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There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. (Acts 10:1-6 KJV)
It can be clearly seen from the above that we are looking at a man who do not know what to do. The statement "he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do" can not be found in contemporary versions of the bible save the KJV.... But therein the goodnews lies....
You may want to look at the credentials of brother Cornelius:
- He was a leader of the Italian band, and a good one at that (vs1)
- He was a devout man, deeply religious, serious and sincere. (Vs 2)
- He was God-fearing; not just him alone but with all his household (Vs 2). He shares the same testimony with Father Abraham.
- He gave alms- he is an amazing giver. (Vs 2)
- He prays always. We can conclude that he is a very serious prayer warrior. Remember he prays ALWAYS. (Vs 2)
- He sees vision (Vs 3) - A Spiritual Vision; Cornelius saw into the Spirit world. We can boldly call him a prophet today.
- He was even called a just man and of good report among all Christians and Unbelievers alike (Vs 22)
- He was not only a prayer warrior but he fast for days (Vs. 30)
What a Spiritual man!
With all these spiritual qualities; the Scriptures showed us something that is not fundamentally correct about his service to God and God in His mercies needed to put right. Hence, Peter's defence of himself before the Church of Jerusalem:
Acts 11:13-14 "He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved."
He was not saved yet. Note the words "will be saved"... It simply means in the future. He was not saved as at the time of the vision. He has good credentials - saw visions and prophesied but his name was not in the book of life!
Can you give a sincere answer to these?
- Can a devout person be an unbeliever?
- Can a godfearing person be an unbeliever?
Okay, Okay! That is difficult to answer...
I ask you this one...
- Can a prayer warrior be an unbeliever?
Think well before you answer.
Possibly today, you wave about your anointing, your commitment, the miracles you've done, your grace to give and bless lives, your wonderful Bible exposition skills and your ability to pray down signs and wonders. And that is good but not good enough because it cannot take you to heaven.
Here is Brother Paul and his confession:
"The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God's righteousness." (Phil. 3:7-9 MSG)
Except a man is born again, Jesus says, he cannot see nor enter the kingdom of God.
The grace that saved a good man Cornelius is available today; call on Jesus, for whosoever call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Have a God filled Sunday.
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