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Today's reading is Acts chapter
10. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion,
in what was called the Italian regiment. He and all his household
were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people
and prayed to God regularly. One day, at about the ninth hour,
he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him and said,
Cornelius! Cornelius stared at him in fear
and asked, What is it, Lord? The angel answered, Your prayers
and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before
God. Now send men to Joppa to call for a man named Simon, who
is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the
Tanner, whose house is by the sea. When the angel who spoke
to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout
soldier from among his attendants. He explained what had happened
and sent them to Joppa. The next day, at about the sixth
hour, as the men were approaching the city on their journey, Peter
went up to the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something
to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into
a trance. He saw heaven open and something
like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.
It contained all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth,
as well as birds of the air. Then a voice said to him, get
up, Peter, kill and eat. No, Lord, Peter answered. I have
never eaten anything impure or unclean. The voice spoke to him
a second time, do not call anything impure that God has made clean. This happened three times and
all at once the sheet was taken back up into heaven. While Peter
was puzzling over the meaning of this vision, the men sent
by Cornelius found Simon's house and approached the gate. They
called out to ask if Simon called Peter was staying there. As Peter
continued to reflect on the vision, the spirit said to him, behold,
three men are looking for you. So get up, go downstairs and
accompany them without hesitation because I have sent them. So
Peter went down to the men and said, here am I, the one you
are looking for. Why have you come? Cornelius
the centurion has sent us, they said. He is a righteous and God-fearing
man with a good reputation among the whole Jewish nation. A holy
angel instructed him to request your presence in his home so
he could hear a message from you. So Peter invited them in
as his guests. And the next day, he got ready
and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from
Joppa. The following day, he arrived in Caesarea, where Cornelius
was expecting them, and had called together his relatives and close
friends. As Peter was about to enter, Cornelius met him and
fell at his feet to worship him. But Peter helped him up. Stand
up, he said. I am only a man myself. As Peter talked with
him, he went inside and found many people gathered together.
He said to them, You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate
with a foreigner or visit him, but God has shown me that I should
not call any man impure or unclean. So when I was invited, I came
without objection. I asked then, why have you sent
for me? Cornelius answered, four days ago I was in my house praying
at this, the ninth hour. Suddenly, a man in radiant clothing
stood before me and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and
your gifts to the poor have been remembered before God. Therefore,
send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. He is a guest
in the home of Simon the Tanner by the sea. So I sent for you
immediately, and you were kind enough to come. Now then, we
are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything
the Lord has instructed you to tell us. Then Peter began to
speak. Now I truly understand that God
does not show favoritism, but welcomes those from every nation
who fear Him and do what is right. He has sent this message to all
the people of Israel, proclaiming the gospel of peace through Jesus
Christ, who is Lord of all. You yourselves know what has
happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, with the baptism
that John proclaimed, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with
the Holy Spirit and with power, and how Jesus went around doing
good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil because
God was with him. We are witnesses of all that
he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And although
they put him to death by hanging him on a tree, God raised him
up on the third day and caused him to be seen, not by all the
people, but by the witnesses God had chosen beforehand. by
us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify
that he is the one appointed by God to judge the living and
the dead. All the prophets testify about
him, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of
sins through his name. While Peter was still speaking
these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard this
message. All the circumcised believers
who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the
Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they
heard them speaking in tongues and exalting God. Then Peter
said, can anyone withhold the water to baptize these people?
They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have. So he ordered
that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And they
asked him to stay for a few days. And this is God's word. Back
in Acts chapter eight, we read about how God used Saul's persecution
to move the church and the gospel out of Jerusalem and into Judea
and Samaria. just as Jesus said would happen
in Acts 1, verse 8. Then in Acts 9, we read how Jesus
redeemed Saul and told Ananias how Saul was the Lord's chosen
instrument to take the gospel to the Gentiles. Taking the Gospel
to the Gentiles was the final phase of Jesus' Great Commission
in Acts 1-8, and of course in the Gospels as well. But transitioning
the Christian church from a Jewish sect to a worldwide movement
was going to be difficult. Gentiles were allowed to convert
to Judaism before Jesus came, but they were always second-class
citizens to native Jews. For Gentile Christians to have
full acceptance in the church, God would have to move in a very
special way. And that's what we read about
today in Acts chapter 10. Although Saul was God's chosen
instrument to take the gospel to the Gentiles, God used Peter
to be the first apostle to see Gentile converts to Christianity.
