October
15, 2017 NOTES NOT EDITED
Ecstasy
Ecstasy
Acts
10, esp. v10
Sermon-in-a-Sentence: The
greatest experience in life is to share the gospel and partner with God in the
birth of a soul.The greatest experiences of my life, by far, was the birth of my children. I was present for the birth of all three. By, “present,” I mean, I was the “coach” for the labor process. I’ve coached several sports. I coached Natalie’s elementary school basketball team. I also coached Jonathan’s Little League baseball team. I know a little about basketball and a little about baseball, but when it comes to “coaching a woman in labor,” I was way in over my head!
At the time of my first child’s birth, Amanda Marie, I was working my way through college at a party supply store. Shari worked in the office, and all the other employees were women, except for Roger, a classmate, whose wife also worked at the store.
These women had me pegged. Before the birth of Amanda, they made me a hat. It had a pillow on the back so that I wouldn’t heart myself when I fainted and fell on the floor.
That experience saw a trouble-free pregnancy end with a horrible tragedy. Amanda died shortly after birth from ingesting myconium while in the uterus. So, Shari and I never experienced the ecstasy of birth as it should have been.
That would change two years later. Again, I was the “coach.” Again, I was still in way over my head. I remember the pain. It was horrible. I begged for the nurses to provide drugs to ease the pain, but they insisted they never give the father’s drugs during labor.
I remember holding Natalie for the first time (even as I write this 32 years later, my eyes still tear up. I cannot describe in words what it felt like to hold my baby. I think the word, “ecstasy” is as close as I can get—a truly, “overwhelming out-of-body experience.”
Five years later, again I am the coach through labor. Again, the nurses refuse to give me drugs for the pain. Then I held Jonathan for the first time. It was the same experience all over again; an “overwhelming out-of-body experience that can only be described as “ecstasy.”
I would experience “ecstasy” two more times holding babies. Three weeks after nearly dying of a massive heart attack, I would hold my tiny granddaughter, with all her Intensive Care tubes hanging from her little body. Then, I would experience ecstasy when I held my grandson, Corban, for the first time.
I have experienced that same feeling hundreds of times over my lifetime—I don’t know the exact number. No, Shari and I do not have over 100 kids. But, we do have hundreds of spiritual children and grandchildren. Shari and I have been ministering together now for nearly 40 years. We have been blessed to enjoy the ecstasy of many, many souls being born into the Kingdom of God.
The dictionary defines, ecstasy, as “rapturous delight; an overpowering emotion or exaltation; a state of sudden, intense feeling.
Athletes, especially those involved in extreme sports, have their own version of “ecstasy.” They call it an “adrenalin rush.” This is the overpowering emotion or sudden rush of intense feeling a person gets when the bungee jump off a bridge or skydive out of an airplane.
The Bible also describes the experience of “ecstasy.” The English word, ecstasy, comes from the Greek word, ekstasis. It literally means to “stand out from one’s self.” It refers to an “out of body experience, a trance, or a visionary state.” It is that indescribable experience I had at the birth of my children and grandchildren. In our text this morning, we will see that Peter experienced “ecstasy” in regard to an experience in which a Roman Centurion is born-again, along with many others.
The greatest experience we will ever have in this life is to share the gospel with others and partner with God in the birth of a soul. We are going to read a portion of our text and then see how we can “experience ecstasy through outreach.”
ACTS 10:9-16 9The next day, as they were traveling and nearing the city, Peter went up to pray on the housetop about noon. 10Then he became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing something, he went into a visionary state. 11He saw heaven opened and an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the earth. 12In it were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, and the birds of the sky. 13Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat!” 14“No, Lord!” Peter said. “For I have never eaten anything common and ritually unclean!” 15Again, a second time, a voice said to him, “What God has made clean, you must not call common.” 16This happened three times, and then the object was taken up into heaven.
The HCSB translates Peter’s experience as “a visionary state.” The Jubilee Bible translates verse 10 as, “he fell into a rapture of understanding.” Another version translates it as, “an ecstasy of mind.”
The real emphasis in this text is not “what” did Peter experience, but “why.” Throughout the Bible, men of God experience ecstasy, or an overwhelming experience, or overpowering feeling in an encounter with God.
