Bible

In the Bible room today, we continue reading the book of Acts with Session 5, the summaries of chapters 10 and 11.

____________________________________

Acts

Session 5

Chapter 10. Everyone

A man in Caesarea named Cornelius is a centurion in the Italian Regiment:

• He is a God-fearing leader, prays regularly, gives generously;
• One day, at the ninth hour, he is visited by an angel of God;
• The angel says God has heard his prayers, seen his generosity;
• He tells Cornelius to send men to Joppa, find Peter;
• They can find him at the home of a tanner named Simon;
• So, Cornelius sends two servants and a soldier down to Joppa;
• Meanwhile, Peter is on the housetop, praying;
• In a vision, he sees a large sheet descending down to earth;
• On the sheet there are several, varying kinds animals;
• A voice tells him to kill and eat one of the animals;
• Peter responds: ‘Lord, I have never eaten anything unclean;’
• The voice says: ‘Do not call common, what God declares clean;’
• This happens three times, then the object is taken back up;
• Then the men from Cornelius arrive at the gate outside;
• They inquire if Peter is staying there;
• The Spirit has already told Peter to go with the men;
• But, at the door, he asks the men why they are there;
• They tell him about Cornelius, and what the angel had said;
• So, they spend the night with Peter in Joppa;
• The next day Peter, with some of his friends, leave Joppa;
• The following day they arrive at Caesarea, meet Cornelius;
• Cornelius falls down to worship at Peter’s feet;
• Peter lifts him up, tells him he is just a man;
• There is a large crowd in the house with Cornelius;
• Peter reminds them Jewish law forbids him to be there,
• As he is not permitted to mingle with people of other nations;
• But he says the Lord has shown him not to call men unclean;
• Then, he asks why Cornelius has sent for him to come there;
• Cornelius explains: Four days ago, he is fasting and praying,
• When a man in bright clothing appears before him;
• The man says God has heard the prayers of Cornelius,
• And has seen his charitable generosity;
• He tells him to send men to Joppa and bring Peter back;
• And when Peter gets there, he will speak to them;
• Now, Peter has done the right thing, and has come to them;
• Cornelius asks Peter to tell this crowd whatever God says:
• So, Peter begins speaking to them: He says, in truth,
• God shows no partiality, He accepts everyone who fears Him
• And acts with righteousness in all they do;
• God sent the word to the sons of Israel, speaking peace
• Through Jesus Christ who is Lord of all;
• You have heard about that word, spoken throughout Judea,
• And from Galilee, the baptism preached by John;
• How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit,
• And gave Him power to heal the sick and the oppressed;
• We are witnesses to all the good He did among the Jews,
• The same Jews who killed Him by hanging Him on a tree;
• Then, on the third day, God brought Him back to witnesses
• Like me, who ate and drank with Him after He had been dead;
• He instructed us to tell the people He was ordained by God
• To be the Judge of the living and the dead;
• And whoever believes in Him will be forgiven of their sins;
• While Peter is speaking, the Holy Spirit falls on the crowd,
• And the Jews with Peter are amazed at what they see:
• The gift of the Holy Spirit is given to all those Gentiles,
• For they are speaking with tongues and praising God;
• Peter has them baptized in water in the name of the Lord;
• Then they ask him to stay with them for a few days.

Chapter 11. Gift

Apostles in Judea hear about the Gentiles receiving the word of God:

• When Peter gets back to Jerusalem he is met with criticism
• For his meeting with those Gentiles;
• So, Peter tells them the whole story from the beginning:
• He tells about his praying on the rooftop in Joppa;
• And about the sheet that comes down with the animals;
• He tells them what the voice of the Lord said to him:
• ‘Do not call ‘unclean’ what the Lord has called ‘clean;’
• Then he tells them about the three men from Caesarea,
• Who came to ask if he would go to meet with Cornelius;
• He says the Spirit told him to go with them,
• And he went with them, along with six of his friends;
• At Caesarea, they all go into the home of Cornelius;
• Then Peter tells them about the vision Cornelius had;
• About how he was told to send for Peter who was at Joppa;
• And Peter would come and tell them how they could be saved;
• Peter then tells them about the coming of the Holy Spirit,
• And how it fell upon all those who were in the house,
• Just like it had fallen upon the believers at the beginning;
• Peter says he then remembered what the Lord had said:
• ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized
• With the Holy Spirit;’ Peter then asks a rhetorical question:
• If God gives them the same gift that He has given us,
• Who was I that I could oppose God?
• With this, the people fall silent;
• When they realize what Peter is saying, they conclude:
• God has granted to the Gentiles what He has given the Jews:
• The gift of salvation;
• At that time, those Jews who are scattered are preaching;
• In Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching to Jews only;
• But some of them have begun speaking to Greeks about Jesus;
• And many of them begin believing and turning to the Lord;
• News of this development has spread to Jerusalem;
• So, Barnabas is sent out to Antioch to witness the grace of God;
• He encourages all of them to continue with the Lord;
• Barnabas is a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith;
• He sees many people added to the Lord;
• From Antioch, he goes on to Tarsus to look for Saul;
• He finds him there and returns with him to Antioch;
• There, for an entire year, they teach a great crowd of people;
• Antioch is where the believers are first called Christians;
• Prophets are leaving Jerusalem to go to Antioch;
• One of them, named Agabus, speaks from the Spirit,
• Says a world-wide famine is coming;
• This is coming in the days of Claudius Caesar;
• The believers in Antioch establish a plan for famine relief;
• Barnabas and Saul take relief help to believers in Judea.

End of Session 5 of the book of Acts.