“So Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
– Acts 10:34-35
Acts 10:34-35 Reminds Us That the Gospel is for the Gentiles
This was a watershed moment in the New Testament as the Gentiles were being reached with the Gospel and God was opening up Peter’s eyes and his heart to the realization that Jesus didn’t just die for the Jewish people, he died for the nations, for all the peoples of the world. And that he is seeking worshipers for his glory from all the people of the Earth.
This Verse Reminds Us to Pray for the Unreached
From here on, in Peter’s perspective, and really, the church begins to wrestle in a whole new way with how do we make the Jewish Messiah known among all the nations and bring into the church Gentiles, people from every nation? And so that was a watershed moment there that continues today, so there are still many, many peoples from different nations, and don’t think nations just geo-political entities, countries-nations, but think of ethnic groups of people in the world, so praying today, try to pray for an unreached people group each day. So, praying today for the Kurds in Turkey, so just to give you a little picture, portrait of the Kurds in Turkey.
Acts 10:34-35 and the Kurds
So about 8 and a half million of them in Turkey, nearly 15 million Kurds in the world, and among Kurdish people in Turkey, the predominant religion, Islam, living … the northern Kurds of Turkey live in a pretty rugged area, have been pretty fiercely independent and many of them having little to no knowledge of the Gospel. So few believers today in Turkey. Just bring Acts 10 to bear on that reality. God desires worshipers among the Kurdish people in Turkey.
The gospel is for every people group on the planet.
And God’s even brought Kurdish people, he’s scattered them in different places in the world. I think about Nashville, Tennessee, and the number of Kurds who live in Nashville, Tennessee, that God has brought to places where the Gospel is preached and proclaimed and so God’s bringing the nations to us, just like he was doing in Peter and Cornelius, in Acts Chapter 10. So may we take advantage of the opportunities we have to share the Gospel with people from other nations around us and may we pray intentionally and specifically for the spread of the Gospel to other nations.
Prayer for the Kurds
So I want to lead us to pray for Kurds in Turkey right now, believing. So as we pray, just believe, God, in Acts 10:34-35, he shows no partiality, and every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him, so let’s pray. Oh, God, we believe you love the Kurdish people in Turkey. You love Kurds. You desire them to know your grace. And you desire them to worship you in all of your glory, so we pray that you would make your glory known to them.
Prayer for Divine Encounters
We pray for divine encounters, encounters from your word, through your people that you would, just as you sent Peter to share the Gospel with this Gentile Centurion, that you would do this, and the lives of Kurdish people today, oh God, bring followers of Christ into encounters with Kurds in Nashville and Turkey and everywhere between and that you would open their eyes to your grace and your glory that you would draw Kurds to yourself today. That you would draw more and more nations to yourself and that you would use us as your people, use us as your people to be a part of making your Gospel known among more and more peoples in the world. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
