Principles for Finding God's Will

[00:00:00] Let's go to Acts chapter ten. [00:00:04] Actually, Acts chapter eleven is where we're going to read. We're going to read the first 18 verses of Acts, chapter eleven. And then we will do a kind of a summary study of Acts ten and eleven. Now that we've covered Acts chapter ten in fair amount of detail over the past several services, we'll cover one more thing concerning this matter of Peter and Cornelius. So Acts chapter eleven and verse one is where we want to begin reading. [00:00:41] Bible says and the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, saying, thou wentest into men uncircumcised and didst eat with them. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning and expounded it by order unto them, saying I was in the city of Joppa, praying. And in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel descend as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners. And it came even to me upon the which, when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered and saw four footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and files of the air. And I heard a voice saying unto me, arise, Peter, slay and eat. But I said, not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven what God hath cleansed that? Call not thou common? [00:01:46] And this was done three times. And all were drawn up again into heaven. And behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was sent from Caesarea unto me. [00:01:59] And the Spirit bade me go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me and we entered into the man's house. And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house which stood and said unto him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. [00:02:20] And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord. How he said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God? [00:02:45] When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. Let's pray together. [00:02:57] Lord, we thank you again for your word. Thank you for everyone that's here tonight, everyone that's listening in by means of the Internet. Thank you for the work you're doing in each person's heart lord, I pray that that work by Your grace would increase in the hearts and lives of each and every individual in our church. Lord, we pray, for they would prosper in their soul, they would prosper in their lives, they would prosper physically, especially the ones who are bearing illness. Lord, please give grace there and we pray for our time tonight as we look in Your Word. We ask Your blessing upon the teaching and preaching of Your Word. We have met together, Lord, at Your command. You have told us to meet together, to worship together, to study Your Word together. So, Lord, we're just trying to do that, and we ask Your blessing upon it, even as you're here with us. [00:03:46] Please instruct us and teach us and guide us. Give us wisdom to know how to understand Your will in Jesus name. Amen. [00:03:56] So the Bible says in Ephesians that we need, he says, wherefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. [00:04:09] Now, Peter, as we've covered in a lot of detail, peter is in a position in which God is trying to tell him something new, okay? God is trying to tell him something new. That's what we talked about this morning to some degree. So up to this point, the disciples have understood and thought and have been preaching and working upon the premise that they are to preach the Gospel to only the Jews, okay? And that's what they've been doing. They've been preaching the Gospel only to the Jews. God does not want them to do that. And we know that this is the case because of the great commission. The Lord told them way back in Acts, peter was present at the top of the Mount of Olives. The Lord said, Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea, and in Samaria unto the uttermost part of the earth. So the Gentiles are included in this witness, okay? We know that. It's clear in our vision because we have all of it at once, right? But it wasn't so clear to Peter and them. Now, we need to remember that God initiated this process, all right? So what we read here, which Peter's just minding his own business. He's trying to pray on the roof, waiting on them to make lunch. He's just up there minding his business. [00:05:31] He's hungry, and out of nowhere, God initiates this communication, if you want to put it like that. [00:05:40] This is actually properly put, biblically put is a revelation. This is a revelation. Now, there aren't any other revelations. The revelation is done with the Bible. But at this point, there is a revelation. [00:05:54] God is making some pretty significant changes. We talked about that on last Sunday, remember? With the dietary laws. I mean, one thing is true. The Lord's aim is speaking of the Jews and the Gentiles, but he uses the dietary laws as an illustration in this vision that he gives to Peter. So God is doing something. He's turning a page. He's altering the way he deals with the Gentiles at this point. He is directing these disciples, peter being one of the leaders here, to do something different. [00:06:31] He is revealing his will to Peter. [00:06:36] Now, we know, and that's what I want to talk about is finding principles for finding God's will from