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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.
The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Then Peter said, “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”
So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
Acts 10:44-48
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The truth of the matter when we are in the Lord is that He is always preparing us to carry out His will and way. Every person is specially purposed by a special God to do special acts in His name. Once He prepares us, we need to be ready to execute His plan when the time comes.
In Acts, Chapter 10, we have found two men, a Roman centurion named Cornelius and a Christian apostle named Peter, purposed and prepared in two different ways to execute a plan God put in place, a plan that had a dual outcome which saw each man impacted in an important way.
We have already seen the impact on Peter who was not only a Christian but still a man grounded in his Jewish past, a past that viewed Gentiles as unclean and unworthy of God’s favor. While on the roof of Simon the Tanner’s home in Joppa, we read how Peter dropped off into a trance where he saw a sheet with all kinds of animals on it, some that were considered clean by Jewish standards with animals that were deemed unclean. Within the trance, a voice commanded Peter to kill and eat but Peter rejected the call, proclaiming he would never eat something that was considered unclean. The voice goes on to rebuke Peter, telling him that no one could label something impure that God had made clean.
What was the point?
It was that through Jesus, salvation was now available for all people. There was no longer any distinction between Jew and Gentile. All were sinners that fell short of the glory of God, no matter their nationality, and so all people needed saved and there was only one Savior, Jesus Christ.
If Peter was going to be an effective emissary for the Gospel, he needed to be unbiased in his ministry work, just as Jesus was.
And so Peter had been prepared for what God wanted him to do and in yesterday’s message, we saw him execute his Lord’s plan, sharing the good news of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins for all people who believe in Him.
God had been also preparing Cornelius but in a different way. For while the Lord was readying Peter to send a message of salvation through His Son Jesus, Cornelius was being prepared to receive it.
You’ll recall that Cornelius had been praying at his home in Caesarea when an angel of the Lord came to him and told him to send for Peter. He didn’t know why but he did what he was ordered to do as he was a devout and God fearing man, even though he was a Roman.
So when Peter came and asked Cornelius why he had called for him, we find the centurion respond with this:
“…we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”
Gathered with his relatives and friends, Cornelius was ready to listen and receive Peter’s message of salvation through Christ.
So what was the outcome of God’s preparation work with these two men and then their obedient execution of his plan, one man sending a soul-saving message and the other receiving it?
We see in the closing verses of this chapter and the closing devotion in this series.
For we read where Peter had not even finished sharing the good news of the Gospel when the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and all who were present with him. And in what looked like a scene from Pentecost, all who received the Spirit began to speak in tongues and praise God.
Earlier in the chapter, the scriptures told us that Peter had not gone to Caesarea alone but rather had an entourage of people with him, some of which were Jewish Christian men and therefore circumcised. They stood in amazement as they saw Gentiles receiving the same Holy Spirit that they had and Peter witnessed the validation of what he had received in the vision. Indeed, salvation through Jesus was now open to all people.
And so Peter had made new disciples in the name of Jesus and so he executed another important part of the Great Commission Jesus had gave him. For we read where he didn’t hesitate to baptize everyone with water, those who has just been baptized by the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Then Peter said, “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” And with that, he ordered that Cornelius along with his relatives and friends “be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ”.
What a glorious day this was in the life of Cornelius and the others! They received their salvation through Jesus, gained the gift of the Holy Spirit, and then publicly professed their belief through baptism.
God’s plan had been fulfilled to perfection, all because two men were willing to first be prepared, and then execute the will and way of their Lord.
As we go into each day of our lives today, may we be tuned in to God’s preparation and be willing to use that preparation to execute His perfect plan when called so that His purposes might be perfectly accomplished.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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