6-13-10 - Variety is the spice of life

Sermon Theme: God wants me to accept people who are different from me.
Bible Verse: God is pleased with everyone who worships him and does right, no matter what nation they come from. -Acts 10:35
Bible Story: Peter preaches to the Gentiles - Acts 10:9-43

God doesn't want us to judge people by it's cover. People judge other people based on the color of their skin, their wealth, their clothes or a lot of other things. It's call prejudice. Peter who was Jewish he had always been taught that he couldnt eat with anyone who wasn't Jewish, because by the Jewish law, they were considered unclean. God has other plans. Peter had a vision in which God told him that whatever he said was clean was clean. God didn't want Peter to follow the same rules that he'd followed up until then.

A man name Cornelius who wasn't Jewish wanted to meet with Peter. Peter ended up going to Cornelius's house, something a Jewish person normally wouldn't do. Peter said to them, “You know that we Jews are not allowed to have anything to do with other people. But God has shown me that he doesn’t think anyone is unclean or unfit. (verse 28) They were equal.

Cornelius was different from Peter because he wasn't Jewish, but he was still important to God. God had a plan for Peter to share the gospel with him. Why? Because God loved Cornelius and other non-Jewish people as much as He loved anyone else.

We shouldn't judge people because they look different from us. We should know that God loves them as much as He loves each of us and we should be ready to share Jesus with them and be their friend.