While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.  The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”  So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

With this it is clear that we receive the word not just through reading but also through hearing it proclaimed.  In this case, Cornelius the centurion and his close friends in Caesarea invited Peter to speak (prompted, as Cornelius was, by an angel) so they were disposed.

Peter stated that the apostles were “commanded to preach and to testify that Jesus is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.”

In our day there are few on the planet who do not know that Christians believe that Jesus is the Christ.  Yet they are starving for the Word.  They do not know how to find it in their lives, preoccupied as they are, smothered as the world is in contrary noise and wrong paths.

So again today Christians are commanded by the Word to testify to him.  This time we must proclaim him with our lives.  Our lives must be utterly transformed by the Word, so that all those with whom we come in contact receive the Word in us.  And we fast, pray and long that all those with whom we come in contact receive the Holy Spirit and are converted.

Do not doubt that a life transformed by the Word has this power through faith in Him.

O Word, we are being completely transformed by you.  May our lives proclaim you to the world.  To each person we meet.