Intermediate Level, Block 10—Spread and Propagation
Week 97
Peter—Being Sent to Others Different from Himself
Point to Emphasize: We can easily be with many different kinds of people.
Reference Reading: Acts 10—11
Memory Verse: …In truth I perceive that God is not a respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34b)
Story Sample
There are many good stories about Peter in the New Testament. The one for today took place at a time when many were spreading the good news about Jesus, but still mainly among the Jews. Peter had now traveled to Joppa. In this region there were many Jews and also many Gentiles, people who were not Jews.
Peter had been brought up as a Jew. The Jewish law did not permit them to mix with non-Jewish people. So as a Jew, Peter would never have gone to the house of a non-Jew. He would never have eaten together with non-Jews. But now, being a follower of Jesus, what would he do?
One day, there was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius who was a Roman centurion and Gentile who feared God. He had a vision with an angel speaking to him. He was told to go to Joppa and bring Peter back to speak to him. Following the instructions, Cornelius sent his men to get Peter.
At about the same time in Joppa, Peter was on a housetop praying and also had a vision. In this vision, God showed him that he should accept everyone, because God does not respect one person above another. This was altogether a new thought to Peter. It took some time for it to sink in. When the men from Cornelius came, Peter agreed to go with them.
When he got to Caesarea, Peter spoke to all who had gathered at the house of Cornelius. They were all Gentiles. He told them the good news about Jesus. After Peter’s sharing, they all became followers of Jesus and were baptized. This was a very important event! From this time on, the good news was spoken to all men, both Jews, and Gentiles.
Even though we were not brought up as Jews, sometimes we are like the Jews—we don’t mix with others who are different from ourselves. It is easy for us to be together with some who speak the same language our family speaks, or are from the same country our parents are from. But it is also very good when we get to know others who are different from our background.
When I was about your age, a Japanese family moved into the neighborhood up the block from us. The boy’s name was Rodney Kasuda (Caw-sue-dah). He was about my age. His English was so-so, but neither his mom nor dad spoke much English. When all the neighborhood children came over to play in their front yard, Mrs. Kasuda would bring out these small sticky rice balls. She would tell us what they were called in Japanese but none of us could pronounce it. I really liked them. Some of the others did not like these rice balls because they tasted so different. Mr. Kasuda was a black belt in martial arts. I had never seen martial arts before. He would go into their front yard and show us some forms of the martial arts. It was really different from anything I’d known, but it was interesting. Because Rodney’s family was so different from the other families, in the neighborhood, it seemed harder to do things with them. But we did include Rodney whenever we could. [Storyteller, include your own story of being with others from different backgrounds.]
It really is not so hard to be with children who are not the same as we are. And since God loves each one the same, we too should have friends from different backgrounds. We can be those who are like Peter willing to be with others who are different than ourselves, because to God, we are all the same.