Peter's vision for a divine disruption of power in a Study of Acts 10:1:8 on the Daily Bible refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller.

Hello good people.

Welcome to Daily Bible Refresh.

Enjoy and a privilege for having you to join me today as we have a daily reading of the New Testament which is brought to you every day with a selected verse of Scripture for this very day.

We use the Revised Common Lectionary to do that.

As we're in year C of a three year cycle, we're in the epiphany season.

We make the Bible here understandable by using the Message version of the Bible relatable by giving you some points to ponder, teaching points if you will applicable, I'll give you an action step to follow.

We have a prayer.

We do a little under 10 minutes.

It's all brought to you by our website voiceofgodddaily.com that is the home of a great resource, the ABC 123 Bible Study Guide.

Here's our lesson for the day from Acts 10:1 8 reading from the Message Peter's Vision There was a man named Cornelius who lived in Caesarea, Captain of the Italian Guard St stationed there.

He was a thoroughly good man.

He had led everyone in his house to live worshipfully before God and was always helping people in need and had the habit of prayer.

One day about 3:00 in the afternoon, he had a vision.

An angel of God as real as his next door neighbor came in and said, cornelius.

Cornelius stared hard, wondered if he was seeing things.

Then he said, what do you.

What do you want, sir?

The angel said, you, prayers and neighborly acts have brought you to God's attention.

Here's what you are to do.

Send men to Joppa to get Simon, the one everyone calls Peter.

He is staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is by the sea.

As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two servants and one particularly devout soldier from the Guard.

He went over with them in great detail everything that had just happened and then sent them off to Joppa.

Really interesting verse of passage of Scripture here and it's really about really a pivotal moment in early Christian history that speaks powerfully to issues of inclusion, divine disruption, if you will, and breaking down social barriers.

Let's get into some points to ponder about this.

One of them is about breaking imperial barriers.

Cornelius represented the Roman military.

That was the authority, that was the authority of Rome in this area, the very system which was oppressing the Jewish people.

Yet God chose the enemy, as it were, as a vessel for expanding the movement this radically challenges our tendency to create in groups and out groups in our faith communities today.

We might ask who?

Who do you consider unlikely candidates for a divine purpose?

And what boundaries are we maintaining that God wants us to dissolve?

Another point to ponder is embodied faith.

The text specifically notes Cornelius neighborly acts alongside his prayers.

This reflects a progressive understanding that spirituality must be expressed through concrete action for justice and community care.

His faith wasn't just private devotion, but active engagement with human need.

A model for faith based activism today.

One more point.

It's about a divine disruption of power.

I want you to notice how God disrupts traditional power dynamics.

Where a Roman captain must was sent for a Jewish fisherman to learn truth.

This is kind of an upside down kingdom going on here moment.

And it challenges hierarchies of privilege and position.

It reminds us that transformation often requires those with institutional power to humble themselves and learn from those they've traditionally dominated.

Here's your action step for the day.

Identify one boundary in your faith community that might be excluding others.

Perhaps it's some unconscious class barriers, racial segregation, heteronormative assumptions, or accessibility issues.

Take one concrete step to address this barrier.

This might mean advocating for inclusive language in worship, or supporting accessibility and modifications, or initiating conversation about who's missing from your community and why.

Hmm, great stuff there.

We're gonna pray in just a second here, but just.

I just want to share with you that you need to take advantage of a resource, a free resource that we give to you.

It's called the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible Study Guide.

Indeed, it truly makes Bible study as straightforward and really, it's easy as ABC 1, 2, 3.

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So please go and check it out.

Let's pray.

Oh God, you are the divine boundary breaker.

And we confess our comfort with walls that separate us from others.

Our quick assumptions about who belongs and who doesn't in our sacred spaces.

Thank you for holy disruptions that challenge our certainties and expand our a vision of community.

Give us, Cornelius.

Humility to recognize truth in unexpected places and courage to act when you call.

Help us to see where privilege might be blocking someone else's access to community.

Make us brave enough to question the barriers we've built and loving enough to welcome those who we once kept at arm's length.

May we become people who, like Cornelius, combine prayer with action, devotion with justice, and open us to your surprising work in our lives.

And communities.

Amen.

Well, it's always a great privilege to share these moments with you.

Every day we come to you here on the Daily Bible Refresh.

We often drop these episodes just before 6:00am Eastern Time.

Please come join us.

Bring a friend.

Until next time, everybody remember that God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up.

It's created new every morning.