The Conversion of Cornelius(Acts 10-11), 04/05/2008

The Conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10-11)
Speaker : Pastor Kenneth Lee
Date : 04/05/2008

We've been studying on

• Acts 8(The Conversion of the Eunuch) & (The martyrdom of Stephen)

• Acts 9(Conversion of Saul)

These conversions and martyrdom are related to the Jews only and not to the gentiles.
Jews(Israelites, a race that God set apart for Himself)
Gentiles(Non-Jew)

But today we're gonna talk on the conversion of a gentile in the book of Acts, a God fearing man called Cornelius. His Character, Challenges of Peter as God uses him to preach the good news to him, and His conversion.

Click on the following link to read the passage:
Acts 10
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2010&version=31
Acts 11
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=51&chapter=11&version=31

THREE LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE

1. Character of Cornelius (Acts 10:1-8)

• A Good man
• A God fearing devout man (heard of the God of Israel but not Jesus)
• A generous man (helps the needy people and gives to charity)
• A very firm and discipline man (A Roman Centurion)
• A prayerful man(v3-4)
• A vision seeing man(v3-8)

2. Challenges of Peter

• Peter's Vision

9About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."14"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.15The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

• To breakdown the walls between the Jews and the Gentiles. To receive the gentiles. To share the Gospel with them, as God told him not to call anything unclean that God has made clean, for Jesus died for the gentiles too.
• Many people left their comfort zones and crossed oceans and breakdown their walls to preach the Gospel. And through that, many people and nations are saved because of it.

3. Conversion of Cornelius
When was Cornelius saved? When he was praying? while he saw the vision? when peter came to preach? when the Holy Spirit came upon him? When he first heard the good news? Cornelius was saved when he obeyed God.

How was Cornelius saved?

NOT by:

• Good moral values
• Prayers
• His own faith
• Angelic Appearances

BUT by:

• Preaching of the Word of God
• Faith in Christ
• Repentance of sins
• Grace of God
• Conviction of the Holy Spirit.

There are some questions that we will often ask as we read through these passages. Such as:
1) Will a person that is God fearing yet never heard of the gospel be saved?
A person that is God fearing yet never heard of the gospel will not be saved. A person can only be saved when he have faith in Jesus and accepts Him as Lord and Saviour. This is because no matter how God fearing we are and how holy we think we are, we are still sinners blinded by the works of the evil one to see how bad we really are. The only way we can be saved is through Jesus. Even Jesus said himself that He is the only way to the Father.

2) Must the gift of tongues come with the gift of the Holy Spirit?
The gift of tongues are actually just signs for the unbelievers on the day of the Pentacoast. They are meant to reach out to the unbelievers. Just like any other gifts that God choses to give to His people to build one another up. Not a gift to confirm that we are saved or not. It is not a must and neither is it a confirmation that we are saved too.

3? Do we need to be baptized to be saved?
Baptism is said to be the outward expression of an inward experience. IF we really believe in Jesus why wouldn't we take the step of faith and be baptized? Baptism is like a way to tell other people that we trust in Jesus too. So just as we really believe in our hearts, our actions should show it too. However, we don't need to be baptized to be saved. If we are baptized yet do not have faith in our hearts, it is plainly useless too.