and we're acquiring new films and we're expanding our film library. But as they say in those commercials, but wait, there's more. We also feature videos from Pastor Chuck Smith. We have all of the cartoons that we did for Ben Born Again and Yellow Dog for your kids. And then the new Greg Laurie show, which is our podcast. So download the Harvest app and you will have all of these great spiritual resources at your fingertips to watch when you want to watch them or listen when you want to listen.

10:46 So download the Harvest Plus app now. It's free. Well, we're getting some important encouragement today to share the gospel, even with unfamiliar people, even with those outside of our comfort zones. Pastor Greg points out how God prepared Peter to do just that. God was getting Peter ready to bring this message. And he obeyed. Now here's the thing. Let me come back to that early statement of Peter. Never Lord. Never Lord, he says. Those are two words that do not go together. Yes and Lord go together. Where Lord goes together. When Lord even goes together. You can even throw in why, Lord, if you like. But never say never to the Lord. That's why the title of this message is Never Say Never.

11:43 Really, when you say never, Lord, or no, Lord, that is what I would call an oxymoron. You know what an oxymoron is, right? Here's an oxymoron, jumbo shrimp. Jumbo shrimp, how can it be shrimp and be jumbo? Or how about this one? Virtual reality. That's very popular now with the metaverse. But is it really reality if it's virtual? Here's another. Civil war. How do you have a civil war? Here's another. Deafening silence. If it's silence, how can it be deafening? Here's another. Genuine imitation. Here's two more. Airline food. That's an oxymoron. And one more. Government efficiency. Right. Never, Lord. Never say never. You can say why, Lord. You can say where, Lord. You can say when, Lord. But never say never, Lord. Because God's plan is better than your plan. And you should never be afraid to commit an unknown future to a known God. Now let's be honest. There are times we don't understand, like, or even agree with God's plan. Has the Lord ever led you to do anything you didn't necessarily want to do? We've all had times that, really, Lord? You really want me to do that? I don't know. I'm not comfortable with that. Even Jesus struggled with the will of the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. You recall that as He contemplated the hordes of Calvary which were coming.

13:20 He knew all things that were about to happen. Being God, he knew that his beard would be ripped from his face. He knew his back would be lashed with a Roman whip. He knew that he would be struck repeatedly. He knew that he would be nailed to a cross, but worst of all, he who would never sinned knew that he would have to bear all of the sin of humanity for all time upon himself. and that meant that as he faced the judgment of God that he would be temporarily separated from his father and he recoiled from that. And in the Garden of Gethsemane he prayed, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Dr. Luke gives us the detail that Jesus sweat as it were great drops of blood. Some medical experts think this may have been describing what is known as hematidrosis, where when a person is under intense pressure, their perspiration is actually mixed with droplets of blood.

14:26 This may be what Christ was experiencing, but whatever it was, he actually said to the Father, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass if there's any other way. Let's go that way. But then he says, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. You know, it's okay to pray for the cup to pass. Maybe you're going through a time of hardship right now. And you're saying, Lord, it's enough. Could you just make this stop? Could you get me through this? Could you bring an end to this? It's okay to pray that. And sometimes God will let the cup pass. Sometimes God will still the storm. Sometimes God will heal the sick person or even raise the person from the dead. But other times he will not do that. And it is in those times that he'll walk with us through the hardships of life and we'll see him on the other side.

15:22 You know, no life is an unfinished life. We think success is a long life. Actress and comedian Betty White died at the age of 99. They had actually done a People Magazine cover story in her, Betty White reaches 100. But unfortunately, she didn't make it to 100. But I saw many, many articles celebrating the life of Betty White. Because we think, isn't that great? She made it to 99. That's the ultimate goal, to live a long life. Well, that is a fine thing. But success is not necessarily a long life. Success is a life that is lived for the glory of God. Even if it's a shorter life, if it's lived for God's glory, it's still a success, you see. because as Corrie Ten Boom said, a life is measured not so much by its duration but by its donation, you see?

