Live - Part 1

Revelation 5:9-10 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and

priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”

 

Francis Shaffer wrote a book entitled “How Shall We then Live?” This is an appropriate question for such a time as this. The current crises in the world has been precipitated by the passage in 2 Timothy 3. God will shake that which can be shaken. And as the song says, “there’s a whole lot of shaking going on.” However, the world is not focused on the root cause of the shaking. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against rulers of the darkness in high places, against spiritual wickedness from on high. The solution to the problems of this world is the gospel message of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Because of the trials and tribulation of this today, the world is open to a message of deliverance. Jesus said in the great commission: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations ... teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. The Gospel is what the people need.

 

In Acts 10, God has given us a key to reach out with His message of deliverance. This is the record of “houses of fire” and of “Putting new wine into new wine skins.” In this record, God called Peter to minister unto the gentiles. This was unheard of before in the Bible since the Word of God was originally given only to Israel. Cornelius was an unbeliever who had a vision from God in answer to his prayer. He responded to God’s vision with immediate obedience. He followed God’s instruction and sent his servant to go get Peter. Meanwhile, Peter went up on his housetop to pray. He also had a vision and in verse 16, Peter saw the vision three times. God had to remind him over and over, but Peter was inwardly perplexed about the meaning of God’s visual revelation. Peter was one of Jesus’s inner-circle three. However, he needed to see the vision from God three times and he still didn’t understand the meaning of the vision.  The Holy Spirit said explicitly, “three men are looking for you and I have sent them.”

Cornelius feared God with his household. He had an awe, reverence, and respect for God along with everyone in his own house. The question in Acts 10:1-5 is “who’s calling whom?” It’s actually the lost who are calling the Christian believers to minister to them. In distributing Gospel door-hangers to our community, people thank us for doing what the church is supposed to be doing.

The Bible says, don’t put new wine into old wine skins. You have to put new wine into new wine skins otherwise the old wine skins will burst. The record in Acts 10:23 says that “Then (Peter) called them (Cornelius’ servants) in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him.” This was unheard of for someone brought up in the Jewish religion. Jews did not associate with “heathen unbelievers’, meaning Jews did not interact with non-Jews.  Peter was starting a new process and a new norm, i.e., a new wine skin. The new process was ministering to non-Jews and meeting in the home instead of the temple or the synagogue.  

Let"s continue Michael's message in the next post.

In Christ, Brian