this passage. All right, here's the thing. [00:06:47] We have to start somewhere. When we go at the question and seek the answer of how do I find the will of God? How do I know something is the will of God? Now, the first premise, the very first principle, the immutable basic principle to finding the will of God is what? [00:07:07] Very simple. [00:07:09] Come on, somebody, be brave. [00:07:14] The word of God. Period. If it is in agreement and consistent with the Word of God, it is God's will. And if it is not, it is not God's will. There are no exceptions. There are no caveats. That is absolute truth, okay? And it doesn't matter if the thing that we're faced, the decision or the question at hand we're dealing with is something even in deuteronomy. As an example, the Lord said, dealing with false prophets who had power with sorcery and witchcraft, even though they might do miraculous things. The Lord says, if it goes against what I have told you, if it goes against the Word of God, then you reject it. [00:07:58] It doesn't matter if it's beyond your explanation. The Word of God is the final authority for the will of God, period. [00:08:07] Okay? [00:08:11] We know all of us in here, as far as I know, all of us in here know and accept that, but many people don't. [00:08:19] Many people do not accept that when they find a path that they want to go, they find some way to dodge what the Word of God clearly says. Now, that being stated. So that's our basis. But everything we're reading here is in the Word of God. We know that, especially from the great commission. Okay? But what do you do when you're not sure if something is the will of God when it falls into this rather large we might call it a gray area that is not contradictory in any way to the precepts or principles of God's word, but it's not contradictory. But there's no direct command to do it either. In this gray. Most of our decisions, if we're trying to follow the Lord, most of our decisions, or rather a lot of our decisions fall into this area. [00:09:16] A lot of them do I take this job or that job? [00:09:19] Do I marry this person or that person? Now, we know there are principles that set kind of, we might say, boundaries to acceptable answers to those questions, right? The word of God sets boundaries. For instance, if you want to get married, the Lord tells us, he commands us to only marry within Christ, right? Believers. That's a boundary. But I mean, you might have five or six different options or whatever. [00:09:49] There's no lady who wants to be an option. I'm just telling you right now, don't use that terminology. I'm telling you right now. [00:09:56] But you might be faced with decisions like that. After I got saved, I was faced with a decision like that. And I'll get more into that in a little bit. But where there might be acceptable options in a job, for instance, you might have several jobs and you have no idea. You don't know who the bosses are. You don't know what kind of environment it'll be because you don't have the job. [00:10:17] How do you find God's will? [00:10:20] How do you find God's will? And that's what I'll look at in this. Okay, the first thing I want us to see is in chapter ten. Again, we're going to bounce around a little bit. In verse number 17, we are hopefully thoroughly familiar with what has happened with Stephen I'm sorry, with Peter and Cornelius at this point. That's why I waited to the very end to cover this particular topic. In verse 17, the Bible says that Peter has already had this vision. And the thing is, he doesn't understand the vision. Remember Peter Balked when God told him, arise, Peter, kill and eat three times, the sheet came down, all the animals clean and Unclean Peter, his understanding in that point was he was not permitted by God to eat unclean animals. Okay? So as you can imagine, a sheet has come down, he hears a voice from heaven, which is a key kind of scriptural indicator. That God's talking, right? And Peter knows the voice of God because Peter is a child of God, right? So he sees this sheet, he hears what he believes to be God's voice talking to him and directing him. But again, the main point is not the animals. The point the Lord's trying to convey is the Gentiles and the Jews, right? That the Gentiles should not be counted as unclean. So Peter is verse 17 says he doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean. You see that? He doesn't understand. [00:11:49] He doesn't understand. [00:11:53] Now look at the timing words. Now, verse 17. While Peter doubted, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made somebody tell me the tense of that verb had made. Come on, brother. Mark. Brother Mark knows past perfect, right? Is that what it is? Come on now, Ms. Aguilar's not here. [00:12:23] What that means is it had already been accomplished. In other words, while Peter's up there seeing the vision, the men have already arrived. [00:12:32] Okay? Look what it says. Behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate and called and asked whether Simon, which was surname Peter, were large there. That's not it. Go to chapter chapter eleven, verse eleven. We're going to flip back and forth. [00:12:53] Verse ten says now in chapter eleven, remember, Peter is recounting what this event with Cornelius to the church, who are now they're