Scripture referenced 7 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Psalm 103 opening call to worship, bless the Lord oh my soul
1 Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name!
2 Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits;
3 who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases;
4 who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies;
5 who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 Yahweh executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel.
8 Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.
9 He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.
14 For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.
17 But Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children;
18 to those who keep his covenant, to those who remember to obey his precepts.
19 Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens. His kingdom rules over all.
20 Praise Yahweh, you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, obeying the voice of his word.
21 Praise Yahweh, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure.
22 Praise Yahweh, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise Yahweh, my soul!
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Keep this verse
Psalm 147
quoted as how good it is to sing praises to our God
1 Praise Yah, for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and fitting to praise him.
2 Yahweh builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite.
6 Yahweh upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing to Yahweh with thanksgiving. Sing praises on the harp to our God,
8 who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.
9 He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.
10 He doesn’t delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his loving kindness.
12 Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem! Praise your God, Zion!
13 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has blessed your children within you.
14 He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sends out his commandment to the earth. His word runs very swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool, and scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them. He causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 He shows his word to Jacob; his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
20 He has not done this for just any nation. They don’t know his ordinances. Praise Yah!
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Isaiah 40
the grass withers, the flowers fade, the word of God stands forever
1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.
2 “Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.”
3 The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.
5 Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
6 The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
9 You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Don’t be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?
14 Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
19 A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.
21 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;
23 who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless.
24 They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.
25 “To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking.
27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?”
28 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.
30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;
31 But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.
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Acts 1:8
you will receive power from on high, used to connect the Spirit falling at Pentecost to what happened at Cornelius's house
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
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Acts 10
prior week's sermon covering Peter's vision and visit to Cornelius
1 Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,
2 a devout man, and one who feared God with all his house, who gave gifts for the needy generously to the people, and always prayed to God.
3 At about the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God coming to him, and saying to him, “Cornelius!”
4 He, fastening his eyes on him, and being frightened, said, “What is it, Lord?” He said to him, “Your prayers and your gifts to the needy have gone up for a memorial before God.
5 Now send men to Joppa, and get Simon, who is also called Peter.
6 He lodges with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the seaside.
7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those who waited on him continually.
8 Having explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
9 Now on the next day as they were on their journey, and got close to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray at about noon.
10 He became hungry and desired to eat, but while they were preparing, he fell into a trance.
11 He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth,
12 in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky.
13 A voice came to him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!”
14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
15 A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.”
16 This was done three times, and immediately the vessel was received up into heaven.
17 Now while Peter was very perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood before the gate,
18 and called and asked whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was lodging there.
19 While Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men seek you.
20 But arise, get down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”
21 Peter went down to the men, and said, “Behold, I am he whom you seek. Why have you come?”
22 They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man and one who fears God, and well spoken of by all the nation of the Jews, was directed by a holy angel to invite you to his house, and to listen to what you say.”
23 So he called them in and provided a place to stay. On the next day Peter arose and went out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.
24 On the next day they entered into Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them, having called together his relatives and his near friends.
25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet, and worshiped him.
26 But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.”
27 As he talked with him, he went in and found many gathered together.
28 He said to them, “You yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation, but God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean.
29 Therefore also I came without complaint when I was sent for. I ask therefore, why did you send for me?”
30 Cornelius said, “Four days ago, I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,
31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer is heard, and your gifts to the needy are remembered in the sight of God.
32 Send therefore to Joppa, and summon Simon, who is also called Peter. He lodges in the house of a tanner named Simon, by the seaside. When he comes, he will speak to you.’
33 Therefore I sent to you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God to hear all things that have been commanded you by God.”
34 Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly I perceive that God doesn’t show favoritism;
35 but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.
36 The word which he sent to the children of Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all—
37 you yourselves know what happened, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;
38 even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
39 We are witnesses of everything he did both in the country of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they also killed, hanging him on a tree.
40 God raised him up the third day, and gave him to be revealed,
41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen before by God, to us, 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 this is he who is appointed by God as the Judge of the living and the dead.
43 All the prophets testify about him, that through his name everyone who believes in him will receive remission of sins.”
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word.
45 They of the circumcision who believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was also poured out on the Gentiles.
46 For they heard them speaking in other languages and magnifying God. Then Peter answered,
47 “Can anyone forbid these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just like us.”
