Second Sunday After Pentecost

Bottom Line Spirituality: Worldly and Godly Thinking

Click here to go to the Bottom Line Meditations for Second Sunday after Pentecost

Godly Abiding Spiritually in Jesus Changes the Meaning of What we See Worldly When Not Abiding in Jesus.

Spirituality is our innate ability to feel the difference worldly or godly thinking makes to the way scripture translates to our daily life and relationships.

Remember: The DISCIPLE-SHIFT

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The Virtual Small Group

Members share once a week with their group through the internet when a shift from being out to being in the Presence made a difference.

Jesus took common words and gave them the spiritual meaning of being in the Presence of the Spirit.  Here the word “truth” means experiencing the Presence rather than a theological belief.

The Gospel of grace is: rather than us trying to build a life of faith for God, we become a life of faith by God when consciously feeling the Faith He has in us.

PROPER 4 Luke 7:1-10  The Faith of the Centurion

A centurion’s servant was about to die. The centurion sent some elders of the Jews to Jesus, asking Him to come and heal his servant. When they came, they pleaded earnestly with Jesus, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”

The centurion told Jesus just to say the word and his servant would be healed. Jesus said, “I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” The servant was found healed.

Is this the same Centurion as in Acts 10:1? It tells us of a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.  He and all his family were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.

An angel came to him and said, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.” Does that sound like the same man of faith who “loves our national and has built our synagogue”?

The story goes that God told Cornelius to call Peter and He also told Peter to go to him and preach the Gospel. While Peter was preaching, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.

In those times Rome would recruit troops from a region. They knew each other and did not have to put up with building community as much as dispersed members would. Cornelius’ group was called the “Italian Regiment” or Band or Cohort. That means they were all Roman. They could have been recruits from the City of Rome itself.

It is questionable that Peter was crucified upside down in Rome. Most accredited Roman scholars would say Peter never made it to Rome. 

He might very well have been killed in Jerusalem when King Herod arrested Peter and put him in prison intending to bring him out for a public trial. The night before the trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. Peter followed him out of the prison. He thought he was seeing a vision. The iron gates leading to the city opened. They went through the gates and suddenly the angel left him.

The guards could have hit Peter and the angel appeared. This could be Peter’s death and resurrection. Luke seemed not to want to tell all the gory details of the Apostles death.  Peter goes to a distant place at the end. He appears only one more time at a Council meeting that could have happened before this event.

The point being, how did Peter’s tradition get to Rome? If Peter did not get there, it probably was because of Cornelius and his Italian Band of Romans. They spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. When asked how they came by it, the answer was through Peter and so the tradition of Peter in Rome.

Whether this was the same Centurion with both Jesus and Peter we will never know. What we do know is of their faith which was to do what God told them to do. It was the Faith of Mary as she told the servants at the wedding feast, “Whatever He tells you to do, do it.” John 2:5 As it was then, so it is now and ever will be for all of us.

The Centurion’s Faith came from being in the spiritual Presence of Jesus. Learn how to have this faith by making the shift into the experience Presence of Jesus.

Galatians 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Presence of the grace of God changes a life filled with hurt, anger and stress to one of feeling His Peace in all conditions.

THE DISCIPLE-SHIFT: The Virtual Small Group:  Members share once a week with their group through the internet when a shift from being out to being in the Presence made a difference.