Sunday Worship Service February 15, 2026

Prelude
Call to Worship Psalm 107:20
Hymn JBC#330 Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight
Hymn JBC #514 I need Thee ev’ry hour
Offering
Scripture Acts 10:34~48
Prayer
Sermon “The gift of the Holy Spirit is poured out”
Prayer
＊Hymn JBC # 81 God, our Father, we adore Thee!
Doxology JBC # 672
Benediction
Postlude
Welcome & Announcements

“God...accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” At the beginning of today’s passage, Peter professes that he now realizes how true this is.
That is, that no matter who a person is, what country or region they are from, their ethnicity, or their position in life, they can be accepted by God.
For Peter who had firmly believed that only the Jews as God’s specially chosen people were given God’s grace, this was a major shift in thinking, and a surprising one.

God is not a God who looks on people with prejudice, as is recorded in many passages even in the Old Testament.
In Deuteronomy chapter 10 verses 17 to 18, it says:

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.
This says that the Lord God does not show partiality, and protects those whose position in society has become weak, such as the fatherless and widows (women whose husbands have died).
Even when King David who was king of Israel was first picked out by the prophet Samuel, God showed Samuel that He does not judge people based on their outward appearance, but sees into the hearts of man.
Since Saul, who was the first king of Israel, had strayed from God’s path, God removed him from the throne.

This shows us that that even if someone is chosen by God, if that person then strays from God’s path, God may take back the good things that He once gave them.
Rather, those who are chosen by God and are living under the grace of God and the good things He has given them, they are called to live in such a way as to be worthy of those blessings, not living a self-centered life, but living in obedience to God.
When Samuel, who was trying to find a new king to replace Saul, was invited to the home of David’s father Jesse, Samuel looked over the sons of Jesse.

Samuel first looked at David’s older brother Eliab who was the eldest (perhaps he had a pleasing appearance), and he thought “Surely he must be the one anointed by the Lord (the one chosen by the Lord God)”.
But God said to Samuel “Do not consider his height or his appearance, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outwards appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
No matter what we do, we can’t help but judge people based on what we see with our eyes and within the limits of our own understanding.
We need to accept that these are our own limitations, and also that it is a part of our sinful nature.

But since God knows all, and more than that, is the God who created us, God looks at all kinds of people in fairness and without prejudice.
That fact that such a God exists, and that this God is with us, this is a true blessing to us. Because there is a God who knows all, including what is in our hearts, we can be at peace.
As opposed to our biased, self-centered way of seeing things as humans, Let’s accept that there is a God who sees things differently to us, a God who sees things justly and fairly, who is righteousness itself.
Following on from Peter’s first words in today’s passage, that “God does not show favoritism”, there is a second part to this sentence. Although we just read this earlier, these words are incredibly important.

These words are in verse 35, and is the part that says “but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”
It doesn’t matter what country a person is from, whether they are Jewish or not. This means that so long as a person “fears God and does what is right”, God accepts them.
Through his meeting with Cornelius, and by witnessing Cornelius with his own eyes as a living testimony of faith, Peter came to see this clearly.
For Peter, who had gone on believing that non-Jewish peoples were outside of God’s grace, that they were unclean and that it was wrong to associate with gentiles (foreigners) because of this, he came to understand that this was not the case.

Peter came to understand that what is important is not whether or not a person is a Jew, but whether or not a person hears the word of the Lord, obeys that words (those teachings), and lives rightly before God.
When we think about how this applies to Christians today, we can see that we cannot say that “If I believe in God once, get baptized and become a Christian, I’m already saved, I can rest assured”.
Being a Christian does not mean that you have secured a lifelong position of privilege.
Certainly, we have been given privilege in the form of the grace of Christ, but as the duty of those who have received that privilege, we are called to always live rightly as believers.

We must always examine ourselves closely to see whether or not we are fearing God and living rightly, whether or not we are living in obedience to Christ.
Are we truly turned towards God, not just in outward appearance, but within our hearts?
Are we living in obedience to the voice and will of God? This is something that we need to ask ourselves.
When we ask ourselves this, it may be that we realize that we are not living in obedience to Christ.

If this happens, does this mean that we should be filled with despair? Is there no other way for us than to fall deeper into our own sins?
Of course not. Rather, it is at these times when we despair in our faith and in our own sin that we can come back to the joy of knowing that Christ died on the cross for even someone like me”
Even when we believe in God, we are still sinners, and we still make mistakes, fail and commit sins.

But, if at these times we turn back to God with our whole heart (repent), God will surely never abandon us.
Let us acknowledge that without God’s grace, we cannot live righteously, or even live at all, and let us go on living holding close to God’s grace.
In today’s passage, what Peter and Cornelius share is the Word of God. The Word that they share is that Jesus Christ, the son of God, came to live on earth, and the miracles that He performed and His words during his time on earth.
And that is the good news that Christ took our sins upon himself and died on the cross, and rose again three days later.

Cornelius had already heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, and seemed to know it to some extent (verse 37). And, he was someone who had already become a believer in the God of Israel.
Through the words he heard through Peter in today’s passage, Cornelius once again heard the gospel of Christ, that Christ died (was killed) on the cross and rose again on the third day.
Then he also heard that if anyone believes in Christ, their sins will be forgiven in His name, and he grew deeper in his faith.

Even for us, as we worship together like this, and in our usual time studying the Bible together, we hear and share together time and time again that Christ died for us on the cross and rose again.
Each time we hear and share the events of the gospel, we receive that truth over again, and each time we receive the strength to keep living in God’s word. It is truly nourishment for the soul.
Won’t we rejoice that we are always given God’s grace and strength, the strength to live, through the Word?
The passage says that while Peter was speaking, the Holy Spirit came upon those who were gathered there hearing the Word (Cornelius’s family and friends).

For the people who were with Peter (the other Jews), they were shocked to see the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God, come upon people who they viewed gentiles (foreigners), to see these people be led by the Holy Spirit to praise God.
Then Peter said “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have”, and Peter baptized them (he so ordered)
Being baptized with water means becoming a fellow believer. The person who carries out the baptism welcomes the person being baptized into fellowship of believers sharing the same faith, and into God’s family.
When Peter saw the Holy Spirit being poured out also on the gentiles, he said “Since the same Holy Spirit comes upon them, how can we not welcome them into the family of our faith?”

When our church holds a baptism based on God’s commission, it holds the great significance of accepting that the new believer shares in our faith, of welcoming them as a member of our church as a member of God’s family.
Peter and Cornelius were both led by God to meet, both listened to each other’s hearts, and through sharing their understanding of God’s grace, truly spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and the grace of God beyond the bounds of the Jewish people and out to the gentiles (foreigners).
And so, let us also value listening to one another’s hearts, and not just keep God’s grace to ourselves, but cherish sharing it with others.
Also, let us pray that new believers may also be raised up in our church too.
And for us who have received God’s grace and have been permitted to walk in the grace of Christ, let us live the life of faith, admonishing (warning and reprimanding) ourselves so that we can listen to and obey God’s word each day, walking in righteousness before God.