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Fearing God vs Knowing God (Acts 10:1-8, 23-26)
15 Plays3 months ago
Sunday Message recorded 04 August 2024
by Missionary Tanner Coleman
First Baptist Church -- Columbus TX
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Tanner and Katie's Call to Greece
00:00:06
Speaker
I am excited today to share with you that we have a guest speaker Tanner Coleman. At one time Tanner Coleman was serving out pine cove and he was part of our church fellowship. And then the Lord just began to call him to other ministries. And then eventually the Lord called Tanner and his wife Katie. to go to Greece. And so that's where they've been for the last five years. They serve five years in their first term, which I think is
Commissioning and Return
00:00:32
Speaker
remarkable. You know, I can remember we just prayed together in our time before we came out here. And in our prayer time, I was saying, I remember whenever you and Katie were in my office and we had a commissioning service. And so we're their commissioning church. And so what a great joy it is to have them come back and to share with us both this morning and tonight. So I just wanted you to know what to expect. But right now, why don't we go to the father together in prayer and ask him to visit with us as we have this time together in worship and his word and ask the Lord to really speak to each heart that's here. Let's pray together.
Prayer and Worship
00:01:14
Speaker
Lord, we thank you so much that you're worthy. You are worthy of our worship. You're worthy of our surrender and our discipleship. I thank you so much that you sent your son from heaven to come and to pay the price that our sins, the debt that our sins really had incurred. And Jesus, you paid it freely with your perfect sacrifice, your atonement on the cross. And so whenever we turn from our sins and turn in the direction of trust in Christ, such amazing things begin to happen. Lord, I thank you that one example of those amazing things has been what you've been doing in Tanner Coleman's life and Katie Coleman's life. And Lord, I'm just so excited to to have them back with us. And I know that you're working through them. And I pray that, Lord, you would help today to be one more evidence of that that as he shares from your word. that your Holy Spirit would pull upon each heart. For some, maybe we need to be saved. We're not even in God's family. We're still carrying around a ah load of guilt for our sins. So some will be drawn to salvation in Christ. Others, maybe we know you, but we're not growing in knowing you. We're not growing in surrendering to you. We're not obeying you. ah We're not serving you. And so maybe you'll draw us to some kind of deeper commitment to you.
00:02:41
Speaker
So Lord, thank you again for our visitors that are here. Lord, every guest is very special to us. And I pray that they would be glad that they came. I pray that you would refresh us as we sing these songs of worship today. And I pray that the time of fellowship, the time in the word, even after the sermon and after this service, I pray you would refresh us in your word again in Sunday school classes. So we just look forward to all that you'll do this day. We wanted to put it in your hands and pray for your glory. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Amen. Good morning, everyone. um Yeah, it's good to be back.
Family Updates and Future Plans
00:03:21
Speaker
As Victor said, it's been about five years since we have been here. And a lot has changed. When we left for the field, Jack and Smith were about four and six. They are 11 and eight right now.
00:03:35
Speaker
My hair was a lot shorter back then than it is now. and In fact, I was inspired by Randy James to grow it out and then come to find out that he gave it up, which is probably in all of our best interests. um But no, seriously, it is good to be here and to see our Columbus family. We have been here back in the States on furlough for about four months. We will head back in one month's time, September 4th, and we've done all that we can to enjoy family and friends and the Texas this summer.
00:04:08
Speaker
all the All the Greeks, our Greek neighbors, when we told them we were coming back, they would play the conversation back to me and say, wait, hold on. You're going back to Texas for summer. And I said, yes. And if you only knew what Texas is like in the summer, you would fully understand how crazy that sounds. But we are here and it's been so good to be here. We have been looking forward to today for a long time. As said before, this morning will be a message and then later on this evening at 6 o'clock service, Katie and I will share more of a ministry update, catch you up on how things have been going on Lesbos and where we're at as a family. So I would just encourage you, if you normally don't come on Sunday evening, please come.
00:04:54
Speaker
We would love to meet you if we've never met you before. We would love to hug your neck if we have known you for a long time and just share with you what we're doing. We're not specifically asking for support. We just want to share what God ah has been doing because it is exciting. If you haven't already, go ahead and grab ah your Bibles and open up to Acts chapter 10.
