Written by: Richard Prescott - CPAS

Acts 11 v 11-14
Right then three men who were sent to me from Caesarea came to the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to go with them without doubting. These six believers here also went with me, and we entered the house of Cornelius. He told us about the angel he saw standing in his house. The angel said to him, ‘Send some men to Joppa and invite Simon Peter to come. By the words he will say to you, you and all your family will be saved.’ 

Notes
The book of Acts is crammed full of the amazing stuff that God was doing with the people in the early church. In this passage, God tells Cornelius (a high-ranking Roman soldier who became a Christian) to send some men to find Peter who is told by God that they’re coming, so off he goes…whoa!

It seems that these people just obey God and everything falls into place. Is it really that simple? And what if they hadn’t done what God had asked them to do? Would it have stopped God in his tracks? Well, these are all viable questions, but the outcome of events showed that God had something bigger in mind, not just for Cornelius’s family, but for Peter and his fellow believers too. 

God was fulfilling the promise that he would use Peter as one of the key people in building the Christian church. Jesus described Peter as a rock on which he would build his church and, he said, ‘the power of death would not be able to defeat it.’ (Matthew 16:18)

What made this guy Peter so special? Wasn’t it Peter who denied having ever known Jesus just a few hours before the crucifixion?

Well, God chose Peter, complete with all his ability to screw things up. In fact, God invested in Peter, and the growth of the church across the entire world depended on it. And that’s what God wants to do with every single one of us. Just think what an impact our lives could have on the world, if we simply did what God asked us to do.

Acts 11 v 15-18
When I began my speech, the Holy Spirit came on them just as he came on us at the beginning. Then I remembered the words of the Lord. He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ Since God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I stop the work of God?”
When the Jewish believers heard this, they stopped arguing. They praised God and said, “So God is allowing even those who are not Jewish to turn to him and live.”

Notes
It was early days for those Christians who had been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. At every turn they were asking questions, they were being constantly surprised by what was happening, and they had to keep reminding themselves that God’s power was now at work – in them!

What’s more, for every single person who turned to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit was available for them. There was no stopping the spread of the message. There was no containing it. It was a total outbreak of indescribable power.

All of a sudden (it seemed) Jesus’ words were coming true. He had promised the disciples a comforter and a guide. He had promised them that he would remain with them through his Spirit and this was now available to everyone. Just remember, Jesus had explained, ‘…whoever believes in me will do the same things that I do. Those who believe will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.’ (John 14:12)

Jesus promised that as Christians, we would see even more amazing miracles in our lives than he ever ‘performed’ on earth. That means that we aint seen nothing yet!

Think about it. The power of God is at work in you. Why not start to live by the Spirit? There’ll be no stopping you.

Acts 11 v 19-21
Many of the believers were scattered when they were persecuted after Stephen was killed. Some of them went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch telling the message to others, but only to Jews. Some of these believers were people from Cyprus and Cyrene. When they came to Antioch, they spoke also to Greeks, telling them the Good News about the Lord Jesus. The Lord was helping the believers, and a large group of people believed and turned to the Lord.

Notes
As a child, hearing the story of Stephen being stoned to death always disturbed me. I felt much better when I realised that my classmates occasionally teasing me was nothing compared to what happened to Stephen. When I was in my late teens, I thought I’d suffered the most extreme humiliation when a raw egg was dropped on my head from a top-floor flat, during an open-air service.

Yet, I’ve never had to face the fear of dying for my faith. 

It might surprise you, but millions of Christians around the world are still being persecuted today. According to research by Release International, one Christian dies for their faith every three minutes. It has even been said that more Christians have died for their faith over the last century, than all the other centuries of church history combined. In fact, the current figure for martyrs per year is estimated to be around 160,000. 

To some governments, large numbers of people turning to faith is as ‘dangerous’ a situation today, as it was in the days of the early church. We need to pray for the present-day Christian martyrs. Organizations such as Release International, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Open Doors, and Jubilee Campaign and can give you more information. 

In the meantime, think about this: If you were put on trial for your Christian faith, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Acts 11 v 22-26
The church in Jerusalem heard about all of this, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch. Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith. When he reached Antioch and saw how God had blessed the people, he was glad. He encouraged all the believers in Antioch always to obey the Lord with all their hearts, and many people became followers of the Lord.
Then Barnabas went to the city of Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found Saul, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year Saul and Barnabas met with the church and taught many people there. In Antioch the followers were called Christians for the first time.

Notes
Take a small group of believers and add the Holy Spirit. The message of the gospel was truly spreading like wildfire! Barnabas, whose name literally meant ‘son of encouragement’ was sent by the church to find out just what was happening and to get alongside the new believers.