cynical, they're questioning him. What's going on here, Peter? You're not following the rules. Now, there's nowhere in the scripture at least that I could find, like the actual scripture that says that Peter could not go into the house of a Gentile. Now, there were scriptures about marrying Gentiles, especially those of the land of Israel. That was strictly forbidden, but these traditions of the Jews had been built up, and that was Peter's understanding as well as the Jews. He wasn't even allowed to go into the house with them. And now he's lodging them, and he's going into his house, he's eating with them and all those things. [00:13:46] So they're asking him questions. What are you doing, Peter? Verse ten, chapter eleven, verse ten, the Bible says, and this was done three times, that's the vision and all were drawn up again into heaven. And behold, immediately there were three men. What's it say? The next two words already come unto the house where I was sent from. [00:14:09] Imagine what effect that had upon Peter. He has this vision and he's up there on top of the roof. Remember, flat roof. He's sitting up there, probably in the shade, probably have some sort of covering up there. And he's thinking, rise, Peter, kill and eat. Rise, Peter. Kill and eat. [00:14:29] What in the world? [00:14:31] And while he's thinking that, there are men, three men that have already arrived. [00:14:39] Now, here's what you might not understand. [00:14:43] They had traveled from Caesarea to Joppa, both of which are on the coast, the Mediterranean, in the land of Israel. But they had traveled some 30 something miles. [00:14:53] You don't do that in a day. I mean, you don't do that in an hour. Rather, they had left the day before. [00:15:03] Do you see what's happening here? [00:15:05] Cornelius had his vision yesterday. Peter is on the roof. They've been traveling the end of that day and part of this day, and they have already arrived. So their journey has already started and they're well on their way before the vision ever comes to Peter. And right at the very moment he's thinking about it, they've already arrived. [00:15:30] You know what we call that? [00:15:33] And this is a biblical doctrine. We call it the providence of God. [00:15:39] The providence of God. Here's what the word? Providence. I did not know this definition before I looked it up. [00:15:46] Providence is this foresight anticipation of and preparation for the future, prudent, management, government, or guidance. The foreknowing and protective care of God divine direction, control, or guidance. [00:16:07] You see, God had timed this thing just right. [00:16:13] God had timed this thing just right. [00:16:16] And here's the thing you might call it. These two trains, the Peter train and the Cornelius train, arrived at the station exactly when God wanted them to arrive. At the same time you know what that is? That is a powerful indicator that God is at work. [00:16:39] Proverbs 16, verse nine says this a man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. Psalm 32, verse eight. I will instruct thee, God says, and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eyes. See, Cornelius is being guided, peter is being guided, and they have no idea that God's guiding them. Peter didn't even know what God's trying to say. [00:17:06] And we know the foreknowledge of God even in our study of Acts. Verse chapter two, verse 23, says this even of Jesus and the crucifixion him being delivered by the determinant, counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken it, and by wicked hands of crucified and slain. So that foreknowledge that's part and parcel of the providence of God. You think of examples in the Bible where the providence of God is just obvious. Just throw them out there. Give me some biblical examples where the providence of God is so evident. God orchestrating, huh? [00:17:42] I can't hear you, Ruth. That's a good one. Ruth just happened to be in the field of boaz. No, she didn't give me another mordecai, Esther. Exactly. He just happened to hear and not only that, but Esther herself. She just happened to be the queen at the same time. That all these things, this wicked haman is plotting to kill the Jews. That's the one I wrote down, Esther. What's? Another one? [00:18:12] He stole yours. What? Joseph? Joseph is the common one. That's a perfect example. God prepared all these events in Joseph's life way ahead of time. And when the time came that the people of Israel, the sons of Jacob, needed to be saved from the famine, joseph was already in place. That and God orchestrated that. And Joseph said, God orchestrated it. He saw me. I call that the train of providence. [00:18:45] In other words, God's train of providence might seem to us to move slowly, but it always arrives on time. And the timing of God's providence is a good indication that God is doing something. You know why? Because it is impossible for men to orchestrate these things. [00:19:06] And see, that when something is impossible for man to do, and yet it's happening, that's a good indicator. That the Lord's at work. [00:19:17] My wife and I met at Tabernacle Christian School. [00:19:21] Someone, of course, in our church paid for me to go to my senior year of high school in August of 1999. And I was just young. I guess I was kind of like, Peter, I had just