Chapter 12: The God-Fearing Centurion
Six months after Saul’s conversion
The vision came to Cornelius Maximus at exactly 3 PM—the ninth hour, the time of evening prayer that devout God-fearers had observed for centuries. As commander of the Italian Regiment stationed in Caesarea, the Roman centurion had grown accustomed to divine promptings that had guided his unconventional spiritual journey from pagan soldier to seeker of the God of Israel.
But this vision was different. An angel of God appeared to him with the same clarity that Gabriel had announced the birth of the Messiah, the same reality that had guided shepherds to Bethlehem and wise men from the east.
“Cornelius,” the angel said, his voice carrying the authority of Heaven’s throne room.
“What is it, lord?” Cornelius replied, fear and reverence overwhelming his military composure.
“Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
The vision ended, but its impact reverberated through Cornelius’s spirit like an earthquake. As a Gentile, he had spent years on the periphery of Jewish faith—contributing to synagogues, observing festivals, seeking the God of Abraham while knowing he could never fully belong to the covenant people.
Now the God of Israel was sending him specific instructions through angelic visitation.
Within the hour, Cornelius had dispatched two of his most trusted soldiers and a devout servant to Joppa with orders to find Peter and request his immediate presence in Caesarea. He didn’t understand why God wanted this meeting, but three years of following divine promptings had taught him that obedience preceded understanding.
Joppa – The Next Day at Noon
Peter was praying on the rooftop of Simon the tanner’s house when hunger began to distract his intercession. The smell of lunch being prepared downstairs made his stomach growl, but something in the Spirit was keeping him focused on prayer despite his physical discomfort.
Then the heavens opened.
Peter fell into a trance—not the light meditation of human spirituality, but the kind of prophetic ecstasy that had transported Ezekiel to see God’s throne room and had shown John the revelations of the end times.
He saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.
“Rise, Peter; kill and eat,” came the voice of the Lord—the same voice that had called him from his fishing nets, the same voice that had commissioned him to feed the sheep.
“Not so, Lord!” Peter replied, his lifelong kosher observance instinctively rejecting the command. “For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”
“What God has cleansed you must not call common,” the voice responded with the patient authority of divine instruction.
This happened three times—the same vision, the same command, the same correction—until Peter’s religious categories were thoroughly shattered by divine revelation.
As Peter struggled to understand what he had seen, the Holy Spirit spoke to him with the same clarity that had guided Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch: “Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”
The Divine Appointment
Peter descended from the rooftop to find exactly what the Spirit had promised: three men standing at Simon’s gate, asking for Simon Peter by name.
“I am he whom you seek,” Peter said, feeling the familiar stirring of divine appointment that had become routine in his apostolic ministry. “For what reason have you come?”
The soldiers explained Cornelius’s vision with military precision, but their reverent tone indicated they understood they were participating in something far beyond normal diplomatic protocol.
“A holy angel told him to summon you to his house and to hear words from you,” they concluded.
Peter felt the witness of the Spirit confirming what his rooftop vision had been preparing him for. The sheet full of unclean animals wasn’t about dietary laws—it was about people. The same God who had declared certain foods clean was now declaring certain people included in the covenant promises.
“Come in and be my guests,” Peter said, extending hospitality to Gentile soldiers in a way that would have scandalized him just hours earlier.
The next morning, Peter traveled to Caesarea accompanied by six Jewish believers who would serve as witnesses to whatever God was about to accomplish. As they approached Cornelius’s house, Peter was still processing the theological revolution that was unfolding in his understanding.
The Caesarea Outpouring
Cornelius had gathered his relatives and close friends, filling his house with Gentiles who had been seeking the God of Israel but had never imagined they could receive the same spiritual inheritance as the chosen people.
When Peter entered, Cornelius fell down at his feet and worshiped him with the instinctive reverence of someone who recognized divine authority.
“Stand up,” Peter said, lifting the centurion to his feet. “I myself am also a man.”
As they spoke, Peter began to understand the magnitude of what God was orchestrating. “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”
Peter looked around the room at the faces of people who had been excluded from God’s promises for generations—Romans, Greeks, Syrians, Africans—all united in their hunger for spiritual truth.
“In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality,” Peter began, the Holy Spirit giving him words that would reshape the entire trajectory of Christianity. “But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.”
