Hello, and welcome to this
message from Calvary Church. We're excited to hear from our
guest speaker, Pancho Juarez. Pancho founded The
Ark Montebello, a thriving church in
Southern California where he serves
as senior pastor. If this message is meaningful
to you, let us know. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And if you'd like to financially
support the ministry of Calvary Church, you can
give online securely at calvaryabq.org/give. Now we invite you to open your
Bible to Acts, Chapter 10, as Pancho begins the teaching,
A Moralist in Need of a Savior. Good morning. Can we all stand up, a
word from our sponsor. This is-- would you stand? Ah. Last night I was a
little bit savage, I was a little bit uncivilized. I didn't even pray. I didn't even think this
Pastor Skip, the staff. I was excited being in-- Albuquerque, forgive me. [LAUGHTER] I was so excited being here in
Albuquerque and I apologize. I just get excited every time
I get to explain and proclaim the gospel wherever I go. Riker's Island, in Mexico,
South America, China, and even Albuquerque, it's always
exciting to proclaim and explain the gospel. Now before we start, this is
what I ask, this first service. How many here have a little
bit of emotional heart trouble right now? How many of you? Would you raise your hand? OK. I'm raising my hand with you,
because there's issues, yes. I'm a believer, I love God. My name is written in
Heaven, but I have problems, I'm a human being. I'm a father of five
children-- you read me? [LAUGHTER] Adult children. And I'm a grandfather. And married to the same woman
now for, well, legally, 43, going on 44, but we've been
together 45 years together. And so yes, so-- [APPLAUSE] I-- you know, I come to
you with a heart issue. I am praying specifically for
certain things in my life, and those are the
things that I cannot do. It's not about money,
it's not who you know, it's not what you know, it's
only that God has to intervene. You understand what I'm saying? And so this is why
I was so specific. When I was asked to
come here, they said, do you have a subject? And at that time, I was reading
the Book of Acts, Chapter 10, and I said, do I have a subject? Yes. But we want to pray
intentionally, not only for God to bless our
time, but that God may bless all of you that raised
your hands, because God knows what you're going through. It's not easy going
through an invisible pain. You see, inside the pain of the
heart, it's very debilitating, and it's very anguishing
at times-- very stressful. And so I'm asking
God to bless you. That your private world-- what is your private world? Your private world
is those things you don't let anybody
know, not even your spouse. There's things inside of
you that you cannot express, but God understands. And so we want to
pray and ask the Lord to bless you and bless us, and
that He may speak to all of us today. I'm not going to allow
the clock to beat me. It beat me twice-- last
night and first service, it's not going to beat me today. [LAUGHTER] Let's pray. Father, we thank you
for this morning. Thank you for your love,
your goodness, your grace, your mercy, your joy, your
peace, your benevolence, your kindness. We come to you, Holy Father,
ask that you may have mercy upon our souls, that
you may have mercy upon our relationship, may you
bless and protect our children and their children
wherever they may be, and for those lucky enough
to have mom and dads and have grandma and grandpa,
Lord, bless them. Go before them. Anybody in the hospital,
Father, we pray for them. Anybody here,
Father, who is going through an ailment of any kind,
any kind of legal matters, any kind of madness
with their own children, Father, in the name
of Jesus, I ask you to touch them
and make them whole. We pray, Father, for
marriages, and we pray that you bind them
together in harmony and in love. And Father, we pray for
our police officers. May you protect them, their
families, their wives. But we also protect, Father, we
pray for the knuckleheads also. For they have a heart,
they have issues. And bless them in you, Father,
enlighten them in you, Father, change Albuquerque
because there are problems in Albuquerque, Lord. And the problems of
the heart of the sin. So be with us,
Father, as we invoke the powerful name of Jesus, and
whose name we pray, amen, amen. You may have a seat,
thank you so much. Amen, amen. Thank you so kindly. If you have your Bible,
turn to Acts, Chapter 10, we're going to read
it right in a minute. There's 48 verses, and so I
don't want to miss anything. But let me tell you my
title of my message. It's called, A Moralist
in Need of a Savior-- a moralist. Now, I understand
what the moralist is. Because before I
came to Jesus, I was a moralist, meaning I
