Not Done Yet | Part 5

not done yet. We've been talking about how we're not done yet because God's not done yet. And today I wanna look at a story that involves a guy named Peter, which we've already talked about before, the apostle Peter,

that the church had changed, things had changed, time had changed. And he had to navigate being this leader in a time when he had

was confronted with some things that he was gonna have to face. He's gonna to face some of his biases, some of his some things that, hey, this isn't the way we've done it before. But God challenged him to push past that. So I just wanna share this story,

and and then we'll we'll go through that. And and I I'm actually gonna bring a friend up here in a few minutes. So it's in it's in Acts chapter 10, and I'm going to start in verse nine. And what's happened is a guy named Cornelius who is a Roman soldier, a Roman officer.

He has a vision of God, and he's a God fearing man, but he is a Gentile. He's Roman. He's actually the enemy of of the Jews. They feel like the the Romans have been their oppressors.

And so he has this vision and an angel comes to him and and tells him to send for a guy named Peter and tells him where he is. So he he sends men. But before this happens,

God kind of speaks to Peter. So starting in verse nine of Acts chapter 10, it says this, The next day, as Cornelius' messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on a flat roof to pray. It was about noon, and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.

He saw the sky open and something like a large sheet was laid down by its four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, birds. Then a voice said to him, get up, Peter, kill and eat them. No, Lord, Peter declared, 'I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.' So he sees the sheet, and in the Jewish laws, they had certain things they weren't supposed to eat and could eat. And God is trying to teach to teach Peter something, but to prepare him for something.

And Peter still, like you said, Holy Spirit's always growing us, maturing us, but here's another moment where he's disagreeing with God because he thinks he knows better. No. No. No. God, I can't do that. That would be unspiritual. I'm gonna be holier than you are, God, in in a sense. I'm gonna protect you.

But the voice spoke again, do not call something unclean if God has made it clean. The same vision was repeated three times, then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven. Verse 17, Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then, the men sent by Cornelius found Simon's house.

Standing outside the gate, they asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there. Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, three men have come looking for you. Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation.

Don't worry, for I have sent them. So God kinda gave him this vision to prepare him for what's about to happen, and then said, I need you to trust me.

So Peter went down and said, I'm the man you were looking for. Why have you come? They said, we were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He's a devout and God fearing man, well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to summon you to his house so that he can hear your message. So Peter invited the men to stay the night. The next day he went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.

They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. Now there's a whole crowd there. As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter pulled him up and said, stand up. I'm a human being just like you.

So they talked together and went inside where many others were assembled. Peter told them, you know it's against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. He's saying, you know that's against our see, they've had these bias. They had this religious and racial bias

that the Jews you know, the way they looked at at religion and race was there's Jews, and then there's everybody else.

Everybody else is Gentiles. And so they kinda kept to their own. They didn't really mingle. And they even had added these laws that wasn't really in scripture. It never said you couldn't go into the home of a Gentile, but they took it further. They're like, hey. If we're not supposed to intermarry, we're not they're they're not of our religion. We're not even gonna relate to them. And he told him, you know that this is against

our regulations. This is weird. But God has shown me that I no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. So I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me. Cornelius replied, Four days ago, I was praying in my house about this time, then suddenly at 03:00 in the afternoon,

a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me. He told me, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard. Your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God. Now send messengers to Joppa and summon a man named Simon Peter. He's staying in the home of Simon a tanner who lives near the seashore. So I sent for you at once, and it was good for you to come. Now we're all here waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you. So he invites him. He goes there. Peter's not even sure why he's supposed to come. He just goes and he's like, so now we're waiting. Go ahead. I I I can feel Peter's fear here. I could imagine saying, hey. We were told by God that you're gonna give us a sermon, so preach.

And he's like, So then it says in verse 34, then Peter replied,

I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. He figured it out. He goes, wait, God is trying to teach me something because I gotta go take this to the world and back to my own church that we're not supposed to have favoritism. In other words, favoritism is, in this context is you could use the word racism in a sense. You could use this bias against you're not good enough or you're different or you're not like me. He's like, God doesn't see that way is what he goes. I realized God, that's what that vision God was showing me.

And he says, in every nation, he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. Meaning, God's plan was always bigger than what Peter thought it was. God is always expanding our understanding.

He goes, this is the message of the good news for the people of Israel, that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what he decided he needed to do? I need to tell him about Jesus.

You know what happened throughout Judea beginning in Galilee after John began preaching his message of baptism.

And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him to life on the third day. Then God allowed him to appear, not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses, to be the ones that go tell people

about him being the savior, like Peter is doing right now.

We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all the living and the dead. Do see he said? Jesus told them to preach everywhere,

but up until this point, they had not preached everywhere? He had to have a vision of God and the Holy Spirit tell him to be willing to go into this guy's house so everywhere to them was just everywhere that looked like them. That was kind of the plan.