The key is to understand, “why” this happens. It happens according to the purpose and plan of God. It happens when men or women encounter God as God chooses to partner with them to accomplish His purposes. As we will see, the entire chapter deals with the birth of a soul—the soul of Cornelius. This is why I say, “the greatest feeling in life—ecstasy if you will—comes when we partner with God as a new soul is born. What we are talking about is the “ecstasy of outreach.”
Let me briefly tell the story of Acts 10 to give you the context for Peter’s vision.
In verses 1-7 we are introduced to a Roman Centurion (like an Army Captain commanding 100 men). He is described as a God-fearer. This was a Gentile who practiced much of the religion of the Jews, but stopped short of a full commitment through circumcision and offering sacrifice. He is the equivalent of a person who is a “church goer” but not saved. God gave Cornelius a vision while he was praying and told Cornelius to seek a man named, Peter, in the town of Joppa.
At the same time God put Peter in a trance and offered Peter a banquet of unclean food (which was intended to represent Gentiles like Cornelius). Of course Peter was repulsed by the idea of eating unclean food—even if God told him to do it! Well, Peter eventually got the message and visited Cornelius—an unclean Gentile. Peter shared the gospel. Cornelius and many other Gentiles were gloriously filled with the Holy Spirit and saved. Thus, the gospel took Its first step from Jerusalem and into the rest of the world.
This is the story surrounding the ecstasy that Peter experienced.
We should all long for this type of “ecstasy.” Sadly, so few people in church get ecstatic about the opportunity to enter the presence of the Almighty in partnership with Him in the Kingdom work. This just doesn’t give people the “adrenalin rush” like bungee jumping or skydiving—but, it should.
Let’s examine three conditions that will bring about “an out of body experience, or ecstasy” in the life of a believer. First, the Ecstasy of Outreach requires an absolute and single--minded commitment to
1. The Purpose of God (34-43)
34 Then Peter began to speak: “Now I
really understand that God doesn’t show favoritism, 35 but in
every nation the person who fears Him and does righteousness is acceptable to
Him. 36 He sent the message to the Israelites, proclaiming the
good news of peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all. 37 You know the events that took place throughout Judea, beginning
from Galilee after the baptism that John preached: 38 how God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went
about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the Devil,
because God was with Him. 39 We
ourselves are witnesses of everything He did in both the Judean country and in
Jerusalem, yet they killed Him by hanging Him on a tree. 40 God raised up this man on
the third day and permitted Him to be seen, 41 not by all the
people, but by us, witnesses appointed beforehand by God, who ate and drank
with Him after He rose from the dead. 42 He
commanded us to preach to the people and to solemnly testify that He is the One
appointed by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify
about Him that through His name everyone
who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins.”
Woven
throughout every book of the Bible is one common theme reiterated here: . 42 He
commanded us to preach to the people [so that]
everyone who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins.”
There
are not many purposes outlined in the Bible, but only one. Jesus could not have made this clearer than
declaring—after He had brought salvation to the house of Zaccheus—that the
driving purpose of God reaching its zenith in the life of God’s Son is this, “to
seek and to save that which is lost!” (Luke 19:10).
Many churches and many Christians do a lot of “good things” but they neglect the “main thing.” Evangelism is about sharing the gospel. In our text that gospel is explained clearly.
1. God sent Jesus to show us the way—and be the Way (10:38)
2. Salvation was purchased with the blood of Jesus (10:39).
3. Jesus rose again on the third day validating Who He is and thus
legitimizing “what” He had done (10:40-41)
Many churches and many Christians do a lot of “good things” but they neglect the “main thing.” Evangelism is about sharing the gospel. In our text that gospel is explained clearly.
1. God sent Jesus to show us the way—and be the Way (10:38)
2. Salvation was purchased with the blood of Jesus (10:39).
3. Jesus rose again on the third day validating Who He is and thus
legitimizing “what” He had done (10:40-41)
4. Only Jesus provides the way of salvation
through grace that
Cornelius lacked, and all people lack in our own strength (42-43).
The ecstasy of evangelism requires a clear understanding of the purpose of God which is to “passionately, vigorously, consistently and enthusiastically proclaim the gospel.”
