The Eternal Adventure When Problems Arise

 

Chapter 5

Recap: The Church in Jerusalem has been established by the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, with a vibrant community engaging the population of Jerusalem. Miracles are common, and the Church is growing, especially after the discipline of Ananais and Sapphira.

Now they must learn the next lesson of ministry.

The Temple Mount as seen from the Mount of Olives 

 

“Comfort” is a state of being that is naturally desired by all humans. We all strive to reach this state of “relief from pain or anxiety” and be “physically relaxed”. In a sense, the goal of all societies is to reach this state of comfort, or at least allow someone to be comfortable, often at the expense of many others.

When you are comfortable, you are content.  Contentment often is a state of being that keeps us where we are at.  When there are no problems, there is no reason to search for solutions. We naturally fall into a state of cruising through life. There is very little reason to do more than what is required.

Comfortable & Content people are not the ones who change their worlds. They are often the spectators to those who are not content and not comfortable.

 This second group is those innovative, energetic, dynamic, and hardworking members of our society who actually accomplish great things in their lifetimes. 

We call them “World Changers.”.

In the Kingdom of God, we are all called to be world changers.  

 Us?  Change Our World? Really?

It’s true.  Like Jake and Elwood Blues in the acclaimed film The Blues Brothers, we are on a mission from God, and like The Blue Brothers, we must accomplish what often seems impossible. In their case it was to raise thousands of dollars to pay off the property taxes on an orphanage in just a few days. Against all odds, they were able to pull their old band together, avoid capture by the Illinois State Police and the Good Ole Boys, play a sold-out concert, and make it to the tax office in downtown Chicago just before closing time.

The film starred John Belushi as Jake, Dan Aykroyd as Elwood, and included many famous R&B musicians such as Ray Charles, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Cab Calloway. Throughout the movie, Jake’s ex-fiance (Carrie Fisher) appeared with various firearms and rocket launchers to kill Jake for leaving her stranded at the altar.  The lives of the Blues Brothers on a mission from God was risky, dangerous, adventurous, yet amazing!

Jake and Elwood could have opted to sit on the sidelines and watch their orphanage close and be sold for the tax payment, yet here was a problem, and it was obvious that God had called them the be the solution. They were not content to stay comfortable and watch it all happen.

Principle:  Likewise, God has not called us to get comfortable and watch the world go to hell. He has called us to go beyond our comfort zone, into areas of risk and adventure where extraordinary things happen when He shows up.

Laura & I believe that this is the essence of Christian living. We face extraordinary challenges in reaching out to our world, serving them in ways that we perhaps never imagined- like a school project in the most remote corner of Central America. We are often called to do things we have never done before (like start a coffee roasting business), taking risks that often seem totally illogical (start a café on a remote island in the western corner of the Caribbean), as we follow His lead.

 

We rely on the promise that He made to us recorded in Matthew 28:20.

 “Remember as you are making disciples, I will be there with you.” 

Principle: When Jesus is with us as we step out of our comfort zones and embark on missions that challenges our skill set, logic, and faith, AMAZING things do happen.

Remember the lesson from a few chapters back?

And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Acts 3:9-10

Amazement: Gr.ekstasis, “an ecstasy in which the mind is for a time carried, as it were, out of or beyond itself and lost: great astonishment.”

God loves to take us out of our minds, and into His.

 Adventure is defined in my dictionary as a risky undertaking; a remarkable experience.

Principle: Adventure it to be the norm for the Christian life, but often we settle for comfort rather than adventure.

When we members of the Kingdom get to a state of comfort, it often keeps us from stepping forward into new areas of ministry that God has planned for us.  It is then that God often uses problems and adversity to push us forward.  This is what happened in that first congregation in Jerusalem after the Day of Pentecost.  Remember that Jesus told the disciples:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”                            Acts 1:8

Yet when the disciples did received the power of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, it was some time before they actually became witnesses in the environs outside of Jerusalem.

 

Some historians suggest that there is a six-year period between Acts chapter 1 and chapter 6.  The disciples were in no hurry to get out into the Roman world, or even venture out into the Jewish cities of Judea and Galilee. These first disciples appear to have fallen into a state of comfort, and limited vision for the ministry that God had called them to within their own cultural and physical setting of Jewish Jerusalem.

It is in situations like this that God allows for problems to arise which results in His followers to get pushed out of their comfort zone, and into new areas of ministry.

