EXPANSION (THE DOOR)

ABSTRACT

The first thing to know about the door of expansion is that it is a stretching place—as opposed to the natural door that quickly crosses the mind upon setting eyes on the title. The book of Acts chapter 10 verses 5, and 24 to 29 bears an incident involving the apostle Peter and a gentile by the name of Cornelius…wherein the door of expansion as being a stretching place is realized. The book of Acts all by itself is quite complicated. It is an expression of men’s first attempt to carry the mandate of God without the physical presence of God there to stir it. It is to try a flight of these new apostles as they step into leadership…and more importantly, it is to try understanding what the leader has spoken. There is usually a great gulf between what a leader or a teacher says and what a student understands. Teaching something one time doesn’t mean the students understand it. Some people do not hear what a teacher says. And some hear what they want the teacher to have said.

Being that people do not get it all at once, the apostles—in Acts of the apostles, were grappling to see how to first of all successfully retain an adequate understanding of the Word of God because you cannot teach what you do not understand. During the days of Jesus, the apostles learned directly from Him. But in Acts, they were under the administration of the Holy Spirit. The Christ that was physically with them in the near past was no longer with them but was in them and His voice spoke to them from the inside, not from the outside anymore. Now, the problem with hearing the voice of Christ from the inside is that it is not the only voice that speaks. When God speaks within you, you have to filter because there are other voices also speaking from the inside of you. These voices speak about your past, history, your religious tradition, your opinion, and ideology. Hence, it is easy to confuse the voice of God with your opinion and the rest of the speaking of those voices.

Being yet new to that new wave of God, the apostles were still learning how to differentiate between the voice of God and the other voices and impulses. Understanding the difference between those voices was the process through which they grappled and disagreed amongst themselves on several occasions. Even in this day and age, long after the days of the apostles when the era of the Holy Spirit was still fresh, preachers still debate over texts, and this should be far from being out of place because even those who heard Jesus directly—had different ideas and strove to understand Jesus’ own words. But then, such is expedient of God’s Word when it comes to diagnosing it because…if God’s Word was easily understood and diagnosed, then God would not be God. The Bible talks about God’s thoughts not being man’s thoughts and His ways being above man’s ways, and that as the heavens are above the earth, so are His thoughts above man’s thoughts. If God could be easily explained, He would not be God. Anything that can be easily explained can be managed, and that’s not God.

The things of God cannot be received through intellectualism. He must be revealed and experienced, worked out in your life and circumstances…and little by little, He wins us—from the elementary fundamental ideologies that started us on our way, as we graduate from faith to faith and from glory to glory in our understanding if we are not afraid to let go of what we once held as true. In school, addition was all that was true until multiplication was introduced. Multiplication became all that was true until algebra was brought up. The same was the case with algebra until trigonometry was brought forth. Each introduction got higher and higher, and to embrace the next principle, one has to be willing to move beyond the one that he/she was taught before. The truth, however, is that moving beyond is so hard…but it’s the only way to progress. Upon the inauguration of the era of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the men who experienced from afar—accused the disciples of being drunk, intoxicated, and so rowdy and noisy that it interrupted the city.

Many great and miraculous acts were wroth by the Holy Spirit following that inauguration on Pentecost which disrupted even more cities and left even more people awestruck, attesting to the gifts and anointing of the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of the apostles. But it is possible to have more power, talent, and anointing than one has understanding. Sometimes a man’s gifts/talents/anointing can take a man into places that a man’s head is not ready for. In cases like this, all a person can do is to give all he can—to level up…instead of giving all he should—to see to the discharging of all that is expected of him. This was the case with the apostles in their early days in ministry. So God had to deal with their minds and spirits…and in the tenth chapter of the book of acts, it became so apparent how God was weaving lives together to His glory.

