Don't Give Up On People | Pastor Derick Amsler

You can grab your Bibles and go with me to Acts, chapter 10. Acts, chapter 10. While you're going there, I wanted to give you the theology behind today's thesis. It's important that you know where we're going and why we're going. Did you know that we are people who tend to need a reason to walk into a season?

You know, like, seasons are gonna come and go, but for many of us, we need a reason to walk into a season. That's why you're not gonna think about working out now until January comes, right it on your New Year's resolution when January comes. But until then, your boy's gonna eat some nachos. And then we wait until Valentine's Day before we do what we ought to do, and that is be romantic and try to riz up our spouse or whatever. And then we wait until November to learn to have a spirit of gratitude.

We just need a reason to walk into a season. And that's what next week is really all about. Welcome home. It's just a reason for us to invite people into a new season that God wants to do in their. And so next week, it's not just marketing.

No, no, no. It is a reason for us to drop some of the excuses and believe in people again. How many of you could say I was a little bit stubborn before I gave my life to Jesus? Come on. Anybody?

Anybody? A little stubborn? Some of you are looking at your spouse like, no, honey, you are a lot of stubborn. You are a lot of stubborn. And thank God for people who never gave up on us.

And so we don't want to give up on people that God's heart beats for. Come on, are you ready for today? Acts, chapter 10. Acts, chapter 10. Several years ago, my wife was out of town doing something.

And then my kids were experiencing a real life miracle. Guys, like, I don't have time to get into it, but here they were outside getting along. It was amazing. Never happened since, but. But on that particular day, it was happening.

So my wife's out of town. My kids are outside playing, getting along. And I thought, hey, this would be a great time for me to put together some of their Christmas gifts. So I go into my bedroom and I shut the door, and you know what happened right there? Kids see a shut door as an invitation for interrogation.

You know, I'm talking about as soon as they heard that door click, somehow the universe told them to. Dad would like to be bothered right this second. And so they run up and they're knocking on the door Like Daddy. I said, guys, what do you need? Daddy, what you doing?

What you doing? I said, don't worry about it. Go outside. Go play. Daddy.

Daddy, what you doing? I'm working. Daddy, what you doing? I'm busy. Leave me alone.

Go outside. Go play. And parents, you know what I'm talking about with the little kids. Their lips come, come from under the door. Daddy, what are you doing?

I'm working. Don't worry about it. Their mom gets home, Jessica gets home, who is also my wife, just so we're clear. Jessica gets home and says, where's the daddy? And the kids say, he's been upstairs in a room not doing nothing.

He's being lazy. Won't play with us. I thought. What are you talking about? They were right about the shut door.

They were wrong about what the shut door was saying. Because behind that door, I was preparing a gift for them. And it has me thinking. How many times do we assume that God's tangible expression or God's tangible miraculous power has neglected us because we can't see past what we see in the natural? So we assume a shut door Is God neglecting our prayers?

We assume an unanswered prayer quickly is a sign that God is no longer interested in us in our season. That prayer somehow has gone out of business. How many times have we given up on somebody because we've been praying for them and praying for them and praying for them and inviting them, but there's no tangible evidence that they're coming around. So we assume God is giving up on them. And as soon as we feel like God has given up on somebody, we give up on them, too.

But what if, behind that door, God is working behind the scenes? When we come to Acts, chapter 10, it's a story of two different men in two different parts of the world, 30 miles apart. Not only would they have never known each other, it would have been scandalous for them to develop a relationship, a friendship. It would have been. It would have been borderline illegal for this to take place.

And Luke, who's the author of Acts, he tells us these two different camera angles all in one chapter. I hope you read every detail for it yourself tonight. Luke, chapter 10.

Caesarea, which would have been the Roman capital of Judea, this would have been a highly impactful military base. Herod lived there. There was a massive monument to Caesar himself, Declari Caesar, the emperor as Lord. This was their military base. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in the Italian regiment.

A centurion was a commander of the army. He probably led at least 100 individuals. So this is a man of authority, with authority. He's used to exercising authority. He and his entire family were devout and God fearing.

He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. Now, when the Bible says that Cornelius was God fearing, don't hear Christian. He's not a Christian. He just fears God. He has come to the place in his life where he believes that the God of the Israelites is the one true God.

Bigger and greater and stronger than the gods of Rome. Rome believed in a plethora of gods. They had many different gods for many different things. But Cornelius has come to the realization that there is God, one God, and it's the God of the Israelites. So he's sincere in his belief that there's a higher power.