Experiencing the ecstasy of evangelism also requires
2. A Clear Understanding of the Gospel of Salvation
(1) It requires that God’s people, the Church, clearly define what it means to be lost. By human standards, Cornelius was a good man, called in first century terms, “a God-fearer.”
2 He was a devout man and feared God along with his whole household. He did many charitable deeds for the Jewish people and always prayed to God.
We learn three important facts about Cornelius in verse 2. (1) He feared God. (2) He was full of good deeds; and (3) he fervently prayed. By any human standard, Cornelius was a “good” man, worthy of salvation. But, God does not measure a man by the world’s standards, but God measures a man by the Word’s Standards. The Word says,
For we have previously charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become useless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. (Rom. 3:10).
The inherent and absolute sinfulness of mankind is not a new idea introduced in the N.T. The Prophet Isaiah declared long ago:
6 All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind (Isa. 64:6)
Cornelius lacked, and all people lack in our own strength (42-43).
The ecstasy of evangelism requires a clear understanding of the purpose of God which is to “passionately, vigorously, consistently and enthusiastically proclaim the gospel.”
Experiencing the ecstasy of evangelism also requires
2. A Clear Understanding of the Gospel of Salvation
(1) It requires that God’s people, the Church, clearly define what it means to be lost. By human standards, Cornelius was a good man, called in first century terms, “a God-fearer.”
2 He was a devout man and feared God along with his whole household. He did many charitable deeds for the Jewish people and always prayed to God.
We learn three important facts about Cornelius in verse 2. (1) He feared God. (2) He was full of good deeds; and (3) he fervently prayed. By any human standard, Cornelius was a “good” man, worthy of salvation. But, God does not measure a man by the world’s standards, but God measures a man by the Word’s Standards. The Word says,
For we have previously charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become useless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. (Rom. 3:10).
The inherent and absolute sinfulness of mankind is not a new idea introduced in the N.T. The Prophet Isaiah declared long ago:
6 All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind (Isa. 64:6)
In
the same way that the word describes the character of Cornelius with a
three-fold description of his worldly goodness—fearing God, full of good works, and fervently praying—Isaiah gives
a three-fold denouncement in the strongest terms of the idea of “human goodness
or righteousness apart from God’s saving Grace.
Isaiah evaluates human righteousness as: (1) being unclean. This word (tāmē) recalls the cry of a leper when they came near people. Jewish law required they shout loudly, Tāmē! Tāmē! meaning, “Unclean! Unclean!” Isaiah continues describing righteousness based on a human standard of goodness by saying it is like (2) a polluted garment.” The KJV translates the words, “filthy rags.” It is much more gross than that. The words, iddim begged, literally means “rags soaked with menstrual blood.” I know that is gross and I am hesitant to use the term, but we need to understand clearly what it means to be a lost person. As disgusting as those words are for me to use, sin is more disgusting to God. Third, Isaiah describes lostness, even the lostness of a “God-fearing, spiritually sensitive, and materially generous man like Cornelius,” as (3) a withering leaf. Not only is a lost person, “unclean, filthy, and disgusting” according to Heaven’s standard, a lost person is “frail and fading like a dead leaf.”
To experience the ecstasy of evangelism, one must understand the gospel of salvation clearly by defining lostness correctly. (2) Second, we must understand the requirements for salvation clearly. Works cannot not save a person even if one could stack them up higher than Mt. Everest. That would be “self-righteousness” that is no righteousness at all as we learned from Isaiah. There is only one true path to salvation and that is “grace.” Grace is the unmerited, undeserved, unattainable favor of God that can only be “received,” not “achieved.”
Salvation is not achieved through good works. Salvation is not achieved through religion. Salvation is not achieved through baptism. Salvation comes by receiving the free gift that God offers through His son Jesus Christ. We note something very important in Acts 10:44-46:
Isaiah evaluates human righteousness as: (1) being unclean. This word (tāmē) recalls the cry of a leper when they came near people. Jewish law required they shout loudly, Tāmē! Tāmē! meaning, “Unclean! Unclean!” Isaiah continues describing righteousness based on a human standard of goodness by saying it is like (2) a polluted garment.” The KJV translates the words, “filthy rags.” It is much more gross than that. The words, iddim begged, literally means “rags soaked with menstrual blood.” I know that is gross and I am hesitant to use the term, but we need to understand clearly what it means to be a lost person. As disgusting as those words are for me to use, sin is more disgusting to God. Third, Isaiah describes lostness, even the lostness of a “God-fearing, spiritually sensitive, and materially generous man like Cornelius,” as (3) a withering leaf. Not only is a lost person, “unclean, filthy, and disgusting” according to Heaven’s standard, a lost person is “frail and fading like a dead leaf.”
