Acts Chapter Eleven
Chapter eleven follows up Peter’s visit to the house of Cornelius. The traumatic part of the visit for Peter and his friends is that Cornelius was not a Jew, but a Gentile. The Jews never had any dealing with the Gentiles. The church was only reaching out to other Jews. But, because of the vision God gave Peter, he went and preached Jesus to them.
There was quite a stir at the church in Jerusalem at the visit. Peter’s defense was the fact that, along with the vision he had from God, the Gentiles were baptized in the Holy Spirit just like they had been. When they heard that God was baptizing Gentiles in the Holy Spirit, they said they had no argument and became very agreeable.
How did they know that God had done that? Reread verses 15-17. Peter specifically says that because they had the same experience in the Holy Spirit, he knew it was God. What was he referring to? Let’s read:
Acts 10:46 NIV
For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
From the beginning the Bible shows that the initial sign of the Baptism in the Spirit is that people, speaking under the anointing of the Spirit, will speak in tongues. The Baptism is the power of God that brought the spark for the phenomenal growth of the church. That has been true down through the ages until today.
Believers today need the power of the Spirit. We must be open to and seeking the fullness of the power of the Spirit. Sadly, this is one topic where fear has come because there are those teaching that this is of the devil, the Baptism is not for today. Acts 2:39 says that “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call.” There is no Biblical time limit for the Baptism. This is what we need today. Open your heart to seek God’s gift today.
The early church followed the direction of the Lord to reach out to anyone. In Antioch they reached out to the Greeks and many were saved. It was there that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. Barnabas was sent to Antioch to help and stayed there a year. He brought with him a believer called Saul. This is the first time we see “Barnabas and Saul” in the text. This powerful team first worked together in Antioch.
The church was starting to have a powerful impact on the world. The story is getting more exciting.
