SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/20/2018
10:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 Submissive Will
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 10:23b-33
Message of
the verses: “And on the next day he got up and went away
with them, and some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him. 24 On the
following day he entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them and had
called together his relatives and close friends. 25 When Peter entered,
Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter raised
him up, saying, "Stand up; I too am just a man." 27 As he talked with
him, he entered and found many people assembled. 28 And he said to them,
"You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to
associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I
should not call any man unholy or unclean. 29 “That is why I came without even
raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask for what reason you have
sent for me." 30 Cornelius said, "Four days ago to this hour, I was
praying in my house during the ninth hour; and behold, a man stood before me in
shining garments, 31 and he said, ’Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your
alms have been remembered before God. 32 ’Therefore send to Joppa and invite
Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you; he is staying at the house of
Simon the tanner by the sea.’ 33 “So I sent for you immediately, and you have
been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear
all that you have been commanded by the Lord.’”
When Peter was preaching his sermon
on the Day of Pentecost a portion of it was from the prophet Joel and Joel
spoke of young men seeing visions, which is what happened to Peter the day
before, and so because of that vision Peter had no trouble in following these
men. This may seem like an insignificant
decision of Peter’s part but it will become important later in the story.
John MacArthur writes “After
spending the night en route, ‘on the following day’ they ‘entered Caesarea.’ Two worlds were about to collide, as seven
devout, orthodox Jews were about to meet a houseful of eager Gentiles. A milestone in the history of the church had
been reached.” Perhaps as one reads over
this for the umpteenth time you don’t take the time to stop and realize the
significance of this is, but just think if this had not happened and then
perhaps you will better understand how great this was.
Cornelius was eagerly waiting for
the men to return, and I suppose that this seemed like years to him as he
awaited word from a man whom he had never met.
Cornelius decides to bow before Peter who quickly explains that he was
just a man and only God is to be worshiped.
John did similar things to angels as found in the book of Revelation and
was told by them that He was only to worship the Lord.
I am not sure how many people Peter
thought he would find, but there was quite a few people at the house of
Cornelius to hear what he had to say. Peter
begins by telling those there that it was not lawful for him to be in that house
of any Gentile. I suppose that those
there probably knew this truth, but they did not care at this point they just
wanted to hear him speak.
Cornelius’ reaction was to repeat
the vision that he had seen four days earlier “"Four days ago to this
hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour; and behold, a man stood
before me in shining garments, 31 and he said, ’Cornelius, your prayer has been
heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 ’Therefore send to
Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you; he is staying
at the house of Simon the tanner by the sea.’ 33 “So I sent for you
immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here
present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.’” John MacArthur writes “The soldier uses a
military term prostasso (commanded),
referring to a military order. He
understood that when the Lord spoke it was a command demanding obedience. He was ready to receive his orders from the
Lord.”
We conclude this SD as we understand
that both Peter and Cornelius both had sovereignly prepared by God and had
responded obediently to His directions.
Everyone was ready for Peter’s presentation of the gospel which we will
look at in our next SD.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I think
back at what was happening to me almost 44 years ago as I study this portion of
the book of Acts. God through His Spirit
had prepared me to hear the gospel message for which I am every thankful.
My Steps of Faith for Today: My prayer is
that the Lord will continue to give me opportunities to tell others the good
news of the gospel.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Herod”
(Matthew 2:8).
Today’s
Bible question: “From what country did
Sarah’s maid, Hager, come?”
Answer
in our next SD.
1/20/2018
11:02 AM
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