Live Free with Josh Howerton - The Door to the Kingdom // Acts 11:1-18

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

Have you ever felt questioned for breaking the status quo? Today, we follow Peter’s return to Jerusalem after sharing the Gospel with Gentiles in Caesarea, only to face skepticism from fellow believers. Peter explains the vision he received from God and the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit among the Gentiles, revealing that God’s love and salvation are for everyone. This encounter is a powerful turning point, marking the inclusivity of the early church and affirming that it is the Holy Spirit—not race or tradition—that unites us as one family in Christ. Let’s live with gratitude today, knowing that the door to God’s kingdom is open to all.   For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. What is up? Thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive on this Black Friday. Maybe you're listening to this on your way to snag that 50% off must have Christmas gift. Or maybe you're on the couch still comatose from all the turkey yesterday. Wherever you are and however you're listening, welcome on this Friday. We've been going through the book of Acts here on the Daily Drive. It's the history of the early church. And we've been watching how the promised Holy Spirit just blows into their lives. And all kinds of people come to know and follow Jesus. And now the good news of God's love starts spreading from Jerusalem

to Judea to Samaria and now to the ends of the earth. We spent a few episodes hanging in chapter 10, a remarkable hinge point in the Book of Acts where we discover that this good news is not just for one select group of people but for everyone. The

door to the kingdom of God has flung open wide for anyone who will do a 180 and turn toward God and believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and follow him. In chapter 10, we saw Peter, who was one of the original disciples of Jesus, and a leader in this new thing called the church, he has this vision from God trying to tell him that all foods are edible, that what he had been taught was, quote-unquote, unclean, was okay. But this vision was not so much about food. It was really about people and the inclusivity of the kingdom of God.

God was trying to tell him that the non-Jewish outsiders, the ones known as the Gentiles, were now in through Jesus. So he goes to a city on the coast called Cessaria and meets a Roman military guy named Cornelius, a guy who was considered one of those outsiders, and Peter also finds a packed house full of outsiders waiting for him. So he takes a deep breath, he walks in, talks about it, everybody knows that each people group frowns on associating with the other, and how even walking into their house was a strict no-no for a Jewish guy like him. But then he tells him how God's been correct in his thinking, and how he now sees the good news of Jesus is for everyone. everyone, that there is racial diversity, not division in God's family. So Peter tells them all

about Jesus, and guess what happens? They all believe. The Holy Spirit verifies their conversion, and they all get baptized, and Peter stays and eats and hangs out with them for a few days. It is such a cool story of how the door to the kingdom of God is wide open to anyone who believes. Well, in Chapter 11, Peter gets back to Jerusalem, and the folks are not happy. with him. I mean, there's no social media, no cell phones, but news like this tends to travel fast. So Peter walks in, and they confront him with one of those, what were you thinking kind of moments? Ever had a parent or a boss or a spouse confront you with one of those? Look at what it says in Acts chapter 11, verse 3. It says, dude, I added that, because it feels like a dude moment.

Dude, you entered the home of the Gentiles. You even ate with them. What were you thinking? You know the rules. How could you do that? And then Peter explains what happens. He goes through the whole thing, the vision that God gave him, and the vision that God gave Cornelius and the trip over to Cesarea walking into a packed house. And then he tells them, hey, these six guys that went with me,

they could tell you all about it. It was absolutely amazing. The Holy Spirit fell on them, the outsiders, just like he fell on us. And they were baptized in Christ, I'm finally learning that it's always been God's plan for everyone to come home. And so who am I, the stand in the way of his plan?

Verse 18 says this. When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. And they said, we can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life. And, gang, this is an important turning point for the early church. It's where we see that the Holy Spirit is the marker of God's people, not race, not heritage, not religious rituals, Jesus is the unifier of his people across racial and cultural divides. Now, even though Peter was used in this instance with those known as the Gentiles,

he would carry primarily the news of Jesus to his fellow Jews. And there was another Jewish guy named Saul, whose name has changed to Paul, who was chosen by God to primarily take the gospel to the Gentiles or the rest of the people. And I love what Paul writes in one of his letters to a mainly Gentile church. in the city of Ephesus. He says this, don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You lived in this world without God and without hope, but now you've been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people

when in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that's severed. separated us. Now all can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. And I am literally forever grateful for that truth, aren't you? So the door to the kingdom of God is flung wide open as these former outsiders, like us, are now coming to Christ and being welcomed into the family, this new community called the Church. And here in Chapter 11, we see how the good news has already traveled about 300 miles north of Jerusalem to a a place known as Antioch. It was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, a city heavenly influenced by Roman and Greek culture and their variety of pagan gods. It was a crazy and dark culture.

But lots of people there, these outsiders, were hearing about Jesus and his light and connecting to the true and living God and their lives were changing. And it's here that we get introduced to one of my favorite guys in all the Bible. I mean, even though this guy is not as famous as Some doesn't get as much ink as some. Because of this guy, the good news of God's love eventually makes it all the way to us. So I want to spend some time, not next week, but the following week, talking all about him. But just live gratefully today that the wall has been torn down. And the door to the kingdom of heaven has been opened to you.

Hey, my man, the amazing Carlos will be sitting in next Monday. So make sure you tune in every day to hear what God has to say through him. and I hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point,

visit lakepoint. compt.church slash daily drive. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out.