Acts 11
Devotional by Caleb O’Neel
Read Acts 11
Acts 11
Peter Reports to the Church
11 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
The Church in Antioch
19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.
Devotional
Do you ever need to hear something twice for something to really click? Acts 10:15 and Acts 11:9 say the exact same thing just one chapter apart from one another. “What God has made clean, do not call common.” This word “common” could also be translated “unholy.” Because the Jewish people were rejecting the salvation of anyone who wasn’t ethnically Jewish, Peter admonished people to not call something unholy that God has made clean. Gentiles, or people who aren’t ethnically Jewish but repent and believe the Gospel, are intended to be a part of God’s family.
God’s heart is for all people of all nations to know him. The Gospel of Jesus Christ breaks down the barriers that society creates. When we oppose people in our hearts, simply because of their ethnicity, we aren’t just opposing people, we are opposing God. Scripture teaches that all people are created in his image and are commissioned to live in a way that reflects his glory to the nations (Psalm 96). Psalm 139 says that we were knit together and fearfully and wonderfully made. Genesis 1:27 shows that God created us in his image, which means every human life has inherit worth and value. It is God’s plan for all who call on his name to be saved. Ethnic prejudice in our hearts opposes heaven and it opposes God’s kingdom because one day people from every tribe, nation, and tongue will worship him eternally in heaven.
Do you find yourself showing hostility towards people from different backgrounds than you? Ask God to reveal any areas that you need to repent of. Pray that the Lord will give you boldness to live on mission for the building of his Church and for his glory to be known among the nations.
I believe in the works that God is getting our attention because as stated in Genesis 1:27 through Genesis 3, God has a way of getting our attention through his works, and our situations and that we also remember the importance of the wake-up call to sin.
To even me, God has granted repentance that leads to life eternal.
All are made in the image and likeness of God; we always need to pray to remember that.
Any experience that has built any form of bias ; even the unconscious bias, in our life, we pray for God to erase it.
GOD is love and we need to truly love,
GOD our father and creator, we pray to love unconditionally and forgive us Lord for not loving the way we ought to. Strengthen us Lord in areas we are weak. 🙏🏽
GOD’s LOVE!!
ANEN ❤️
PRAISE THE LORD OUR GOD!! AMEN!!🙏⛪🙏📖
Romans 3:23 All have sinned and come short of HIS glory. At one point in my life, I must have been hostile to people that are not from my race. But thank God for Jesus and the fruits of the Holy Spirit that has been helping me to overlook my color or race, but focus on the blood of Jesus and by HIS Spirit in me tells me that we have the same FATHER. So now by the grace of God, I look beyond the physical but the spiritual. The Bible says 2 Corinthians5:16, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. I believe if we allow the Holy Spirit to rule over our flesh we can do away from our carnality. May the Lord help us to reflect Christ and manifest the fruits of the
Holy Spirit more wherever we are in Jesus Name…🙏🏻
God created ALL of us in His image. No matter what our ethnic background is, there’s ONLY ONE creator and He formed each of us in our mother’s womb. God has made us family through the blood of Jesus—
YOU ARE NOT AN ONLY CHILD!! We have MANY brothers and sisters that don’t look like us🙏🏾❤️
Thank You Father for Your Holy Spirit’s help that I may glorify You in this world.
I’ve been forgiven and cleansed of so much in my life. For me to think that I am greater than anyone else because of differences I could (temptations, sinful actions, etc) or couldn’t control (ethnicity, family upbringing, etc) shows me that I not only reject the gospel but, as Caleb put it, I oppose His Kingdom and Heaven. John 3:16, as we know so well, tells me that He loved the WHOLE world and within that there were no exceptions! Lord, help me to direct others to the exclusive way of Christ with an inclusive gospel!
Praise God that He gave me a background and experiences of being schooled, worshipping, and living with different races. Although I see prejudices, God has shielded me from negative biases.
However as diverse as Houston is we are surrounded by people from different countries and ethnicities. We are forced to look deep at how we feel concerning immigration and mixing.
I pray that EVERY person is sent someone of a different ethnicity to give them validation that they are a child of God and accepted into His family. If that someone is me, I accept the assignment.
We are called to reach all nations, and many times it is difficult to talk to others from different backgrounds and beliefs, we must continue to build relationships and share the gospel. It must have been difficult for Peter to break tradition that had been in place for so long, yet he was receptive tot he Holy Spirit and followed obediently.
May God’s “Agape Love” reign in my heart
May all negative bias be crushed in me
Let the world not poison our Lord’s command
Father let your will be done today in our lives 🙏🏾
In this devotional, we are reminded to “Pray that the Lord will give you boldness to live on mission for the building of his Church and for his glory to be known among the nations.’
This past Saturday, after his stellar performance as the Texans QB, rookie C.J. Stroud was interviewed by NBC’s Kathryn Tappen. The very first thing he said was, “First and foremost, I just want to give all glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, …”
Subsequently, NBC received some fairly harsh criticism on social media after it appeared that NBC edited out C.J. Stroud’s bold and public thanks to Jesus in a video of the interview it posted on X and also on its “Sunday Night Football NBC X account.
In my 75 years, it took me forever to learn to thank God first for all of the blessings he has bestowed on me and my family. So, it was nice to see this young man at 22 years of age thanking God first and foremost. And it was also nice to see that people took to social media to question why NBC appeared to edit out the most important part of the interview.
It was great to hear someone give praise to God on national tv
Praise the Lord for continually healing and cleansing my sinful heart! It’s easy to allow pride to plant itself deep I. Our hearts to where we create bias without even knowing it. Lord Jesus search me and know me. Teach me your ways that I may look more like you.
Then to the Gentiles God has also gra ted repentance that leafs to life. What glorious and gracious Words those are!
For many years at Mission Greenspoint, Cindy and I saw many ethnic groups come for help for their families. Unfortunately, from time to time, some ethnicities complained that they “weren’t getting their fair share” when they saw families larger than theirs getting more food than them. If charges of discrimination arose from these complaints, my response was, “if we were discriminatory, we wouldn’t be here in the first place.” The goal of course was to provide help equally according to their family size.
My point is that no matter how we are perceived by the lost and hungry, we must strive to present the non-discriminatory message of the Gospel. God will honor this every time. But, we must check our attitudes at the door!
I love God’s plan of redemption.
Acts 11:18
When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Luke 4:43
but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”
John 10:16
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
Acts 1:8
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Thank you Jesus! This was a much needed discussion because being in Healthcare I have encountered so many people from different walks of life. Some are nice and some are not so nice. Being a believer of Christ has inspired me to look beyond the physical in everyone I may encounter. Having a caring and kind spirit can go along way. As I continue my journey in Healthcare Christ is always on my mind. Having empathy and compassion and knowing Christ is with me wherever I go keeps me motivated 🙏.
Thankful we were able to hear from Civil Rights attorney Mr Fred Gray last week at church. Praying all people will feel welcomed at CFBC and Praying for International Friendship ministry as they share Christ while teaching English.
“Just love people”, that’s what my college mentor told me.
One of the things that I love most about CFBC is our diversity. I didn’t grow up in an area with much diversity and I love learning about other cultures. We may all look different on the outside but our blood is all red and we are ALL God’s children. I am grateful that when Jesus shed his blood for me, it wasn’t about my appearance, race or ethnicity. His grace & mercy extends to all and so should ours.