Laura's and my own situation echoes this principle.  We were comfortable living as  Christians on Maui in the early 1980’s.  We had a good jobs, a comfortable place to live, beautiful beaches, clear deep water, and incredible views and a very supportive Christian community..  Then in the summer of 1984, a missionary came to our church to tell us of the problems that an indigenous group called the Miskito Indians were having with the Sandanista government of Nicaragua, 

These were serious problems- many Miskitos had been killed and their villages destroyed by the new Marxist rulers and their Cuban, Russian, and Bulgarian allies. In 1982-83 over 60,000 had fled across the river to a remote, swampy area of eastern Honduras.

 

 I volunteered to go for two weeks and help bring relief supplies to these remote villages along the Honduran side of the Rio Coco. We left the U.S. on Thanksgiving Day of 1984. One we arrived in Honduras, we were presented with another problem- no education opportunities for the refugee children. Many children had not had school since the 1979 revolution.

Two of our students in Sawa Nicaragua

Over the next four years years, God provided the solution, but we had to be part of that process.  We were His ‘Problem Solving Instruments’ for that situation.

The result is a 30 year plus primary & secondary education and discipleship program that has educated tens of thousands of Miskito children and adults.

This experience has taken us to great depths of our intimacy with God, as we relied on Him for direction and provision. Because we decided to leave our comfortable surroundings on Maui to help solve a problem other Christians were having, God has shown us aspects of Himself that we would have never experienced on Maui, and taken us to places like Israel, Europe, Turkey, all the Central American countries, as well as many parts of the United States.

 

It’s a principle of the Kingdom: When Problems and Adversity come our way, it is often just another opportunity for our own spiritual growth and the expansion of the ministry that God has called us to.

Thus, the disciples in Jerusalem encountered a problem: The Greek speaking (Hellenistic) Jews who were from regions around the Roman Empire were being slighted in the aid program that was being administered by the Sabra (native Israeli) leaders of the church.

But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke Greek complained against those who spoke Hebrew, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.  So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers.

“We apostles should spend our time preaching and teaching the word of God, not administering a food program,” they said.  “Now look around among yourselves, brothers, and select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will put them in charge of this business. Then we can spend our time in prayer and preaching and teaching the word.”

 This idea pleased the whole group, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (a Gentile convert to the Jewish faith, who had now become a Christian).  These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

God’s message was preached in ever-widening circles. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.      Acts 6:1-7 

The solution to this problem? The Twelve decided to bring in some Hellenistic Jewish believers and one Gentile-turned-Jew into their leadership team. These seven men were very effective in their work and witness in the community.

 

This sets the stage for the next problem:

 Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.  But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia.  None of them were able to stand against the wisdom and Spirit by which Stephen spoke.

So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, “We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God.”  Naturally, this roused the crowds, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.   The lying witnesses said, “This man is always speaking against the Temple and against the law of Moses.  We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”  Acts 6:8-14

Steven then gave a lengthy defense of these charges point by point, proving that his understanding of the Scriptures and Jewish history exceeded that of the ‘professional religious’ leaders (Acts 6:15-7:50). He connected Jesus to the Prophet Moses spoke about in Deuteronomy and showed that God did not dwell in a building. He concluded by saying it is not he (Stephen) who was distorting the Word of God, but rather they, the religious leaders of the nation.

Listen to Stephen’s accusation against them:

 “David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who actually built it. However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says,
‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
Could you build me a temple as good as that?’ asks the LORD.
‘Could you build me such a resting place?
Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?’ Acts 7:46-50

“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? But your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, though you received it from the hands of angels.”

The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.  And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”

 Then they put their hands over their ears, and drowning out his voice with their shouts, they rushed at him. They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. The official witnesses took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And as they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  And he fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died. Saul was one of the official witnesses at the killing of Stephen.   Acts 7:46-8:1

Problems have escalated. Now one of the best and brightest of the disciples is killed! This raises an extremely interesting question: 

How valuable are we to God and His work here on Planet Earth? 

