SPEAKER_00: We study through books of the Bible here at the village chapel.
SPEAKER_00: And if you would like a paper copy to follow along with, just raise your hand and a cheerful saint will hand deliver it to you.
SPEAKER_00: And if if you are swiping with your device and you need information up there, just click on that QR code and it will give you everything you need.
SPEAKER_00: And a good morning to our friends who are attending online this morning or later on this week.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: And in the last week, we have been joined by folks from Santa Maria, Bulacan in the Philippines, from Kazon City, Metro Manila, the Philippines, from Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, and from Reidsville, North Carolina, USA.
SPEAKER_00: So welcome.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord meet you in new and fresh ways in the upcoming week.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this morning we're continuing our study of Acts chapter 8, and we're going to get a deeper look into the life of Philip the evangelist.
SPEAKER_00: We have three main characters in our passage today: Philip, an Ethiopian man that he's going to meet, the Holy Spirit, and then a little cameo appearance by an angel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Philip is a man noted for being wisdom and full of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to see Philip on the move in our passage today.
SPEAKER_00: So much so, in fact, that I have borrowed from the great modern-day theologian Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Seuss for our sermon titled, Oh the Places You'll Go.
SPEAKER_00: And here's a brief quote from his book, which we often give as gifts and read from this time of year during graduation season.
SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
SPEAKER_00: Today is your day.
SPEAKER_00: Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, the places you'll go.
SPEAKER_00: And then on our next slide, speaking of the places we'll go, here's a map to show us Philip's journeys.
SPEAKER_00: So if you remember at the beginning of chapter 8, when the church was scattered, Philip went down from Jerusalem to Samaria, and that's a journey of roughly 30 or 40 miles.
SPEAKER_00: And then later in the passage, we're going to see this angel of the Lord directing him to go south from Samaria towards Gaza.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if we went through Jerusalem or another direct route, but it's almost 50 miles from Jerusalem to Gaza.
SPEAKER_00: And then at the end of the passage, Philip is whisked by the Holy Spirit to Azodus or Ashdod, as it was called in the Old Testament, which is over on the western coast.
SPEAKER_00: Gaza to Ashdod is about 20 or 25 miles.
SPEAKER_00: Then he travels north to Caesarea another 50 or 55 miles.
SPEAKER_00: So Philip is getting his steps in this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this morning, as we look at how the Holy Spirit was at work in the lives of Philip and the Ethiopian.
SPEAKER_00: And then I'm wanting us to reflect on how the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives already, and how he wants to continue working in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And this week I ran across this thought from A.
SPEAKER_00: W.
SPEAKER_00: Tozier, and it seems especially appropriate to me.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I don't want the world to define God for me.
SPEAKER_00: I want the Holy Spirit to reveal God to me.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm praying that that's a space that we are dwelling and inhabiting this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So pray with me, church, and let's read through our text.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, as we gather this morning, we all walk through the front door carrying a backpack filled with an assortment of experiences happening in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We have things we're excited about or anxious about.
SPEAKER_00: There are other things that we're anxious about, hard and heartbreaking things, burdens that are too heavy for us to carry.
SPEAKER_00: And we bring these loads, these burdens to you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we ask that you would illuminate this passage to your glory, and that you would speak to us through this passage and remind us of how completely you know us, how fully you see us, and how deeply you love us.
SPEAKER_00: We ask this in the precious name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Alrighty, so we're starting chapter 8 of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: We're starting in verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, Rise and go toward the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gotha.
SPEAKER_00: This is a desert place.
SPEAKER_00: And he rose and went.
SPEAKER_00: And we see a uh, and we'll continue to see this pattern of faithful response in the life of Philip.
SPEAKER_00: He is continually following after, seeking, sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And just like we read about the people in Samaria paying attention, Philip is paying attention.
SPEAKER_00: Let's continue on, verse 27.
SPEAKER_00: So he rose and went.
SPEAKER_00: There was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.
SPEAKER_00: He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: So this Ethiopian is a long way from home.
