Cornelius the Centurion | Centurion (Part 2)

[00:00:03] Speaker B: You're listening to the Travis Rutland Podcast. Travis Rutland is a spirit filled pastor and ministry leader who has been featured on International Christian Television. He serves as lead pastor of Liberty Square Church in Cartersville, Georgia and as president of Global Servants. His sermons focus on clear biblical teaching, practical truth and encouragement for everyday life. Each message is designed to strengthen your faith and draw you deeper into God's word. This podcast is brought to you you by Global Servants. For more information about Global servants, please visit globalservants.org now here's Travis Rutland. [00:00:42] Speaker A: Now this morning I'm continuing a series called Centurion. So we are looking at all the centurions in the Bible, and of course, these are only in the New Testament. Centurions were not around in the Old Testament, of course, but they are in the New. And so last week we talked about, because it was Easter, we talked about the centurion at the cross. Some of them, like that guy, doesn't have a name. So some of the centurions, their name is recorded in the New Testament. And this morning we have one of those whose name is recorded. So this morning is Cornelius. So turn, if you will, to Acts chapter 10. This is probably going to be a passage that is familiar to some of you, but I want to give us a backstory before we begin reading it so that we understand Acts chapter 10. And we're going to begin reading with verse one. But I want to give you the backstory and remind you this is the early church Jesus we talked about last week with Easter. Dead, buried, crucified, dead, buried, and then resurrected from the dead three days later. He stays with the disciples, teaching them, and then he ascends into heaven. And then on the day of Pentecost, in the upper room, the entire early church is filled with the Holy Spirit. And that gives them the power and the strength to go out and begin to change the world, preach the gospel right, go into all the world and make disciples. So they begin to do that. Pastor Chris talked about Peter and John talking to the man at the gate to the temple. And they begin to talk to people, tell people Jesus is the Messiah. And it says numbers were added to the early church daily. So the church is growing daily. Now here's the thing. By Acts chapter 10, though, I want to remind you of this. Every single person in the early church is still Jewish. So they still understand Jesus as Messiah, as savior for the Jews only. So the church has not expanded outside of its Jewish roots yet. All right, so that's important to the story on where we are now we're dealing with centurions, so I'm not going to talk about Peter's perspective in this. There's all kinds of ways that you can read and teach Scripture. We're not going to deal with Peter, but I'm going to remind you of what's happening. Peter is staying with a guy also named Simon in a town called Joppa. And Peter goes up on a roof and falls into a trance and has a vision. And in the vision, a huge blanket is lowered from heaven, and it's full of all kinds of unclean animals. So you got bacon and pork chops and all these delicious things right in this blanket, okay? And so God, a voice from heaven [00:03:08] Speaker C: says, peter, rise and eat. [00:03:10] Speaker A: And Peter says, lord, I have never eaten anything unclean. And God says, don't call anything unclean that I have cleaned. And then it's repeated a second time, and then it's repeated a third time. And Peter goes, wow, what was that about? He wakes up and it says, he's thinking about these things. And right then, there's a knock on the door, and a centurion named Cornelius has sent some servants to find Peter. But that is the story. That's the backstory. All right, so that's important to what we know about this. But we're not going to deal with Peter this morning. We want to talk about Cornelius. So turn, if you will, to Acts, chapter 10 and verse 1. This is what happens right before Simon Peter has his vision. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was 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. When he answered him, he was afraid and said, what is it, Lord? And 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 is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do. Let's pray. God, we ask in the next few moments that you will speak to us. We want to hear from you this morning. God, speak to us as clearly as you spoke to Cornelius. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. There's a phenomenon that has happened in the last, I would say, probably 10 to 15 years. I never heard of such a thing. When I was younger or even just a little while ago. But in the last maybe 10 or 12 years, there's something that has come up in most cities and it's become very popular. It's a thing called an escape room. And so in an escape room, if you've never done it, I've done it. I actually enjoy them. [00:05:12] Speaker C: I like it. [00:05:14] Speaker A: I've done them with family, I've done them with friends. We went with a men's group one time at a church I pastored. [00:05:19] Speaker C: But you basically get put into a [00:05:21] Speaker A: room, you and five, six, ten of your friends, whatever it is, you get put in a room and they give you a clue. And then you've got to figure out [00:05:29] Speaker C: a way to get out of the room. [00:05:30] Speaker A: And usually that involves entering a code into the door. [00:05:33] Speaker C: So then you find some numbers somewhere [00:05:36] Speaker A: in the room, but those aren't the numbers for the door. Those are numbers that you need for another clue. So you have to find clues, and then you find solutions to the clues. But the solution you find doesn't always match the clue. So you're constantly trying to find the right thing that opens the next thing. And then you open this desk and you find some words in there, and then those words lead you into another room and it goes on and on. Some people get really frustrated with them. [00:06:00] Speaker C: I like them. [00:06:01] Speaker A: I. I really enjoy them. This portion of the sermon is actually brought to you by Mission Escape Room right here in Cartersville. If you mention Liberty Square, you get a 15% discount. [00:06:12] Speaker C: No, please don't go up there. I don't want to get calls from Mission Escape Room tomorrow, but I enjoy them. So all that to say, though. The thing is, you have to find the right clue to unlock the solution. The same thing is true often of [00:06:29] Speaker A: stories in the Bible or books of the Bible. [00:06:31] Speaker C: I am not saying that you can't [00:06:33] Speaker A: read the Bible and be blessed and minister to and God speak to you through it. But sometimes there is a word or a phrase that unlocks a deeper meaning into something that's happening. For example, a great example of this is the Book of Hebrews. The Book of Hebrews is powerful, and you read it. But the word, in my opinion, the word that unlocks Hebrews is the word better. The writer of the Book of Hebrews, his whole ministry, his whole understanding, what he's writing about in Hebrews is to help them understand that Jesus is better than everything. Jesus is better than the law. Jesus is better than angels. Jesus is better than the temple. Jesus is better than sacrifices. This is not a sermon about the Book of Hebrews. But understanding the idea of that Jesus is better unlocks it and allows us to dig deeper into it. The same thing, in my opinion, is true about Acts chapter 10. There is a word that unlocks how we understand this centurion named Cornelius. And in my opinion, the word is all a L L all. And that's what we want to look at today. So turn back if you will, right where we were and we read a bunch of verses and we're going to read two of them again. [00:07:45] Speaker B: If you'd like to stay connected with what God is doing through Global Servants, we'd love for you to check out our free We Serve magazine. Each issue shares stories, ministry updates and photography. From our work across West Africa and through our House of Grace girls homes in Thailand and Ghana, it's a closer look at the lives being impacted and the work taking place. Through Global Servants, we publish new editions throughout the year along with our annual report each fall, so you can stay connected with the ministry year round. If you live in the us you can sign up to receive a free copy by mail and for Those outside the US digital editions are available online. Sign up today at globalservants.org weserve-magazine. [00:08:31] Speaker A: Look at Acts 10:1. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household. Cornelius feared God, but it says with all his household. That is the first key is that Cornelius Cornelius did. Someone else in his household did not encounter God. Cornelius did and his influence bled out, seeped out through his entire household. [00:09:07] Speaker C: Remember, nobody in the household is Jewish [00:09:10] Speaker A: and they're certainly not Christians in the in this term that we would use. [00:09:15] Speaker C: These are gentile pagan Romans. He is a centurion, he of the Italian regiment. [00:09:22] Speaker A: They're going to worship gods, lowercase g. [00:09:25] Speaker C: Gods like Zeus and Aphrodite. They're going to make sacrifices in pagan temples. And yet because of Cornelius, his influence has transformed that household. The question is though, where did that come from? It says he feared God and he did what he was supposed to do. I believe, talking about influence, that somebody else, he met some Jewish person there in Israel as a centurion. They told him about God or he heard what God was or who God was, and he begins worshiping the Jewish God in the best way that he can as a pagan gentile centurion. So that influence comes onto Cornelius and Cornelius influence spreads out through his entire household. He fears God with hit All. With all of his household. [00:10:13] Speaker A: Do you remember the old PSA public service announcement? We don't have these much anymore, primarily because nobody watches television anymore. [00:10:21] Speaker C: But when I was a little boy [00:10:22] Speaker A: in the 80s, everybody watched TV. There's no other way to do entertainment in your house. There was no such thing as WI fi or cell phones or anything else. [00:10:29] Speaker C: And so you had these public service [00:10:31] Speaker A: announcements that would air occasionally on