Flowers in Gethsemane 

Steven was obviously one of the key players in the evangelistic efforts of the Jerusalem church, and yet God allowed him to be illegally killed by an angry mob. Did Stephen commit a crime that deserved death? No, he spoke the truth, and he obeyed what Jesus said as recorded in Matthew 10:

 “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be as wary as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and beaten in the synagogues. And you must stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. This will be your opportunity to tell them about me—yes, to witness to the world.  When you are arrested, don’t worry about what to say in your defense, because you will be given the right words at the right time.  For it won’t be you doing the talking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

 “Brother will betray brother to death, fathers will betray their own children, and children will rise against their parents and cause them to be killed.  And everyone will hate you because of your allegiance to me. But those who endure to the end will be saved.  When you are persecuted in one town, flee to the next. I assure you that I, the Son of Man, will return before you have reached all the towns of Israel.  If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.  If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it.                                                                                                                    Matthew 10:16-23, 38-39

  Jesus says if we are not willing to take up our cross and follow Him, we are not worthy.  This ‘cross’ is not the ornamental piece of jewelry that we wear around our necks, or the symbol that we sew onto our garments, or tattoo onto our bodies.  No, this cross was the First Century capital punishment tool.  It was what the Romans used to kill criminals. In Jesus’ day, it was only condemned prisoners on their way to their death who were seen with a cross. Today we might say “strap yourself to your lethal injection gurney”.  

Principle: The reality is that we are all expendable in this battle to win Planet Earth for the Kingdom. No one is indispensable in the work of the Kingdom.

Saul/Paul told his friends in Corinth, the sex capital of his time,

Or don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.   1 Cor 6:19-20

Principle: We are to think of ourselves as bondservants to Jesus who have been bought with a price.  Our lives are no longer our own.

Bondservant in the Greek is the word Doulos. This word is used by Paul, Luke, James, Peter, and Jude to describe themselves and the other disciples. A doulos is a person who gives himself up to another’s will and disregards his own interest. It is a person who is other’s centered. This is exactly the example that Jesus Himself gave us.

Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God.  He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a doulos and appeared in human form.  And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross.     Phil 2:7-8

                                                                                                                        Stephen understood that once he became a follower of Jesus, his life as he knew it was over.  He was now not at liberty to live his life according to his own desires. He realized that Jesus had done so much for him in the eternal perspective that it now was his privilege to give his life here on Earth back to Jesus.

Stephen also realized that what comes after this life is eternity with Jesus- something to look forward to.  Jesus himself told his disciples the night before his death:

“Don’t be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly.  When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.                                            John 14:1-3

We may think that life here on Earth is something special, worth holding on to. A famous Christian musician who profoundly affected his generation was Keith Green, who died in a plane crash in 1982.  Keith’s comments on this passage from John 14 always brings a smile to my face (my paraphrase):

“Jesus said that when He left Earth, He would go to prepare a place for us so that we can spend eternity with Him. That was almost 2000 years ago.  Now it says in Genesis that God created Earth in seven days. If that is true and Jesus has been preparing a place for us for 2000 years, folks (he says with a smile), we have been living in a garbage can.”

Keith had a way of expressing the Principles of the Kingdom!

 

Martyrs over the centuries have had this same experience.  During the various persecutions under the Romans, and subsequent killings of Christians during these past two millennium, valiant men and women have echoed Stephen’s attitude. In his book The Rise of Christianity, sociologist/historian Rodney Stark cites the effect of the witness of the martyrs on the crowds at the public executions during the periods of Roman persecution as one of the principal reasons Christianity grew exponentially during the Second and Third Century, when the Christian population of the Empire grew from less than 15,000 to over 33,000,00. The pagans saw men and women who did not fear death, which was the opposite attitude of most of the citizens of Rome

Principle: The life that awaits us is much more valuable that the life we live here. We Christians live for Eternity, not just the short life here on Planet Earth.

With Stephen’s departure came the third problem:

Saul was now “on a mission from God” (he thought) to wipe out this heresy of Christianity.

A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and all the believers except the apostles fled into Judea and Samaria. ² (Some godly men came and buried Stephen with loud weeping.) ³ Saul was going everywhere to devastate the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into jail.    Acts 8:2-3                                           

 

Now it was no longer possible for the followers of Jesus to be seen at the Temple, or anywhere in public in Jerusalem. It was time to flee to safety. As they did, an interesting thing began to happen.

 But the believers who had fled Jerusalem went everywhere preaching the Good News about Jesus.  Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah.  Crowds listened intently to what he had to say because of the miracles he did.  Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed.  So there was great joy in that city.   Acts 8:4-8                                                                                  

This is one of those moments where we must step back and ask ourselves what exactly happened here.  This was not the Apostles’ planned evangelistic campaign to win Samaria for Christ. Rather it was a few men fleeing for their lives, and very naturally having conversations that maybe went like this in a marketplace in Samaria:

“Hey stranger, can I offer you a cup of our fresh roasted coffee? What is your name?”

