Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

“And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. … And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.” – (Acts 10:13-15, 45)

In Acts, chapter one, Jesus told the disciples that after they received the Holy Ghost the gospel was going to go forth into all Judaea, Samaria, and into the uttermost part of the earth. I suppose the disciples at first thought that even though the gospel was to spread out geographically, it was still intended only for the Jewish people. These Jewish disciples were slow about sharing the good news of the gospel with other people groups. We have previously seen in this book the great revival in Samaria, but the people that lived there had at least some Jewish blood in them. We have also read about the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch who was clearly a Gentile, but was also apparently a convert to Judaism. Here in chapter ten, however, we see the first completely Gentile convert to Christianity since Pentecost. God had to clearly demonstrate to Peter through the vision he received on the rooftop in Joppa that it was His will to save the Gentiles. Those “creatures” that were let down in the sheet  in Peter’s vision represented the Gentile people groups of the world.

The little ones sing the song, “Jesus Loves the Little Children”; but the truth contained in that song is applicable to saints of every age. God loves people – all people. He loves Americans, but He also loves the billions of people who live outside of our borders. Sometimes we get a little “tunnel-visioned” in our approach to ministry. There are all kinds of people in our world, and God wants all of them in Heaven. Our churches today need to be a representation – a sample – of the demographic of Heaven. I am glad that we have all kinds of people at our church: many colors, many cultures; but all coming together for the common bond that holds us all together – Christ. They are all precious in His sight!