Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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Well Mark, just before the break
we were looking in Acts chapter
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10 at this wonderful
story of Cornelius coming to an
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understanding of the need to
get more light because God sent
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him a message saying you need
to connect with Peter and Peter
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will give you information that
is going to bless you. So in
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order to do that God had to help
bring down some barriers with
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Peter so he gives him a vision
to help him understand that God
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was not calling any man common
or unclean. We're going to pick
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up here with that statement in
verse 28 where Peter is speaking
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to this group, Cornelius and
those that Cornelius had sent
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for. In verse 28 it says, Then
he said to them, You know how
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unlawful it is for a Jewish man
to keep company with or go to
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one of another nation. But God
has shown me that I should not
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call any man common or unclean.
Therefore, I came without
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objection as soon as I was
sent for. I asked then, For what
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reason have you sent for me. So
Peter simply says, Okay now the
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barrier has been removed, I'm
here, what would you like me to
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share with you. Then Cornelius
begins to explain what happened.
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He was fasting and praying and
he received revelation that he
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should connect with Peter. Then
in verse 33 he says, So I sent
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to you immediately and you have
done well to come. Now therefore
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we are all present before God
to hear all the things commanded
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you by God. So Peter the floor
is yours. So verse 34, Peter
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opens his mouth and says, In
truth I perceive that God shows
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no partiality, but in every
nation whoever fears him and
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works righteousness is accepted
by him. Wow! What a powerful and
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transcendent truth that if
only our world had accepted...
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You know if you look back
through the history of our world
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all the examples of oppression,
of discrimination, of certain
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classes being favored over
others. But this passage is
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powerful. In truth I perceive
that God shows no partiality.
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There are no favorites with
God. We are inclined sometimes
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without even thinking,
subconsciously to look upon
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some with more favor than
others even if it's by outward
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appearance or whatever the case
might be, God understands and
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sees and knows everything and
with God there is no partiality.
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I think when he says here
in verse 35, In every nation
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whoever fears him and works
righteousness is accepted by
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him. This is a word of
encouragement to Cornelius
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because Cornelius is one of
those who though he wasn't a
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part of the Jewish nation,
he feared God and he did have
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righteous works and he therefore
is accepted by God. This is a
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beautiful passage. But I
think with every truth there are
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ditches on both sides and while
there are some who would fall
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down the problematic view of
discrimination or oppression,
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there is the other view which
says well because of that we
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should really view no one
with respect or have a sense of
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respect for authority
because we are really all equal.
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But remember that equality with
God is not the same of having
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equal functions or roles.
Even in heaven the angels have
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different functions and roles.
We understand that Gabriel has
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great authority in terms of his
breadth of job description if
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you will. Perhaps that's not the
case with other angles and yet
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they work as wheel within a
wheel, all are equally important
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all are equally valued but they
have different roles. I think
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back to the story in the Old
Testament of Korah who believed
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that Moses was taking too much
upon himself and thought that
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any one of he and his kinsmen
could perform the work of the
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priest that Aaron was performing
and yet God made it very clear
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that that wasn't the case. That
there was a position that he had
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placed certain ones in and
everyone was to honor that.
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So giving honor and respect
to those who God places in
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different positions doesn't mean
that you're showing partiality
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and we need to be careful not
to try to take upon ourselves
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the sense as Korah did and try
to usurp authority but rather
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have respect for it.
Right. So when Cornelius heard
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that God shows no partiality we
don't hear him saying to Peter
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well listen hey I'm a centurion
I've got at least as much
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responsibility as you ever had
as a fisherman and I ought to be
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an apostle. We don't see that.
So he was content to be in a
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role as a layperson. Role I
say but understand he had full
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equality with the apostles which
was what Peter taught. Peter
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goes on here then to teach
in verse 36 as he's sharing here
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the message that he came with,
The word which God sent to the
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children of Israel preaching
peace through Jesus Christ.
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He is Lord of all. That word
you know which was proclaimed
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throughout all Judea and began
from Galilee after the baptism
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which John preached how God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with
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the Holy Spirit and with power
who went about doing good and
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healing all who were oppressed
by the devil for God was with
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him. There's a lot to be said
here, but you know here's Jesus
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who was just crucified and
evidently Cornelius knew enough
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about this experience of Jesus
because Peter says, That word
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you know. He says he went about
doing good. It's hard to imagine
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that somebody... let's see, he
was just put to death, what was
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he guilty of? Oh well, he went
about doing good and healing
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those who were oppressed. So
Peter shares this and then he
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says in verse 39, of course,
he says this word you know so
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there's some acquaintance
with the person of Jesus that
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Cornelius had. But verse 39
says And we are witnesses of all
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these things which he did both
in the land of the Jews and in
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Jerusalem who they killed
by hanging on a tree. Him God
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raised up on the third day and
showed him openly, not to all
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the people but to witnesses
chosen before by God, even to us
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who ate and drank with him after
he rose from the dead. So again
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Peter is capitalizing on the
true meaning of the word witness
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We were there, we saw, we
experienced and we are telling
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you that what you
heard of Jesus is all true.
