Welcome to the STC Sheffield daily podcast. My name is Helen, and I am looking forward to continuing our journey through the book of Acts with you this week.

Today is Monday 28th October, and we’re at the start of a week that is set to be profoundly significant for our nation, both now and into the future.  As I’m writing and recording this podcast a few days before it’s uploaded, I don’t know if any decisions have been made regarding our withdrawal from the European Union.  However, what I do know is that today’s Bible passage is an amazing reminder of the sovereignty of God.

REFLECTION:

Only a God who is all knowing and present everywhere, at all times, with authority over all situations, would have been at work in the structuring of the podcast readings, so that at the start of this week, we would all be reminded of these verses from Acts Chapter 10 vs34-35:

“Then Peter began to speak: “I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”

The Message translation puts it like this: “It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from – if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open.”

At the start of this week, I can think of nothing more important to be reminded of.

It makes no difference to God whether our passport is blue or red, or whether we even have one at all.  It makes no difference to God what is written on our birth certificate, who our parents are, or where we were born.  What matters to God is what our attitude is towards him.  Do we desire after God’s own heart and are we ready to do as he says?

Because if we are, then there are no check points, no red tape, no deals to be struck, nothing else to prove, before we can enter a relationship with him.  The door is always open.  This is the amazing truth of the Gospel.

The significance of these words in Acts were as powerful to the culture and context then, as they are for us today.  Just as our nation is polarised, with seemingly insurmountable chasms between different groups……so it was at the time when Acts was written.  There was just no way on earth that the Jews and the Gentiles would ever come together of their own accord.  In fact, there were religious rules that explicitly prohibited this very thing.

But God’s plan was not made on earth, it was sent from Heaven.

What we see happening in Acts Chapter 10 has been described as the final stage of Pentecost – the time when God visibly demonstrated that the power of the Holy Spirit was for Gentiles, as well as Jews.

In Acts Chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit first came upon those gathered in the upper room, they began speaking in tongues.  Now the identical thing happens to the Gentiles listening to Peter.  There was no difference between the way in which the Holy Spirit operated amongst Jews or Gentiles.  As the Gentiles heard the word of God, and responded to it, so they experienced the power of God; just as the Jews had done.

God was showing that he does not have a favourite group of people that he wants to be in relationship with.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit, was going to bridge and move right across the cultural chasm between Jews and Gentiles, and then it was going to continue to spread across the whole earth to every people group, tribe and tongue without favouritism.

In this Brexit week, when so much talk has been of division, borders and barriers; how can we, as Christians, bridge and cross the chasms in our own society?  How can we live and act in such a way that reflects what God wants?

Here are 3 simple, practical ideas……

Firstly, we can pray.  In Isaiah 56 vs7 we read that as God’s people, we are called to become a house of prayer for all nations.  Why not start by praying for the nations that are represented in our church?