“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”—Jesus, John 3:16
Background and Update—for understanding as we move forward in our Acts journey:
Acts is usually understood as the “actions” of the apostles. But some scholars have said that it would be better named “The Acts of the Holy Spirit,” because the central character who is manifested is the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit enables, empowers, and who leads God’s church into its earliest period of expansion.
Acts was written by Dr. Luke, a physician by trade, who wrote the gospel of Luke. He did not stop with his eyewitness accounts of Jesus. It is as if Dr. Luke merely pauses from completing his gospel to dip pen to ink so he can continue to tell the world how the work Jesus began and then continues in the lives of those He trained and commissioned. Luke carries on the narrative history of the early church to tell us how the church grew and expanded from the inside out and outside in.
We remember that before He left earth, Jesus gave His Great Commission to His disciples “to go and make disciples, teaching them, baptizing them in His Name” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus also told them to wait for His Spirit then begin in Jerusalem.
“…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8, NLT
In what part of Palestine do we find Jerusalem? It is in Judea, in the southern part of the country. And Galilee is in the north. The northern part of the country is separated, or divided, from the south—which is Judea—by Samaria. Jesus basically commands the church to move out from the center in concentric circles, so that the ministry of the newborn church, begins in Jerusalem, then moves out to the circle of Judea, and then goes and incorporates Samaria, and from there, to all the world into the uttermost parts of the earth. God always knows what He is doing! Those of us who love a strategy love the way God thinks and works in our lives—trust Him!
Luke is telling us what is happening in the primitive church in Jerusalem in the early chapters and now we begin to hear of its expansion into Judea, then to Samaria. Later we will follow the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul, (formerly Saul the persecutor), who will take the gospel to the Gentiles— (anyone not a Jew), “to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
In this passage, the Holy Spirit comes to broaden the scope of God’s strategic mission by opening the heart and stretching the mind of Peter, a Jew by birth, a passionate follower of Jesus by rebirth who is called to preach the Good News to the world God so loves—Jews and non-Jews. God is for everyone who believes in Jesus!
Acts 10, The Message
Peter’s Vision
1-3 There was a man named Cornelius who lived in Caesarea, captain of the Italian Guard stationed there. He was a thoroughly good man. He had led everyone in his house to live worshipfully before God, was always helping people in need, and had the habit of prayer. One day about three o’clock in the afternoon he had a vision. An angel of God, as real as his next-door neighbor, came in and said, “Cornelius.”
4-6 Cornelius stared hard, wondering if he was seeing things. Then he said, “What do you want, sir?”
The angel said, “Your prayers and neighborly acts have brought you to God’s attention. Here’s what you are to do. Send men to Joppa to get Simon, the one everyone calls Peter. He is staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is down by the sea.”
7-8 As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two servants and one particularly devout soldier from the guard. He went over with them in great detail everything that had just happened, and then sent them off to Joppa.
9-13 The next day as the three travelers were approaching the town, Peter went out on the balcony to pray. It was about noon. Peter got hungry and started thinking about lunch. While lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the skies open up. Something that looked like a huge blanket lowered by ropes at its four corners settled on the ground. Every kind of animal and reptile and bird you could think of was on it. Then a voice came: “Go to it, Peter—kill and eat.”
14 Peter said, “Oh, no, Lord. I’ve never so much as tasted food that was not kosher.”
15 The voice came a second time: “If God says it’s okay, it’s okay.”
16 This happened three times, and then the blanket was pulled back up into the skies.
17-20 As Peter, puzzled, sat there trying to figure out what it all meant, the men sent by Cornelius showed up at Simon’s front door. They called in, asking if there was a Simon, also called Peter, staying there. Peter, lost in thought, didn’t hear them, so the Spirit whispered to him, “Three men are knocking at the door looking for you. Get down there and go with them. Don’t ask any questions. I sent them to get you.”
21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I think I’m the man you’re looking for. What’s up?”
22-23 They said, “Captain Cornelius, a God-fearing man well-known for his fair play—ask any Jew in this part of the country—was commanded by a holy angel to get you and bring you to his house so he could hear what you had to say.” Peter invited them in and made them feel at home.
God Plays No Favorites
23-26 The next morning he got up and went with them. Some of his friends from Joppa went along. A day later they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had his relatives and close friends waiting with him. The minute Peter came through the door, Cornelius was up on his feet greeting him—and then down on his face worshiping him! Peter pulled him up and said, “None of that—I’m a man and only a man, no different from you.”
27-29 Talking things over, they went on into the house, where Cornelius introduced Peter to everyone who had come. Peter addressed them, “You know, I’m sure that this is highly irregular. Jews just don’t do this—visit and relax with people of another race. But God has just shown me that no race is better than any other. So the minute I was sent for, I came, no questions asked. But now I’d like to know why you sent for me.”
30-32 Cornelius said, “Four days ago at about this time, midafternoon, I was home praying. Suddenly there was a man right in front of me, flooding the room with light. He said, ‘Cornelius, your daily prayers and neighborly acts have brought you to God’s attention. I want you to send to Joppa to get Simon, the one they call Peter. He’s staying with Simon the Tanner down by the sea.’
33 “So I did it—I sent for you. And you’ve been good enough to come. And now we’re all here in God’s presence, ready to listen to whatever the Master put in your heart to tell us.”
34-36 Peter fairly exploded with his good news: “It’s God’s own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open. The Message he sent to the children of Israel—that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again—well, he’s doing it everywhere, among everyone.
37-38 “You know the story of what happened in Judea. It began in Galilee after John preached a total life-change. Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action. He went through the country helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil. He was able to do all this because God was with him.
39-43 “And we saw it, saw it all, everything he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem where they killed him, hung him from a cross. But in three days God had him up, alive, and out where he could be seen. Not everyone saw him—he wasn’t put on public display. Witnesses had been carefully handpicked by God beforehand—us! We were the ones, there to eat and drink with him after he came back from the dead. He commissioned us to announce this in public, to bear solemn witness that he is in fact the One whom God destined as Judge of the living and dead. But we’re not alone in this. Our witness that he is the means to forgiveness of sins is backed up by the witness of all the prophets.”
44-46 No sooner were these words out of Peter’s mouth than the Holy Spirit came on the listeners. The believing Jews who had come with Peter couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on “outsider” non-Jews, but there it was—they heard them speaking in tongues, heard them praising God.
46-48 Then Peter said, “Do I hear any objections to baptizing these friends with water? They’ve received the Holy Spirit exactly as we did.” Hearing no objections, he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Then they asked Peter to stay on for a few days.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
God plays no favorites—I’m glad, how about you?!
It is clearly God who prepares our hearts to receive the news of what Jesus did to take away our sins.
The Holy Spirit of God moves in mighty ways to impress upon the minds of humanity that God is for all and in all who believe in Jesus. There is nothing we have done that He will not forgive. There is no one on earth who believes that He will not welcome into His Kingdom.
We are not separatists, we are includers if we know and love like God.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8
“This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.” 1 John 4:13-15
“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.” 1 John 4:16-17
“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” 1 John 4:20-21
Truth: Everyone, anyone, and whoever believe are called children of God—and he does not play favorites. Do we? Pause to examine and evaluate our hearts.
Lord,
Thank you for the Plan that saved all who believe on Your Name and follow you with all that is in them. Thank you for being the God of all you created. Thank you for not playing favorites as you demonstrate your love to us and work in us so that we love like you love us. Thank you for cleansing our hearts of favoritism, transforming our minds, refreshing our souls, and restoring the joy of you in us and us in you daily. You are not finished with us until we see you face to face! Thank you for not giving up on me!
In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen.
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 