In that chapter, it is seen how God prepared two different men from two different worlds, two different cultures, and two different ideologies. Both men did not know of each…yet God weaved their experience together—that by the time their paths crossed, something divine happened. Herein—is understood the providence of God, that God does not just get a man ready for something, but likewise gets that thing ready for the man…just as—while Abraham was walking up on one side of the hill to sacrifice Isaac, the Ram that was sacrificed in place of Isaac was walking up towards him from the other side of the hill…so that it would be there by the time Abraham and his son got there—and become Isaac’s substitute so that he wasn’t sacrificed. In essence, both parties were climbing toward each other without each other’s awareness, and this points to the reality of the fact that—as you advance towards a thing, God has that thing advancing towards you too. It is just a matter of time and your paths will cross as you both journey toward each other simultaneously.

Sometimes we are so engrossed with our journey and what we go through in the rocks, ridges, hills, and valleys we climb that we fail to be cognizant of the fact that God has blessings coming up from the other side of our journey to meet us. Sometimes the rocks, ridges, hills, and valleys we encounter on our path are not due to any shortcoming on our path. We could be well ready for all we are reaching out for. But since we are ready, God has to make ready for us—what we are reaching out for us…so that—being ready for each other, we encounter at the same place at the same time…and such was the case at the doorway of the house of the gentile believer—Cornelius. It all collided at the doorway…an expansion…the door of expansion.

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INTRODUCTION

Before becoming the first gentile-turned-believer, Cornelius had been an Italian centurion who headed a band of soldiers called the “Italian Band.” He was a devout, spiritual man, and generous man who had been in the habit of giving alms all through his life. He was a man of prayer and consecration, a man of discipline and honor, a man that God had taken notice of—on account of his deeds, a man who had done all there was—to get himself into God’s good books except for the fact that he was a gentile and without covenant with God like the Jews, hence exempted from the commonwealth of Israel. Not one of the sons of Abraham. Yet he had an experience with God that won the commendation of God. It must be the likes of Cornelius that Jesus spoke of—when He said “…other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” Normally, traditional orthodox Judaism would have considered Cornelius a “dog.” A dog is a biblical name for someone who is not of the covenant…an unbeliever.

Under normal circumstances, Cornelius fell into this category and wasn’t eligible to receive the kind of blessing that he received nor have the depth of relationship with God that he had. This becomes instructive, as one ponders over certain folks in our world today who have been canceled and invalidated by others…when actually, God has approved and validated such persons. God commended Cornelius’ prayers which had gone up before Him as a memorial and had taken notice of his generosity/support by carefully watching him just as Jesus sat by the offering table to take notice of the people’s giving and ultimately commending the widow’s might. God’s response to Cornelius on account of his commendable deeds was to visit his household with salvation, establish a covenant with them and usher them into the commonwealth of Israel. But this process wasn’t one-way traffic. It started with a vision of an angel showing up and giving him specific instructions on what to do afterward; then a follow-up on this instruction as well as Peter’s preparatory encounter as well.

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THE PROCESS

This process that began with an angelic visitation was what ultimately led to the “door of expansion.” But as earlier said, it wasn’t one-way traffic. God decided to establish many dots and have them connected in a lovely sequence that resulted in the salvation of a gentile household. Why did God tow this seemingly complex path of bombarding both Cornelius and Peter with visions and then have Cornelius send men to fetch Peter while treating Peter to an extended revelation session that annulled a Leviticus ordinance while setting in motion a new order that accommodated gentiles in the plan of salvation? God gave both Cornelius and Peter an overview of what he was set to do without affording them a detailed synopsis thereof because He requires His flock to walk by faith and not by sight. If God were to give a detailed explanation of what He was set to do, Cornelius and Peter wouldn’t require much faith because the plan would already have been clear.

He only gave them an idea of something amazing that was about to happen and left them with the task of employing their faith to connect the dots until the jackpot was hit…just as He does with us today. Upon waking from the dream in which he encountered the angel, Cornelius assembles his household and sends his servants to Joppa to fetch Peter, following the angel’s directive. Cornelius, though a gentile, was brought up to speed on Peter’s exact location and asked to fetch him. The reason for fetching Peter was not made known to him. How difficult would it have been for the angel to disperse that information to him? But he didn’t. Cornelius just had to fetch Peter and watch out for what was to follow. On the other hand, while the angel was having this conversation with Cornelius, Peter is having a dream at Simon’s house that was in line with Cornelius’ experience. But Peter’s experience is even more intricate and complex than that of Cornelius.