To experience the ecstasy of evangelism, one must understand the gospel of salvation clearly by defining lostness correctly. (2) Second, we must understand the requirements for salvation clearly. Works cannot not save a person even if one could stack them up higher than Mt. Everest. That would be “self-righteousness” that is no righteousness at all as we learned from Isaiah. There is only one true path to salvation and that is “grace.” Grace is the unmerited, undeserved, unattainable favor of God that can only be “received,” not “achieved.”
Salvation is not achieved through good works. Salvation is not achieved through religion. Salvation is not achieved through baptism. Salvation comes by receiving the free gift that God offers through His son Jesus Christ. We note something very important in Acts 10:44-46:
44 While Peter was still speaking
these words, the Holy Spirit came down on all those who heard the message.
45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were
astounded because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the
Gentiles also. 46 For
they heard them speaking in other languages and declaring the greatness of God.
Jews
felt they gained the favor of God by practicing the many rituals and attempting
to follow the many “rules” their religion outlined. But, clearly this passage outlines that the
key to salvation is the uniting of the spirit of man with God through the Holy
Spirit. You can be as religious as the
Dalai Lama and as charitable as Mother Teresa, but if you have not been united
with God through baptism of the Holy Spirit, YOU ARE GOING TO SPLIT HELL WIDE
OPEN, as my good friend, Evangelist Charles Massegee often says.
Peter makes this clear in verse 47: “Can anyone withhold water and prevent these people from being baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
Notice, water baptism follows Spirit baptism. A person who gets immersed in water without first being immersed in God’s Spirit by grace, does not come up out of the water “saved,” but only comes up “wet!”
Notice also the “ecstasy of the experience” for Cornelius and the other believers that day. “for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God!” (NIV). Nothing sets off Holy Spirit fireworks like someone—or many someones—getting saved!
The “ecstasy of evangelism” requires a clear understanding of the purpose of God which is to “seek and save the loss,” and a clear understanding of the gospel including what it means to be lost and what is required to be saved, which is receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit through the grace of God based upon the Life and work of Jesus Christ.
There is a third component to experiencing the “ecstasy of evangelism.”
3. It Requires a Pioneering Spirit
Peter makes this clear in verse 47: “Can anyone withhold water and prevent these people from being baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
Notice, water baptism follows Spirit baptism. A person who gets immersed in water without first being immersed in God’s Spirit by grace, does not come up out of the water “saved,” but only comes up “wet!”
Notice also the “ecstasy of the experience” for Cornelius and the other believers that day. “for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God!” (NIV). Nothing sets off Holy Spirit fireworks like someone—or many someones—getting saved!
The “ecstasy of evangelism” requires a clear understanding of the purpose of God which is to “seek and save the loss,” and a clear understanding of the gospel including what it means to be lost and what is required to be saved, which is receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit through the grace of God based upon the Life and work of Jesus Christ.
There is a third component to experiencing the “ecstasy of evangelism.”
3. It Requires a Pioneering Spirit
One
dictionary definition of a pioneering spirit is, “a willingness to endure hardship in order to explore new places or try
out new things.” Peter was a
settler, but God wanted him to become a pioneer. Peter had become “settled” in the dogma and
ritual of Judaism, but had completely missed duty and reason for his
faith.
Peter, like so many religious people today, became “settled” in his ways—which is a sure way to get in the way of the work of God.
What a marvelous act of mercy on God’s part we read about in verses 9-16 that we read earlier. It was lunch time (noon) and Peter was ready to eat. God took this opportunity to provide “teaching moment” for Peter. God put Peter into a trance and set before Peter a banquet of every kind of non-kosher, unclean meat one could imagine.