television. [00:10:34] Speaker C: And there was one that I never forgot. [00:10:36] Speaker A: The dad is going through his kid's room or something, and he finds out that the kid's got marijuana in a box. [00:10:42] Speaker C: And he goes into the kid's room, and he goes, you're smoking weed. I can't believe this. He goes, where did you learn this? [00:10:48] Speaker A: What's the kid say? Any of you Gen Xers remember this? [00:10:51] Speaker C: What's the kid say? I learned it from watching you. I learned it from watching you. Listen, as lame as that PSA was, [00:11:00] Speaker A: I remember as a little kid going, that does it. But of course, never mind. [00:11:05] Speaker C: I just. I was going to go somewhere, and I was like, no, I'm not going to go there. [00:11:10] Speaker A: And so it's a constant editing process that happens up here. This is not memorized, so. [00:11:17] Speaker C: All right. Regardless, I always remember that PSA because it's true. They learn it from watching you. [00:11:26] Speaker A: If you. [00:11:26] Speaker C: If you don't have kids, you think, well, I'm not. But everybody has influence. The people that we had the most influence on are the people that are closest to us. My. My influence on your family is very limited. I'm going to do everything I can [00:11:42] Speaker A: for about 35 minutes on a Sunday and for about 45 minutes on a Wednesday night. [00:11:47] Speaker C: I'm going to do everything I can [00:11:48] Speaker A: to influence you and your family for good and for God. [00:11:52] Speaker C: But you know who has way more influence on your kids? You. You do. Pastor Joshua doing everything he can to pour into our student ministry. [00:12:01] Speaker A: And I love and appreciate Pastor Joshua, [00:12:04] Speaker C: but you, as a parent, have much more influence on your kids than he does or than I do. We have influence. Furthermore, forget about the kids. Your people, your co workers. Your co workers don't come to church. They don't know me. They've never heard me. [00:12:18] Speaker A: They've never heard of me. [00:12:19] Speaker C: They don't know me. Who has the influence in their life is you. We have this influence in, but instead of using it the way that we should, we just kind of wander through life or we're all embarrassed. Don't be embarrassed. Cornelius says, yes, I'm a centurion, but I fear God I'm going to try and do the best that I can do, and I'm going to influence my household the same way. This is an important component to what we are supposed to be about. This is who we are. [00:12:50] Speaker A: Look, if you will, at Acts, chapter 10 and verse 8. [00:12:54] Speaker C: So we read it. [00:12:56] Speaker A: The guy says, not the guy, the angel says to Cornelius, go to Joppa and find Simon Peter. Look at what Cornelius does. Verse 8. So when he had explained all these things to them, his servants, he sent them to Joppa. The word all is there again, but [00:13:14] Speaker C: what does he do? [00:13:15] Speaker A: He explains all these things because what [00:13:17] Speaker C: he knows that the influence is through actions. You can say all kinds of stuff, but the influence is through what we do. It's not what we say. And we want to give ourselves, see. [00:13:28] Speaker A: So that's the problem. [00:13:29] Speaker C: We're at work and we say, oh, you know, you should come with me to church sometime. You should come with me on Easter. Yeah, great. And then you go on the job [00:13:41] Speaker A: site and you hit your hand with a hammer. [00:13:45] Speaker C: How you respond in that moment, how you respond in that moment determines whether or not they're going to come to church with you. I promise. Because nobody wants to go to church with a hypocrite. [00:13:57] Speaker A: And that's a fact. [00:13:59] Speaker C: And so we talk. We can talk a big game about Jesus, but in the moments of stress and problems, if we do the stuff that looks just like the world, then we have no influence on them. You. If you. If you. Did you see what I'm saying? And I know you say to yourself, well, this sounds like old timey, legalistic, legalistic preaching. It's not legalistic. It's holiness. This is what holiness is supposed to look like. We're supposed to look different. We're supposed to be different. If we're selling the same thing that the world is selling, why would anybody buy what we're selling? We have to look different, we have to behave different, we have to act different. We have to influence them to different things. [00:14:41] Speaker A: Things. [00:14:42] Speaker C: That's what Cornelius did. He didn't make anybody. He said, you guys do what you want. I'm going to worship the God, not a bunch of pagan gods. And then they watched as Cornelius treated them fairly and respected them and, and did what he was supposed to do. And they said to themselves, something about Cornelius is different. I want to find out what's different. And they went and they found out, and he influenced and influenced and all of his household. [00:15:07] Speaker A: That's. [00:15:08] Speaker C: That's the call on us still to this day, is to use our influence to influence the people and change the [00:15:13] Speaker A: people that are closest to us. [00:15:15] Speaker C: Now, Cornelius isn't done. Look, if you