Up on the roof of Cornelius’ house, Peter had fallen asleep hungry and had a dream about food…like most people who go to bed hungry. In his dream, he saw all types of four-footed beasts of all types and descriptions that were unclean according to old testament standards. So peter gets instructed to rise and slay and eat the animals but he wouldn’t, being a devout Jew who plays by the rules. But he gets confronted by God as to why he would dare refer to what He has been cleansed as uncommon and unclean…coming down right out of heaven. Isn’t it just amazing how something that looks wrong and forbidden by law could come down right out of heaven? At some point, God declared such beasts unclean, and so they were unclean. But in Peter’s time, that declaration had been changed for the best. Peter was reading old data about those creatures and God had to bring him up to speed by dropping science on him as regards the new data on those creatures.

Such is common today amongst people…there are always people somewhere reading old data about others, and God, for some reason, always lets somebody survive to bring up what you used to doubt the integrity of where you are now…to question the legitimacy of your salvation and conversion, etc., just like Peter did. That occasion was ceased by God to talk to Peter about men and religious ideas by religious who deem themselves experts in the art of determining who God is and who God loves…etc. So it is not out of place to see certain people attempt to dictate what plays out in the lives of others when they haven’t been able to make the achieving the same thing for themselves. They try to lock other people out of places that they have never been. Isn’t that confusing? Peter fell into that category…though it had to do with animals. But God’s response becomes instructive in the sense that the admonition Peter gets—cuts across from animals to humans.

God’s dealing with Peter was to get him ready for Cornelius whose servants were already on their way to fetch him. Ordinarily, Peter would not have heeded Cornelius’ invite. So, getting Peter ready was of the essence. But then, Peter, being who he was, would have been expected to be spiritually mature past such preparations because, firstly, he had been with Jesus for over three years and watched Jesus demonstrating his power in the life of gentiles. He had seen Jesus mingle with the Samaritan at the well. He had heard Jesus’ sermon on the good Samaritan. He even had a first-class Pentecost experience—of which Jesus had said they would receive power after the Holy Ghost had come on them so they could be witnesses in gentile territories. Peter would have been expected to have had a deeper revelation of God on account of those classes. But the fact remains that people don’t change easily. He still needed a dream to confirm the very words of Jesus.

God had opened a door of opportunity to extend the gospel to the Gentiles. But for fear that Peter was not prepared for that opportunity on account of prejudice, and for fear that Peter would be hungry for something, yet be so biased that he would refuse to eat, preparation had to precede that encounter. Hunger might be one of the strongest cravings in the human body. But sometimes our hunger may not even be enough to make us think beyond our tradition…as evident in Peter’s case. His hunger couldn’t overcome his bias. Thankfully, by the time Cornelius’ servants got to Peter, he had been duly schooled to grab that opportunity, and he did. It must be noted here that the only reason Peter went to Cornelius’ house was that he had a dream that a door was about to open. His dream did not include any details on what would possibly be on the other side of the door. Neither was Cornelius given details on what Peter’s visit would afford him. The divine plan required that they went through this process to collide with each other in what would be a DOOR OF EXPANSION.

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LINEAR PERSPECTIVE

Thus far, this has been a sermon by a revered American Bishop which continues at intermitted intervals as the journey proceeds. At this point, a linear perspective of various positions that can be drawn from the message thus far—will come into examination…like a teacher pausing a lecture session to afford students the chance to share what they’ve gotten from the lectures hitherto. As the Bishop stated at the start of the sermon, “there is a great gulf between what a leader says and what a student understands. Teaching something one time doesn’t mean the students understand it. Some people do not hear what a teacher or a leader says…while some hear what they want the teacher or the leader to have said.” Mounting the position of students, the assignment now would be to examine and close the gap between the teacher’s teaching and the student's understanding. Students must necessarily fall into one of these categories: “those who do not hear what the teacher says,” and “those who hear what they want the teacher to have said.” Let’s get to scrutiny.

