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34 Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. 37 That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." (Acts 10:34-43 NRSV)
A blessed and safe Wednesday to you, ConCafe Family and to you, dear Reader, is my prayer for you. Let us continue to pray for one another, especially those who need our prayers and support. Let us pray for our needs to be ever before Him, and let's pray for peace, joy, and the wellbeing of all the world.
We come to the sermon of Peter after he received an important lesson from Christ Jesus Himself. He had just learned that God loves all people of all nations and he, Peter, was wrong in judging others without coming to know each person of a different background, race, or country. God shared with him a vision, while he was praying of a net filled with all kinds of animals and knowing Peter's hunger, spoke to him, "Arise, kill, and eat." Peter objected saying, "Lord, never! I've never eaten anything unclean!" And for three times this vision repeats the same. Finally, God says, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane." And as this vision closes, in walk the soldiers of a Roman officer who had been told by God to send for Peter to visit his home. Had this vision not come to him, he might have rejected the invitation of Cornelius and the matter, in Peter's mind, would have been closed, but the deeper intended revelation would have been missed. In reality, Paul was already visiting and converting Gentiles and now Peter, the chief of the disciples learns the truth of God's awesome love for all people.
No better time for you and me to learn this lesson if we have not yet learned it. All people stand in need of Christ's love and it matters not where they were yesterday, last year, or at the time of their birth. At the present, Christ stands ready to forgive all people who come asking for forgiveness. For it is in Christ Jesus that all who ask for mercy, will be shown mery; and it is in and through Christ Jesus that this forgiveness comes. Such was the reason the good news spread from Galilee, through Judea, and to the ends of the earth. Jesus, anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, healed the oppressed because God was with Him, and the disciples, including Peter, were witnesses of this; and though Jesus was hanged on a tree, He was raised on the third day and He appeared to many as proof of this great resurrection power. And we, who are witnesses to His love and mercy, are to share that with as many as we can, by whatever means we can, so that the world may come to know God.
Today can be a day of decision for you, dear friend, if you have nto come to know the good news was so that you and I could believe and have our lives transformed into faithful servants of the most high God. If we do not know we should accept all people and love them, that change can happen too, if we would but turn ourselves over to God. And this, because we pray there is still time for this to happen in us!
PRAYER: Loving Father, bless Your children to come to know You as the God of love and to become people of love who seek to bless the world with the awesome message of forgiveness of sins and transformation of all people. Use us and empower us to carry the good news; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord. Share a joyous form of love to someone you don't know yet today!
Receive my blessings of love and peace in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
