More Than You Can See

I've known Pastor Brad and Stephanie for some time and so thankful for them and they're just anointed. I'm so glad that they're here. I have to really admit to you I pastored in Indianapolis area for a many year about six years and we had friends in the Asheville area and we would drive this way and our stop for about six years in a row was a gas station in a Starbucks and it was a place called London, Kentucky and we always said no one lives here and I I really connected the dots.

Yesterday I was at the Starbucks that I stopped at with my kids growing up and I FaceTimed my wife and said, "Lori, you're never going to believe this. People actually live here." And it's been exciting. Your pastor drove us around your campuses and like, man, what God is doing here is just miraculous and I'm just honored to be here and be a part of it.

And so, thank you for letting me have just a little bit of time in your day. And I'm honored to be here. Like Pastor Brad said, we've known each other.

I I I can't remember a time where I did not know Brad and his family. And, just a wonderful family. I I think of him as an older brother, a very a much older older older brother than than me.

And, I'm thankful for him and his life, and his ministry. I know that he has not been here too long, but I I can tell you just the anointing of God on his life and I've seen the spirit of God just moving him and what God has done and I'm just so thankful and thrilled to be here with him. You're in the middle of going through the book of Acts.

And I'm so glad that I get to be a part of this. And when you ask most people what the book of Acts is about in the New Testament, they will automatically say it's about the church. And though that is not necessarily wrong, the book of Acts is about the kingdom of God.

>> And the book of Acts is about expanding the kingdom. In the book of Acts is about the church being used as a tool to expand the kingdom. And I want to start out with some very good news and don't want to discourage you but every church has an ending date.

Every church at the Lord Terry's will probably not last but the kingdom of God will. And the church is a tool to expand the kingdom of God. And if we look at the book of Acts and we go through all of Acts, we see that God used the church, you and me, to expand the kingdom.

We find ourselves at the center of Acts chapter number 10 in the series that you're in. And there's two men from completely different worlds. The first is Peter.

Peter is Jewish. Peter is Jewish and he walked with Jesus. He witnessed miracles, his crucifixion, his resurrection.

He preached at Pentecost. Pentecost was a place where thousands of people came to faith and he saw some miraculous things. And he's not a new believer.

Maybe like some of you, maybe you've been here for a very long time. Maybe you've seen miraculous things in your life. Maybe you've experienced God in a personal way.

And maybe you've seen things happen in your life and but you're not a new believer. You're someone who has read the Bible. You're someone who've seen prayers answered.

You're someone who maybe seen God do some things in your life. And Peter was not a new believer trying to figure things out. This is one of the central leaders of the early church.

And yet God is about to show Peter that there is still more to understand about the reach of the gospel. You see, as long as you're a Jesus follower, you never come to an end of learning on planet Earth. As long as you're a Jesus follower, there's never an end of understanding of growing as a Jesus follower.

>> As long as you're a Jesus follower, you will always be stretched in your faith with Jesus. And then there's Cornelius in this passage of scripture. Two characters.

There's Peter and then there's Cornelius. And Cornelius is a gentile. He's a Roman centurion incessory, an officer in the very empire occupying Israel.

And yet Luke describes him as a devout, God-fearing, prayerful, and generous person. He is spiritually hungry. And he knows there is more to know about God, but he doesn't yet know Jesus.

Maybe you're here today. Maybe you identify even more like Cornelius. Maybe it's your first time here and someone invited you.

I don't know. Maybe you've been coming with a family member. Maybe you've been coming with a spouse.

Maybe you've been coming with a parent. Maybe you're here someone exploring what faith looks like. But maybe you would identify more like Cornelius who doesn't know Jesus in a personal way.

But yet you may be curious to know if Jesus is real or if Jesus may be someone that you can know in a personal way. And so on one side is Peter, someone who knows Jesus but still needs his understanding expanded and on the other side is Cornelius, someone seeking God but still needing to hear about Jesus. Two men from entirely different worlds who under normal circumstances would never meet.