Introduction to Acts 10
00:05:17
Speaker
We're going to read a few verses together this morning. So if you could turn there, that would be great. The Lord has put a lot of things in the last several years on my heart and my mind.
00:05:29
Speaker
He has taught me so many things, being in a different part of the world, a different ministry context, a different culture, many, many opportunities to kind of strip back the layers of what I believe and answering the questions, why I believe those things and what gets me up in the morning every day. to worship God. It's allowed me to go deeper in my relationship ah with Him. It's allowed me to go deeper in relationships with Katie as my wife and my kids and friendships and the work, everything. There has been so many opportunities ah to learn. And so as much as I would love to share all of those things with you, I will limit it to one this morning.
00:06:12
Speaker
And I hope that as you listen to what is shared, that it's not just my words, but I would pray that you would open up your heart and your mind and ask God, um what is it for you this morning? How can you connect what you're hearing to your own story, to your own faith, to your own relationship with God? um So if you're willing and able, let's stand as we read ah scripture together.
00:06:42
Speaker
We'll start in Acts chapter 10 verses 1 through 8 and then skip to verse 23. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion who a centur a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius, And he stared at him in terror and said, what is it, Lord? And he said to him, your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him. And having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa." Skip down to verse 23.
00:07:42
Speaker
The next day he rose and went away with him, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together ah his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter lifted him up saying, stand up, I too am a man. You may be seated.
00:08:10
Speaker
What I would like to talk about this morning is what it means to fear God versus what it means to know God.
Fearing God vs. Knowing God
00:08:20
Speaker
and Before we get into this, I understand that that kind of sounds like the title of probably an entire sermon series that we don't have time for this morning. In fact, this message is probably be a great intro message to that series. But nonetheless, this is something that the Lord has laid on my heart very, very heavily in a very, very good way. And i again, I hope that you can connect with it in some way, form, or fashion.
00:08:45
Speaker
with your own faith and your own relationship ah with Him. My job up here today is not to persuade or convince anyone of anything, um but I hope that as you walk away from what you listen to, that it would you would just be encouraged to take one step closer to Jesus, no matter how big or how small. Now, biblically speaking, when we use the term to fear God, we're not talking about the fear that comes when you are scared right or terrified. The fearing God, when we talk about it biblically, most of the time is in reference to a submission or respect for who God is and what he wants us to do.
00:09:26
Speaker
Some of the translations might even say in this scripture that Cornelius was a God-fearing man, okay? um And that simply means that he was devoted to God in the way that he lived. And we see this as evidenced by the way that they talked about him continually praying. and giving alms to the poor. Now, giving alms can mean different things, but it tells us that he gave a lot of his time, energy, effort, probably even money to those who needed it, which sounds awesome. Cornelius is living a good life, fearing God. But as we see in verses 24 and 25, Cornelius bowed down to worship who? Peter, not God.
00:10:09
Speaker
Even though Cornelius had a good life that served God and feared feared him, he did not have the complete picture of the gospel. Cornelius did not yet know Jesus. He didn't truly know God yet. What does Jesus say in John 14, 6? I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. In just a couple of chapters before this, Peter says in Acts 4, 12, there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given among people by which we must be saved. It is about Jesus. And Cornelius didn't have the full picture yet.
00:10:50
Speaker
Now, there might be many who would say, well, I believe in God or a higher power or the idea of Him, but don't believe in Christ. There might even be some who say, well, I believe in God and I believe in Christ. But what happens when we look in James 2 when he says that the demons believe? What is the difference between us and the demons?
00:11:13
Speaker
A missions pastor of a church in Tyler, Texas said in a sermon earlier this summer, to believe in Jesus is not is not simply intellectual assent to certain facts about Jesus, although you must believe those facts. But it is a saving faith that leads to action and change in our hearts. It leads to regeneration, new spiritual life, and a new way of living. someone could He goes on to say, someone could in a sense be close to God and still be destined for hell because they don't know Christ at all. The difference is that the demons believe in God, but they do not know Him. They do not follow Him.
00:11:57
Speaker
Cornelius had not yet come to know God. He was missing a very important piece. And thankfully thankfully, later on in the chapter, we see that Cornelius and all his household come to know God fully. Why? Because Peter tells them about who Jesus was and what Jesus did for them on the cross. And so we get to celebrate that. But he did not have the full picture before.
