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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then Peter began to speak:
“I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him.”
“We are witnesses of everything He did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed Him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised Him from the dead on the third day and caused Him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One whom God appointed as Judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”
Acts 10:34-43
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
When one places a priority on preparation, then executing a plan typically find success.
We’ve seen this over the past four devotions from Acts 10 where we see preparation and execution executed to perfection by people who were obedient to God’s preparation and then His will and way.
Cornelius prayed and received orders from the angel of the Lord to send men to Joppa to get Peter.
He complied.
Peter prayed and the Lord prepared his heart for what He wanted him to do by driving home the point that only He, God, could deem something or somebody as unclean. Peter was commanded to eat any and all animals that were in the sheet contained within the vision because there was no discrimination as to which was clean and which wasn’t. The point was that Jesus had come for all people, the Jew and the Gentile, and salvation was available for anyone who simply believed that Jesus was their Savior. Typically, Peter would not have allowed himself to remain long in the company of Gentiles but the Lord was preparing him for his coming encounter with Cornelius and his gathering of family and friends. All were God worshiping and God fearing people who would soon hear the Gospel and Peter would be the messenger God would use.
And so an angel of the Lord told Peter to go with the men sent to Joppa by Cornelius.
He complied.
So the stage was set and as we left off yesterday, Peter had asked Cornelius why he had summoned him and the Roman centurion let Peter know that all gathered were eager to hear everything the Lord had commanded Him to say.
The Lord had prepared them for such a time as this. They were ripe and ready to receive the message Peter would share. All Peter needed to do was execute what he had been trained to do.
For you see, Peter’s preparation went well before his vision on Simon’s roof in Joppa. It ranged back to that very first say that a man named Jesus came to him as he was working near the Sea of Galilee because he was a fisherman by trade. You’ll remember Jesus telling Peter that He would show him how to fish for people if he chose to follow him which Peter did. More than three years later, after hearing Jesus preach the good news of the Gospel over and over and over again, Peter stood before Cornelius and the others in company with him ready to do same because Jesus had prepared him to do so.
And so as we see in our passage for today, Peter draws from all the preparation he had received and executes a perfect delivery of the good news found in Jesus. His message contained the following key points:
1. Jesus is an equal opportunity Savior.
It took a vision of animals in a sheet and a command to eat any and all of them for Peter to understand that there was no delineation anymore between Jew and Gentile. He realized that God did not show favoritism but rather would accept anyone, no matter their nationality, as long as they feared Him and sought to be righteous in the way they lived.
2. Jesus was God’s chosen Messiah, empowered to save from on high,
Note here how God is once again at the forefront. He doesn’t show favoritism and He so loved all the world that He sent His one and only Son to serve as a living sacrifice and atonement for the sins of everyone. It was God’s will and His plan to save, and He chose to do so through His Son Jesus, the Lord of all and Prince of peace who brought tranquility and serenity to those who placed their hope in Him.
3. Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power by His Father and He put it to good use.
Jesus started his adult ministry by being baptized by John the Baptist in the river Jordan. As He came up out of the water, we read this from Matthew’s Gospel:
As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17
Indeed, God had anointed Jesus “with the Holy Spirit and power”, preparing Him for the work He would be called to do. Then Jesus used what God had granted to execute the will of His Father, “doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil”. All along the way God was with Him.
4. Jesus was crucified.
Peter and the rest of his brother disciples spent three years with Jesus and knew His life story in a very intimate way. They had been eyewitnesses to everything He had done “in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem”, and they fully knew what was going to happen to their Master, even if they didn’t want to believe it.
Jesus had told His chosen followers how it was necessary for Him to die and then to be raised up on the third day but I don’t think they truly grasped what He was telling them. That is, until it really happened as He was arrested by the Jewish religious leaders, falsely accused and unjustly tried, beaten and abused, and then executed as a criminal, nailed to a cross where He would hang until death.
5. Jesus did not remain dead but was raised from the dead on the third day.
The Jewish religious authorities believed they had eliminated their arch nemesis Jesus but they were so very wrong. For on the third day, as women went to His tomb to anoint His body, they discovered He was gone. Angels told them that He was very much risen and alive. Jesus Himself even sealed the deal by appearing to them.
Indeed, there were many witnesses who God had chosen for Jesus to reveal His resurrected body to including all His disciples, minus Judas of course, who “ate and drank” with Jesus “after He rose from the dead”.
6. Jesus gave a Great Commission to His disciples and all who would come after them to serve the living Savior.
Jesus ordered His disciples “to preach to the people and to testify that He (Jesus) is the One whom God appointed as Judge of the living and the dead”. They were to commit themselves to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing all new Christians in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit while teaching them to obey all Christ had commanded.
In today’s passage and in so many other places in Acts, we find the apostles doing just that.
7. Jesus and His life were foretold thousands and thousands of years before He was born.
Peter wanted Cornelius and his gathered guests to know that Jesus’ coming should have been of little surprise to anyone. This is because “all the prophets” had testified about Him so that “everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”
God spoke through His appointed messengers and we know that He speaks only truth. If the prophets said something would happen, then it would without question. Jesus’ story confirmed this as it unfolded.
Seven key Gospel spreading points used by Peter as he executed the plan that first Jesus and then God had prepared him for.
Today, we find this section of God’s word preparing us to execute a delivery of the Gospel when He brings the time to us. All we need to do is execute it at His appointed time, just as Peter did.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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