And that's the beauty of the gospel. >> That's the beauty of Creek Church because the center of the relationships build at this church isn't a program. It isn't a ministry.

It isn't that you're like in different ways, but it's the fact that the relationships built here can be on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Where outside of these walls, you may never meet. Outside of these walls, you may not have the same likes or dislikes, but you have the same savior in Jesus Christ.

>> And two men from entirely different worlds who under normal circumstances would never meet. In fact, Peter later acknowledges in Acts chapter number 10 and verse 28 an important fact and this is why this chapter is so powerful and called the pivotal chapter of the gospel. It is against our law for a Jew to associate or with or visit a gentile.

You see, cultural, religious, and purity boundaries kept these worlds apart. But God is about to bring them together. And when he does, the early church will discover something far bigger than the conversation and the conversion of one Roman centurion.

They will see clearly that the gospel of Jesus Christ is for the Gentiles as well. No one has to become a Jew first. No one has to come from the right background.

God gives the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles just as he has the Jewish believers. >> And this moment reshapes the direction of the church. And what stands out is this.

And the reason I wanted to start with a background of Acts chapter number 10 is what stands out is this. Peter cannot see the full picture. I'll never forget when we were driving through this area in London, Kentucky for many years.

And I talked to Pastor Brad and he said he was moving to London, Kentucky. And I said, "For what? You can't see the whole picture when you just stop at a gas station in a Starbucks.

Our human eyes and our mind, our life. There's times in life we can't see the whole picture. Peter couldn't see the full picture, but God can.

>> God can. Cornelius cannot see the full picture, but God can. The church cannot see the full picture, but God can.

When I was asked to speak on Acts chapter number 10 and I read this passage of scripture, I felt the Lord speak to me very clearly. I do not know you and you do not know me. But there was two people and two characters in this passage of scripture and there's two people in this room that I want to speak to.

There's a person in this room that you've known Jesus for many years. But before you leave this building, God wants to give you a greater understanding of who he is and what he wants to do through you. >> Amen.

>> And there's a person in this room that I believe that God's been pursuing for a while, more than you can even know. And today he wants that meeting to start with a relationship so personal in your life that he wants you to see that he is real. >> The seasons where I encountered God in the most personal way was where there was more that I could see.

I could not understand. Years ago, I was pastoring in Las Vegas. I planted a church and I sold everything I had.

I lived in Florida and I was a pastor's kid and I had a six-month-old and a four-year-old and young marriage and I was 26 and I decided that I wanted to see God in a personal way and I sold everything I had and me and my wife we moved and we were very strategic in starting our church. We started on the back porch of our home and we decided to start it at the end of June and you'll get that later. But if you ever been to Las Vegas, it's about 115 degrees.

And I did something very important in our marriage. I bought a home sight unseen. Don't ever do that.

I didn't know how to plant a church. No one taught me that. I didn't know how to start.

I didn't have a network. I didn't have money. I didn't have anything.

I even told my wife, "We'll probably only be there about a year because no one's ever going to be dumb enough to come to my church." And we started inviting people on the back porch of our home. And within the first two months, about a hundred people on a Sunday night would start coming. We would feed them.

We'd talk about Jesus. People would get saved. People would start knowing Christ until the point we had to find a building.

But I'll never forget that first night we went there. And the first night we went, I I didn't understand. I came from a town in Florida that not every town in America you can just turn the power on the day you get there.

And in Vegas, you couldn't do that. They had to turn an emergency power call in for to turn it on. And they turned on the power.

It was like 150 degrees in the house. And my wife came from a customuilt home on the St. John's River to a house.

It was a box. You could stick your hand out the window and touch the building house next to you. We were the only people on the street that could speak English.

