We’ve been learning recently about how to have healthy relationships; connections with others.  We gained some tools to help us to live out this verse:

Romans 12:18

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

This morning, we learn about the ultimate goal and why this is such an important issue in our lives.  The initial benefit is that the quality of our lives is far better when our relationships are healthy.  We have more peace, joy, and fulfillment in life.

However, there is a much more significant goal than our own comfort in life for having healthy relationships. 

Their eternity may be hanging on the balance of our relationship with them.  Their decision of Heaven or Hell may be decided based on the ability of them to receive the gospel through us.  If we choose to live with this reality in the forefronts of our minds, all of the petty things that we get into arguments about would matter far less.

If we live with this reality in mind, it will be far easier to live out Romans 12:18 and that’s the only way that we can push beyond verse 18 and live out verses 19-21:

Romans 12:18-21

18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

We are called to live at peace with everyone, as far as it depends on us, and to overcome evil with good.  Even when it comes to our enemies, we are called to feed them when they are hungry, to give them drink when they are thirsty; to serve their needs. 

This prepares the way for others to receive the good news about Jesus and all that the Kingdom of God offers through us.  It lowers mountains and raises up valleys.  It breaks down barriers and demolishes the lies of the enemy.

It may burn some people up, it may get some people saved, but living this way will certainly make an impact on the lives of those around us.  It’s hard to ignore it when you just can’t keep a person down or get them to not do good in return!

As much as it depends on us…  Here is the reality so that we maintain a healthy expectation in our relationships.

Not even Jesus, God face-to-face in the flesh, was able to forge good and healthy relationships with everyone.  He always did good to them, but they didn’t always return that favor.  Many hated Him, despised Him, gossiped about Him, and were even so enraged toward Him to the point of screaming for Him to be crucified… 

Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life.  He forgave them even from the cross.  Yet, they still rejected Him.

However, some received Him and chose to lay down their own lives to follow Him.  Those who received Him forged a relationship with Him that will last far beyond this lifetime!  Jesus said:

Matthew 10:32-33

Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

The Bible describes our relationship with God and His Kingdom in several different ways.  We are God’s children, His friends, but also His servants. 

God freely gives us His grace expressed in many different forms.  One of the forms of God’s grace are gifts that He gives to us that enable and equip us to serve others.  His purpose is that through our relationships with others, that we would serve them.  In doing so, they are brought into an encounter with God’s Kingdom.

If it is through our relationships with others that God wants to reach people with His grace and with the good news of His salvation through service, what do you think the enemy is going to attack?  Is it any wonder, then, th

This morning, we’re continuing our message series that will serve as a guide to healthy relationships.  A relationship is simply a connection between two people.  Just because two people are connected, that doesn’t make it a good connection nor a healthy connection nor a connection that should even be there.

Relationships can be difficult and so God has given us a whole host of tools that we can use to make them function the way that He intended them to.  So far, we learned about the love of God and the need for mutual understanding.  Last week, we learned about the need for healthy boundaries and how God created them as safeguards for us all throughout His creation. 

This week, we continue learning about this tool and in a very practical way how to discern the need for a boundary, how to put it in place, how to communicate it to others, and how to maintain it.

To learn about these things, we go to the word of God in the book of Nehemiah.  Now this book is all about a physical boundary that was needed around the border of Jerusalem.  However, the same principals apply to the boundaries in our relationships with one another.  As the saying goes, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

Nehemiah 1

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:

In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.

3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.

When boundaries are missing or misplaced in our lives, our emotions are usually the first to reveal it.  God’s people were in great trouble and disgrace and it caused Nehemiah to weep. 

Missing or misplaced boundaries in our lives do not just affect us, they affect everyone around us. 

If we overspend on entertainment and come up short when it comes time to buy groceries, it affects our whole household.  If we always cave in to our over-demanding employer, our spouse and children end up suffering when we have to abandon them to stay and work overtime or weekends.

They affect those around us, but it is usually emotions that are the indicator that boundaries are needed or are needed to be adjusted.  For example:

If that buddy comes over and spends the night, you suffer knowing that you’ll spend the next day cleaning up the mess that he created.  If we take an extra drive around the block before you enter your workplace or home because you dread the environment that you know you are going to walk into.  If they put their hand on your back or shoulder or always need to give you a tight, close hug that makes you cringe.