“I’m Philip from Jerusalem”

“Welcome Philip. We don’t get many visitors from there you know. We are not what you call ‘suitable society’ to most Jews. Why are you here? Just passing through?” 

“I’m a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, and the leaders of the Temple are arresting us all and throwing us in jail.” I had to get out of town, like many of my brothers and sisters.”

“Jesus? I know about him. In fact, I saw him. He and his friends passed through here a few years ago and created quite a stir.  Monica over there is the lady who met him at the well near Sychar and she told us about his prophetic abilities, and that he was the Jewish Messiah. She used to be a wayward woman, but something happened then, and now she has been one of the most beloved citizens of our city, helping many people.

Jesus stayed with us for a few days, and many like me became his followers. We were all sorry to hear about his death, but we know that he lives today! He told us that it would happen, just as it did. Tell me, what is going on in Jerusalem? Look, we have many sick and injured people who need prayer. Would you pray for them? Monica, would you come over here? We have a visitor from Jerusalem.”

 And thus, Philip did in Samaria what he naturally did in Jerusalem- pray for the sick, encourage the discouraged, proclaim the name and nature of Jesus, and invite any who would to receive Him as their Lord and Savior. We know that according to John 4, Jesus did spend time in Samaria (in the town of Sychar), and many received him as Lord.

 Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!”  When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay at their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many of them to hear his message and believe.  Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe because we have heard him ourselves, not just because of what you told us. He is indeed the Savior of the world.”    John 4:39-42                                              

 Here is an important principle of ministry:

 God usually sets us up for significant ministry with things that He has orchestrated long before we arrive on the scene.  So when you see God doing something, play your part!

Before we took our first trip to Israel inn 1997, Roy and Mary Kendall moved from Vero Beach to Jerusalem to work with the International Christian Embassy. Roy had been the music minister for many years at Central Assembly in Vero. He was very helpful in getting us to Israel, and introduced us to Tim King and Dr. Randy Smith. All three of these have played a significant role in our ministry on the Rio Coco in Nicaragua and our ministry in Israel.

 

We became friends with Mike and Alice Remedios whom we met in Cary North Carolina in 1998. They came to Nicaragua in 2002 and 2004. When I told Mike about my idea to import coffee from Nicaragua, he introduced us to Larry Larson, of Larry’s Coffee, who offered to help us import and roast Nicaraguan coffee, and arranged for Leesa Brinkley to design our Rio Coco Beans logo. Mike was very instrumental from the beginning of starting Rio Coco Beans.

 

These faithful brothers and sister recognized that God was doing something, and they enthusiastically played their parts.

 When the apostles back in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there.  As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new Christians to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.      Acts 8:14-17                                                                                            

 Peter and John also responded to something that God was doing and came to do their part. 

One of Philip’s converts was a sorcerer named Simon, who saw the miraculous powers of God through Philip, who heard the message of salvation, and who apparently received Jesus. When Simon himself believed and was baptized. He began following Philip wherever he went, and he was amazed by the great miracles and signs Philip performed.

When Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given when the apostles placed their hands upon people’s heads, he offered money to buy this power.  “Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!”

 But Peter replied, “May your money perish with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought! ²¹ You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right before God.  Turn from your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts,  for I can see that you are full of bitterness and held captive by sin.”

“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things won’t happen to me!”                   Acts 8:13, 18-24\

Simon was a spiritually powerful man who apparently was touched by God, who apparently received Jesus as his Lord, and who was publicly baptized. He made all the right moves to appear to be a Christian, yet it was obvious to Peter that something was not right in Simon’s heart. How did Peter know this? It was through a spiritual empowerment call the gift of discernment and a word of knowledge (1 Cor 12:8-10).

Principle: It is important that we spent time with our new disciples and see if their hearts are aligned with their words and actions.  Remember, it is always about what is going on in the heart!

Churches are filled with “actors”- hypocrites, who have all the outward appearances of being a Christian, but who have not yet resolved in their hearts to allow Jesus to be Lord.

How will we know?

Obedience is the barometer of the spirit.

Our level of obedience to God displays the level of trust that we have for Him. He already knows our heart. Our attitudes and actions do show us and others where our hearts are at. God does not demand perfect obedience but does give us opportunity to know where we are in our relationship with Him.

