Acts 10:1-23
Teaching Notes
In Acts 10:1–23 we witness one of the great turning points in the story of redemption—the moment when the gospel begins to move intentionally beyond Jewish boundaries and into the Gentile world. The chapter opens with Cornelius, a Roman centurion stationed in Caesarea. From a Jewish perspective, he would have been the last person to expect God’s favor—an officer of the occupying army, representing pagan authority. And yet Luke describes him as a devout man who feared God, prayed faithfully, and gave generously to those in need. His devotion captures heaven’s attention, and an angel is dispatched with a clear instruction: send for a man named Peter.
Meanwhile, in another town, God is preparing Peter’s heart. As Peter prays, he receives a startling vision—a sheet lowered from heaven filled with animals that the law had always declared unclean. Three times Peter is told, “Rise, kill and eat,” and three times he resists. This vision wasn’t just about food; it was about people. God was showing Peter that the old categories of clean and unclean had been fulfilled in Christ. The door of salvation was about to swing wide for Jew and Gentile alike.
What’s striking is how God works on both ends of the story. He stirs Cornelius with a hunger for truth, and He unsettles Peter with a vision that challenges his traditions. Neither man fully understands what God is doing, but both are invited to trust and obey. By the Spirit’s orchestration, their paths converge at just the right time. In Cornelius we see the longing of the seeker; in Peter we see the stretching of the servant. And together their encounter opens the way for the gospel to reach the nations.
This passage reminds us that God is always working in the unseen—preparing hearts, moving circumstances, orchestrating divine appointments. Like Peter, we may not understand everything the Lord is doing, but we are called to take the next step of faith. Like Cornelius, our prayers, our generosity, and our hunger for God matter—they rise before Him as a memorial. And ultimately, Acts 10 points us back to the heart of the gospel itself: that in Christ, every dividing wall is broken down, and salvation is offered freely to “whosoever would call upon the name of the Lord.”