16:16 So there are times things don't make sense. Stephen was the first martyr of the early church. What a tragedy. A life cut short. An unfinished life. But was it? Only God knows these things. But what we must do, live as though it were your last year. What if it is? What if the Lord said, you're done and you're coming to heaven? Or the Lord said, I'm done, I'm coming back to earth and taking you back to heaven. Whatever it is, live it as though it were your last year. I'm not saying this to depress you. I'm saying this to motivate you. Like, yeah, let's make this year count. Let's make every month count. Let's make every week count. I'm gonna recommit myself to bring glory to God and say to the Lord, not my will, but yours be done. If you're a true Christian, you cannot say, never, Lord. Instead, you should say, yes, Lord. Is God calling you to reach out to someone right now? Is God calling you to forgive someone right now? I encourage you to do that. Who is that Cornelius that God wants you to reach with the gospel, to build a bridge to. Listen, God is preparing you to bring the gospel to people, so respond to those opportunities. Maybe I'm talking to somebody who has been seeking God, like Cornelius. You know, you've responded to what you know. You've responded to as much light as you've received. But I want to finish it for you. My wife is putting a puzzle together, And I don't know why she puts puzzles together.

17:57 But she does. She loves it. Someone gave her a puzzle for Christmas. So she works on it every night. And I look at it and I think, why? Just why? Who cares? You know, but she likes it. And now it's starting to take shape. And you can kind of see what image is going to be there on the puzzle. And so maybe that's a description of your life. You're sort of putting the puzzle together. But there's these missing pieces that don't make sense. that was Cornelius. I know there's a God. I know it's not the God of Rome. I know it's not these false gods. I know it's not being in power because I have all that and I know that's not the answer. I know it's out there somewhere. He was a true seeker. And the Lord said, I see that seeker. And the Lord revealed himself and gave him the gospel and gave him the missing pieces to the puzzle. And Cornelius believed. Here's the missing pieces to the puzzle. Yes, you were made by God. Yes, you are here to glorify God.

18:53 Yes, you can know God, but you must reach out to him, call out to him. And as the Lord says, those that seek me will find me. And in closing, if there's anybody here that needs to reach out to God and ask for his forgiveness, this is the moment to do it. If there's anybody here that needs to recommit themselves to the Lord, this is the time and the place to do it. So let's pray. Father, thank you for your word to us. Thank you for your love for us. And I'm praying for any person listening, maybe they're here or watching online, wherever they are, Lord, if they don't know you, help them to come to you and believe. Listen, just as surely as Cornelius reached out and believed, you can reach out and believe now and be forgiven of all of your sin. And if you've never asked Christ to come into your life, if you've never asked him to forgive you of your sin, if you don't know that you will go to heaven one day, you can make a commitment to him here.

19:55 And I'm gonna lead you in a simple prayer. And if you wanna pray this prayer with me, this is a prayer of committing your life to Jesus. Just pray these words, Lord Jesus. I know that I am a sinner, but I know you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I choose to follow you. I want to know your plan for my life. I ask you to come into my life. And I ask this now in Jesus' name. Amen.

21:50 Isn't that right? Absolutely. When you invest in Harvest Ministries, you're investing in the souls of men and women, boys and girls. And what is the value of a soul? Well, let me personalize it. What's the value of your soul? What's the value of the soul of your husband, your wife, your son, or your daughter, or your mom or your dad, or your best friend? Well, I would say you probably couldn't put a price tag on it. It's so valuable. Well, listen, God says all souls are mine. God loves us and sent his son to die on the cross to pay the price for all of our sins so we could be forgiven and come into a relationship with him. I can't think of a better investment of my resources, of my money, than in the work of the kingdom of God. So we would ask you to prayerfully consider investing and Harvest Ministries as we continue on to fulfill the Great Commission.

23:27 Isn't that right? Absolutely. When you invest in Harvest Ministries, you're investing in the souls of men and women, boys and girls. And what is the value of a soul? Well, let me personalize it. What's the value of your soul? What's the value of the soul of your husband, your wife, your son, or your daughter, or your mom or your dad, or your best friend? Well, I would say you probably couldn't put a price tag on it. It's so valuable. Well, listen, God says all souls are mine. God loves us and sent his son to die on the cross to pay the price for all of our sins so we could be forgiven and come into a relationship with Him. I can't think of a better investment of my resources, of my money, than in the work of the kingdom of God. So we would ask you to prayerfully consider investing in Harvest Ministries as we continue on to fulfill the Great Commission.