48 He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay some days.
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Acts 11:1-18
main preaching text, Peter defends the Gentile mission to the Jerusalem believers
1 Now the apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
2 When Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those who were of the circumcision contended with him,
3 saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men, and ate with them!”
4 But Peter began, and explained to them in order, saying,
5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: a certain container descending, like it was a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners. It came as far as me.
6 When I had looked intently at it, I considered, and saw the four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky.
7 I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter, kill and eat!’
8 But I said, ‘Not so, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered into my mouth.’
9 But a voice answered me the second time out of heaven, ‘What God has cleansed, don’t you call unclean.’
10 This was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven.
11 Behold, immediately three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent from Caesarea to me.
12 The Spirit told me to go with them, without discriminating. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house.
13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying to him, ‘Send to Joppa, and get Simon, who is called Peter,
14 who will speak to you words by which you will be saved, you and all your house.’
15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning.
16 I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.’
17 If then God gave to them the same gift as us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?”
18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life!”
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Romans 10:9-10
benediction, if you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe God raised him you will be saved
9 that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Acts 11:1-18 was the text for this message, a passage that retells the story of Peter and Cornelius from the previous chapter, but now from the angle of Peter defending himself before the Jewish believers back in Jerusalem. Pastor Ray walked through how the Jerusalem church responded to the news that Gentiles had received the word of God, and what it took to move them from criticism to praise. He connected that story to the larger movement of the gospel outward to all nations.
What was said
When Peter returned to Jerusalem after staying with the Gentile Cornelius, the Jewish believers did not celebrate. They criticized him for entering a Gentile home and eating with Gentiles. Pastor Ray noted how jarring that response is given the spiritual significance of what had just happened, and pointed out that the criticism was not about doctrine but about a boundary the religious community had built around itself.
Peter's response was not to argue or defend his feelings but to give an orderly account of exactly what happened. He walked them through his vision in Joppa, the sheet lowering from heaven, the voice telling him not to call anything impure that God had made clean, and the arrival of the three men from Caesarea at the very moment he was puzzling over what it meant. Pastor Ray emphasized that Peter stuck to observable facts and brought six witnesses along, knowing that eyewitness testimony was what the situation required.
The confirmation that moved things forward was that Cornelius had also received a vision, independently and at the same time. Pastor Ray pointed to an earlier parallel in Acts where Saul and Ananias each received visions about the other before they ever met. God had coordinated both sides of the encounter before either man fully understood what was happening, and Peter held that up as the reason he could not stand in God's way.
When the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles in the same way it had fallen on the Jewish believers at the beginning, Peter saw it as the fulfillment of what Jesus had said about baptism with the Holy Spirit. He put the question plainly: who was he to stand in God's way? Pastor Ray underlined that Peter was not saying the conduct or practices of the Gentiles did not matter, but that he was not permitted to treat any person as impure or unclean and therefore outside the reach of the gospel.
The Jerusalem believers stopped objecting and began praising God. Pastor Ray drew attention to the specific language they used: they said God had given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting. He paused on that word privilege, asking the congregation whether they thought of their own repentance that way, and suggesting that to see your own sin clearly and be able to walk away from it is something that could easily be taken for granted.
Pastor Ray briefly previewed next week's passage, which picks up the story of scattered believers carrying the gospel as far as Antioch, at first only to Jews and then, in some cases spontaneously, to Gentiles as well. He noted that the word of God moving outward was not always the result of a coordinated plan but of ordinary believers going where they went and speaking what they knew, led by the Spirit.
He closed by telling the congregation that he and his wife Tanya are leaving later that week for roughly a month in South Africa and Kenya, visiting two ministries the church supports. He described the trip as consistent with what Acts itself describes: going without knowing every detail of what God will do in the middle, leaving room for interruptions that turn out to be the actual ministry. He asked the congregation to pray for them and received a prayer of commissioning from the floor before the service closed.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Peter's critics in Jerusalem objected to him eating with Gentiles before they even heard what happened. When have you found yourself reacting to someone's choices before you understood the full story, and what changed your mind?
- Peter told the Jerusalem believers the story 'exactly as it happened,' sticking to the facts rather than his own feelings and interpretations. Why do you think that approach was more persuasive, and how might that shape the way we share what God has done in our own lives?
and 4 more questions in the guide
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