Missions Paul

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?

Acts 8:33
“In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”

We don’t know a lot about this Ethiopian eunuch. Was he a eunuch from birth? Or was he one of the many royal court slaves castrated so that they served without the threat of falling sexually to the Royal harem? Who was he worshipping in Jerusalem, because it wouldn’t have been Christ?
Now look again …
This eunuch reads about another’s humiliation.
The slave reads about injustice of this other man.
The eunuch would never have children and guess what?!
But this man he is reading about actually had his life taken from him. Now it is this the Eunuch obviously hadn’t experienced.
Who was this man? This man who lived like I lived but who died for some reason, who was he? What is his name?

Acts 8:32
“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.”

Oh and it just so happened! Of all the things he could have been reading about in Isaiah he was actually reading about Jesus!
Don’t worry about how to start the conversation as you will often find that Jesus is there before you set out!
Who was led?
Who was like a lamb?
Who did not open his mouth?
Jesus!
Interestingly and we can only wonder if he did, but a couple of chapters later in Isaiah 56:4-5 he would have read:
“For this is what the LORD says:”To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant-to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.”
The plan of this suffering servant involved the salvation of the eunuchs!!
When a person reads about Jesus in the Bible it is inspiring but when they know and can see that this Jesus came for them then that is a life-changer!

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.