SPEAKER_00: Ancient Ethiopia was a little more north in northern Africa, kind of where Sudan is today, but it's about a thousand miles from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: That's about as far as Nashville to Denver as the crow flies.
SPEAKER_00: It is a he's a long way from home.
SPEAKER_00: So we read that he's a court official of Candace.
SPEAKER_00: He was in charge of all our treasure.
SPEAKER_00: So this man is a man of authority, of position, probably a man of means.
SPEAKER_00: He was basically the secretary of the treasure.
SPEAKER_00: And he had gone on this pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And as we we read that he's reading from a scroll, the prophet Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: So, like I said, he was probably a man of means because he would have bought some of these ancient scrolls.
SPEAKER_00: These were expensive and not easy to come by.
SPEAKER_00: He did not have a Bible app, he didn't have a Bible that he could just buy, you know, through Amazon or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: It was hard to come by, expensive.
SPEAKER_00: So let's continue on.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 29, the spirit said to Philip, Go over and join this chariot.
SPEAKER_00: So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, Do you understand what you're reading?
SPEAKER_00: So I love this.
SPEAKER_00: Philip is still paying attention.
SPEAKER_00: When the Spirit of the Lord, when the angel told him to go south, there was no explanation of why.
SPEAKER_00: And yet Philip still obeyed.
SPEAKER_00: He's still paying attention.
SPEAKER_00: He's on this desert road.
SPEAKER_00: He has no idea what's going on or why he's there.
SPEAKER_00: Then he sees this chariot, and the Holy Spirit prompts him, go to this chariot.
SPEAKER_00: And I love how eagerly Philip goes because we read he runs over to the chariot.
SPEAKER_00: And so he he speaks to the man.
SPEAKER_00: He heard him reading because people would read aloud in those days.
SPEAKER_00: He hears him reading Isaiah, and he asks, Do you understand what you're reading?
SPEAKER_00: Which is a great approach to ministry, to be curious, to ask people questions, to not approach a situation just assuming that we know all that's going on.
SPEAKER_00: Ask questions and be curious.
SPEAKER_00: I love that evangelism mixed with curiosity.
SPEAKER_00: Well, in verse 31, we're going to read the first of three really open door questions that we'll hear from the Ethiopian.
SPEAKER_00: He asked him, Do you understand what you're reading?
SPEAKER_00: And he, the Ethiopian, he said, How can I unless someone guides me?
SPEAKER_00: And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
SPEAKER_00: Really great open door question that we all love to get.
SPEAKER_00: Continue on in verse 32.
SPEAKER_00: Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this.
SPEAKER_00: This is Isaiah chapter 53, all about the suffering servant.
SPEAKER_00: Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its sheer is silent.
SPEAKER_00: So he opens not his mouth.
SPEAKER_00: In his humiliation, justice was denied him.
SPEAKER_00: Who can describe his generation?
SPEAKER_00: For his life is taken away from the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And here we go.
SPEAKER_00: Another one of these open door questions in verse 34.
SPEAKER_00: The eunuch said to Philip, About whom I ask you, does the prophet say this?
SPEAKER_00: About himself or about someone else?
SPEAKER_00: Who is this passage talking about?
SPEAKER_00: What a great question for us.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 35, Philip opened his mouth, beginning with this scripture.
SPEAKER_00: He told him the good news about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Philip knows his Bible, he knows his scripture.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't just read the passage back to the Ethiopian man, he preaches Jesus to him.
SPEAKER_00: He connects the dots from Isaiah to Jesus for this man.
SPEAKER_00: Continuing along, and as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, See, here is water.
SPEAKER_00: What prevents me from being baptized?
SPEAKER_00: And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
SPEAKER_00: So you might have noticed in some of your translations, you don't have a verse 37.
SPEAKER_00: And that's because the earliest manuscripts don't have that verse.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the later manuscripts do.
SPEAKER_00: So it it was probably added later.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm reading from the ESV, and at the bottom of my page it says, some manuscripts add all or most of verse 37.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what 37 says.
SPEAKER_00: Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may, meaning be baptized.