He's sincere in his belief that there's a God out there. He's sincere in his belief that all of this isn't by happenstance or accident. Yeah, I believe there's gotta be a God out there. The problem is he is sincere. He is just not surrendered.

He doesn't know anything about Jesus or the cross or the resurrection. He has yet to discover that the God he's been reaching to with his prayers and this God has already been reaching out to him through the person of Jesus.

On one day, about three in the afternoon, he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God. Think about that. Think about how terrifying that must have been. We're not talking about a little chubby baby eating cream cheese, floating down on a cloud from heaven, playing a harp.

Little. Little angel. No, no. We're talking about an angel of the Lord of hosts. Every time an angel shows up to a.

To. To. To someone on earth, their first words are fear not or don't be afraid. I mean, think about. You are seeing this angelic being dispatched from the very throne room of God, shining in glory not their own, but as a reflection of the splendor of God who sits on the throne himself.

An angel of God appears to Cornelius. He came to him and he said, cornelius, your prayers and your gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial of before God. As an aside, God always notices what leaves your hand on his behalf. So this man has an encounter with an angel of God. Think about that.

Think about his own state of being. He's been praying. He's been believing. He's got questions. I believe there's a God.

I just don't know his name. I believe there's a God. I don't know how to have access to him. I believe there's a God. I just don't know what to do with all of this.

I believe I still have a lot of unbelief. He's got questions. He's wrestling. Got questions he's wrestling. An angel of the Lord appears to him.

Think about what the angel knows. The angel has seen the manifested wisdom of God throughout all of history. This angel was there at Genesis, chapter one, verse one. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He was there.

He saw God hang the stars in the sky and call them by name, parted the waters, called them oceans, rivers and lakes. Think about everything miraculous this angelic being of heaven has witnessed with his own eyes. And he has come to Cornelius with a message. What's the message? The message.

Cornelius now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with another man named Simon, who's the tanner, whose house is by the sea. Can we just admit that is a huge letdown? That is this angelic being dispatched from the throne room of God. He has seen everything.

He has seen God. God's activity, God's wisdom, God's fingerprints upon every nuance of every detail throughout eternity, time and space. And he comes with a message. And the message is, go to Joppa and find Pete Let down. Right?

Like, wouldn't you be a little. Could you tell me if you know what he's gonna tell me? Can you just tell me? Like, you're here. I'm here.

Hi, I'm Pistol Pete. You're an angel. Let's talk about it. Like, why do I need to go all the way to Joppa, which is 30 miles away? Remember, they don't have cars back then.

So now he's got a. He's gotta walk 30 miles to go to a city he's never been. Bennett. To find some guy who's a Tanner because he's going to introduce him to another guy named Simon, who's got a nickname, Pete. It seems wildly inefficient to me.

Could we just take care of this right now? But you see what's happening? You see what's happening? An angelic being is in the room with a message. And the message is, go find Peter.

There's a message in him.

The partnership that God invites us to to share the love of Jesus and the message of Jesus that he has given us with our friends and family members and those that we do life with in proximity and work in School and neighborhood. It's not by happenstance or accident. God invites us to be about what heaven is about. There's an angelic being in the room. You know, he's holding back.

Oh, if I could just tell you. If I could just tell you. But the message is, go find Pete. There's a message in him. The invitation of partnership with God's activity is not because heaven is experiencing a staffing shortage.

They're doing all right up there. The invitation of partnership is a gift for people to discover a part of Jesus they would have never seen if it didn't come through your heart and through your time. Now send the men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who was called Peter. So now the camera angle shifts into the city of Joppa. It's a port city.

Go find Peter. He's living in Joppa, and you already know Peter. Peter is the guy with a broken resume. Remember him? He's the guy who promised Jesus, I'll never leave you, and then he left Jesus.

He's the guy who walked on water, and then he's the guy who sank in water. He's the guy who said, I've got your back, Jesus. And then he cuts a man's ear off, blaming it on Jesus. And Jesus had to correct him in front of everybody. Peter, put away your sword.

We don't cut people's ear off in my kingdom. Frank, don't do that. And this is Peter. How many of you are grateful that Peter was on the team of Jesus? Because it reminds us that God will just use about anybody.

God will use just about anybody, including me. Tell the person next to you, I cannot believe that God can use you. Just let them know. Come on. Like.

Like me. I get it. But you like, wow. Wow.