Struggle with Legalism
00:12:22
Speaker
For the longest time, I struggled, personally, Tanner, I struggled to know God, to feel connected or to feel close to Him. I worked very hard to plug in all the areas that I knew I needed to plug in, if it was going to church, if it was participating in Bible studies, leading Bible studies, if it was going on mission trips, going on more mission trips, fellowship, like you name it, I did everything that I knew to do to plug in.
00:12:50
Speaker
Prayer, fellowship with others, the list goes on and on. But for me, I don't think I was too far off from Cornelius. As we have just read, he was a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people and prayed continually. I believe that I had a healthy fear of God, but got so lost in the legalism of the to-do's that I failed to see a critical error as I attempted to walk out my faith each day. The one area that this was most apparent was the spiritual discipline of reading my Bible. There were seasons where it came easier than others, as I'm sure many of us can identify with. If it was a Bible study or a reading plan, fellowship, Sunday school, there were definitely times that I felt encouraged and spurred on in my faith. But the majority of the time, reading my Bible was just a to-do. It was a box that I chose to check, that I thought I needed to check.
00:13:49
Speaker
And I believe for the longest time that if I didn't read my Bible, that God would be upset with me, as if I had done something wrong. um I believed that I have to read because if I didn't, what would others think of me? Would they think less of me? Well, I've got to read in case someone asks me if I've read. I don't know if you've ever been there or not. I got caught up in the trap of comparison as I looked at others who seemed so filled up by reading the Bible. I thought, man, what is wrong with me? Why can't I enjoy scripture the same way? I would hit moments where I would double down and grip my teeth and just white knuckle it and tell myself, no, you have to read scripture and you have to like it.
00:14:41
Speaker
After all, it is breathed out by God, is it not? And profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. As a good, complete Christian, this is what you're supposed to do, right? If that was true, why did I feel so much shame and so much guilt around how I felt about scripture? I came to realize that I had created the discipline of reading the Bible as the legalistic box to check. And in doing so, created a very unhealthy spirituality in my connection with God. It was so unhealthy that the spiritual life was not based on God's love for me, but it was based on what I could do for God. The things on the list.
00:15:35
Speaker
And on the outside, when we follow that list, it looked like everything was going well. I got really good at showing everyone on the outside that everything was good and I was connected to God and living this full life. ah But this in a sense starved me spiritually because the only way that I was seeking connection with God was through scripture and it wasn't working. It just was not working at all. I would have a quiet time of reading the Bible and say a prayer at the end and call it good. Now I'm not saying having a quiet time is bad at all. I think it's a very good thing. But what I am saying is that I turned it into the legalistic box instead of a way to connect and know God. I wonder if this sounds familiar to any other characters in the Bible. For me, I think about the Pharisees. The Pharisees and scribes knew the law and they knew it well. They knew it better than anyone.
00:16:29
Speaker
They had the list down pat, and they could check those boxes better than anyone. But we all know that it's not about the list. It doesn't make the list bad, but there was a reason that Jesus calls them hypocrites. In fact, in Matthew 6, Jesus talks about prayer and to not pray like the hypocrites on the street corner to be seen by all. And he spends an entire chapter, Matthew 23, talking about this. I'll read a few verses for you here. Matthew 23, 27 and 28 say, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Scripture vs. Relationship with Jesus
00:17:19
Speaker
For me, I realized that I had elevated reading scripture, the discipline, the spiritual discipline of reading scripture above my relationship with Jesus. And in doing so, not only did I get my priorities out of order, but I left no room for the Holy Spirit to move and for the Holy Spirit to work. For you, it might not be the Bible. It could be any number of things. It could be more than just one thing. We know living in this world today that there are so many things we can choose to give our time to, our praise to, our worship to.
00:17:58
Speaker
So many things that we give attention to that can distract ourselves from a deep, genuine, knowing relationship with Jesus. There are many ways to connect with God, to commune with Him. And for me, finding ways to do that outside of scripture was so important. The same way that we can and should seek connection with friends and family in more than just one way, we should seek out many ways to connect with Him. If we only choose one or limit our exposure or experience um in in a relationship to one thing, we will greatly, greatly limit the richness and the depth of that relationship. We maintain a shallowness to it that sort of just sits in one spot and never really moves one way or the other.