SPEAKER_00: And he, the Ethiopian, replied, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that Philip had already spoken about these things with the Ethiopian as they rode together in the chariot.
SPEAKER_00: He would have told him, if the man said, Can I get baptized?
SPEAKER_00: He would have told him, If you want to follow Jesus, you must get baptized.
SPEAKER_00: There must be an outward expression of the faith that's going on in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: So verse 39.
SPEAKER_00: So they stopped, they both went down into the water, and when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: But Philip found himself at Azotis, and as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Samaria.
SPEAKER_00: So we have a Holy Spirit transport beam here going on that just instantly carries Philip from this desert road to what was called Ashadod before that town on the western coast, Azotis.
SPEAKER_00: And the word for carried away is Arpazo, which means violently seized or snatched away.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Ethiopian, even though he doesn't ever see Philip again, he goes on his way rejoicing because he is full of the Spirit, full of the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And we read that Philip travels to Azotus, and as he passes through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea, and he ends up living and settling in Caesarea.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't hear from him for about 20 more years until chapter 21, where we read that Paul was sailing on a ship, and they come to the town of Caesarea, and he spends the night with Philip the evangelist and gets to meet Philip's four unmarried daughters who are all prophetesses.
SPEAKER_00: So that is Philip.
SPEAKER_00: And that is our passage.
SPEAKER_00: And it gives us a really good look at three aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So I'd like to take just a few minutes and look at those aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And the first is the global work of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: God is not silent when it comes to his plans for all of mankind and all of creation.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said he came to seek and save the lost, and he also said that he came to destroy the works of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: God is in effect saying, after the fall, where we read that the curse affected all creation, God is saying, This is mine, and I am taking it back.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: John 3 reminds us that God loved the world so much that he sent his son into the world not to condemn the world, but to save the world, that it might be saved through him.
SPEAKER_00: We read in Colossians chapter 1, God desires to reconcile all things back to himself by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: God is very clear about the work he wants to do.
SPEAKER_00: And in the upper room, Jesus talked at length with his disciples about the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And he promised that the Holy Spirit would come as a gift given by the Father.
SPEAKER_00: The primary work of the Holy Spirit is to bear witness about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit always points to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus called him the helper, the spirit of truth, and promised that he would always, he would dwell with us and be in us.
SPEAKER_00: And Tim Keller once said that through the Spirit's influence in our lives, we can actually experience God, not just know about him and not just know what he requires of us, although in his mercy and grace he does tell us what's required of us, but actually experience him.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is sent in the name of Jesus to be our comforter, our counselor, to be the breath and presence of God living in us and working through us, always pointing to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The resurrected Jesus promised the apostles that when the Holy Spirit fell on them, they would be made witnesses to Jesus throughout Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: D.L.
SPEAKER_00: Moody summarizes the global work of the Holy Spirit perfectly in this statement.
SPEAKER_00: The work of the Spirit is to impart life, to implant hope, to give liberty, to testify of Christ, to guide us into all truth, to teach us all things, to comfort the believer, and to convict the world of sin.
SPEAKER_00: That, my friends, is that is the global work of the Holy Spirit right there.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if there's a global work that the Holy Spirit is doing, there's also specific and particular work that the Holy Spirit is doing through specific and particular people.
SPEAKER_00: And we saw that specific work of the Holy Spirit in this passage.
SPEAKER_00: So let's consider this specific particular work of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Let's consider for a moment the details of Philip's life as well as the life of the Ethiopian that Luke records for us.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to see how their lives connect.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is weaving the tapestry of their lives together, and although they don't know it yet, their lives are going to cross, their lives are going to intersect, and the Holy Spirit is orchestrating events so that they could meet and both of their lives would be changed.
SPEAKER_00: So let's start with the life of Philip.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at his life for just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: So remember, he was one of the seven chosen to serve tables, to care for and serve Greek widows in Acts chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: He was waiting tables.
SPEAKER_00: The seven were chosen because they were of good repute, full of the Spirit, full of wisdom, before anything else.
