Acts 10:1-8 

¹ At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. ² He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. ³ One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” ⁴ Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. ⁵ Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 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.

Same God?

Someone said: “Anyways, Christians and Muslims worship the same God!”

Christians and Muslims have a diverse understanding in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God is another undeniable point of argument to conclude that Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. Central to salvation of Christians is the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God in the person Jesus Christ.  The vital issue is our personal relationship with Jesus Christ; worship of God is end result.

Anybody can worship God [Christians, Muslims, or Jews] but to those who received and believed in Christ Jesus, God gave the right to become His children. Worship of God, devout, and God-fearing are not sufficient causes for anyone to be saved.

Cornelius the Centurion and all his family were devout and God-fearing people. Worshipping God, being devout and God-fearing placed Cornelius and all his family in a position to be given the right to become children of God.

1. Devout

¹ At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. ² He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. ³ One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” ⁴ Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 

Being a devout and God-fearing should inspire one to be generous and prayerful. That was exactly who Cornelius was; his prayers and gifts were memorial offering. It did not specifically mention that God answered the prayers of Cornelius. Prayers and gifts to the poor were a memorial offering, a reminder for God to consider him.

The alms of Cornelius to the poor were an exhibit of his devotion and fear of God. His limited understanding and reverence to God were displayed in his generosity.

How about people who are also devout and prayerful like Muslims, Jewish, or Hindus?

In 1 Chronicle 28:9 it was said… ⁹…for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 

We may argue and conclude by observing their practices but only God knows who are genuine in their devotion to Him. We can be easily persuaded and deceived by anybody’s generosity and religiosity. This is why we need to be very prayerful and not to be easily convinced when someone says “I am also a born-again Christian.”

While we do not want to be labelled as suspicious or skeptical, we also need to be more sober, alert, and vigilant to potential believers and probable enemies of the gospel.

Church Visitors

Church visitors are potential believers, members, and probable enemies of the gospel. This church has gone through a great deal of amazing as well as painful experiences. There was a surge of increase in membership and a multiple church splits afterwards. While it is a very inspiring to have instant increase in membership, it is also very discouraging to have pastors and church leaders initiating church splits.

If you are a student of church history, you might have observed and learned that most of those who have caused church splits were transferees, if not all of them. When a transferee or self-proclaimed born-again Christian comes to this church, the first question that comes to mind is, “Why can you not stay and continue in your former church?”

A genuine disciple should understand that problems inside the church are necessary instruments of God for spiritual growth. Most transferees have lesser desire to grow spiritually, if no desire at all. Most transferees want to be ministered to; they want to please themselves not God.

In your daily devotional time with God, please include that God would give you discernment to determine those who are potential believers and probable enemy of the gospel. Pray earnestly that God would bring visitors to this church whose hearts are devoted to Him. Pray fervently that God would discourage those whose motives are to please themselves.

Please pray that God leads devout and dutiful potential believers to this church.

2.  Dutiful

⁵ Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 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.

Cornelius was a Centurion in the Italian Regiment with a hundred soldiers under him. One indispensable quality of a good leader is to be dutiful or be obedient. One who personally practices following orders is a candidate for effective leadership. Cornelius was obedient when the angel told him to send men to Joppa to bring back Peter. Cornelius sent two of his servants and a devout soldier; that was a display of being dutiful. Cornelius and his household believed and were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

This story of the conversion of Cornelius has significant principles in sharing the gospel. A centurion has a hundred soldiers under his authority not to mention his servants. His followers have certainly observed his conversion and seriousness in his beliefs. His life’s testimony was a great reason for his household, followers, and servants to come to believe in the Lord Jesus.

People in authority when they are transformed, many of their followers will follow their steps.

It is real tough to share the gospel with a very argumentative person. When you start telling about the Lord, observe the genuine God-fearing and dutiful person. When your contact starts evading or arguing with you, stop sharing the gospel. Start praying for God’s right timing, when and where to continue in your witnessing effort.

Witnessing is a very difficult obligation if we are to perform it by our human effort. Witnessing should be an avenue for us to experience the power of God flowing through us. If we understand it clearly well that witnessing is another opportunity to experience God’s power, excitement is an expected experience. When the Lord transforms those whom we witness to, rejoicing in our heart is certain.

Peter did not have an evangelism committee; he had no strategy devised to visit Cornelius. God initiated and made their divine appointment come to a very productive ending.

If you were to evaluate or ponder upon your own personal spiritual conversion, have you known it if someone planned for your transformation? When you come to trust in Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, did the person who witnessed to you designed a step by step method for you to be transformed? Can you recall that day when you certainly and genuinely accepted and trusted in the Lord?

Birthday

A judge asked an old man, “What day, month, and year were you born?”

“I don’t know; I wasn’t conscious about birthdays when I was born,” the old man said.

“You gave me your birth certificate and your birthday is here?” said the puzzled judge.

“Sir,” the old man scratched his head, “That date written in my birth certificate was the day I was born according to my parents; I just accepted that date as my birthday because my parents told me so. But the day I was born, I am very sure I have no awareness and I didn’t have the right mind to understand or even remember that it was my birthday; how about you, judge, were you aware and very much conscious when you were born?”

Nobody was conscious and matured enough to be aware of the day of his/her birth. That day a child is born, the mother won’t say to the child, “today is your birthday!” The newly born child does not and cannot claim, “Today is my birthday!”

We do not have any recollection and no awareness about the exact day of our birth. We just believe and accept we were born on that date written in our birth certificate. We celebrate birthdays even if not because we are very sure it is the real date of our birth but because we are grateful for another year we have on earth.

By the way, why do Christians give much attention to celebrate their physical birth but never give any consideration to celebrate their spiritual birthdays? Why is it that many of us give much emphasis on celebrating our physical birthdays?

How about your spiritual birth; are you really aware if you are spiritually born? Are we not supposed to be more grateful that we are born-again spiritually?

How should we celebrate and express our gratitude of our spiritual birth into God’s family?

Let’s learn from Cornelius, the Centurion.

In our devotion to God, let us be generous and be prayerful. In our dutiful obedience to God, let us be alert when God send us to the person He has prepared for spiritual appointment.

God has already prepared the person we are to disciple.

The standing question is: “Are we prepared to make disciples?”

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