Dear Church,
I have a big and exciting announcement to make on Sunday! Don’t miss it!
In Acts 8:26-40 we read about how Philip was led by the Holy Spirit to share the Gospel with the Ethiopian Eunuch. The Holy Spirit created a Divine opportunity for Philip to engage the man in conversation. Are we sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading in the everyday moments of life that if someone is seeking God we will be open to helping them find Him?
Philip asked the man if he understood what he was reading in Scripture. The Holy Spirit was speaking through Philip, and the Scripture finally started to make sense to the Ethiopian Eunuch! No one knows His own work and word better than the person who wrote it. So when the Holy Spirit is involved in your Scripture reading or teaching spiritual lightbulbs are going to go off.
Philip not only explained the Scripture, but he told the man about his personal experience with Jesus. When the Holy Spirit is involved in the conversation, He is going to talk about Jesus. We need to talk about Jesus. There is power in the name of Jesus! Remember what Peter, who was filled with the Holy Spirit, said to the crippled beggar who was sitting at the temple gate in Acts 3: “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” There is healing in the name of Jesus!
Peter went on to say in Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” There is salvation in the name of Jesus! There is coming a day when every Christian who has worshipped and witnessed using the Name as well as every unbeliever and demon of hell including Satan himself will speak the Name giving it the reverence it deserves for as Paul said in Philippians 2:10-11: “At the NAME of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
This conversion story also speaks to the role of the Holy Spirit in our discipleship as we seek to be obedient to all of the commands of Scripture. Revisit verse 36: 36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” It was the Holy Spirit at work in the newly converted man’s life which led him to want to follow God’s command to be baptized.
The Holy Spirit isn’t just about making us content or happy in Christ or at ease and at peace with God, although those things do happen. However, the Holy Spirit has been poured out on us so that we can take advantage of Divine opportunities to share Christ with people as we explain the Scriptures, lift up the Name of Jesus and are transformed by Him in discipleship. Can you eavesdrop by someone’s chariot this week? Can you ask some questions that will lead to an opportunity to explain what you have experienced about God? Will you speak the Name of Jesus without apology? Will you ask God to help you be Spirit-led in order that you can attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, Ephesians 4:13?
Rev. Dr. Melissa Pratt
Teays Valley Church of God
6979 Teays Valley Rd, Scott Depot, WV 25560
Melissa@tvcog.org
304-757-9222
www.tvcog.org
