You and your sheet.

You and your sheet. Acts 10.9-17

I boarded the bus with sleepy eyes and a heart filled with expectation at what I was going to see and learn on our first day in Israel. As we drove north from the Tel Aviv area, we passed many businesses that were familiar - from high tech companies to McDonalds and retail stores, neighborhoods that could have been Irvine, California - filling stations selling gas for $6 a gallon. But where the bus stopped that morning was a huge expanse, resting on the ancient Mediterranean shore. Caesarea Maritima ('by the sea') was an important Roman city, seaport; it was where Pilate lived at Herod's palace. [pic 1 below]

Near the amphitheater, there is a stone tablet with an inscription of the name Pontius Pilate, and dedicated to Tiberius Caesar who nominated him as procurator.

We took our seats, or rather, placed our seats on the stone rows of that amphitheatre and considered Peter's experience at Caesarea 2000 years ago. [pic 2 below]

In Acts chapter 10, God speaks through visions and through an angel and the voice of the Spirit, with the message:

"A relationship with me through Jesus the Messiah is for all people."

WAIT, before you read on---clear your busy mind, and ask God to speak to you as you read or listen. Seriously, take a moment and ask God to speak from his Word to you.

So, besides the message of no racism, no favoritism in the church that we have gleaned from Acts 10, there is something else we need to take from Peter's vision. God let Peter know that something was in the way in their relationship. Take a brief look at this, and then I will explain how it rocked me on my limestone seat:

Luke writes, "Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. Then a voice said to him, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat them."

"No, Lord," Peter declared. [leave it to Peter to argue with God, riiiiight?] "I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean."
But the voice spoke again: "Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean." The same vision was repeated three times. [Have you noticed that there is something with Peter and three's?] Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven.

Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean?"1

For Peter, Jewish law had gotten in the way of his relationship with God ... God showed him through the animals on the sheet. Indeed God was breaking down the walls between Jew and Gentile - in case you didn't read about that in "This Changes Everything," here is the link:http://conta.cc/2mf8aWc

God was looking to change Peter's heart

We all have barriers that keep us from God's best for us. Fact is, God can use any old thing to get our attention. He got Peter's attention with a sheet. He used a bush for Moses2, a donkey for Balaam3, right? Talking real talk, if God were to lower a sheet from Heaven to you or me, saying, 'Hey, Chris, you have let this thing come between us. I know you haven't stopped to think about it, but if you do, if you will listen, I will tell you . . . and it is important because it/this thing is stifling my power and presence in your life.' What would it be?

What is the stopper in your relationship with God - that thing that limits him from being fully God in your life, that thing that keeps you from being fully 'you' in him-what is on your sheet that comes between you and God?

~is it busyness? 'O God, I mean to spend time with you, I want to start my day with you, but you know how it is God, right? I mean I wake up to 47 messages that need to be addressed. Besides. . .'

~is it worry? 'God, you know that I pray to you all the time about my concerns; but the fact is, my concerns are really worries.' 'God, you know my husband/my wife, my children are far from you, and the disparity haunts me! Honestly, it seems I obsess about my kids' futures at times.'

~is it your own selfish desires or greed? 'God, I would really like to be closer to you, but I have a lot of things to do, all these things to accomplish, so I think I will just keep you at arm's length, ok? Well, I guess you're not okay, and neither am I, but that's all I've got to give right now.' Yet these things you have to do are keeping a barrier between you and God!

~or is it your thoughts of other people, and what they might think of you?
Because while your sheet separates you from God in some fashion, it also leaves you weighed down with things you do not need to carry.

When you let God take your sheet, you are free. 
So, why wouldn't you?

Christine

Pastorwoman.com

1 - Acts 10.9-17
2 - Exodus 3.1-12
3 - Numbers 22.21-39