One of the most important things you can do is listen to God. The letter to the Hebrews starts like this: "God spoke" in olden days and has now "spoken to us by his Son" (Heb. 1:1–2). Later the writer quotes the same psalm verse three times warning us to listen to God if we hear his voice (Heb. 3:7, 15; 4:7; Ps. 95:7–8). Faith hears and heeds God (Rom. 10:17). If we hear God in our text today we can become better equipped to listen to the God who speaks.
Let me first briefly summarize the story before spending most of our time digging deeper into the listening experiences of the two main characters. Luke introduces a Roman centurion named Cornelius. He was "a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God" (Acts 10:1–2). Cornelius was a good man. But he wasn't good enough. He needed the gospel of Jesus. So God met him in a vision and commanded him to summon the apostle Peter. The next day God met Peter and prepared him to meet Cornelius. It was "unlawful … for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation." So God showed Peter that he "should not call any person common or unclean" (Acts 10:28). The Holy Spirit commanded Peter to "rise and go" to Cornelius' house. He "came without objection" (29). When everyone had met and seemed to understand the situation Peter preached the gospel and God poured out his Spirit on the Gentiles.
We'll focus next time on Peter's sermon, the Spirit's outpouring, and the church's response. But, for now, let's back up and see how the portrait of both Cornelius and Peter can help us learn how to hear God.
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