was born into a religion. Biologically, culturally,
socially, historically, maternally, and scholastically. I was baptized when
I was a little boy, I don't remember
anything about that. But I know we had a
party, there was a fight, there was a lot of drinking
when I was baptized. [LAUGHTER] There has to be a party
and a fight after baptism. And I did my first communion
and I did my confirmation, everything that I was
told to do according to the religion of my
family and my upbringing. But then as I became
an adult, I realized all those rituals and those
ceremonies were not effective, but I still believed in them, I
believe in God, I trusted God, I believe in God, but I never
had a relationship with Him. But I was a good man. When people would say to
me, you know, you're a drunk or you need Jesus, hey,
listen, I'm a good man. I go to work, I get
high, and I pay my bills. I'm a good man. I served my country,
I went to Vietnam, joined the Marine
Corps, and I got out and I can't get a job because
I'm a Vietnam veteran, I can't get a job. No one trusts a Vietnam veteran. We didn't even get a parade. And so I couldn't get a job. And so the frustrations of life,
the disappointments in life induced me to start drinking. I'm not a drunkard. No, I just drink
because it pacified me. But I'm still a
moral-minded man, I still love God, I still pray
when things didn't go well. I still pray when
I go to a funeral, I still pray at
Easter and Christmas, and that's the only
time I'd go to church. And so I was a good, moral man. And so we find
here the narrative of an Italian moral man
by the name of Cornelius. He's a moral-minded
man, the Bible says that he is a devout
man, one who fears God with his entire household. He gave alms to the poor. He prayed to God
always and even fasted. He's a just man, and he
has a good reputation among all the nation of the
Jews-- what else do you want? He's a good man. And yet, Cornelius,
something was missing. You see, a moralist--
someone said this-- a moralist is a
nonreligious person who behaves in a
morally commendable way. A moralist is a person who
teaches or forces other people to behave in ways that he or
she considers being the most correct and honest way to live. You heard people when you
tell them, you need Jesus, they'll tell you things
like, I'm a good person. I don't get high. I don't steal. I have this motto,
live and let live. I pay taxes. I'm a good husband. I'm a good grandfather. I'm a great mother. I'm a good citizen. You know, I sell candy
for the soccer league and now I volunteer my time,
and I am a good person. And the Bible says that
being a good person, all those good deeds
does not make you a Christian-- something's
missing, and that's Cornelius. Now, what we're about to see
is the narrative of two men. They don't know each other. Cornelius, he's a Roman
soldier to the bone, he is a Roman centurion. Roman centurions
were not allowed to get married, because they
deployed so many places, that the Roman
government did not want the centurions to
be attached emotionally to someone. But they're men, they always
had a little hookup on the side. They're men. But mostly, their friends
and family were the servants. So we find Cornelius, an
enemy of the Jewish people. And then he has a vision. A vision that an angel
comes up to him, he says, Cornelius, God has
heard your prayer. I want you to go and
go call this guy named Simon whose nickname is Peter. He's down south--
because Cornelius is in Caesarea, the headquarters
of the 10th Legion Roman Army. And 32 miles south,
there's the Port of Joppa. And he says, go get this man--
they don't know each other. And so over here, we have Peter. Peter, St. Peter. He's here. He doesn't even know
who Cornelius is, but God is about to
work behind the scenes to touch these two men's lives,
and that's how prayer works. When you pray in the name
of Jesus, don't ever think, beloved, don't ever
think that when you pray, that your
words fall to the ground. The prophets say that when
we pray, and especially in Jesus' name, when
we pray, the Bible says that our prayers
are like incense-- I've never seen incense go down,
I always see incense going up. And the Bible says that our
prayers are like incense before the presence of God. Even when we say, oh,
God, God hears you. God hears you. And here, we have
a massive evidence that God answers prayer. The angel says to
Cornelius, Cornelius, God answered your prayers. And He's acknowledged
that you give to the poor. I want you to do something. I want you to go
and summon Peter. He's out there in
Joppa, go summon him, and he will tell you what
you must do-- imperative. So something's missing. Now if I was Cornelius-- I'm just saying,
if I was Cornelius, if you're an angel from
