What Philip Didn't Do

Acts 8:4-8, 12, 26-36, 38-40 (NLT)

“But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.

But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized.

As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.” Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.

The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.

As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?” He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea.” (V 26-36, 38-40)

As we (the folks in our Bible Study group) read this story, we talked about the things Philip didn’t do. These thoughts stayed with me so much, I had to share. Often as we walk through our lives, we are called to do things for God. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t. When we don’t, we make excuses. I can say “we” because I’ve talked to enough people to know this is definitely a “we” problem.

Philip didn’t do that. Here are some of the other things he didn’t do.

1. Philip was in the middle of a revival. He performed miraculous signs. He cast out evil spirits, healed the lame, people listened to him and accepted the Good News of Jesus. The city was filled with joy and people were hungry to hear more. Many were baptized. When God called Philip (v 26), Philip went. He didn’t say “I have this ministry going here. I can’t go there.” He didn’t insert his agenda into God’s plan. He heard God call and he immediately left.

2. God told him to go and join the Ethiopian. Philip didn’t make excuses about the cultural differences that would get in the way…he was different after all, from a different country, probably spoke a different language. He didn’t talk about the social differences….how the guy was an official in the Queen’s court or that he was in a chariot and Philip was on foot. He didn’t see the differences between him and the Ethiopian. He saw a man that Jesus wanted him to connect with so Philip ran to him.

3. When he heard the Ethiopian reading from Isaiah, he engaged him asking questions. He didn’t assume he knew what the Ethiopian needed. He sought to understand.

4. When he asked if he understood what he was reading, the Ethiopian said “How can I understand it if someone doesn’t explain it to me?” Philip joined him in the carriage and began to unpack the truth of Jesus to this man. He didn’t say “You know, I am not educated and really, I am sure there is someone who knows this better than I do. Maybe you should ask them.” He didn’t let his thoughts about his capabilities deter him from his calling. He stepped into this role, given to him by Jesus, and trusted the Holy Spirit to help him.

5. After Philip explained everything to the Ethiopian, the Ethiopian requested to be baptized. Now. Philip didn’t flinch. He didn’t question whether he was ready, he didn’t make him study further. He stopped and baptized him.

6. Afterward, God swept Philip away to continue his service where God needed him. Philip continued to evangelize and minister to people for the rest of his life. He didn’t talk to God about his schedule. He didn’t tell him he’d really done a lot lately and maybe he needed a break. He went. He obeyed. It was his life.

What’s my takeaway from this story? I can only pray that I, like Philip, pour my all into following Jesus. No excuses. No whining. Trusting that God is going to be faithful to His promises. I can ask him to grow my belief in who He is so that nothing stops me from His mission. I worry too much about how it’s going to work out instead of trusting, like Philip, that Jesus has this. My job is to obey.

What about you? What did the Holy Spirit say to you as you read this story?
What are you going to do about it?

I Can't but God Can

For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. Colossians 2:12 (NLT)

I found out a week or so ago that a dear friend of mine has been really sick. He’s been struggling with the results of two strokes for a year and a half. I knew he had the strokes but I didn’t realize he was still having such difficulty. My heart hurt for him.

I called, we talked on the phone and afterward I decided to really lean into praying for him. I am more and more convinced that prayer is the key to so many things. And I recently have become more convinced that while praying for things and plans and troubles are fine, praying for people is what God really wants us to do.

So I started. Every time I thought about him I prayed. I spent time in prayer for him each morning and also in the evening. One night, I woke up in the middle of the night and I thought about him. I started praying. And I heard “Fast.” And that is where I hit a road block.

You see, I have never been able to fast from food. I have fasted from lots of other stuff like TV and social media. I’ve eliminated types of food, like sugar, but I’ve never been able to do a complete food fast. I’ve tried. When I try I get horrible migraines and become very .sick. It shuts me down.

When I heard God say “Fast” I said, “We can talk about it in the morning. You know my body can’t do that.” I went back to sleep thinking tomorrow he’d realize I can’t do this. (So funny how we try to put God in a box.)