But notice how God did this here in Acts chapter 10. First, God
sent a vision to Cornelius in verses 1-8. Verse 2 of Acts 10
said, He and all his family were devout and God-fearing. The phrase
devout and God-fearing indicates that he was a Gentile convert
to Judaism. When God spoke to him, he was
told to send for Simon Peter and he was told where to find
him. Second, just before Cornelius's messengers arrived, God sent
a vision to Peter telling him to eat foods that were unclean
according to the law of Moses. And we saw that in verses 11
through 14. Peter saw this vision three times, according to verse
16, probably so that he would be completely convinced of what
he had seen. But verse 17 told us, Peter was
wondering about the meaning of the vision. And that shows us
that the larger meaning, the broadest interpretation and application
of this revelation was unclear to Peter. Surely God was not
concerned about Peter's diet. But what could be the greater
lesson of this vision about food? According to verse 17, the men
sent by Cornelius arrived while Peter was wondering about the
meaning of the vision. Peter understood that the timing
was not coincidental, and he went to see Cornelius despite
the fact that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with
or visit a Gentile, as we saw in verse 28b. In verses 28 and 29, Peter applied
his vision about the unclean food to this meeting with Cornelius. Peter realized then and there
that God does not show favoritism, but accepts from every nation
the one who fears him and does what is right. We saw that in
verses 34 and 35. Therefore, Peter gave them the
gospel. And that brings us to the next step in God's process
of bringing Gentiles into His church. Step 3. The Holy Spirit
came on all who heard the message, according to verse 44. The Jewish
Christians who heard this were astonished that the gift of the
Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, according
to verse 45. And so this is telling us that these new Gentile believers
had the same experience that Jesus' disciples had in Acts
2, on the day of Pentecost, and that the Samaritan disciples
had had back in Acts chapter 8. The purpose of that dramatic,
miraculous demonstration of the Spirit's power was not to show
us that all Christians must have these signs. Rather, it was to
demonstrate that the Gentile believers are equal to Jewish
believers in Jesus, in every way. As a result of this experience,
Peter ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ,
according to verse 48. The full implications of a church
integrated with Jews and Gentiles alike would still have to be
worked out within the early church, and we'll read about some of
that in the chapters ahead. But the point of this chapter
was to show that God viewed and treated Gentile believers as
equal in the church to Jewish believers. It would be wrong
for the church, therefore, to discriminate against any believer
in any way. Although we no longer have those
Jewish-Gentile tensions in every Christian church today, There
are other ways in which the church is sometimes divided by race.
Churches here in the United States of America are still divided
along racial lines, with mostly white churches, like ours frankly
is, and churches that are mostly African Americans or mostly Latinos
or some Romanians or Chinese churches and so on. Language
differences create some of these distinctions, but all of them
are contrary to how God views true believers. In Christ, there
are no white Christians, or black Christians, or any other human
category of Christians. To Jesus, there are only believers
and unbelievers. All believers are accepted fully
into God's family through Jesus Christ. We cannot solve the division
of churches in America all on our own, but we can and should
fully accept, welcome, and integrate anyone into our church family
who has faith in Jesus Christ, is baptized in His name, and
is seeking to do what the Lord commands. We should strive for
this kind of unity then, because it is pleasing to God. And if
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day, may God bless you, and we'll see you next time.
Acts 10
Series DailyPBJ Devotionals
This is a daily devotional about Acts 10 from dailypbj devotionals. For more information, visit https://dailypbj.com. To receive these devotionals every morning in your inbox, visit https://dailypbj.com/subscribe. To support my work, visit https://dailypbj.com/support/
| Sermon ID | 4192319256726 |
| Duration | 11:49 |
| Date | |
| Category | Devotional |
| Bible Text | Acts 10 |
| Language | English |
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