00:18:45
Speaker
It did for me anyway. And I think the abundant life that we can have through Jesus, the abundant life that he promises we can have through him, is not one that is meant to be shallow and stagnant, but alive and full. A major component to living that full life in Jesus is not only to respect the rules, but to know him, to connect with him, to be honest with him, to delight in him, not just to fear God, but to know Him. But if we do limit our relationship to the list, to the to-dos, we are no different than the pious Pharisees. We are no different. They thought they had it. They thought they were doing well, as if as if they could do enough things to earn God's love. Or maybe you're more like Cornelius, who fear God, but don't have the complete picture of the gospel, which is in Jesus.
00:19:44
Speaker
And I would hope and pray that if you're willing to consider what that might look like in your own life to respond to Jesus today. Or maybe you fear God and believe in Jesus, but have been a Christian for years and seem to be stuck in the same cycle with the Lord, year after year after year after year, not really moving toward him or away from him. I have been there and understand what that is like. And drawing from that season in my own life, let me offer just a few takeaways that I think can be helpful for us today.
00:20:16
Speaker
The first one is this, and we've heard this many, many times, and I'm going to say it again. Slow down, be still, and sit with God. Be with him. How many times do we see Jesus retreat to the quiet place to connect with his Heavenly Father? I don't know the exact number, but it's a lot. I encourage you to go read scripture and and figure that out. But solitude is such a critical part in our health and depth of relationship with our Heavenly Father. And yet I think it's probably one of the least most practiced spiritual disciplines that I know of in our church today.
00:20:56
Speaker
I cannot speak from experience. This is not something I have done well in my own life.
Importance of Community
00:21:01
Speaker
But as I look at scripture and I look at the way that Jesus retreated to the quiet places and I think about the world that we live in today and how fast it is and how many things there are that are all around us trying to distract us from relationship with Him, I believe in it. And I think that practicing solitude is a critical part of our walk with Jesus.
00:21:23
Speaker
I was in Frankfurt, Germany on somewhat of a pastoral visit to many of the refugees that had left the island that we live on and are now in Germany. And I was staying in an apartment that was attached to a little community center, a ministry center. And in the main room where people could come and gather to pray, church gatherings, Bible studies, there was a scripture on the wall. And it's a scripture that we all know really well, be still and know that I am God. But as I looked at the wall, they put that whole scripture up and then slowly um they took away one word, or sorry, they added one word each line. And I wanna read to you what I wrote down in my journal off of the wall in this prayer room. Be. Be still. Be still and know. Be still and know that I am.
00:22:19
Speaker
be still and know that I am God.
00:22:25
Speaker
um The second thing I think will be helpful for us is to not do this alone. We were created to be in community, and I think that that is even more apparent as we talk about walking in relationship with God. um Find a person, maybe two, that you can really walk through life with. People who fully know you. People who love you enough to look you in the eyes and tell you when you're wrong. People who know the best and worst of you. When we look at Jesus, he even had his core group of people that he did life with, that he did ministry with. Why should it be any different for us? He did not do it alone. He walked with others in community. I think that when we talk about community, it needs to be honest and vulnerable.
00:23:11
Speaker
Okay, not limited to surface level things, but honest and vulnerable community where life is shared and open. Not something hidden or fake, but real. Where there is a safe space to share difficult emotions and the hard things about life and to celebrate the good things. I know for me this was a challenge for many, many, many years. Only sharing half truths to make it seem like I had it all together. I thought it was better to keep the worst parts of me close to the chest, where no one else knows, and I could not have been more wrong. The freedom we can walk in when we are fully known is infinitely better than keeping things in the dark. God knows those things already. Why do we think that we can hide from Him?
00:24:01
Speaker
So if you already have people in your life that you do this with, please don't take that for granted. Thank God every day for that community and invest every moment you can in true community with others.
00:24:16
Speaker
If you don't have that, I would encourage you to ask God what that could look like in your life. And I know many of us in this room might be thinking, yeah, I've tried that before and I've been burned. There might be some really, really big trust issues when it comes to sharing the deep things, ah deep things that no one else knows. But let me remind us of two verses in Galatians 6, which say, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. And just a few verses later says, so then, as we have every opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith. If you feel alone, would you be willing to find a friend to walk with? Find a brother or sister who can see you and know you fully and can walk with you?