The next morning, I asked God about it. He said “Try.” Now I want to make something clear. I knew this was God. How? Because I would never, ever on my own think that I should fast at 3 a.m. out of the blue. Heck, it doesn’t matter what time of day it is. I would never think I should fast. My experiences have been super negative.

So I said “OK. I will try tomorrow. Tomorrow would be Saturday. It was going to be a busy day.

The next morning I woke up and as I headed downstairs I could smell the coffee. It was super inviting. I went into the kitchen looking forward to getting a cup and then I remembered. I was fasting today. I stood there and debated in my heart whether I was going to listen to what I knew God said or not. I didn’t want to. I knew I was going to end up really sick. Maybe I could fast tomorrow? Then I remembered my friend and God’s invitation. I decided to try.

What happened next I believe was a miracle. I fasted for 24 hours without food. I did drink water, black coffee and herbal tea (unsweetened). No food. No migraine. No nausea. A couple times I got a tiny headache which I prayed through. I spent a lot of time praying for my friend.

I don’t know if God is going to heal my friend. I am still praying he will. But here is what I do know. Something changed in me. First, I saw his power at work. He spoke to me, encouraged me and delivered on what he said. And He controlled my body. The awe I felt and the marvel at how Great God is, I can’t adequately express.

Why am I sharing this story? Because I want to encourage you to step out in faith and do what God is asking you to do. We need to “try” it when he tells us to do things we think we can’t do. We need to trust him. I believe God speaks to each and every one of us. We don’t hear him because we think he doesn’t and when we do hear him we doubt ourselves (and him). It’s that putting him in a box thing.

God does not fit in any box. What if seeing miracles requires us to step out of our comfort zone? How many of us will miss them? Following God’s leading is a life changing experience. I want to spend my life in awe. Don’t you? How is God asking you to step out in faith today? What are you going to do about it?

Yard Sales and Obedience

“Lord, what do you want us to do for our gathering?”
“Go to Purcellville and ask people questions about the city.”
“Lord, that’s going to be hard. People are not going to want to do that.”

“Lord, what do you want us to do for our gathering?”
“Go to Purcellville and ask people questions about the city.”
“Lord, that’s going to be hard. People are not going to want to do that.”

“Lord, what do you want us to do for our gathering?”
No response.

I knew there was no response because I know that when he tells me to do something, he usually tells me once and doesn’t repeat himself. 

So, for weeks I delayed sharing this with the church plant. I thought it was a little scary to go somewhere, walk around and find people to start questioning. I was sure people were not going to want to talk to us. I was sure the church plant folks would think so too.

But the thoughts kept persisting and I knew this was the next step we had to do to be obedient. When I went to God to talk about it some more, he reminded me that my job was to be obedient to him and not worry about what everyone else was doing or going to do.

So, I shared with the church plant and we planned a trip to Purcellville on October 10. The plan was to meet there mid-afternoon at the building we’d been prayer walking. We would walk around and find folks on the street and ask them two questions; ‘What is it you like about your town?’ And ‘What would you put in place to improve Purcellville?’ The idea was to figure out how we could serve.

As we neared the town and I looked around, I was shocked (and confused) because there were people everywhere. I am talking lots of people walking all along Main Street from the start of it all the way through the center of the town. I want to say hundreds. I also noticed that all along the side of the streets were tables and booths set up with items for sale on them. Turns out it was their yearly Tag Sale. This is basically a town-wide yard sale that the city hosts once a year.

Oh my goodness! Suddenly it became very apparent that God lowered the bar so we could step into his plan and obey what he asked us to do with so little effort. Now, I know this is not always the case. I know sometimes obeying God is hard and takes courage but that is not what he decided for us today. Today, he allowed our obedience to be easy....and fun.

We walked around the town, stopped at different booths and tables and talked to people. We found out about the town, connected with people and had a really, really great time. God is so amazing. 

I am learning to step past my fears and obey. I am learning that he does things that I could never possibly expect or imagine. I am learning that whether it’s easy or hard, the best path is to always follow where he’s leading. 

I am still filled with joy over the field trip to the little town God has placed on our hearts. Not sure what he is going to do there, but I know he is going to do something....and I want to be involved. 