He is one of the prophets that that that the prophets testified about saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name. So he's telling about Jesus, and then I'll send in verse 44. Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. In other words, it says, as Peter was trying to preach a message, the Holy Spirit interrupted him and decided to do something.

So as he was sitting there, the Holy Spirit interrupts, and it says the Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles too. They're like, wow. When Jesus said preach to everybody, everybody meant everybody. And they're blown away by this.

So then he goes on. He goes, can anyone object to this? And they baptized him, and they welcomed him into the fellowship, and Peter stayed with him for a few days. But here's what's crazy, and this is where I want to stop. In verse 11,

it's chapter 11, it says, Soon the news reached the apostles and the other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. Verse two, But but when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. You entered the gent the home of a Gentile and you even ate with them, he said.

Interesting. So Peter goes and the Holy Spirit pushes him past, expands his understanding. He watches the Holy Spirit do this miraculous thing. He comes back to try to tell his church, God has a bigger plan than we ever imagined. And he gets criticized.

I can relate. I can relate to to Peter on that. So here, I wanted to take this passage and I just wanted to have a little discussion here and talk about this big idea. Here's really what I think God has not done yet in regard to the concept and topic that is brought before us in this passage. And that's this,

God is not done breaking down our biases to build his body. God is not done breaking down our biases to build his body. I mean, we still wrestle with biases, and like them, it was a religious bias and a racial bias. We still have racial bias.

Racism. We we have prejudice. We have these things about us that still limits the church, the body of Christ, from being everything Jesus wants it to be. And I think God is not done trying to break down those biases in us just like he did in Peter, just like he want

ends up doing in the church in Jerusalem, and just like he wants to do in our church, in our heart, and and where we're at. In order to discuss this issue, I decided to phone a friend. And so I brought in a friend of mine, and I'm gonna welcome in here. Come on up here, Tahan. I want you to meet Tahan King.

You, sir. How we doing? Good to see you. We're not doing that good at socially distancing. I'm probably getting But criticized for that now hey, you know, Tehan, I'm going to have him share. I got some questions for him. I brought Tehan on because he's my friend. He's a fellow church planner.

He's in our movement of churches. He started just a couple of years ago. We'll get into that a little bit. But

he, I've been involved in a group where we coach and help him and all that. But through this process of what's been going on in our world right now, this crazy world, it seems like this bias, the racial bias, the racial tension thing has kind of,

it didn't just show up. It kind of blew up a little bit more again. Yeah, yeah. And I needed help. I needed help. So I reached out to my friend here

and I said, can you help me walk through this process? And I've met with him. We've been talking a lot and helped him. And I finally said, hey, can you help me by actually like coming and filming with me? Because if nothing else, I hate in a room all alone preaching to So a at least I got someone else to look at now. Thank you. And

so what I wanted to do is invite you to come and I really wanted you to kind of answer some of these questions. We talked about these things. And I actually, we talked about a lot of things, to be honest. Tahan, know, he's like me.

We'll get talking, we can go on forever. So, what I did is we wrote down three questions to kind of center us, to kind of, they're kind of the shock collar to keep us in the yard, so to speak, so we don't go too far. So so, Donna, I just wanted to kinda jump into this idea of how God is not done breaking down biases

to build his kingdom. Yes. And the first question is is is we talked about

was when you look in the story of scripture, even right here, it's obvious. But but you can go to other passages in, like, Galatians. It talks about there's no slave, no free, no Jew. It's like he says, we are all one in Christ. And and the even the old testament, the whole story, the idea, it's so

obvious in scripture. Scripture. You would think it would be an easy topic to discuss in our churches, wouldn't you? You would think so. You would think that Peter wouldn't get critic you'd think that if we try to have this conversation, it wouldn't wouldn't we wouldn't be criticized.

So I wanted to ask you from your point of view, as a black pastor that's trying to have a multi racial church in a black community that's mainly

black people with some white people, and I'm trying to do the same thing on the opposite end the spectrum. I'm in this suburban, mainly white, trying to be multiracial. Right. And yet we run into the criticism. Yeah. Have you ran into that, first of all? And then secondly,

what do you think makes this such a contentious topic for the church to talk about? I have run into it. You know, it's always tension when you speak on things such as we've experienced, right? So how we've experienced it, especially with the media and everything involved.

And then when you come together and you start speaking about unity and moving in the body, people don't like it. They don't like to feel like you're dismissing,

but we're trying to really include, but from a God perspective. And I think one of the reasons it gets difficult is because in the society we live in now and the time we live in now, we've allowed so many outside things to influence our Christian walk. We we've allowed our environment. We've allowed government.

We've allowed cultural bias that we're talking about to be to influence our Christian view. And so when we

stand on the scripture and the scripture alone and come with a scriptural view, it's like, yeah, we're doing that, but what about this? Yeah, we're doing that, but what about that? Yeah, we're doing And it's like, when God says this, there's no buts, right? Love and they gradually love themselves.