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We're testifying and bearing
witness of that. And he goes on
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to say verse 42, And he
commanded us to preach to the
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people and to testify that it
is he who is ordained by God to
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judge of the living and the dead
To him all the prophets bear
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witness that through his name
whoever believes in his name
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will receive remission of
sins. And this happened to be
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Cornelius. He was believing in
the name of Jesus. So Peter also
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ties in scripture here. All
the prophets agree with what I'm
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telling you, we are eye
witnesses and this is what the
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scripture has taught.
It's not some new teaching.
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And Cornelius salvation has come
to your house. So it's powerful
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here. Another thing that I want
to touch on is in this discourse
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Peter gives he says that
the word, in verse 36, which God
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sent to the children of Israel
preaching peace through Jesus
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Christ. He is Lord of all.
Preaching peace. It's important
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to note that this is a keynote
in scripture that we find.
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Like for example in the
New Testament letters of the
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apostles, often times they begin
the letter by talking about
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grace and peace to you from God.
I think of the angels when they
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came and proclaimed the birth
of Jesus. They said, Glory to
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God in the highest and on earth
peace, good will toward men.
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In other words, peace from God.
Paul says in Romans chapter 5
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that having been justified by
faith we have peace with God and
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we have to keep this in mind
that the absence of peace with
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God does not come because
God is fighting against man but
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humanity has been arrayed
against the will of God and so
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when we're proclaiming
peace through Jesus, Jesus is an
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ambassador of peace to come to
this earth and say, God is not
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fighting against you but God is
imploring you to stop fighting
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against him and to accept
his will in your life. So Peter
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brings this message of peace to
Cornelius and says God has not
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excluded you, Cornelius.
If you're willing to open your
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heart to him you're accounted
as one of his and so we see then
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a response in
the following verses.
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This is a powerful passage. I
mean he appeals to the fact that
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they were witnesses chosen by
God. They saw all these things.
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And he appeals to the scripture
and how the prophets bear
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witness to the same thing. Then
as they're hearing this word
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being preached it says in
verse 44, While Peter was still
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speaking these words the Holy
Spirit fell upon all those who
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heard the word. Now the first
thing we note here is there was
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a previous passage we read where
when they laid hands upon, I
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believe it was the believers in
Samaria, that they received the
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Holy Spirit and Simon the
sorcerer thought that maybe he
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could pay for that. But here we
find that they received the Holy
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Spirit, but there was no laying
on of hands. The reason I'm
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bringing this up is because
sometimes we see a description
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of something in the Bible such
as them laying on hands and we
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think, Oh, that's how you
receive the Holy Spirit and we
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just want to go and mimic that.
But remember there are passages
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such as narratives we see here
in the book of Acts that are
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descriptive but are not
necessarily prescriptive.
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They are not prescribing
what we should do but they're
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describing what happened. Here
we see a different description
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in which there was no laying on
of hands. We need to understand
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that laying hands on someone
is not how you confer the Holy
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Spirit to someone and this
makes that very clear because it
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wasn't necessary for the Holy
Spirit to come. In verse 45 it
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says, And those of the
circumcision who believed were
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astonished, as many as came with
Peter, because the gift of the
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Holy Spirit had been poured out
on the gentiles also, for they
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heard them speak with tongues
and magnify God. Now here's
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another example of speaking
in tongues coming. But remember
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what we've said, the clearest
description of the speaking in
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tongues in the New Testament
is found in Acts chapter 2 where
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they spoke these languages that
could be easily understood, or
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could be understood by those
who were from that land that the
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tongue was referring to.
But here it says they heard them
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speak with tongues and magnify
God. So we get a little hint as
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well that they must have
been able to understand what was
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being said or else they wouldn't
have known that they were
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magnifying God. But then it says
Peter answered and he said, Can
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anyone forbid water that these
should not be baptized. And he
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commanded in verse 48, Them to
be baptized in the name of the
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Lord and asked them to
stay a few days. So a wonderful
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experience. The Holy Spirit
comes. Where there's preaching
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the Holy Spirit, a deep
conversion and then this big
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baptism. You would think that
would be a very exciting day in
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the life of the church.
But that's not exactly how the
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response came in chapter 11.
No. In chapter 11 it says, Now
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the apostles and brethren
who were in Judea heard that the
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gentiles had also received the
word of God and when Peter came
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up to Jerusalem those of the
circumcision contended with him.
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So they were upset with him and
Peter goes and tells the story
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of how this thing worked out and
when we go ahead to verse 15 it
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says Peter still talking here,
And as I began to speak the
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Holy Spirit fell upon them
as upon us at the beginning and
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they remembered the word of the
Lord how he said, John indeed
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baptized with water but you
shall be baptized with the Holy
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Spirit. If, therefore, God gave
them the same gift as he gave
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us when we believed on the Lord
Jesus, who was I that I could
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withstand God. And of course,
then the church glorified God
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and praised God because
they saw his hand in it.
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That's right. You know, as
we're looking at this we have to
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remember that just because the
Holy Spirit was poured out on
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the gentiles that wasn't
the only evidence that God was
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granting life to the gentiles.
Peter had received prophetic
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vision to come to that
understanding. So we have to
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remember that not only were
there the miracles but the word
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or prophetic inspiration
always testified to this truth.
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Well we're out of time
once again so we look forward to
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seeing you next time
on Books of the Book.
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