Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for bringing his people into 2022 and for a good day, and ask him to give them a good time in the Bible.
Read
Scripture Passage
Dorcas Restored to Life
36 At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did. 37 But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38 And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. 39 Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40 But Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. 41 Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord. 43 So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner.
Cornelius Sends a Delegation
1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”
4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?”
So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. 6 He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.” 7 And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. 8 So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ac 9:36-10:8
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
Peter raises Tabitha, a disciple known for good works and charity, from death; the miracle becomes known throughout Joppa and many believe. In Caesarea, the devout Gentile centurion Cornelius fears God, gives generously, and prays continually. God remembers his prayers and alms and directs him to send for Peter, advancing the gospel across the Jew-Gentile boundary.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
Acts 9:41-42; 10:4
Bryan explicitly chooses Acts 9:41-42 for the first story because Tabitha is presented alive and many believe. For Cornelius, he rejects the first half of verse 4 and selects the angel's answer that God remembers his prayers and alms.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do & Christ Connection
Believe the gospel and spread it to others. Like Tabitha and Cornelius, fear God, pray, care for people, and give generously; trust the risen Christ who rules over life and death and raises spiritually dead sinners to new life.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
That's good. That's not good. We're having mic difficulties. We're so sorry. Sorry if this is coming through. Not good for you all. Okay. Well, that's just going to have to be what it is today. So let's go ahead and go over here. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions.
That's where every day we get together, we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. This year, 2021, we'll make it through all the way from Acts to Philemon. We're at Acts chapter nine. So we'll finish up Acts chapter nine today. and verses 36, and we'll go through chapter 10, verse 8. So we'll do that together. Here, Nathan, let me actually give you a Bible so that when you read, people will be able to hear you, right? Because we're going to move this microphone a little bit closer to Nathan's mouth.
It's pretty high right now. That's not going to work too well. Is that better? That should work a lot better. There we go. OK. Well, I'm going to have some coffee. We'll pray, and we'll get to God's Word. Sound good? Yep. Okay, you want to pray for us this morning? Sure. Okay. God, thank you that we've made it since last year. Thank you that it's 2022. And thank you for a good day. Please help us to have a good time in the Bible today. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen. All right, Acts chapter 9 beginning at verse 38. How about I read this story and then I'll let you read the next story. Does it sound good? 938, so it's going to be down here. Okay, you ready?
At Joppa, there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds, which she did. But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they washed her, they laid her in an upper room.
And since Leta was near Joppa, the disciples had heard that Peter was there. They sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room, and all the widows stood by him, weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. but Peter put them all out and knelt down and prayed and turning to the body he said Tabitha arise and she opened her eyes and when she saw people she said that She saw Peter, she sat up. Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up. And when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known through all of Joppa, and many believed on the Lord. He stayed many days in Joppa with Simon and Tana.
Okay, so what's going on in that story? What's the story, A, about? Peter raising Tabitha. Yeah, Peter raises Tabitha from the grave. Good. And so, does that happen all the time? No. No? No, that's like, have you ever seen someone raised from the dead? I've seen that zero times. Zero? Yeah. Okay, so this is, what would you call something like this? A miracle? Yeah, it's a miracle, right? So Peter does this amazing miracle to, what was the lady's name? Tabitha. Tabitha. And Tabitha was, right, was she somebody who cared about other people? Yeah. Yeah. How do we know that she cared about other people? Yeah, that's right, so you don't want to do that. Okay. That's what keeps my Bible shot. Okay.
Don't play with that Okay, so let's go ahead and read the next story Then there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always.
About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly a vision of an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius. And when he observed him, he was afraid and said, What is it, Lord? So he said to her, your prayers and your alms have come up from a memorial before God.
Now send men to Jabba and send for Simon, who Simon was so named. It's Peter. He is lodging with Simon at Cana, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do. And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and voted the out soldier from among those who waited on him continually. So when he explained all these things to them, he sent them to Jaffa. All right, so who's the main character in this story?
Cornelius. Cornelius. And who's Cornelius? He's a centurion? Yeah, a centurion. Didn't we just read in Family Devotions today about a centurion? Yeah, they rule over hundreds. Yeah, right, so he's a ruler over a hundred, right? And what's the regiment called? What's it say here? What's called the Italian Regiment? So he's in charge of a pretty important group, right?
And what does he see? An angel. Yeah, and what type of guy was Cornelius? Did he hate God? No. No, what was he? What did it call him? What did verse 2 call him? He feared God. Yeah, he feared God. And so what does the angel tell him to do? What does the angel tell him to do?
One more page. Sorry, Nathan lost his spot there. He told him to go to Joppa and go to the person named Simon. And in Simon's house, Peter was lodging. And Peter would tell him what to do. That's right. Do you think he's going to listen and follow? No, he didn't. He did? Well, but he sent people. Yeah, he sends his messengers, right? Yeah, so he goes and he sends it and he's trying to have Peter come in. Do you think Peter's going to come? Maybe, maybe not. We'll find out tomorrow, right?
Well, what do you think that this, if you had to underline something in this passage, what do you think the best verses would be that you would, you think were the most important out of these two stories? Can I tell you what I would underline in that passage, in the first story? Yeah. I would underline 41 and 42. I think that's the point of that story. Do you agree? Yep. I think the point of this story was... Oh, with Cornelius? Yeah, I think it was... There's a lot of verses, but I would underline verse 4 all the way to the question mark. Verse 4 to the question mark? Where's the question mark? Let's see. Oh, what is it, Lord? Yeah.
And when he observed him, he was afraid and said, what is it, Lord? I think I would actually underline the next part instead. Your prayers and alms have come up for a memorial before God. I think that Cornelius fears God, loves God, and does the Lord's work. And now the Lord is answering him. What do you think? How would you apply these words to your life? He's doing what God says. Okay, so are both of these people doing what they think the Lord wants?
Yeah. Are they showing care? Yep. Are they being kind to the poor? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good moral of the story, but I think it's actually going to get even more. We didn't read the whole story about Cornelius. We'll finish that up in the next couple days, but I think the whole story is getting at a whole bunch of people are believing. Yep. And so what should we do? Spread the gospel. We should believe, and we should go out too. Yeah. You ready to pray? Yeah. Okay.
Father, we thank you so much for this day, and we thank you for the blessing of being in your Word. Father, we pray that you would Please let us believe. Let us follow after You. Lord, we thank You that You have the power over life and death, that You care for us, and that even though we were those who were dead in our trespasses and sins, You raised us to the newness of life, and we thank You for the hope of the resurrection. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you have joy and peace as you walk, fearing the Lord. And may you know that He is the one who is the author of life, and He gives life abundantly. We'll see you tomorrow. You want to say bye? Bye! Bye.