Imagine you’re in a shopping mall, and God instructs you to go to a particular restaurant in the mall, and as you go in, he asks you to go and sit at a table, directly behind someone. As you do so, you hear the person listening to a podcast and the Holy Spirit nudges you to engage in a conversation with the person, based on the message from the podcast.
Well, yes, something very similar to that happened to Philip. The full story is in Acts 8:26 – 40.
In our last conversation, we talked about how it’s our responsibility to spread the word of God further. And how we must be prepared to do that. Read that blog here.
Today, I read this story of Philip, and it just occurred to me that Philip was prepared. Let’s learn from Philip what it means to be prepared.
To be prepared:
- We must be discerning and attentive to those nugdes in our heart from the HolySpirit.
Philip heard the angel of the Lord say to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza”. [Acts 8:26]. He also heard the HolySpirit say to him, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage”.
If Philip wasn’t able to hear God, we won’t be having this conversation. While in the mall or at work, at the park or in our home, we need to be able to hear God. - We must be obedient.
Right on the next verse, vs 27, the Bible lets us know, he started out on that path as instructed. Again, he obeyed the next instruction in vs 29 to walk along the carriage he saw. Be prepared to just obey. - We must be timely.
In vs 26, he was instructed to go to south down, and immediately in vs 27, we saw him do that. Again in vs 30, he ran over, when he was asked to walk beside the carriage. If he didn’t ‘Go south’ immediately, he wouldn’t have been able to see the Eunuch, because the carriage was moving, if he had waited or delayed, the carriage would have been gone. He also needed to quickly run over to walk beside the carriage. If he wasn’t prompt, perhaps the carriage would have been too far gone for him. - Don’t waste time contemplating.
If he was questioning, ‘why should I go south’? Or if he bothered – ‘why would I just go and walk beside somebody’s carriage’? That’s going into someone’s space. Won’t I look like I don’t know what I’m doing? Be prepared to forget about yourself and your ego, and just move. - Be ready to start the conversation.
Philip was bold and not shy, he also did his part. The Angel and the HolySpirit had led him, now he had to play his part. Being sensitive, he heard what the man was reading out loud – and started the conversation.
Yes, be ready to start that conversation. You might need to start it. Don’t wait and say, ‘okay let me just wait for him to say something, then I’ll continue from there’. The other person might not say anything – you start the conversation. - Take up the opportunity and share the goodnews. He took the opportunity, for he was ready.
Acts of the Apostles 8:30 – 31. Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” [31] The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.
Philip took up the opportunity and he shared the goodnews.. The man had so much understanding, that he was the one who requested to be baptized. - Know the Gospel, know Jesus!
Finally, Philip knew what to share. He had read the books of the prophets so much (that was their Bible in that time) that he knew the passage the Eunuch was reading. He also knew about the gospel of Jesus. And beginning from the passage the man was reading, he went on to share the gospel of Jesus.
Do you read your Bible? Do you know Jesus? Do you know what and who you want to preach about? Philip started out from what the man was interested in and went on to share the gospel of Jesus. If you were to have a conversation today, do you know what to share, or how to lead the conversation and the person to Jesus?
Think on these points and be prepared to share about Jesus.
In the next post, I’ll talk about easy ways to have that conversation, and talk about Jesus.