God, why don't you tell me? Why do I have to wait for
a human agent to tell me? If you say you're from Heaven,
you tell me what I must hear. You see, the Bible
says that the gospel has been given to humanity. We are the channels to reach
other humans with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been sent to go
and reach our community. And so what God is going
to do, not only is he going to complete
Cornelius' full salvation, but he also has to teach a
lesson to this Jewish boy. You see, this Jewish
boy has been brought up in a very cloistered life-- religious, certain foods,
they dress different, they pray differently, they
have a different lifestyle. So there was this massive
wall between the Jew and the Gentile, linguistically,
historically, culturally-- I mean, the Samaritans
and the Jews will not even speak
to one another. And the main wall was
the way they would eat. The Jewish people have certain
foods they call kosher foods, and there were certain
things they would not eat. Now, over here,
the Gentiles, they will eat things like
chorizo and menudo and chile verde,
everything's pork. Man, it's like,
they're missing out. You know they're
missing out, but-- [LAUGHTER] So even though Peter was-- well,
Peter, he was a man, he was a-- he was the leader of the
Christian Church at the time, yet still, there
was still, there was sentiment of resentment
against other cultures. He was a spiritual-- not
spiritual, a cultural social bigot. He still cannot-- Now you remember,
the Great Commission. To go into the world
and share the gospel. And the Bible says that
when Jesus ascended into Heaven, Acts,
Chapter 1, Verse 8, He says, when the Holy
Spirit comes upon you, you should become witnesses,
and you shall share the gospel, testify, beginning in Jerusalem. And then where else? Judea. And then where else? Samaria. Ay? We don't want to go to Samaria. They're weird people. There are chorizo-eating
people there. They're weird. But yet, that's what God said. Not only to Samaria, but to the
outermost parts of the world, including East LA and all
the way to Albuquerque. [LAUGHTER] That's not what the Bible says,
but that's what my Bible says. [LAUGHTER] And so what do we do? So things happen according to
Acts, Chapter 8, and Philip the Evangelist took up--
because there was persecution in the church, so he
took up with his four beautiful daughters
and he went to Samaria, and the Bible says in the
Book of Acts, Chapter 8, that there was great joy in
that darkened city of Samaria. But now, the gospel is supposed
to go out even to the Gentiles. So a notable here,
that Cornelius becomes the first
European convert to Christianity, the first one. And God is going to orchestrate. So as you see this
narrative, it's full of supernatural
intervention by God, you'll see it. And so salvation,
complete salvation to this moral man who is
moral-minded but he still has not God in his heart,
not full salvation. And Peter, he has to learn
how to engage with the Gentile world. The food no longer is the
same, so this is what happens. I'm not going to let
the clock beat me. Turn with me to Verse
1 of chapter 10. I'll expound as
we go through it. There was a certain
man in Caesarea called Cornelius, first one. A centurion of what was
called the Italian Regiment. So this guy was not a local. This guy was not a conscript,
because the Romans will conscript, they will draft
people from the lands and they will train them
to be Roman soldiers, but they're not
necessarily Romans, they were from whatever region. But this guy, he's
an Italian stallion, he is European to the bone. He belonged to a special unit. And so we are told that he
was from the Italian Regiment. Now notice his qualifications. He's a devout man, which
means spiritually pious, and one who feared God. That means that usually
the fear of the Lord is an inducement to
obedience and service to God. And he did it with
all his household, so he was a leader
in his own household. And notice, he gave alms
generously to the people. When you give alms,
that means you give to the unfortunate, which
means that he was benevolent, he was kind, he was sweet, he
was considerate with his money. And also notice, and he
prayed to God-- how long? Always. And then about the
ninth hour, that's 3:00 PM, the Jewish hour. They would pray at
the third hour being 9 o'clock, at the sixth
hour being 12 o'clock, and the ninth hour
being 3 o'clock. So those are the
times of prayer. So you can see that
this European who comes from Italy, the Roman,
they had so many gods-- called polytheism. Poly means many,
theism means God. They had a God of the
Sun, the God of Mercury, the God of the Moon,
the God of the Stars, the God of the Cockroaches, the
God of Wine, the God of Fruit-- they had gods all