As Peter preached Jesus Christ as Lord of all, the same power that had fallen on the Jerusalem believers at Pentecost suddenly filled the house in Caesarea. The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word—not after baptism, not through laying on of hands, but spontaneously as Peter was still speaking.
The Jewish believers who had come with Peter were astonished, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. They heard them speak with tongues and magnify God, just as the apostles had done in the Upper Room.
“Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” Peter asked, and immediately commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Chapter 13: The Antioch Experiment
Eight months after Cornelius’s conversion
The report reached Jerusalem like a theological earthquake: Gentiles were being baptized in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and establishing house churches without first converting to Judaism. The news sent shockwaves through the apostolic leadership, who had never imagined that God’s covenant promises extended beyond the descendants of Abraham.
“Peter,” James said during the emergency council meeting, “explain to us what happened in Caesarea. Some of our people are saying you ate with uncircumcised men.”
Peter stood before his fellow apostles with the confidence of someone who had received direct divine instruction. “Men and brethren, listen to me. God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.”
He recounted the vision of the sheet, the angel’s appearance to Cornelius, and the supernatural outpouring that had accompanied his preaching. “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'”
Peter’s voice carried the authority of apostolic revelation: “If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”
The council fell silent, processing the implications of what Peter was describing. If Gentiles could receive the same Holy Spirit baptism as Jewish believers, then every theological boundary they had maintained was being redrawn by Heaven itself.
“Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life,” they concluded, glorifying God for the expansion of His mercy beyond their human understanding.
The Antioch Breakthrough
While the Jerusalem apostles were processing Peter’s Caesarea report, something even more revolutionary was happening 300 miles north in Antioch. Believers scattered by the great persecution had been preaching to Jews only, but some men from Cyprus and Cyrene began speaking to Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.
The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
When news of this reached Jerusalem, the apostles sent Barnabas to investigate. What he found in Antioch was the first truly multicultural church in Christian history—Jews and Gentiles worshiping together, sharing resources, and demonstrating that the Gospel transcended every racial and cultural barrier.
“When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad,” the report stated. Barnabas recognized that this wasn’t just numerical growth—it was a demonstration of Kingdom unity that reflected the heart of God for all nations.
But Barnabas also recognized that this unprecedented situation required unprecedented leadership. The Antioch church needed someone who understood both Jewish foundations and Gentile culture, someone who could navigate the theological implications of what God was doing.
He needed Saul.
The Recruitment
Barnabas traveled to Tarsus, where Saul had been strengthening his understanding of the Gospel and developing strategies for international ministry. When Barnabas explained the Antioch situation, Saul immediately recognized it as the fulfillment of his Damascus road commission.
“This is what Jesus showed me,” Saul said, his eyes burning with apostolic vision. “The Gospel going to every nation, every tribe, every people group. Antioch isn’t just a church—it’s a prototype for what the Kingdom looks like when Heaven’s values replace human prejudices.”
For a whole year, Saul and Barnabas assembled with the church and taught a great many people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians—not as an insult, but as recognition that they represented something entirely new: a community where Christ’s character transcended every earthly division.
But more than cultural breakthrough, Antioch became the first church to operate in the full range of spiritual gifts described in the New Testament. Prophets and teachers operated alongside apostles and evangelists. Words of knowledge guided practical decisions. Divine healing was as normal as prayer requests. The supernatural gifts that had characterized Jesus’s ministry were now functioning through ordinary believers.
The Agabus Prophecy
During one of their gatherings, a prophet named Agabus came down from Jerusalem with a word from the Lord that would test the young church’s commitment to Kingdom economics.
Standing in the center of the assembly, Agabus took his own belt and bound his hands and feet, demonstrating through prophetic symbolism what the Spirit was showing him.
“Thus says the Holy Spirit,” Agabus declared with the authority of divine revelation, “‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'”
The church understood that this was a prophetic warning about Saul’s future ministry, but Agabus had more to share.
“The Spirit also shows me a great famine coming upon all the world, which will happen in the days of Claudius Caesar. The believers in Judea will face severe hardship, and the Lord is calling the Gentile churches to demonstrate Kingdom unity through sacrificial giving.”
