Ep 410 – Acts 11:4-18

Have you ever purposefully made a decision to stand in God's way? Probably not. Most people in their right mind and who have even a rudimentary idea of who God is, would think twice before standing up to Him. Or would they? The truth is, we all do it. Not in a shake-your-fist-in-the-face-of-God kind of way, but in our own subtle version of correcting God when we think He's failed to do what we were expecting. In Acts 11:4-18, Paul is going to share his own personal version of all that had happened in Caesarea. He's going to recount everything from his disturbing vision and the visit of the three men sent by Cornelius, to his sharing of the gospel and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon those who were in the house. And Peter makes it fairly clear that he had not been willing to oppose what God had been doing. He had no right to stand against what God had decided to do. After all, God was in charge, not Peter. Yet, the crowd to whom Peter was telling this story was made up of some Jewish Christians who were having a difficult time with what God had done in Caesarea. He had done the unthinkable. He had poured out His Spirit upon Gentiles and not even ones who had become adherents of the Jewish faith. These had not been proselytes to Judaism, but full-fledged, uncircumcised Gentile pagans. But for Peter, those facts no longer mattered. He knew better than to oppose what God had approved.