There's He didn't say, but if he does this, don't love him. Right? It's like, no love him. And that's the key. So I think one of the reasons we run into this is that, and it goes across the board is bias all the way around. We run into this because

they think they're ignoring, we're ignoring some of their bias. And to be honest, we are because we want God's

opinion to be Why don't the only we out there? Right. And you were telling when I said, Hey, know, this seems like I can't win sometimes. If I talk about one thing, then what about this? If I talk about black lives, then what about the police? If I talk about the police, well, you don't care about it's it's like, and

when we were talking, the thing that super encouraged me, I'm sorry, misery loves company. Didn't encourage me, You were preaching the same message and you got it from your congregation on why don't you care about this? Because we're trying to focus back on these biases that sometimes our subtle bias takes precedent

over. Like one thing I tried to sum it up and you agreed with was when my son was little, we were at a softball game and as we're walking by, two dogs started fighting. Don't even know what they're fighting with, they started fighting. And he looked up at us and he goes, them dogs don't like them, t'ch other.

And that was some good wit. They did it. They're biting and attacking. And then he asked, what are they fighting about? I go, I don't really know now. You you they started fighting. You don't know. And what we were saying was when you said these biases, it was kinda like

issues happen. Racism is still an issue. Yes. We're still feeling the ramifications of our history Yes. Kinda still cutting through time, and we haven't eliminated. Maybe legally we've gotten rid, but there's still issue. But as we try to talk about it,

the political dogs start fighting because every issue then gets politicized. Every time. And when it gets politicized, sides start to weaponize. They weaponize the terms, the jargon, the phrases, and then there's an agenda that comes with it. And now you have two political dogs, barking and fighting.

And here's the sad thing, the actual issue rarely

gets dealt with, does it? It just- That's what we've seen happen is like we were talking and we're talking about, we just keep getting spinned and spinned and spinned till we get spun out, right? So it's like the actual issue of, we recognize there's still racial issues going on in our country. We recognize there's still injustices going on in our country. We recognize this. And us as believers, we wanna come together to say how what can we do as believers? But as soon as we do that,

the political spends come and say, well, this happens and that. And then during the midst of it, we missed the whole thing of why we were actually trying to make this move, why we're actually trying to address this due to the political spends. It's right it's a white ring

white a thing or a black thing. It's a blue thing or a red thing. It's right wing or left wing. And my thing is we need the whole bird.

Right? We need the whole bird, the body, We body need the whole bird. We need the whole bird. The body of Christ is the body that could bring the wings together that we could do a crisis way. You know, he said something there. It's like, it's kinda like the issue itself, we're trying to talk about primarily a black and white thing. You know, it's an every color thing, but we're looking right now, it's this black and white thing. But as we try to talk about even a black versus white or white versus black bias,

and let's get to where God wants us to go, you said you threw it in there really quick. You said blue versus red. Yeah. That's what happens when we politicize. Yes. So do you think some of some of the pushback the church gets when we try to talk about it is, could it be that, especially in out here where in my congregation,

if someone says, I don't think I really have a problem with black versus white. Right. So I don't see this issue. Yeah. But what they do react to is the blue versus red spin.

Right. And so now we're in a political that's the dogs fighting, right? Right. And and and it's so so one thing we could probably say to our people is maybe you need to look at your heart and, yeah, maybe you don't have a problem with racial injustice.

You you you believe that racial justice should happen. You believe it in all your heart. Yes. You don't act in a racist, prejudiced way.

But could it be that some of the effects is, but you do maybe have some political biases. Right. And I'm saying your politics are wrong or they're your politics, but but you're letting it take precedent. Right. Over over what scripture says. What scripture says, I mean,

one of the things you ask is how I address this. One of the pass one of the message I preached to my congregation, who's on the throne? Is Christ on the throne over your political party? Is Christ on the throne over your culture? Is Christ on the throne over your biases? So Christ has to sit in the main seat. And a lot of times we've been trying to share the seat with him. You know, like,

my political party sits right here with Christ. And it's like, no. Christ shares the seat. He does not share the seat. And I think that what happens is like, I don't have any issue with race. I don't have any issue, but it's our political bias that comes. And when certain issues come when it deals with race, certain parties jump on and spin it a certain way. So now we miss really the real issue and we only see the spins. Yeah. And so, see exactly when you said the issues we have or don't have, and you said you preached that to your congregation. And in other words, what I heard when you were telling me how you preached is the same thing is, yeah, of course we need to help people seek justice. Right. Right. But ultimately,

we need them to see Jesus. That's the problem, bottom line. And surrender to Jesus. That's the bottom line. And so if and so a lot of the arguments, the two dogs in the fight is, people are actually fighting political agendas against each other.

And even though they're saying the terms, you know, black lives matter, or, you know, we need to get past this, we need to do they're they're they're saying it, but are we really helping people truly seek justice? Right. And we're definitely not helping them see Jesus.

And so the point that I have is like, so the pressure though is for you and me as a path, that's why I invited you because someone that feels like me, you know, it's, it's, it's, that's wrestling with the same thing the real pressure there is when we do that.