Verse 9. About noon the following day, as they were approaching the city. So Cornelius sent out three men to go to Joppa to find Peter. As. At about noon the following day, as they were approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

And while he's praying, the text says he fell into a trance. Now, don't let that word be weird to you when it says trance. It's not like he went up there to smoke something from Colorado. Okay? It's not that.

It's that. All right? And it's not like he lived in Shepherdstown, so it's not that either. And he's not.

He's not hallucinating. The Greek word here is. This is a holistic experience. So a vision is something. You see this trance in The Greek language is my body, my soul, my spirit.

All of me was called into this revelation of a moment. It's almost as if God allowed a curtain to be pulled back. And he sees beyond the natural. He sees into a supernatural realm. And he's experiencing, holistically, a divine revelation from God.

That's what this moment is. So what is the revelation? Very next verse, he saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth, containing all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds. And then a voice told him, get up, Peter. Kill and eat.

Can we just agree that's the most West Virginia thing God has ever said right there? That's the most West Virginia thing, God. Kill them and eat them, boys. Kill them and eat them. I love it.

Peter responds, surely not, Lord. Peter replied, I have not eaten anything impure or unclean. Which tells us that Peter was from Loudoun County. That's what that is right there. He knows it.

I only eat Orange Julius. And.

He's not arguing with God because these are not foods that he dislikes. He thinks he's obeying God. So from childhood, Peter would have obeyed very strict Jewish dietary rules. And so there are some things he does not eat. There are some things that he is allowed to eat.

He thinks this is a test. He thinks God's testing him. So he argues with God three times. I'm not gonna do it. And so verse 15.

Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. God said, this happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. Now, Luke doesn't immediately explain the text, so let's don't do it either. Verse 19. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the sheep goes away.

He's thinking about it, and he's thinking about it. While he's thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, three men are looking for you. Now watch this. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them. Why does God have to tell the disciple Peter to stop hesitating?

Because while he's upstairs overthinking, there's people downstairs waiting on him. The reason why God has to be so specific, stop hesitating is because of the same reasons why you and I hesitate. It's called anticipatory anxiety. It's where you're anticipating rejection or failure. And so.

And so because you're so caught up in your own anxiety or fear or insecurity, you project that rejection onto somebody else. And. And then you start making up excuses for. For the, no, they never said, oh, well, Pastor, you just don't know my brother. You just don't know my friend.

You just don't know my parents. You don't know my colleague. You don't know my. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Their heart is hardened.

They have church hurt. By the way, the next time somebody tells you that they have church hurt, tell. Tell them that they'll fit right in. The pastor's got it too. Just let them know.

Just let them know we all got it around here.

The reason God has to say it, say, stop hesitating, is because he's making up excuses for people's no. That they've not yet even extended. Isn't that crazy how we come up with our own reasons?

But while Peter is upstairs overthinking why he shouldn't go downstairs, the people downstairs are waiting him. And let me just say, I know we all have good reasons why we don't want to invite certain people. I know why we have reasons why we stop praying for certain people. Just know. I've got some really good reasons too.

And yet they're not good enough.

I'm a product that somebody didn't give up on me when I gave them every reason to think otherwise. Many of you are the same way. We all have our reasons. Maybe somebody's hurt you. It's a good reason.

It's just not a good enough reason. Maybe it's not your personality and you're more of an introvert, but there's somebody on the other side of a conversation that's waiting for an invitation for them to meet Jesus. So not only will it change their life and break generational patterns off their life, but one day we will see, sit beside them and sing the choruses of Heaven before the throne room of God. Because we got over ourself, over our personality, over our preferences. And we say, you mean more to me than my comfort.

Peter's upstairs overthinking. There's people downstairs knocking. Will you just tell me? Would you just tell. What if.

What if? We, as a community of believers, we shifted our mindset from making up reasons why people are going to reject the gospel, and we started telling ourselves the reason why they will. You want to hear a reason? It's called prevenient grace. Prevenient grace.

In theology, prevenient means coming. Put up there. It means coming or before. It means coming or before. So then prevenient grace means God's grace is that work before a person, receives, responds to him.

God is already moving on somebody's heart before you even thought to Pray for the somebody whose heart he's moving on. You know, there's this verse in the Bible that says that before our mind can even think of the need and have it trickle down to the words of our vocabulary, God was there moving before the syllables ever left our lips. That's Bible talk. Prevenient grace. God is already working on somebody's life before you even thought to pray for that somebody.

Prevenient grace that God goes before us doing the heavy lifting. All he invites us to do is to participate in extending the invitation on his behalf. God could have sent an angel with a message from heaven. Instead he says, go to Joppa and go find Peter. I'm wondering who have we given up on that God is already working on?