Simon the former sorcerer was a man who had not really given his heart to God.  There will be some in our ministry who will confess Jesus, but the real proof of their faith will be the way they continue to live their lives.

• It there any evidence of the presence Holy Spirit in their lives?
• It there any change in attitudes of how they live their lives?
• Are they unwilling to submit areas of their lives to the Lord?

These are valid questions that we should be asking any ‘disciples’ that God gives us. Failing to do so will be harmful not only that person, but ultimately for our ministry. These were lessons that the Early Church was learning, and they are important for us as well.  

Luke now shares one of the most significant principles for our ministry:

 As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.”  So he did, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Candace, the queen of Ethiopia.  The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship,  and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”

 Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah; so he asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

The man replied, “How can I, when there is no one to instruct me?” And he begged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.

³² The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this:    “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. ³³He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”

 The eunuch asked Philip, “Was Isaiah talking about himself or someone else?”  So Philip began with this same Scripture and then used many others to tell him the Good News about Jesus.

As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?” (And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.)  He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the city of Azotus! He preached the Good News there and in every city along the way until he came to Caesarea.   Acts 8:26-39               

 This is such a rich story, especially when you understand the Biblical and historical background.

Eunuchs were men who had been castrated at an early age, and who served in royal governments.  Apparently since they did not have a sexual desire or ability, they were more trustworthy servants. This eunuch had been apparently touched by God, perhaps through a heritage of Judaism from the time of Solomon and his relationship with the Queen of Sheba. This eunuch went to the Temple to worship, but because he was missing body parts, he was not allowed into the ceremonial baptismal pools (mikva) located in front of the south steps of the Temple, nor into the courts of the Temple. He had to remain outside since he was not ‘whole’.

The passage from Isaiah 53 that he was reading was a favorite meditation for those who had been ‘pierced, crushed, and chastened’.

The Holy Spirit told Philip to travel south to the road to Gaza.  He didn’t tell him why- just to go.  I can hear the comments of Philip’s friends when he tells them he is leaving:

 “Why are you going there?  That is a long walk. There is a lot to do here in Samaria. Obviously, God is moving here. Why would you go to that desolate place?”

Philip smiled as he answered: “Because God has told me to go.”

Once he goes, God’s plan takes shape- because of Philip’s obedience.

Philip didn’t pull out a pre-planned presentation of the Gospel for the Eunuch. Rather he followed the lead of the Holy Spirit, who had already been preparing the heart of the eunuch to receive Jesus. The Holy Spirit gave Philip the open door, and the words to say.

This is an important principle of our ministry:

 We must allow The Holy Spirit to lead us in every conversation with each person He brings to our table. Sometimes He tells us just to sit and listen.  Other times we are to speak to issues of the heart. All along the way, we are to show kindness and friendship to all who come across our paths. We are to be known as friends to all.

A few years ago, a tall red headed girl came into our café on Utila. She was a marketing specialist from San Francisco, on her way to a yoga retreat at a resort in Nicaragua, when she decided to stop for a week on our island. She came to the café daily, and we had many conversations. One day Laura cut her hair, which made her very happy. We had a lot of fun with her. Over the next months, we followed her travels on social media, but never heard a word from her.

A few years passed and we suddenly got a text message. She thanked us for the kindness and friendship that we showed her that summer. Then she said, “I feel like I’m finally getting a better understanding of Jesus, and very thankful that you explained it in the way that you did.”

Like Phillip, we had no preplanned script for our conversation with our San Francisco friend. We just followed the lead of the Holy Spirit. We didn’t see any immediate results from our words, but we knew that we had made a friend, and that God was doing something.

The Ethiopian eunuch receives Jesus. Since he now realizes that he is whole in the eyes of God, when he sees the pool of water, he cannot wait to get baptized!

As he came out of the water, something very strange happened!  Philip disappeared! He found himself suddenly at a village several miles away.

The Ethiopian Coptic Church defines their birth as this event on the road to Gaza.  This eunuch returned home and began a movement in his home country that is still in existence today, and which over the centuries has won and discipled many for the Kingdom.

 Principle: We should always be obedient to the nudging of the Holy Spirit, even if doesn’t seem logical to us at the moment.

 

Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath. He was eager to destroy the Lord’s followers, so he went to the high priest.  He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.

 As he was nearing Damascus on this mission, a brilliant light from heaven suddenly beamed down upon him! He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

“Who are you, sir?” Saul asked.

