Yesterday, in a blog titled All Nations?, we saw an extraordinary amount of text – from verse 1 of chapter 10 through verse 18 of chapter 11, 66 verses – devoted to Peter’s reluctance to go to Cornelius, a Roman soldier, and the flak he took from other Jewish leaders when he got back to Jerusalem. It took signs and wonders (a vision, an angelic visit, the visible and noisy coming of the Holy Spirit on Gentile believers) to at least accept the fact that the gospel is for everyone.

In the meantime, under the radar, there are just a few verses telling the story of how ordinary people were already proclaiming the good news to non-Jews with great results:

Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews. However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus. The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord. When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. (Acts 11.19 – 22, NLT)

The church at Antioch, which became (as we’ll see in chapter 13), the sending church was founded by ordinary laypeople and included Gentiles! God often uses people outside the established religious hierarchy. William Carey, often called the father of modern missions, was a poorly educated cobbler who pioneered the work in India in the 1800s. The story is often told:

In front of him, on his workbench, hung a map of the world which he himself had made. In the year 1786, he pleaded with other ministers of his denomination to take up work among the heathen but was greatly grieved when the chairman reproved him by saying, “Sit down, young man. When it pleases God to convert the heathen, He will do it without your help or mine!” – from the essay William Carey, The Cobbler who Gave India a Bible by Thomas John Bach.

God is at work among “unlikely” people and using unlikely people. Let’s not miss it!

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. (Acts 4.13, NLT)

The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” So the people came streaming from the village to see him. (John 4.28 – 30, NLT)

We open our look at Acts 10 – 14 with an important story that takes up all of chapter 10 and half of 11: Peter goes to the Gentiles. In chapter 10 we have the story as it unfolds. In chapter 11 Peter retells the story back in Jerusalem. If you’re not familiar with the story, you can read all of it here: Acts 10:1 – 11:18. (We’re following the 5x5x5 Reading Plan – join us!)

Jesus was clear:

[Jesus] said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24.46 – 48, ESV, emphasis mine)

One wonders what part of “all nations” did Peter not understand? Look what it took to get Peter to visit Cornelius:

• An angel visits Cornelius to tell him to fetch Peter (Acts 10.1 – 8)
• God gives Peter a vision with this tagline: “What God has made clean, do not call common.” (Acts 10.9 – 16)
• The Holy Spirit prompts Peter to go with the men from Cornelius. (Acts 10.17 – 20)

Peter arrives at Cornelius’ house where there are “many persons gathered.” Even then, it takes a few minutes for Peter to get started:

And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.” (Acts 10:28, 29, ESV)

Cornelius, who has just been called “common and unclean,” is very gracious: “It was kind of you to come. We are here to listen to what you have to say.”

Finally, Peter begins to preach:

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him... And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10.34, 35…42, 43, ESV)

And there is a powerful response: the people believe and God sends the Holy Spirit in the same manner as he did in Acts 2!

While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

So far in Acts, the “signs and wonders” have been done BY the apostles so that people might believe. (See, for example, the results of Peter’s miracles we looked at yesterday.) This time the sign was not for unbelievers but for Peter! An angelic visit to a Roman, a vision for Peter, Spirit prompting, and now the Holy Spirit coming as Peter explains to skeptical friends back in Jerusalem:

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?” (Acts 11.17, ESV)

God is gracious, sometimes helping his reluctant servants do what they’ve already been asked to do. Jonah comes to mind! Tomorrow we’ll see that God had more success using ordinary people than with the apostles! Stay tuned. In the meantime, whom am I reluctant to go to? Surely “they” aren’t included!

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7.9, 10, ESV)

We conclude last week’s readings with Acts 9, which opens with the dramatic conversion of Saul of Tarsus. We’ll have plenty of time to think about Saul (Paul) as we go along. I want to write about the end of Acts 9, which contains two miracles by Peter, both very reminiscent of things Peter saw Jesus do.

Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. (Acts 9.32 -34, ESV, emphasis mine)

Maybe this is fresh in my mind because we just watched The Chosen, Season 2, Episode 4, which ends with Jesus healing the man at the pool of Bethesda:

One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. (John 5.5 – 9, ESV, emphasis mine)

But the chapter isn’t done. Heal the lame? No problem! Raise the dead?

In those days [Tabitha (Dorcas)] became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. (Acts 9.37 – 41, ESV)

This is nearly exactly like the raising of Jairus’ daughter, and Peter was there:

And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. (Luke 8.51 – 55, ESV)

And the result of both miracles was more believers!

