In God alone we trust. Man will fail us but He never will. Praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit to guide and protect us. Our triune Godhead is all we need in life to accomplish everything that is prepared for us as believers. To God be all glory!
Acts 7:51-56 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
They stoned Stephen and In their rejection of the truth, Jesus the Word of God made flesh, the Israelites would suffer many things. As they persecuted those who believed in Jesus as their King so would they reap. There will come a time that they will see the One that they crucified and mourn for Him as for an only Son. Then they will be restored to the promises and blessings of Abraham and the Prophets.
Psalm 68-4-6
Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Extol Him who rides on the clouds,
By His name Yah,
And rejoice before Him.
5 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
6 God sets the solitary in families;
He brings out those who are bound into prosperity;
But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
Acts 10:7-16 And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. 8 So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa. Peter’s Vision 9 The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. 10 Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance 11 and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” 15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” 16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.
It took a mighty act of God to make Peter realize that all of creation, not only the Jew, would be welcomed into God’s house. He wants no one to live without Him. What Peter and the 12 apostles thought of as unclean God says is cleaned in the blood of the Lamb. Carla
This term for devout implies the soldier also worshiped the true God, Yahweh (Acts 10:2). God gives Peter a vision that prepares him for the arrival of the messengers from Cornelius (verses 7–8). The vision’s meaning and Old Testament allusions reinforce the universal cultural scope of the Church’s message and mission. At the sixth hour in time Peter would have been hungry and waiting for his midday meal to be ready (verse 10), an appropriate time for a vision involving food. Luke, the narrator, probably intends to convey that virtually every sort of creature was present. Some of the creatures the Lord tells Peter to eat would have been forbidden for a Jew to eat, and others would have been acceptable. Peter’s strong reaction against God’s command likely stemmed from the fact that he would have considered even the otherwise clean animals to be contaminated by being mingled with the unclean, on the basis of Old Testamaent law (Leviticus 11). Just as Peter had denied Jesus three times (Luke 22:34), here he refuses to obey three times. Faithlife Study Bible
Strong’s #5399; 2316: Simply stated, this expression means “God-fearer.” Luke identifies such a category of people throughout the Book of Acts. The God-fearers were Gentiles who were interested in Judaism but were not necessarily converts or proselytes. They worshiped the same God and observed the same laws as the Jews did, but they did not become circumcised. Many of these God-fearers were the first Gentiles to become Christians. Cornelius was the prototype of such a God-fearer.
Cornelius’s desire was to be pleasing to God. The fact that he readily obeyed the angel is a sign of how much he desired the truth. With this kind of attitude, there is no question that Cornelius was open to receiving the truth of the gospel the moment he heard it. While his host was preparing the noon meal, Peter fell into a trance during which he was commanded to kill and eat all kinds of animals, reptiles, and birds. The problem was that the animals were mixed: clean and unclean beasts were gathered together (Leviticus 11). Jewish people were taught from childhood never to touch or eat any animal that was unclean. However, here Peter was being commanded by God to do just that. Three times God corrected Peter’s resistance with the words, what God has cleansed you must not call common. Food may have been his first consideration, but Peter would soon understand the greater message. The vision was a sign from heaven that Jews were no longer to call Gentiles unclean. From that point on, these two groups would be on equal footing before the Father. God was breaking down Peter’s prejudices. The NKJV Study Bible.
Acts 10:17–32 Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate. And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there…
Deuteronomy 14:3–20 “You shall not eat any detestable thing. These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat…
Ezekiel 4:14 So I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Indeed I have never defiled myself from my youth till now; I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has abominable flesh ever come into my mouth.”
Matthew 15:11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”
Acts 11:5–15 “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. When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air…
Praise be to God that through Christ, He promises to bring together all His children who are scattered (John 11:50-52), and we will be wanderers no more! "In him we have obtained an inheritance" in heaven that is "sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee ... until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:11-14). First5
My good friend Ed Kilbourne wrote a song called Promised Land.
“There’s a place they call the promised land where people live by grace
The leaders are their servants, the last ones win the race
And those who love are wealthy and those who hate are poor
And honor’s won by making peace, not by making war
And everyone’s invited when the kingdom feast is spread
They remember how they got there in the breaking of the bread
They pass a cup around the room to every tear stained face
And drink a toast to Jesus as they sing Amazing Grace”
It is time to be involved. To make a stand for those who need help the most. Those who are lost, and those who have been belittled and demeaned.
And this I know. There is nothing better than the look on someone’s face when they hear these words, “You’re not alone now. I’m walking with you. We’ve got this.” Sabbath Moments
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