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When God Changes The Messenger
Senior Pastor Keith Stewart
August 16, 2026

What if the greatest obstacle to God’s mission isn’t the people we’re trying to reach—but the parts of us God must change before we can reach them?

In Acts 10, God sends Peter to a Gentile Roman officer named Cornelius. But before God changes Cornelius’ life, He begins changing Peter—challenging lifelong assumptions, dismantling old prejudices, and expanding his understanding of just how far God’s grace reaches.

Nineveh wasn’t God’s only project. Jonah was.
Cornelius wasn’t God’s only project. Peter was.
And the people God wants us to love aren’t His only project. We are.


DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. The message distinguishes between a technical challenge (“What do I need to do?”) and an adaptive challenge (“Who do I need to become?”). Where have you experienced God asking you not simply to do something differently, but to become different?

2. Peter had beliefs and practices he sincerely thought represented faithfulness to God, yet God challenged some of those categories. Why is it particularly difficult to change when we believe our existing position is faithful to God?

3. Before Peter ever arrived at Cornelius' house, God was already at work in Cornelius' life. How might it change the way we relate to people if we approached them believing God may already be doing something in their lives that we cannot see?

4. Peter eventually crossed a literal threshold and entered the home of someone he once would have considered an outsider. What kinds of “thresholds” still separate Christians from people today? Which ones might Jesus be asking us to cross?

5. Both Jonah and Peter were sent toward people they had been conditioned to regard as enemies or outsiders. Jonah resisted God's heart; Peter eventually allowed God to change his. Where do you see yourself in these two stories?

6. The message says, “Sometimes the greatest obstacle to God's mission isn't the people we're trying to reach. It's the parts of us that God must change before we can reach them.” What might God need to change in us—fear, prejudice, assumptions, discomfort, judgment, resentment—in order to love people more like Jesus does?

7. The Museum of Tolerance illustration assumes that none of us is completely free from prejudice. What are some subtle ways we pre-judge people based on appearance, politics, lifestyle, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, religion, or other differences?

8. The message concludes, “Nineveh wasn't God's only project. Jonah was. Cornelius wasn't God's only project. Peter was. And the people God wants us to love aren't His only project. We are.” What do you sense God may currently be trying to change, enlarge, or heal in you?

Closing prayer: Ask each person to quietly identify one person or group they find difficult to understand or love. Then pray the prayer from the message together: “God, heal my heart. Expand my vision. Help me to see people the way You see them, so I can love them the way You love them.”