gotten saved. Many of you were here, or some of you, anyway. A few of you. I thought many. There aren't very many, but there's a few. I'd just gotten saved. And somebody in our church paid for me to go to schools. I was like, well, the public school was so I went, and I just going to school because I'd preferred to go there. [00:19:54] So I went to Tabernacle and the first day I went for testing I met a girl and she met me and she thought I was a 6th grader and I thought she was perky. We met in the library and it ended up being my wife. Right. [00:20:12] But she didn't know what had been happening in my life in the years prior. And I didn't know what had been happening in her life in the years prior. God had worked in her heart. She had gotten saved in 1998, in November. In fact, Wednesday is her spiritual birthday, november 1. She'll have been saved 25 years, right? [00:20:33] I think that's right, yes, 25 years. [00:20:36] So she had gotten saved. But not only had she gotten saved, she had started to grow and then she was able to go to the wilds. And while she was at the wilds, the Lord really worked her heart over. And there was a whole process where she had the opportunity to go to a Christian school and she had to pick which one to go. She's asking for wisdom and God directed her, no idea whatsoever. All of these stops on her train line were going to lead her to arrive at the same station as mine at the same time for her last year of high school to meet me and for me to meet her. That's the providence of God. [00:21:18] Now a lot of times you can't see that until after the fact, but this is the providence. This is like God's doing something here. You kind of get the whole hair sent up on the back of your neck. The Lord's doing so. The Lord is among us. And I knew it not kind of thing, right. So the first thing principle is the providence of God is a good indicator of the will of God. Number two, look at chapter eleven, verse 15. [00:21:49] Peter's, again, recounting to the church what has happened. [00:21:53] Don't lose that. I don't want to lose you because there's a lot going on. There's actually several different recountings of this event, so don't get lost. Peter's, recounting to the church what happens. He says verse 15 of chapter eleven. And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. [00:22:22] Okay, hold your place here and look at Acts, chapter one, verse four. [00:22:40] Right before the Lord's ascension, he's meeting with his disciples. Verse four, chapter one. And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. Jesus still speaking for John, truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. [00:23:04] This is the promise that Jesus gave to them on the Mount of Olives right before he ascended. I mean, at that event, same time, he says, John baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Now, back in chapter eleven, verse 16, peter is preaching the message that we read this morning, right? Peter's preaching. And all of a sudden, out of the blue, these Gentiles, Cornelius and his family and friends start speaking in tongues. Now, we're not talking about what's on TV, of course. We know they were speaking languages known to Peter. They understood what they were saying. But this event, which was the mark that they had received the Spirit of God, just like the disciples did in Acts chapter two for the first time. Okay? [00:24:04] So you can imagine Peter seeing this, and he's stunned. He's stunned, right? [00:24:11] And at that moment, a thought pops in his head. No, at that moment, a verse pops in his head. What we call a verse. It wasn't a verse at that point, I don't think. [00:24:25] The words of Jesus that we just read in Acts one verse, verse five, at that moment, when he saw these gentiles as he's preaching to them and he saw them do this thing, this miraculous sign gift manifesting that they have believed in Christ and they have received the Spirit of God just like Peter. They're on the same level, in no way different. [00:24:50] At that moment, the word of God comes flashing through Peter's mind by the Spirit of God. Why do I say that? Because in John 14, verse 26, speaking of the Holy Ghost, jesus said this but the comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. [00:25:20] That's exactly what happened to Peter. He's just listening, he's seeing, he's stunned. And then all of a sudden, the Lord, through the Spirit of God, sent a verse through his mind that Jesus had spoken on the Mount of Olives. [00:25:33] And at that moment, because that verse arrived at that very moment, you know what it did? It explained to Peter in that moment what was happening, whereas otherwise he might not have understood. [00:25:48] Now, in order for this to work, we have to know the Scripture, right? You have to know what it says. But many times, for a believer in the midst of an issue, in the midst of a question, in the midst of a decision, the Lord will send the word of God a relevant passage of Scripture that we have already not. I know Sister Rita has a hard time memorizing verses. Sister Amy has to really, really work at memorizing verses. And they just, oh, man, so hard. And they tell me when they memorize verses how much time they have to put into it. But you know what? Whether you can memorize it and quote it and spit it out or