Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This sermon was preached on 3/6/2012 As we have observed repeatedly throughout our studies in the Book of Acts, the emphasis of Luke is on what Jesus was doing from heaven as he ruled there on behalf of his church on earth. So whenever we come to a new section, we should ask ourselves, ‘What did Jesus do in that incident?’ We can even ask, ‘Why did he do that activity?’ The main player in the drama involving Cornelius is not Cornelius, nor is it Peter. Instead it is Jesus and he is doing at least two things in this incident. One is that he finds a seeking sinner called Cornelius and the other is that he opens up his church to the Gentiles. We will consider the first activity today and we will look at the second activity when we return to the chapter in a few weeks’ time. Cornelius, the seeking sinner Cornelius was a Gentile soldier from Italy who had discovered that his original way of life was not very satisfying. He had had a good military career, having attained the rank...

This sermon was preached on 20/5/2012 When we read incidents in the lives of Bible characters it is necessary to remember that they are not finished articles. Usually each of them has made some spiritual progress, but still has a good way to go. This is true of Simon Peter, whether in the stories in the Gospels or those in the Book of Acts. It is also true whether he is involved in little decisions or important occasions. Peter was always a disciple in progress. In the final verse of the previous chapter (Acts 9) Luke tells us that Peter went to stay with a man called Simon the tanner. This was a strange choice in at least one way because a Jew would be regarded as ceremoniously unclean if he came in contact with dead bodies. Of course, Peter had been taught by Jesus that the ceremonial law would be abrogated and would no longer be binding on his people. Yet Peter made slow progress in this regard. Nevertheless we can also say that Peter’s choice was a spiritual one, that his dec...