Devotion to Community and God

Acts 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, 2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always.  3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. 4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.

I. Cornelius…his name alone tells you that he was a person that wasn’t in his environment. He was a soldier of the Roman Army in a land that they had occupied. He was stationed in Caesarea just north of Jerusalem in Israel. Here was a Roman in Israel. His belief since he was a child to be acquainted with all the gods of the Romans. He was taught a different religion all of his life. One that didn’t ever connect him to One true God…or as scripture states there is One Lord, One Faith and One Baptism….for the first time the worship of the Jewish people had intrigued him that there was one God to worship and that they had temples dedicated to this God. His spirit began to hunger and to thirst for the true God and his mind began to think is there more than what I have had? Have you ever wondered if there was more to life than what you have experienced? All his earthly needs were met, yet he still hungered for a deeper spiritual life, a yearning within that couldn’t be satisfied with the accomplishments politically in the Roman empire or in his own accomplishments. He asked himself the question …is there more….so he even did more… look at what he did.

II. He gave much alms or charity…out of his curious search for moral correctness and a relationship with God it made him a charitable man. He didn’t just tip the community he was generous with the community. Here he was a man that was linked to the Romans who collected taxes of the Jewish people giving more to the community out of his heart. He gave money that helped the poor, he gave money that helped build synagogues and Jewish temples he gave to the causes that he saw before him in his world that effected the people he was with and the ones he was involved with. His charity impacted his immediate community and the community viewed him as a different kind of Roman. Charity is a powerful gift to a community and it was out of his generosity that it even deepened his heart to know more about God….His compassion to the community created within him a desire to pray. Not only was he generous but he was also praying.

III. He prayed to God always…he was effected by what he saw in Jerusalem, he saw the oppression of the people by the government and his own people he identified with the suffering. The suffering caused him to seek God and a God that could do something for the people and the community. Compassion is a powerful thing that will even cause you to pray for those that are hurting. Cornelius saw suffering and began to pray. His prayers were to uplift the community. To help the world in its current conditions. I am sure he was a world thinker as he was in an empire with world domination and influence but he saw things differently through the eyes of compassion. Oh that the whole community could view the homeless situation as suffering and not certain individuals trying to figure out ways to remove and channel or pass laws to reduce it. The community that fails to assist the Lord is the community that fails. We must be Faith based , we must be charitable, we must seek to do the will of God without harm. You know you can be Faith Based and never say a word about Christ as some organizations have opted to received Federal money. He was an official of the government but he knew he didn’t have the answer alone so he prayed. He prayed for change, he prayed for hope, he prayed for more, he prayed that oppression of people would cease to exist…He was faithful to God yet there was more for him…notice because he was concerned what took place..

IV. The Angel of the Lord…the Angel appears to him and tells him specifically to call for Peter, the Apostle unknown to him that at the same time the Lord spoke to Peter that three men would seek him to go to the house of Cornelius. This is truly a divine moment. The angel tells Cornelius that your giving and your prayers have come up before God as a memorial….that God himself recognizes such things and causes him to remember and pause about the person doing such things in the earth. The angel directs him to Peter and Peter in return goes and visit’s the household of Cornelius…Cornelius gathers all his household to listen to the words of Peter as Peter in obedience went to Cornelius home afraid and concerned because he wasn’t Jewish but was a Roman Soldier…but God had different plans….Peter began to open up and share with him what had happened to the Lord Jesus. How he was taken by wicked hands and by Herod and Pontius Pilot was tried , falsely accused and was crucified. Peter shared the Christian faith with Cornelius from the moment of its conception to the current events. As Cornelius listened the Holy Spirit entered his house and the Blessing of Christ came upon them and entered their hearts. There was a moment of joy and blessing a God moment in the life of Cornelius that God had honored his heart and sent his Apostle to guide him into a relationship with his Son the Lord Jesus. Cornelius received this truth this teaching this wonderful news and God confirmed it through his holy spirit. Oh that today we would all be open to the words of life and the love of Christ. This is a time that if God was fulfilling this promise in the days of the roman empire, he is still today fulfilling this promise in our times. For listen to this verse about the times of the Gentiles…(Cornelius was a gentile)… Luke 24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled…(you know from that moment the Faith and Gentiles receiving it spread) listen to this verse: Romans 3: 29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:

 30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

Cornelius was a Gentile, and his time had come…according to scripture he was the first convert recorded who was a gentile.. Our moment has come and it is time for us to cease the time of our salvation. May we all have an experience with God that leads us into a relationship with him.

The Lord Bless you today.