will. [00:15:17] Speaker A: Now, we already talked about this. [00:15:19] Speaker C: It skips. [00:15:20] Speaker A: This story skips back and forth. So we already talked about Peter, the vision. [00:15:24] Speaker C: Peter wakes up from the vision. [00:15:26] Speaker A: Don't call anything unclean that I've cleaned right. When that happens, these guys show up in Joppa. They knock on the door. They say, hey, we're with Cornelius. He's a centurion over in Caesarea. [00:15:38] Speaker C: We want you to come with us. [00:15:40] Speaker A: He had a vision, and he asked us to bring you to him. So Simon Peter says, okay, I'll go. So look, if you will. At 10 and 28, [00:15:52] Speaker C: he goes to [00:15:53] Speaker A: Cornelius house and goes in his house. Acts 10:28. [00:15:57] Speaker C: Then Peter said to them, you know [00:15:59] Speaker A: how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or. Or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. I asked then, for what reason have you sent me? And 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. And send therefore to Joppa. And call Simon here, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you. So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now, therefore, we are all present before God to hear all the things commanded to you by God. This is such a vital moment. And point for us. Look again at the very end of 33 to hear all the things. To hear all the things. That is the next key in the story and understanding of who Cornelius is to hear all the things. Because what happens? [00:17:14] Speaker C: We are more than willing to listen [00:17:16] Speaker A: to God as long as it doesn't interfere with what we want to do. [00:17:20] Speaker C: We're more than willing to listen to [00:17:22] Speaker A: God when he wants to bring us a word of blessing. [00:17:25] Speaker C: Oh, thank you, God, for that blessing. Are we willing to hear all the things, including the word of rebuke? Including the word of. Of. [00:17:34] Speaker A: Of. [00:17:34] Speaker C: I wouldn't say condemnation, but the word of challenge. When the Holy Spirit checks us, when the Holy Spirit says, this isn't of God. You shouldn't be doing this. You shouldn't be involved in this. This is not what I'VE called you to be about. Everybody wants to. Everybody wants the floodgates of heaven opened up and the blessings to come out. But we have to be willing to hear all the things. How about this one? We're happy and we're satisfied where we are and God's blessing us and everything is great. And God says, I'm calling you to something different. I'm calling you to a new season. I'm calling you to change jobs. I'm calling you to do something totally outside of your comfort zone. I'm calling you to whatever it is. [00:18:16] Speaker A: Here's one that's practical. [00:18:18] Speaker C: I'm calling you to offer forgiveness to [00:18:21] Speaker A: that person who has horribly wounded you. And you go, whoa, that's not from God. [00:18:25] Speaker C: Right? Everybody in here, as soon as I say, offer forgiveness to the person who's wounded you, everybody in here is thinking of a certain person. Right when I said it. Everybody goes, oh, that guy. And then you go, no, no, no. [00:18:36] Speaker A: Preacher's just talking. He's not actually. [00:18:38] Speaker C: No. You see what I'm saying? We have to be willing to hear all that God wants to say. We have to be willing to let God pour into our spirit. But we don't want to do that because it's inconvenient or we don't like it or we've already established where we're going to be going. We've already decided that this is our direction. We've already decided that this is our road. And God says, I'm calling you over there. You go, no, no, I don't. I don't want to go over there. I like this road. This road is nice and straight and well lit. And that road is creepy and dark and scary. I don't want to go over there. Right. God says, no, no, that's the way you're going. Or here's the other thing. [00:19:24] Speaker A: Forget about fighting with God about stuff. [00:19:26] Speaker C: How about this, where God gives us a word and we don't want to hear the whole thing. How about that one? Anybody in here got kids? You know exactly what I'm talking about. You ever yell to your kids, hey, I need you to get something. Go in the kitchen and. And boys are the worst. And I'm still terrible. I'm 50. And Courtney still does this to me. Courtney says, I need you to get something. I go, okay, where? In the kitchen. And I start walking off. And she goes, wait a minute. I go, okay, what? She goes, in the kitchen. I want you to go to the [00:19:54] Speaker A: drawer next to the refrigerator. [00:19:55] Speaker C: Got it. I'm Off. No, wait a minute. Go to the drawer in the refrigerator, and then find the little box and open the box. [00:20:02] Speaker A: And that's where the thing is that I need what happens to us? [00:20:05] Speaker C: God says, travis, I want you to go. And I go, got it? And guy goes, I'm not finished yet. Right? That's what we do. We immediately plunge off into things. Let God speak to you. Be willing to hear everything that God wants to give you. If it's a word of challenge, be willing to receive it. If it's a word of direction, be willing to hear the whole