David Wilkerson uses Peter's rooftop vision in Acts 10 to expose how even the godliest believers can unknowingly circumscribe Christ into a small circle, calling other denominations, other nations, and even their own unsaved children common or unclean, when God has already declared them cleansed and worthy of fellowship.

Preached: December 15, 2002

Main Points:

• Peter had raised the dead, healed the sick with his shadow, and shaken prisons by his presence, yet in one area of his life he was misrepresenting Christ. Every believer is a definition of Christ to a world that reads us instead of the Bible.

• On the rooftop, God let down a sheet filled with unclean animals three times and said, "Kill and eat," meaning have fellowship. Peter protested on solid scriptural ground, and God answered, "What God has cleansed you must not call common." The Greek word for common means unworthy of fellowship.

• When Peter finally ate with Cornelius's household and the Holy Ghost fell on uncircumcised Gentiles, the circumcision party in Jerusalem contended with him because he went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them. Their theology said God couldn't work outside their circle. It happened anyway.

• David Wilkerson watched a Pentecostal bishop walk out of his own conference calling a young charismatic worship team an abomination because they clapped and waved flags, even as the Holy Ghost was visibly moving in the room. The man's imprint of Christ was too small to contain what God was doing.

• Celeste Horvath was the most notorious madam in New York City history, condemned by her own brother as beyond redemption, while she secretly played "Amazing Grace" on an organ between clients and cried out to God every night. Ten years of hidden work by the Holy Ghost preceded the moment she finally broke.

• When God is doing his greatest work, you will often see the least evidence.

• Letters were pouring in from Muslim countries reached by Times Square Church radio broadcasts, testifying that Islam gave them no peace but Christ did instantly. God is not looking to raise up another star evangelist. He is looking for ordinary believers willing to stop drawing circles and call no one common or unclean.

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