Acts 11

When God begins to work and do marvelous and miraculous things in the lives of new believers and the church Satan begins to look for ways to infiltrate the camp and seek to divide the troops. This began to take place in the churches throughout Judea. A dispute arose between the church leaders and Peter over whether these "uncircumcised" converts had the right to be considered believers. Peter took the time then to describe with explicit detail what had taken place with the vision he received regarding unclean and clean animals with the reference being in relation to Cornelius, a Gentile. Peter's defense was the vision had stressed to him the matter of clean versus unclean animals. This vision of course was to describe the manner in which God sees all mankind. Let me take a minute to interpret this vision. People have tried to take this of out context and use it to justify certain actions in regard to alcohol and foods. Peter didn't receive this dream to allow him to partake of forbidden food but to show him the value of all mankind in relation to salvation. When we seek to manipulate scripture for our own means we are walking on dangerous ground. God did not give Peter the vision to allow him to eat or drink certain things but to bring salvation to all mankind. The result of Peter's obedience in taking the message to the very people whom the Jews despised resulted in controversy at first among the church leaders but fortunately the Spirit of God prevailed and unity was restored. Luke records the reaction of the leaders like this, "When they heard this they became silent. Then they glorified God, saying, 'So God has granted repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles!'"

As the chapter comes to a close we discover that a man by the name of Agabus predicted a sever famine was to come over the whole region. When this natural disaster occurred the church banded together to send relief and assistance to those who were affected the worst. Thus the first Disaster Relief organization was formed. With that let me brag on our church family. This past Sunday we collected a relief offering for those affected with the recent disaster in Japan. The offering, even though it was on a Sunday affected by one of the Spring Break weekends still netted over $2000. Thank you FBC Florence for being a compassionate and giving church. To God be all of the glory!

Lessons Learned from Today's Chapter:

1. When God acts in and among His people always look for Satan to attempt to counter God's ways and plans.
2. The church should be sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit to avoid potentially damaging divisions.
3. One of the missions of the church should be compassionate assistance during times of great need.
4. God's provision of salvation is for all people. (Who have you shared His love with today?)