The response was immediate and supernatural. Instead of asking “How much should we give?” the Antioch believers asked “How much can we give?” Each member determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea according to their ability.
This wasn’t charity—it was covenant family caring for covenant family across racial and geographic lines. The same economic sharing that had characterized the Jerusalem church was now extending globally through divine love that recognized no boundaries.
Chapter 14: Herod’s Counterstrike
One year after the Antioch breakthrough
King Herod Agrippa had tolerated the Jesus movement as long as it remained a Jewish sectarian dispute. But when reports reached his palace about Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit, multiracial churches thriving, and a global network of believers challenging Roman religious authority, tolerance shifted to alarm.
“These Christians,” Herod announced to his advisors, “are no longer a religious movement. They’ve become a political threat that undermines the stability of our relationship with Rome.”
The intelligence reports painted a picture that terrified any ruler dependent on imperial favor: communities that owed ultimate allegiance to a King other than Caesar, economic networks that bypassed official taxation systems, and supernatural phenomena that suggested divine authority beyond human government.
Herod’s solution was swift and brutal: eliminate the leadership.
James, the brother of John, was arrested and executed with the sword—the first apostolic martyrdom since the movement began. The public response to James’s death convinced Herod that persecution was popular with religious leaders who felt threatened by the Christians’ growing influence.
“Arrest Peter as well,” Herod commanded. “But wait until after Passover. I want maximum public attention when we eliminate the ringleader.”
The Prison Prayer Meeting
Peter sat in maximum security custody, bound with two chains between two soldiers, with guards posted at every door. Herod was taking no chances—this was the man who had escaped from jail before through supernatural intervention.
But while Peter slept peacefully in his cell, the church was engaged in spiritual warfare that operated in realms beyond human perception. Constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church—not desperate pleading, but authoritative intercession that commanded divine intervention based on God’s promises.
Mary, the mother of John Mark, had opened her house for a prayer meeting that continued around the clock. Believers gathered in shifts, maintaining continuous prayer coverage that created spiritual atmospheric pressure for Peter’s deliverance.
They prayed in the Spirit, allowing the Holy Ghost to intercede through them with groanings that could not be uttered. They declared scriptures about God’s faithfulness to His servants. They commanded angelic intervention based on Psalm 91’s promises of divine protection.
On the night before Herod intended to bring Peter before the people for public execution, something supernatural happened that made the previous jailbreak look ordinary by comparison.
The Angel of the Lord
Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, when the angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the prison. This wasn’t metaphorical illumination—it was the same divine radiance that had filled the temple when God’s glory descended, the same light that had announced Christ’s birth to the shepherds.
The angel struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And immediately the chains fell off his hands.
“Gird yourself and tie on your sandals,” the angel commanded with matter-of-fact authority. “Put on your garment and follow me.”
Peter obeyed, thinking he was seeing a vision rather than experiencing physical reality. They passed the first guard, then the second, and came to the iron gate that led to the city, which opened to them of its own accord.
When they went out and went down one street, the angel departed from him, leaving Peter standing alone in the Jerusalem night air, fully understanding that the Lord had sent His angel and delivered him from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.
The Knock at the Door
Peter went immediately to Mary’s house, where the prayer meeting was still in session. When he knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer.
Recognizing Peter’s voice, she became so glad that instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate.
“You are beside yourself!” the praying believers told her, their faith not quite extending to expecting the immediate answer they had been requesting.
But when Peter continued knocking and they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished beyond measure. Peter motioned to them with his hand to keep silent, and declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.
“Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren,” Peter instructed, then departed and went to another place, understanding that remaining in Jerusalem would endanger both himself and the believers who had prayed for his deliverance.
Herod’s Judgment
When day came, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. Herod interrogated the guards and commanded that they should be put to death—the standard penalty for allowing a prisoner to escape.
But more than embarrassment was stirring in Herod’s spirit. The supernatural deliverance had demonstrated that these believers served a God who could override any human security system, who commanded angelic armies, who delivered His servants from impossible situations.
A few weeks later, during a public appearance in Caesarea, Herod delivered an oration that so impressed the crowd that they shouted, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”
Because Herod did not give glory to God, immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, and he was eaten by worms and died.