You say, well, you don't know them. I know his mercies are new every morning. I know that one day for me it clicked. I know one day for you it clicked. What if we went into every conversation, every classroom, every court, every field, every neighborhood with this new mindset?

God got there first. God got there first. God is already moving. God is already whispering. I don't know what dream they had last night.

I don't know what kind of prayers they've been praying in the silence of their house. I don't know what kind of fears are on the other side of that fake smile. All I know is that God got there first. And God loves people more than we love people. God got there first.

He sees this sheep, the sheep goes away. There's people down there waiting on him. God says, do not hesitate. Go with them. He goes down, they have a conversation.

Verse 24. The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius. He had called together all of his relatives and and close friends. Now we know if we just keep reading this chapter that apparently it was more than that.

Because the Bible says a large crowd assembled. So this is more than just a family reunion. A large crowd has assembled. Which makes me just think, I wonder if we've over complicated what extending an invitation is all about. Peter the apostle, the disciple of Jesus, is hesitating to the point where God's got to say stop it.

Do not hesitate. The man who doesn't even know Jesus has already got his entire tribe together, relatives and co workers and close friends, to hear a message that hesitating Peter is going to share with them. Whenever hesitating Peter gets his act together. It's this attitude. You know what?

You got to be in the room. I don't know what God's gonna do next week, but I want you to be in the room. I don't know what kind of trauma and hurts and habits and hangups that you've been hiding in the recesses and the corridors of your own soul and past experiences. All I know is that God heals, God delivers, God sets free, God speaks, God moves mountains, God opens doors. I want you in the room little as much when God is in it.

What is he gonna do next week? I don't know, but I want you there. What is pastor gonna preach? I don't know, but I want you there because when get together, things happen. What are you talking about?

That sounds weird. That's not the only thing that's weird. Peter had a trance.

What's this? He has this. Peter then walks into the house. And for time's sake, I won't read the whole thing, but he walks into the house and the people are in awe, struck. This is my moment to hear the message of heaven.

And they actually bow before him. Peter gets all embarrassed, like, no, no, no, no, get up, get up, get up. And he says, I'm just a man, right? And this is where we all come in to play. Because I'm just a man.

I'm just a dude telling other dudes about Jesus. But you know, dudes, I don't know. So we're all on the same team. Somebody's gonna hear a message of the goodness and the kindness of Jesus Christ through you at your work that I know nothing about. And to that I say, preach on, sister.

Preach on, brother. We're all people partnering with the activity of heaven by extending invitations. Peter walks into the room, they bow down. He's like, no, no, no, no, stand up. We're here to make it about Jesus, not about any individual.

And then he begins his sermon. He's going to start his sermon. Sermon. Are you ready? This is the beginning of his sermon, verse 28.

You are all well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a gentile. Well, somebody come and get Peter. That is not a way that you start a message right there. Hey, guys, I just want you to know before I open up God's word today. Normally I would never hang out with you guys.

I just wanted you to. That's what he's saying. That is what he's saying. Verse 28. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

Wait a minute. I thought the vision and the trance was about animals. In a sheep. He's saying, but God has shown me that I shall not call anyone impure. So apparently this vision, this revelation, wasn't about Peter's lunch.

It was about Peter's list. And we've all got a list. It is in our default human nature to have a list of an in group people and out group people. People in our in group are people that look like us, act like us, talk like us, believe like us, vote like us, have hobbies like us, want to do life just like us. Everybody else is free to live, just not in the corridors of my relationship.

The vision isn't about food and lunch. The vision is about fellowship and love. The problem with not intentionally breaking down our in group list or in group people is that eventually our circle begins to look like God's approval list.

So now we don't just invite people and stop praying for people because of anticipatory anxiety. It's because something small, like a seed, has gotten our soul to say, people outside my circle don't deserve it.

After all, look at what they do. After all, look at them. This is our point of agreements. Everybody who agrees with me, everybody outside of me. The vision is about God breaks down our list to remind us the whole world is on his list.

The Bible says he came to seek and save all who are lost. So Jesus loves everybody. It's exciting when everybody is theoretical. Jesus loves everybody. Yay.

Jesus loves Earl from Accounting. Boo. Nobody likes him. Nobody likes him. He never participates in the group outings.

Jesus loves Earl from Accounting. If your name's Earl, that was for you. If you're in Accounting, that's weird. Come talk to me afterwards. That's a sign from God.