Is sometimes people want us, the church, and when they mean the church, it starts with you and me, the main guys up front, they want us to be a third dog in the fight. So they want us to pick the red dog or the blue dog

and go fight with that one. Right. And that's not what we're supposed to be. That's not who we are. I mean, we've been called to be the body of Christ. We've been called to be who Jesus calls us to be. And as we're talking, with that Joshua five. Right? In Joshua five. Joshua five where here it is.

Joshua walks up and he sees this commander of a army and he says, friend or foe? And he says, neither. I'm the host of the army of the Lord. And he bows down, and he says, whatever you want me to do. Right? Whatever I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll serve this army versus the other two armies. And I think that's what our mindset has to be as believers.

I'm serving the army of the lord. Doesn't mean, you know, doesn't mean about your political view, but the priority has to be God. Yeah. And in other words, God says, I don't take a side. I am a side. Exact. I'm not on you. Are you on my side? Exactly.

It's like we're all praying, God's on my side. God's no, no. God's like, no, no, no. Can be on my side. Well, you know what, that brings me to this idea of what I originally reached out to you too, is I was just kind of stressing out and you helped me so much, was I said, well,

does this start? How do we even start here and try to do this? Because what I realized is, you know, unity Yes. Under Christ sits seats to sit at the table. Whereas polarity, when you politically

polarity seeks to just turn the tables. Right. It's like, I don't really want to see eye to eye or get past this. I just want your spot at the table. Right. And we were talking about that. And the reason that came up is because you said the first step is to sit at the table. Yes. And I wanted to give you a few minutes to explain to everybody out there what that means because part of it is the endgame is what we're doing. Yeah. But the reality is sit at the table

meant something. It goes further back than just sitting here and getting past politics. Right. It started in your life with your grandma and you're raising, you're up. How did sitting at the table influence you and your, where you grew up and and how you ended up here? Well, it was significant. You know, based

on what's going on, I had the pleasure of speaking to one of my, childhood friends. We grew up in the same, projects. We grew up in the same environment. We grew up in the eighties crack era. We grew up in gangbanging mentality. But in that community,

we realized we never really got I mean, we made mistakes like everybody else, but we never got involved in that. And we came to the consensus was it was at in the home, at the table where values

and things that were imparted to us caused us not to get involved in that. So then I started thinking about that in the sense of this, you know, at the table was where my grandmother, my childhood pastor, which is my uncle, really taught two principles, know who you are and whose you are.

Who you are and whose you are. Yep. Who you are and whose you are. And Christ was Christ was the center. And so now my identity is hidden in Christ. Right? So therefore it keeps me out of all those other things.

And even though I experienced any injustice I've experienced it in my life, you know, some things where I live in a community where crime is going on, I'm black, I fit the description,

I'm doing nothing but just walking and get stopped. But knowing that Christ is the head, it stops me from accepting some of the views and saying, look, I'm gonna keep doing what God has asked me to do and move And so at that table and those conversations helps develop, it helps develop your mindset. It helps develop,

understanding and it brings a common ground. So in this scenario, like reason we sat down is to find, hey, how can we get an understanding? What can we do? How can and those conversations opened up a lot of things. I mean, those I know, my grandmother's very, very Christ centered. And me growing up,

she was saying the church van something. I don't know if your congregation might know about the church van. But the church van is a van that came to the community,

and it kids wouldn't jump on that van to go to Sunday school. You know, they don't do Sunday school anymore. But you had to go to Sunday school. And I didn't like going on the van. I don't wanna go to Sunday school. So my grandmother didn't live there. And if the van came and I wasn't on the van, when the van went back to the church and she seen it wasn't there, she would send the van back to come get me. And so it was those values at the table,

you know, those values in the home. So grandma, literally, is before cell phones. This is before cell phones. She would just send the call my house. If it showed up, she made the van driver, who's already done his ministry, go, You gotta go back to this neighborhood and then call up you and say, You Yes. Better get on that

And that's the value. So at the table is where the values are set, the conversation with your family, that keeps you

Christ centered. You know, for us as believers in the church, it keeps us Christ centered beyond the reality of what's really going on. And it's not that it's not real, but it keeps me centered. I don't we won't get pulled into it. And you were telling me it helped you like because of us sharing the biases that

that I could have, like, like and I'm saying when it comes to a racial bias, I think a lot of people don't realize it doesn't mean you're just outright a total racist, so to Right. It's just these biases we talked about as well because

we don't sit at the table. We don't know each other. Right. We have just learned things. Like for one that I realized growing up is my, I was taught, I don't, I was taught don't see in color, see in character, Right. In

However, there was these subtle things that would be built into me because my dad would tell me when I was a teenager and hanging out, don't go West Of 44th Street. Yeah. Well, guess what people look like who lived West Of 40 4th Right. So whether he tells me that's bad or they're