In present times, an opportunity to extend the gospel of Christ to unbelievers would hardly be considered a door of expansion…little wonder the apostle Paul cried out from jail in Philippians 1:15-19 that some preached Christ out of envy and rivalry while others did so out of goodwill. The latter, he added, preached Christ in love, knowing that he was in jail for the defense of the gospel. But the former preached Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they could stir up trouble for him while he was in chains. Howbeit, none of that mattered to him, as the important thing, according to him, was that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ was preached. Extending the footprints of the gospel was a delight to the early apostles—which was why most of their divine visions centered on what parts of the earth they were to navigate the gospel to. In Acts 10, God’s Spirit was about to break into gentile territories via the instrument of Cornelius, an attested devout and god-fearing man who was in the habit of refreshing the poor.

But the challenge, like it is today, was Matthew 9:37: “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” It can be recalled how that—in 2nd Corinthians 9:1-4, Paul thought it needful to write the saints in Achaia about their eagerness to help the Macedonians, informing them how he had boasted about their readiness to give and how their enthusiasm had stirred those in Achaia to action. However, for his boast to not prove hollow in the end, he sent some brothers ahead to remind them to finish their arrangement for the generous gift they promised—so that the Macedonians would not come and find them unprepared, and all his boasts over them would amount to nothing but shame. Paul most likely got this idea from God, as God Himself did the same with Peter ahead of the arrival of Cornelius’ servants. If God had not afforded Peter that encounter, he certainly wouldn’t have heeded the call of Cornelius because it was out of place for Jews to mingle with gentiles. And the purpose of God for gentiles as regarding Jesus’ death would have been defeated.

The door of Cornelius’ house was one Peter would never have accessed. But doing so was a blessing and a furtherance of his ministry, especially being that his ministry was to center on Jews. What do you do when God puts your blessing in a house whose door you would never go in? What do you do when God situates your healing in a church that you’ve vowed to never worship in? What do you do when God routes the answer to the problem in your marriage through a preacher you don’t like? What do you do when God puts your breakthrough behind what you might perceive as enemy lines? If God hadn’t required Peter to get up, kill and eat…and not call anything impure that God has made clean, Peter would never have been stretched to extend the footprints of the gospel to the gentile territory. Likewise, when God gets ready to stretch a man, He puts the man’s blessings in places that challenge his tradition. When God gets ready to stretch a man, He puts the man’s blessings in places that challenge the man’s comfort zone. He takes the man out of his element and puts his blessings in places of discomfort…to have the man stretched. Ever been stretched by God?

Examining the different perspectives of “a door,” what is the first impression that hits the mind when “door” is mentioned? Firstly, “doors are how one gets in.” For anything a man wants to get into, he has to find the door, as there is no getting in without finding the door. A door, in this context, goes beyond being a wood frame with a handle or a door knob that one could turn to pop open. Jesus says in John 10:9: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” While men see doors as wood and brass handles, God sees doors as access to new dimensions. By saying He is the door, Jesus meant to inform us that He is access to another dimension. For everything a man wants to get into, there is a door… and access to something that one was possibly locked out of before. Note, however, that a door, in this context, also goes beyond being a person (as in Jesus’ case). A door could also be a job, an opportunity, a place, etc. Doors are not always big. In most cases (if not all cases), rooms that doors give access to—are usually bigger than the doors. Just because the door is small—does not mean the room it gives access to—is small.

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THE DOOR OF CORNELIUS’ HOUSE

Before we go into the details of what ensued on the inside of Cornelius’ house upon Peter’s arrival, let’s relish an instruction that ensues at the door. Cornelius, a great man in authority, sets eyes on Peter and his first line of action is to prostrate and offer what can be deemed “worship” to Peter. This is a man of power and influence…one that would not be expected to express that manner of humility. However, he went low for Peter. In reality, most times, it is the big guys who don’t have a problem going low. Little guys are fond of puffing up, and that’s because they don’t feel safe enough to go low. Arrogant people are usually small. Cornelius was no small guy, so he had no problem going down low for Peter. He understood that humility is a prerequisite for access to the next dimension. One who is too high—will hardly access a door that ushers to another dimension. Those who deem themselves as “high people” usually get stuck at the door while “low people” slide in most easily. To be so low as to access such doors, you’ve got to be big enough.

