“When they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also, God has granted repentance that leads to life”.
– Acts 11:18
What a great summary here in Acts 11:18 of what has just been heard by these Jewish church leaders when they hear about Cornelius and his salvation, this Gentile and they hear what God has done, how His Spirit fell and caused them to believe in Christ and the church is now glorifying God because it’s not just Jews, it’s Gentiles, the nations to whom God has granted repentance that leads to life. God has granted, God has given this gift, the gift of repentance, the gift of salvation through Jesus. He’s not just given it to one type of people. He’s given it to all types of people. So here yet again we see the global thrust of the gospel.
Thanks be to God for His gracious love towards all the nations. In this text we once again see the global thrust of the gospel.
All over the pages of Scripture, Acts chapter 10 and 11, just one more example of how this gospel, just like Luke had recorded Jesus saying in Luke 24, this gospel shall be proclaimed as a testimony to all the nations. Jesus has suffered, died, risen from the grave and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached to all the nations and it’s happening here in Acts 11:18. So this is why we continually pray for the spread of the gospel to more nations.
This is why we continually go for the spread of the gospel to more nations. It’s why we continually give for the spread of the gospel to more nations, because this is the story we are caught up in. This is what we are longing for, not just these types of people glorifying God for the salvation they have received but all types of people, everywhere, glorifying God for the salvation they have received.
Payer For People to Come to God Like Those in Acts 11:18
So God, right now we pray for more people, more people groups to hear this gospel and believe it. Right now we pray for the Pinjore people in India. 3.5 million of them. No known followers of Jesus. God, hear our prayers right now together. Like all of us praying through this podcast, we are pleading right now for the Pinjore people to be reached with the good news of repentance. So God, grant them repentance, we pray. Please cause the gospel to go to them. Please send out workers to them. And please open their eyes to believe.
Draw them to Yourself, God, we pray, that You would grant them repentance. Grant the Pinjore in India repentance that leads to life. Please, O God. Hear our prayers right now. Use our prayers as a means by which Your purpose is accomplished among the Pinjore in India. As we pray this, we pray that You would use our lives however You want. Use our resources, use our churches to get the gospel to them. Please, God, use our lives as long as we have breath, our churches as long as we exist. Like use us, we pray, to see repentance granted to all the peoples of the world. Life experienced among all the peoples of the world in You, Jesus. May it be so we pray in Jesus’ name, 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.