Oh, was there lobster? You bet! Was there calamari? Oh, without a doubt. Were there thick, juicy pork chops still sizzling on the plate? Oh, for sure there were. Every kind of delectable dish that a good Jewish boy ritually and righteously avoided were right there on that sheet spread out before Peter. And then we read in verse 13:
The Lord said, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” Without hesitation Peter, the good Jewish boy, responded in verse 14: 14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
The Lord did not give up on this stubborn, Jewish boy, Peter. The Lord said a second time: 15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
During this moment of “ecstasy” when God pressed hard upon Peter’s heart and mind, the Bible says in verse 17: “Peter was deeply perplexed about the vision he had seen.”
Ecstasy is a bewildering experience. Special moments with God are often—perhaps always—as perplexing as they are fulfilling. God cannot be explained. Isaiah declared long ago, “His ways are not our ways” (55:**
So many people are looking for a God they can understand, but that would mean a God that was no greater than my human intellect. That God could not hang the stars in space or control their migration across the heavens. A God that is not perplexing would be a God too small to save. In the spirit of Yogi Berra the great dalai lama of the baseball diamond, I’d say, “A God who is understandable, wouldn’t be!” (Remember last week the yogism, “If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be!”
So many churches are dull, lifeless, ineffective and devoid of an ever-increasing nursery of new souls, because they have become “settlers” instead of pioneers. There is even a T.V. commercial that illustrates this point:
VIDEO
In order to experience the “ecstasy of evangelism” a church needs to have a pioneering spirit. The requires a culture that is willing to endure hardship in order to explore new places or try out new things.” A pioneering spirit is a spirit of sacrificial boldness.
When the Pilgrim’s first arrived in America, the vast expanse of what is now our United States was unknown. The Thirteen Original Colonies inhabited a thin sliver of the United States from New England to Georgia, and no further East than what is now the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. From the very earliest arrivals, the Pilgrim’s pioneered their way West, with great uncertainty and difficulty. One brief account described the “pioneer experience”:
The way west was treacherous, and many people died from diseases such as cholera, smallpox, diphtheria and typhoid. There were no doctors or medications available, so pioneers died by the hundreds. The dead were buried along the trail in unmarked graves, and the rest continued on. Scurvy, a debilitating condition caused from a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables, was also prevalent. Crossing rivers was another dangerous undertaking. Often in covered wagons, the unwieldy vehicles broke apart or got swept away. Any accident that caused cuts or broken bones potentially led to death from a lack of antibiotics and basic first aid (reference.com).
Without this pioneering spirt, driving by a thirst for adventure and supported by a willingness to sacrifice, and the strong resolve in the face of incredible danger, there would be no United States today. Our forefathers were not willing to “settle” for status quo, and neither should we.
If our church—you and I—are going to experience the “ecstasy of evangelism” we must embrace a pioneering spirit. God had to push Peter out of his comfort zone in order for Peter to experience “ecstasy” and fulfillment. The question to us becomes clear: “are we going to be settlers or are we going to be pioneers?”
So many people today are strung out on drugs because they are looking for an “out of body” experience. What they end up with is an “out of the mind” experience. Ecstasy—an overwhelming sense of the Presence of God—comes when we embrace “evangelism.” All the ritual and Christian entertainment in the world will not give you the experience of ecstasy that comes from sharing the gospel and becoming a partner with God in the birthing of a soul! We can try to analyze “what” happened to Peter that day from psycoanalytic perspective or a pseudo-mystical perspective. But, “what” the “visionary trance” was is not nearly as important as “why” God gave Peter that experience—it was all about the purpose of God to save the soul of Cornelius, and those under his influence. Peter’s experience was “the ecstasy of evangelism.”
When we have an absolute, single-minded commitment to God’s PURPOSE, and we are armed with a clear understanding of the GOSPEL, and we develop a PIONEERING spirit that continually pushes against the status quo, then, and only then, will we as a church and as individuals experience the kind of “ecstasy” that Peter experienced. As far as we know, Cornelius was the first Gentile convert to Christianity—and Peter, the stubborn Jewish boy, had the privilege of leading Cornelius to the Lord.
Let’s be like Peter!
Peter, like so many religious people today, became “settled” in his ways—which is a sure way to get in the way of the work of God.
What a marvelous act of mercy on God’s part we read about in verses 9-16 that we read earlier. It was lunch time (noon) and Peter was ready to eat. God took this opportunity to provide “teaching moment” for Peter. God put Peter into a trance and set before Peter a banquet of every kind of non-kosher, unclean meat one could imagine.