And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord….And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. (Acts 9.35…42, ESV)

You shall receive power… (Acts 1.8)

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (John 14.12, ESV)

Yesterday, we saw how the persecution erupting in Acts 8 scattered the believers, and the first one mentioned is another deacon: Philip.

Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city. (Acts 8.5 – 8, ESV)

Philip…proclaiming Christ…with power. It’s a theme we can’t get away from! And again, Philip is not one of the original 11 apostles. But when the apostles heard God was at work in Samaria, they came:

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8.14 – 17, ESV)

I don’t want to get into a technical discussion of why the apostles had to enable the new believers to receive the Holy Spirit – what’s important is that they did. Again, the power of the Holy Spirit residing in ordinary laypeople – and Samaritans at that! Remember, Jews hated Samaritans.

Back to our friend Philip who is in the middle of what we would call a major revival meeting in a large city, and he receives an unusual directive:

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he arose and went. (Acts 8.26, 27, ESV)

Wow. “He arose and went.” Not, “But Lord, I’m in the middle of a big meeting here…” It’s amazing what God can get done if he has people who are sensitive to his direction.

And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. (Acts 8.27 – 31, ESV)

Now here’s the good part. Remember all that training? The apostles preaching and teaching publicly and from house to house? The Spirit has directed Philip to this desert road and told him to talk with the Ethiopian. But the Spirit doesn’t have to tell Philip what to say. The Ethiopian is reading from Isaiah 53. And what does Philip do?

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. (Acts 8.35, ESV)

You probably know the story. The Ethiopian believed, is baptized, and “went on his way rejoicing.” (Read the whole story in Acts 8.26 – 40.) But Philip’s teaching was made possible because he had been paying attention to the apostles’ teaching! And now, God has created an inroad to Ethiopia.

Reaching the world is God’s work, done with God’s power under his direction, and he graciously allows us to participate.

But 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.” (Acts 1.8, ESV)

The first part of Acts 6 opens with the problem of unequal food distribution and ends with church growing:

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. (Acts 6.7, ESV)

And Stephen, one of the deacons just mentioned in Acts 6.5, is part of that outreach with, you guessed it, POWER:

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. (Acts 6.8, ESV)

Just in case you weren’t sure that signs and wonders weren’t limited to the apostles, here’s Stephen, not one of the original 11. Remember, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit…” (Acts 2.4)

But this time the story ends differently. Stephen is arrested for blaspheming Moses and God and in his defense preaches a stirring review of Old Testament history recorded in Acts 7. Here’s the close, which includes his theme and the result:

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7.51 – 60, ESV)

Just as Jesus did not use his power to prevent his crucifixion, neither does Stephen. He is killed and large-scale persecution breaks out:

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles…Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. (Acts 8.1, 4, ESV)

Where is God’s power? God’s power was with those who were scattered, preaching the word! We’ll see some detail tomorrow, but let’s just pause here and recall Jesus’ words:

But 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.” (Acts 1.8, ESV)

You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem–they had done a fine job of that, but they were still there! Teaching publicly and from house to house. Important work, but when is it finished? In my experience, church people are ready to go on mission after they’ve had “one more course.” But it’s always one more course. So God used the persecution to scatter the believers. Remember, many of them were from out of town to start with:

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. (Acts 2.5, ESV)

The persecution said, “Guys, it’s time to go home. You’re trained. Now GO! So they left, all EXCEPT the apostles, which I find amusing. They were all sent out except the ones whose title of “apostle” means “sent.” To be fair, we know that the eleven did go eventually: Thomas to India, for example. But here it’s a movement of scattered laypeople. We’ll see where that takes us.

I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. (1 Peter 1.1, MSG)

We’ve been walking through the challenges to the early community of believers that began with Ananias and Sapphira’s lying in Acts 5.1 – 11 and the apostles’ short stay in prison (thanks to an angel!) in Acts 5.17 – 23. So far, God’s power has won out, and we come to Acts 6: partiality.

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. (Acts 6.1, ESV)

Greek-speaking (out-of-town) Jews versus local Jews – discrimination (real or perceived) has always been with us, yes?

The apostles saw this in two ways: a problem that needed to be solved AND a potential distraction:

And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6.2 – 4, ESV)

Two observations here:

• They chose seven men, all with Greek names (Acts 6.5) to take care of this important matter. Feeding the poor and taking care of widows is important. (See, for example, Zechariah 7.9, 10.)
• By “prayer and ministry of the word,” the apostles did NOT mean, as some pastors today practice, 20 – 30 hours of preparation for one 30- 45-minute sermon. Bob, how do you know that?

Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. (Acts 5.42, NIV)

Their teaching was daily, in the temple courts (where people were gathering) and from house to house.

And the result of this simple strategy of appointing “deacons” to take care of food distribution while the apostles concentrated on their mission? First, we never about a food distribution problem again. Second:

So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. (Acts 6.7, NIV)

Continuing with POWER observations from Acts 5, we have the first records of difficulty. Members of the church, apparently believers, Ananias and Sapphira lied about the selling price of their property. Peter called them out. Then we had more signs and wonders (Acts 5:12 – 16).

In Jerusalem, city of God, where no good deed goes unpunished, the reward for the apostles’ healing a lot of people is that they get to go to prison:

But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. (Acts 5.17, 18, ESV)

And then the fun begins. Please don’t say that God doesn’t have a sense of humor! Can you picture the guards diligently and vigilantly guarding an empty prison?

But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” (Acts 5.19 – 23, ESV)

Forgive the alliteration – it’s a character flaw: there is opposition, but God’s power prevails over prevarication and prisons, and tomorrow we’ll see what happens to accusations of partiality.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15.13, ESV)

I intended to continue with more incidences of God’s power in Acts 5, but I have a “word of knowledge” story that’s too good not to share. Yesterday, I referred to Peter’s response to Ananias and Sapphira as a word of knowledge:

But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?” (Acts 5.3, ESV)

There are those today who believe that all such manifestations of God’s power in the book of Acts have ceased. (They’re called “cessationists.”) Here’s a story of such a fellow from J.P. Moreland’s book A Simple Guide to Experience Miracles. Remember, Dr. Moreland is a respected professor of philosophy at Talbot Seminary. Dr. Moreland was at the front of the church available to pray for people after a service. He saw a young man approaching, and here’s the story from there.

Along the way, a clear thought had come into my mind from the outside: Tell him not to leave his current ministry. That was it. So after receiving permission to pray and lay hands on the young man, I said, “I have a sense that the Lord may be giving me a word for you—namely, you are not to leave your current ministry.” His jaw practically hit the floor. He responded, “Dr. Moreland, I graduated from Dallas Seminary, and I don’t believe in signs and wonders, including God’s ability to speak outside the Bible. But I heard you were preaching at this Vineyard church, so I came to hear you. Here’s the crazy thing—I’m a leader of a local parachurch ministry, and I’ve been struggling the last few weeks about whether or not I should leave and look for a new ministry.” (Page 152, emphasis mine)

Back to my blog about the falling iguanas weather forecast, just because I don’t know about something or don’t believe in something doesn’t make it not real. God is at work, I’m making it a goal not to miss what he’s doing or what he wants to do.

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

• for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit,
• to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,
• to another faith by the same Spirit,
• to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
• to another the working of miracles,
• to another prophecy,
• to another discerning of spirits,
• to another different kinds of tongues,
• to another the interpretation of tongues.

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12.4 – 11, NKJV, bulleted for clarity)

We continue looking at the book of Acts – last week, the 5x5x5 Reading Plan had us in Acts 5 – 9. As we would expect in any story that starts with a bang, successes at every turn, when is the “uh-oh” coming? And we’re not disappointed. It starts with deception in the ranks:

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. (Acts 5.1, 2, ESV)

But the central message of Acts 5 is more POWER. It starts with what some would call today “a word of knowledge.”

But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?” (Acts 5.3, ESV)

You can read the whole story here, which ends, after the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, with this understatement:

And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. (Acts 5.11, ESV)

A friend of mine was reading this chapter with someone who had never read it before, and that new believer exclaimed, “Well I guess!”

First problem solved, and we’re right back into POWER:

Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles…And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. (Acts 5.12 – 16, ESV)

More success, followed by a continuation of the Acts 4 persecution. Details to follow.

But 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. (Acts 1.8, ESV)

You’ve seen the old unofficial motto of the Postal Service, haven’t you?

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

I haven’t put much stock in it since moving to Colorado: our guys don’t come out in heavy snow (nor do I expect them to). It’s apparently a different story in the northeast. In the middle of CNN’s reporting of the historic blizzard last weekend in New England was this inspiring act:

For Nick, about whom I know nothing except this report, it’s just another day at the office. You have to be impressed with his dedication, yes, faithfulness.

What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2.2, ESV, emphasis mine)