over the place! But Cornelius comes to this
land of the Jews and he falls in love with monotheism--
mono means one-- and he falls in love
with the God of Israel. He's a very pious
man, he prays always. And then later on,
you'll see that he even says he was fasting-- Verse 30-- that he was
fasting, so he's a good man. Now notice, he says about
the ninth hour of the day, he's so clearly in a vision. An angel of God coming in
and saying to him, Cornelius. And when he observed him,
he freaked out to the bone. That's not what it says,
but that's what I said. I mean, it's like, when it
says he was afraid, I mean, do you see an angel and go, oh? That's not oh. I mean, think about it. What are you praying for? What are you praying for? Let's say you're praying
for something specific. And just jot it
down, just just jot-- not right now, but later
on, just jot it down. I'm writing it for my mom,
I'm writing it for my, you know, my son, my daughter,
I'm writing for my boss, he's he's a jerk,
and I pray that-- whatever you have,
just write it down. How would you feel that you
go back to your home tonight and it's 10:30 at
night, and then you're there, ready to go
to bed, and all of a sudden, here comes an angel,
appears to you. Robert-- fictitious name. Or Bobby. Your prayer has been answered. You're not going to
say, oh, wow, trip. [LAUGHTER] You're not going to do that. You are going to freak
out, first of all, seeing an angelic
celestial personality. And then the news that he
has that your prayer has been heard, you blow your mind--
that's what I'm saying here. He blew his mind. He was very much afraid,
and noticed what he said. And when he observed it, he was
afraid and he said, what is it, Lord? So he said to him, your
prayers and your alms have come up for
memorial before God. Prayer answered. Now send men to Joppa,
and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with
another guy named Simon, he's a tanner by trade
whose house is by the sea. And notice the imperative here-- he will tell you
what you must do. And when the angel who
spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of
his household servants and a devout Roman
soldier from among those who waited on him continually--
so that's three guys. So when he had explained
all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa. Notice, they didn't ask,
they're just obedient. I had a vision. OK. An angel came up to me. OK. And he told me go get a guy,
he's in Joppa, 32 miles, and his name is Simon,
and you never met him? No, I never met him. OK. OK, they were just obedient. They're servants. So now, we switch scenes. Now we go to Peter. The next day, as they
went on their journey in drew near the city, Peter
went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth
hour, last 12:00 PM. Then he became very
hungry and wanted to eat. But while they made
ready for the food, he fell into a trance. Not in the-- in the Greek,
it's ecktasi, where we get our English word ecstasy. Now there's nothing unusual. Basically homeboy
just zoned out. You ever seen people zoned out? It happens. I mean, I was with
a medical doctor and he was talking to me about
my health and all of a sudden, and he looks out the window
and my doctor just spaced out. [LAUGHTER] I mean, I didn't know what to
say, I was like saying, hello? But he was in pensive thinking. And he comes back-- oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. I told him, nah, that must
have been good, doctor. Either that or your
heart is in trouble. And he was in trouble. And so Peter has an
ecstasy experience when he has a vision. And notice the vision. So it becomes supernatural now. And Verse 11, and he saw
Heaven open and the object, like a great sheet, bound at the
four corners, descending to him and then down to the earth,
and in this sheet there were all kinds of four-footed
animals of the earth-- wild beasts, creeping
things, menudo, and the birds of the air. I put that in there because
either you hate or love menudo-- what is that? Now he's kosher. He's a Jewish boy from birth. They stayed away
from certain foods that God made prohibition again. They would not
eat certain foods, they were very strict,
adherent to the most minutiae of strictness
against these foods. But he's hungry. And when he sees this sheet, he
sees all these animals, like, hold-- [GAGGING NOISES] But notice, that command
from Jesus, Verse 13-- and a voice came to him. "Rise, Peter, kill
and chow down." But Peter said, oh, no,
no, not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything
uncommon or unclean, and a voice spoke to him
again the second time-- "This is Jesus. What God has cleansed,
you must not call common." This was done three
