This was the last episode in our "What if...?" series. Throughout the series we've been asking ourselves, "What if what happened to the people of Acts 2 happened to us?"
Have you ever noticed that when something amazing happens to us, we just have to tell somebody? Take, for example, the news that you're going to have a baby. That's exciting. It's life transforming. It's a story you have to tell.
That's how the church began. Somebody (Peter) just had to tell people about Jesus. He did it in language ordinary people understood. And when he was done, the church had grown from 120 to 3,120. And that wasn't all, every day, people were coming to faith in Christ. How? Because people were telling people about Jesus.
What if we told people about Jesus?
Right there, lots of people get overwhelmed. But telling people about Jesus isn't as hard as many people think. From the story of Philip and the Ethiopian official, we see 3 principles which, if we'll follow them, will help us move from keeping silent, to telling people about Jesus.
First, Philip was listening to God's voice. What did he hear? God sent Philip to a place to meet a person. It wasn't a glamourous place with big crowds. But it was exactly the place God wanted Philip at that moment. Because Philip was listening, he could respond by faith. If we're not listening, we may completely miss out on where God is sending us. Today, God is sending me to a funeral home to preside over the funeral of a man I never met. Where is God sending you today?
Second, Philip was aware that God had been at work long before he arrived. This official, just happened to have been to worship in Jerusalem, just happened to be reading the book of Isaiah, and just happened to have questions. Hollywood couldn't write it any better. God did all the work in preparing this official for Philip's visit. When God sends us to a place to meet a person, He has already been at work, preparing that person to hear about Jesus. If we're not aware, we could completely miss an opportunity.
Third, Philip was focused on telling the official about Jesus. Philip didn't play morality police. He didn't confront the official about his elaborate lifestyle or his involvement in a pagan government. He didn't clarify creation, suffering, or Bible translations. He started where the official was, and told him about Jesus. If we allow our focus to be placed on any number of things that are important to us, we've failed to do the most important part, tell people about Jesus. God doesn't need us to convict people of sin. He needs us to tell people about Jesus.
Am I listening? Am I aware? Am I focused?
If I am, then very soon, I'll find myself telling people about Jesus.
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