Acts - Week 36

Week 36 Acts 10, 11 

Day 1 

READ 

Acts 10:44-46 

44 Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. 45 The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. 46 For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God. 

Peter was not through speaking when suddenly the Holy Spirit fell on the listeners. Peter’s Jewish friends, who had experienced this on the Day of Pentecost—as recorded in Acts 2—were amazed They could not believe the Holy Spirit fell on Gentiles. The Gentiles spoke in other languages just as the Jewish believers had at Pentecost. This was a sign that Gentiles were now fully welcomed into the body of Christ. 

REFLECT 

Have you also been amazed at times the way God works? Can you recall a specific time? 

RESPOND 

Speaking in tongues (other languages) occurred only three times in the book of Acts. For these accounts read Acts 2:2-4; 10:45-47; and 19:5-7. These instances included three groups: Jews, Gentiles and followers of John the Baptist. All were accepted in the body of Christ. 

Day 2 

READ 

Acts 10:47-48 

Then Peter asked, 47 “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” 48 So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days. 

Now that these Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit—an indication of salvation—Peter asked why they should not be baptized. They were baptized by the authority (in the name) of the Lord Jesus Christ. This revealed their identification with Him and His followers. Cornelius was so pleased that he asked Peter to stay with them several days. This is Peter—a Jewish believer—being comfortable in a Gentile home. Peter’s friends in Jerusalem will not understand this. 

REFLECT 

Have you been misunderstood when you have done something you thought would please the Lord? Think about it. 

RESPOND 

Talk with your disciple about the need to stand strong when doing something to please the Lord and risking being misunderstood by your friends. 

Day 3 

READ 

Acts 11:1-3 

Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. 2 But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. 3 “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said. 

The Jewish believers in Jerusalem had not yet shed their Jewish customs. They could not believe that Peter actually entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them. The transition from the Old Testament law system to the Church Age was difficult for these new believers to accept. They were still tied to the diet and days of Judaism. Peter had been freed from this thinking although at times he also had problems.  

REFLECT 

Have you also had difficulties realizing you are free from the ceremonial regulations of the Old Testament law? The morals of the Ten Commandments still continue but not the ceremonial laws with all their regulations. 

REFLECT 

With your disciple, read Colossians 2:16-17 to see what the apostle Paul—a converted Jew—said about Jewish diet and days. Even believers in the 21^st century have difficulty accepting his statements. 

Day 4 

READ 

Acts 11:4-7 

Then Peter told them exactly what had happened. 5 “I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me. 6 When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, reptiles, and birds. 7 And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’ 

Defending himself, Peter now rehearses what occurred in his life that led up to his going to a Gentile home. He told of his vision of all kinds of animals and of hearing a voice telling him to kill and eat them. Because this included what the Jews considered unclean animals it was a horrifying thought to any good Jewish person. As the Jewish believers in Jerusalem listened to Peter recounting his vision, surely they thought, What will he do now? 

REFLECT 

Think about the times you have heard of some believer being caught in challenging circumstances or asked a difficult question. Did you wonder, What will he do now? 

RESPOND 

Talk with your disciple and ask if he or she has ever had to explain to believers—as Peter was now doing—reasons for your actions. Explain what the situation was. 

Day 5 

READ 

Acts 11:8-10 

8 “‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.’ 9 “But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’ 10 This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven. 

The Jewish believers calling Peter in question must have been relieved at his answer to kill and eat unclean animals. “No, Lord,” he replied. These same believers would be troubled, however, by what God said, “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” Peter mentioned that his vision of the animals happened three times before the sheet and animals were pulled back to heaven. A parallel is being made to the Jews who considered the Gentiles unclean now being made clean by God. 

REFLECT 

Think of the change in your life that resulted from trusting in Jesus as your Savior. It is as different as night and day—or from going from unclean to clean. 

RESPOND 

Ask your disciple what God has done to cause a change of thinking. Was it a better knowledge of the Scriptures, or perhaps a more mature believer explaining something?