The Great Commission is to witness for Christ to the whole world, but until Acts 10 no one had believed that Gentiles could be saved on the same terms as Jewish people, who had been chosen for salvation by God’s sovereign grace. God used Peter to open the gospel door to the Gentile. By reception of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongue, God demonstrated the Gentile received the same salvation just like the Jews.
My sharing: Peter’s reply “By no means, Lord” (10:14) is a self-contradiction. If Jesus is our Lord, how can we say no to our master. Yet, this is often our response. I don’t feel comfortable to share the gospel with a “foreigner,” people who don’t the same language and same background with me. However, I am compelled to do that. Very often, we are like those persecuted Christians in 11:19, “speaking the word to no one except Jews.” But there is a group who sharing the gospel with the Gentiles (11:20). They later becomes the mission-minded Antioch church, the one that sent out Paul.
My sharing: Peter’s reply “By no means, Lord” (10:14) is a self-contradiction. If Jesus is our Lord, how can we say no to our master. Yet, this is often our response. I don’t feel comfortable to share the gospel with a “foreigner,” people who don’t the same language and same background with me. However, I am compelled to do that. Very often, we are like those persecuted Christians in 11:19, “speaking the word to no one except Jews.” But there is a group who sharing the gospel with the Gentiles (11:20). They later becomes the mission-minded Antioch church, the one that sent out Paul.
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