And I said, "Let's go to Walmart and let's get groceries." So, we went to Walmart and we got groceries and we filled two grocery carts full of groceries. And I went to the cash register and I didn't realize I had turned the bank off in Florida so my bank card would not work. So, at the register, my wife, I saw a tear flow down her cheek and she walked off with her kids and I just said, "Leave the grocery carts here.

I'll come back for them." I don't think I ever went back without Walmart in 13 years living in Las Vegas. I went to the house and I started searching through cars, our car and and cardboard boxes and we found some chains and I went to the gas station. I bought a 2 liter Dr.

Pepper, a bag of Dorito chips, and some gas station hot dogs. And we sat in this hot family room, and I literally audibly cried out to God and said, "God, I sent my family to hell. Please help me out." And God did some miraculous things.

But in the midst of God doing some miraculous things in those 13 years, I could tell you story after story, I had my father reject me in that moment. [clears throat] He was a pastor. I was a pastor, but he didn't like the way I was doing things.

Methodology-wise became theology to him and he cut me and my family and my kids off. I started having a father wound in that moment and it hurt me greatly. I could not understand the rejection of my father because I used different methods than him as a pastor.

A deep father womb formed as my family rejected me and cut my family off. I could not see the good in that. I could not understand it.

But there was more than I could see at the time. And now years later, [clears throat] I travel all over this country helping people with their father wounds. There's more than I could see.

Five years ago, my oldest son walking away from his faith. And as a parent, if you have a weward son, there's more than I could see at the moment. And I will never forget getting on my knees, crying out to God, wondering why my son was making choices that he was not reared to make.

And I couldn't see it in the tears flowing down my cheeks and my wife's cheeks. And I could not understand. There was more that I could see at the time.

And today, this morning, while I stand on this stage, God's brought him back to his faith. And he's leading worship for the first time in five years at his church. There's more that I could see.

There's more that I could see that I did not understand when I chose my family, but yet he had to go through that. There is more that I could see. There's more that I could see that when my wife and I stepped out on faith and started Clarity Ministries and we bought a retreat center that would be a safe haven for men and women in ministry and we stepped out on faith and we started a wedding venue to pay the bills so pastors could come for free to retreats and my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer the very day that she started her first wedding.

And I cried out to God, why would you do this? But there was more that I could see. And she went through breast cancer.

And now she's cancer free. And now she gives her testimony to other ladies in ministry who are going through dark and deep hurts in life. I'm just telling you today in the moment in the midst of dark hours, in the midst of wondering why, in the midst of not knowing what the future holds, in the midst of questioning God, in the midst of not understanding, in the midst of questioning your faith, in the midst of not understanding what you're going to do tomorrow or in the next day and the next hour, I can tell you this that God is faithful.

And even when you don't understand, THERE IS MORE THAT YOU CAN SEE THAT IS AHEAD. That God has a bright future and a bright plan for you. And he wants a relationship with you.

And he died on a cross for you and shed his blood for you so that you could spend eternity for him. And there's more that you can see that maybe right now that you don't see. I look back on my life with limited understanding, but now I realize there was more than I could see and God was in it.

And that's exactly what makes Acts 10 so powerful and a pivotal moment when it comes to spreading the gospel. There's more happening than Peter sees. There's more happening than Cornelius sees and more than anyone in the early church realizes as in real time because Acts 10 is one of the pivotal turning points in the entire book of Acts.

Remember what Jesus said before he ascended in Acts 180. He said this, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem." Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and at the ends of the earth. And that is exactly what is unfolding.

The gospel begins in Jerusalem and then it moves into Judea. Then into Samaria and now in Acts 10. It's about to cross another major boundary.

God is always working even when you cannot see it. >> And often far more is happening than we realize. And >> I just want you to I want to show you three things when God is at work that you got to understand.

The first one is this. When there's more that you can see, God works in us. Before Peter ever walks into Cornelius's house, God has to do something in Peter.

Peter goes up on the roof to pray. He becomes hungry. Then he has a vision.