It doesn't matter if it's the color of your skin, but that just subtly makes me if I'm in a neighborhood where I'm around a lot of people not like me, especially I'd of your be like, uh-oh, I'm in trouble. But then you told me when we sat at the table,

what Christ helped you do and your grandma. It's like, you had biases that were built in the same way, right? Yeah, mean, Community I grew up in, and I can't speak for every community, but in a lot of urban gang infested communities where you have things going on,

no one teaches this to you, but the bias is the region there is the white man and the police are your enemy. So now if you have black and brown people in that community and you have the police that's all white

and you have a bad interaction with them, it feeds to your bias. But the key point is being Christ centered, having a renewed mindset, even though I may have been a victim of some of those things, it didn't I didn't jump on that. I didn't jump on to the hatred. You know? So those are the things that

as we're coming as a church, we have to really focus on the Christ centered and give them Christ, like we're saying. But those are the bias you have where it's like, when I moved here, they said, don't ever drive to Apache Junction. I think I've only been there twice. So we still have to do some of these bias.

But I don't know if that was a racial bias because I grew up here and I never wanted to drive to Apache So

it's those things, you know? It's those things, those biases that we have, and it's probably great people in Apache Junction. Yeah, they are. But you know, what was interesting is because of that idea of the sitting at the table is basically what you're saying is what culture are you going to choose? Right. Right. And there's

political culture out there. And you know, we do have to, I don't care what we're not saying. You need to be active in play. To be a good citizen, be involved. Vote, let your faith inform your voting. That's right. But don't let your politics be the one that informs your faith. Let it be the other way around. So yeah, do want you to do that. But as you look at it, it's really deciding in your heart and knowing the table you set out is the culture you want.

And that actually is from what your grandma taught you. Tell them what's the name of your church? Name of our church is Christ Culture Church. And the concept is this. If we focus on the culture of Christ and

allow him to be the head, then we can appreciate all other cultures around us because Christ is the center culture. So to push Christ culture above every other culture, meaning that crisis ahead. And now I could appreciate my Spanish brothers. I could appreciate my Latin, I mean, my Asian brothers, my white brothers, and we come together as a family. Why? Because honestly, if we have Christ at the center, we share the same blood. We share the same, we, the same father and we live in the same house, the house of God. So we're now family

and we don't see it on the outside as other, as others look at it. So that's the concept that we could keep Christ at the center, one culture, one culture,

bring it together that we can appreciate the other cultures around us, then it brings real unity. It brings real love. And we're seeing it out of the eyes of God versus our other other eyes. So what did you do with your people? Because you said you've been criticized too by trying to go down that road. And basically we're saying is, how do I keep it spiritual?

Right. And don't let it veer political. Right. I say don't be the third dog in the fight. How do we stay completely different and be that other option? And what did you do that got you past that with your people? Well, I just took it head on. Know,

I Throat punched them. Yeah. Throat punched them. They know the terminology. I took a sermon series of one culture, the concept of our church, and I spoke it through scripture through the kingdom agenda. The kingdom agenda, just like we looked at. Peter

had to work through the kingdom agenda. God had to go through his bias to bring the kingdom together. So I just talked to them about one culture, focus on the kingdom of God, loving your brother as you love yourself,

honoring one another. When we honor one another, you get honor back. And if you don't, that's the that's the foot the dust off your feet move on and allow God to do that, but you stay in God's focus. So I've done that. And sometime, honestly, being an African American male, anytime you talk about things of

unity, anytime you talk about things of honor, it makes it feel like in my my congregation, Mike, you're bowing down. You can't bow down. You gotta make and it's like,

even the conversation I had with some where it'd be like, I read and I see what you're saying. You're just saying do what God but initially it was like, no. You what are you talking about? No. I'm talking what the scripture's telling us, and this is what we do. And that is how I dealt with it. I preached a sermon series, and I took it head on and I only preached the kingdom of God agenda, which is undisputable if you're a believer. So what you're telling me is you preach God's word. Yes. They took that, even the ones that were pushing back,

looked at it again themselves, let the Holy Spirit speak to them and then they listened to you? Yeah.

At least that's what they told me. Rock point. Are you taking notes? Thank you. Thank you for throat punching them for me. I had to lean into that. That has nothing to do with this. Was That's just dying to lean into awesome. So,

well, know, you brought up, you showed him what Peter had to do in this, and that kind of brings up kind of going to our last question. What are some steps we can take to start with? And the first step would be

when I told you we're preaching this passage together, I opened it, but I wanted you to share, you had three things that Peter kind of had to do in this that I think this will get your pencil out and pen. What does that mean? What did Peter need to do in this scenario? Well, when you look at the passage

and the vision that came forth, he had to get clarity, right? So the first thing you gotta get is clarity. You wanna get, you gotta get clarity to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you to see which way to go and approach this, right? So here the sheet comes down. He did not to show you how strong his bias were,

he was actually hungry. It tells you in the scripture that he's starving. He's starving. And the food is there. And he's like, I don't eat that. I don't do that. It hasn't come three times. Wow. And then it's lifted. And then the revelation comes, so he gets clarity. And so we have to get clarity through the situation. We have to stand on God, see it through God, the father's eyes, and allow the holy spirit to guide us to get clarity through all the spins and everything to see, oh, this is the real thing, and this is the heart of God in this. Right? And through that clarity, then we have to exercise character.

