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A. A Roman who was a leader in the Roman MILITARY (1)
B. The ITALIAN Regiment: most loyal to Rome (1)
C. A God-Fearing GENTILE (2)
• φοβου’μενοσ "fearing" fear of displeasing God or making Him look bad
D. A God-Fearing FAMILY (2)
E. He GAVE and PRAYED faithfully (2)
Do we maintain a godly lifestyle even in the midst of ungodly environments? Are we like Cornelius? We can be.

II. God Would BLESS Cornelius Because He Was Pleased With Him (3b-6)

A. He has a vision of an ANGEL (3b)
B. God was pleased by his PRAYERS and Generosity (4)
The Mishna says that whoever possesses the three characteristics of a good eye, a lowly spirit, and a humble soul is a disciple of our father Abraham; while one who has the three opposite characteristics is a disciple of the wicked Balaam (Avot 5:22).
Arthur Green, Sefat Emet, The Language of Truth, The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1998. 257

C. God gives him INSTRUCTIONS to fetch Peter (5)
Was Cornelius already saved? Acts 11:14 might imply "no," but, then again, this is a time of transition. I think so.

I am the webmaster for the Camp Emmanuel website. It is hosted for free; ads pay for it. Now, they are closing that site and setting things up so that I can "migrate" the files to another free site. I believe that Cornelius was being migrated from salvation by grace through faith in the OT promises to salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Do we maintain a godly lifestyle even in the midst of ungodly environments? Are we like Cornelius? We can be.

III. Cornelius COMPLIES (7-8)

A. He assigns other godly SOLDIERS and servants (7)
Cornelius was a leader, and a hallmark of a good leader is willingness to obey orders; authority-resenters ultimately have a hard time with God’s authority
B. They could UNDERSTAND the reality of what happened (8)
• Lost people would have thought Cornelius was out of his mind and hallucinating or simply off the deep end; but the godly understood how God can work.
• We do not need to hide how God works in our lives, but we need to understand how the lost can perceive God’s working…
Do we maintain a godly lifestyle even in the midst of ungodly environments? Are we like Cornelius? We can be.

IV. What Cornelius EXAMPLE Teaches Us

A. Being a LIGHT in dark environments
• Cornelius, his family, servants, and the few God-fearing soldiers were counter-cultural, an anomaly in that society, an island of godliness in a pagan world.
• We American Christians are not familiar with this idea, but Biblical Christianity is well-suited toward being a minority faith.
• With diluted versions of Christianity so predominant, it is no surprise that our light does not shine darkly; like a flashlight with batteries on their last leg, our feeble light does not bring much glory to God.
B. Choosing God over REARING or Culture
• Cornelius was likely reared as a pagan; he traded his idols for the God of Israel, thus betraying his family heritage for a higher calling.
C. Sharing our FAITH
• We do not know this, but it is possible that the believing servants and the believing soldiers were won to faith in Yahweh through Cornelius. Or perhaps believing soldiers migrated to his unit.
D. Fellowshipping with BELIEVERS
• If the most important thing about you is your faith, then you naturally