A sheep comes down filled with animals. And Peter had been taught were unclean. And God tells him, "Get up, Peter.

Kill and eat." And Peter pushes back in Acts 10:14. He says, "Surely not, Lord. I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." And Peter thinks it's about food, but it's really about people.

Because while Peter is trying to understand what this vision means, men from Cornelius's shows up at his door. You see, God is connecting the dots. Before Peter can walk into an assignment.

God had to deal with an old assumption. Sometimes you may feel stuck in your assignment, but God may have you stuck in your assignment to deal with old assumptions. >> And that's where it gets personal.

Sometimes we want God to change everybody around us, but God starts with us. Sometimes the biggest obstacles to what God wants to do in us is not around us. It's in us.

Our assumptions, our preferences, our comfort, our traditions, our expectations. Peter had walked with Jesus. He had preached Pentecost.

He had seen thousands come to faith. And Peter still needed God to work on him. And that should encourage every one of us today.

But maybe you're here and you've known God and you've seen God work. But maybe God still needs to do a work in you. And before God can do a work in through you, he's got to do a work in you.

And being used by God means he still has to shape you, still correcting you, still stretching you, still showing you where you're thinking does not look right in your heart. Sometimes we pray this, God use me. And God says, "I will, but first let me work in you." Because sometimes before God changes what is around us, he changes what's inside of us.

Maybe you want to reach the people around you, but maybe first God needs to reach you. Maybe you want your family dynamic to change, but first you need to change. >> Maybe if you want that marriage saved, maybe you need to be saved first.

Maybe instead of before you're praying for your spouse that maybe you ought to start praying for God to transform you. Maybe you're the one that needs to be changed first. Maybe intimacy with your heavenly father first before ministry.

There may be more God wants to do in your life that you can currently see. But sometimes the first place he starts is you. Maybe God is working or wants to work in you before he works with anybody around you.

And that was the case with Peter. Before Peter could ever have the gospel sent to a Gentile, God had to change his mindset when it came to Gentiles. Here's a second thing we got to realize if we're going to see God expand the gospel in our lives and beyond.

God reaches everyone. Peter finally arrives at Cornelius's house. And when he gets there, the house is full.

Cornelius has invited his family, and I love this. And his closest friends, he basically says, "If God has something to say, I want everybody I care about to hear it." And Peter walks into the house with a completely different perspective than he had before. God had worked in him.

God had done a work. I look back now in my life and I see the hardships in my life and I realize it wasn't just about the people around me, but it was about me. And I read in Acts 10:28 says, "God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean." Peter's posture had changed.

And Peter gets it now. Then he begins to preach in Acts 10:34. Says, "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritisms." And this is the moment everything starts opening up.

The gospel is not just for people like Peter. It's not just for one ethnicity or one background, one culture, one kind of person. The gospel is for everyone.

Every nation, every family, every person, every failure. And then Peter does the most important thing he could do. He preaches Jesus.

You see, if you want to reach people for the gospel, they don't need your opinion. They just need Jesus. >> Amen.

>> Amen. >> If you want to reach people with the gospel, they just need to know who Jesus is. He talks about his life.

He talks about the cross. He talks about the resurrection. And then he comes to our anchor verse today in Acts 10:43.

It says this, "Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." Notice what it says. It says, "Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness through his name." That word everyone, that is one of the greatest words in the Bible. Everyone, that means your past does not disqualify you.

Your mistakes do not disqualify you. Your family does not disqualify you. Your failure does not disqualify you.

Your doubt does not disqualify you. Your addictions does not disqualify you. Everyone who believes in Cornelius story makes that this even more powerful.

Cornelius was a good man. He prayed. He gave generously.

He feared God. He cared about spiritual things. But being good was not enough.

Being generous was not good enough. And the gospel is not this. It's not try harder.

If you're here today for the first time, if you're wondering about a relationship with Jesus, I can tell you this. There's nothing you can do more to make God love you more. And there's nothing you could do less to make God love you less.