not. If it's in there, it's in there. And when God wants to call it up, he just sends the command, and that thing comes flying through our mind, and he does it at the very moment that it's relevant and necessary to give us direction at that moment. [00:26:44] That's how the spirit of God uses the word of God. So people, you know, I was know the speaker of the House. I don't know if you're aware of this, but the new speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, is apparently a Bible believing Christian of our sort. I read a post on Know. It's got to be true, right? [00:27:06] But no, this is believable. I mean, I need to do a little bit more research. But it was the testimony of a pastor who was a new Christian in the church where Mike Johnson was a Sunday school teacher in Baton Rouge. [00:27:24] And he said that Mike Johnson is the one that mentored him when he first became a Christian. And he taught Sunday school from the Bible. He said this is what he said. He said he didn't use a workbook. We were talking about that the other day. He said he didn't use a workbook. He taught straight from the Bible. Mike Johnson, I heard him on his interview with Sean Hannity. He said, Know, if you want to know what my worldview is, he said, just open a Bible. That's what he said with his own lips. I heard that. Assuming it's not AI. [00:27:54] But one thing he said, which I thought was interesting, is that this man who's now a pastor, he said that Mike Johnson, on Halloween one year, took the members of that youth group, of that group that he was in out knocking on doors and passing out gospel tracks. This is the speaker of the House of Representatives. [00:28:20] I just thought that was interesting. [00:28:26] But the spirit of God will send the word of God through our minds at just the right time. [00:28:33] And by doing that, he helps us to understand what this is, what it means to have a living relationship with a living God. The reason I brought that up about Mike Johnson is because how many of you know of John Stewart, a profane, ungodly atheist. He has a late night show. And I heard a part of what he said about Mike Johnson just vile and Godliness. He compared him to Hamas terrorists. You know why? Because here's why. I'm just telling you. This is what the wicked people of the world think. [00:29:10] Because we say God talks to us, and they say, well, that's just like them. God's telling them to go kill people. God's telling you this, and you think God's talking to you, and so you're going to go do these kind of evil things. But you know what the difference is? God is and he's using his word to do it. Because the spirit of God, god himself, is in us and he's using His Word to direct us and he's reminding us of it. You know what? I don't have a problem with that. I'm not ashamed of that fact. I don't care if other people don't understand it the Spirit of God bringing God's word to remembrance at the proper time. Now, if you go back to chapter ten, verse number 44 in the actual account of what happens while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with Peter, because that on the gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak of tongues. You notice Peter doesn't mention the fact that the word of God that Jesus had spoken in Acts one five. He doesn't mention that here. He doesn't say, Hold on, this reminds me of a verse. [00:30:27] But it did. He didn't say it, but it did. Which led to verse 47. [00:30:33] Because that verse flew through his mind, the Lord reminded him of it. He said, can any man forbid water? In other words, he knew it was of God because of the Word that Jesus had spoken that he remembered at that know, sometimes we try our best to remember a know, sometimes when I'm preparing messages, I like, man, I know there's a verse that says, and I can't find it, I can't think of it. And when I'm not trying to think of it, the Lord is bringing it to my mind. [00:30:59] Sometimes it's frustrating, right? But that's the way he does. And that's what happened with Peter. So number two, the Spirit of God brings the word of God to our remembrance at the proper time. Number three, chapter ten, verse 20. [00:31:17] So Peter has his vision. He's in doubt about what's happening. He's thinking upon it. [00:31:29] And the Holy Spirit says verse 20, arise, therefore, get thee down and go with them. Doubting nothing, for I have sent them. So here's what this is. [00:31:43] I call this the calmness of the Spirit of God. In other words, the Spirit of God calms us. [00:31:52] And you could say prompts us in the midst of a decision. Sometimes as a believer, whenever you start heading in a direction that's not really the will of God, you know what he'll do? He'll just trouble you, right? He'll trouble you a little bit, like something ain't right. [00:32:13] And it might be some little thing that you notice, and it might be just can't quite button up the matter, right? [00:32:23] And the spirit of God is just saying pause. [00:32:29] This thing is not clear. You just need to pause. [00:32:34] But in this case, the Spirit of God is talking to Peter and saying, remember, Peter doesn't know what's happening. And he's like, he doesn't know what he should do. Who are these men? And the Lord just prompts him and says, go ahead. Go ahead and go. [00:32:49] Peter was confused