times, and the object was taken up into Heaven again. Now, 17. Now while Peter was
tripping, or perplexing is the English
word-- we don't use the word in my neighborhood,
wow, I'm perplexed. We say things like, man,
we're tripping, man. I'm wiggin' out, man. And we understand what
wiggin' out means. Dude, I can't handle it, man,
I'm going through some changes. That's what Peter says here,
he was wondering within himself what this vision which he
had seen then, and behold, the man who had been
sent from Cornelius had made inquiry
for Simon's house and stood before the gate. And they called and asked
whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there. Now notice the intervention of
God through the Holy Spirit. While Peter thought about the
vision-- you see, he's still, what was that all about? What is that meaning? What is going on? What is that? [KNOCKING] Who is that? Oh, there's a soldier? A Roman soldier? And two servants, they
come from Caesarea and they're asking for you. You know, my name is
Pancho, but my real name is Francisco Alejandro. And when people call
me Alejandro, oh, yeah, I have to do this or
I have to do this. That's my legal name. This is before Jesus,
before Jesus Christ. You know, what is your name? Is your name Alejandro? Yes, sir, yes, sir. That's my legal name. And if you think I'm playing
around, no I was arrested. I was arrested. Let me go back to
why I was arrested. You see, I was a nuisance. I was a drunk or I took every
type of drug you can ever imagine, except meth. Thank God, that's
the devil's drug. But I tried everything. And in my stupor, in
my alcoholic stupidity and imbecility, I would
walk the streets drunk. And I always pray
when I was drunk. But my prayer was one of rescue. I would cry out, I don't
wanna get drunk no more. And then I would go to the house
of worship where I grew up, but they were always locked,
there was nobody there, they were always locked. But I will stand in front
of the church drunk, and I'll get on my knees, I
don't want to do this no more. I'm making my mom hurt, I'm
making everybody miserable, including my girlfriend,
who's about to leave me because of my madness. I knew was wrong. I'm a good man. I'm a moral-minded man. I want to go to work,
but my only work was to go to work at a car wash. You know, I'm a Vietnam veteran. I'm an American citizen. And the only thing I
can get is washing cars? Something's wrong
with our nation. But it happened to a
lot of Vietnam veterans. So I would pray, and
now just say, help me, I don't want to do this. Now when I came to Jesus,
I read Romans, Chapter 7, where Paul speaks of
the dilemma of humanity. Paul the Apostle says, man
I know what to do right, but I don't know how
to do what is right. I know what is wrong, I
don't want to do wrong, but I practice
wrong all the time. So he says, the problem is
not me, he says, I know it, I know what to do,
but I don't know how to do it, and the things
that I should do that I do not practice, he says, oh,
wretched man that I am, who can deliver me
from this death? And he says, the
Lord Jesus Christ. See, I had no clue. I had no clue of that. But that's exactly what I was
saying, I can't help myself. I cannot do this on my own. So I was invited by my
girlfriend-- my wife-- she told me, there's a concert. And so I went to a
concert, "free concert," it was a Christian concert. I got ripped off. [LAUGHTER] And this is my testimony. I sat in the third row because
she likes to go to the front. She's a theater arts-- she likes theater
arts, so she always wants to get a front seat. So she went to the
front seat, a third, here I am, I'm on
mescaline-- if you don't know what mescaline
is, don't worry about it, God bless you, may the Lord
keep you safe and sound. But I was under mescaline, I
was sitting on the third row, and I didn't understand
what the pastor was saying, he was talking about
Daniel and lions, I go, dude, this guy's
more tripped out than I am. [LAUGHTER] I know the Book of Daniel
now, I mean, I know it. Back and forth. But back then, I'm a heathen,
I never read the Bible. And he's talking about
the Book of Daniel, but he said something about
your conscience being oozing with pain and
anguish, and I said, that's the problem,
because I'm trying to stop the oozing
from shame and pain, and the only way I can squelch
it, the only way I can numb it, and I can only stop the pain
is by alcohol and drugs, and it made me
euphoric for a while. But I hated it. There's a lot of people
here in Albuquerque, they hate what they're doing. They just don't know Jesus. They don't know it's a
problem of the heart. It's not economics, it's
not social economics, is not a lack of
education, it's not because they have a diet
of chorizo, it's not that. It's a heart issue. This Italian man
