Missions Paul

Preparation

Acts 10:33
“So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

Yesterday morning after the Church service, I turned to the Pastor and said, “your people are easy to preach to, when I go to churches I can always tell if they are used to coming ready to hear the Bible being preached, yours certainly are those people.”
I am in Estonia and I went to the church prepared and I met a people who had come to their church also prepared.

Cornelius was prepared and sent for Peter.
Peter was prepared by God and came.
The household of Cornelius was prepared ready to listen.
A preachers dream!
Preparation is everything.
Perhaps more churches can learn from this simple truth.

Joppa

Acts 10:32
“Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.”

There was a day in history when a man of God ran away to Joppa because he denied the call of God on his life. His name was Jonah and he didn’t make it to Joppa!
Here we are today and we are reminded of another man of God, Peter, again known as a denier, staying in Joppa after being used of God with the gospel and especially in the miraculous resurrection of Dorcas.
Jonah the Dove refused to go to the Ninevites with the gospel and headed to Joppa.
Simon the Rock was prejudiced against the Gentiles until God changed him and he left Joppa to go to the Italian family.
Jonah headed out to sea and hit the biggest storm of his life.
Simon stayed by the sea not realising God was about to tip his world upside down.
Which shows that though you may share similar experiences, you can change the story of your life. You don’t have to be swallowed by a fish to put you back on course, you can go to a beautiful place (the meaning of the name Joppa) for better reasons.

He hears

Acts 10: 31
“and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.”

Cornelius was not a Jew nor a Christian. But that didn’t stop God listening to his prayers and remembering his deeds of giving.
Isn’t it a wonderful thought that God listens to the prayers of people who do not know Him.
How many people are praying today right across the world? Many is the answer! Many pray to a God that they do not know. It would be easy for us to say ‘Oh God doesn’t pay any attention to the prayers of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists etc!’ And ‘all their alms giving comes to nothing.’ Of course! It makes perfect sense to us. God listens to us, His people who know Him. He is moved by us not anyone else, especially those who don’t know Him. But what if … ? What if God can hear everyone, what if God can see everything ? That could mean that He has a plan for the whole world. That there are more Cornelius’s yet to find Him.

Minchah

Acts 10:30
“Cornelius answered: “Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me.”

“I was praying at the time of prayer. At 3pm.”
This was not coincidence that Cornelius is praying at the time of prayer.
3pm is Minchah. It means gift, offering, sacrifice, it is the 3pm prayer time and in every case it involved a sacrificial animal.
But he was in his house, so the only thing that was being sacrificed was himself.
He came on bended knee. He prayed in surrender. He wasn’t a Jew but this was how prayers should be prayed and perhaps he did this even more sincerely than those who did Minchah dutifully.. The prayers of Minchah are

Ashrei: based on Psalm 145, it does not ask God for anything, it is purely praise of Him.
Uvn letzion: a prayer which contains the all-important call for the Redeemer to come to Israel.
Amidah: this consists of 19 prayers for God to bless His people.
Tachanun: which was a personal appeal to God from the person praying.
Tzidkatcha: it uses verses like Psalm 71:19 “Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you?”
Alienu: this prayer uses these words, “He is our God; there is no other. Truly He is our King, there is none else”

Cornelius did all the above, he prayed the Minchah, the afternoon prayer. Then suddenly God came …
Knowing this helps us understand that Cornelius was entering into a surrendering of his heart to a God he didn’t really know. He was not one of His people but he was laying his life down as he did probably most afternoons.
Suddenlies happen in these contexts.

Manoeuvre

Acts 10: 29
“So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”

Peter came because of the vision. That was the sole reason. God had spoken to him. God had shown him how prejudiced he had become within the Jewish culture. God had changed and prepared his heart so that when the invitation was received he immediately travelled to their home.
When God speaks, however He speaks, it is wise to be ready to do what He has told you. It will lead to an amazing opportunity.
Now Peter wants to know if they too had a similar experience. He knew for them to ask him to come was a big ask. Why was this? What is God doing in this household?
Here we are watching Peter come to the realisation that he is in the middle of the plan of God.
There is nothing more beautiful than knowing that you are an instrument in Gods hands. That He has you where you are. That He has been manoeuvring situations and circumstances, fitting it altogether for His glory and that you are part of that amazing plan! Take a deep breath today, enjoy this moment, He has been working on you for this day. There may just be an incredible opportunity today that reveals this.

Stepping away from what is acceptable

Acts 10: 28
“He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.”

