Storytellers (Megan Baxendell)
This week in Storytellers, our First Impressions director Megan Butler will focus on the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10 to explore how God challenges our comfort to conform our hearts to His.
Megan’s sermon focused on the God-ordained connection between Peter, the leader of the early church and a key disciple of Jesus, and Cornelius, a Gentile and Roman Centurion, or military leader. You may want to read this lengthy story found in Acts 10 before continuing.
How has God called you to leave your comfort zone before?
Talk about a key relationship you have with someone who is, on the surface, completely different from you. What have you learned from the other person that you would know have learned otherwise?
If you don’t have an important relationship with someone different from you, who do you think God may be challenging you to connect with, or to seek out? How do you plan to go about doing so?
What goes on inside you when you think about your comfort being challenged in this way? (If you have some resistance, you’re not alone. Pay attention to Peter’s reaction to the vision God sent him.)
God uses Peter through this unlikely connection to bring many Gentiles to Christ, as “the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word” (v. 44). Peter even baptizes the Gentiles on the spot, showing that God indeed shows no favoritism. Who are the unlikely people you may be called to lead to Christ in such a way?
Pray for God to use you in this way, too?
(*Video available after Sunday services)
