Today Our Daily Bread Acts 10

Acts 10: 1 - 48
1 In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment. 2 He was a devout man who feared the God of Israel, as did his entire household. He gave generously to charity and was a man who regularly prayed to God. 3 One afternoon about three o'clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. "Cornelius!" the angel said. 4 Cornelius stared at him in terror. "What is it, sir?" he asked the angel. And the angel replied, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have not gone unnoticed by God! 5 Now send some men down to Joppa to find a man named Simon Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon, a leatherworker who lives near the shore. Ask him to come and visit you." 7 As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier, one of his personal attendants. 8 He told them what had happened and sent them off to Joppa.
9 The next day as Cornelius's messengers were nearing the city, Peter went up to the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, 10 and he was hungry. But while lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. 12 In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. 13 Then a voice said to him, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat them." 14 "Never, Lord," Peter declared. "I have never in all my life eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws. F48 " 15 The voice spoke again, "If God says something is acceptable, don't say it isn't." F49 16 The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was pulled up again to heaven. 17 Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found the house and stood outside at the gate. 18 They asked if this was the place where Simon Peter was staying.
19 Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, "Three men have come looking for you. 20 Go down and go with them without hesitation. All is well, for I have sent them." 21 So Peter went down and said, "I'm the man you are looking for. Why have you come?" 22 They said, "We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout man who fears the God of Israel and is well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to send for you so you can go to his house and give him a message." 23 So Peter invited the men to be his guests for the night. The next day he went with them, accompanied by some other believers F50 from Joppa. 24 They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for him and had called together his relatives and close friends to meet Peter. 25 As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell to the floor before him in worship. 26 But Peter pulled him up and said, "Stand up! I'm a human being like you!" 27 So Cornelius got up, and they talked together and went inside where the others were assembled. 28 Peter told them, "You know it is against the Jewish laws for me to come into a Gentile home like this. But God has shown me that I should never think of anyone as impure. 29 So I came as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me." 30 Cornelius replied, "Four days ago I was praying in my house at three o'clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me. 31 He told me, 'Cornelius, your prayers have been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God! 32 Now send some men to Joppa and summon Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a leatherworker who lives near the shore.' 33 So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now here we are, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you."
34 Then Peter replied, "I see very clearly that God doesn't show partiality. 35 In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. 36 I'm sure you have heard about the Good News for the people of Israel – that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what happened all through Judea, beginning in Galilee after John the Baptist began preaching. 38 And no doubt you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with him. 39 "And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Israel and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by crucifying him, 40 but God raised him to life three days later. Then God allowed him to appear, 41 not to the general public, F51 but to us whom God had chosen beforehand to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is ordained of God to be the judge of all – the living and the dead. 43 He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name."
44 Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who had heard the message. 45 The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles, too. 46 And there could be no doubt about it, for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter asked, 47 "Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?" 48 So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days.
~Lena's Comments~
What a beautiful story of the church’s history and foundational truth. I love this story because it shows us God’s heart. It shows how far off men can get and how God can and will take and turn that around. No matter what man does, he seems to have this tendency to make a kingdom, even if it ends up being unto Himself. He tends to make a way or place for himself. Man has been given a lot of strength, a lot of creativity, a sense of rulership and a desire to reproduce who he is in others. It also seems men have a leaning towards separation. All of these traits can actually be applied to God’s kingdom if steered the right way, yet they can be so off track if steered the opposite way. Man had buried themselves in tradition which started from things that they had taken from God’s word, but suing the word alone was detrimental, in that it’s principles are correct if applied by the understanding of the person of God. But men who had no relationship with God as a person and only saw God as a boss, took His words, with no understanding and misused them. Separation was for the sake of seeing darkness compared to light and distinguishing between God and what is not God, yet men took that separation and removed themselves from one another and in doing this they also removed themselves from the potential of a relationship for understanding of God. This kingdom and its ideas had to fall down, The Lord was bringing down its walls here in Acts 10 with Cornelius and Peter. I see Peter representing the old religious way, mans way, the way of the separation of men. Cornelius represents our unsaved world in need of Gods love and the communion of His spirit. Jesus was the breaker of the stronghold, the one who made a way for the walls to come down and truth to be revealed. The truth is that God wills that all men be saved. He paid the price for sin for all men who will believe in Him. The only separation God wants us a part of is where we pull ourselves away from whatever it is that keeps the understanding of Him from coming our way, and whatever keeps our relationship with Him hindered. Without the empowerment of God’s Holy Spirit we will tend towards building a kingdom of men who have great and godly ideas, but lack the love and heart of God for the world. The world needs to see the heart of God, unadulterated. One of the 10 commandments has to do with reproduction. "You shall not make for yourselves any graven (carved) image, after your own likeness" I always thought this meant ceramic or stone work, statues etc. Those thoughts I had were an example of taking a word and misunderstanding it. I could have used it literally and made sure I had no dolls around our home, no figurines, no yard decorations, fountains etc. I could have inflicted my "conviction" upon the lives of others (in my household) and applied the law of "You shall not have statues". In standing on my conviction I could have started arguments to prove my points and separate myself from others who did not have the same "convictions". This is an example of what religions of men does. It takes what I "believe" and makes it into law and sets it above even the relationships of people, at the expense of relationships with people. Rather than drawing them to God it pushes them away from God, because it misunderstands who God is. It builds me up as "holy" and makes me king, because I know the word and how we are supposed to live by it. After many years of misunderstanding this commandments, the Lord helped me see that when I create my own laws and inflict them on others, I am actually fashioning them (people are living stones- a carved work of the Lord) to be as I believe they should be, rather than cultivating in them a relationship with God so they can gain their own convictions and hear from the Lord for themselves. I’ve carved an image unto or like me. True conviction comes from our relationship with the Lord, it draws me closer to being as he is, it changes me into the likeness of Him, it carves me a work of His hand. True conviction leads me to obey Him more and know Him more and to love others enough to lay down my life and my ideas so they can also know Him. It separates out from me whatever keeps me from loving people and God enough to do this very thing. Peter’s love for God superceded His "convictions". His relationship with God led him to go above even what he thought he believed to win another’s heart to the lord and to empower another to be like Christ. Religion empowers me to be a ruler, and belittles others to stay below me, so I appear more holy. Relationship reproduces what I have been given in others. It even allows others the possibility of going further than I have gone with Him. It cultivates growth in others. It lays down its life for a friend (Jesus did that for all).