Acts 11:1-10, 12-18

The news traveled fast and soon reached the apostles and the believers living in Judea that non-Jewish people were also receiving God’s message of new life. When Peter finally arrived in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers called him to task, saying, “Why did you stay in the home of people who aren’t Jewish? You even ate your meals with them!” Peter explained what had happened, saying, “One day when I was in the city of Joppa, while I was praying I fell into an ecstatic trance and I went into another realm. I saw in a vision something like a linen tablecloth descending out of heaven, being let down by its four corners, and it got close to me. As I examined it I saw many four-footed animals, wild animals, reptiles, and wild birds. Then I heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat them.’ “I said, ‘I can’t do that, Lord! For I’ve never eaten anything that is forbidden or impure according to our Jewish laws.’ “The voice spoke to me again, saying, ‘Nothing is unclean if God declares it to be clean.’ “The vision repeated itself three times. Then suddenly the linen sheet was snatched back up into heaven.

The Spirit told me to accompany them with no questions asked. These six brothers here with me made the trip, and we entered into the home of the man who had sent for me. He shared with us about the angel who appeared to him and told him to send messengers to Joppa to find Simon, the Rock. The angel had told him, ‘He will tell you and your family the message of how you can be saved!’ “Shortly after I began to speak, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them, just like what happened to us at the beginning. And I remembered the words the Lord had told us: ‘John immersed you in water, but you will be immersed in the Holy Spirit.’ So I concluded that if God is pleased to give them the same gift of the Holy Spirit that he gave us after they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who am I to stand in the way of God?” When they heard this, their objections were put to rest and they all glorified God, saying, “Look what God has done! He’s giving the gift of repentance that leads to life to people who aren’t even Jews.”