Peter began: “I now see how true it is that God has no favourites, but that in every nation the man who is godfearing and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Acts 10:34, 35, N.E.B.
Peter … was called by God to take the gospel to Cornelius….
As yet none of the disciples had preached the gospel to the Gentiles. In their minds the middle wall of partition, broken down by the death of Christ, still existed, and their labors had been confined to the Jews, for they had looked upon the Gentiles as excluded from the blessings of the gospel. Now the Lord was seeking to teach Peter the world-wide extent of the divine plan….
How carefully the Lord worked to overcome the prejudice against the Gentiles that had been so firmly fixed in Peter’s mind by his Jewish training! By the vision of the sheet and its contents He sought to divest the apostle’s mind of this prejudice and to teach the important truth that in heaven there is no respect of persons; that Jew and Gentile are alike precious in God’s sight; that through Christ the heathen may be made partakers of the blessings and privileges of the gospel….
It was with reluctance at every step that he [Peter] undertook the duty laid upon him but he dared not disobey…. As Peter pointed those present [Cornelius and his kinsmen and friends] to Jesus as the sinner’s only hope, he himself understood more fully the meaning of the vision he had seen, and his heart glowed with the spirit of the truth that he was presenting….
When the brethren in Judea heard that Peter had gone to the house of a Gentile and preached to those assembled, they were surprised and offended. They feared that such a course, which looked to them presumptuous, would have the effect of counteracting his own teaching….
Peter laid the whole matter before them…. Convinced that Peter’s course was in direct fulfillment of the plan of God, and that their prejudices and exclusiveness were utterly contrary to the spirit of the gospel, they glorified God, saying, “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”
Conflict and Courage p. 335
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer Requests
—–Please pray for some very important unspoken prayer requests. R
—–Please pray for John who has some major health issues. Rose
—–Please continue to pray for Lou. She is still in the hospital for treatment. Eileen
—–Please pray for my mom whose in the hospital and has taken a turn for the worse! Lyra
—–praise—I want to share a praise. Yesterday a heavy light fixture fell from the ceiling and shattered just moments after my young grandson got up from his nap in that very spot. Thank God for protecting him. Vicki
—– I need prayer for work and favor with Bonnie and Sandra. Ann
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
Before she was married, Eileen took an elderly friend, who no longer could drive, to several stores and other places that she needed to go. While in the gardening section of one of the stores, this lady bought a hibiscus as a thankyou gift since she knew that Eileen loves to garden. The picture of a blooming hibiscus was on the package. It’s cream-colored blossoms were beautiful. Eileen was delighted. The first year that it bloomed the plant was loaded with buds. Eileen was surprised and disappointed to find that the each individual bloom only lasted a few hours. The flowers were beautiful just like the picture on the package, but they did not last. It reminded me of the Scripture “As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.” Ps 103:15, 16 Peter tells us, “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.” 1 Peter 1:24 James adds, “Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.” James 1:9-11 “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” “LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him! Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.” Ps 146:3,4;144:3,4Our life is but for a moment. Our life is full of sorrows, cares, and perplexities. We are often overwhelmed with troubles and grief. Yet, we, like Abraham, look ” for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Praise God, we can have “the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus!” 2 Tim 1:1 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18 Think of it! Our Great Creator did not say, “I have millions upon millions of other beings to sing My praises. Man can bear the consequences of his own sin.” No! Our Dear Saviour could not be happy in His glorious kingdom while we were perishing in sin and sorrow. He left all of the glories of the Universe, He counted as nothing the adoration of untold trillions of beings unfallen, and “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Phil 2:7,8 Our Loving Redeemer “came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Matt 20:28 What love! What wondrous love!May we, during our brief life, which passes away as quickly as the flower of a hibiscus, love the Lord our God with every fiber of our being. May we, in faith, exclaim as did Job, ” I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” Job 14:25-27 May “we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:13
Rose
To All the World