He loves you just the way you are. The gospel is not clean yourself up. The gospel isn't become more religious.

The gospel isn't anything other than he lived, he died, he rose again, and everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness. There are people you may think are too far gone. God does not.

There are people you may assume would never be interested in Jesus. You do not know what God may already be doing. There's more than you can see because God sees more than we see and his reach is always bigger than we can see.

Here's the last thing I want to just share with you. It's important that when God calls us, it's important to respond. >> Something happens that I love.

Peter is preaching and he's not even finished the sermon. In Acts 10:44, people respond. It says, "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard this message." Peter did not even get to finish before they responded.

And I think there's something powerful in that. Sometimes when God is moving, you don't need any more information. You need to respond.

They had heard enough to know who Jesus was. They had heard enough to know what he had done. They heard enough to believe.

So while Peter was speaking, the Holy Spirit moved and God interrupts his sermon. Peter was still talking and God basically says, "I've got it from here." In Acts 10:47, he says this, "Surely no one can stand in the way of their baptism with water." And then in this passage of scripture, they were baptized They hear the gospel. They believe.

They respond. They don't delay. And they were baptized.

I leave here after the next service and I go back and get on a plane. I have three kids. I have two boys.

They're both out of the house. One's married and I have a granddaughter. She's two years old.

She's the most important thing. No, not really. But I have two older boys.

Then I have a daughter. She just turned 18 in May. She's going to college.

When I get back in town, I land later tonight. Tomorrow we start packing her car and we drive her and drop her off to college. She is very close to me.

She calls me her bestie. We're very close and it's going to be a hard day. My whole family already knows that.

When I drop her off and I drive back home, don't call me, don't talk to me for a year. My daughter has been one of the easiest kids in my home. She's honored me.

She's honored me in every area of her life. She's had the I've had the privilege for the last two years of her getting to travel with me. We pulled her out of high school and homeschooled her because I travel so much almost every week to do this.

And travels with me, gets on a plane. We've gotten really close and she's seen me talk on stages like this and she's seen me at retreats and small settings and she's seen me minister and she's seen the good, bad, and ugly of ministry and she's watched us give our life to faith in Jesus. She's been no problem.

She's been a good kid last year. She came to me and her mom and she said, "Dad, I I want to talk to you about something." I said, "Okay, I thought it was a boy." And I always brace myself for that cuz I hate boys. And it wasn't a boy.

She said, "Dad, I want to talk to you about my my personal relationship with Jesus. When I say she's given me no problems, she's given me no problems. If you put the face of a kid that's obeyed the verse of honor your father and your mother, it's Haley Neil.

But Haley wasn't on her way to heaven because she did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. And I travel to California a lot in Southern California. I do a lot of ministry and there's a place called Pirates Cove where a lot of people get baptized.

Last year she made her faith her own and I host a conference and your pastor preached at it last year. You'll preach at it again this year. And before that conference, we spent two days at Pirates Cove.

And I had the privilege of baptizing my daughter at Pirates Cove with my closest friends. I believe the pictures will be on the screen. She was baptized and she made her faith her own.

There came a moment when at 17 years old, she had to decide for herself that my faith was not going to be enough for her. Her mom's faith was not going to get her to heaven. Growing up in a Christian home was not going to be enough for her.

At some point she had to make her faith her own. She had to choose Jesus for herself. And that's what baptism represented her.

It wasn't her saying this is not just what my family believes. This is what it was saying was is what she believes. Jesus is my savior.

Jesus is my lord. Amen. >> I get to drive her to her college and my privilege and my joy of my sweet daughter.

Not just knowing that I'm proud of her because she's made her father proud, but knowing that next phase in her life that not only did she honor her parents, that no matter if she didn't honor her parents, that she started a relationship with Jesus, that one day that we'll all be in heaven together, not because of good works or bad works, but because of a relationship with Jesus. >> [music and applause] >> And at some point, faith has to become your own. And that's exactly where Cornelius and his household find themselves.