Something's Fishy

Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once!  The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. Jonah 1:15-16 (NLT)

God is so funny. Here is Jonah, a prophet, called to speak for God. God gives him an assignment and Jonah decides he does not want this one. So he goes in the opposite direction. He literally walked away. His defiance is really pretty remarkable when you think about it. But God does not let him go. God follows him….chases him really.

Jonah boards a ship and trying to forget what he’s done, trying to feel better, he takes a nap. While we may be surprised, we each have our ways of ignoring what God is telling us to do. Napping, social media, TV, food, shopping, working….the list is very long. Maybe because he couldn’t look at Facebook Jonah decides to nap.

In the meantime, God decides he is going to get Jonah’s attention and he sends a huge storm. Funny thing is Jonah sleeps right through it. The storm however, is not lost on the other people on the ship. They start praying, rowing, throwing cargo overboard and questioning. They start asking what they had done to cause this. Everyone but Jonah who is still asleep!

They wake him up and ask why he isn’t praying. Jonah isn’t praying because he knows the answer already. We do that too don’t we? God makes a request. We don’t do it for some reason. We understand that we’ve done something wrong and so we stop praying. Humans.

Jonah begins to realize this is futile so he tells them to throw him over and the problem will go away. They tried to fix it themselves but couldn’t so they threw Jonah into the abyss. Storm stopped. The ocean became calm and their lives were spared.

The crew bowed and worshiped. They offered sacrifices to this new God they had just experienced and they vowed to serve him.

And here is what I learned from this story. God wants us to obey but even when we don’t, even when we mess up and go our own way, His glory will be revealed. He will still do what he wants to do. And what does He want to do more than anything? Show His children (ALL OF US) who He is. He wants to get our attention. He wants to draw us into a close relationship with Him and He will use any means to do it. Including our mistakes.

Interestingly, God throughout this story continued to lead Jonah, work with Jonah and teach Jonah. Even though Jonah was being stubborn and really kind of belligerent, God did not give up on him. It’s good to know that He doesn’t give up on us either. Personally, I think I’ll try to obey because God has a million ways to bring His plan about. I’d prefer not to end up in the belly of a fish!

Fishing with God

1 One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee,[a] great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon,[b] its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” 9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. 10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.

Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” 11 And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. Luke 5:1-11 (NLT)

As I read these verses today, I had an epiphany. I act just like Peter in this story. It goes something like this.

I have been working hard. I’m tired and I want to go somewhere and sit by myself and not talk to anyone. Something comes up and I hear God say “Go. I have something for you to do.” I reply “God, I’m tired. Can’t you see how hard I’ve been working? I want to stay home.” Pause. “OK. I’ll go but only because you said to.”

I go. I experience the most amazing conversation with someone who wants to know God more. I am elated. I am so happy I went because I got to experience Jesus in the middle of my circumstances. I praise God and am humbled at the same time. My heart drops to a prostrate position and I am overwhelmed.

I am overwhelmed because that conversation where someone wanted to know more about God has just set me up to share that. I feel completely inadequate at this moment. How can I possibly do that and get it right? Can anyone truly share that in such a way that glorifies God as he deserves? I get scared.

And God say “It’s OK. I am here. This is not you but me working. Don’t be afraid.” And even though I am still scared, I go. Because fishing with God is way better than anything else I had planned.

Listening In The Middle Of The Noise

15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Galatians 1:15-17 (NIV)

This week, this passage really spoke to me. I have a big decision to make. Huge. And I know, the only One I need to hear from is God.

So often, we have decisions to make in our lives. Some are big, some are small. My human tendency is to go ask my family and friends. Sure, I pray about them but it’s not the same as what Paul is saying here. He is saying that instead of going to share what God was telling him, he went the opposite direction. He went to be alone with God.

God speaks to us all the time but I think especially when it’s quiet and we are alone with him. We need to be intentional about calming the noise that distracts our hearing and focus on what God could be telling us. Maybe part of this is getting into the habit if blocking out the distractions ourselves so that we are always praying in the midst of the chaos and tuning our ears to the still small voice.

I believe this is a discipline that we, as Christians, in this very chaotic, noisy world need to develop. While we are in the middle of a conversation with someone, pray about what God wants us to say. When the calendar is full and there doesn’t seem to be time to breathe, pray about God’s plan for our day. When crazy hits the fan and you need wisdom, pray.

But as you are praying, listen. Don’t just send the prayer up and proceed on your own. Turn your hearing toward the voice that is speaking to it. Focus on what you know to be true and Christ driven in your thoughts.

We need to stop thinking Jesus isn’t talking to us. We need to stop thinking we can’t hear him. If God can speak through death to call Christ to life, he can get through to our dulled brains. By the way, once you hear, you have to obey. Maybe that’s why we don’t really want to listen….because we don’t really want to do what God is saying in the first place. Just a thought…..

No Excuses

But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of everything you own, I would not go with you. I would not eat or drink anything in this place. For the Lord gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’” So he left Bethel and went home another way. 1 Kings 13:8-10 (NLT)

I have to be honest. I don’t like the story in 1 Kings 13. Here is a summary but you should go read it for yourself. There was a prophet. He was told to go to Jeroboam and denounce his alters to idols. The prophet did as he was told. Jeroboam raised his hand to say “Seize that man!” and his hand froze and was paralyzed in that position. Jeroboam pleaded with the prophet to pray and heal him. The prophet did. (Not sure I would have been so magnanimous.)

After his hand was healed, Jeroboam asked the prophet to share a meal. The prophet declined and said that God told him he could not eat or drink anything while he was on this mission (see today’s text.)

The prophet left and as he was traveling home, another old prophet heard about the story and went to find him. He asked him to come to a meal. The prophet repeated his command from God. Then, the old prophet lied and told him God said it was OK. So the prophet went and ate with him.

Suddenly, the old prophet receives a word from God and pronounces the prophet’s death because he disobeyed God’s command. As the prophet was on the way home, he was killed by a lion.

Do you see why this story bothered me? The prophet was lied to and he was punished. Didn’t seem fair to me. Really. I kept thinking “But it wasn’t his fault.” As I thought through and prayed about this, I realized a few things.

We expect things in this world to be fair. But they aren’t. The world is full of sinful people who may or may not have the same values that we have. Where I may not think of lying and misleading someone, they may think the end justifies the means. Satan will use every means possible to trip us up.

Have you ever been in a position where you know God has told you something but very well meaning, Christian people are telling you something else? What they are saying is true but it doesn’t align with what God told you. Who do you listen to?

While I felt sorry for the prophet who was deceived, he did recite twice in the chapter that God told him not to eat or drink anything while on this mission. He knew his instructions. It should be the same with us. If God tells us something, no matter what, we should not deviate from that path.

You Want Me To Do What?

“Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord!” he replied.” Acts 9:10 (NLT)

Ananias was a Jesus follower. One day he was minding his own business sitting in his house and God spoke to him. When Ananias heard God call his name he replied with a “Yes, Lord!” The Lord then instructed him to go to help Saul.

Wait. What? Saul as in THE Saul that killed people who love you? The SAME Saul that was there when Stephen was stoned? The very Saul who has shouted threats against your people and is making it his life mission to go around killing us. That Saul?

Yes, that Saul.

Right at this point Ananias had a choice to make. He could take everything he knew about this guy and decide it’s too risky and obviously the Lord wouldn’t call him to do something so dangerous because God loved him and wouldn’t want him to put himself in such a risky position. Or, he could go.

Ananias must have really trusted God. Because in spite of the reality before him, in spite of knowing he could be arrested, thrown into prison and die, he went. He went because he trusted God. He went because he knew the Person behind the voice and he knew that no matter what was going to happen, God’s plan would be better. God’s purpose for his life would be fulfilled even in his death and that was what he lived for.

He got up, went to Saul, He laid his hands on him and prayed for him. He commissioned the man that would further the Christian faith like no other. Of course, he didn’t know all this at the time. Afterward, he went home and felt good that he did what God said (and he didn’t die.)

What about you? What is God asking you to do that you are afraid to do? Maybe, like Ananias, you should remember the God you know and follow his lead. Maybe there will be a kingdom impact beyond what seems humanly possible. You see, when we follow God and say “Yes, Lord!” the kingdom impact is always more than is humanly possible. It is God ordained.