But it’s not much about Cornelius’ expression of humility as it is about Peter’s response to that gesture. Notice this: Cornelius sends his servants to fetch Peter and bring him to his house, via his horses, and after all that stress, he still lay prostrate to greet Peter at the door of his own house where he makes all the payments…and this is the same Peter that wouldn’t have heeded Cornelius’ invitation if the mighty God of heaven had not talked him into going. Cornelius thought so much of Peter that he esteems Peter so highly, yet this is the same person who would never have eaten with him…if for any reason he managed to heed his invitation without God’s nudge. Peter returns the gesture by urging Cornelius to not worship him, as he was only a man like him. If one thinks about it carefully, Peter’s gesture, though appearing equally humble, may not have been exactly humble. There is the possibility that he was guilty, knowing fully well his impression of the likes of Cornelius. It can allude that there’s nothing like being treated nicely by whom you’ve talking badly about.

No wonder Jesus says in Matthew 5:44: “…love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” When you heed this scripture and do good to those who despitefully use you, you shame them because it gets found out that you are not what they thought you were. It is a mess when one tries to get toe-to-toe with such people. It is also a mess to be nasty to their nasty. Contrarily, being nice to their nasty disgraces them and makes obvious to them where they belong. Peter would have expected a man like Cornelius to put up the kind of aweless attitude that Ahab displayed towards the prophet Elijah. Likewise, Cornelius would have expected a man like Peter who was recommended to him by an angel, to assume a god-like pedestal, inflating his self-importance or something like that. But before their meeting, God had stretched both parties and got them ready for that encounter.

Cornelius’ house is the app that opens up a new dimension of salvation to the Gentiles. An app is what you click on—to access a program that is bigger than the little icon you tapped to launch that app. Cornelius’ house was the app Peter had to touch to open up gentile nations to salvation, and this was on account of Cornelius’ alms and prayers which God testified to having gone up before Him, though he was a gentile. By so doing, he earned himself and his household a chance to be taken into a new dimension on the wings of salvation. Another thing to note at this point is that: though these events play out at the door of Cornelius’ house, it is not that door that ushers Cornelius and his household into another dimension. It only grants Peter access into his house…after which access to another dimension ensues, the door to that dimension being Cornelius himself. Sometimes people think of themselves as being at a door, not knowing that they are the door. Cornelius was the door to another dimension for himself and his household. Peter was only instrumental in affording them the required body of knowledge that would make for their entry therein.

Let’s digress a little and have some chit-chats on the enemy attack. It may be possible that the enemy doesn’t launch attacks on individuals for the sake of “playing the enemy.” It may be because you are a door. It may be because of what access through you could afford you and those who gain entry into the next dimension through you…as was the case with Cornelius’ household. Because of him being a door to another dimension on account of salvation, his entire household accessed that dimension too, evidenced by the gift of speaking in new tongues…the very first sets of gentiles to have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Those are the kinds of experiences that people who are doors—afford others, and enemies do not fancy such matters. Was your childhood so rough? Has your life been so tough? Have powerful forces been trying to stop you? All these could be because you are a door. Being a door to another dimension comes with a price. Being a point of an entry comes at a cost because there is always some behind such persons…something they open up to, something they bring to the table that nobody brings (like they bring). Such people stir the devil’s hatred.

Likewise, that is why God conscripts such people into his service. That is why people are attracted and get drawn to such people. Cornelius never knew he was a door. He only knew himself to be a philanthropic prayer warrior of a soldier who loved God. The same is the case with most people today. One way to know that you may be a door is that everybody tries to get next to you, consciously or unconsciously. As a door, you lead to something. You open up something. You grant access to something. Knowing you gets people into something. Also, Cornelius wasn’t the only door in this instance. Peter was also a door. He ushered three thousand souls into God’s kingdom via his inaugural message on the day of Pentecost. Peter was a door because he unlocked the new testament experience of the Holy Ghost. That was why Jesus said to him in Matthew 16:18: “…I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