And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting!  Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

The men with Saul stood speechless with surprise, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice, but they saw no one!  As Saul picked himself up off the ground, he found that he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days. And all that time he went without food and water.

 Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord!” he replied.

 The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you arrive, ask for Saul of Tarsus. He is praying to me right now.  I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him so that he can see again.”

“But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! ¹⁴ And we hear that he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest every believer in Damascus.”

 But the Lord said, “Go and do what I say. For Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.  And I will show him how much he must suffer for me.”

 So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you may get your sight back and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. Afterward he ate some food and was strengthened.                                    Acts 9:1-19

Don’t you love the courage of Ananias! “But Lord, I’ve heard terrible things about what this man has done to my brothers in Jerusalem! And you want me to do WHAT????”

Who is the most unlikely person you know to become a follower of Jesus? 

Is it the Buddhist girl from Honolulu who stole cigarettes from her grandmother and began smoking at age 9, and by age 12 was smoking weed. At 15 she was providing smoke to many of her friends, often skipping school to play pool with her friends.

 

For me, its the guy who used to fly fast jets off aircraft carriers who was a very cocky and arrogant man, whose world revolved around himself. His morals were mostly summed up in the phrase “Why Not?” Although talented with some basic abilities and intellect, his associated attitudes made life with him often difficult. His respect toward authority extended to the limits of his own opinions, which were, by definition, the right choice for the moment.  His respect for God was limited to the areas of convenience of his own life.  

 

 

For Ananias, Saul was the most unlike character to become a follow of Jesus. Yet God revealed that Saul had been chosen to be a messenger of the Gospel, and that God was going to show Saul how much he must suffer for the sake of the Kingdom. Maybe that last part of for Ananais’ benefit.

Saul received Jesus.  He wrote to his friends in Galatia that after this experience, he spent three years in Arabia and Damascus, hearing from God, and putting all the pieces together, all the while telling others about his experience with the Risen Lord. He then made a trip to Jerusalem:

 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They thought he was only pretending to be a believer! Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus. Barnabas also told them what the Lord had said to Saul and how he boldly preached in the name of Jesus in Damascus. Then the apostles accepted Saul, and after that he was constantly with them in Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.  He debated with some Greek-speaking Jews, but they plotted to murder him.  When the believers heard about it, however, they took him to Caesarea and sent him on to his hometown of Tarsus.                                                                          Acts 8:26-30

Saul’s reputation preceded him to Jerusalem.  All who were running from him three years earlier were afraid to see him.  It was Barnabas, the Levite who gave the property to the apostles in Acts 4, who met with Saul, and brought him to the church leaders. We will see how this relationship was used in later years to launch the Gospel into new areas.

Saul became a very vocal spokesman for the Christian movement.  His training under the tutelage of Gamaliel, the leading rabbi of his time, his cross-cultural upbringing in the city of Tarsus, his Roman citizenship, and his ability to walk in the Greco-Roman world as well as the Jewish Temple made Paul as effective as Stephen in explaining the Gospel. Maybe even more so.

Stephen was a powerful and articulate spokesman for the Gospel message. When trouble came, God did receive Stephen into Heaven.  He later replaced Stephen with a cross-cultural minister who took the Gospel message into Asia Minor and on into Europe, who established churches in Greece and modern-day Turkey, who wrote at least 12 of the New Testament books, and who was able to articulate the message of God to his people in a very effective manner.

Through the problems that resulted from Stephen’s death, and the subsequent problems which the disciples experienced, the Gospel was indeed taken to Judea, Samaria and Galilee. Eventually  the message of a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ was taken to the more remote parts of Europe, Asia, North & South America, and finally places like the Rio Coco in Nicaragua.

Those First Century problems resulted in eventually my Twentieth Century salvation.

 

 

 The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it grew in strength and numbers. The believers were walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.                                                           Acts 8:31

 Like Jake & Elwood, and Stephen & Saul, we all are on A Mission From God. It is an adventure. Amazing things happen as we step forward in obedience to what God is directing us to do day-by-day. All it takes is a willingness to step forward, to endure the hardships, and enjoy the presence of our Lord as He leads us to places where we would never go on our own. 

At the end of our lives, we can look back with satisfaction that we did make a difference in this world. And we can eagerly look forward to meeting others who have gone before us in this adventure, and what the Lord has for us in that next dimension.