thing. Don't get in front of what God is wanting to do in your life. Cornelius said, we're all sitting here and nobody's leaving until we've heard everything that you want to say. All the things you want to say, [00:20:40] Speaker A: we are willing to hear. [00:20:42] Speaker C: That's what we have to get back in the habit of, is being willing to hear all. Not just the blessing, not just the encouragement, not just. And all the stuff that God pours [00:20:56] Speaker A: into our life all the time. His love, his mercy, his grace. [00:21:00] Speaker C: I love you, Travis. I forgive you. But then as soon as he calls [00:21:05] Speaker A: us to say those words to others, [00:21:07] Speaker C: we want to act like we can't hear him anymore. We've got to get back into the [00:21:11] Speaker A: habit of being willing to hear all the things that God wants to say. Now, we're not going to read this as well, because we're talking about. Excuse me, we're talking about Cornelius. But Peter then begins to preach, and he preaches for about 10 or 12 verses. We're going to skip that. But it's. You can read it anytime you want. It's a very simple message. [00:21:32] Speaker C: He preaches Jesus. [00:21:33] Speaker A: He was sent as the Son of God. Jesus was crucified, he died, he was resurrected. And Peter says he was resurrected to be Savior. To be the Messiah, to be the Savior. Watch what happens. Look at Acts 10 and 44. Acts 10 and 44. While Peter was still speaking these words, I just want to stop right there. As a pastor, there is nothing more galling than that. [00:22:02] Speaker C: Like, he. They couldn't even wait till he gave the altar call. You know what I'm saying? He's like, I'm still preaching here. [00:22:07] Speaker A: And the Holy Spirit's like, no, you done, dude? [00:22:09] Speaker C: Like, the Holy Spirit's like, no, no. Sermon's over. Everybody's ready. We're moving on, right? So he's not even done. He's still got stuff. He's still got points, right? And it says, while Peter was still Speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word and those of the circumcision. That is all the Jewish believers who came with Peter. All of the Jewish believers who believed were astonished. As many as came with Peter, the gift of the Holy Spirit had been [00:22:39] Speaker A: poured out on the Gentiles also, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. [00:22:46] Speaker C: Then Peter answered, can anyone forbid water [00:22:49] Speaker A: that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And Peter commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. This. [00:23:01] Speaker C: This is the moment where the whole [00:23:03] Speaker A: early church shifts on its axis. This is the moment where everything is different and everything changes. [00:23:10] Speaker C: He preaches. [00:23:11] Speaker A: He hasn't even given an altar call, because why he wasn't planning on giving an altar call. [00:23:16] Speaker C: He just went over to these Gentiles to tell them about Jesus. And while he's still speaking, the Holy Spirit is poured out on them. And they all begin to speak in tongues. They're filled with the Holy Spirit that magnify God. And all the Jewish believers are shocked, Peter among them. [00:23:33] Speaker A: And they realize, oh, my gosh, Jesus is the savior of the entire world. [00:23:41] Speaker C: This is the moment they thought he was savior. He's King of the Jews. He's King of the Jews. And this moment he says, can you believe this? He says, not only is Jesus the Savior and the Messiah, he says, the Holy Spirit is for everyone. [00:23:59] Speaker A: And the Holy Spirit fell upon all those. The Holy Spirit fell upon all those. [00:24:08] Speaker C: This is the most wonderful verse in [00:24:10] Speaker A: the entire Bible, in my opinion, is because we realize. [00:24:14] Speaker C: They realize, we realize everybody finally understands. [00:24:18] Speaker A: What Jesus had been trying to make clear to them for three and a [00:24:20] Speaker C: half years is that he is Messiah of all. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. This is the moment anybody can be filled with the Holy Spirit. Anybody can be saved. All you have to do is believe. All you have to do is ask for the Holy Spirit. It's for all. It's for everyone. This is. This is the moment. And this is. [00:24:47] Speaker A: This is sort of the culmination of this thing. Yes, we have influence. Yes, we need to listen to all that Jesus says to us, all that God speaks to us. But the biggest moment of this is the Holy Spirit is for all of us. The Holy Spirit is for all of us. Now, I know what some of y' all are saying. You're like, well, I came here to watch a friend of mine get baptized. I know what you're doing, because I can feel it in the room. I've been doing this for a long time and can feel the energy shift just a little bit because you go, wait a minute now what's about to happen? Because this is a church of God. And now this guy's starting to talk about the Holy Spirit. Things about to get weird in here, right? [00:25:40] Speaker C: It's okay, I understand. Here's the thing. [00:25:45] Speaker A: The Holy Spirit is for all. [00:25:49] Speaker C: Is for all. I'm not looking to pick a denominational [00:25:52] Speaker A: fight with anybody and I'm not going to fight about theology with anybody. What I'm going to say is, the Holy Spirit is for all of us. [00:25:58] Speaker C: The Holy Spirit is for all. Have you been filled? Great. [00:26:02] Speaker A: Have you never been filled? [00:26:03] Speaker C: Get filled. Do you need to get filled again? Great. As you see, it's for all. Throughout the. Throughout the Book of Acts, the original people in the upper room are filled more than once. It's supposed to be a life in the Spirit, a life of filling, a life of power. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. What happens is we argue about the minutia and we miss the big picture. The big picture is the power of the Holy Spirit is for every person in this room. Every person in this room. That's what we got to get a hold of. That's what we got to take ownership of. It's for everybody. It's for all. This is the shocking thing about the Jewish people that were with Simon Peter and Peter himself. So now that I've kind of put [00:26:51] Speaker A: all the visitors at ease, the guests at ease, let me challenge all of us in the, in the church. We Pentecostals do not own the Holy Spirit. [00:27:04] Speaker C: You see what I'm saying? We do not have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is for all. It's for everybody. It crosses racial and gender lines. It crosses denominational lines. What we want to do, here's what happened. We in our humanity have decided to so over analyze the Holy Spirit that it keeps us from receiving the power of the Holy Spirit because we want to fight about the stuff that really is not essential to it. Now, I need to make clear we're a church of God. I'm a Pentecostal pastor. I believe in the gifts of the Spirit. I believe that they're operational. I believe that they're for today. But that is not the essential germane characteristic of the Holy Spirit. What the Holy Spirit is, is power. You shall receive power. And that's what we've got to have. That's what we've got to have. That's what we can't live without. That's what we have to have in order to make it through the day. I mean, you, you know what I'm saying? We got to have that power. I am not negating salvation. We talked about salvation last week. For Easter, we're going to baptize more than 20 people today who have been saved as a, as a sign of the inward, an outward sign of an inward change. Salvation is essential and wonderful and great. But I'm going to tell you, the 21st century world is complicated and scary. And what I need on a regular basis is the power of the Holy Spirit operational in my life. People say, do you need the. Do you need to be filled with [00:28:45] Speaker A: the Holy Spirit to go to heaven? [00:28:46] Speaker C: No, but you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to go to Walmart. You know what I'm saying? And we don't have a good Walmart, by the way. We do not. Where is it? Is it you? Harley got the nice Walmart? [00:29:02] Speaker A: Where do we go? [00:29:03] Speaker C: Yeah, you, Harley, got the nice Walmart. Cartersville. We got a terrible Walmart. You gotta. I got. I took Liam and some buddies to the movies last night and I don't wanna get into whole thing, but I got into an argument with the manager and I don't want to get into the whole thing, but I just remember thinking to my. I'm going to need a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit tomorrow morning. [00:29:28] Speaker A: May need to go apologize to the manager of the AMC as well. [00:29:31] Speaker C: So I was like, hi, I'm Travis Rutland. [00:29:34] Speaker A: I pastor First Baptist, Cartersville. No, I'm joking. [00:29:39] Speaker C: No, no. You, you need the Holy Spirit to do life, to do all the stuff. Let me tell you something. Your kids driving you crazy. You and them need a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit. Your co workers driving you crazy. You and them need a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit. You and your spouse fighting over stuff. You and them need a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit. Everybody, all the time. That's. That's what God. That's what God is saying through this moment. Because Peter wouldn't have given the altar call. He didn't believe that he, that Jesus was Messiah for these gentiles. He certainly didn't believe that the Holy Spirit could fill these gentiles, pagan Roman centurions. And God did it while he was speaking. God delivers the Holy Spirit and they are filled. And it's an amazing moment. [00:30:41] Speaker A: God is for all. [00:30:45] Speaker C: All. All. [00:30:49] Speaker A: We fight about the wrong stuff, we argue about the wrong things. We get mad about the wrong stuff. [00:30:55] Speaker C: The Holy Spirit is for all. He's available, he's accessible, and he offers [00:30:59] Speaker A: his power to help us make it through life. Let me close with this. The last church that I pastored, there was a woman there that was really, really wanting to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It was something that she prayed for with me frequently. [00:31:22] Speaker C: She [00:31:24] Speaker A: was a great lady, super nice lady, but she had gone through previous trauma. She was on her second husband, and he was a great guy, and he