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 this devotional was helpful to you, Would you consider signing up by email if you don't already receive it in your email? Go to dailypbj.com slash subscribe if you'd like to do that. Also, please consider financially supporting me so that I can make more content like this. Go to dailypbj.com slash support for that. Finally, consider sharing this with someone who may learn something from it. I hope you have a great day, may God bless you, and we'll see you next time.