If you see that person in a store and so you walk to the other side of it or walk out to avoid them asking you a favor or talking to you forever.  If a coworker or schoolmate walks toward you and you fake answer your phone and carry on an imaginary conversation to avoid them.  If you see a phone number come up, so you ignore it or leave a text message unread just to avoid dealing with someone or a situation.

When these things happen, there are usually emotions involved that alert us that boundaries should have been in place.  Trouble, disgrace, weeping, anger, cringing, etc. 

Emotions can be a tool that helps us to discern where boundaries need put into place in our lives. 

Nehemiah 1

4 For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said:

“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of

This morning, we’re continuing our message series that will serve as a guide to healthy relationships.  A relationship is simply a connection between two people.  Just because two people are connected, that doesn’t make it a good connection nor a healthy connection nor a connection that should even be there.

Relationships can be difficult and so God has given us a whole host of tools that we can use to make them function the way that He intended them to.  So far, we learned about the love of God and understanding.  This week, we gain another tool that can radically transform our relationships with others to make them healthy.

The relationship tool that we’re learning about today is boundaries.  Now to understand boundaries, we can go all the way back to the beginning before the human race even existed.

Genesis 1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 

God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.”

God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear. (He separated them)” And it was so.  God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.”

God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years.”  God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

God created by separating.  God created boundaries.  He said that they were very good.

Then, God created Adam and Eve and He said:

Genesis 2:24

That is why a man separates from his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Matthew 19:6/Mark 10:9

So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.

God again created by separating.  God created boundaries.

2 Corinthians 6:14;17

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.  Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.

God creates by separating.  God created boundaries.  God did this all in the very beginning and He said that it is all very good.  Boundaries are a good and healthy thing.  Yes, they separate and divide and they do so intentionally and purposefully.

God created boundaries within His creation so that the connections between things could be good and healthy.  Like the ocean beach or the sunrise or sunset or the moon and stars on a clear night.  We can experience all of these things only because boundaries were created by God.

We recently seen what happens when the ocean waters are forced beyond their intended boundary by a hurricane.  It’s not good.  It’s destructive.  People get hurt and even die.  The same thing happens in our lives when healthy boundaries are not created and maintained!

We started at the beginning.  For time’s sake, let’s skip to the end.

Revelation 21

Heaven, the new Jerusalem, has twelve walls of jasper built on foundations decorated with every kind of precious stone.  Within the twelve walls are twelve gates each made of a single pearl.

Walls that separate.  God created boundaries.  For all eternity, even within Heaven, itself, there will be boundaries.  Boundaries are a good thing.  The only ones who do not understand and appreciate and honor boundaries in our lives are people who do not have our good in mind.

Jesus said,

John 10

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.  Anyone who does not enter by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.

Matthe

This morning, we’re continuing our message series that will serve as a guide to healthy relationships.  A relationship is simply a connection between two people.  Just because two people are connected, that doesn’t make it a good connection nor a healthy connection nor a connection that should even be there.

Relationships can be difficult and so God has given us a whole host of tools that we can use to make them function the way that He intended them to.  Last week, we learned about love.  This week, we gain another tool that can radically transform our relationships with others.

What makes relationships so difficult at times?  Well, according to numerous studies from many different sources, a consistent top reason for relationships failing has been attributed as a communications issue.  Whether it be a marriage, friendship, employer, contractor, etc. many issues that arise within those relationships is blamed on either the lack of communication or poor communication.

Although this is confirmed by therapists and human resource departments and psychologists alike, I found it interesting that the Bible does not seem to really address communication as a problem, though.

Why is this? 

Well, we were created by God to be in constant communication with the world around us.  Communication is happening all of the time and most of it isn’t even intentional; it just happens.

A married couple on the brink of divorce is likely communicating plenty to one another!  They may both say that they are having communication problems, but after listening for a few minutes, you’ll find that they have been communicating quite a bit to each other!

They communicated so much to their spouse by the way they spent money, by being on their phone during dinner, by coming home late, by never planning dates, by the way they discipline their children, by the way they close a door or walk across the floor, by the way they fold their arms or roll their eyes; even being absent altogether communicates something to their spouse. 

The Bible clarifies the true root cause behind what we often label as a communication problem.

The true issue at hand? 

Understanding.

Understanding goes beyond what we are perceiving that others are communicating to know for certain what people are intending to communicate.  Understanding humbles ourselves and honors others.  It syncs up our communication so that we accurately know how to interpret the information that we were perceiving.  Understanding is like a personalized dictionary that enables us to accurately translate what is being communicated to us.

