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 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, ² a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. ³ About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” ⁴ And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. ⁵ And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” ⁷ When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, ⁸ and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. (ESV)

Again we see the sovereignty of God. The ground is being prepared for the next movement in the Acts 1:8 sequence. Cornelius – a Gentile, a Roman, a God-fearing man – is himself being prepared to hear and receive the gospel. He is so ready. Note how the instructions to Cornelius are specific, and he is immediately responsive. God knows precisely where Cornelius is and where Peter is, and He is going to bring them together. It is another example of the Lord working ‘at both ends of the line.’

‘At this point the Church took a new departure, and the gospel broke over the walls of Jewish exclusiveness and was preached for the first time to pure-blooded Gentiles. Caesarea, built by the great Herod, was practically a Roman city, and the official seat of the Roman government in Judea. Cornelius was an officer of high rank, and it would seem naturally of noble character. He had no sympathy with the religious fables and sensuous indulgence of his time, and was attracted to the Jewish faith, which stood alone in the world for pure and undefiled conceptions of God. He adopted some of its characteristic features-its hours of prayer, its practice of fasting, and its almsgiving.’ F.B. Meyer

³² Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. ³³ There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. ³⁴ And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. ³⁵ And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶ Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas.^[d] She was full of good works and acts of charity. ³⁷ In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. ³⁸ Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” ³⁹ So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics^[e] and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. ⁴⁰ But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. ⁴¹ And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. ⁴² And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. ⁴³ And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner. (ESV)

These two little cameos from Peter’s roving ministry are so like the gospel stories. They have that feel, that atmosphere and tone. Jesus is alive and still ‘doing’ and ‘teaching’, with the same sort of impact The ministry of Jesus continues through people like Peter, and other followers. But it’s still Christ’s ministry. The ‘Tabitha story feels so much like that of Jairus’s daughter.

Notice again the importance of the one. Ministry to individuals leads to wider impact.

‘John Stott in his book “The Contemporary Christian” writes:  The Book of Acts has a central figure.  It is not Paul, nor the other disciples.  It is the Holy Spirit who is the central actor in the book of Acts, demonstrating God’s power through the apostles.’ Clarence Eisberg

PRAYER: Lord, in your grace and mercy, please take me and use me in the story you are writing, for your glory.

For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. ²⁰ And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” ²¹ And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” ²² But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

²³ When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, ²⁴ but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, ²⁵ but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

²⁶ And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. ²⁷ But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. ²⁸ So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹ And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. ³⁰ And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

³¹ So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. (ESV)

Verse 21 underlines the point that Saul was a transformed man. From the beginning, he began to preach with power, persuasiveness and pluck. The man had courage. For his opponents, the issue wasn’t whether or not he had a point. They just continued to hate the message, and so they set themselves against the messenger, and their preferred weapon was death. (It no doubt didn’t help that this particular ‘leopard’ no longer shared their ‘spots’). The ”suffering” (16) was almost immediate. So was his influence. We note that, from the first, Paul’s missionary strategy was ”to the Jew first”. ‘He probably showed from a comparison between the predictions of the Old Testament and the facts of our Lord’s life, that the key exactly fitted the wards of the ancient lock, and so proved its genuineness.’ F.B. Meyer.

You have to love Barnabas: such an encourager; big-heart; eyes to see what God was doing, and the courage to be in step with it (even if it put him out of step with others). You can, of course, understand the initial reticence and caution of the church that had felt the scorching temperature of this man’s wrath. (We would do well to consider the vital roles played by lesser known characters such as Ananias and Barnabas).

Saul’s conversion, and the events around it, put booster rockets on church growth (31).

PRAYER: Make me a Barnabas Lord. I don’t ask to be great, only to be useful. Give me eyes to see those who need bringing in, and a heart to move towards them.

 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³ Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. ⁴ And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” ⁵ And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶ But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” ⁷ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. ⁸ Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹ And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰ Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” ¹¹ And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, ¹² and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” ¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” ¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. ¹⁶ For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” ¹⁷ So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; ¹⁹ and taking food, he was strengthened. (ESV).

I don’t know how many times I have read the account of Saul’s conversion, but it fills me with wonder today more than ever.

Life can turn on a dime. Things can change ”suddenly” for good or for ill. This change for the good (31) was sudden and dramatic, occurring in the midst of a season of ravaging persecution. Do not lose heart; someone (or something) you have been praying for could change in a moment.

There is something here about the church, the body of Christ. What we do to Christians we do to Jesus (4,5; Hebs.6:10 ). Saul’s real issue was with Jesus. It was Jesus he was fighting. But no one can fight the Lord and win. Saul was utterly broken in this encounter with the risen Jesus. He starts out here full of strength, but this is quickly taken from him.

