Acts 8:32-35 

³² This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. ³³ In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

Frustrations of Immigrants

Immigrating to Canada from the Philippines might be very frustrating to many.

A Filipino teacher who was a principal in one of the schools in the Philippines immigrated to Canada and works as a laborer in Winnipeg. His credentials as a teacher and experiences as a school principal could not land him in a teaching job in any Canadian school. He thinks that he is qualified as a teacher but Canadian school differs in standard.

His experience is just one of the many similar experiences of immigrants. Doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers, teachers, and other professionals end up working as labourers in production companies or in fast food restaurants.

Immigration officials approved immigration applications based on credentials. Canadian employers, however, have different view on the credentials of immigrants. That situation can be very frustrating for sure.

Immigrants’ frustration of not able to practice their profession is similar to the frustration of a trained evangelist who cannot persuade a person to believe what he believes. Many Christians who are trained in evangelism were frustrated and has stopped sharing the gospel because they cannot convince their contact to come to believe.

The narrative of experiences of the first century Christian looks much easier. We can interpret it that they completely depended upon the Holy Spirit.

Let’s learn how to identify a potential believer from the experience of Philip when he witnessed to a eunuch who was a prominent official in Ethiopia.

1.  Potential Believer

³² This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. ³³ In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”

The Holy Spirit instructed Philip to go near the chariot of the eunuch.

Philip initiated the conversation by asking what the eunuch was reading. He asked the eunuch if he understood what he was reading.

The eunuch said that he cannot understand unless somebody would explain to him.

The passage that the eunuch was reading talks about Christ as the sheep to be killed.

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”

The eunuch requested Philip for help to tell him who the prophet was talking about.

That inquisitive manner of the eunuch was a “go signal” for Philip to witness to him. When the eunuch requested for help, it showed interest of learning more about the scripture.

God has prepared the eunuch because he just came from Jerusalem to worship God.

We need to be very alert on the “go signal” when we are looking out for potential believers. We need to be continuously be filled with the Holy Spirit like Philip to do it. The Holy Spirit Himself will tell us when a potential believer is prepared to believe in God.

Rich Man

In Mark 10:17-22, a rich man asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life.

¹⁷ As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

²⁰ “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²² At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

V.21 says that Jesus loved the rich man because He saw in him the potentiality of believing. The Bible did not mention if the rich man eventually became a disciple.

Material things are a big hindrance for believers grow in faith. The rich man believed God because he obeyed the commandments since he was a boy. Christ, however, requires more than obedience to the commands. Christ requires full submission and reliance upon Him not in anything, not in material wealth.

Imagine this: If the Lord would tell you, “Go sell everything you have and give it to the poor and then go to the seminary and be prepared for fulltime ministry,” are you willing to do it.

Not a few will be like the rich man feeling sad because it is tough to leave their wealth behind. Anyway, the Lord is calling everybody to be fulltime witnesses and not fulltime pastors.

In His timing when God’s grace overwhelms a disciple, saying no to the Lord is very difficult. When God’s timing of ripe, the disciple shall willingly join the thin line of fulltime ministers.

In the meantime, we need to be always prepared as witnesses for the Lord Jesus.

2.  Prepared Witness

³⁵ Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

Philip started telling about Jesus by explaining the passage that the eunuch has just read.

While the Holy Spirit prepares a potential believer we are to share the gospel with, we also need to be prepared to tell to a potential believer about Jesus.

If you were to tell others, to talk about Jesus, what would say or talk about?

Evangelism training is a great help on how to catch the “go signal” when to share the gospel. We need to know when to say something, how to start a conversation that would lead to sharing the gospel.

When a person is reading a newspaper and the Headlines is about car accident, you may start with, “What if you and I are the passengers of that car?”

When God has prepared the potential believer, the Holy Spirit in you will give you peace and joy to continue telling about Jesus to that person. The potential believer will also be enthusiastic and listen to what you are going to tell. But if the person is not prepared, the Holy Spirit will help you discern it. It will be frustrating to continue witnessing because the contact would respond negatively.

So, learn also when to stop or when to end the conversation appropriately. Prepare to witness or prepare to end the conversation, we need preparation. With or without conversion, it has been decided that Christ is the reigning King of kings.

Last Shot

The TMEC Basketball Team is the reigning champion that won this year’s 2014 Inter-church Basketball tournament. That experience being with the TMEC Basketball team will be something I might remember for an extended time.

During the game, the TMEC Basketball team won convincingly.

I also played in the last minutes of the Championship Game. I was given me a chance to play because our team score was beyond reached. In the last play, Ferdie Crisostomo got the rebound and passed the ball to me.

To my surprise, nobody was guarding me so I dribbled, attempted to shoot. That last and only shot I attempted did not get inside the basket.

We won the game but I was still wondering why I missed an easy shot. Even though nobody cared I supposed because everyone who played the game had one or more missed shot also but I would have felt better if I have scored a point. I felt really sorry because the one and only attempted shot I did was not converted.

That feeling is similar to the experience during an attempt to evangelize and no conversion. Disciples who attempt to evangelize would really feel sorry when there is no conversion.

Anyway, it is not about converting everybody all the time. There were more people who rejected the LORD Jesus when He was on earth. Many did not believe in Jesus but it did not stop Him from teaching about the good news.

When we share the gospel, with or without conversion, we certainly receive our rewards.

If I converted my one and only attempted shot in the championship game it won’t change the outcome because even before I entered the game, TMEC team was the sure champion.

We may not convert everyone to believe in Christ, it will not change the reality that God will come out triumphant, victorious eventually.

As genuine believers, with or without conversion should not stop us from witnessing. The number of believers we may lead to Christ does not change His victory but it sure will add up to our eternal treasure.

Our willingness to share the gospel is a manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life as a believer.

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