Understanding doesn’t mean that we agree with the other person or even like what they are communicating, but it enables us to accurately hear what they are saying; both with and without words.  In fact, the more time that you spend with someone, the more that you build up that dictionary.

If you spend enough time with someone such as a coworker, friend, or spouse, you begin to understand exactly what someone is thinking or feeling without them even having said a word.  You can read their expression or the tapping of their foot or their hand on their hip.  You may not even be near them, but when overhearing what someone else says to them, you know exactly how they are responding to it.

Understanding goes beyond communication.  Understanding has the power to break up our hardened hearts and replace them with compassion and empathy.  It enables us to see others as not just who they are now, but also what forged them to be the way that they are and to see things from their perspective. 

Just one little piece of information can radically transform our perspective toward a person or situation because it gives us understanding.  Though the other person doesn’t change at all nor the way that they are communicating with us, understanding radically transforms what we perceive from them.  This understanding can all happen with just one little piece o

This morning, we’re starting a new series that will serve as a guide to healthy relationships.  A relationship is simply a connection between two people.  Just because two people are connected, that doesn’t make it a good connection nor a healthy connection nor a connection that should even be there.

For example, when my hand is connected to the handle of a hot pan, that’s a healthy and mutually beneficial relationship.  However, when my hand is connected to the bottom of a hot pan, that’s a dangerous and unhealthy relationship.  It’s the same hand and the same pan, but the connection can either be a good thing or a really bad thing!

Now if that same hand and that same pan come into connection when the pan is cool, they can relate in any way and have it be a healthy thing.  The circumstances have simply changed.

If your spouse is raging hot mad at you, that’s probably not the best time to go to them and wrap them up in a big, bear hug and refuse to let go of them.  You might just get hurt!  If they are sobbing in despair, that’s a great time to go to them and wrap them up in a big, bear hug and refuse to let go of them. 

Same people, same connection, same relationship, but different circumstances.

Relationships can be hard.  If you stop and think about the times that you have hurt the most or been the most angry it was likely caused by a relationship with someone; a connection with them.  It was likely someone very close to you such as a spouse, parent, child, friend or someone that you invested a lot of yourself into such as an employer.

However, if you stop and think about some of the best times of your life and fondest memories, they also were likely experienced in the context of a relationship with someone.

Getting close to someone and choosing to trust them and make them a part of your life comes at a very high risk.  However, the risk of that connection can also come with a very great reward.

It makes you wonder what was God thinking…

He chose to create us very uniquely and differently from one another. 

Sure, some of us are more alike than others.  However, even identical twins who could not share more in common end up different from one another.  They shared a womb, most of their DNA, the way that they are raised, the school that they attend, and more and they still end up being very different from one another in many ways.

God did all of this on purpose.  One of the main purposes for this was for us to need one another.  You have abilities and strengths that I do not have.  I have abilities and strengths that you do not have.  No matter how independent of a person you might be, there are still needs that you have that can only be met by others. 

We need one another.  We need connected to one another.  We need relationships.

Our differences were intended to make us better together.  God’s intent was that we would complement each other and meet one another’s needs.  It was purposed that we would live in community and in harmony with one another.

However, our differences seem to more often cause more friction and irritation between one another than they do attract and connect us.  Even between spouses, the opposite attributes that once attracted them together early in their relationship often end up causing division later on.  In fact, Paul wrote about marriage and said:

1 Corinthians 7:28

If you do marry, you have not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life.

For those who are married (or divorced), you likely have had times when you thought that you made a huge mistake.  Paul outright says that if you marry, you have not sinned.  It will feel like it from time to time, but you really didn’t do anything wrong. 

What was God thinking?  Why did He create us so different from one another, but to need connection to one another?

Well, He also gave us some tools that can make our connections to others, our relationships, good and healthy.  Over

We’re honored and excited to have the opportunity this morning to take time focusing on and investing in our literal future!

We want to see each and every individual come to realize fully who they were created to be, what they were created to do, and to reach their full potential in Christ!

In fact, it has always been important to God that we do whatever we can to teach and train and in no way hinder youth from encountering Him.  In this familiar account, Jesus even explains that no one can receive and enter into His Kingdom unless we become like them; being born again and becoming a child of God.

Luke 18:15-17

15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

We don’t want to hinder anyone from reaching their full potential in Christ, but rather, to humbly serve one another so that we all might obtain it. 

In our lifetimes, we have observed many natural and man-made disasters and have seen the destruction that they left behind.  However, the greatest tragedy that one could ever endure is a life lived unaware of their Creator, never realizing their giftings, and missing their purpose for having been created.  The Bible describes the condition of such a life as lost.  Lost.