The vision is that Jesus breaks down our preferences and precepts so his presence can be in partnership. God reaching people through people.

Sometimes the people that we call unreachable in our life, if we're honest, they're not unreachable. They're just unlikable. And God came to tell us, get over yourself. Because those of us who are holding people at bay because they're unlikable, Jesus still calls them lovable. Verse 34, Peter continues his message.

I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism. The good news of peace. And we are in a world desperately seeking peace. Marital peace, family peace, financial peace, peace at home, peace at work, peace for their eternity. The good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

Not just Lord of my circumstances circle, but Lord of those outside my circle. From here, Peter will explain the gospel in its fullness. And that is simply this we are all sinners in need of a Savior. Jesus Christ is the Savior who took our sins to the cross, and there he paid the full punishment and consequence for our divine treason. When we were unlovable and unlikable, he was still loving, and he came down and he took care of our sin problem on the cross.

Three days later, he rose again. Not just as proof that he's a God of the miraculous and that he has power over sin, death, hell, and the grave, but to establish a relationship with us.

And then the Bible says, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. And that's the point. You do what you can do, and then God will do what you cannot. What we cannot do is to stop doing what God wants to do, and that is love, people. So God sent an angel with a message, and the message was to go find a person with a message.

There's a message in you that the world desperately needs to hear.

The goal of this message is not for you to leave with 10 names in a guilty conscience. That's not it. That's not the goal. All right, Pastor, give it to me. No, no, no, it's not it.

The goal is for us just to open our eyes and to become aware of what God is doing beyond the natural, that he's on the other side of the door. We're angry. You're not doing anything in there, and he's behind the door saying things like, I work all things together for the glory of those who would call on me. The goal then is for us to change the way we go into conversations and going to work, going to school. What if we changed our prayer to something like this?

What if this was our prayer? Holy Spirit, help me notice where you're working and not hesitate. I don't want to hesitate. I want to sense the activity of heaven, and I want to move. So if God nudges my heart to invite, I want to be aware of it and not give them reasons why, why I shouldn't.

If I sense pain and problems, I want to move them into a conversation about prayer. Man, I see pain in your eyes. I hear problems in your circumstances. Saints, I don't know if you're a person of faith or not, but I am. And I just.

Would it offend you if I took 30 seconds right now and just prayed for you? Hey. Hey. At lunch today, hey, before I pray over the food, is there anything I can pray with you about? No, I'm good, man.

I love that I'm I'm going to pray that God just keeps on blessing you.

See how uncomplicated it is. Holy Spirit, help me to. To notice where you're working and not hesitate. God got there first. Now let me talk to everybody whose first time it is today, because if I'm you, here's what I'm thinking.

Is this what you do all the time? Just talk about me behind my back? Somebody come and get me and. No, we don't. We just talk about whatever the Bible talks about, that there's a version of you that you haven't met just yet.

And I want to introduce you to a new revelation of God and to introduce you to a you that God had in mind when he created you. So we're not talking about you behind your back. The truth is, we're talking about how to love you more authentically and joyfully and intentionally, believing that when God created you all those years ago, the Bible says that God himself formed and fashioned you in your mother's womb. He did so with a plan and purpose. And we love you enough to introduce you to that you.

Next week is welcome Home Weekend, and I'm encouraging our entire church to just prayerfully consider who should you invite, who should you pray for, and to sense the activity of God. Come on, stand up with me across this place.

Lord, we recognize that you're doing something uniquely special, not only in our lives and not only in this church in this region, but you're doing something uniquely special in the lives of people who are close to us, but currently far from your presence. But like Cornelius and like the testimony we just heard about earlier, that in. In the midnight hours, you can give a dream. So help us to look past the outward appearance and to speak to the truth of the proclamation of your word. We do not shrink back.

We do not hide our values or our beliefs, but with courage in our spirit and a promise in our tone and grace in our life. We shout Jesus from the rooftop. We shout Jesus over Martinsburg. We shout Jesus over Hagerstown and Fredericks. We shout Jesus over Amazon and Proctor and Gamble and Martinsburg High School and Winchester Avenue.

We shout the best is yet to come. Come on, put your hands in the air.

We speak his name. We speak his truth. We speak his love. We speak his grace.

Soldier Every Jesus for my family, I speak the holy name. Jesus. Come on, sing. Your name is power. Your name is power.

Your name is healing. Your name is light. The mighty name of Jesus. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadow.

Come on, let's sing it again. Your name is power? Your name is power? Your name is healing? Your name is life?

Oh, everlasting life? Break every strong.