SPEAKER_00: These men loved Jesus and loved the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So Philip, he's gone from being a server to being a refugee, but a refugee with purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Because he ends up in Samaria and he preaches Jesus to them, and a Samaritan Pentecost breaks out.
SPEAKER_00: People are paying attention to what Philip is preaching.
SPEAKER_00: They're turning to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: People are being healed both physically and spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: Philip is healing diseases.
SPEAKER_00: He's casting out demons, baptizing the crowds.
SPEAKER_00: His ministry is dramatically expanding.
SPEAKER_00: Full-on revival is happening.
SPEAKER_00: But he is consistently sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And when we read last week that when Peter and John, the A-team from Jerusalem, when they showed up to lay hands on the people of Samaria so that they could be filled with the Holy Spirit, we don't hear anything about Philip being crabby, about kind of being put in the back seat for a little while, do we?
SPEAKER_00: He's still following the leading of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So when an angel of the Lord prompts him to leave his big, successful, big city ministry and head out into the wilderness, what's his response?
SPEAKER_00: Does he complain?
SPEAKER_00: Does he ask the angel, are you really sure you know what you're talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Because you had noticed things are going really good here.
SPEAKER_00: Nope.
SPEAKER_00: We read he rose and went immediately.
SPEAKER_00: And because Philip was obedient in his everyday walk with God, he could be obedient in this circumstance, in this somewhat strange leading of the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So when the spirit tells Philip where to go, and he's specific about the area, there's no explanation of why.
SPEAKER_00: Philip had no idea why he was going, only that the spirit said go, and he immediately rose and went.
SPEAKER_00: So Philip is on this desert road and he sees this chariot.
SPEAKER_00: He's prompted by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Spirit to approach the chariot, and I love his eagerness.
SPEAKER_00: He runs.
SPEAKER_00: He immediately obeys and runs over to the chariot and engages in conversation with the Ethiopian.
SPEAKER_00: So let's consider the life of the Ethiopian for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: As we talked about earlier, he's on this, he was on this thousand-mile journey to Jerusalem to worship there.
SPEAKER_00: And as an Ethiopian, he would have been a descendant of Cush.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to go all the way back to Genesis chapter 10, and we're going to see Genesis chapter 10, and then all the way to Revelation 7, every tribe, tongue, and nation.
SPEAKER_00: So he is a descendant of Cush, and in Genesis chapter 10, we read that Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
SPEAKER_00: And Ham's sons, he had four, were Egypt, Put, Cush, and Canaan.
SPEAKER_00: They all settled kind of in the North Africa area, the eastern Mediterranean coast.
SPEAKER_00: Those were this Ethiopian's ancestors.
SPEAKER_00: So he was an outsider.
SPEAKER_00: He was a Gentile, a foreigner.
SPEAKER_00: And as a eunuch, he would not have been allowed into the temple under Old Testament law.
SPEAKER_00: Even though he's an outsider, he's still drawn to Jerusalem, drawn to Scripture, and he was a worshiper of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's the whole reason he went.
SPEAKER_00: So whatever happened during his stay in Jerusalem, he's on his way home.
SPEAKER_00: Man, he is still hungry.
SPEAKER_00: He is still searching the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: And can you see how the Holy Spirit has already been at work in this man's life, preparing him ahead of time for this encounter with Philip?
SPEAKER_00: Somehow, this Ethiopian, he's heard of the God of the Bible, he's seeking, he's searching, and we began to see how, man, magnificent the work and the planning of the Holy Spirit is, because if we could be watching from overhead in time and space, observing their lives separate because they don't know each other yet, but we can see how the Holy Spirit is guiding their steps.
SPEAKER_00: And as they get closer, the Ethiopian is on his way back to Africa, on the road from Jerusalem down to Gaza.
SPEAKER_00: And then Philip, he's on his way south from Samaria, and bam, they meet up.
SPEAKER_00: You know, a few minutes on either side, if one of them stopped and made a pit stop or something, they might have missed each other, but they didn't because of the leading of the Holy Spirit, and we see an open doorway with this encounter for Philip and the Ethiopian.