The same supernatural power that had delivered Peter had executed judgment on his persecutor. The God of Israel was demonstrating that He was not merely the tribal deity of an ancient people, but the sovereign King of the universe who protects His servants and judges those who oppose His purposes.
Meanwhile, the word of God grew and multiplied, spreading faster through persecution than it ever had through peaceful times.
Chapter 15: The First Missionary Commission
Six months after Peter’s deliverance
The prophetic word came during a worship service in Antioch that had been continuing for days. The church had been fasting and praying, seeking God’s direction for the next phase of their ministry, when the Holy Spirit spoke with the same clarity that had guided Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch.
“Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
The directive was unmistakable—not a human decision made through committee discussion, but divine commissioning that brooked no delay or debate. The same Spirit who had filled the Upper Room was now directing the first intentional missionary campaign in church history.
After further fasting and prayer, the leadership laid hands on Barnabas and Saul, officially releasing them to the apostolic ministry that Jesus had shown Saul on the Damascus road. This wasn’t just a church planting strategy—it was the beginning of global evangelization under direct divine guidance.
“So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit,” they departed for Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus, carrying with them John Mark as their assistant and the authority of Heaven backing their mission.
Cyprus: The Sorcerer’s Challenge
Their first stop was Salamis, where they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues, following the pattern that would characterize all of Saul’s missionary journeys: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
But the real confrontation came in Paphos, where they encountered Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of the country—an intelligent man who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.
Standing between the missionaries and the Roman official was Bar-Jesus, also called Elymas the sorcerer, who opposed them and sought to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Here was the same spiritual warfare that had characterized Jesus’s ministry: the Kingdom of Light confronting the kingdom of darkness through human vessels.
“Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit,” looked intently at the sorcerer and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?”
The anointing that fell on Paul in that moment was the same apostolic authority that had enabled Peter to command the lame man to walk and Stephen to perform great wonders and signs among the people.
“And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.”
Immediately a dark mist fell on Elymas, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had been done, he believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
It was Paul’s first recorded miracle as an apostle, and it established the pattern that would characterize his ministry: divine authority confronting demonic opposition, with supernatural signs confirming the Gospel message.
Antioch in Pisidia: The Synagogue Sermon
From Cyprus they sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem—a decision that would later create significant tension between Paul and Barnabas. But from Perga they continued to Antioch in Pisidia, where Paul would deliver the sermon that became the template for evangelizing Jews throughout the Roman Empire.
On the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.”
Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen.”
What followed was a masterpiece of apostolic preaching that wove together Old Testament history, messianic prophecy, and contemporary fulfillment in a way that demonstrated both Paul’s rabbinical training and his supernatural revelation of Christ.
“Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent,” Paul declared, building toward the climactic announcement that would divide his audience.
“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
The response was immediate and divisive. Many Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. But the next Sabbath, when almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God, the Jewish leaders were filled with envy and contradicted the things spoken by Paul.
It was the pattern that would repeat in every city: initial interest from God-fearers, growing crowds of Gentiles seeking spiritual truth, and increasing opposition from religious leaders who felt threatened by the Gospel’s inclusive message.
The Gentile Breakthrough
“Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.'”
Paul quoted the prophet Isaiah with apostolic authority: “‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.'”
When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
The word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region, but so was opposition from religious leaders who stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, and raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas.
The missionaries shook off the dust from their feet against them, as Jesus had instructed, and came to Iconium. The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit, demonstrating that persecution couldn’t diminish the supernatural peace that characterized Kingdom communities.
Signs, Wonders, and Division
In Iconium, they went together to the synagogue of the Jews and spoke in such a manner that a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren.
“Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.”
The supernatural confirmation of their message was immediate and undeniable: creative miracles, healing of diseases, deliverance from demonic oppression, and financial provision for believers who faced economic persecution for their faith.
But the city was divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles. When a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them, Paul and Barnabas became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region.
The pattern was established: preach the Gospel, confirm it with signs and wonders, face persecution, and move to the next city when opposition became life-threatening. The Kingdom of Heaven was advancing through supernatural power, but it was also advancing through strategic wisdom that preserved apostolic ministry for maximum global impact.
And there they preached the gospel, carrying the message of Jesus Christ to regions that had never heard the name of the only Savior, establishing churches that would become the foundation for taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
“But the word of God grew and multiplied.” – Acts 12:24