but God was leading him just one step at a time. He wasn't giving it to him all at once. And at this moment what he needed to do was just keep going, right? He just needed to take the next step. And so God gave him a minor prompting. [00:33:08] And look at chapter ten, verse 29. [00:33:12] Now Peter's speaking at this point to Cornelius when he first goes into his house and he says therefore came I unto you without gain, saying as soon as I was sent for. [00:33:24] So in other words, Peter says the reason that I didn't say I'm not going with you, why should I go with you? [00:33:34] Is because of the vision. And then the Lord prompting his heart. So that urged him along to get to the next step. [00:33:41] And the Lord is just doing a little by little by little by little. The purpose of this prompting was just to get Peter to go with them so that he could see the matter unfold. Now I want to make clear if you look at Colossians, don't lose your place here but I want to point out one verse and just clarify something about this because I feel like sometimes this is misunderstood. Colossians, chapter three, verse number 15. [00:34:13] Colossians 315 says this. [00:34:18] Look at verse 14. Because verse 15 doesn't does not an island here and above all these things put on charity that's the love between believers which is the bond of perfectness. [00:34:30] And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also ye are called in one body. And be thankful. Now oftentimes this verse is cited for this kind of calmness that I'm trying to prompting that I'm trying to describe and says well, you have the peace of God about it, brother. You had a piece of God about it. That's what the preachers like to use this. For some reason they always put on a southern accent you got a piece of God about it brother. [00:34:56] And we understand what they mean. We understand when the Lord is directing us and maybe that we don't have the full assurance that what we're doing is right or whatever. But they cite this verse. But the problem is this peace being referred to in Colossians three is not really that. [00:35:11] How do you know? Because in verse 15 it says let the peace of God rule in your hearts. That's plural to the which the peace ye also ye are called in one body. [00:35:25] So this in context is actually a reference of the peace within the body of Christ. In other words, getting along, get along. And it's also seen in verse number 14 as well. And above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness which is also a reference to the love between believers. So I know we cite this verse for that but really this is talking about we need to do everything in our power to make sure that there is peace and joy between us within the church. That's what it's actually referring to. But nevertheless, the principle in Acts ten is still relevant because at the moment Peter needed just a little nudge, god gave it to him. [00:36:09] So number three is calmness or prompting from the spirit of God. [00:36:14] All right, number four, acts, chapter ten, verse 22. [00:36:20] We're almost finished. Hang in there. [00:36:23] Only have three more pages in those chapter ten, verse 22. And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one that feareth God. And one of good report among the among all the nation of the Jews was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee unto into his house and to hear words of thee. [00:36:43] Look at verse number 30. And Cornelius said, four days ago I was fasting until this hour, and at the 9th hour I prayed in mine house. And behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing. And then Cornelius discusses what the angel said to him. [00:36:57] Then you go down to verse 44, while Peter yet okay, I won't read this again for time's sake. But what do we see? The Lord does something right there in front of them, right? A miraculous sign is given, and God works in their presence. Go to chapter eleven, verse number 15. [00:37:19] Peter says to the church in Jerusalem. And as they began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. [00:37:27] Then remembered I the word of the Lord. How he said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the light gift, as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God. [00:37:44] Here's the fourth principle you can discern and ascertain God's will by looking at God's work in other the, look in the example of Cornelius, two times, three times. [00:38:02] What happens in Cornelius's life with the angel, the appearance of the angel three times that's mentioned. [00:38:08] That's not something that happened to Peter, that's something that happened to Cornelius. [00:38:13] And then the event where they speak in tongues, they receive the spirit of God like it happened in act chapter two. That's something that happened not to Peter, but to Cornelius, but because of what had happened to Cornelius. It helped Peter. [00:38:27] What God had done in Cornelius'life helped Peter to understand what God was trying to say to him. In other words, God had been doing something in someone else's life. And it helped me understand what God's will was. Surely it's not the devil sending angel, sending a demon to Cornelius to say, hey, go find Peter and listen to whatever he says. [00:38:52] Surely the devil's not doing