All right, Acts chapter 10 is where we are this morning.

So if you'll take your Bibles and go to Acts chapter 10, we are continuing in our study through the book of Acts.

Last time we were looking at chapter 9, and we saw the radical transformation of a man by the name of Saul, otherwise known as Paul, who went from being a Christian hater to being a Jesus lover.

And Paul had such a radical conversion that God used him to minister the truth about Jesus

and to write most of the New Testament books.

Today, here in chapter 10, we're going to look at another conversion story, only this time

it's not a Jew.

It is a Gentile.

It is the first Gentile of the early church who will experience a personal encounter with

the Lord Jesus.

So I use these terms because we need to understand Jew and Gentile. In biblical times,

there were only two classes of people. You either fell into the category of Jew or you fell into

the category of Gentile. So just exactly what distinguishes Jew from Gentile. Originally,

Jews were a race designed by God.

I say originally, because the term race would not so much apply now,

because the Jews as a people group are more than just a one specific race of people.

But originally, God selected Abraham and chose Abraham to father a brand

new nation. And that Abraham's descendants through Isaac and through Isaac's son, Jacob, would form a new

nation, a race of people known as the Jews, and everyone else was a Gentile.

Okay?

The Jews would have a special relationship with God, and they would be his chosen people

for the purpose of revealing God to the rest of the world, and ultimately to reveal

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