God had to Alter a Mindset (SET of the MIND) before He could Birth His Church. Acts 10
Someone I used to know said, ‘an Altar is where we go to get Altered’. Our minds and beliefs are changed as we worship the Lord! Christians are not immune to the influences of the world and the devil; God’s Spirit works with us to change us into the image of the Lord.
Cornelius, the righteous centurion, had a visit from an angelic messenger telling him to send for Peter. (Jesus also praised the faith of another centurion who sought healing for his servant – the land was under military occupation, little understood today).
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa. Acts 10
9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 …he fell into a trance.
Almost simultaneously Peter received a vision, repeated three times. He saw a large sheet coming down from Heaven containing all kinds of animals and heard the command,
13 Then a voice told him, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’
14 ‘Surely not, Lord!’ Peter replied. ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’
16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. Acts 10
God’s Spirit spoke to Peter three times that day to ‘Shift’ his Jewish/religious mindset. When the vision ended, the messengers from Cornelius arrived and talked with him. The Gentiles needed the apostle, (apostles lay foundations) but God’s Spirit had to work with Peter and Alter his whole ‘world view’.
19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Simon, three men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.’ Acts 10
Peter obeyed and took six brothers and went to the house of Cornelius, contrary to Jewish teaching. (He was later criticised for failing to keep himself pure. Acts 11:3) The Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles gathered there and Peter ‘ordered that they be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ’. Acts 10:48
God’s Spirit didn’t want the ‘Old traditions’ brought into the new dispensation but the Jews with a religious background, particularly those from the Pharisees, opposed this. Acts 15 The apostles had to convene a Church Council in Jerusalem and make a ruling on the matter of circumcision. Paul and Barnabas told of all the signs and wonders they had witnessed among the Gentiles, confirmation of God’s approval. The Jewish religious traditions did not carry through into the Church, a New Day had begun.
We live in a time of great change and personal freedoms have been eroded, much like the Roman occupation during the New Testament period. God was still planning to move through His Church and that would shake the world. When God moves again we need to ensure we follow the Spirit and not just religious traditions; some of them will not survive the coming Shift.
May God bless and keep you today.