Introduction

There is no way you eat, without killing. Kill the bacteria attached to any food before eating. Kill the indigestibles by boiling before eating. Who has eaten raw yam? You must first kill, to eat!

Main Points:

Acts 10:9-28

On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice {spake} unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, {that} call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven. Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate, And called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what {is} the cause wherefore ye are come? And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. Then called he them in, and lodged {them}. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped {him}. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together. And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

Peter was instructed by God: "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat." Peter, through his Jewish lens felt this instruction did not compact with his tradition. The Lord then said: "…Do not call anything impure that God has made clean". You see, this message can be interpreted in many ways: a) that God's blessings can be blocked though tradition or carnality; b) that God's blessings is undeserved. Another way to apply this message is to understand what killing means for God has prepared a table before us

• Killing means knowing and taking the spoils: knowing and taking goes deeper "because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be". It is the spiritual mind of knowing that will tell you,
  3 John 2

  Verse text not found

  and
  John 14:12

  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater {works} than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

  are yours to take.
• Killing means the determination of who will be the slave: in
  1 Samuel 17:8-10

  And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set {your} battle in array? {am} not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.

  , Goliath stood and shouted across to the Israelites. "Why are you all coming out to fight?". "I am the Philistine champion…. Choose one man to come down here and fight me! If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! …This is the challenge – you either kill the Goliath attacking your destiny, so that it becomes your slave, or it kills you, and you become it's slave. It is a straight choice!
• Killing means never leaving any remnants: In
  Deuteronomy 25:17-19

  Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, {even} all {that were} feeble behind thee, when thou {wast} faint and weary; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee {for} an inheritance to possess it, {that} thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget {it}.

  , we read that the Amalekites attack the rear (weakest point, where children, wives and mothers resided) as the Israelites were coming out of Egypt. In generations later, this heinous crime was visited, with the instruction to King Saul
  1 Samuel 15:3

  Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

  . Saul disobeyed. In
  1 Samuel 15:9

  But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all {that was} good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing {that was} vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. {fatlings: or, second sort}

  , we read that this same Amalekites later joined forces with Ammonites and Moabites, to attack Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms and made Israel captive
  Judges 3:12-14

  And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

  . A point to also note: Goliath was killed, but his descendants (i.e., remnants) were not, so were much fiercer and terrifying
  1 Chronicles 20:5-6

  And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff {was} like a weaver's beam. {Jair: also called, Jaareoregim} And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of {great} stature, whose fingers and toes {were} four and twenty, six {on each hand}, and six {on each foot}: and he also was the son of the giant. {great...: Heb. measure} {the son...: Heb. born to the giant, or, Rapha}

  .

Memory Verse

When you kill to eat, just make sure your elevation does not blind you from your task of elevating God above you and your possessions. Indeed, when King David was granted rests from his enemies and now settled into his palace, he called Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a house of cedar (ie., luxury) while the ark of God remains in a tent." He, in effect did not forget to elevate God above himself and his station.