New possibilities!
Acts 8:26-40
We have been talking about a vision for our church. I made some general suggestions about hot important it is to find what our earthly vision, That it should be found by looking at God’s vision as found in scripture.
Last week we looked at a parable of Jesus that indentified choices when determining who a neighbor is. The theme of the story….Love – Go and do it. A command that Nikie uses as a slogan.
It was based on the parable of the “Good Samaritan.” Where we noticed that some in the story made a choice to go on by. No excuses or motives were identified…jus the choice. Then there were a series of choices that the Samaritan man made in this complex situation which just cost him more and more even to the point that the cost had no financial limit.
Today we are thinking about possibilities and neighbors. Let’s read our scripture this morning: Acts 8:26-40
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.
"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth."
The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?" And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
We need to start with which Philip we are talking about here….This Philip is not on of the apostles. This Philip does not come on to the scene until Acts chapter 6 when 7 men are chosen ad Deacons. The requirements were to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. “They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and also Philip."
As this chapter opened – Stephen had been stoned - executed. And the Christians started getting out of town. Philip sparks Samaritan revival of sorts. He gets help form Peter and John. And then we pickup with our reading this morning….
So Philip is a lay person that is filled with the Spirit of God and Wisdom. What great qualifications. We don’t really know if he got any specific training. It may be that God prepared him by providing those two gifts.
The scripture indicates that he was told by an angel to take a certain road….A road that leads to the wilderness.
Go…. Go where? Why?
Philip responds and goes and runs across the Ethiopian eunuch , an important official in the government of Queen Candace. We also learn that he had been in Jerusalem to Worship…This made him a gentile proselyte. However, he was not really eligible because of alterations that had been made to his body. His inability to have children made him unacceptable for temple worship.
It seems that he was taken by the Jewish faith and went to the great expense of purchasing a copy of Isaiah. He is struggling with a passage.
It seems that this is a divine appointment, something supernatural. God is pitting the Ethiopian and Philip together. Philip gets one more word this time form the Spirit. Go over and stay close to that chariot….
Go…..Go what?
Through the supernatural perpetration of God….a possibility appears…
What change does a on the run from persecution lay disciple have with a foreign official? I imagine that they have very little in common. One has a chariot and the other his own two feet and maybe sandals.
Philip has been obedient to the supernatural nudging of God. For him Go meant Go and he did not seem to need anything more. God created an opportunity and then it was up to Philip to take the next step.
“Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.”
Philip acts on the opportunity….He asks as simple non threatening question.
Do you understand that scripture? Which leads to an invitation to help the Ethiopian to understand the scripture.
Folks most of the people we know are not from far off places. However, they are still foreigners because that are distant form the kingdom of God. I would venture to say that many if not most of the un-churched people that live in our community would describe themselves as Christian. They might even have a Bible or two in their homes but they have trouble understanding it.
My goodness have you read some of this stuff…..animal sacrifice, vengeful God, Floods, fire and brimstone…the cross.
Folks as a neighbor we are called to respond to opportunities that God creates and allow God to do the rest. He unlocks doors and we are to respond and walk through.
Do you notice that the scripture does not tell us that Philip was prompted what or when or how to start?
The obvious supernatural points had to do with getting in position…being in the right place at the right time. He was not told to say anything….
Think about this question, what is your sphere of influence? Where to you interact \talk with people? Family is probably the easiest to think of….work, beauty shop (Gossip), Church, where ever you spend time….
--- The answer to that question is a description of your neighborhood. It is your primary place to act as a neighbor to the people in your path.
So what are your qualifications to be used by God? We only have two identified with Philip, Filled with the Spirit and wisdom…..
Filled with the spirit was a pure gift from God connected with faith. I have the feeling that he did not limit the gift by choosing what he would and would not do for God….
Basically, I believe that he just said, Lord let me know which way to God and I will head that direction….
Wisdom – where does that come from…I know several people with no common sense…. That can also be simply gift from God but I believe that it means something more. In the Bible wisdom is connected to knowledge of scripture. The word of God penetrated Philip’s life, his heart and gave the spirit something to work with.
If you are not reading the word of God, studying the word of God, absorbing or meditating on the word of God your connection with God is much less than it could be.
Philip was filled with the Spirit and a knowledge of scripture and when the spirit said Go….He did not need a reason why, or a plan of why…He had already witnessed the work of the spirit in the revival in Samaria. He can leave the place where he see God working and head odd to the desert to see what the possibilities will be there.
From time to time I have been asked to “GO.” I wish that I would claim to have been obedient every time or even most of the time.
Some 9 years ago I felt led to put in a letter to be considered for ministry. Renee asked if I was having a mid life crisis. After some discussions with me about what little I knew about the process and with our pastor she felt sure that this notion would not come about until we retired. I would just be a lay speaker and be asked to fill in here and there. And that this phase I was in would pass. I was obedient in mailing a letter and nothing came of it for some time. However, one day I got a letter telling me to come to a DCOM meeting… I did not know what a DCOM was. A few days before the meeting date I got a call asking me to consider an appointment to a church down toward Carrolton. I told the person that I would give them an answer after meeting.
I wrote a letter saying yes but…
I was relieved when a person that lived only 6 miles away was appointed. I was obedient to the call to give an answer…It was up to God to supply the rest.
It has become clearer and clearer to me that God has asked me to Go on several occasions. He has left it up to me to seize the opportunity and look for the possibility and ultimately to watch Him make things happen.
I hope that most of us are asking the questions, What is God doing? What is it that he wants me to do?
It seems that Philip could have made the choice to limit his ministry to “waiting tables” food distribution. But he did not limit the Spirit to use him for his gifts and talents.
I read a story from a news site about Pauline Jacoby age 92 from Dyersburg Penn. She is a life long Christian and reads her Bible everyday. She was mugged in the parking lot of Wal-mart but she turned things around on her attacker. She did not have pepper spray to any kind of weapon she used words to save herself and perhaps her attacker too.
He had put away her groceries and slipped into her can when a man with a gun jumped in the other side.. The man told her he would shoot her if she did not hand over her money. She said no, “I am not going to give you my money” 3 times.
The she started talking to him, "You know if you kill me I will go to heaven and you go to hell." She told him to ask God for forgiveness. "I said Jesus is in this car and he goes with me everywhere I go and he just sort of looked around and the tears began coming in his eyes." Jacoby ministered the man for ten minutes inside her car. "He said, I think I will go home and pray. I told him that you can pray anytime you want to." As tears were rolling down the man’s face Jacoby voluntarily gave him all the money she had $10. "And when I told him I was going to give him the money I said don’t you spend it on whiskey either." The man thanked her for the money and then "he kissed me on the cheek". He walked away.
Maybe none of us thinks we can be like Philip, But what about being like Pauline?
Here is the simple facts, our job is about responding to the spirit’s message to GO.
Most of the time we are being sent to family friends and neighbors. Some times we are called to be the neighbor to strangers.
We have an opportunity to respond to a divine appointment…The Jesus Jam community festival is only two weekends away. I have been encouraging you to pray about how God will use you in the near future.
Today is the day for you to respond and tell God YES or NO this upcoming possibility.
Are you expected to stand on the creek bank and witness to people….Maybe.
Are you called to answer questions about the Bible? Maybe.
Are you called to demonstrate your faith and gifts by being interested in people? Yes
Are you expected to show up to the diving appointment and see what you can do! Absolutely!!!
Folks all you are really called to do is go to where the possibilities are and see what happens, see how your skills can be used.
Let’s Pray!
