All over the world people seek God. They pray to him in whatever ways they know, but often feel something is missing. The Roman centurion Cornelius was one of those people. He was a good-hearted man who did good works and led his family in prayer everyday, but he still felt empty.

“One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, ‘Cornelius!’

Cornelius stared at him in fear. ‘What is it, Lord?’ he asked.

The angel answered, ‘Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.’” Acts 10:3-6

Peter’s Vision

The following day, Peter was waiting for his lunch at the home of Simon the tanner when he fell into a trance and had a vision. In the vision God showed Peter all kinds of animals that had always been forbidden as food for the people of Israel. Then he told Peter to kill and eat the animals

Peter objected strenuously, but God repeated the vision three times, leaving Peter troubled and confused.  As he sat and pondered, three men from Caesarea knocked at the door and asked for Peter.

The Holy Spirit sent Peter to greet the men and invite them to stay overnight as his guests. The next day they took Peter and six of his friends back with them to Caesarea. God had so much confidence in Peter’s response to this new opportunity that he promised Cornelius that Peter would come even before Peter saw the vision that prompted him to go.

In the Home of Cornelius

Peter was surprised when Cornelius, a Roman centurion, threw himself at Peter’s feet. “‘Stand up,’ he said, ‘I am only a man myself.’” Acts 10:26

Then Cornelius invited Peter into his house and Peter found a large gathering of people waiting to meet with him.

“He said to them: ‘You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?’” Acts 10:28-29

An observant Jew like Peter should never have entered the house of a Gentile, but Peter was a Christ follower now and he went wherever the Spirit of Jesus led him.

Cornelius told Peter about how he had prayed and God sent an angel who told him to fetch a man named Peter from Joppa.

“‘So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.’

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.’” Acts 10:33-34

Peter and Cornelius experienced the presence of God together – in a Gentile home – and Peter’s preconceived notions blew up. He realized that there were God-fearing people throughout the non-Jewish world who were waiting to hear about Jesus.

Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit

Peter had the joy of telling these eager people all about his beloved Jesus. The stories of the wonderful things Jesus said and did were still very fresh in Peter’s mind and we can imagine the passion in his voice as he recounted Jesus’ death on the cross. His excitement must have lit up the room when he talked about the privilege of seeing Jesus after the resurrection.

“‘He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses God had already chosen – by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.’” Acts 10:41

Then Peter told Cornelius about the Great Commission Jesus had given his disciples.

“‘He commanded us to preach to the people and 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 10:42-43

Peter was still saying these words when suddenly the Holy Spirit came upon the people in the room and they met God! The deepest longings of their hearts were satisfied as Jesus came and filled them with the Holy Spirit.

The Jewish Christians who were with Peter were astonished that God had poured out his Spirit on Gentiles, but 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.” Acts 10:47-48

Cornelius and his family and friends asked Peter to stay for a few more days and he stayed and helped them get established in their new life.

Peter Explains

The fact that Gentiles began to follow Christ and receive the Holy Spirit was almost too much for the Jewish Christians to take in. When Peter returned to Jerusalem from Caesarea, his fellow believers accused him of sin because he entered the home of a Gentile and ate with him. Peter patiently told them the whole story.

Only God could have done the things that Peter shared with the Church in Jerusalem. Only he could have told Cornelius about Peter and prepared Peter’s heart to go to Caesarea. No one could argue with Peter’s eyewitness account of what happened next.

“‘As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?’

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life!’” Acts 11:15-18

The Church at Antioch

The believers scattered in the persecution following Stephen’s death. They went north and east, even across the Mediterranean Sea to the island of Cyprus, preaching the Gospel to the Jews. Soon, however, some of them were called to preach to Greek Gentiles in the town of Antioch in Syria.

“The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.” Acts 11:21

News of this new Gentile church reached Jerusalem and the elders sent Barnabas to see what was going on there.

“When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.” Acts 11:23-24

Barnabas Finds Saul

Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus soon after the Church was born. Saul, who later became Paul, tells us in his letters that soon after his conversion he left Damascus and went into the desert east of the Jordan River and he spent time alone with God for three years. When he returned to Damascus to preach he ran into so much opposition he had to flee for his life. He went to Jerusalem, where the apostles uneasily accepted him into their fellowship on Barnabas’s recommendation.

But Saul got into trouble while preaching and debating in Jerusalem, and the Church leaders shipped him back home to Tarsus. He was in Tarsus and the surrounding region for the next ten years.

In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 Paul listed the extent of his suffering for the Gospel and it is believed that some of it happened during those years in Tarsus. The Scriptures are silent about Paul’s life there, but he was probably preaching – and being punished for preaching. It might have been during that decade that he received the forty lashes minus one five times, and was beaten with rods two times. Later he was beaten again in Philippi.

Barnabas needed help in Antioch so he went to Tarsus looking for Saul.

“For a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” Acts 11:26

During that year, a prophet named Agabus came and prophesied that a severe famine was going to spread over the entire Roman Empire. The Antioch believers took an offering to assist their brothers and sisters in Judea and sent it with Barnabas and Saul to the elders in Jerusalem.

Herod Persecutes the Believers

King Herod discovered that he could gain favor with the Jewish religious establishment if he persecuted Jesus followers. He seized John’s brother James and killed him, then he arrested Peter and put him under heavy guard. He planned to make a spectacle of prosecuting Peter after the Passover.

“So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.” Acts 12:5

Tomorrow we will see how God answered those prayers.