Welcome to the humpday 5 minute challenge! I hope you are all having a Spirit filled week and you are seeing and hearing God move in your lives. I believe that God is constantly speaking and revealing Himself to us through His creation, we just have to hone ourselves through His Spirit to be able to discern it. It’s always a bright spot in my day when God reveals himself through some quirky situation or event. If this seems foreign to you, make it a part of your daily prayer life, that when God speaks you will be able to hear Him clearly. Matt 7:7 says, “ Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” God is faithful to those that call upon His name.
Thanks for all of your prayers, I’m grateful to report that my Mom got great new yesterday regarding the testing of her heart. The results came back fantastic, no blockage, no need for additional surgery and the Dr. says she has a ‘strong heart.’ I can’t think of anything I’d rather hear a Dr. say about my Mom’s heart!
On to the 5MC. This morning we move into chapter 10 of Acts. This is a huge chapter as we witness God bringing the gospel to the Gentiles through Cornelius and Simon Peter. To fully grasp the magnitude of the event we need to understand the barrier that existed between the Jews and the Gentiles in the day. To better understand the reason for the difference, explore the article below, “JEWS, GENTILES & THE CHURCH” by Dave Hunt.
“Before the Cross of Christ, mankind was divided into two groups: Jews and Gentiles. The Old and New Testaments both make very clear what caused this distinction: it was the covenants God had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and with their descendants through Moses. These covenants were for Israel alone and separated her from all other nations on the face of the earth, making God's "chosen people" absolutely unique. Israel was segregated from other peoples by the Mosaic law and by her special relationship with the One who calls Himself "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
So here we are in Acts 10, the church has already begun due to the arrival of the Holy Spirit but because of the Old Testament Mosaic law, the Gentiles are still being treated as they always have, a little spiritually unworthy compared to a Jew. God will make a way for His Grace to abound to all.
God uses two men in this story, Cornelius and Simon Peter. Lets look at Cornelius’ role in the story first. Cornelius was a Roman Centurion living in Caesarea. A Centurion was in charge of 100 Roman soldiers, hence centurion being from the root century meaning 100. Caesarea was really a Roman city and the base for many regional Roman leaders. Pilate, military leaders such as Cornelius and also other regional government leaders all lived in Caesarea. Basically a Roman city, it was primarily Gentile not Jewish.
Cornelius was “a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.” (Acts 10:2) Here was a guy that believed in God, honored God, gave to the community financially and prayed continually. He had not however heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, and therefore was not a Christian. God wanted to get the gospel to Cornelius, His family and to Caesarea and to all the Gentiles, how would He choose to do it?
He sends Cornelius a vision of an angel with the specific direction to send someone to Joppa to the tanners house by the sea and bring back Simon Peter who is staying there. (Acts 10:5) The angel tells Corneluis that when Peter comes he will tell Cornelius what to do. Cornelius doesn’t know it yet, but salvation is coming to his house with Peter’s message of Jesus! What joy is coming to Ceasarea!
At the same time in Joppa God is preparing Peter to receive and understand the messengers that are on their way. Peter falls into a trance while waiting for dinner and has a vision from God. Now this vision is working to move Peter into a new way of thinking. God realizes that in order for the Jews to offer the gospel to the Gentiles He must shift their thinking. The vision is of a sheet being suspended from heaven by its corners and it’s full of all kinds of animals, birds and reptiles. (Acts 10:11-12) God tells Peter to rise, kill and eat, but Peter refuses still seeing many of the animals as under the old Mosaic law and being unclean and common. God’s response is powerful. Acts 10:15, “what God has made clean, do not call common.” Now this was a ground shaking concept for Peter and God had to show it to him THREE times! And apparently it was needed because as Peter awakes from the trance he is still “inwardly perplexed as to what the vision might mean.” (Acts 10:17) Three times and he still didn’t get it. I thankful that I’m not the only one that needs God to explain things over and over for me to get it!
At this very moment the men arrive to the tanner’s house to get Peter. The spirit speaks to Peter and tells him to go with them immediately, “without hesitation.” (Acts 10:20) They all trek back to Caeasrea and Peter being obedient to the Holy Spirit must be full of questions. Where am I going? Why am I going? Who are these guys? You know this is a great point about our walk with God. If we are truly obedient to His call, we are going to have so many questions as we find ourselves not knowing where we’re going, why we’re going or the purpose of the journey. We as humans cannot and will not ever truly understand God’s perfect plan for our lives. We simply must "arise and go without hesitation." I think back to when my parents would ask me to do something like clean my room or do the dishes. I would respond with so many questions. Why do I have to clean my room? Why can’t somebody else do it? Can I do it tomorrow? I look back now and I realize all of these questions were rooted deeply in defiance and disobedience. I just flat out didn’t want to do what I was being asked. This mirrors itself in our adult lives as God, our heavenly Father and parent, asks us to do things for Him. Things that are for our good in the long run but at the moment we don’t understand. Be careful asking too many questions that are really rooted in disobedience or defiance. Peter had learned some hard lessons by now walking with Jesus and he knew when the Spirit spoke he followed ‘without hesitation’.
Peter gets to Cornelius’ home and finds that Cornelius has gathered many of his friends and family there in his home. Cornelius knows that God has something big planned with the angel prompting him to go get Peter, he wants everybody he knows to be there and hear it. Peter is still unsure about why he’s there, does God really want him to share the gospel with this house full of gentiles?
Peter, by the leading of the Spirit, shares the gospel and for the first time, Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit. We’re told that they start speaking in tongues which was important visual evidence to Peter that day and later to the other apostles that God would indeed save the Gentiles and offer them His Holy Spirit. (Acts 11:17-18) Some have called this moment the Gentile Pentecost as it mirrors when the disciples received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues back in Acts 2. Directly after they are all baptized with water.
What a great event we witness today. It’s hard for us to realize the barrier that existed between Jew and Gentile. The Jews of the day had a hard time believing that Gentiles were going to be saved even in spite of the fact that God had told them this was to be so. What seems impossible to man God achieves in perfect simplicity and harmony using regular people that are surrendered and obedient to Him.
God has a perfect tool for every job. His perfect tools only have a few requirements. Love for him. Love for others. Obedience to His call.
May God use you mightily today as a tool in His perfect plan.
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