00:25:09
Speaker
And if you know someone who seems to be doing it alone or doing it on their own, would you be so bold as to come alongside them to bear one another's burdens?
Connecting with God
00:25:21
Speaker
The last thing takeaway for this morning would be to do simply do a spiritual inventory. Take a look at your own spiritual walk, your own spiritual relationship with Christ, and figure out the ways that you feel most connected to Him. ways that you feel the Holy Spirit most present. If it's taking walks, if it's breath pairs, if it's being in nature, if it's silence, solitude, poetry, scripture, singing, laughing, dancing, the list goes on and on and on. There are so many ways that we can connect and commune with God. And so I would challenge you to look at what that looks like for your own life. Figure out the ways you connect with Him, when and where you feel most connected to Him.
00:26:02
Speaker
And if it's only one way where you feel like you're spinning your wheels, I strongly encourage you to look at other ways. Let the Holy Spirit lead you and guide you. This doesn't mean that you have to abandon the things that you feel rooted in Christ. But if you're like me and elevated one of those spiritual disciplines to perform your relationship with Jesus, I encourage you to stop, take a break, search your heart. Ask God what's going on and look for ways that you can truly connect with him to know him.
00:26:38
Speaker
We worship God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is not Father, Son, and Bible. It is not Father, Son, and prayer. It is not Father, Son, and church. It is Father, Son, and Spirit. Is the Spirit of God present in your faith? Have you made room for the Holy Spirit to move and work? It wasn't for me for a long time, and this is still something that I am challenged with today. It is so easy, in fact, I think it's easier to fear God than it is to know Him. Let ourselves get so consumed with the list that we forget about the relationship. We forget about it.
00:27:20
Speaker
We begin to worship the tools rather than the one those tools are supposed to point us to. It is easier to fill our lives with the busyness of the to-do's and the checklists than it is to slow down and simply be with God.
Conclusion: Abundant Life in Jesus
00:27:37
Speaker
Maybe it's because we want Him to work faster and we're not patient enough. Or maybe we think we can do it all, and maybe that gives us a sense of control. But I promise you that the abundant life in Jesus is not found in how much we can do for God, or how well we think we can fake it. It is not found in how much we attend church, how much we read the Bible, but it is found in the unconditional, undeserving love that God has for each of us. Do you fear God?
00:28:12
Speaker
Do you know him?
00:28:16
Speaker
um Thank you so much, Tanner. I appreciate the freshness of what you're saying. Perhaps you were listening and God was speaking to your heart, and maybe there's something that you would like to move on it, to act on it while it's still fresh. Maybe it'll require you to not sing this last song with us as usual, but maybe you would just sit where you are or come to the front and just lay it down to Him. But I think Tanner's heart is that we each would be
00:28:49
Speaker
connected to the Lord in a living, abundant, vibrant walk with Him. So I encourage you to do that. Tanner and I both will be standing here. I'll ask Tanner if he would stand over on this side and I'll stand on this side. We'd be glad to pray with you and talk with you. And so please feel free to come and and talk to us. Maybe there's a decision. You know, we're going to be singing a song wherever he leads. Isn't it great to know that Tanner being one of us said to the Lord, wherever you lead, Lord, I'll go. And for the last five years, God's leadership led him and his family to invest in Greece and they're going back in another month. What about you? Are you on target? You don't have to go around the world, but it's, are you walking with him? Do you know him? Are you surrendering to him?
00:29:40
Speaker
Are you saying to the Lord, I want what you want, God? So let's stand together. Let me pray. And then I want to give an opportunity for you to respond as the Lord would guide you. Lord, I do pray that we would allow you to lead us and guide us. I do pray that you would help us to have the fresh encounters with you that you would want us to have. And so draw us close. I pray that this invitation would be our response to what you were saying through your servant. through Tanner. And so, Lord, if there's something that we need to get right with you, I pray we would do that. If there's something that we need to talk with Tanner about or something that you would want others to pray with me about, then I pray you would guide us. But lead us as we go into this time of responding to you wherever you lead, we want to follow. In Jesus' name we pray for His glory. Amen.
00:30:38
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.