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Transcript:
So throughout history there have been a number of significant spiritual awakenings.
And these awakenings changed not just individuals but the whole culture: things like labor relations and politics

In one awakening, the crime rate dropped almost entirely and they closed jails because they were empty

Maybe this shows us that the real power for breaking through racial barriers in our culture is the most difficult because it’s the most personal one of all

Welcome to Sunday’s Best 3 minutes where we’re all about encouraging spiritual awakenings
which is why we’re taking one big idea from Sunday’s message and bringing it to you in a portable package

This is our third week in our Breaking Through series

All we’re doing in this series is tackling the single most pervasive and intractable problem in our world that all cultures have struggled with since the beginning

We’re looking at the early church as they fumble their way faithfully to break through the racial barriers between Jews and non-Jews in the church

In Acts 10, we’ve got two people who have been told their whole lives that their people are better than everyone else.

First, you’ve got Cornelius, who’s a Roman centurion
He’s been told since he was a little kid that Rome is the height of all civilization and that it was because they were better than everyone else that they conquered everyone else

Then you’ve got Peter, a Jewish guy who’s been told his whole life that his people are God’s chosen people which they thought meant that everyone else was definitely NOT chosen

But in Acts 10, God tells both of these guys to meet-up and what we see from both of them is that they’re not only breaking social norms externally by getting together

They’re both putting aside the prejudice that’s on the inside:
Cornelius meets Peter and bows, Peter declares that he now sees that God shows no favoritism between people

Peter and Cornelius are both called by God to surface and deal with the racism in their own hearts in order to build a church that is to be for all people
And I want to suggest that we’re called to do this same work

In our politically charged culture, where everyone’s defensive and edgy around this conversation
Perhaps the hardest part of breaking through racial barriers is that most of us can’t admit that we’ve got prejudice in our hearts that we need forgiveness for and that we need to let go of and turn the other way

And the reason why the foot of the cross is the one place where all peoples can finally come together

Is because it’s the one place where we can acknowledge that we’ve all got sin in our hearts and it’s not a shock!
pride, jealousy, anger, racial prejudice—I don’t WANT any of it there, but it’s there!

And at the cross of Jesus I can admit it and know that I’m forgiven and loved anyway
AND I’m free to let go of all that junk and move on to love God and love my neighbor, whoever they might be

If just the Christians in our country were willing to confess and turn away from the prejudice and racial attitudes in our hearts, it would change this whole conversation in our country

Spiritual awakenings have changed whole cultures because when people confess their sin to a God who is love and who forgives it unleashes a power that can change the world

In fact, it already has changed the world, and this is our time and our turn in this generation to be a part of it

Thanks so much for watching this week on Sunday’s best 3 minutes