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OUTSIDERS AND INSIDERS (24 OF 56)

by Wyman Richardson

Scripture: Acts 10:1-23
This content is part of a series.


Outsiders and Insiders (24 of 56)
Series: The Church in ACTSion
Wyman Richardson
Acts 10:1-23


Read Acts 10:1-23

As we approach the tenth chapter of Acts, it will become clear to us that in the first ten chapters of the book we seek the advance of the gospel through the geographical parameters prescribed by Jesus for His Church in Acts 1:8.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

We have seen Jerusalem become ''home base'' for the Church with the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost and the initial proclamation of the gospel and beginnings of the mother church. We have seen it expand beyond Jerusalem to wider Judea and Samaria through the scattering of the believers as a result of the persecution following Stephen's martyrdom. We witnessed Philip's surprising and amazing missionary work in Samaria and then the coming of the Spirit upon the Samaritans when Peter and John arrived and prayed for the new converts. We saw hints of the further expansion of the gospel through the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch. And now, in the tenth chapter, we see the official beginnings of the spread of the gospel among the Gentiles.

We think of Paul as the great missionary to the Gentiles. This is an apt description, but let us recognize two truths: (1) Paul always started with the synagogues in his missionary work and (2) the gospel officially came to the Gentiles through the ministry of Peter, not Paul. This is helpful for it allows us to see that the Church was of one mind about the worldwide implications of the gospel.

This is not to say that there was not a maturation process that had to happen first. There certainly was, and we will see it in our text today. We are going to see in a microcosm the movement of Jewish believers towards Gentile believers and vice versa in the persons of Peter and a Gentile named Cornelius. We will appr ...

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