Acts 8:26-31 

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” ²⁷ So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,²⁸ and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.²⁹ The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” ³⁰ Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. ³¹ “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Baseball

In a Baseball game, the Pitcher pitches the baseball and the Batter swings his bat to hit the baseball.

That is very simple instruction; anybody who is physically fit can do it, right?

Yet, only a number of players made a name for themselves in the history of baseball. Not all players who can swing the baseball bat could score a homerun, why?

Some so-called experts in baseball suggest that one needs to choose the right baseball bat, good batting posture, understanding the different types of pitches in baseball, appropriate hitting angle and many things included.

Like any other sports, baseball requires practice, preparation, training, etc. Michael Jordan who is considered to be one the best basketball player, retired when he was still very good in basketball, and joined a baseball league but failed to become a great baseball player.

In the ministry, Billy Graham is considered one of the best evangelists but nowhere can we read an article calling him to be the best preacher, best pastor or best Bible teacher. At TMEC, many members are trained in evangelism but only a few are active in practicing what they were trained for.

In sport, you do not need to be the star player to play the game and enjoy it. In evangelism, you don’t to be Billy Graham to enjoy be effective in evangelism. However, to enjoy the ministry of evangelism, we need the Holy Spirit, the giver of joy.

In Nehemiah 8:10 it says… ¹⁰… for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

Nehemiah led Israel to build the city of Jerusalem, particularly its walls. The Israelites were very few and scared of the threats of their enemies. The joy of the Lord replaced the fear in their hearts. They were strengthened, succeeded in building the walls of Jerusalem in just 52 days.

Disciples are mandated, expected to be witnesses but many of us are scared to evangelize. To be scared to evangelize is very normal feeling when we are not filled with the Holy Spirit. That is why the Lord commanded us to wait for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

When we are empowered by the Holy Spirit, we need to wait for God’s right timing. The Lord gives us the “Go” signal for He has prepared the person we are to witness to. We should be spiritually attentive and sensitive for us to discern when Christ tells us to go.

Together, let us learn from the spirit-filled Philip on how to respond to the Lord’s timing.

1. Chosen Place

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 

Remember that Philip was witnessing in the northern part of Israel particularly in Samaria. Many believers were baptized; Peter and John came to pray for the new believers.

After Peter and John went back to Jerusalem, an angel of the Lord told Philip to go south. Philip did not plan about it; it was the Lord who sent an angel to tell Philip to go to Gaza. The Lord gave Philip a specific place to go and the right timing when to go. Philip did not guess if it is God’s will or not; he heard God’s “go” signal very clearly.

Our question could be: How do we know when God is telling us to go somewhere?

In the Bible, God spoke through prophets, dreams, visions, and angels. Preachers, those who preach the word of God are considered present day prophets. Godly people, church leaders, Bible teachers, pastors have been used by God to inform believers what they should do. Through the pulpit, media, TV or printed materials, prayer time, even dreams or visions, there are many different and unique ways God would speak to us.

For sure when God speaks, it will be very clear and not vague. The Holy Spirit gives us peace and joy and grabs our attention when God speaks. When God speaks, our human sinful nature will argue with God… “Will I go or not?”

Summer Mission

One summer mission, I was very nervous going house to house alone. And to do something relevant, I tried to help a Christian group who were cleaning and setting up their mission field office. They knew that I was one of the short-term missionaries going house to house. They were glad to see me and said, “Go to the next house, people are waiting.”

“I was nervous but l just went ahead prayerfully and shared the gospel to 13 people.

I think that was the most fruitful experience I had in that summer mission.

The feeling of being nervous or scared makes us more prayerful to rely upon the Lord. Not over confidence but peace and joy are indications that the Lord is with us.

Keep praying to be filled with joy and peace from the Holy Spirit.

We can hear it very clearly when God gives the “go” signal where and when to go evangelize. We will also recognize for sure who the person God has prepared and wants us to witness to.

2. Chosen Person

²⁷ So he[Philip] started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (kan-dak’-ay) (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.

²⁹ The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

³⁰ Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. ³¹ “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

The Holy Spirit told Philip what to do; he went near the chariot of the Ethiopian eunuch.

The eunuch was a ranking official in charge of the treasury of the queen of the Ethiopians. Chariots in those days are considered luxury cars like those cars used by dignitaries. Since the Ethiopian Eunuch was a high ranking official, a dignitary, soldiers or bodyguards and a driver were also with him in his travel.

If you are to share the gospel in that group, will you approach the official or the driver?

Many times, we are scared to share the gospel to public figures, high ranking officials, the boss or those who have better or higher status in life than ours. That feeling of being scared shows that we depend on ourselves and trainings. We chose to share the gospel to ordinary people who cannot intimidate us.

The Lord wanted Philip to witness to the official rather than to his driver or bodyguards. God has prepared the Ethiopian eunuch for he had gone to Jerusalem to worship.

As we progress in our studies in the book of Acts, we will observe that most of those who were witnessed to were people of influence. Peter witnessed to a centurion named Cornelius an official of the Italian Regiment. A centurion was a commander of a 100 [century] soldiers.

Paul witnessed to Lydia, a business woman, a big time dealer of purple cloth. Paul witnessed also before Felix, the governor of Caesarea, and to King Agrippa.

When God put us in a situation to witness to somebody, God wanted other people to know what He has done in the life of the person.

Normally, people of influence can easily influence their subjects, their household. People with great influence are more decisive when they believe in Christ.

In Luke 10:1-7, The Lord gave clear instruction to those who went on witnessing. ¹ After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. ² He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. ³ Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴ Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

⁵ “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ ⁶ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. ⁷ Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

When the Lord said in v.4b that they do not greet anyone on the road, it implies that not everyone is prepared to listen to the gospel. Witnesses need to be more focused on the man of peace whom God has prepared. The Lord instructed them also not to move around house to house.

That instruction implies that the witnesses are to make sure that the gospel should be clearly shared with and understood first and foremost. It is not about quantity – not how many people we can share the gospel with. It is more of quality – how a person has grown into his/her relationship with Christ.

You have experienced in the past when you went out and shared the gospel to more people. It was very good exposure and experience but the harvest was not more productive than leading Bible study to selected people whom God has prepared.

We need to be more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit if we are to see more harvest coming to church.

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