had a heart problem. And so he summons Peter,
and so Peter's there saying, whoa, what do they want? Notice the
intervention, Verse 19. While Peter thought
about the vision, the Spirit said to him, behold-- the word behold
is pay attention. Three men are seeking you. Arise, therefore, go
downstairs and go with them. Doubting nothing. Why? For I, God, have sent them. Then Peter went down to the
men who had sent for him from Cornelius and said,
yes, I am whom you seek. For what reason have you come? And they said, Cornelius,
the centurion-- notice, more qualifications. He's a just man. One who fears God and
has a good reputation of all the nation of the Jews. He was divinely
instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house
and to hear words from you. Then he invited them
in and lodged them in. On the next day, Peter
went away with them, and some brethren from
Joppa accompanied him. So there were three,
and Peter left with six. Chapter 11, verse
2 tells us that. So Peter took six, there's
three, there's nine, and with Peter, that makes 10. Verse 24. And the following day,
they went to Caesarea. Again, the headquarters
of the 10th Roman Legion. The headquarters of the Roman
presence there in Judea. Now Cornelius was
waiting for them, and had called together who? His what? His relatives and what? Do you have relatives? Yes or no? Do you have good friends? Are they all walking
with Jesus, yes or no? Not-- where you go like that-- no. They're good
people, aren't they? They're good people. Even if they're not good
people, they're are your family, that doesn't matter. You have to love them,
they're your people. He brought them in. Verses 25. As Peter was coming
in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his
feet and began to worship him. I understand that. In my community, to
this day, to this day, they are religious men
who walk in our community and people bow down to them. And I feel like yelling, read
Chapter 10 of the Book of Acts! We don't have to bow
down and kiss nobody. Only the Lord is worthy
of our kneeling down. As you see here. [APPLAUSE] Amen. I'm not being radical. This is Peter. Notice when Peter
says, Verse 26, but Peter lifted him up
saying, stand up, man, I'm only a man like you. And as he talked
with him, he went in and found many who
had come together. Then Peter said to them,
you know, that how unlawful it is for us Jewish boys
to keep company with or to go to one
of another nation. But here, he connected
the dots of the vision. But God has shown
me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore, I came
without objection. As soon as I was sent
for, I asked them, for what reason have
you sent for me? So Cornelius said,
oh, four days ago, I was fasting until this
hour, and at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house and
behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and he
said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard,
and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. Said, therefore, to Joppa
and call Simon here, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of
Simon, the tanner by the sea. When he comes, he
will speak to you. So I said to you immediately,
and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are
all present before God to hear all the things
commanded by you, by God. Then Peter connected
the dots further. Then Peter opened his
mouth and said, aha. In truth, I perceive that God-- he says, I perceived that
God shows no partiality-- Verse 35-- but in every
nation, every city, including Albuquerque,
whoever fears Him and works righteousness is
accepted by God. The word which God sent
to the children of Israel, preaching peace
through Jesus Christ-- He is Lord of all. So he begins to
preach the gospel. The word you know which was
proclaimed throughout all Judea and begin from Galilee after
the baptism which John preached. How God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went
about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the
devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses
of all things which we did both in the land of
the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by
hanging on the tree. That's Good Friday, we
commemorate that last week. Now watch, Sunday
morning, Easter, Verse 40. Him, God raised them
up on the third day and showed him openly. Not to all people, but to
witnesses chosen before by God, even to us, Peter says,
who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. And then he commanded us-- Luke 24, at Chapter 1-- and then he commanded us to
proclaim and explain, preach to the people, and
to testify that it is He who was ordained
by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To Him, here's the key-- all of you, here's the key. To Him, all the prophets of the