Oh, was there lobster? You bet! Was there calamari? Oh, without a doubt. Were there thick, juicy pork chops still sizzling on the plate? Oh, for sure there were. Every kind of delectable dish that a good Jewish boy ritually and righteously avoided were right there on that sheet spread out before Peter. And then we read in verse 13:
The Lord said, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” Without hesitation Peter, the good Jewish boy, responded in verse 14: 14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
The Lord did not give up on this stubborn, Jewish boy, Peter. The Lord said a second time: 15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
During this moment of “ecstasy” when God pressed hard upon Peter’s heart and mind, the Bible says in verse 17: “Peter was deeply perplexed about the vision he had seen.”
Ecstasy is a bewildering experience. Special moments with God are often—perhaps always—as perplexing as they are fulfilling. God cannot be explained. Isaiah declared long ago, “His ways are not our ways” (55:**
So many people are looking for a God they can understand, but that would mean a God that was no greater than my human intellect. That God could not hang the stars in space or control their migration across the heavens. A God that is not perplexing would be a God too small to save. In the spirit of Yogi Berra the great dalai lama of the baseball diamond, I’d say, “A God who is understandable, wouldn’t be!” (Remember last week the yogism, “If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be!”
So many churches are dull, lifeless, ineffective and devoid of an ever-increasing nursery of new souls, because they have become “settlers” instead of pioneers. There is even a T.V. commercial that illustrates this point:
VIDEO
In order to experience the “ecstasy of evangelism” a church needs to have a pioneering spirit. The requires a culture that is willing to endure hardship in order to explore new places or try out new things.” A pioneering spirit is a spirit of sacrificial boldness.
When the Pilgrim’s first arrived in America, the vast expanse of what is now our United States was unknown. The Thirteen Original Colonies inhabited a thin sliver of the United States from New England to Georgia, and no further East than what is now the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. From the very earliest arrivals, the Pilgrim’s pioneered their way West, with great uncertainty and difficulty. One brief account described the “pioneer experience”:
The way west was treacherous, and many people died from diseases such as cholera, smallpox, diphtheria and typhoid. There were no doctors or medications available, so pioneers died by the hundreds. The dead were buried along the trail in unmarked graves, and the rest continued on. Scurvy, a debilitating condition caused from a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables, was also prevalent. Crossing rivers was another dangerous undertaking. Often in covered wagons, the unwieldy vehicles broke apart or got swept away. Any accident that caused cuts or broken bones potentially led to death from a lack of antibiotics and basic first aid (reference.com).
Without this pioneering spirt, driving by a thirst for adventure and supported by a willingness to sacrifice, and the strong resolve in the face of incredible danger, there would be no United States today. Our forefathers were not willing to “settle” for status quo, and neither should we.
If our church—you and I—are going to experience the “ecstasy of evangelism” we must embrace a pioneering spirit. God had to push Peter out of his comfort zone in order for Peter to experience “ecstasy” and fulfillment. The question to us becomes clear: “are we going to be settlers or are we going to be pioneers?”
So many people today are strung out on drugs because they are looking for an “out of body” experience. What they end up with is an “out of the mind” experience. Ecstasy—an overwhelming sense of the Presence of God—comes when we embrace “evangelism.” All the ritual and Christian entertainment in the world will not give you the experience of ecstasy that comes from sharing the gospel and becoming a partner with God in the birthing of a soul! We can try to analyze “what” happened to Peter that day from psycoanalytic perspective or a pseudo-mystical perspective. But, “what” the “visionary trance” was is not nearly as important as “why” God gave Peter that experience—it was all about the purpose of God to save the soul of Cornelius, and those under his influence. Peter’s experience was “the ecstasy of evangelism.”
When we have an absolute, single-minded commitment to God’s PURPOSE, and we are armed with a clear understanding of the GOSPEL, and we develop a PIONEERING spirit that continually pushes against the status quo, then, and only then, will we as a church and as individuals experience the kind of “ecstasy” that Peter experienced. As far as we know, Cornelius was the first Gentile convert to Christianity—and Peter, the stubborn Jewish boy, had the privilege of leading Cornelius to the Lord.
Let’s be like Peter!
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