Peter actually went through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He goes and he sits at the table and he's there at this guy's He's outside of the table. He's sitting outside of the table. So he showed character, not like, I'm still not going. He didn't go in there with an attitude he came to see. And as soon as Cornelius spoke,

like, oh, I see what this is. So the clarity and the character. And then as you read on, he got opposition from the outside. He had courage to stand against the opposition. So when you have clarity, character, you have to have courage in these situations because what we're saying should be

easy to accept amongst believers. What we're saying should be, but as we've said, it's some of those biases that we all have to still work on. And so we have to search our hearts in it and allow God to operate in that. So that clarity, that character, and that courage,

and that those are the things I've seen in that passage that Peter exercised because he used his ability, he used his influence and he came and now

the Holy Spirit interrupted. So a lot of times if we just take the one step or the two step, God will take the other step. Yeah, he shows up to me and he does it. Well, it's in those three steps is I'm open to listening. It's like, and that's really what I had to do. Yeah. I had to have clarity. I was trying to figure out what's going on and looking and, you know, the dogs in the fight and figure out where am I going to lead.

And then the courage, the character to say, okay, I'm gonna step on God's word. Gonna trust him. I'm gonna go where I need to go.

And then the courage that when you get pushed back to go, hey, am I going the right direction? Just be honest. But then you see God work, you know? And then that kinda helps. It kinda directs people in their life, which leads me to to ask you this this last kind of a summary to that. So if if if my people are like, okay, I'm gonna get clarity through this and clarity of God's word

by his spirit, and then have the character to say, okay God, what does this look like for me? Yeah. And then the courage to step out. What would you tell my mainly suburban white congregants? We got some brothers and sisters. I hear right, right.

We do. We're not, you know, just the areas We're what it always trying to expand that and we want to get better. And we do know that there are hurting people in minority communities,

and there are especially in our black community, there's people that are confused. They're caught with the All they know is blue versus red. All they know,

we gotta get past the bias. We gotta let God break down the bias in order to build the body. That's right. So what would be just a couple, the very first steps of that courage, what would you recommend they do? Well, the very first thing, which is huge and just how we had that conversation and what

people don't realize for the African American community and the faith to actually have this conversation is major because for so long, we feel like it's ignored when these things come come together, but we see God is doing something. That's why we had this conversation. So the thing,

as you've been the leader, acknowledgment, awareness, acknowledgment that this really does

exist. Acknowledge there is an actual issue. There's an actual issue. Whether it's politicized and taken in different directions, there is an issue. If there is an issue, not taking a political side on it, but I know there is an issue. Therefore,

by knowing it's an issue and awareness now opens us up to search our own hearts to say, am I aware of my biases in this situation? Am I leaning toward one side or another side instead of just sticking on God's side in this? And we all have biases through this, through no matter what the situation is across the board, all human beings have biases based on cultural, based on experiences. They lean on their experience, allow God's experience to be greater than those experiences.

And so then after that, then we have to sit at the table, right? Put it to action. So it's like, I'm aware that this is for real. I'm examining myself.

I see I have some bias. Well, let me sit at the table with those friends that I have. Let me sit at the table with those that may have experienced this that could even give me a better understanding and see how we can move forward in harmony in God's view. And and that's where it take that's the beginning right there. That acknowledgment,

that awareness,

and then the action of being willing to sit at the table and change one heart at a time. Yeah. One at a time. One at a time. You can't change the world, but one heart at a time. When I get an understanding and we hear each other, then God could capture our heart. And when hearts get captured, communities change because now a heart at a time changes the communities. One at a time, one at a time. And my dad used to say he was in a lot of combat.

Yeah. And he said, oftentimes the war is the easy part. Yeah. Capturing the hearts of the people after you win the war is a whole different story. That's And in a lot, I think what we're facing here is we're in a country that legally, we've kind of the legal stuff kind of that war.

Problem is that didn't change people's hearts. It didn't change people's hearts. And so it's still there. And you know, I appreciate what you recommend. And when I reach out to you is, is you've done the same thing. Like, cause one thing you probably want hear is like, like you had to look at your own bias to what you said, what you grew up in your neighborhood and said, one of the biases is, you know, see here's a cop doing something bad. Right. And of course it happens.