It is the lost that Jesus came to seek and save and it is the lost that Jesus has now empowered and commissioned each of us to seek and save.  He isn’t willing that any should perish, but that all would repent (change course) and turn back to Him and His purposes.

One of the greatest privileges and responsibilities as a parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, and so on is to ensure that our children and their children and so forth start out life in the right trajectory so that they might seek after God for themselves and not become lost. 

Ultimately, each person is free to make their own choices and each person will answer to Jesus for their own lives.  However, we are responsible to give children the best start that we can.

Proverbs 22:6

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

We do this by first living our own lives in pursuit of God ourselves, but then also teaching them to do the same.

Deuteronomy 4:9-13

9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. 10 Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.” 11 You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets.

In this ever-changing, increasingly complex, and very confused world, we turn to the timeless simplicity of God and His word. 

His word that reveals timeless truth such as the simplicity of only two genders that He assigns for us even before our birth.  His word that reveals timeless truth such as the security and blessing of a life-long commitment between one man and one woman in marriage.  His word that reveals countless ways to enjoy this life within the world that He created for our pleasure and enjoyment and provision.

The boundaries created by the truth of His w

Revival service provided by Jason and Laura Jablonski

The post Revival Service appeared first on New Hope Assembly of God in NuMine, PA.

This morning, we’re turning to Joel chapter 2.  In this chapter, we hear the heart cry of God to us and better understand the days and season of the Lord in which we are living.

This chapter starts out warning about the coming day of the Lord and describes how terrible it will be.  The day of the Lord is the final day when God’s wrath is poured out upon the earth.  It is the day when time is up and the current order of things are destroyed before God makes all things new.

It is a terrible and horrific time that spares nothing in all of creation.  Even the stars are destroyed.  That day is coming.  However, it’s not right now!

Right now, we are living in the days of God’s grace and mercy and patience.  We are living in the days where God’s salvation is still ours for the receiving!  In fact, Peter reminds us that it is for our own sake, and because of His patience, that God has not yet brought the day of the Lord.  He wants no one to suffer His wrath, but desires for everyone to receive His salvation.  Since love that is forced is not love at all, He patiently waits on us to choose Him.

2 Peter 3:8-14

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

After explaining all of the signs to watch for and what it will be like when He returns, Jesus concludes with this same simple advice in how to live our lives:

Matthew 24:42-44

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Be ready.  None of us are promised tomorrow.  Most all of us here have experienced the unexpected loss of loved ones that painfully reminds us of this reality.  That’s why after Paul also teaches us all about death and our coming resurrection, he concludes in a similar way:

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

After warning about the coming day of the Lord, God calls us back to the days in which we are living:

Joel 2:12-32

12 “Even now,” declares the Lord,

    “return to me with all your heart,

    with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

13 Rend your heart

    and not your garments.

We’re reminded once again that the Lord doesn’t judge by mere appearances.  This is what religion does.  The Lord judges our heart and motives and attitudes.  If those are right, then our outward lives will be right as well.  That’s why God fills us with the Holy Spirit inside of our lives to do a work of transformation where it truly is needed. 

I love how bluntly Jesus explains this truth to us!

Matthew 15:16-20

16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus as

This morning, God is providing for us a key to breakthrough in our battles.

Psalm 22:3 teaches us that God inhabits or is enthroned on the praise of His people.  Whatever we are going through, when we lift up our voices in prayer and in praise to God, we bring God’s Presence into that situation.  When we praise God, we are simultaneously casting off fear and worry and anxiety and doubt about that situation.  God’s peace and joy and strength come rushing in to replace them.

Worship is our warship!  It is a vessel through which we endure the battles of life and get through them victoriously!  It is a safe refuge that we can run into in the heat of battle!  Worship is our warship!

Elisha called for a harpist to hear the voice of God, Jehoshaphat sent the worshippers first into battle and the Lord defeated their enemy, Jericho’s walls fell at the sound of a great shout of God’s people, Gideon won the war with trumpet blast and great shout to the Lord, and I could go on and on.

When the enemy comes on strong, when the troubles of the world overwhelm us, and we lift up our voices in praise, we are raising up a battle cry.  The Lord raises up a banner (Psalm 60).  The Lord becomes our banner and the battle becomes His!  There isn’t a single battle yet that He has lost. 

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  Where the Presence of God is, there is victory!

