Teaching Text

Acts 10:1-48, 11:15-18

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”

The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along. The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”

Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

…

“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

Sermon Recap

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy Silk continued our series through the Book of Acts, The Fifth Act, with a message from Acts 10 and 11 on the radical, history-altering gift of the Holy Spirit for all believers. In one of the most pivotal moments in the Early Church, we witness the Spirit of God falling not only on the Jewish believers, but also on Gentiles, revealing that salvation through Jesus is truly available to all.

Pastor Suzy began by drawing our attention to the rarity of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. The Spirit was not freely given, but selectively poured out, resting for a time on prophets or leaders, and dwelling temporarily in the Tabernacle, as God in His holiness could only abide where sin had been cleansed. Moses longed for the day when all of God’s people might be filled with His Spirit, and later Joel prophesied that God would pour His Spirit out on all flesh, but the way for this gift, Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension, would not come to pass for many generations. Even when the Spirit fell on the Jewish believers at Pentecost in Acts 2, the fullness of God’s promise had not yet been realized.

The true turning point comes in Acts 10, in a moment that would have been unthinkable to those shaped by this tradition of separation. Peter, a faithful Jew, receives a vision in which animals considered unclean are lowered before him, and God instructs him to eat. When Peter resists, God replies, “Do not call anything common that I have made clean.” This was not ultimately a statement about food; it was a revelation about people. What follows is a divine orchestration, as Peter is led to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile and Roman centurion, where he witnesses something astonishing: the Holy Spirit descends on those gathered there, just as He did at Pentecost.

This moment was not just shocking, but transformative. These Gentiles had not adopted the Jewish Law, had not been circumcised, and had not followed the traditional path of conversion, yet they received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Suzy reminded us that for Peter, this meant rethinking everything he had previously understood about holiness, identity, and belonging. The implications were profound. The early Jesus movement, once made up entirely of Jewish believers, could no longer be defined by cultural boundaries or legal adherence. The dividing wall between Jew and Gentile had been torn down, and the family of God was being expanded by the Spirit Himself. Gentiles could not be dismissed as unclean or unworthy, because what God had cleansed, no one could call common.

Pastor Suzy encouraged us to recognize that this was not only a historical moment, but a deeply personal one. This moment declared that the way Jesus created back to God was officially open to all people, and were it not for this widening of the Gospel, most of us would still be far from God. We could never have purified ourselves or earned the right to stand in His presence, but by the grace of Jesus, we have been washed clean, and now the Spirit of God can dwell within us, not occasionally or symbolically, but truly and continually.

The Spirit is not a secondary gift or a theological concept; He is the very presence of God, living in those who believe to teach, guide, correct, empower, and comfort us. The same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead now lives in us. In response, Pastor Suzy called to rejoice in our cleansing, to ask boldly for more of the Spirit, to submit to His guidance in prayer, and to walk in greater courage as witnesses to the truth of the Gospel. We are living in the fulfillment of what generations of believers only hoped for: the Spirit poured out on all flesh, making the unclean clean, and drawing people from every nation into the household of God.