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Bible Study: Peter The Evangelist
 Peter did not want to be an evangelist to the Gentiles. All his life, he had been taught that every Gentile was a sinner and that he, a Jew, was not. But when God told Peter to go to them, he went and took others with him. What changed his mind? It all came about because of a vision that God sent to Peter when he went up on the roof to pray. Visions were a common thing with God. The prophet Isaiah had many visions come to him as did other servants of God. But Peter’s vision was like a parable.
Jesus was counted (and rightly so) as a Hebrew. He was from the lineage of David who God called a prophet. Peter had spent many days with Jesus. The Bible tells us in Acts 10 that Peter went up on the roof one day to pray. As he is praying, he sees something that looks like a large sheet lowered down from Heaven. The sheet moves and Peter sees that the sheet is filled with all manner of birds and animals that, under the law, he could not eat. There came a voice that told him to rise, kill and eat.  Peter said “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean”. Then the voice spoke a second time and said, “What God hath cleanses, that call not thou common”. As Peter was wondering what this vision should mean, God had already sent men to find him and go with him where he said to go. Peter realized that the vision had showed him that God is no respecter of person and the different animals in the vision represented the Gentiles. In every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness, is accepted by Him.
     Peter was wanting to stay in the Moses Law of do’s and don’ts. God sent the vision to show Peter that he was a sinner just as the Gentiles were, and that if God cleanses either, they would be clean and could receive the Holy Spirit.  According to Acts 10, God gets the Spirit to work with Peter before the men that He has sent arrives in Joppa. He hears the voice saying whatever God has cleansed he should not call unclean.
   We have record in Acts Chapter 2, that during Pentecost, Peter delivers a message from God saying, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Then Peter told them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin and they would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. They that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. As the people continued in obedience with God, the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. The same Holy Ghost that came to the Jews at Pentecost also came to the Gentiles and they received salvation “without which no man shall see the Lord “ (Hebrews 12:14).
    

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