Cornelius

 Acts 10:4 “Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.”

All through the first nine chapters of the Book of Acts, the Gospel was only sent to the Jews. That all changed in Acts 10 with a man named Cornelius. Here is the account found in verses 1-6 in their entirety:

“There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.”

Here is a man, a Roman, that believes in god, prays to god and even does good deeds. But he is like then men on Mars Hill that have a monument to the unknown god, they need somebody like Paul or Peter to declare Him unto them.

When I read this story, I think about my first trip to the small central African country of Malawi. I had no idea why God had sent me there. One day, while taking a meal in a local restaurant, an Arabic Muslim man working behind the counter caught my eye, and I had an overwhelming burden from the Lord to just go over and shake his hand. I fought it and fought it, but the Lord finally prevailed at convincing me to just go and do it. When I walked to the counter and extended my right hand to just tell him thanks for such a great meal, he lunged at my hand with both hands and took a firm grip with both hands, and his eyes welled up. At the time, I was not sure why, but I could see the Lord indeed had orchestrated that meeting. I would see him a few more times and make small talk on this trip, but when I returned for a second trip three months later, He was one that the Lord had me to invest a lot of brotherly love and attention in.

This 2nd trip I would get to know him more. I found out he was all alone. His wife and daughter had moved back to their home in Pakistan to live with his mother. He worked 7 days per week, 12 hours+ per day and was dying for fellowship. This man was like Cornelius. He prayed constantly; he was always giving what little he had to help those in need, and he fought for the persecuted. He could not save up money to fly his wife and daughter back because of all his charitable giving to those that were impoverished around him. I believe that truly his words and deeds truly came up as a memorial before God.

This man, though a Muslim because that was all he knew, God knew that his heart was truly seeking Him and he deserved a chance to at least hear the full counsel of God’s Word and make his own decision.

Doubters of the Bible often ask, well what about people that live in _______ that have never heard about Jesus? The truth is that if someone is truly seeking God, He will do miracles and move mountains to send a messenger. How many of us are willing to be those messengers to go to the utmost parts of the earth? 

The fact is, according to Jude 3, the Gospel is in our hands as Christians. If one person in the entire world dies without hearing the Gospel, it is not the fault of the Lord, it is ours…the Redeemed.

"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" – Isaiah 6:8 
Is there a Cornelius somewhere waiting for you? How long will your Cornelius dangle over the flames of Hell before you share with him the Gospel of our Lord Jesus?

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