The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my
right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall
send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of
the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for
ever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right
hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among
the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the
heads over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore
shall he lift up the head.
God of Creation - Genesis 1:1-5
In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was
light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light
from the darkness. And God called the
light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning
were the first day.
Rods like Cornelius
the Gentile - Acts 10
• A
devout man (Pious, religious).
• Who
feared God (venerated God, treated God with reverential obedience).
• Worshipped
the true God.
• A
real man of prayer.
• An
Italian soldier
• A
Centurion
• At
this time Rome worshipped the Emperor (Caesar) as God.
• There
were other gods like Jupiter, Venus, Minerva, Diana, Apollos.
• In
fact, they had so many gods, that the word “Roman pantheon” is used to describe
the gods worshipped by the Romans.
• Yet
Cornelius and his entire household worshipped Jehovah the God of the Jews.
HOW DID HE COME ABOUT THIS KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THAT LED TO
HIS DEVOTION?
God is sovereign!!!
He said in Romans 10:
vs 13 “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
vs 15 “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
vs 16 “So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him
who runs, but of God who shows mercy.”
vs 23 “And that He might make known the riches of His
glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,”
vs 24 “Even us whom He called, not of the Jews only,
but also of the Gentiles?”
Vessels of Mercy
• The
salvation of Europe is God’s prerogative.
• Who
comes into His kingdom in Europe is by His own choice and determination.
• Although
Cornelius and his household were devoted, it was the mercy of God that located
him.
• There
were other non- Jews who were believers of God at this time. I believe they may
have been equally as pious and devoted to God.
• But
God by an act of mercy chose Cornelius and his household to be His sample of
gentile believers in Christ.
• God
chose Cornelius as a vessel of mercy in order to show forth His glory.
Christ the basis of
our Cry for vessels of Mercy
Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, being rich in
mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead
in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been
saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable
riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
1 Peter 1:3-4 “Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy,
he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable,
undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”
Titus 3:4-5
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared,
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to
his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”
Prayer Points
Only someone who has
received mercy from the Lord that can minister the same mercy to another. Our
first set of prayer point is for us.
• Please
cry to the Lord and ask Him to make you His vessel of mercy.
• Lord,
let your mercy locate and my household.
• The
mercy of God that makes a man and his entire household a sample of the life of
Christ.
• The
mercy of God that prevents a man from making the wrong decision, and that
pursues a man until wrong decisions and their consequence are corrected totally.
• The
mercy of God that established a family and their children yet unborn into
Christ forever.
• Let
me and my household be recipients of this mercy and become a pipe through whom
You can flow to others.
Prayer Points for
Europe
• Lord,
please raise Your vessels of mercy all across Europe.
• Let
Your mercy attend to Your people in Europe.
• Let
Your mercy locate heads of families among all the tribes and people group in
Europe.
• O
Lord, let your mercy that brings salvation reach whole families, extended
families and whole communities in Europe.
• O
Lord, raise Your Cornelius at national levels, at regional levels, at local
government levels, in language groups, at tribal levels all across Europe.
Raise them O Lord, in your mercy.
• In
the military of nations, in the different professions of nations of Europe, in
the business world of Europe, in the education sector , in the health and
social care sector, in government and politics, in vocational sector, O Lord, please
raise Your vessels of mercy.
• Pour
Your mercy that brings salvations upon Your people in Europe.