SPEAKER_00: And I love the preparation and the planning the Holy Spirit has done in both men.
SPEAKER_00: So in the Ethiopian, three steps lead to his conversion.
SPEAKER_00: First, God has prepared the way.
SPEAKER_00: He has been softening the soil in this man's heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's led to something beyond his community in Africa, ending in this trip to Jerusalem, and this quest of this hunger for wanting to understand Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: That comes from God.
SPEAKER_00: And second, God provided the encounter with someone who was a believer and could explain the passage.
SPEAKER_00: And third, God provided this encounter, he provided the preaching of the name of Jesus, helping the Ethiopian connect the dots.
SPEAKER_00: And then also in Philip, three steps led to his part in this intersection.
SPEAKER_00: So first, Philip was obedient to God, sensitive to the Spirit, seeking him daily, paying attention.
SPEAKER_00: Second, Philip was a man who recognized the opportunity to witness and had the courage to take it.
SPEAKER_00: And through the Spirit, we can sometimes be aware of what God might be doing in someone's life.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm praying that we can have the courage to take advantage of those opportunities.
SPEAKER_00: Well, third, Philip was prepared.
SPEAKER_00: He was able to explain the good news about Jesus, starting right there from that part of Scripture, right from Isaiah 53, and he points to Jesus out of this passage, prepared for the opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: So finally, we can assume that their conversation continued.
SPEAKER_00: And I love this because again, remember, Philip stayed in the chariot with the guy, with the Ethiopian.
SPEAKER_00: And they continued to talk about the need for faith in Christ and baptism.
SPEAKER_00: And the Ethiopian professed faith in Christ because when they saw the water, he said, What's to prevent me from getting baptized?
SPEAKER_00: And Philip agreed, nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go do this.
SPEAKER_00: So in this encounter, we're seeing the gospel head towards what Jesus talked about.
SPEAKER_00: Head towards the ends of the earth, geographically, ethnically, culturally, geographically, we're seeing the gospel spread.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have a clear chain of evidence of this, but many consider this encounter with the Ethiopian the way the gospel came to be in Africa.
SPEAKER_00: The message of Jesus went to Africa starting with this man who Philip led to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Ethnically, we are seeing Gentiles come to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Just like in Revelation chapter seven, every tribe, tongue, and nation will be worshiping the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: Ethnically, the gospel is going to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And then culturally, remember, because the Ethiopian was a eunuch, he was an outsider.
SPEAKER_00: He was inadequate to be in the temple, in the presence of the Lord, because that's where the presence of the Lord was considered to be found in the temple.
SPEAKER_00: He was not allowed in the temple.
SPEAKER_00: But in Christ, friends, there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free.
SPEAKER_00: All are welcome to come to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing, no wall, no barrier, nothing that prevents us from coming to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Well, lastly, let's look at the very personal work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Not only the work of sanctification, making us more and more into the image of Christ, but also in the intimate way the Spirit wants to work in each of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read that D.L.
SPEAKER_00: Moody quote again from earlier.
SPEAKER_00: The work of the Spirit is to impart life, to implant hope, to give liberty, to testify of Christ, to guide us into all truth, to teach us all things, to comfort the believer, and to convict the world of sin.
SPEAKER_00: That is not just true in a global sense, but boy, it is true in a very particular, personal way for each and every one of us.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is constantly calling to people, inviting them, drawing them to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Are we seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that he can move us to intersect with the lives of others?
SPEAKER_00: Because the Spirit wants to use each of us like he used Philip.
SPEAKER_00: There are specific people that the Holy Spirit wants us to reach, specific ways that he wants to move in our lives and direct us so that our lives intersect with others.
SPEAKER_00: And do we want just the ice cream of the manifestation of the Spirit in our lives, which is beautiful, or do we want to be used, really used by the Holy Spirit?
unknown: R.
SPEAKER_00: A.