Old Testament witnessed that through His name,
whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. What a wonderful
word, remission. Especially if you
are a cancer victim. My wife had brain
cancer for seven years. She's OK, she's
here, she's here. She's out there nosing
around, getting copy, to steal ideas from Albuquerque. She's walking around. She's OK. But for seven years,
she had brain cancer, and twice they told
us she's going to die. So the first time, oh, she
said, I want to go to Hawaii. So the whole family,
we have five children, and we took her to
Hawaii as a last hurrah. We all got Hawaiian clothing,
we went to the water, and, you know, it was a
very morbid, happy day, because she's going to die. Well, she didn't die. And so she was still
going through chemo. They would inject her
right in the cranium. Dopacet, that's the medication. And that will get her-- I mean, it's bad. Seven years of that. And then they told
us again, I'm sorry, she's not going to make it. And so my wife says, you
know, I want to go to Austria. I want to go to the Alps. [LAUGHTER] So I told her, no,
you gotta call Make a Wish Foundation for that. [LAUGHTER] We can't afford it. But that was her prayer. To go before she died. So I get a call. Could you speak at a missions
conference in Austria? Yeah, we'll pay for you. [APPLAUSE] So all I had to do
is pay for her flight and she'll sleep with
me, she's my wife. [LAUGHTER] So we took her. And a friend of ours
from Finland, he says, let me take you up to the Alps. So we went up the Alps. We went all the way,
all the way until we got to the border of
Austria and Switzerland. And I said, go ahead,
do your Julie Andrews. Go for it. Because that's what
she wanted to do, she loved The Sound of Music. And so go ahead, and she
started singing and twirling. I said, right on! Get back in the
car, it's too cold. Come on, let's get out of here. [LAUGHTER] And then I get a call. I'm in New York. Panch? Panch? Panch? My name's Panch, when CHiPs
came in, I changed my name. Now that Erik Estrada
is a has-been, I get my name back, Panch. She says, I'm in remission. Remission. You know, remission
is an English word. It means abatement, it
means stop the madness. You see, that's what Jesus said. This is my blood
for the forgiveness or the remission of your sins. It means it just
stops the madness. And so when I spoke
to the doctor, I said, doctor, what happened? I don't know, your
people have been praying. He said, this is a miracle. So you're going
to write in here, it's a miracle in your chart? No, I can't do that. So tell me, Dr. Chamberlain,
what are you going to write? And he wrote, instantaneous
resolution unknown. Huh? Instantaneous
resolution unknown. Ladies and gentlemen,
we call that a miracle. A miracle. [APPLAUSE] A miracle. Let me finish. So, I don't know where we're at. Where-- [GIBBERISH] OK. [GIBBERISH] OK. OK, Verse 44, got it. Now notice how Peter
was interrupted. While Peter was still
speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon
all those who heard the word. And those of the
circumcision-- that's a reference to the Jewish
boys who believe they were also tripping out. As many as came with
Peter, they were tripping because the
gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on
the non-Jewish people, the Gentiles, for they heard him
speak with tongues and magnify God. Now speaking with
tongues, the word here is glosa, where we get
the word glossolalia, where we get our English glossary,
meaning they were not speaking gibberish like some people-- [GIBBERISH], that's gibberish. They were speaking
in a known language, and they were all
praising God, it was a supernatural phenomena. And they were just overwhelmed,
and then Peter says here, in verse 47, can
anyone forbid water that they should
not be baptized who have received the Holy
Spirit, yes, as we have? And he commanded
them to be baptized in the name of the
Lord, then they asked him to stay a few days later. Ladies and gentlemen, there is
no infant baptism in the Bible. Cornelius was not a
child, he was a grown man. I was baptized at the age
of 24, and this time, I'm aware why I'm getting baptized. Baptism is an
acknowledgment that God has done a work in
you, and you testify to the whole world
saying basically, it is no longer I who live,
but the live that I now live, I live by faith in Jesus Christ. Pancho died with Thunderbird
and all of Johnnie Walker, and even-- forgive me. I'm bilingual. You know, Jose Cuervo
and Johnnie Walker, they were not good
friends to me. When I came to Jesus, those
guys went out of my life. And Christ can do the same. [APPLAUSE] Listen. What is the moral of the story? That one can possess a
