Greetings SS Scholars
It’s time for our weekly SS lesson preview. Thanks for joining me and welcome back. As some of you know, our theme for the month of August is entitled “Calls in the New Testament” and in this unit, we have been examining calls into and examples of New Testament ministry. New Testament ministry may be considered those things which are done to serve and expand the body of Christ. Everyone in the NT church of our Lord should be in or should be preparing to be in a serving relationship within the body of Christ.
This week’s lesson is entitled “Called to be Inclusive” and the main point of this lesson is that salvation has appeared unto all people. For some time, God had dealt exclusively with Abraham and his direct descendants the children of Israel. While God has always maintained oversight over the affairs of men, He had established a special covenant with Israel through which He intends to save the world.
Jesus himself said that salvation is of the Jews. Until Christ, there were strict prohibitions regarding relationships between Israel and all other nations or Gentiles So, it was not immediately clear to the apostles that salvation was indeed available to the Gentiles for again the Lord said that He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and told His disciples on one of their evangelistic missions not to go in the way of the Gentiles. On another occasion, the Lord told a Gentile woman that it is not fitting to give the children’s meat unto the dogs. Today’s lesson however made it clear that God means to save the entire world and not just the Jews.
Cornelius was a God-fearing Gentile who was also friendly toward the Jews. He prayed to God and God answered his prayer by sending Peter to preach Jesus to him. Upon hearing the gospel, God’s Holy Spirit filled Cornelius and those that had gathered with him to hear the gospel. Peter and those with him saw what happened and heard the Gentiles speak with tongues and thereby confirming that God had accepted them. This was God’s way of letting the apostles know without any doubt that God has included all people in His offer of salvation.
To get the full story and understanding, I suggest you read the entire 10th chapter of Acts which is part of our daily SS bible readings also available on our website and through our mobile app. Have a good day and rest of the week and I hope to see you all Sunday for a very lively and interesting lesson. So, until then
Blessings
Pastor Jordan
