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Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 433 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text -- Brother Thomas: "There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band." Centurion means one hundred. So that's what he was. He was a centurion. That means he was the head of a hundred men. Obviously these people were not Jews. They were Italians. Of course, I don't know that. It doesn't say. But the scripture says he was "A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God." That's wonderful, isn't it? ( congregational amens ). I mean to think that our prayers and our alms--that's what we give in the name of the Lord to help somebody--have come up. It says a memorial. It's up there and they know about it. All heaven knows what we're doing down here. They're aware of us. I just wonder sometimes if they have a record down there or somewhere. Of course, we don't know where up is nor down. It's up here. To folks that's on the other side of the globe, up is that way. Did you ever stop to think about how big this universe is? And God very often gives us direction. It's not so much a geometric thing as it is being in touch with God. This man was a devout man and he prayed to God always and he saw this vision. And the thing here that got a response from heaven to Cornelius wasn't a direction--a thing that came by simple direction--it was because this man was praying to God. And he wanted to be led of the Lord. Just remember that. You know we humans are prone to try to help God out sometime to get something done. We may try to pull a few politics, but we'd do better if we'd just seek God and leave it up to him. If God can't answer us, who in the world can? So, Cornelius' prayers and alms had come up as a memorial before God. "And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter; He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa. On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance." Now this is Peter up on the housetop. He became very hungry and, "while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice"--three times--"and the vessel was received up again into heaven." See what God was doing here was making a transition from Jews to Gentiles and, of course, this is His way of calling their attention to it. "Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate, and called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them. "Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come? And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God and"--a good man--"of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. Then called he them in, and lodged them. "And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together." They were ready to have a revival, weren't they? ( congregational amens ). That shows you the interest. You see the gospel was so vital then and people who were serving God--it was vital, it wasn't just a form. Today it's a form in most places. You wouldn't find that interest. But, if it is vital, if it's the real thing, then the people that get interested are drawn to that, it's like a magnet. And when they get there, they see this is something different. I've had that said to me essentially those words in years past about people who come and just observe. They would be so impressed. You didn't have to try to get them to come back or urge them to. You didn't have to send out little letters and things. In other words, the power of the gospel was in the people, and they came because they sensed something. That's the way it should be today. "And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean." See, he had learned the lesson--any man common or unclean. "Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me? And Cornelius said, 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 said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea side: who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou are come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God." God was so real. Now if the Lord had somebody, say here--I'll just point in this general direction of say, Jimmy, back there, and there's somebody over here that He wanted to send over here, He can work on both ends of the line and let this party here know that He's bringing somebody from over here. He didn't have to tell him everything; He can just say, I'm sending my servant so-and-so. He can say I'm sending my servant and he'll come so you just wait till he comes then he'll tell you what I want. Now Christianity then was real. Now we don't expect such things, and of course when we're filled with unbelief, that excludes phenomena, that keeps you from receiving those things. I know we can, and I've seen it--more in years past than I'll say at this present time. But God is real and when you have something that you're vitally interested in and you need to know something, you need to understand some things, don't forget, first thing you petition up there, instead of asking somebody down here. However, you don't send your petition up there and then ignore everything down here and say, "Well, God told me this and I ain't got to listen to nobody." Then you're a law unto yourself. Because the church is a vital body that's joined together by the Spirit. It's not supposed to be every man walking the Jericho Road by his self and him determining what is the Jericho Road. Then you ain't got a church. The church, ekklesia, the word means "called out." But it don't just mean called out. You could be called out and you could be like a bunch of quails that flew up. You shoot into them and some go here and some go there. But it's not. It's "called out assembly." That means it's a group of people who've been called out of the common herd, I'll say. They've been called out and joined together. Called out by the Spirit of God and joined together by the Spirit of God. It cures you of that independence. You realize that that's your brother. You realize that you not only have them to fellowship and associate with--and you need every member that's in the Body of Christ--but you realize that God Himself has a special reason for the Body and that He is watching over that Body and then He honors the Body. He honors the Body in a way that you as an individual cannot be honored. I don't mean that you can't be honored, but it's only as you respectfully move together with your brother and as you respectfully recognize the Lord. Cause the Lord didn't just save one of us, He saved all of us, and we're banded together by His love, by His Spirit, by His wisdom, by His Word. And if we walk in harmony and in peace with that Body, then we have available to us all of those virtues. And that's the way it should be, because the devil likes nothing better than to minister division and he'll do anything he can to divide the Body of Christ. Of course, we need to guard against that. You have the protection of that Body and that means that you have the protection of Christ who is the Head. He's the Head of the Body. And that means you respect not only the Body as a whole, but you respect the ministries of that Body. You see the ministries of that Body is more than just a man or a woman. The ministries of the Body is to the Body. You need to be aware of that. I believe that God honors us when we honor the principles He's put in this Book. And the principles that's laid down for us is for our well-being. If Jim there is working--if he's flowing in harmony with the Body, I need to respectfully recognize Jim as my brother, because I need all of the wisdom and every virtue and everything that he has as a result of his fellowship with that Body. And he likewise does the same thing. He recognizes others, brothers and sisters, in that Body. He recognizes them. Glad to see you folks that's here today. Lord bless you. It's a grave thing. When you become a law unto yourself, you're in danger. You know what they used to call you-outlaws. Used to call you outlaws. Jesse James was an outlaw. But Jesse James met his Waterloo. And most outlaws meet their Waterloo after a while. Hallelujah! Praise God! So unity is an important thing. Amen. Unity gets the attention of God. Whenever you want Him to help you, you recognize His Body here and the members of His Body. There shouldn't be any question about whether it's wisdom from God or wisdom from above because the Body--it's one thing for it to come from individuals, another for it to come from the Body. When somebody goes astray and starts doing things that's contrary to the general principles that the Body honors, there's something wrong. You want to help them and help bring them back to the fold. But you can't stoop to what they're doing in order to do that. That means going fishing real regular, too. ( laughing ) Now, there's nobody here that applies to. ( laughter ) Unless you bring me a mess of the fish. ( laughter ) I was just kidding Andrew there a little bit. Of course now fish are pretty good, aren't they? -- Congregation: They are. -- Brother Thomas: But you need to remember that this Body, there's something vital about being in unity with it. That's what we're talking about. Something vital about you honoring this Body because it's the Lord's Body. Did you know the Lord doesn't have any body down here in this earth other than His Body? That means--well especially His Body, let me put it like that. That means I believe that God will honor the individual but in His honoring the individual is to bring about His unity and His recognition of the rest of His Body. That would be the first thing that He would do. God don't dishonor these principles, because they're His principles and He's the One that's set them in motion. 
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