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What We Can Learn from Cornelius Acts 10:33 The Ideal Audience What We Can Learn from Cornelius Acts 10:33 Prepared by Chris Reeves * Southside church of Christ Gospel Meeting * September 20, 2015

The Preacher & His Audience Many churches are looking for the qualities of a good preacher: voice, personality, knowledge, experience, etc. There is much in God’s word concerning the qualities of a good preacher (1 Thess. 2:4; 2 Tim. 4:2; etc.)

The Preacher & His Audience Are churches looking for the qualities of a good audience? There are qualities of a good audience given in the Bible (Neh. 8:1ff) What are the qualities of the audience that is pleasing to God (Acts 10:33)?

You Have Done Well in Coming… They anticipated the coming assembly with great interest; no apathy Do we anticipate coming together for worship; do we long for it? What a great blessing and privilege it is to come to worship God! Psalm 26:8; 122:1

We Are All Here… They were all present, waiting, with a unity of purpose; no absentees or late-comers Are we all present to worship God (except “providentially hindered”) Heb. 10:25

Present Before God… They understood that they were in God’s presence; no misbehavior Are we gathered with reverence and respect for God? Hebrews 12:25

To Hear… They wanted to listen to the entire message; no rejecting the message; no closed minds Are we listening to all that is said? John 6:45; Acts 7:57; 20:27; 22:22; Romans 10:17

To Hear All Things Commanded… They wanted to hear a message from God’s word; no entertainment or social events Are we coming for worship or for some other purpose? Acts 2:46; 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:20ff; 14:26ff

Commanded by the Lord… They wanted to hear God’s commandments; no opinions of men or pop-psychology Are we demanding truth and Bible from our preachers and teachers? 2 Timothy 4:2-4

The Ideal Audience These people were change; they obeyed; they were saved (10:48; 11:1, 14, 18; 15:7, 11) With an audience like this at each service, we will be changed too! The lost will be saved! The saved will be strengthened!