Spirit-Filled Transformation - Acts 10
Pastor Dan Walker, PhD, MDiv
Introduction
Today we’re going to talk about “Spirit-Filled Transformation.” I remember when I was a boy watching caterpillars crawling around outside. They were very slow moving and not too impressive.
As I continued watching the caterpillars I saw them building and encasing themselves in cocoons. Finally, after watching a cocoon for a week or two, I was amazed as the cocoon broke open and a beautiful butterfly emerged and flew away. This amazing process of transformation is called metamorphosis.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV) And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
In this verse, the Greek word for transformed is metamorphoo from which we get our English word. As a person becomes a believer in Jesus, they begin a metamorphosis, a transformation from the person they used to be into a person who looks like Jesus. And how does this transformation take place? Through the Holy Spirit working in our lives.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
This tells us that when a person believes in Jesus and so is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old you has passed away; you are a new creation.
Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV) And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
God gives people a heart transplant, a new heart and a new spirit, the Spirit of God. As the process of transformation for a caterpillar takes time, so our transformation continues throughout our lives. This transformation is not automatic; we must cooperate with God and keep our eyes and lives fixed on Him. Today, we’re going to look at how we can experience Spirit-filled transformation in our lives.
Recognize God’s Divine Appointments
Last Sunday we talked about how God sent an angel to visit Cornelius and spoke to Peter in a vision to arrange a divine appointment between these two men.
Acts 10:24–26 (ESV) And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.”
Peter and some friends journeyed to visit Cornelius’ home. God had worked in Peter’s heart through a vision and the Holy Spirit to let go of his prejudices against Gentiles. Cornelius was a Roman soldier and Gentile, yet Peter now was happy to meet him. Cornelius, having been told by an angel that he was to meet Peter, must have regarded him as some type of God. Peter would have none of that and so refused to be worshipped. The meeting of these two men was a divine appointment orchestrated by God Himself.
Acts 10:27–29 (ESV) And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”
Both Cornelius and Peter had obeyed God’s guidance even though they both had many questions. Cornelius had gathered his family and many others to meet Peter whom the angel had told him about. Peter then recounts God’s revelation to him that God loves everyone and so should we. Each and every person has been created by God, has value, and needs to be saved.
Acts 10:30–31 (ESV) And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God.’”
Cornelius then begins to share his divine encounter with an angel. We might call it his God story. Cornelius had been seeking God through prayer and giving even though he knew nothing about Jesus. So God gave him instructions for a divine appointment with Peter.
Acts 10:32–33 (ESV) Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner by the sea.’ So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”
Cornelius sent for Peter in obedience to God’s direction, not knowing what message Peter would bring. But he believed that because of this divine encounter, all who gathered were in the presence of God waiting for God to speak to them through Peter.
Application
In the same way that God had divine appointments for Cornelius and Peter, so he has divine appointments for each one of us. These divine appointments are intended to expand God’s kingdom and to transform us into the people God created us to be. The divine encounters or appointments that God has for us will frequently take us out of our comfort zones. Each of us may have divine appointments like that of Cornelius. These divine appointments are for us to experience or learn something new with God.
I believe that every Sunday service and every small group meeting is a divine appointment for each person to learn and experience more of God. We also may have divine appointments like that of Peter. Whereas Cornelius was the learner, Peter was to be the teacher. But even though Peter was to be the teacher of Cornelius, he learned and grew as he followed God’s plan. God calls each of us to step out of our comfort zones to be witnesses and teachers to those around us who don’t know God’s truth. Will you recognize and keep God’s divine appointments for your life?
Embrace the Gospel’s Inclusivity
Acts 10:34–36 (ESV) So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all).
Peter begins to speak to the crowd gathered, sharing what he has just learned. The Gospel, the good news of Jesus, is for everyone. God will give all those who fear and seek Him an opportunity to know Jesus. Everyone on the planet who has lived has been given an opportunity to know Jesus, but many have rejected that opportunity. Cornelius will not reject his opportunity.
This chapter in Acts 10 makes it clear that God does hear the prayers of those seeking Him even before they become believers in Jesus. Peter now begins to tell Cornelius and his household about Jesus. We can learn a great deal about the important truths to tell those who don’t yet know Jesus.
Acts 10:38–39 (ESV) How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and God’s power during his ministry. He only did good; he never sinned. He brought healing to those who were oppressed by the devil by God’s power. Jesus brought healing to those physically sick, to those oppressed by demons, and to those spiritually dead. Peter tells that he was an eyewitness of Jesus’ teaching, miracles, and healing. Next, Peter tells Cornelius that Jesus was put to death by crucifixion. But the story does not end there, praise God.