pristine morality of Cornelius and yet not be a
Christian nor experience the salvation of God. You may be here this
morning or up in the balcony or watching over the internet. We all know, God knows,
your momma knows, everybody knows
you're a good person. You're a good citizen. You're a good mother,
you're a good father, you're a good businessman,
you're a good professional, but that does not make
you right with God. Something is missing
in your life. You need to have a clean heart. You need to have
your sins forgiven. And once you encounter
that forgiveness, here's what God gives you-- eternal life. Hope, joy, peace, assurance. He will never leave you, he
will never walk out on you, he will never desert you. He will guide you, he will
lead you into all truth. He will make you fall in
love again with your wife. All of a sudden, the
next day after you are a Christian for
most people, the begin to say, honey, how long
you've been married with me? 20 years. You look fine. [LAUGHTER] Now ladies, you know
that's the Holy Spirit. [LAUGHTER] When you haven't been
called fine in 20 years. Something happens to us. It's called renewal,
we're born again. Jesus said to Nicodemus, you
cannot see the Kingdom of God and you cannot enter the Kingdom
of God unless you are what? Born again. And let me be as Frank as I can. Time does not permit us or the
people upstairs or over here to come forward,
it's too much time. So instead of walking, if
God is speaking to you, you have never
received the Lord. Never. We're not talking
about religion. We're talking
about relationship. It takes 11 seconds. 11 seconds. We timed it Friday. Father, I'm a sinner. I repent of all my sin. I believe you are the
Son of the living God, you rose from the dead. And I accept you into my
heart as my Lord and Savior. Bada bing, bada
boom, 11 seconds. That's how long it
takes for your life to change dramatically
for the good. What keeps us from
not accepting Jesus? Two things-- ignorance. Well you can
eliminate ignorance, because now I told you. Whoever calls by the name of
the Lord, shall we say, anybody. So what is the last thing there? What is the impediment
that keeps you? Pride? Culture, pride, personal pride? I don't want to get up, I
don't want to raise my hand, I don't look
sissified, [GRUMBLING].. But see, you will do as the
Holy Spirit speaks to you. Because the word of God tells
us this powerful living, like a two-edged sword, able
to penetrate bone and marrow, and he goes into the
intense or the heart. I don't have to dress
up the scriptures, the scriptures speak
for themselves, and the Holy Spirit
speaks to you. And when you're ready
to raise your hand, you're going to feel
something inside of you, you're going to say, dude, that
bald-headed guy said the truth. And you realize that
you're in a hole right now, that you're empty. And today, whether you're
from the east side, west side, the wrong side, the other
side, whether you're young, whether you're young or not,
whether you switch sites, or whether you came here or
even you got loaded last night and you came here,
God loves you. And I'm asking as
I close, if you would like to receive
the Lord, and you would like me to pray
with you and for you, may I just ask for you just
to raise your hands, say, Pancho, pray for me, I
want to receive the Lord. Would you just do that? Whoever you may be. Just raise your hand,
whomever you may be. Yes, raise your hand. God bless you, God bless
you, God bless you. God bless you. God bless you,
and God bless you. [APPLAUSE] God bless you. God bless you. Way out there, God bless you. May I ask you one
more favor, if I may? Not to embarrass you,
but to be counted. We rejoice when people
accept the Lord, right? If you raised your hand, [APPLAUSE] Won't you just stand to
your feet real quick like? Just stand. Let me pray, will
you just stand? Don't be ashamed, just stand,
just stand, just stand, just stand, just stand, just
stand, just stand, just stand, stand. [APPLAUSE] I love you. Anybody else? Quickly, anybody else? Anybody else? Remain standing,
remain standing, we're going to pray for you. Anybody else? Ah, the clock beat me. Would you repeat the
simple prayer after me. Dear Jesus, I am a sinner,
and I repent of all my sin. I believe you're the
son of the living God and I ask you to
come into my heart. Lord, change me. Give me a new ark, a new
mind, a clean conscience, and put my name in
the Book of Life, and fill me with
your Holy Spirit. And Jesus' name, amen. Amen! We hope you enjoyed
this special service from Calvary Church featuring
our guest speaker, Pancho Juarez. We'd love to know how
this message impacted you. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift at
calvaryabq.org/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
