Acts 11:4-18

When Jesus sets you free you are F.R.E.E. indeed! 

God through His Son gave an open invitation for all to come to the supper of the Lamb. The great IAM loves you. Come just as you are and prepare to be changed forever by the power of the Holy Spirit who will teach you everything you need to know about Jesus and God’s plan of salvation for mankind.

Because of the importance of the issue of personal prejudice, Luke repeats the account of the vision of the sheet and the unclean animals that God used to free Peter from his racial bigotry. Finally the Jewish Christians that made up the early church understood Jesus’ commission to them: they were to bring the gospel message to the Gentile too. 

Christ places believers in the care and safekeeping of the Holy Spirit until the day He returns.

Acts 11:4-18

⁴ But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying: ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me. ⁶ When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. ⁷ And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ ⁸ But I said, ‘Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.’ ⁹ But the voice answered me again from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’ ¹⁰ Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. ¹¹ At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. ¹² Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, ¹⁴ who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.’ ¹⁵ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”

¹⁸ When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”

¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 

John 16:13

⁸ So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 

Acts 15:8

⁹ and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 

Acts 15:9

42 “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. 

Isaiah 42:1

⁶ Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” 

Isaiah 49:6

¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 

Romans 10:12

¹³ For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 

Romans 10:13