Acts 10:40–41 (ESV) But God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
God raised Jesus back to life on the third day and He is alive forevermore. Again, Peter and the other disciples were eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus. He didn’t come back simply as a spirit but as a human being whom Peter and others ate and drank with him in his resurrected body.
Acts 10:42–43 (ESV) And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
Peter and the other believers, including us, are given the mission to tell everyone about Jesus. One day, Jesus will return to this earth to bring judgment for both the living and the dead. The Old Testament prophets and Jesus’ disciples proclaim that everyone who believes in Jesus will receive forgiveness for their sins and be saved. We must embrace and proclaim that the Gospel is for everyone.
Application
What is God teaching us? The Gospel is for everyone, everyone we see or come into contact with. The Gospel is for your family, your neighbors, your workmates, the people you see when you shop, the people who fix your plumbing, and we could go on and on. God loves each and everyone, and he gives us divine appointments to spread God’s truth to them in one way or another.
Peter gives us a great example of the whole story of Jesus in about 5 minutes. Now, Cornelius was ready after seeing an angel. Everyone God gives to us for a divine encounter may not be ready. But God wants us to make an impression for him in every encounter we have with others. Whether they are believers or not, we can shine God’s truth and light into their lives. The Gospel is for everyone and God wants to use you and me to bring it to them. Now let’s see the response of Cornelius and his household to the good news.
Receive the Spirit’s Transformative Power
Acts 10:44–46 (ESV) While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God.
As Peter was finishing up his message about Jesus, the Holy Spirit came upon everyone in the room. What was going on here? We know that the people had believed in Jesus as Peter had preached. The gift of the Spirit or Spirit baptism is only for believers. How did Peter and the other Jews with him know that the people had been baptized in the Holy Spirit? They knew they had been Spirit baptized because they heard them speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues is the outward sign that someone has been baptized in the Holy Spirit.
What is speaking in tongues? It is speaking in a language you don’t know, a language given by the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues is a form of prayer in which the Holy Spirit prays through you a perfect prayer uncontaminated by sin and wrong thoughts. In this case, it was clear that the people were praising God in unknown languages.
Acts 10:47–48 (ESV) Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
In these verses, Peter says that Cornelius’ household had received the Spirit just as they had. What was Peter talking about? Peter was referring to the day of Pentecost when Peter and 120 disciples were Spirit baptized and spoke in tongues. On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached another sermon about Jesus and 3000 people were saved, Spirit baptized, and water baptized. Those three experiences: salvation, water baptism, and Spirit baptism are God’s will for everyone who is seeking Him.
In this case, after Cornelius’ household was Spirit baptized, they needed to be water baptized in the name of Jesus, so they were. In other accounts in the book of Acts, sometimes people are water baptized before being Spirit baptized as Jesus was. The order of water and Spirit baptism is not essential. These new believers' lives had been transformed. They were now empowered with the Spirit and had publicly declared their salvation through water baptism. These are the three essential marks of a biblical believer and church: salvation by faith, water baptism, and Spirit baptism.
Application
If you have not had these three experiences, you need to pursue them. If you’ve not believed in Jesus and made Him your Lord, we’ll give you an opportunity in a few minutes. If you’ve not been water baptized, sign up on your connect card or talk to me. If you’ve not been Spirit baptized with the gift of tongues, pray and ask God for that gift. There’s a book in the foyer called “Gateway to a Supernatural Life: The Incredible Power of Holy Spirit Baptism” that has been helpful to many.
Sometimes people are Spirit baptized immediately like Cornelius’ household. Other times, people have to pray and seek God for a while like the disciples did in the upper room before the day of Pentecost. Oftentimes, you may need someone to pray with you and lay hands upon you. People are being baptized in the Spirit on Sunday mornings when they come forward for prayer. Take advantage of those opportunities. God desires for all of us to receive the Spirit’s transformative power.
Conclusion
As we conclude, let’s return to the image of the caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. That beautiful metamorphosis illustrates the profound change that occurs when the Holy Spirit enters and fills our lives. Just as the caterpillar leaves its old life behind and emerges as a new creature, we too are called to leave behind our old ways and embrace the new life that the Spirit brings.
Today in our story, we’ve seen how the Holy Spirit orchestrates divine appointments, breaks down barriers, and demonstrates His power. Just as a butterfly is no longer bound to crawl on the ground but can now soar, we too are called to rise above our past and live empowered by the Holy Spirit. This week, let’s seek out and recognize God’s divine appointments in our lives. Let’s embrace the inclusivity of the Gospel, reaching out to those around us with the love and message of Jesus. May we open our hearts to be transformed by the Spirit’s power and allow him to lead us to new heights. May we all no longer crawl along like caterpillars but soar as beautiful butterflies on the wind of the Spirit.
