Hello, thank you so much for joining me today for Give Him 15.

The title of today's post is, a thank you to the faithful.

I spoke this past weekend at the 20th anniversary of Hope Fellowship in Brandon, Mississippi,

a wonderful church led by David and Joe Hurdle.

In preparation for this, the Lord led me to Acts 10 and the account of Cornelius.

Holy Spirit actually awakened me early Sunday morning with this passage in my heart.

It tells us that the home of Cornelius was chosen by God as the launch point of the gospel to the Gentile world. Think about that. World history was forever

changed in Cornelius' living room.

What did he do? What did Cornelius do to attain such an honor?

The answer is given in Acts 10, verses 2, 3, and 4.

Here's a portion.

Says he was a devout man, one that feared God with all his house,

which gave his house, gave much alms to the people, much. Some translations, many. And he prayed to God

continually. And an angel came and said to him, Thy prayers and thine arms, your prayers and alms, your prayers and alms are come up as a memorial before God.

Cornelius was a generous man who gave many financial gifts to the poor.

And though he was not yet born again, his love and respect for God

caused him to live a life of prayer.

A lot of translations use the word continually pray.

These two offerings, prayer and generosity, had ascended as a memorial before God. The two came

together making a memorial before God. The Greek word memorial used in this

passage means a record, a remembrance, and can even be a literal monument. Cornelius was on record

in heaven.

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