The ‘Outside the box’
God
ACTS 10: 1 - 48
Meet Cornelius – Acts 10: 1- 8
Caesarea: the town where the Roman
governor of all of Judea lived
Centurion: Captain of 100 men –
possibly guarding the Governor –
Italian Regiment
He and all his family were devout
worshippers of God, prayed constantly,
and gave to the poor
An angel spoke to him…
V4 “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up
as a memorial offering to God”…
Memorial Offering: Leviticus 2:2, “The priest would
take a handful of the flour and oil, together with all
the frankincense, and burn this as a memorial portion
on the altar, an offering made by fire, a pleasing
aroma to the Lord.”
“a pleasing sweet and soothing offering…”
Vv 5 & 6 The angel told Cornelius
to send for Peter – Peter was still in
Joppa (Isaiah 66, “I will bless the
humble and contrite heart…”)
Immediately after the angel left,
Cornelius sent 2 of his attendants
who were also devout soldiers
Cornelius told them everything
that happened and sent them to
Joppa to bring Peter to Caesarea
God prepares Peter – vv9 - 23
In Joppa, noon time, Peter was
praying on the roof – hungry – a vision
of a sheet coming down from heaven
and the Lord said, “Get up, Peter. Kill
and eat.”
Peter responds, “I have never eaten
unclean things like these…”
God responded, “Do not call anything
impure that I have made clean”…
happened 3X, then the sheet was
taken away…Peter wondered, ‘???’
God’s directions becoming clearer:
The men sent by Cornelius were
waiting at Simon the tanner’s
house gate
The Spirit told Peter not to hesitate
– but go with them
They explained to Peter why they
were there.
Peter invited them to stay the
night then they went to Caesarea
God breaks the expected tradition
In Caesarea, Peter enters Cornelius’ home “You know
this is against our Jewish Laws…but God…” Peter asks,
“Why am I here?”
Cornelius tells Peter about his conversation with the
angel and says, “Now we are all here in the presence of
God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded
you to tell us.”
As Peter is preaching…
Peter explains God’s plan – Jesus, the Son of God, Who
gave His life to forgive us of our sins, Jesus died and rose
again – we saw Him after He was buried and
resurrected…
While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all
who heard the message … and they worshiped Christ
and spoke in tongues and praised Him
Now what are we going to do???
And Peter
responded:
“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 Peter ordered that they be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Then they asked Peter to stay with
them a few days.
What do we see?
God will bless the contrite (humble & hungry) heart who seeks
Him
Peter was unwilling – yet yielded and served
God breaks the expected “norm”/tradition
Who in our community has been labeled “unclean” (no good)?
Who is God sending us to?