Right. But you told me, you don't think all cops are bad. You want your kids to know that. You want them to know it's Have bad friends up to bed. Not, yeah, you have friends that Yeah, are but the narrative out there, police, the right and the left wing, the wings would try to say that like

where you grew up, the bias was they're your enemy. They're your enemy. And that was the bias that they're your enemy. And it's like

the reality, when you have a renewed mind, you start seeing like, no, this guy doesn't represent everybody else. This cop doesn't represent everyone else. This person doesn't represent This black guy doesn't represent all black guys. This white guy doesn't represent all black. The Well, it that that's the definition

of racism That's or or prejudice. Exactly. So it's like, and that's the society we live in. One thing, they label everybody. And so that's where the one heart at a time comes where that renewing of the mind, having Christ centered, you see like this person right here

doesn't represent the rest, but I'm not gonna allow hatred and anger to come for the rest. I, you know, we do, like you said, we recognize it's injustice. We do want change according to things the way it's supposed to go, but we can't

try to label everybody that and and go to the extreme. And that's because like I said, the politicized, they get into that, and then it gets into your mind, and then it gets into your bias. So now when you open scripture, you look at it through those lenses.

And that's where we get the problem we don't have Christ culture. Right. We try to take Christ and make him the mascot of our culture we're trying to create. Exactly. Exactly. Well, that's what you helped me understand. You

really did. Was there any other last thing you wanted to say to everybody? Like I mean, when you said that, something just came to mind. And That's why I asked. When when you just I mean, because the thing is we want the culture of Christ to be the center. And I use this analogy all the time, and I never use race to give people a clear picture of it. But I I'll say, for instance, take Rock Rock Point, great church. Right? A lot of people,

meaning you got different demographics in your church. So for instance, I always use this analogy. I'll say, it's a school day. Well, before Corona. But it's a school day. Right? It's a school day. And a father is getting ready to go to work. He may be wealthy. He he may be a rich dad. He may live on the hill. Right? And he's the kids are getting ready or maybe he has people that's working for him, the butler's getting ready. And the the people are getting the kids ready and the driver's getting ready to take his son to school and he kisses his son and he says, I love you, son. And he says, I love you too, dad. He he drives off to work. And then at the same time, in the middle class America, there's a father getting ready for work, and he's they're eating breakfast. They're getting ready. And, the kids go off to the bus, and he's standing out the window drinking his coffee, kiss his son, say, I love you, son. At the same time, somewhere in the urban community where they're struggling, They love their kids. They're kissing their kids, and they're doing the same thing, eating breakfast. They're going to school and say, I love you, son. But on a Sunday morning, they all come to the same church.

It's impossible for them to get to see see the same god if we don't preach the god of the scripture. They can't see they can't see the same God. If we don't preach the God of the scripture, they can't see it. Why? Because from their view on the hill to the middle class to the lower class, they all have a view that's been spun that's created biases.

So you got the god of the city and the god of the suburbs Right. Supposed to be the same god? Supposed to be the same god. Wow. That's powerful. Thank you for sharing that. It's supposed to be the same god. It has to be. That's why we have to preach the scripture and not scripture from our bias. We have to and we have to let God continue.

God's not done. That's right. Breaking down our bias. Right. In order to build his body. Definitely. And if all we do is succeed at breaking down bias, but we don't get people to the body of Christ. Right.

Then we are just a third dog in the fight. We're just the third dog in the fight. We're not really we're we're gonna help people be nice to each other while they're alive. Right. But we're not gonna get people reconciled back to the God who loves them.

Yeah. Who who wants and that's, you know what? That's ultimately what's really cool about in Acts 11 was Peter just kind of faced that with courageous, people that were mad at him and said, Hey, here's what happened. And once they saw the power of the spirit,

they all celebrated. Not all, because we know Paul even dealt with this later on. They all All the Judaizers,

there was still a pocket. They're like, you gotta become Jews. You can't be doing it this way. And they fought him the whole time, but most of them moved on. And I think that's why God, see Peter was never able to be everything Jesus said he could be until he got past that bias. Because remember when Jesus handed him, he says, I'm giving you the keys to the kingdom. Didn't mean you're gonna be pope. What he meant was, you're gonna unlock these doors. We were talking about that. Were talking about that. The first door was on Pentecost when all of a sudden Jews in droves,

thousands upon thousands started to see Jesus now, the Holy Spirit. Yes. When? Then the second door was found in this passage where you realize it's not just about Israel. Right. And now, and he needed Peter to be the one to open that door because Peter was respected as the the chief apostle and And

if he doesn't do that, you don't get Paul commissioned to go be the missionary to the rest of the world. Right. Just two chapters later. He misses,

if he does do that, he misses everything that God, all the time with Jesus, what he was building inside of him, he would have missed it. And that's what I feel like, guys, I just, the challenge for us here is wherever you're at politically, wherever you're at,

God's not done wanting us to look in our heart and say, what biases do I have? And maybe it isn't a black versus white. Maybe it's more of a red versus blue, right? And it's anything you're putting in place of what God really calls us to be about. Yes.

As number one, Christ culture. That's right. And I know for me, just like with Peter,

realizing this story kind of, it kind of wrecked me when I because I had already planned to preach through this, but I was taking a little bit different angle before. I mean, I'm still going to address this, but as everything kind of happened, as the Holy Spirit started to move, as I got really overwhelmed,

I just want to close and I'm going ask you to pray for me because I hope I can say this without crying. But I want you guys to know, this man helped me.

