Acts 10:1-23

We have come to a major turning point in the book of Acts. It is at this point that the Gospel really starts to spread not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles, and like any change it is not an easy one for the church to endure.

We are introduced to Cornelius, and centurian who is a God fearing man and liked by all the Jews. He has a vision from God to go and find Simon Peter. He is told nothing about Peter but that he is to send for him and because of his faith he does.

Meanwhile Peter is having a vision of his own of a sheet of all sorts of creatures descending from Heaven with the message kill and eat. The thought of this is horrifying to Peter, he holds fast to his beliefs and practices as a devout Jew, but the message keeps coming--"What I have makde clean, you must not call profane." This message points far beyond Peter's eating habits to what his reaction will be to the gentile Cornelius's arrival. The issue of including the gentiles in the church was a complicated one and most of the disciples still felt that the message of salavation was meant for the house of Israel. How quick they were to forget the people that Jesus associated himself with.

The church is faced with the issue of expanding its borders. The call of God is to embrace all people and to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. This is a tough message for many of us because we have notions of where we think the Gospel needs to go and the people that we want to welcome in to the church. Quite often we don't even realize that we are doing it, but when we look at our lives we begin to realize that we have set up groups of who is in and who is out. Perhaps each of us need to revisit Peter's vision and think about the experience he had. If God were to lower a sheet in front of youwhat would be in it and what do you need to do to free yourself from only seeing those who look and act like you do.

What are the contents of your sheet?

Acts 8:26-40

This week's reading is about Philip and an Ethiopian eunich he meets on a deserted road. Philip is one of those guys who is up for just about anything. When an angel of the Lord told him to go down a deserted road at noon Philip didn't argue that this was not the best idea, he just went. While he was traveling down the road an Ethiopian eunich came toward him in a chariot. This man was an important official in the Queen's court and was traveling home from Jerusalem where he had gone to worship.

God used Philip to go evangelize this man. Philip went without hesitation and jumped at the opportunity to share his faith. There were so many reasons he could have come up with to shy away, but he was bold and listened to where God led him and as a result he helped God to change a life.

So often we are quick to jump to the reasons why we can't do something for God--why we can't spread the message of hope and renewal that is offered to us in Jesus. But it is our mission to spread the Gospel and to bring folks to Jesus. God is waiting for us to say yes! He is waiting for us to slow down, and quiet down the voices and noise in our heads so that we can hear his voice.

Each of us needs to find a way to quiet our own inner noise, otherwise we will never really be able to hear God. We get so clogged up that sometimes we just freeze, like when our computers just stop working. We all need a little phyiscal and mental silence in our lives so that we can reset ourselves and start again. Lent is a great time for this silence and recreation. Quiet the noise, listen for God, and then wait to see what deserted road he leads you down.

Acts 7:54-8:3

In our readings for the past few weeks the tension has been building up to this point.  Steven has given an impassioned speech recounting the history of the Israelite people leading up to the time of Jesus.  He lambasted the religious leaders for their lack of faith and understanding of what God was doing.  He called them stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart.  Those fighting words led up to the fateful moment when the crowd was overcome with anger and they carried him off and stoned him.

The picture that Acts paints for us is that of a mob so carried away with anger and hatred that they rushed in before the religious authorities could make any pronouncement and put Steven to death.  And yet through it all Steven remained true to the Gospel he was preaching, he committed himself to Jesus and asked forgiveness for the sins of those who were putting him to death.    

As they were preparing to stone Steven the crowd is said to have covered their ears, not wanting to hear any more of what he said, not wanting to let any of his truths sink into their hearts.  How often do we do this same thing?  When we hear a hard truth in our lives our impulse is to cover our ears and pretend that we can't hear.  Sometimes we are so set in our ways that we can't bring ourselves to hear new truths, but our lives can not stay static.  We need to constantly stretch ourselves and allow ourselves to be open enough to hear the words of those around us.  God may be revealing something new to us, but if our fingers are stuffed into our ears we won't hear the good news.

Acts 6:1-7

In the passage that we read today the grittiness of the world is crashing in on the Apostles. They are realizing that being the community of Jesus is more than just preaching, there are basic human needs that have to be met. In a way we are peeling back the layers and seeing the inner workings of the early church.

The Hellenists (Greek speaking Jews) came to the apostles complaining that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. At this time widows were completely dependent on others and without someone to take care of them they were left destitute. The new community of Jesus followers had combined all of their possessions and as part of their common life together it was their job to take care of each other, but it seems that these widows are being forgotten. The apostles are faced with a problem--their mandate was to preach the Gospel and teach, but how could they do that and take care of the every day needs of the community.

The solution that they came up with was to appoint seven men to take care of these needs of the community. The inclination might be to choose those who didn't have great gifts for teaching or preaching, but Acts tells us that they chose men who were in good standing, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. This job of dealing with the everyday needs of the community was no less important than the job of preaching and teaching. All of the people's needs had to be met, not just their spiritual growth.

It is easy to think that we don't have gifts to offer or that what we have to offer is not really ministry. We all have ministry to do and God has gifted each of us with a special task of ministry. For the church to function we have to be sure that we are addressing all of our needs whether they be spiritual, financial, pastoral care or any number of other important tasks that need to be done. The ministry that we do is not confined to the walls of the church. Whatever we are doing is ministry. How do you go about your day at work or school or home doing ministry? God constantly gives us the tools we need to reach out to others and to carry out the mission of the Gospel in our daily lives. Our job is to be open to the Holy Spirit's leading and to be willing to take part in the work of God in the world.

Acts 5:33-42

This passage continues the previous passage we read. The apostles have been released from Jail and have made it clear that they have an obligation to God, not to human authorities. They have no intentions of stopping their preaching and teaching about Jesus. In today's passage we find the religious authorities furious with the apostles, but they are swayed from their anger by one of their own Gamaliel who tells them that they should leave the apostles alone because if their mission is not from God it will fall apart, but if it is there will be no stopping them.

The religious leaders are threatened by the apostles who are outshining them. They fear that they will loose some of their power and authority to this new sect. Their personalities and their need to be in control and seen as powerful are getting in the way of them being able to see what God is doing through the apostles. What part of your personality gets in the way of seeing God's hand at work around you? We can get stuck inside ourselves and cease to see the work that God is doing.

The apostles continued to teach and preach about Jesus and people continued to turn their hearts to Jesus. In our lives we still have this mission of turning people to Christ. Through our lives and our actions we let Christ shine through us and we attract other people to Christ. What qualities in other people attract you to Christ and what can you do to let your own light shine in the world around you.