DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- GOD-SENT

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – GOD-SENT

"Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, 'Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' This is desert." (Acts 8:26)

Philip was in the midst of a great move of God is Samaria. The lame were being healed, evil spirits were being exorcised, and many people were being saved by the preaching of the Gospel.

But Philip heard another calling – to go into the desert. And it was all for one solitary man who needed to hear about Jesus. There Philip found a traveling man from Ethiopia who was in his chariot, reading the Holy Scriptures. This would have been the Tanakh that included all of the Old Testament writings. His mind was perplexed as he read Isaiah chapter 53. His question was, "Who does this Scripture refer to – himself or someone else?"

Isaiah 53 is one of the great prophetic Scriptures that foretell the coming of the Messiah. He did not understand what the Scripture meant until Philip, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, intercepted the chariot. He was invited on board, and Philip notice that the Ethiopian was reading from Isaiah 53. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. "How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?" replied the Ethiopian. So Philip began to explain about the Lord Jesus Christ, starting at this Scripture, but undoubtedly using other passages of the Old Testament as well to preach Jesus.

It is amazing, yet thrilling, to think that God cares so much about an individual Ethiopian that he would send Philip to him. God saw the desire of this man to understand the Scriptures. Philip was sent by God to this seeking soul.

God sees seeking hearts, and he sends Believers to explain the Gospel. The Apostle Paul put it this way. "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?" (Romans 10:14-15). God sends some people to speak to crowds of people, but he sends some to speak to a solitary individual. May our ears to open, like Philip, to the voice of the Spirit as He leads us to tell someone in a barren desert place about Jesus.

Love, Dad