Author: missionspaul

Acts 8:31

“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”

Unless someone. Unless you and me. How will they ever hear or know unless there is someone?
Will you be that some one?
The one who goes up close to the stranger, the foreigner, the sinner, is that you? Will you sit with the sinner not to judge or dismiss or protest against them but to help them understand the spiritual journey they may already be on though perhaps unrecognisable. Are you that some one?

Acts 8:30
“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 ran and so should we. If we believe God has told us to GO then why delay, why saunter in this world as casual missionaries? No, we must run and run with all the energy we can muster. We must run and think not of ourselves, nor worry about what will confront us, nor of what will be expected of us. But we must run with passion for God and compassion for others.

Philip listened and so should we. How will we ever hear if we do not listen? People have things to tell us that we would never know if we were not good listeners. But as we silence our own noise in favour of theirs then we just may realise that somehow, supernaturally even that God was there before we got there.

Philip asked and so should we. We need to find relevant questions based on what is going on in their life. We need to find the connections, we need to build more bridges than we knock down by any prejudice and offence that we carry towards others. We do that by finding the right questions.

Mission isn’t complicated really. Run, listen, ask, we can all do that.

Acts 8:29

“The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

God wants to position you so that others will find Him. Can you believe that today as you go about your usual duties whatever they are that God has positioned you in that place for such a time as this?
The Spirit didn’t ask Philip to preach or to engage with the man, he just asked him to go up close. When you go near you are able to see and hear what you couldn’t before. Some people charge into their opportunities doing all the talking that they miss what God wants them to see.
Just go near today, near enough to observe, to listen to a persons story. You may never guess what might happen next.

Acts 8:28
“and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet.”

Where did he get the book of Isaiah from? Who gave it to him to read?
Many are in the chain of someone’s salvation, they are not reapers they may be distributors of kindness or of books.
What can you pass on to someone?
Never think a conversation about spiritual matters is something that is brand new. You may be amazed at where the person is spiritually. Their journey may have begun way before you meet them.

Acts 8:27
“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,”

You never know who you will meet if you just start out.
Some people want to know all the details before they say yes to God. They could have started out a long time ago but time has lapsed and now they will never know who they missed.
He has told you to GO. You don’t need another word or confirmation, you just need to start out.
Today God may want you to meet someone you have never met before. He may direct for your paths to cross. Exciting things happen to those who GO. Strangers become friends. So open your eyes today, value every opportunity to talk to people and even those outside of your culture, who perhaps you would have never met if you had not started out.

Acts 8:26
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road-the desert road-that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

However Philip he heard, he was convinced where he should go next. With an almost carbon copy of Jesus post-baptism directive, Philip is focused on the desert and Gaza. Now Gaza at that time had been conquered by Alexandria and was in ruins.
Philip was to go from the heights of seeing Samaria in revival to the desert and the ruins.
Friends today you will be going to Church services and it will be wonderful and God will be gracious and will touch the lives of His people. Maybe there will be people there in your Church who will find Him for the first time. But it is really tomorrow that counts.
For tomorrow God wants you to be reaching those people who are in their deserts and their ruins. You live in a dry and dusty land amongst people who have been overcome by the enemy.
What does God want you to do? Don’t worry about that just respond to Him. So many people want the fine details from God when all He wants is for them to GO.
GO next door, Go across the street, GO to work, GO further maybe, GO to another land, but GO, GO to those dry and broken.

Acts 8:25
“When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.”

So they had a great time in the city of Samaria. They had met Philip and seen the great things God was doing. Many people were converted, delivered and healed. They preached and the Spirit moved amongst the people. But now it was time to go home. They would report back that indeed the move of the Spirit was accurate and genuine.
But on the way home they continued preaching the gospel in the villages.
1. The cities need Christ but so do the villages.
Recently I advised a leader of our denomination in an African country not to look at village work as inconsequential, inferior to city work. People in villages need Jesus. Not just the finance business sector, but the poor and working class who often live in the villages (other than in the UK where the reverse is true!) On your way home don’t forget those people that can be overlooked by others.
2. You never stop working for Jesus. Even on your way home today. On the bus, walking past the same shops, saying hello to the same neighbours, opportunities await for you on your way home.
3. Who does God call you to? Some people feel they have specific ministries to a certain people group and I understand this. But the answer to that question is really another question: Who is there? Who is in front of you? Sometimes God has people ready for you for the return journey. For them it can be all about you on your way home.

Acts 8:24
“Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

Peter had told Simon to pray to the Lord. Simon in turn asks Peter to pray to the Lord for him.
When there is no relationship with someone it is difficult to talk to them. When you know someone you can talk for hours about anything. It is the same with prayer.
There is obviously the need for prayer support. It is right to ask people to join with us in praying for a circumstance perhaps.
But prayer mediation is something quite different. Prayer mediation is asking someone to pray for us because we are inferior.
We don’t need to ask people to pray for us because somehow their prayers are going to be listened to more than our prayers.
The Pastor doesn’t carry a special direct line to your God.
It doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done, within you is the image of God. Within you God sees something of His nature. When He looks at you He sees Himself.
Yes even in Simon the sorcerer.
This is why everyone can pray. God will listen to His image-bearers as they cry out to Him. So go on today. Don’t rely on mediation go to Jesus the Great Mediator!

Acts 8:23
“For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

Simon was previously hurt probably because he was no longer the great one, the crowds had moved away from him towards the Church. He was experiencing a greater power than he had. It hurt his business and his feelings.
How do I know he was hurt?
I know because he became bitter. In fact he became full of bitterness.
Getting hurt is one thing but if you don’t deal with it then bitterness will set in. When bitterness takes a hold then sin is not far away and will entrap us.
Hurt, bitterness, sin. That’s the order. Deal with that hurt today.

Head and heart

Acts 8: 22

“Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.”

So long as I don’t do the deed then it’s okay to think it. Clearly not!
Simon offered to buy with money the gift of God, it was stupid and impossible. He wasn’t being chastised for the act but the thought. Thoughts do matter. It’s not okay to think certain things.
Repent (change your mind) for you have a thought problem of the heart. Mind and heart.
I would say, desire and motive, turn from them and perhaps God will forgive you. This doesn’t sound certain but only because there is nothing certain as to whether Simon will do what is being suggested to him.
May today your desires be for Him and your motives be for His glory and for others. May you not come into the equation at all.