They heard about Jesus. And my fear for you today, my heart is heavy. I wish I had more funny jokes to tell you.

I wish I had more stories to compel you. But you've heard the truth. Maybe you identify with Peter this morning.

And you need to come to an altar and you need to ask for the power of God and you need to renew your strength and you need to be more aware of the people around you who need Jesus. Or maybe you're here like Cornelius and you've heard it and you've heard it and you've heard it and maybe you've sat there and you don't understand the songs and you haven't understand the preacher who's preached every week and maybe you don't get it all but you feel something rising inside of you and maybe it's time as the pastor said as Peter was preaching people were moving because the spirit of God was overwhelming them and maybe this is your moment when there's more that you could see that people were preparing you for this moment and there's more that you could see if you're a student in this room that your faith has to become your own because there's a Jesus that loves you. But mom's not going to get you to heaven and dad's not going to get you to heaven and husband's not going to get you to heaven and wife's not going to get you to heaven and grandma's not going to get you to heaven.

ONLY JESUS AND FAITH in him AS A SIMPLE CHILDLIKE FAITH WILL get you to heaven and he's here for you right now. And maybe he has been using conversations. And maybe he has been using questions.

And maybe has been using relationships. And maybe he's using this guy from southern Georgia today that's walked on this stage that maybe just wants to plead with you and scream at you and you to understand that Jesus loves you. And you could be as good as you want like my daughter, but it's not good enough.

And you have been as bad as you can be, but Jesus still loves you unconditionally. And my friend, there's so many Peters in this room that's been attending this church for years, but maybe it's time to get over church hurt. Maybe it's time to get over betrayal.

Maybe it's time to get over your prejudice. Maybe it's time to get over what you think was right and what you think is wrong. And there's an allloving knowing God that wants to use you in this moment to reach London and beyond for the cause of Jesus Christ.

And maybe there's an awakening wants to happen at places where somebody thought there's just a gas station in a Starbucks. But there's a revival breaking out in this city and beyond that wants to be known throughout all this country that there was a place that fell on their face before Jesus and understood there is a Peter and there is a Cornelius and there's a shift about to happen on this ground that there IS A GOD GREATER THAN ALL THAT WE MAY see Jesus. >> Would you bow your heads with me?

>> Hey, we are so grateful that you chose to be with us today online. If God was speaking to you during the service and you feel led by the Holy Spirit to put your trust in Jesus [music] for the first time today, all you have to do is pray a simple prayer like this. Heavenly Father, I know that I'm a sinner and I [music] know that I need your grace today.

I put my trust in you. I put my trust in your son. I believe [music] that you sent him to die for my sins and to be raised to life so that I could have life in him.

And it's in Jesus name that I pray. Amen. Hey, if that was your decision today, we want to celebrate you.

It's the best decision of your entire life. But following Jesus is more than just that. There's continual steps along the journey of faith.

And we want to help you take your next [music] step at every turn. If you just decided to follow Jesus, your next step is going public with that decision through [music] baptism. We baptize every single week at all of our campuses in London, Somerset, and Williamsburg.

[music] And we would love to invite you to join us in person to do that so that we can celebrate [music] you. But maybe you've already followed Jesus. You have next yeses and next steps as well.

Maybe that's joining [music] a service team. Maybe it's attending Growth Track and finding out your spiritual gifts. Maybe it's giving financially and contributing to [music] the kingdom of God in that way.

Whatever your next yes is, we want to help you take it. And all you have to do is go to the creekurch.com. [music] You can find all kinds of different ways that you can continue to follow Jesus.

But maybe the most important way is [music] for you to attend in person. If you've joined us online but you haven't been with us in person, we would love to invite you for a Sunday service in London, Somerset, or Williamsburg. Thank you so much for watching.

Have a great rest [music] of your day. [music] >> [music]