That doesn’t mean that we won’t ever experience difficult times and that there won’t be times when we feel like failures.  That doesn’t mean that there won’t be times when it looks like a complete loss from worldly standards.  Just consider the cross and the borrowed grave of Jesus, right? 

It does mean that if we remain ever-faithful to God and keep seeking after Him, it will all end in a great victory!  The greater the theft of the enemy, the greater the restoration when God steps in!  Just consider all that Job had loss and how at the end of a very long and painful season, God restored TWICE what had been stolen by the devil!

Let’s turn now to such an account where God’s people were opposed, suffered, but experienced a great victory in the end of it all because they responded in PRAISE!

Acts 16:16-39

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.

This single verse contains far, far more information than what we realize when first reading through it in our various translations.  Understanding what is contained within it, however, sets the context for everything that happens next.

In the original Greek, this young girl possessed a spirit. the Greek word echo.  She was not possessed by a spirit, she possessed a spirit.  The spirit did not have her, she had the spirit.  We are provided no back story to this young girl to understand how this may have taken place.

However, this isn’t a possession like the others that we read about throughout the New Testament where a spirit takes control of a person and causes sickness or disease or physically harms them or whatever other form of torment they receive against the person’s will.  The Greek word used in these cases is daimonizomai which means that they were under the power of a spirit.  The Greek word used for her possession was echo.

This young girl somehow controls the spirit and uses it to tell the future.  There is a mutually beneficial agreement of some sort.  It’s sort of like some parasites that have a mutually beneficial relationship with their hosts, but this one was spiritual.

In the Greek, we also are given the spirit’s name; Python.  Most English translations just say that it was an evil spirit or a spirit of divination or a spirit that could predict the future.  However, Young’s Literal, the Darby, and the Jubilee translations of the Bible speak what the original Greek language actually says.  It is a spirit named Pyt

This morning, we’re continuing our journey through prayer.  Prayer is simply communicating with God.

I think too often we take prayer for granted and have too low of expectations of how God responds to us when we pray.  Prayer is incredibly powerful because when we pray, what we pray literally comes before God.  He hears our every prayer.

We’ve already seen how prayer changes ourselves and can even change the very plans of God.  We’ve seen how the heavenly realm can be set into action when we pray including angels, demons, and even God, Himself. 

Last week, we saw how God shook the place where the early church was praying and filled them all with the Holy Spirit again.  He got pretty excited when the church prayed for boldness to share His word and for Him to heal and perform signs and wonders in the name of Jesus!

This morning, we’re turning to an account where we see the interaction between Heaven and Earth as we pray.  We’ll see the incredible opportunity before us to cooperate with God and be a part of what He’s doing through prayer.

Acts 10

1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.

Cornelius was not an average person.  He was not just a Roman soldier, but a centurion.  This means that he oversaw 100 soldiers.  He must have been a man of solid character and proven himself to be skilled on the battlefield and with administrative gifts in order to rise into leadership and especially at this location. 

Caesarea was the capital city of Rome in Judea and was perhaps the world’s largest sea ports and artificial harbor at the time.  The procurator would have also resided here, whom was Pontius Pilate at this time.  It’s believed that the Italian Regiment served as the procurator’s body guard recruited from Roman-born individuals in Italy.

Cornelius would have been well known and respected and a public figure within this large city.

2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.

Cornelius and his family were Gentiles, which means that they were not Jewish.  Romans generally practiced idol worship and believed in many gods and goddesses, who had household gods and even embraced the emperor as a god.  Cornelius, however, did not.  We don’t know the details, but he learned about God and he and his family chose to devote themselves to Him alone.

Have you ever encountered nonbelievers who live more like believers than church going believers? 

There are many who live here in our region who generally believe in God and even pray and are very generous.  They even generally live morally upright lifestyles.  Yet they are not saved; they’ve never fully given their lives to Jesus and received His salvation.  They are so, so close!

This is what Cornelius was like.  He believed in God and prayed to God and lived generously.  However, he was not saved.  He was so, so close to salvation!  However, God was about to do something about this!

3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

4 Cornelius stared at him in fear.

Remember who Cornelius was; a battle-hardened, Roman centurion.  We can only imagine the things that he saw and the things that he did to obtain this position.  However, when he saw an angel of God, he was afraid.

 “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”  (11:14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.)

Although Cornelius wasn’t saved, that doesn’t mean that God didn’t hear his prayers and notice the sacrificial way in which he was living to honor Him.  God was aware and those offerin