Peter And Cornelius

Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, "Cornelius!" And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. "Now dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter; he is staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea." When the angel who was speaking to him had left, he summoned two of his servants and a devout soldier of those who were his personal attendants and after he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.*   How exciting these times are. For hundreds of years God concentrated on His chosen people the Jews. Now something amazing is happening. God is turning His attention to the Gentiles. Gentiles are all those people in the world who are not Jews. God promised this time would come when He spoke to Abraham* hundreds of years ago. Now the time is here and God will show His mercy and love to the Gentiles. The good news is beginning to travel beyond Jerusalem and Israel to the world. Acts 10:1-8, Genesis 12:3, Galatians 3:14 (NASB)

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