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In the name of Jesus.

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Amen.

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Congratulations to you who have received your first calls.

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And congratulations to you who have received your assignments, as

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interns or vicars.

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And to those of you who are still waiting for that great call day,

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you know, I pray that the anticipation will be filled with joy for

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you.

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When I arrived in my first

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congregation, it was actually a dual Parish.

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I was,

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well, I wouldn't say I was scared.

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But I can tell you, I was very unsure of myself.

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I mean

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I knew that I could do academics, fine.

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But being a pastor

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well that's different.

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And when I would get into situations where I wasn't sure what to do

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you know because I had no experience.

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I thought of pastors that I had respected in my lifetime.

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So in a situation, like, whatever

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I might, I might say, what would Pastor Lehenbauer, do in a case

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like this or, or how would rubber Brauer or Pastor Kresky.

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How would they handle this situation that I've never been in before?

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And in the same vein I made it a habit to have conversations with more

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experienced Pastors in our district and circuit.

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I remember one time I stop by Reverend Henry, Curry in Hoyleton,

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Illinois, Henry was our circuit counselor.

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Now you call them visitors.

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And I sat in Henry study and I was complaining, I said I can't make

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any progress in the congregation and it's just one trouble after

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another trouble and Henry, threw his head back white hair, gorgeous white

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hair through his head, back and laughed and took a big puff out his

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cigarette and he looked at me and that's what the ministry is.

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One brush fire after another.

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Well

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some years past

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and by the mercies of God, I started to figure out yeah

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maybe I actually can be a real Pastor, not just an academic.

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Peter faced a situation in Acts chapter 10

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that was one of those situations.

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What do I do?

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And so in these minutes

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I like to offer a devotion with you about

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what should I do,

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Moments in Ministry.

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Peter was not confronted with a brush fire.

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I mean he had on his hands

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the possibility of a full-blown tear up, a church conflagration.

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Let the Gentiles into the church?

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Let those multi-ethnics into our congregation?

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I don't do that

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but what should I do?

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God

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had way back in the Old Testament

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let it be known that Israel was to be a light to the nations.

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And so in that plan, he sent his Son

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who did everything necessary to reconcile all people to himself.

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Now, the time has come 

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to really implement the mission.

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So God does two things.

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First, he gets word to Cornelius

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a gentile that he should make contact with Peter.

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Secondly, he gives Peter a vision.

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Strange Vision, a sheet being let down from heaven

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with clean and unclean animals, understand, Jew and Gentile.

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And God says

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Peter kill and eat. Whoa.

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I don't have anything to do with what is unclean

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with someone who is other than us. And God comes back

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what God has made clean

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do not call common.

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Okay.

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Now pause,

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all right.

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Put the video on pause.

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Peter at this moment, has a theoretical understanding of the word and

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the mission.

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Or let me put it this way.

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He has spent a lot of time in the classroom, learning physiology, why

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he even attended the multi-ethnic symposium.

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But,

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it doesn't become actual

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until he gets in the context of Cornelius.

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It's all Theory.

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They can be talked about and debated and wished about it even prayed

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for

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but until he gets face to face with Cornelius and his family, on

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Cornelius' is turf

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the mission is not actualized.

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So he goes.

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Now, he's facing

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in an uncomfortable situation

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a gentile.

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Now, he's face to face.

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Now he is in the setting of the other.

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He is not sitting in his desk at the church office.

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He's not coming up with grandiose plans in his office and meetings,

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about what lay people should be doing.

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He's there he goes, he leads by example.

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Now he says that's the theory that he learned at the Seminary

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has come into face-to-face, practice.

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Truly, I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation

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anyone who fears him and does, what is right is acceptable to him.

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And he goes on

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to share in that setting face to face.

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His own faith in the crucified and resurrected one in.

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And although it does not say it here.

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We know that Peter was filled with anticipation for the day when

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Jesus, would again be seen face-to-face and we will all go to the

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inheritance awaiting us in heaven.

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Peter, put into practice what he later wrote.

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He was called to give an account and he did it with patience and

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gentleness.

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Then the Holy Spirit came down.

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Because wherever the Gospel of Jesus is shared

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he Holy Spirit is assuredly present.

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Now when this was all done, it wasn't the end of the story

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because Peter who had practice face-to-face, Ministry and Mission.

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Then we read in subsequent chapters of Acts.

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Then went and shared this unusual Mission situation with the other

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Apostles for discussion and conversation. Today, we call that casuistry

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and when you and I find ourselves in, what should I do now situations?

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We go right to the person, right to the ministry, situation with the

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word of God, in our minds and in our hearts.

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But we also then do casuistry

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we talk with brothers and sisters in Ministry and in congregation

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about this strange situation and here's how I handled it.

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What do you think?

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Today our church calendar, commemorates CFW Walther.

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And I have no doubt that

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Dr.

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Walther, first president of our Seminary,

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he had many times in his life when he thought.

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What should I do now?

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When the 10th President of Concordia, Seminary took office.

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A lot of people gave him books on leadership.

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No kidding, I got a row of books on leadership this long.

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And did that put my self-doubts on steroids, you better believe it.

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Hey Dale,

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it's obvious, these people live giving you books on leadership

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realize you don't have a clue what you're into.

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Which was true.

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I have now, gotten rid of most of those books I have given them to

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President Egger.

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You know, but here, here here's the, here's the thing that

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I have often thought about, I still think about it when you're in one

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of those

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what should I do situations?

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When you're called upon for leadership.

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You're not going to go to a book about leadership.

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You're going to reach into your being.

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Into your head, what you know and continue to learn. Into your heart

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which has been graced with the Law and the Gospel.

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And it's out of your being that

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you're going to react.

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And it's not only that in uncertain situations, you're going to react

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out of who you are.

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You're also going to make it a priority to be in conversation with

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other people, including people who are more experienced than you are.

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People who have different outlooks than you do, because you're going

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to bring all the opinions and thoughts of the body of Christ together

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to help you lead.

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In a what should I do now situation?

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Peter did that.

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Out of his being.

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Head and heart knowing the Lord Jesus, he went straight to Cornelius.

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Just as we go to people, whether they are Jew or Gentile, whether we like

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them or don't.

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It comes down brothers and sisters, simply to this.

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Love God

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and love people.

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Never meet a stranger.

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And take Peters advice to heart, always be ready to give an account

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to anyone who asks you for the hope that is in you

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but do it with gentleness and respect.

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And as you experience those, what should I do situations?

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Know that

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when you share Jesus

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the Holy Spirit is most assuredly there.

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He's there with the people to whom you speak.

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And maybe most comforting

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he's going to be with you.

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Who doesn't always know what should I do now?

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Amen.

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The peace of God, which passes all understanding

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keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, to life

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Everlasting.

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Amen.