Thank God for Ananias’ ”Here I am, Lord” (10) – for his availability (after an initial and understandable reticence). This is a fine example of God working ‘at both ends of the line’. Both Ananias (10) and Saul (12) had preparatory visions, and the Lord orchestrated their meeting. Isn’t there something beautiful about the words, ”Brother Saul” (17)? (‘Take care not to entrench yourself too strongly in your prejudices. Be mobile to Christ’s touch, while you are strong against all others.’ F.B.Meyer)

Saul’s conversion was a sovereign act of God, for the glory of God (15,16). As my wife, Jilly, pointed out, Saul’s priority was baptism (18) before food (19). He was ”praying” (11) – truly praying; he was alive in Christ, a ”new creation” (2 Cor.5:17), with a destiny to fulfill. He was now ‘under new management’ and would live the remainder of his days under the Lordship of Christ (6b).

‘When God needs captains for His army, He not unseldom takes them from the ranks of the enemy. The foremost persecutor became the foremost leader of the Church. The conversion of Saul was due to the personal interposition of the living Christ. It was the pierced hand that arrested and apprehended him.’ F.B.Meyer

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. ²⁷ And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸ and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” ³⁰ So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
    and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he opens not his mouth.
³³ In his humiliation justice was denied him.
    Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

³⁴ And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶ And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” ³⁸ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹ And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. (ESV)

This wonderful story is a fine example of what we often call a ‘Divine appointment’ – one God wrote in Philip’s diary. The evangelist was lifted out of a ‘revival’ situation in Samaria to meet with one sincerely seeking soul in the desert. The Lord’s instructions were specific and clear.

Individuals matter to God. After preaching to crowds, Philip was guided to just one man – one whose heart was being prepared by God. Philip started where this man was and answered his question (35). Once the man was converted, Philip was moved on. (It seems Philip was Elijah-like in being ‘transported’ by the Spirit). The Ethiopian didn’t have the company of Philip any more, but most importantly he had the companionship of Jesus. May we be similarly led by the Spirit, even though it may be to strange places.

‘How certain these Spirit-filled men were of the heavenly impulse! Every appearance suggested that this man of God was needed in the city, but the inner voice was the deciding factor, and his journey was so timed as to bring him in contact with a soul that was groping its way toward Christ.

The Bible is good as a traveling companion. Take it on your journeys. Read it as other men do their newspapers; not exclusively but boldly. There are many stories afloat of bullets being stopped by pocket Testaments; and it is certain that many a desperate thrust of the devil has been warded off by the Word of God being hidden in the heart and worn as a breastplate. Live in touch with God, and He will put you in touch with souls. This conversion of a son of Ham was a worthy fulfillment of Isaiah 56:3-8 .’ F.B.Meyer

And Saul approved of his execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. ² Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. ³ But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Yesterday we were introduced to the young man Saul, who guarded the clothes of those who were murdering Stephen. At the opening of chapter 8 it is definitely stated that he ”approved of his execution” – something we had already concluded. But it is now spelled out. He then went on the rampage, arresting and incarcerating believers. He really had the bit between his teeth. ‘  During those terrible days scenes were enacted which were destined to fill the heart of the future Apostle with most poignant sorrow.’ F.B. Meyer. Who would have thought that this man was the divinely chosen candidate to become the early church’s foremost theologian, evangelist and church planter? But he was, and his story will dominate the rest of ‘Acts’ from chapter 9 onwards. He too will find himself at the sharp end of persecution: beaten, imprisoned, suffering much.

Some years ago, a speaker at our church House Party kept saying, ‘Things can change!’ Indeed they can…and, by the grace of God, so can people!

⁵⁴ Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. ⁵⁸ Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Bishop Thomas Ken wrote: ‘Teach me to live that I may dread, the grave as little as my bed.’ Amidst the savagery, venom, barbarity and murderous cruelty of this scene, there is something beautiful about how it ends: peacefully, for this radiant man of God. In fact, it seems he was given very special grace as he faced the end of his earthly life. He saw heaven just fractionally before stepping into it. What a glorious gift. Also, how lovely it is to witness the Christ-like way Stephen both lived and died.

As we have noted previously, ‘There are none so blind as those who will not see.’ Stephen’s opponents were furious, and unwilling to hear (57), like little children physically putting their hands over their ears because they don’t want to do as they are being told.

The mention of Saul (58) prepares us for a dramatic turn to come in the progression of the story, just one chapter later. This young man also was violently opposed to the gospel, but, thanks be to God, people can change!

³⁵ “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷ This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ ³⁸ This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. ³⁹ Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴² But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
    during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
⁴³ You took up the tent of Moloch
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. ⁴⁵ Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, ⁴⁶ who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But it was Solomon who built a house for him. ⁴⁸ Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

⁴⁹ “‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
    or what is the place of my rest?
⁵⁰ Did not my hand make all these things?’

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. ⁵² Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, ⁵³ you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” (ESV)

Look at the repetition of ”This Moses…This man…” He was only a man, but God worked mightily through him – and when he was elderly. This must encourage those of us who are older. We should not write ourselves off. Neither should churches minimise the potential in their aged members.

That is a telling comment in verse 39 that ”in their hearts they turned to Egypt”, for where our hearts go the rest of us will follow.

When we come to verses 51-53 we get to the thrust of the whole sermon, which is to show that in the rejection of Jesus there is a repetition of a pattern evident throughout their long history. (Jesus makes a similar point in Matthew 23 – see especially verses 29-31)