loved her, and he doted on her, and he just. I never met a guy. [00:31:42] Speaker C: I thought I loved Courtney. [00:31:43] Speaker A: I never met a guy that loved somebody as much as this guy loved his wife. He was crazy about her, and it was wonderful. That was her second marriage. Her first marriage, in conversations I'd had with her, was terrible. And the guy was not physically abusive with her, but he was verbally and emotionally abusive with her. And so she carried all these scars from this first marriage with her, all this pain, all these hurtful words. He tells her that she's stupid, or he tells her that she's fat, or he tells. I mean, it's awful. And she would just tell me all these things. And she carried all this emotional pain inside of her. And so while I was there, she began to ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And I would pray over her to be filled with the Spirit. And she just. She felt like. She just kept saying to me, I don't think it's happening. I don't feel like it's happening. I just don't feel. She just really struggled with it. So I was talking to her one day after service. A bunch of people had left, and I think it was the four of us. We're just standing around talking. And I said to her, I said, why do you think that you're not being filled with the Holy Spirit? I said, if you can be super honest and transparent, why do you think this isn't happening? And she said, I don't want to be embarrassed. That's what she said to me. I said, wow, that's really interesting. Why would you say that? [00:33:18] Speaker C: She said, well, I just don't know [00:33:20] Speaker A: what the Holy Spirit's going to do, right? So any of you that have wandered in here to watch somebody be baptized today, you're probably thinking that same thing, maybe, right? She said, I just don't know what the Holy Spirit's going to do. And she said, I just. I don't want to be embarrassed. And I realized what had happened. She had taken all of that pain and all of those hurtful words and all of those accusations from that first husband that she had, and she had just internalized them and pushed them down. And so what she was desperate to do was to not look stupid anymore because she'd had somebody tell her how stupid she was for 20 years. She said, so what happened was [00:34:15] Speaker C: she [00:34:15] Speaker A: was holding on to that, and she couldn't give the Holy Spirit the release to fill her because she wouldn't let it go. She was so afraid and she was so embarrassed. And I said to her, I said, okay. I said, I'm going to pray for you one more time. And I said, I just. I want to ask you one question. Do you love God? She said, yes, of course. I said, do you believe that God loves you? Two questions, I guess. Do you believe God loves you? She said, yes, I believe God loves me. I said, then let me tell you what Jesus told us about his Father. If we, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our kids, how much more will our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask? I said, does that sound like a God that's going to embarrass you? And she said, no. And I said, then you have to trust him. You have to give him access to do whatever he's going to do when he fills you with the Holy Spirit. But you can also trust him that what he's going to pour out on you is his good gift. How much more will our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask? Me and Courtney and her husband, we prayed for, and she was so wonderfully and beautifully filled with the Holy Spirit in that moment. It was magnificent. And I just think that too many of us don't get everything that we could get from the filling and the power of the Holy Spirit, because we're holding on to all this other stuff that keeps us. I just think that we're so afraid. Some of us. [00:36:05] Speaker C: There's all kinds of reasons you don't. Right. Some of us are afraid. Well, what happens if I get filled with the Holy Spirit and I do something Pentecostal? I can't promise you that that won't happen. You get a hold of the little end of the biggest thing in the universe and it might blow your circuits out. I'm just going to tell you that right now. I make no guarantees what will happen. So some of you are worried about that. Some of you are worried about if I really get filled with the Holy Spirit, God's going to call me to be a missionary in South Sudan. Maybe, maybe, probably. The much higher likelihood is that you get filled with the Holy Spirit and [00:36:50] Speaker A: he's going to call you to forgive your mother in law. And you don't want to deal with that either. [00:36:54] Speaker C: You sitting there thinking to yourself, I'd rather be a missionary in South Sudan, right? Some of you, you get filled with the Holy Spirit and God's going to call me to do this other thing. He's going to call me to another ministry, another season of I don't know. [00:37:12] Speaker A: But let me distill, let me give you the essence of Newton's third law of thermodynamics. If you want to move forward, you got to leave something behind. You want to move forward, you got to leave something behind. The Holy Spirit wants to fill you with his power. What you have to do is release and receive. Release and receive. You want to move forward, you have to leave some stuff behind. That is the essence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's wonderful. It's glorious. It's magnificent. It transformed my life and my ministry and my calling and my marriage. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. [00:38:09] Speaker C: You say, well, preacher, can you guarantee that this won't happen? [00:38:12] Speaker A: No, sir, I cannot. I cannot guarantee that something won't happen. But I'm not going to. That's the beautiful thing about the power of the Holy Spirit. It does what it's going to do. And they were all filled and they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. The power of the Holy Spirit, it's right here, right now. It is for you. And all of them were filled. All you have to do is release and receive. Release and receive. Now here's what's going to happen. People always say, I want a book of Acts church. Well, buddy, you came on the right Sunday because what happened here is he preached. People got filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they did water baptism. This morning. I've preached. [00:39:10] Speaker C: We're going to have an altar call [00:39:11] Speaker A: for being filled with the Holy Spirit. And then we're going to water baptize a bunch of people and we're going to celebrate with them. [00:39:17] Speaker C: That's how we're going to do it. But before we do that, before we [00:39:22] Speaker A: move on, I want to give a simple, simple altar call to receive the Holy Spirit. In just a minute, I'm going to pray. While I'm praying, those people that signed up to be baptized can go out and get changed. If you want to be baptized this morning and you didn't sign up, we do spontaneous baptisms. All you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we'll put you under the water this morning. So if you want to be baptized, great. [00:39:47] Speaker C: If you want to come and be filled with the Holy Spirit first and then get baptized, even better. That's what Cornelius did, right? Whatever it looks like. Whatever it looks like. But this is the moment. This is. This is the celebration. This is the thing. Imagine the party that they had in Cornelius House. Everybody got filled with the Holy Spirit. Everybody got water baptized. It was. It was a party. And that's what this is, the filling of the Holy Spirit. Yes, it burns stuff out, but it is also celebrational because it gives you the power to go out there and change the world. There is a Cornelius that is waiting for you to speak into their life. And as Chris said, we can only give what we've got. [00:40:32] Speaker A: We got the Holy Spirit. We can give it away. So in just a moment, I'm going to pray. [00:40:38] Speaker C: Those that want to be baptized are [00:40:39] Speaker A: going to slip out to the side. [00:40:40] Speaker C: While I'm praying, the band's going to return. [00:40:42] Speaker A: While I'm praying, the prayer team's going to come to the front. [00:40:44] Speaker C: And if you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit or filled again or filled for a fresh season, or filled for a fresh calling, or filled for a fresh purpose, whatever it is, it's a life that's supposed to be filled and filled and filled and filled. If you need a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit or an initial touch of the Holy Spirit in your life, [00:41:03] Speaker A: I'm begging you to come to the front. I'm begging you. And then we're going to baptize and [00:41:08] Speaker C: party with these people that are making this statement. [00:41:11] Speaker A: This is going to be a great Sunday. Not because of anything I've done, but because what the Holy Spirit wants to do. This is your moment. Release and receive the Holy Spirit. Let's pray. God, I ask that you finish this message in the hearts of every person here. [00:41:34] Speaker C: God, I ask that you begin to move those that know they need a fresh touch, those that know they need to be filled, those that know that they need a new touch, an initial filling, those that need to be filled again. God, finish this message in the hearts of every person here, Myself included. God, I'm going to be the first one at that altar. I need a fresh touch of your Holy Spirit to be the pastor that this church needs. I need a fresh touch of your Holy Spirit to be the husband that Courtney needs. I need a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit to be the dad that Mark, Owen and Liam need God. I need the power of the Holy Spirit. If you want that power, I'm begging you to come to the front. It's not about any kind of theological or denominational debate. Jesus said you shall receive power. You want the power of the Holy Spirit? All you have to do is ask. If we then being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask? Release it. Whatever it was that was keeping you from asking, release it and receive his power. This morning, in Jesus name we pray. Amen. [00:42:58] Speaker B: Thank you for listening to the Travis Rutland Podcast. If you enjoyed this message and you're in the Cartersville, Georgia area, we invite you to join us at Liberty Square Church. You can also watch online and connect with us on Facebook and YouTube. We'll see you next week for another message from Travis Rutland.