that. But here's what happens. Cornelius'experience with the angel was perfectly consistent with the work of God, because like I said, consider what the angel told him to do and the devil wouldn't have done that. Now, here's a print is an important principle when trying to understand the will of God. [00:39:14] Sometimes we have opportunities to see how God has worked in other people. [00:39:21] And when we see how God's worked at other people, what do we do? Automatically? We compare that with our own experience with God. And we look at ourselves and there's certain things we have clarity on. We understand, we look back and we say, god was working in my life at this time. And then we see them and God is working similarly in their lives and we compare it with ours. Our experience matches their experience. And we think, well, God must be doing something because that's just what I've been through and I know the Lord did in my life. By comparing those things, we ascertain well God's doing something. [00:39:59] This is the will of God. [00:40:06] What I hear them say of God's work in them reminds me of God's work in me. You know what that does? It establishes that what God is doing in them is of the Lord. [00:40:20] And this is what happened with Peter. God's trying to tell Peter, hey, the Gentiles can get saved too. You need to preach to them also. And Peter hears Cornelius's experience. [00:40:33] Peter sees God's work at this miraculous event. When he gets saved, Peter says it must be of God. [00:40:42] The same thing happened to me in Acts two. [00:40:47] So the principle number four is god's work in other people can help us determine God's will. Now the last one, number five, Acts, chapter eleven. [00:41:02] So the church in chapter eleven is hearing Peter talk about this. [00:41:08] Now, three times has gone through this process. Here's what happened. Good grief, man, I wish I could just tell this. Once met Cornelius, he saw an angel. He came DA DA DA DA. Went to his house, told him the Gospel, and all of a sudden he starts speaking in tongues just like we did in Acts two. Well, he needs to say Acts two, but you know what I'm saying. [00:41:28] Verse number 18, chapter eleven, verse 18. [00:41:34] When they heard these things, they held their peace, the church and glorified God, saying then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. [00:41:46] You know what this is what can help us ascertain and understand the will of God. Is this the confirmation of God's, people? [00:41:57] Peter told them about everything that had happened. They weren't there, but they heard it. They listened. Peter even took witnesses in verse twelve of chapter eleven. He took six men with him. Jews who were present when Cornelius believed see the church at Jerusalem like they were children of God. They were spiritually minded. They could see, they knew, they recognized God's work, god's hand at work. They wanted it. They had the same spirit of God as Peter did. They love the truth of God the same as Peter did. They knew the work of God acts two, just as Peter did, and they wanted the will of God. [00:42:40] And listen, when you have a group of people that all have the same goal, all have the same desire, all have the same mind, in that way they're going to recognize with one accord, with a united mind, god's doing this. [00:43:00] They're going to recognize it. [00:43:03] The combined unified mind and heart of God's people in agreement testifies of something being God's will. [00:43:14] This is why you need to get good counsel when you're seeking God's will. Because good Godly, upright, honest, biblically minded, spiritually minded people in your life, in our church, if you go to them and you say, you go to five different people that fit that description and you say, what about this matter? I'm thinking about this. What do you think? You know, what's going to happen is they're probably all going to tell you about the same thing. [00:43:46] And you know, that is a powerful indicator that God's in something because there's bound to be somebody that's willing to say, no, you know what? Sometimes you need to be that person. You just need to put pride aside, put your fear of offending somebody aside. And if something is, if red flags are waving and red lights are flashing and somebody's wanting to do something you know is just not right, you ought to tell them. [00:44:16] You ought to tell them, not be afraid. [00:44:20] Because throughout scripture, especially in the church, the unified understanding of God's people is a powerful indicator that something is God's will. [00:44:33] So you have in trying to ascertain God's will, you have providence of God, the timing, the Spirit of God bringing the word of God to your remembrance at the proper time, calmness or prompting from the Spirit of God, god's work as seen in other people and the confirmation of God's people. Now, the reality is, any one of these points, even in Peter's experience, couldn't really stand alone. Like it wouldn't have been enough to kind of tip the scale. [00:45:11] But when all of them arrive at the same time, he knew for certain that God was doing something, that God was giving direction. And when those things converge, you can be pretty certain that what's happening is just exactly as the Lord is directing. Let's pray together.