Everyone knew the cultural laws. If a man wanted to remain a good Jew then there had to be no contact with a Gentile. Why? A Gentile was seen to be unacceptable to God. The Jew belonged to God. He had to keep himself set apart to Him. This was demonstrated by who he spent time with. It was also seen by the way he conducted his life. There were many rules and regulations for the Jew, they all had a reason, all were justified and they were all meant to be kept, in order to be a good Jew.
Everyone knew Cornelius should not have asked for Peter to come.
Everyone knew Peter should not have been there.
But God had set this up.
Peter now knew his vision of the food was about the Gentiles not about kosher food. The Gentiles were not impure or unclean because they were Gentile.
More importantly the laws wee not more important than reaching people for Jesus, no matter who they were.
Peter was not breaking Gentile laws but his own. On reaching people for Jesus don’t worry about your own cultural norms, what is acceptable etc. Salvation and Love trumps every time. The church has often tried to stop its members from going into the world and being where the non-churched are. Sometimes the church has created lists of what we can and cannot do and where we can and cannot go. The result was that we stayed behind our buildings praying for the world to change. It didn’t. Let’s continue to associate with the non-churched. After all it is where Jesus would be. It is where He is.

Enter in

Acts 10:27
“Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.”

Peter went in. The Jew went into the house of a Gentile. It has led some to believe that this is not a story of the conversion of Cornelius but the conversion of Peter. I get it. Peter has understood the vision he received. In an act of repentance he goes in, he steps into the unknown, he does something culturally unacceptable, he moves into dangerous obedience.
And so must we?
We must move in, press in, go into the house of strangers, get out of our comfort zones and be with those who need Jesus. Yesterday I was privileged to be in the homestead of an ex-witch doctor, visiting him with our missionary nurse, it was a huge privilege to walk out of my world and into his much different world than mine. I felt I was where Jesus wants me to be.
Going in often isn’t about oneself, it is about the other person. Jesus sends you and me to enter in today the house of a stranger.

I know who I am not

Acts 10: 26
“But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

Peter knew who he was not. He knew he was no better than Cornelius. He certainly knew he shouldn’t be worshipped.
It’s one thing not falling into the trap of worshipping someone. It is another to not fall into the trap of being worshipped.
It is a difficult line to walk. To receive praise well is a difficult task. To receive a compliment and not to shirk it off but to accept it without believing you are better than you actually are needs to be done carefully. Not everyone manages it. Some end up not accepting and others end up wanting to hear it more and more and become addicted.
Know who you are, that is the secret to satisfaction in life.
Know who you are not, that is the stabiliser of your life.

Man worship

Acts 10: 25
“As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence.”

We are called to honour one another. We are called to prefer the other above ourselves. We are called to put others first. But we are certainly not called to worship one another. That’s what Cornelius did to Peter. Some things should only be left for Jesus.
In a culture of honour there is a danger of moving into idol worship of the man or woman of God. People can tip toe around, intimidated by their presence, hanging on every word, acting more like a dog than an equal human being and a child of God. It is not a nice thing to see. It needs to be stopped. No man should bow to man. This is for Jesus only. There isn’t a man who deserves such worship. Let’s note treat people like gods by acting like dogs.

Expectant

Acts 10: 24
“The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.”

Cornelius was expecting them. How? It must have been sheer faith in God to call Peter through his own call for him to come.
Are you expectant? Are you waiting in faith?
Today there is a wonderful Pastor and his wife that I know waiting in faith for their child to recover from a terrible accident. This can be replicated throughout the world. We know that kind of tension.
What are you expectant for today?
Cornelius called people into his home in preparation for his guest to come. His household was full and expectant.
I have a missionary who teaches church planters to call whole households together for discovery of the Bible. He has planted many churches through this model.
You may be ready and waiting but can you inspire your family and friends to also be expectant?
Some families are hoping for a lottery win, the big break.
Some families are just hoping to make it through e day.
Some families are hoping for bread on the table.
But to live with expectancy is something else.
I have a staff member who is expecting her first child. We are all expecting the baby because we can see her body grow!
it is easy to be expectant when you can see. But what if you cannot see? There are times when we are so compelled with expectancy that it can only be described as a gift of knowledge given to us, we are graciously permitted to know what is going to happen within the will of God.
John Maximovich was called to give a final communion to a dying man in a Shanghai hospital. But on his arrival he stopped to talk to a healthy, active young man, getting ready to be discharged. john gave him the communion there and then. The young man confessed his sins and took communion. Later when questioned why he had given the communion to the healthy young man and not the dying man, John replied, “he will die tonight and the seriously ill man will live many years.” And that is what happened.
Cornelius heard from God. That was the most important thing, he then acted on that word. He sent his servants. He called for Peter knowing he would come. He filled his house with people knowing he would come. He was expectant.
Yesterday I met Pastor John and took a picture of him outside his new church building. The opening service is in a weeks time.
He has been called to plant a church.
He is expecting he will have a church.
He has a building He has cleared the land. He has painted the inside. He has chairs ready. He is inviting the community to the opening. He is expecting a church!
What are you expectant for today?