JOIN THE JOURNEY JR.
Families Abiding in Jesus together
With shorter reading assignments and kid-specific focus areas, Join The Journey Jr. is designed to help parents disciple their kids and engage with Scripture in the best ways for their age.
This month's memory verse
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
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And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.
The Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit
44Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. 45The Jewish believers* who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. 46For they heard them speaking in other tongues* and praising God.
Then Peter asked, 47“Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” 48So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days.
Remember Acts 1:8 from the beginning of the year? If you know the verse, take a moment to read or recite it. Try to do it from memory if you can!
Acts 1:8—”But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Think about some of the stories through Acts we have already read. Where have we seen the gospel spread already?
Look at the verses below and pick which region the gospel spread to in that verse based on Acts 1:8.
In Acts 10, God gives Peter a strange vision—he sees all kinds of animals, including ones that Jewish people called unclean. But what does that mean?
In the Old Testament, God gave the Israelites a list of animals they were allowed to eat and animals that were off-limits. Animals like pigs, shellfish, and certain birds were called unclean—not dirty like mud on your shoes, but more like: not for us. It was like a family rule that set them apart. Every time they sat down to eat, those rules reminded them: we belong to God, and we live differently because of it.
But it didn’t stop at food. Jewish people also thought of other nations—people who weren’t Jewish—as unclean. That meant someone like Peter wouldn’t even hang out with them.
So, when God shows Peter a sheet full of “unclean” animals and says eat, he’s sending a bigger message: nothing I’ve made is off-limits anymore. The gospel—the good news about Jesus—is for everyone. Not just Jewish people. All people.
That’s huge news for us, because we’re Gentiles—we’re not Jewish! We get to be part of God’s family because Jesus made a way for everyone to belong. And in verses 44–48, we see the gentiles be filled with the Holy Spirit, proof that they belonged to the family of God!
Acts 10 is such an important moment in the whole story of the Church. It shows the start of the spread of the Gospel to “the ends of the earth” as shown in Acts 1:8!
2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”