You need to bear in mind that this new church (which began as a kind of Jewish sect) was increasing in numbers, as even Gentiles were fast becoming believers. Just imagine what Peter and Barnabas had to face – for most of their lives, they had been taught about the Old Testament covenant between God and his chosen people. Now they were facing the reality of seeing God being available to anyone and everyone. By accepting Jesus Christ, we can enter into a new covenant with God. There’s an old-fashioned phrase that I think is still totally relevant today: ‘God loves the whosoever.’

How often are we challenged to move from our place of comfort, to confront something that goes completely against our whole way of life?

Perhaps today, God wants you to explain Jesus to someone you reckon could never be a Christian.

Acts 11 v 27-30
About that time some prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and spoke with the help of the Holy Spirit. He said, “A very hard time is coming to the whole world. There will be no food to eat.” (This happened when Claudius ruled.) The believers all decided to help the followers who lived in Judea, as much as each one could. They gathered the money and gave it to Barnabas and Saul, who brought it to the elders in Judea.

Notes
Filled with the Spirit of God, the New Testament prophets brought urgent messages to the early believers. But what was their purpose? Well, they were the ones who listened to God, then gave those early Christians the kick they needed to put their faith into action.

In this case, the church raided their piggy banks, clubbed together and made sure that their Christian family in Judea were not going to starve, whatever the outcome of the predicted famine.

And this is a picture of what church should be like. So often our churches don’t bear the faintest resemblance to what God originally designed. From the smallest to the largest group of Christians, church is all about being a community, a support network. It’s about family. Yet, we so often see our churches fail to make even the slightest impact on the places they’re supposed to be serving.

And we each need to take responsibility for it. Our Christianity ought to be expressed by the way we live – Jesus needs to be in everything we do.

With God’s help, we have the power to change the world.

Acts 12 v 1-5
During that same time King Herod began to mistreat some who belonged to the church. He ordered James, the brother of John, to be killed by the sword. Herod saw that the Jewish people liked this, so he decided to arrest Peter, too. (This happened during the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.)
After Herod arrested Peter, he put him in jail and handed him over to be guarded by sixteen soldiers. Herod planned to bring Peter before the people for trial after the Passover Feast. So Peter was kept in jail, but the church prayed earnestly to God for him.

Notes
We often imagine that in the early days of the Christian church it was all ‘signs and wonders’, but the reality must have been much less of a great party and more of a desperate struggle.

The name ‘Christian’ was originally a term of abuse – the early believers were just ‘scum’ in the eyes of the Jews and the Roman authorities. Religion and politics were intermingled (so what’s new?) and after getting rid of Jesus, his followers needed to be tracked and, if necessary, destroyed.

Peter was in and out of jail more often than you and I have had hot dinners. This man was trouble. After all, everything Herod stood for was under threat.

But Peter kept going. He didn’t apologise for being a pain in the neck of the Jewish leaders and the Romans. So, where did this a radical, campaigning force for justice come from?

Peter was quite simply tuned into God’s will. He listened to the Holy Spirit – that incredible, supernatural influence on a formerly weak-willed human being. He felt like God would feel, he saw how God would see things; he talked as God would talk.

And we can do the same.

Acts 12 v 6-10
The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Other soldiers were guarding the door of the jail. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord stood there, and a light shined in the cell. The angel struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Hurry! Get up!” the angel said. And the chains fell off Peter’s hands. Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And Peter did. Then the angel said, “Put on your coat and follow me.” So Peter followed him out, but he did not know if what the angel was doing was real; he thought he might be seeing a vision. They went past the first and second guards and came to the iron gate that separated them from the city. The gate opened by itself for them, and they went through it. When they had walked down one street, the angel suddenly left him.

Notes
Picture the scene in your mind. Peter is squashed between two burly Roman guards, when a blinding light wakes him. He’s told (by this angel who happens to be standing there) to get up and get dressed and the guards sleep while he puts on his robe and sandals, then he walks out of the prison. No blasts of dynamite, no running, no chasing. A bit of a ‘cocky’ affair really. It’s quite funny really.

And as all this is going on, Peter (who has seen many amazing miracles and preached time and time again on the power of God) checks to see if it’s all a dream.

Is this guy for real? Well yes, actually. And it happens with Christians today too. We see God change peoples’ lives and we talk about the power of prayer and the ability of God to heal, yet we often wouldn’t recognise a modern-day miracle if it came up and smacked us on the face.

We need to believe in miracles. To start with, Jesus has miraculously saved us from death! Let’s make a conscious decision to look for God at work in our lives. Let’s start to truly believe that God can transform us into powerful Christian people.

A question: If God could do absolutely anything he wanted with your life, how would your life be different?


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes