Acts 10:22-48

²²They said, “Cornelius sent us. He is a boss in the Roman army. He is a good man and he respects God. All the Jews say he is a good man too. God sent one of his angel messengers to Cornelius and told him to ask you to come to his house and talk to him.”

²³So Peter asked them to come in and stay there that night. The next morning Peter got up and went with those men. Some of the Joppa Christians went with him too. They had to camp one night along the road.

²⁴The next day Cornelius called all his relatives and close friends to come to his house in Caesarea, and about 3 o’clock that day Peter and his mob came and found them waiting there.

²⁵Peter started to go into the house, and Cornelius met him and got down on to his knees in front of Peter, to show him respect.

²⁶But Peter lifted him up and said, “Stand up. I’m only a man, like you.”

²⁷Peter kept talking with Cornelius, then they went into the house, and Peter saw a lot of people there.

²⁸He said to them, “You know that the Jewish law teachers reckon that people that aren’t Jews are no good, so a Jew shouldn’t go into their house. But God showed me that I shouldn’t say that anyone is no good. He showed me that it is all right for me to visit you.

²⁹Then these men came and asked me to come here, so I didn’t talk back. I came here with them. Now, please tell me, why did you ask me to come here?”

³⁰Cornelius said, “4 days ago I was praying in my house at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly I saw a man wearing bright shining clothes standing in front of me.

³¹And he said to me, ‘Cornelius, God heard you pray and he knows that you give money and things to the poor people.

³²So send some men to Joppa and tell them to get Simon Peter and bring him back here. He is staying in a leather worker’s house, whose name is Simon. His house is near the sea.

³³So right away I sent those men to bring you here. Thank you for coming. God can see us all here. We are ready to hear everything that he told you to say to us.”

³⁴Then Peter started telling them his message. He said, “Now I really understand that God treats everyone the same.

³⁵If anyone respects God and does the right thing, God will let them come to him, and he will listen to them. It doesn’t matter if they are Jews, or if they belong to another tribe.

³⁶This is the message that God sent to the Israel people, that Jesus Christ can make all of us friends with God. You see, Jesus is the boss over everybody.

³⁷Listen, you know the things that happened, first in Galilee country, and then in Judea country. At first John the Baptiser told the people to turn to God,

³⁸then God gave the Holy Spirit and power to Jesus, a man from the town called Nazareth. God was with Jesus, and he went everywhere doing good things. Some people were sick, and the devil was giving them big trouble. But Jesus made them better.

³⁹We went around with Jesus and saw all the things that he did, in the Jewish people’s country, and in Jerusalem city. But then his enemies killed him. They nailed him to a cross.

⁴⁰But after 3 days God made him alive again, and God let people see him alive.

⁴¹Not everybody saw him alive, but we saw him. We even ate and drank with him. So God picked us to tell other people about him.

⁴²Jesus told us to tell them that one day God will take everybody to a big court and Jesus will be the judge. He will judge everybody that is alive, and he will judge everybody that is dead too.

⁴³You see, a long time ago God sent his men to tell his messages, and they all talked about Jesus. They said that if anyone believes in him, God will not blame them for the wrong things they did.”

⁴⁴While Peter was still talking, the Holy Spirit came down and went into all the people that were listening to him.

⁴⁵Peter’s mob there were Jewish Christians, and they were surprised to see God give his Holy Spirit freely to people that were not Jews.

⁴⁶You see, they heard that mob talk in different languages and say that God is great, so they knew that God gave them his spirit. Then Peter said,

⁴⁷“God gave the Holy Spirit to these people too, just like he gave him to us. Now nobody can stop us from baptising them in water, can they?”

⁴⁸So he told the Christians there, “Baptise them, to show that they follow Jesus, the one God sent to save people.” Then those people asked Peter to stay with them for a few more days.