SPEAKER_00: Tori, who was a one-time head of Moody Bible Institute and pastor of Moody Church, talks about this very thing.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, if we think of the Holy Spirit only as an impersonal power or influence, then our thoughts will constantly be, how can I get hold of and use the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: But if we think of him in the biblical way as a divine person, infinitely wise, infinitely holy, infinitely tender, then our thought will constantly be, how can the Holy Spirit get hold of and use me?
SPEAKER_00: And is that last question?
SPEAKER_00: Is that thought part of our daily devotional life?
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, how can I give more of myself to you?
SPEAKER_00: This very day, Holy Spirit, help me hear you as you lead and guide me.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Tommy mentioned a couple of weeks ago that our role as a church staff is to serve, first off, to serve you and to help equip you for the work that the Holy Spirit is calling you to.
SPEAKER_00: Does that mean that you have to have a perfect knowledge of scripture or a perfect grasp of theology in order to be used by the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00: The best ability is availability.
SPEAKER_00: Are we paying attention?
SPEAKER_00: Are we allowing ourselves to be moved and used by the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Because, friends, there's a work that the Holy Spirit wants to accomplish through each one of you right where you are right now.
SPEAKER_00: And I encourage all of us to remain curious about this, curious about the intersections we have about with other people, not to make assumptions in our approach to others, but to instead ask ourselves a question: what might the Holy Spirit be prompting me to do?
SPEAKER_00: That person I just met, how might the Holy Spirit want to use me to care for them?
SPEAKER_00: Just like Philip sat in the chariot with the Ethiopian, can we sit with people in their lives?
SPEAKER_00: Can we walk with them?
SPEAKER_00: Can we listen deeply to them?
SPEAKER_00: One of our seminary professors loved to use the phrase, listen to understand, speak to serve.
SPEAKER_00: And can we take that approach when we encounter people that the Holy Spirit has brought into our lives?
SPEAKER_00: Listen to understand, speak to serve.
SPEAKER_00: What's our definition of success?
SPEAKER_00: Is it continually doing bigger and better things, greater accomplishments?
SPEAKER_00: Or do we find success as faithfully following the Spirit wherever he leads?
SPEAKER_00: Because the Holy Spirit, he might be prompting you to leave or set aside some work or ministry that you're ministering to the multitudes.
SPEAKER_00: He might be prompting you to set that aside to minister to the single, just to the one, like Philip did with the Ethiopian.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you may have an amazing job where you're doing really well and doing great work, but the Holy Spirit might be prompting you to do something different.
SPEAKER_00: It might not seem logical, but it might be what the Holy Spirit is leading you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, the places you go takes on an entirely new meeting, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Your life may take unexpected turns, taking you to unexpected places, a chance encounter at a coffee shop, an overwhelming urge to call or text or pray for someone, running into someone who you have been this overwhelming urge to pray for someone, and then you run into them two days later.
SPEAKER_00: There is no more random chance when we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us.
SPEAKER_00: His purposes are beyond our understanding.
SPEAKER_00: But he is good and faithful and true.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we go into this week, let's keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, keenly aware of the leading of the Holy Spirit, who is our comfort and our guide.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll finish with this from John Bailey.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to ask if you would read it with me.
SPEAKER_00: It's part of a prayer, and I'll pray for us after that, but I'd love it for us to read this together.
SPEAKER_00: We did this first service and encourage you, there are people in the back on our prayer team that would love to be used by the Holy Spirit to pray with and pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have anything that you want to go pray with them about, invite you to do that.
SPEAKER_00: So let's read this together and then I'll pray, friends.
SPEAKER_00: O Holy Spirit of God, abide with us, inspire all our thoughts, pervade our imaginations, suggest all our decisions, order all our doings, be with us in our silence and in our speech, in our haste and in our leisure, in company and in solitude, in the freshness of the morning and in the weariness of the evening, and give us grace at all times humbly to rejoice in thy mysterious companionship.
SPEAKER_00: O Lord, we come to you.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who comforts and guides us, who leads us into all truth, who witnesses to you, who wants to move in and through us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, help us pay attention to the way you want to lead and move us in our lives and work through us to help others see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We're grateful for your love for us, and we lift this up in Jesus' precious name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.