So, Peter, being a door, comes to Cornelius who is also a door, and they both meet at a door, and a collision of these doors gave rise to what came to be a DOOR OF EXPANSION. When doors meet doors, things expand. Doors need to meet doors. Doors deserve doors. Be mindful of opportunists. They are not doors. They only try to get to you (a door) so they can get through you and plunder as much of what is on the inside of you as they can. But when genuine doors meet genuine doors, there will always be expansion. The implication of this piece to those whose appetites it has delightfully fed is that—this is a word of direction for the edification of such lots. This is a word from the Lord, saying that He is bringing doors together…connecting doors to doors to foster expansion. It is a word from the Lord, saying that one must be willing to give up on past revelations to be stretched into a new direction. It is a word from God preparing for unlikely doors, not the obvious door. Doors that challenge default thoughts and perceptions of things. Doors that do not meet within the landscape of normal philosophical ideas. It is a word from the Lord, warning one to not walk in what he had said…but to walk in what he is saying. If Peter had continued to walk in the word that God had said, he would have never come to Cornelius’ house because it was God that had said not to eat with gentiles.

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CONCLUSION

What was declared unclean in Leviticus had been made clean and become clean in Acts of the apostles. What was wrong had become right, and one had to be broad enough to handle a God in transition and not just a God of tradition because doors are transitions, not tradition. One cannot have transitions if traditions are held onto, and that is where God is stretching humanity towards in these last days because if He does not break the old normal, new opportunities will be missed. The effect of embracing doors as transitions and not as tradition is seen in the encounter between Cornelius and Peter. Peter, who would have thought himself a seed of Abraham while deeming Cornelius a dog, rather reached down and raised Cornelius in light of Cornelius’ humility, declaring himself to be no different from Cornelius. Peter even informed Cornelius that under normal circumstances he wouldn’t be there, and only honored his invitation because God commissioned him to do so in a dream. Hence, the tradition was nullified and a transition was embraced, even in the face of what initially came off as an uncertainty. Everyone included in the encounter was in a place of uncertainty.

Firstly, Peter had traveled to a place he wasn’t sure what was to be expected of him. He only obliged a divine instruction to go along with those who had come to fetch him. Likewise, Cornelius only heeded a divine instruction to fetch Peter. So what exactly was to ensue upon their encounter? God never mentioned it to either party. Uncertainty. The worst feeling to plague a leader is the feeling of uncertainty. Both men were leaders, happened to find themselves in a position where they couldn’t determine what was to ensue, yet were expected to pilot affairs amicably. In life, some leaders somehow find themselves in a place of confusion but try to act like they have it all together while not being sure of what would happen next. Cornelius had brought a host of people to his house without being particularly sure why he invited them. He had no idea what was to happen. The same goes for Peter. Do you ever have feelings you talk to no one about but the feeling has you sitting on the side of your bed at night, asking, “why am I here? What is my value here?” That is a place of uncertainty…and the thing about uncertainty is that it is uncomfortable…very uncomfortable.

So, what does one do when one finds himself in such situations? What does one do when one becomes unsure of everything and anything? What does one do when one no longer knows what to do? Could this state of uncertainty have been why Cornelius had no problem prostrating before Peter? Because he was no longer sure of all he had been sure of—following a first-time firsthand encounter with divinity? Very importantly, there must be an adequate understanding of the situation. Whenever there is about to be an expansion, it gets confusing. It becomes uncertain. But then, the hack is simple: first and foremost is that one must be in the room and not at the door or outside. Without being in the room, nothing is to be expected to happen. But having made it into the room with all the uncertainty and all, simply do what Peter did, having found himself in the same position. The big question: “what did Peter do?” Short and simple: HE DID WHAT HE DOES.

When you are in a place of uncertainty, just do what you do. Peter simply did what he does…the gospel. He preached the gospel. Never get to a place of uncertainty and stop doing what you do…because God brings people to such places to have them do what they…to the end that they might be an occurrence of expansion. At other times, either cloven tongues of fire fell on people or hands were laid on people to see to a baptism of the Holy Spirit. But this time, Peter just started talking because that is what he does, and there was a baptism of the Holy Ghost. Once you do what you do, things just happen as they ought to. Acts 10:44 says: “while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.” No hands were laid. No oil was poured. Peter did what he did, and boom, he had the outcome that was expedient of him by heaven. Thus was the footprint of the gospel extended to the gentile territory. Even so—may it be unto you today!