SPEAKER_00: There's a moment in the spiritual life that changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: It's the moment when you realize God is already moving before you even know to look for Him.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about this on Sunday, third Sunday of Easter.
SPEAKER_00: But that's what we're seeing in the first reading.
SPEAKER_00: Philip is not planning a mission trip.
SPEAKER_00: He's not strategizing evangelization.
SPEAKER_00: He's not even building a program.
SPEAKER_00: And then an angel tells him, get up and go.
SPEAKER_00: No explanation, no map, just obedience.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes.
SPEAKER_00: And then on a desert road, he meets a man, not just any man, an outsider, a foreigner, a eunuch, someone who, by Jewish law, would have been kept at a distance.
SPEAKER_00: And yet this man is searching.
SPEAKER_00: He's reading Isaiah, he's trying, but he doesn't understand.
SPEAKER_00: And Philip asks him one of the most important questions in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand what you're reading?
SPEAKER_00: And the man answers with incredible honesty.
SPEAKER_00: How can I unless someone guides me, teaches me, explains it to me?
SPEAKER_00: That line should stop us.
SPEAKER_00: Because it tells us something we don't like to admit.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot walk the spiritual life alone.
SPEAKER_00: You need someone to guide you, to teach you, to interpret, to help you see what you cannot see on your own.
SPEAKER_00: And Philip does exactly that.
SPEAKER_00: Gets into the chariot, he opens the scriptures and begins with the passage like a sheep led to the slaughter.
SPEAKER_00: What does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He proclaims Jesus Christ, not ideas, not philosophy, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And then something beautiful happens.
SPEAKER_00: They come across water, and the eunuch says, What is to prevent me from being baptized?
SPEAKER_00: That's the question.
SPEAKER_00: Not, do I fully understand everything?
SPEAKER_00: Not am I perfectly ready?
SPEAKER_00: Not let me think about this.
SPEAKER_00: No, what is stopping me?
SPEAKER_00: And the answer is nothing.
SPEAKER_00: So they stop the chariot, they go down into the water, and he's baptized.
SPEAKER_00: Now notice what happens next.
SPEAKER_00: Philip disappears.
SPEAKER_00: Just like that, gone.
SPEAKER_00: No follow-up program, no continuing mentorship, no long-term plan.
SPEAKER_00: And the man goes on his way, rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because once you've encountered Christ, truly encountered him, you don't need to be carried anymore.
SPEAKER_00: You've been given everything.
SPEAKER_00: Now that brings us to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is something that should humble all of us.
SPEAKER_00: No one can come to me unless the Father draws him.
SPEAKER_00: Which means this even your desire for God is already God at work in you.
SPEAKER_00: That restlessness you feel, that pull towards something more, that dissatisfaction with a superficial life, that's not you figuring things out.
SPEAKER_00: That's God drawing you in.
SPEAKER_00: Where is he drawing you into?
SPEAKER_00: To himself.
SPEAKER_00: I am the bread of life, the living bread that came down from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Not a symbol, not an idea, his very flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Given for the world, given for the life of the world.
SPEAKER_00: So if we put these readings together, God sends Philip, God draws the unit, God opens the scripture, God leads him to the water, and in the end, God gives himself.
SPEAKER_00: That's how it works.
SPEAKER_00: God is always the one moving first.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe a question for today is where is God already at work in your life that you're ignoring?
SPEAKER_00: Where is he prompting you, calling you, drawing you?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe through a conversation, a restlessness, a question you can't shake.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe the better question is this what's stopping you?
SPEAKER_00: What's stopping you from going deeper, from surrendering, from committing to that habit, that sin that you've been that keep falling into?
SPEAKER_00: What's stopping you from letting it go?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's usually not lack of clarity, it's hesitation, it's fear, it's fear of losing control, delay.
SPEAKER_00: But look at the eunuch.
SPEAKER_00: The moment he sees, he moves immediately.
SPEAKER_00: No delay.
SPEAKER_00: That's the invitation.
SPEAKER_00: God is already drawing you to himself.
SPEAKER_00: He's already speaking to your heart.
SPEAKER_00: He's already moving.
SPEAKER_00: Don't overcomplicate things.
SPEAKER_00: Don't overthink things.
SPEAKER_00: Don't delay.
SPEAKER_00: Get up.
SPEAKER_00: Step in.
SPEAKER_00: Receive what he is already trying to give you.
SPEAKER_00: He himself.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the greatest gift you'll ever receive.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.