You see, he's in a movement where he's the newer church planter. I'm the guy that's been around the block for a while. I do the coaching. I do the the development. I'm the one they called and said, let me help you with this issue. Let me help you with this issue. And the Holy Spirit didn't matter, man. He knew that your experience,

where you had been in life was something I needed. And I I had nowhere else to go. And I reached out to you and you have been my mentor. You've been my leader.

You've been my friend. And you have taken time out of your schedule to sit around the table and even just coming to film, but we have talked and talked and talked. And the nice thing is this opened a new door. Yes, it That's not stopping with just this issue. That's right. And so I wanted to thank you, my friend. Thank you. I wanted to acknowledge your story

and say, but thank you that your story and your willingness helped me face any bias I have, that we need to acknowledge this as in the church and you and I both still need to work towards, hey, let's not make it about race, but let's try to be let's try to look like the kingdom as much as we possibly can. And

and we're both praying about that. And, you know, we probably have some steps coming up. I mean, because of you,

I gathered a bunch of my own black brothers and sisters in this church and they encouraged me. And you were the one that told me to do that. When I first retired, go, I don't even know where to start. I don't even need to go look in your own heart and then see how your own people are. Right. And it was, duh.

Thank you. Yes. And we're meeting again this next week. And so I just want to show honor to you. I wanna thank you. I want to thank you for being here. I want to thank you for helping me. I want to just say, I acknowledge that.

And I, the Holy Spirit's used you greatly in my life and I'm hoping he's using you greatly in the life of everybody watching this video because God has opened a door for you to minister in a way that's been powerful and awesome. And a matter of fact, if you're watching online and you know, you're, you can type on there and you know, shout out great passage, great message, Bill. Some of you, some of you are probably mad, but would you please

just type up and send some prayers and praise and thank you for Tahan and pray for his family and for his ministry because we have to continue to work with him because he was a new church and then it went into this. You

feel like you're starting over, right? I'm from scratch. Well, we're there for you, my friend. Thank you. We're there for you. But hey, could you just pray over us? Pray over Rock Point, pray over me.

Definitely will. And I wanna thank you though. Rock Point, you have an excellent leader and pastor, and keep allowing him to lead you. These are huge steps,

and and I believe the holy spirit is doing something great. So we're gonna pray and allow the holy spirit just to minister. Lord, we just thank you right now, father. We thank you for allowing us to be your children to hear your voice,

Lord, and we're responding to the voice that you're speaking to us, that we could speak to the people that you've allowed us to speak into right now in the name of Jesus, Father. Father, I pray that their hearts are open to receive, that they see the leaders

that you placed over them to be examples of how they should be leaders in their homes, leaders in their community, and focus on the kingdom of God, Lord. Lord, I thank you pastor Bill right now in the name of Jesus. I ask that you bless his family. I ask that you continue to bless his ministry. I ask you continue to bless the volunteers that the people that just give time for the building of the kingdom of God under his leadership right now, Lord. Lord, I thank you right now, father, for you're doing something great. As the scripture says, the enemy may have planned things out for our bad, but Lord, you're working it out for our good. As Joseph

said to his brothers, hey, it was meant for bad, but God worked out for our good. He had a plan. And we see the plan coming forth right now in the name of Jesus, Lord, that it's about us walking together, that it's about us working together, and it's about for the sake of the kingdom of God. So we thank you for this Lord. We pray that all hearts and minds are clear and they allow the Holy Spirit to minister and they reflect on the things that was said today to just acknowledge,

to be aware, to examine Lord, and just, and then throw the action, allow them to sit at the table while they've seen us as their leaders sit at the table. We And thank you for this in Jesus' name, amen and amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, my friend. Amen. Amen. We praise the Lord that our God can transform hearts, lives,

and the world. And we look to him as the one who can mend the broken, who can restore and renew and make alive. He can heal the deepest hurts, and we look to him as the God who can turn graves into gardens. And we're gonna praise him for who he is.

Nothing is better than you.

And I'm not afraid

because the God of the mountain is the God of the valley and there's

you.

Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you, lord.

God, we know it's you. It's you, God, who does all of these things, who works the miracle in our lives and in our world. So God, help us to lean into you, to listen to one another God, to hear God beyond the scope of what we're living in God and what's happening in the world around us to the people around us.

God that we can be your hands and feet, that we can be the body of Christ together, showing love to one another, that the world would see, that they would know that you are our God, that you are faithful and you are good, that the love of Christ will be on full display

in us, God. Transform our hearts, transform our lives, and transform this world. Only you can. And so we look to you and we give you all that we are. Guide us through this day, guide us through this week, guide us through this life that we would radiate the love of Christ. We love you, Lord Jesus.

We give you all the glory and all the praise. It's in Jesus' name we pray all these things. Amen. Amen. Thank you guys so much for joining us. If you have prayer requests, please write into the comments. You can also go to rockpoint.io.

We love you so much and we can't wait to see you again. God bless you. Have a great week. Stay safe And we'll see you soon.