God Taught Me to See Differently (Acts 10)

Introduction

How you see a situation decides how you react. Your judgment of a person dictates your attitude. What if, this morning, God wanted to reset how you see things before he even changes your circumstances? In Acts 10, Peter comes out of a vision that overturned his entire religious upbringing. Facing the brothers who came to demand an explanation, he dares to say, "God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean." Elder Jean Michel Musungayi invites you to let God lay that same hand on you: to change your glasses, to update how you see others, how you see trials, and how you see whatever you are going through right now.

Outline of the Message

1. Acts 10: Peter's Revolution in Seeing

• Peter declares to his brothers, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean" (Acts 10:28).
• This word comes after the vision of the sheet let down from heaven: Peter hears the voice say, "Kill and eat," and he refuses because of his upbringing. God insists and breaks down a mental stronghold anchored across generations.
• Summoned by the other apostles to explain his visit to Cornelius, Peter does not defend himself with clever arguments; he simply tells how God changed the way he sees.
• Your different behavior today does not need to be justified by your own reasoning. It is enough to say, like Peter, "God has shown me."

2. Milk, Honey, and Giants (Joshua, Caleb, Paul)

• When Israel sends spies into Canaan, ten come back fixated on the giants and a land that "devours its inhabitants." Caleb, though, keeps his eyes on the milk and honey: "God is giving it to us as food."
• Paul writes to the Corinthians, "I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries" (1 Corinthians 16:8-9). If he had focused on the adversaries, he would have fled.
• Paul understands that the presence of adversaries is itself the sign that a great door is open. The presence of the sons of Anak confirms that the land really is the one flowing with milk and honey.
• The Lord asks you to fix your attention on the door, on the milk and honey, not on the giants. He himself will take care of your adversaries.

3. Adversity as a Springboard (Judges 3)

• "Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars of Canaan" (Judges 3:1). God leaves certain enemies in place, not to destroy you, but to strengthen you spiritually.
• The fathers of Israel had known victory and God's revelation; their children, who had not known war, did not know God personally. The God of your father wants to become your God.
• Adversity makes you cry out to the Lord, makes you call on his name, gives you a revelation that theory alone will never give you.
• What you are going through was not sent for your ruin, but for your advancement. Change how you see the trial: it is sometimes the very thing that lifts you higher.

4. Jairus and Hannah: When Distress Opens Your Eyes

• Mark 5 tells how Jairus, a synagogue leader, falls at Jesus's feet because his daughter is dying. Without that distress, he probably would never have come near Jesus, for fear of what the Pharisees would think (John 12:42).
• Distress freed Jairus to disregard what others thought of him and to choose God's glory over human approval.
• In 1 Samuel 1, Hannah is scorned by Peninnah and comforted by Elkanah, who tells her, "Am I not more to you than ten sons?" Without Peninnah's contempt, Hannah might never have known what she truly lacked, and Samuel would never have been born.
• Her song of praise after Samuel's birth (1 Samuel 2) carries a new depth: "There is none holy like the Lord, there is none besides you." Without Peninnah, that worship might never have risen to heaven.

5. Let God Change Your Glasses

• "Lord, take off my glasses and give me a new frame, new lenses." Your prayer today can be that of Elisha's servant, "Open his eyes" (2 Kings 6:17).
• The God who speaks to you wants to renew your mind so that you see your situation differently. It is not for your ruin. It is not for your death.
• When how you see changes, your prayer changes, your words change, your reactions change. Updating how you see is the beginning of a transformed life.

Key Takeaways

• It is not first your situation that God wants to change; it is how you look at it.
• A new way of seeing cannot be manufactured; it must be received. "But God has shown me," that is your only justification.
• Adversaries do not signal that a door is closed; they often confirm that a great door stands open in front of you.
• The adversity God does not remove is the muscle that moves you from an inherited faith to a personal one.
• Distress frees you from what others think and throws you at the feet of Jesus, right where the Messiah is waiting for you.

Personal Application

1. What is the situation, the person, or the trial for which you need God to reset your way of seeing this morning?
2. Where have you fixed your eyes on the giants when God is asking you to look at the milk and honey he is promising you?
3. Is a wide and effective door opening in your life right now, hidden behind the shadow of many adversaries?
4. Has the God of your parents truly become your own God, or do you only hold the theory of their victories?
5. What fear of what others think is still keeping you from falling at the feet of Jesus, even as distress knocks at your door?

Verses Cited

• Acts 10:9-29
• 1 Corinthians 16:8-9
• Numbers 13:26-33
• Judges 3:1-4
• Mark 5:21-24
• John 12:42-43
• 1 Samuel 1:1-20
• 1 Samuel 2:1-2
• 2 Kings 6:15-17

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Peter mean by "God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean"?

Peter speaks in Acts 10:28 after the vision of the sheet let down from heaven and his visit to Cornelius, a Gentile centurion. His entire Jewish upbringing forbade him from entering the house of a non-Jew. God resets this inherited way of seeing so that he can proclaim the gospel beyond Israel. This is not first a change of opinion; it is a direct teaching from God that breaks down a mental stronghold and prepares the church to open up to the nations.

Why does God use adversity to change how we see?

Judges 3:1 says that God left certain nations to test Israel, particularly those who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. Adversity makes you cry out to God; it forces you out of an inherited, theoretical faith and into a personal encounter. It also frees you from worrying what others think, as with Jairus, who falls at the feet of Jesus because of his daughter's distress. It is not a punishment, but often the springboard of a rise.

How do I pray for my way of seeing to change?

Take up Elisha's prayer for his servant (2 Kings 6:17): "Lord, please open his eyes." Ask God to remove your old glasses and give you a new frame. Pray to see the open door when all you see is adversaries, to make out the milk and honey when all you see is giants, to recognize the hand of God in what feels unbearable to you today. This new way of seeing does not come from your own reasoning; it is a teaching from God.