Outsiders are Welcome

How God Rewrote the Rules in Acts 11

Pray for Honduras Girls / Pray for Don who lost his brother James.

A wife was really getting upset with her Husband because he’d been on Facebook Marketplace all day long. She made a decision, if he was still one there the next day then she was going to lower the price.

If you’ve read The Outsiders, you know it’s about a group of kids who never felt like they belonged—misunderstood, rejected, and left out. It's a story about the Greasers, labeled and looked down on by society, just trying to survive in a world where the rules are stacked against them. But beneath the fights and the rebellion, there’s a deeper cry: “Do I matter? Is there a place for me?”

That same cry echoes in Acts 11.

For the first time, outsiders—Gentiles—were being welcomed into the family of God. Not after jumping through religious hoops. Not after becoming someone else. But just as they were.

God was rewriting the rules.

In Acts 11, we see something powerful: God welcoming the outsiders in.

The apostle Peter was returning to Jerusalem after a groundbreaking event, non-Jews, had received the message of salvation and been filled with the Holy Spirit. But instead of celebrating, some Jewish believers criticize him for entering a Gentile home and eating with them.

Peter told them about how he received a vision from God and that the Holy Spirit told him to go to preach to these outsiders. He told them what happened when he preached the gospel:

Acts 11:15 CEV

15 After I started speaking, the Holy Spirit was given to them, just as the Spirit had been given to us at the beginning.

The Holy Spirit fell on these outsiders just like He did on the Jews on the day of Pentecost.

It was God’s way of saying: No one is too far. No one is too different. Everyone is welcome.

How did the Jewish believers respond to Peter’s testimony?

Acts 11:18 CEV

18 When they heard Peter say this, they stopped arguing and started praising God. They said, “God has now let Gentiles turn to him, and he has given life to them!”

God rewrote the rules. Outsiders are welcome now.

Theme: God’s Spirit breaks down barriers and invites everyone into His family, even those we least expect. Through the bold obedience of Peter and the undeniable work of the Holy Spirit, we see that God's grace is not limited by culture, tradition, or human opinion.

Aim: Challenge the church to welcome God's unexpected work, obey the leading of the Holy Spirit, even when it stretches our comfort, and recognize that no one is beyond the reach of God's saving grace.

Obedience or Rebellion

In this scripture we see that the line of obedience vs. rebellion was hard to see if you didn’t have the whole story. Or if you have the wrong perspective. God clearly spoke to Peter to go to the gentiles, but God didn’t tell the other believers this was going to happen.

Peter’s obedience didn’t look like he was being a faithful follower of Jesus. To the other believers it looked like he was breaking an important custom.

They weren’t being mean. They just didn’t understand yet. They were holding onto what they’d always believed was right. But here’s the thing, God was doing something new, and it didn’t fit their old ways of doing things.

Let me ask you, have you ever followed God and people thought you were nuts?

In my life, there have been MANY times God led us through things and people looked at us as if we were doing the wrong thing.

Sometimes walking in obedience will cost you approval BUT if God is in it, it’s worth the cost!

Acts 5:29 CEV

29 Peter and the apostles replied: We don’t obey people. We obey God.

and

Isaiah 55:8 CEV

8 The Lord says: “My thoughts and my ways are not like yours.

Faith or Fear

We can see something important about how God leads us from this passage of scripture. It’s really the choice to walk in faith or walk in fear.

Peter just had this strange vision about eating unclean animals, and then there were these strange men at his door. And he said this:

Acts 11:12 CEV

12 The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry…

Now, on the surface, that doesn’t seem too difficult to do, right? But put yourself in his shoes…you just had this crazy vision and now dudes you’ve never met are telling you to come with them. Seems sketchy to me!

The Holy Spirit Leads Even When We Don’t Get the Full Picture

Peter didn’t go to Cornelius’ house because he had it all figured out. He went because the Spirit told him to go.

That’s important.

Obedience doesn’t always come with full understanding. God didn’t give Peter a blueprint, He gave him a nudge, a vision, and a command.

There have been times in my life where I’ve had to say “yes” to God without knowing all the details. Maybe you’re there right now. Maybe God is asking you to step out, forgive someone, start something, or say something—and it doesn’t make sense. Trust His voice.

So, the heart of the story and of the message is found in verses 15-17:

Acts 11:15–17 CEV

15 After I started speaking, the Holy Spirit was given to them, just as the Spirit had been given to us at the beginning. 16 I remembered that the Lord had said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 17 God gave those Gentiles the same gift that he gave us when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So how could I have gone against God?

God is Calling Everyone

I don’t know if you have heard, but there is a teaching that says God is only calling certain people. No person is outside the love Christ has for the world. We must be careful not to reject anyone. We must trust God to reach even those whom we think are too far gone. It’s His work, not ours.

John 3:16–17 CEV

16 God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. 17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!

All people are allowed in. There are no outsiders! If you call on Jesus, you will be saved and given an EQUAL place at His table.

Galatians 3:28 CEV

28 Faith in Christ Jesus is what makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman.

Peter confirmed this when he was speaking at the house where people got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit:

Acts 10:34–35 NLT

34 Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. 35 In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right.

When the Spirit of God fell on those outsiders that day, Peter realized that God was calling EVERYONE.

If God says someone belongs, who are we to say they don’t?

I think one of the things I like most about this story is the response of the Jewish believers. I mean, I LOVE that God welcomed in the Outsiders, but there is something very special about the unity in the early church that pushed them forward in God’s will. And we should learn from it today.

God is Moving, We need to Move with Him

Here’s a promise: Everyone will ALWAYS have their own opinion about EVERYTHING. The church is no different. You are not going to like everything that we do here at the church. Actually, you aren’t going to like every person in this church. Some people are going to rub you the wrong way.

Let me tell you something. I pastored a church once that had orange pews. They were great. They served a purpose. People donated those pews in 1969 and each one had a gold plate at the end with the name of the person who made the donation. I made the call that it was time to replace the pews with chairs. One the surface, it made sense to me. We could move the chairs for cleaning, add more or take some away depending on the event, and it would modernize the look of the sanctuary.

Let me ask you, do you think everyone was excited with the idea of taking out the pews? NO - they weren’t. In fact there was a couple that I loved who never came back once I made the annoucement about the change. It was heart breaking to me, but I had to keep moving forward in what I felt the Lord was leading us to do at the time.

We need to make sure that we aren’t to tied to our own traditions that we forget to see what God is doing. We need to remain grounded in His Word, but we also need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirits leading. Church is MORE than a building.

Acts 11:18 CEV

18 When they heard Peter say this, they stopped arguing and started praising God. They said, “God has now let Gentiles turn to him, and he has given life to them!”

Once the believers heard Peter’s story, they stopped arguing and started praising.

And that’s what I hope happens in our hearts today.

When God moves in ways we don’t expect—through people we don’t expect—our job isn’t to question Him, it’s to praise Him. Are we willing to welcome the outsiders? Are we willing to go to where He wants us to go? Will we obey His call even if we don’t have the big picture?

There are people in your life that God is calling you to reach. Who are the people in your life that you’ve written off as “too far”? Who do you think is outside of God’s reach? If God loves them, can’t you?

——

Sometimes we want God to fit in our box. But He’s not asking for permission, He’s inviting us to see what He sees.

Like Peter we need to say:

Acts 11:17 NLT

17 And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

If you've been holding back from obeying the Spirit, today is your day to say yes.

If you’ve been treating certain people like outsiders, ask God to soften your heart.

And if you’ve never experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit, ask Him to fill you, just like He filled Cornelius’ house.

PRAY FOR HONDURAS GIRLS

PRAY FOR CORY