Acts 10: 34-35 Then Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
Friends, another awesome truth about our God. He doesn’t care who you are or where you’re from. Your nationality and race are unimportant. Once you revere Him and do His will, then He enfolds you in His warm, loving arms and calls you, ‘My precious child.’ He certainly chose a long, roundabout manner to teach Peter this powerful truth though. But that’s His style; unique and unpredictable. He could have simply said, ‘Look Peter, I don’t care about a person’s background, once you believe in Me and do what I ask, you’re mine.’ But no, He had to lay out a convoluted plot, with lot’s of intrigue and suspense, like a good thriller writer. I think He just revels in the suspense and drama. In fact, the first lesson in any Writing Course, should be looking through the Bible to see how the Most High constructs His scenes. All the essential elements are there; perfect stage setting, foreshadowing, beautiful flowing language, and obviously lots of suspense and drama, of which He’s a master, all building nicely to a climactic ending. For this lesson, He had Peter hungry on a roof top, fall into a trance and see a vision about all sorts of animals, then instruct him to get up and kill and eat, with Peter proudly claiming that he’s never eaten anything common or unclean, and God declaring that what He’d cleansed, Peter shouldn’t call unclean. And He did that three times before poor Peter woke up all confused. But talk about timing! Hn! That’s His forte. And while Peter was all ‘confuffled’ on the roof, the Lord kindly informed him that three men were at the front door seeking him, quite true, that he should get up and go with them, without any doubts, because he had sent them. Those men had been sent to Joppa, from Caesarea, by one Cornelius, an army commander of a group called the Italian band. Cornelius, though not a Jew, was a devout follower, always praying and doing good works. Around this same time, he also saw a vision of an Angel coming to him and calling his name. Scared, he asked what was happening? God told him that he was being honoured for his prayers and good works, and that he should send the men to Joppa to get Simon. Gave him his surname, Peter, and address, a house by the seaside, owned by another Simon, a tanner. To make a long story short (smile) two days later, Peter and a few Joppa brethren ended up at Cornelius’ house. Cornelius met him at the gate and fell at his feet in worship. But Peter pulled him upright, saying that he was a man just like him. When they entered the house many people were gathered there to meet and greet and hear him. Taken aback, Peter reminded his host that it was unlawful for Jews to keep company with other nationalities, but God had shown him not to call anybody common or unclean, so even without knowing why, he came when called. Then Cornelius gave him, his side of the story. Suddenly Peter understood, and made that dramatic utterance in Today’s Bit; ‘God is no respecter of persons.’ What a story Friends! Only our powerful, magnificent God, with a touch of humour, irony and drama in His soul, could have concocted such a moving tale. Please, let’s remember it, and don’t be too proud and self righteous, thinking that the faith has only been appointed to people like us. Much LOVE!…believe and follow…the only requirements to be a child of God…
Friends, another awesome truth about our God. He doesn’t care who you are or where you’re from. Your nationality and race are unimportant. Once you revere Him and do His will, then He enfolds you in His warm, loving arms and calls you, ‘My precious child.’ He certainly chose a long, roundabout manner to teach Peter this powerful truth though. But that’s His style; unique and unpredictable. He could have simply said, ‘Look Peter, I don’t care about a person’s background, once you believe in Me and do what I ask, you’re mine.’ But no, He had to lay out a convoluted plot, with lot’s of intrigue and suspense, like a good thriller writer. I think He just revels in the suspense and drama. In fact, the first lesson in any Writing Course, should be looking through the Bible to see how the Most High constructs His scenes. All the essential elements are there; perfect stage setting, foreshadowing, beautiful flowing language, and obviously lots of suspense and drama, of which He’s a master, all building nicely to a climactic ending. For this lesson, He had Peter hungry on a roof top, fall into a trance and see a vision about all sorts of animals, then instruct him to get up and kill and eat, with Peter proudly claiming that he’s never eaten anything common or unclean, and God declaring that what He’d cleansed, Peter shouldn’t call unclean. And He did that three times before poor Peter woke up all confused. But talk about timing! Hn! That’s His forte. And while Peter was all ‘confuffled’ on the roof, the Lord kindly informed him that three men were at the front door seeking him, quite true, that he should get up and go with them, without any doubts, because he had sent them. Those men had been sent to Joppa, from Caesarea, by one Cornelius, an army commander of a group called the Italian band. Cornelius, though not a Jew, was a devout follower, always praying and doing good works. Around this same time, he also saw a vision of an Angel coming to him and calling his name. Scared, he asked what was happening? God told him that he was being honoured for his prayers and good works, and that he should send the men to Joppa to get Simon. Gave him his surname, Peter, and address, a house by the seaside, owned by another Simon, a tanner. To make a long story short (smile) two days later, Peter and a few Joppa brethren ended up at Cornelius’ house. Cornelius met him at the gate and fell at his feet in worship. But Peter pulled him upright, saying that he was a man just like him. When they entered the house many people were gathered there to meet and greet and hear him. Taken aback, Peter reminded his host that it was unlawful for Jews to keep company with other nationalities, but God had shown him not to call anybody common or unclean, so even without knowing why, he came when called. Then Cornelius gave him, his side of the story. Suddenly Peter understood, and made that dramatic utterance in Today’s Bit; ‘God is no respecter of persons.’ What a story Friends! Only our powerful, magnificent God, with a touch of humour, irony and drama in His soul, could have concocted such a moving tale. Please, let’s remember it, and don’t be too proud and self righteous, thinking that the faith has only been appointed to people like us. Much LOVE!…believe and follow…the only requirements to be a child of God…
