"Follow That Chariot, Now!" Series

“Follow that Chariot”

Acts 9:26-40

For several years I really struggled with this thing called witnessing. Sharing my faith. Largely because I didn’t really know what to say. I put a license plate on my car that simply said Jesus. I put a bumper sticker on also that read, warning in case of rapture this car will be unmanned. I carried a keychain… it was leather, in the shape of fish as I want others to know that I was a fisher of men. But still I wasn’t leading very many people to Christ. Maybe you have struggled with this also. Across the years church members have given me some of their reasons for not being able to share their faith.

Some have told me that they just don’t know the right words to say. That makes sense to me because we all want to be sure we say the right words. After all, we are inviting someone to make a decision that will change the rest of their life.

Others have told me they lacked personal confidence. I can understand that as well. For some of us it is like entering uncharted territory-like going to a place we have never been before and we simply don’t know what to expect.

A third comment I hear is that some are afraid they might be asked to answer a question about something in the Bible and they would be embarrassed if they couldn’t. Yet upon further conversation, individuals tell me that somehow they wish they could get through all these difficulties because they know it is God’s will-because God wants us to share our faith. All of us would agree with this statement... It is God’s will that his lost children be found.

In this passage, Philip, one of the early deacons in the church is now entering a new level of ministry. He has been doing ministry in Jerusalem and now God is sending him to Gaza, about 50 miles away. The timing seems odd because his ministry is going well in Jerusalem. But God of course was looking at the bigger picture and it was time for Philip to make this move. This is not the only time we see this sort of thing take place in the Bible. In fact there is a pattern I think in the Scripture-----it happens many times unexpectedly.

• God spoke to Jonah and told him to go to Nineveh to preach the gospel. The Bible says that Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed in the opposite direction. God said, go this way. Jonah said, I’m going that way.

• God spoke to Moses and said I want you to go to Pharaoh and I want you to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses said, Lord I don’t know what to say besides that I have a speech problem. He likely stuttered. God said, you’re the one I’ve chosen..

• God spoke to Abraham and said leave your country, leave your people, leave your father’s house and I want you to go to a new land that I’m going to show to you. Essentially you leave and I’ll tell you when you get there.

In all of these situations, Jonah, Moses, Abraham all were given directions as to what they were to do but they all three had major questions as to how they were to go about it. There is story after story in the Scripture where God asked his people to do something but He doesn’t give them all the details. In fact he gives them very few details. And there is a reason for that. It is called faith. God does not do anything outside of the realm of faith. If you want God to act, you must have faith. And it is our faith that God has called us to share with others.

There is a guiding principle we must understand as we begin and it is this: we cannot separate our spiritual lives from our physical lives. Here’s what I mean. If I ask you, how much time you spend with the Lord each week? What portion of your life does God occupy? You may say well at least 15 minutes a day, Bible study, prayer, maybe 2 to 3 hours a week total. That would come to about 30 minutes a day. But there are 1440 minutes day. So what about the other 1400? God wants to be involved in every minute of your days you share your faith. Look at these principles with me.

1. God will direct us to lost people. It is believed that at least one half of the United States population is lost, without Jesus. That comes to about 160 million people. If that group of people were a nation by themselves it would be the fourth largest nation in the world. We do not lack for people to talk to about Jesus.