Missions Paul

Acts 3:9
“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.”

Thank God for His suddenlies! When we least expect Him. When it looks like it is over. When the enemy is pressing in. Suddenly!
God can apprehend the vile, the wicked, the oppressor. He can interrupt anything. A nation goes out to vote and then suddenly! Yes it is possible. Do not say God cannot come suddenly. For He can and He will. He is coming suddenly and it could be today.
Whatever you go through factor in the possibility of suddenly. Don’t be so sure.

Acts 9:2
“He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.”

This high priest is Caiaphas who was ruling during the trial of Jesus. He also charged Peter and John and charged them not to spread the gospel. So with Saul coming for permission to go after the followers of Jesus there was only going to be one answer. Saul would eradicate Damascus from these Christians. It didn’t matter who they were, male or female, they would be taken off the streets.
Of course, his scheme didn’t work.
It is hard to stop the way. The way is more than a direction or a sign post. It is more than a road. The way is more than a movement. The way is Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. Try and stop those who belong to the Way and the Way will continue being the way.

Acts 9:1
“Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.”

Whilst Samaria was in revival and the Ethiopian was being baptised, Saul was causing trouble.
Whilst Philip was evangelising everywhere he went, Saul was trying to destroy the Church.
Yesterday on social media many posted of what God had done in their services that day. Whilst at the same time in other places of the world Christians flee from their homes, Church buildings are being burnt and further threats to those who witness we being made.
Should we assume that God is in one place but not the other? No.
Should we be careful not to be too happy in one place out of respect for the other? No.
Should we judge one place more shallow than the other? No.
You see, meanwhile is just how life is and how God works.
God is working the story of this world.
In one place it is good, meanwhile in another place it is bad. However, God is in control of both. He is working His story on the earth. We will one day look back and see how He wove it altogether.
So what do we do? We rejoice with them that rejoice and we mourn with them that mourn. We realise that whatever is taking place we cannot generalise and say this is what is happening all over the world nor should it, for in the meanwhile, God may be doing something very different and maybe allowing something very shocking to take place as the chapters of this amazing life are being written.

DoActs 8: 40
“Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and travelled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.”

Philip went to all the towns. Would it be possible that every village, town and city in your nation receive the gospel of Jesus again? You may have a great Church and enjoy the services but today look into the next ‘field’, is the gospel preached there? If not you should do what Philip did.
Plot your nation, region and area, decide your destination and between here and there do what Philip did. You may be at work, leisure or at home but in all these places do what Philip did.
The Spirit took Philip to Azotus and you are where He has placed you and it is for a reason, to do what Philip did.
There will come a day when you will reach the end of your story as Philip reached Caesarea and when you look back will you have regrets? Will you wish you had gone? Not if right now you decide to do what Philip did.

Acts 8:39
“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.”

Using the same phrase as was often used in the gospels, “came up out of the water”, Luke again shows the power of what happens next, “the Spirit…”

Many have decided they know exactly what happened here and I have even heard some say that they expect by the time Christ comes back then we will all be able to move geographically in the power of the Spirit. Although I would definitely be interested in this as it would not only help with the pressure of time but it would also cut drastically my flight costs, I am not so sure. In fact I am so not so sure I don’t want to focus on the fact that as with Elijah, Philip was here one minute and gone the next.
What I want to focus on is this: when we concentrate on doing what we can do ie gospel presentation and the baptising of disciples then the Spirit will be and do what only He can.
If we want the move of the Spirit then lift Jesus high!

Acts 8:38
“And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptised him.”

Sometimes it’s now. There are times when you just need to stop the chariot, to stop the wheels turning as they usually do at breakneck speed. Command order in your life. Take back control. Wisdom is knowing when the time is right to give those orders.
If you are going to follow Jesus then it won’t just happen, it will be instructed choices.

Sometimes it takes both. There are times when we don’t just cheer someone on but we go down into the challenge with them. We stand with them, we stand with their fear, we commit to being there whatever they go through.

This is the story of the 2 men.

Acts 8:37
“And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God”

In answer to the question ‘why shouldn’t I be baptised?’ Philip says you may if your heart is right.
But the verse isn’t there. We jump from v36 to v38.
Verse 37 does not appear in the oldest manuscripts and so is not included in the modern translations. (You will probably see it in a footnote). I think the verse was only starting to be inserted in the copies from 500 AD onwards.
It could have been inserted to show that actually baptism isn’t what brought the Ethiopian to faith but it was his belief in Jesus Christ.
In our generation we don’t need verse 37, certainly not in some places of the world.
On Tuesday evening I attended an event where I listened to an old missionary share of his experiences in Iraq and Iran. He showed a film testimony of a man who described how and why he changed his religion to become a Christian and he did it by baptism. I was so moved by the dedication and high risk element of this. The missionary described the many Jesus followers who he had personally baptised who entered the water shaking with fear because they knew what leaving the old life was going to mean for them. It would potentially mean death, it certainly meant hardship of a scale none of us in the west have ever known. I recalled the baptisms I did a couple of years ago in a small lake in an Islamic country. I have never seen such determination on a baptismal candidate. They approached me in the water as if they were going to swim a mile not simply go under.
In these places belief isn’t enough. Belief without baptism is not an option. They MUST be baptised and the sacrifice that this calls for is everything and it moves me deeply and to tears even now as I write this.
Of course belief is enough and if you haven’t been baptised for whatever reason but believe in your heart Jesus is Lord and confess this with your mouth, then you are saved. But for those in other parts of the world, well, a Jesus follower doesn’t need verse 37 to prove they are saved, for baptism is everything, it is the sign of death to their religion and their life.

Acts 8:36
“As they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptised?”

Philip has within his presentation of the good news talked to the Eunuch about water baptism. He would have told him that Jesus was baptised. That Jesus left instructions that the Church should continue the practice. That those who follow Jesus do so through baptism.
They are on the desert road so there’s not much opportunity for a water baptism. This was a dry place.
So the Eunuch carried this command in his heart and as they travelled on the road it grew into a desire and a longing.

The baptismal service wasn’t well attended. It was the Eunuch and his attendants and Philip. But God was there. How lovely when the audience of One is more important than the thousands in a crowd!
Why shouldn’t I? There was no reason.
The dreams you have to follow God, to do what He says, to be like Christ are in your heart, now why shouldn’t you follow through with them? No reason!

Acts 8:35
“Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.”

Philip didn’t bring out his own favourite Bible verses. He started with what the man was reading. He talked of the suffering servant laying his life down. And he made it absolutely clear, this was and still is the good news.
The eunuchs circumstance of life maybe bad and it was bad for Jesus. But the bad news for Jesus is the good news for the man.
We are good news people. It feels good to be that don’t you agree?

Acts 8:34
“The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”

Tell me. Who is he?
The invitation to talk about Jesus!
That’s what life is really all about. That’s what the Bible is about. It is why you are still here. It is your calling. It is the expectation upon your life. It is what you will be questioned about at the end of time. Did you tell of Jesus? People are waiting for you. Frustrated in life. Broken perhaps. Confused, not knowing the answers to their questions.
Are you telling today?