LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH
SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2022
ACTS 11 VERSES 11 - 18
We left Peter coming down from the roof top when he had seen the vision of the sheet with animals no Jew could eat. What a challenge! It left him with a choice too. God was beginning to change the direction in which the church was going. It all came about through a time of prayer on the rooftop. Peter was "in Joppa praying". A word of testimony. The bible says "we ought always to pray and not to faint" (Luke 18 verse 1). 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 17 says "pray without ceasing". In Acts 10 a Roman centurion was pleading with the God of heaven for the salvation of his soul. He realised he needed to do something about it. When God heard that prayer he decided to answer it. God's ear is ever open to our prayer. He is with us in every circumstance we find ourselves in. Notice the angel told Cornelius "who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved." He couldn't save himself nor could Peter but it was God's words that would save him. This would be another tremendous day for the church in Jerusalem. The very same Holy Spirit that came on them initially when the church was born now would come on those Gentiles.
The courage of Peter's work. Peter has been praying, seeking after God sincerely. God spoke to him as he makes his way down the stairway. Verse 19 of chapter 10 he has spent time in prayer seeking God. God showed him a vision of a great sheet let down from heaven. On that sheet there were animals that the Jewish people were not to eat. God was showing Peter how he would change the direction of the church. The Church would open to those who were seen as unclean to the Jews. "While he thought" he was still thinking of the vision as he made his way down the stairway step by step. What is on his mind? When we leave the house of God do we leave with the word of God still on our hearts? That is actually the most dangerous time in the whole of the service, when that final 'Amen' is said by the preacher. That is the time the enemy can get in. Maybe God has been dealing with someone and something said in the minutes at the end of the service can change a heart completely away from God himself. Maybe as a Christian your thoughts are heading toward service for the Lord but something happens in the final moments to turn that away. Peter realised he was speaking with God himself and he was still thinking of that vision. Paul told the Philippians to think on all the things that are good and right, to meditate on them (Philippians 4 verse 8). Colossians 3 verse 1 "if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." In other words saturate your mind with them. Not the intellect of the preacher but the word of God! Peter took time out think on the word of God. He knew he must put feet to his prayers. Chapter 11 verses 11 and 12. This would take Peter into a home he would not normally go into. Peter had decisions to make that would go against everything he had felt before. Maybe God has been speaking to you and you need to have courage to go through with God. It takes courage to be a Christian. God takes us into many situations we would rather not be in. Moses had to put the failure of Egypt behind him. He had spent 40 years in the wilderness but he had to surrender and go back to Egypt. It is one thing to sit before God and tell him what needs to happen but we like Peter have to go ourselves and be the feet to our own prayers. Maybe there is someone on your mind today. God has placed you in that situation and you need to speak to them. Think of the courage of the apostle Paul. In Acts 21 in Caesarea there was a prophet called Agabus. He saw a girdle and put it on. He prophesied that the one who owned the girdle would be taken captive by the Gentiles. The people pleaded with Paul not to go to Jerusalem on hearing these words but what did Paul say? "for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." At one time he was a hater of the gospel and everything that Jesus stood for. Now he was willing to die for the gospel. He loved the Lord now and wanted to bring others to the gospel. God lifts people out of the miry clay - we love to hear of the drug addict and the alcoholic who come to faith in Christ but what about the religious person who has attended church all their lives, are good and respectable - they all need to know Christ personally.
The clarity of his word - verse 14 "Who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved." There was one thing on Peter's mind - to see souls saved by the word of God. This was Peter's mission, his responsibility was to go into this home and open up the word of God. The men that came from Cornelius' house that day told him all about Cornelius. They spoke of their journey and why they were there. They told Peter that Cornelius was a centurion, a highly respected man of authority. That he was a just man and one that feared God. He had a wonderful reverence for God. Many spoke highly of him - he had a good report among all the nation of the Jews. He wouldn't let anyone down. He had been told by an angel to send for Peter so that he could hear words that would save him. We can have so many things going for us today but we need to make sure we have a salvation in Christ. That it is not just a profession but we have come to the cross, repented of our sins. That we see ourselves as God sees us - a hell deserving sinner. We need to acknowledge that God has paid for our sins at Calvary and that he can save us. Cornelius was not saved. God warns us today that we need to be saved. Jesus said to Nicodemus "except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." What a responsibility for Peter. What did Peter tell them - verse 39 "And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly." The result of his message is seen in verse 44 "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." What simplicity of words. He didn't go with any other message. We don't need fancy words to tell the gospel today.
The crown he receives. As Peter stands before Cornelius and gives the message 2 important things to note - they were in attendance when Peter arrived and the Holy Spirit came down. Cornelius made sure his family was present. Too often we credit the ability to the preacher. Really it is whether the Holy Spirit comes. The preacher has to present the word of God but he cannot save a soul - only God can.
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