I desire to know the places where I went as far as I could in the Lord and when He directed my path in another direction. We can see it with Philip and with the apostle Paul.
In Acts 8:5
Philip went to Samaria as evangelist. He preached: Acts 8:6, and in Acts 8:26
Philip heard the angel of the Lord:”go south to desert and he would meet a man.
And he did: a eunuch under Candace queen of the Ethiopians. Acts 8:39 that
after Philip ministered to the eunuch, Philip was translated away. He would be
found in Acts 8:40 reaching Azotus then coming to Caesarea.
He was one
of those who were "scattered abroad" by the persecution that arose on
the death of Stephen. Going first to Samaria, he labored as an evangelist. He
had much success found recorded in Acts 8:5-13. While he was living and working
in the area, he received a divine command to proceed toward the south, along
the road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza. These towns were connected by two
roads. The one Philip was directed to take was that which led through Hebron. Traveling through a district little inhabited, only known by the locals, and hence called
"desert." Holy Spirit told Philip :”Go near and overtake this
chariot”. Acts 8:29
So traveling
in this “desert” area, Philip was met by a chariot in which sat a man of
Ethiopia, the eunuch or chief officer of Queen Candace. He was at that moment
reading a portion of the prophecies found in the Septuagint. It is Philip
who entered into conversation with him, and expounded these verses, preaching
to him the glad tidings of the Savior. (Acts 8:30 “Do you understand what you
are reading?”)
The eunuch
heard the message of the Gospel, believed and was baptized in a short amount of
time. The eunuch went his way when Philip was carried away by the Holy Spirit when
the eunuch had been baptized in water!
He was next found at Azotus, whence he went
forth in his evangelistic work till he came to Caesarea. Not mentioned again
for about twenty years, Philip was still found at Caesarea (Acts 21:8) when
Paul and his companions were on the way to Jerusalem. Disappearing from the page of history, the last know was of him residing in Caesarea..
Saul became Paul when he followed Jesus. Thrown from a horse in Acts 9, Saul hears Jesus speak to him. He calls Him Lord! Traveling by foot into the city of Damascus, a hard blow to one who had been breathing hardship and violence to those who believed in Jesus, the Way, Saul was led as the blind man all the way! Paul stayed in that condition until a godly man came to lay hands on him. The scales came off and Saul could see and knew where he would go. He would be led by the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s message included the fact that conversion for any person is that from darkness to light revealing that from the power of Satan to God, always involves forgiveness from sins, and leads to sanctification found in Acts 26:18. The plan of God was that people must “repent and turn to God” and to prove their repentance by their deeds seen in Acts 26:20. It is also the message that is in line with the prophets and of Moses in Acts 26:22. The unrelenting point: the crux or the objective truth that Christ suffered and rose from the dead spoken of in Acts 26:23!
Paul desired to reach the
Jews, but God sent him to the Gentiles and he finally reached that obedience in
Acts 11. But what certainly proved to be a God thing is when Paul had heard
this call from Macedonia. Found in Acts 16:6-10 Now when they had gone through
Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to
preach the word in Asia. 7 After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into
Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. 8 So passing by Mysia, they came
down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia
stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come
over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Now after he had seen the vision,
immediately, we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called
us to preach the gospel to them.
The Holy Spirit was leading
them westward not eastward. The Gospel
would be preached and spread all over Europe entering Italy and Spain, ever westward
to the North American and South American continents. Meeting destiny, Paul
would lead and others would continue to move to other lands giving the word of God, so that any one
woman, man or child of any other continent reaching the Americas would hear the
word of God. No matter if they came as the free or those who worked as in slavery
to pay their way to the new world, every man, woman or child, any color or
ethnicity would encounter God and the word of life. Whether they received it or
not, is another story. But those who received it, embraced and lived it reached
others for the kingdom of God, whose King is Jesus and whose life is peace and
joy. Yes, many came to the new world: they came by the Mayflower, they came by Christopher Columbus and many by slave traffickers. But they would encounter truth when the godly would speak God's truth to them. The man or young woman, who traveled with no money but was giving pay being a slave to a boat owner or other, they came and they came expecting to find the Gospel.
Holy Spirit leads us! Or we
find ourselves in the wrong place at the wrong time with doing the wrong thing.
But God, rich in mercy, longsuffering provides His plan to us if we are willing
and obedient to it. Thankful today for those who left their own life to reach
others for the kingdom of God. I am so thankful to My Father who loved me and
you so much He gave us the best gift ever. He gave us life and He found us ever
moving forward in the life that invades us with His good and leads all on to our
victory. In Jesus, we are the found. Amen!
New teaching at: Voice of Prayer
Signs of the Times
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