God on the Move

Where Are We?

Tabitha has been raised from the dead

Peter is now at the house of Simon the Tanner in Joppa

Joppa is same place Jonah caught a ship to Tarshish

Peter is going to head straight for the God-designated place

God’s Word

Acts 11:1–18 NLT

Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said. Then Peter told them exactly what had happened. “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. When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, reptiles, and birds. And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’ “ ‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.’ “But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’ This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven. “Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying. The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry that they were Gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon entered the home of the man who had sent for us. He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, ‘Send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. He will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved!’ “As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning. Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 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?” When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

Four Phases

Divine vision

Divine command

Divine preparation

Divine Action

Meaning for Jews

Traditions being broken both dietary and association

Peter is doing the unexpected again

God is expanding His selections to Gentiles

Gentiles now equal with Jews in God’s plan

Biblical Principles

God’s timing is always perfect

Good traditions not same as truth

God loves who He wants

Great turning points start with small events

Missionary Principles For Us

Biblical Principles

Determine significance of events and choose to act

Different styles require discernment

Personal Opinion

Group thinking

Biblical specifics

We can partner with any Bible based believers dedicated to telling the story

We can partner with any Bible based believers dedicated to telling the story

Recount God’s calling to serve in vision form or from His Word

The Holy Spirit’s coming on the Gentiles is proof of God’s actions

Readily accept those that have come to Christ from different circumstances