The Holy Spirit at Work

Introduction

Last week -

Phillip goes to Samaria

due to the persecution from the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem

we see the providence of God spreading the gospel

performs miracles that validate the message

the gospel, which they believe

the apostles come verifying the conversion of of samaritans and the Holy Spirit comes to them

Today - The Holy Spirit at Work

Our text can leave us with questions about the Holy Spirit that we can debate and argue about

does the Holy Spirit move us from place to place miraculously like this

do you see angel’s like this or do they still come and talk to us like this

remember, history book of the bible

the truth is that many are a little apprehensive about the Holy Spirit

what does it mean to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading

some worry about being charismatic, so they are ultra conservative and deny the work of the Holy Spirit

The truth is God is at work in us and through us

too often we simply want him to work in us

but just like Phillip, you might be the miracle that somebody else has been praying for

Acts 8:26–40 (CSB)

26 An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road.)

27 So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem

28 and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.

29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.”

30 When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this: He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will describe his generation? For his life is taken from the earth.

34 The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about—himself or someone else?”

35 Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.

36 As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?”

38 So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing.

40 Philip appeared in Azotus, and he was traveling and preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

PRAY!

The God that saved you from the sin and punishment that had entangled us desire to use us in reaching other people.

to do so, we must live by the Spirit

The Holy Spirit Working in Us

What comes to mind when you hear “The Holy Spirit working in us?”

Too often the Holy Spirit is our excuse to do or not to do something

The Spirit told me to do…

I mean who can argue with that and that is why we say it

so we say it to justify something that we want to do and act like God is on board with it

or my coffee cup was point west while the creamer looked like a face with a beard - so I know Jesus wants me to move west

I have not felt like the Spirit has told me to…

I would love to serve in the church… but I just haven’t felt like the Spirit has told me

I would love to speak to that person about Jesus, but I have not felt like the spirit has told me…

we do that with things the bible commands but we do not want to do

like having your dad tell you to do something but you don’t and your reason is Dad never told me to

Acts 8:26–30 (CSB)

26 An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road.)

27 So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem

28 and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.

29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.”

30 When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

We all desire the Holy Spirit working in us

but we look at it as the Spirit doing something for us

give us an emotional experience

spirit prays when we do not have words

spirit intercedes for us

give us a miracle that we might need

we need healing, rescued, wisdom

I have not had a messenger of God speak to me like this

I have gotten plenty of promptings from reading his word

promptings about myself

things to repent of

things to do to grow in Christ’s likeness

Colossians 4, I like to give, I need to be a giver of words;

Paul writes to them to be gracious, or giving, with your words

I have gotten promptings from while going about my day

call this person, go here or there

sometimes I have no idea if I was there for any other purpose

meaning I did not see somebody saved, did not hear of a life altering problem

What would it look like for you to have the Holy Spirit telling you go here, now

what would it take for you to listen, do you have to have an angel coming to you

What seems spontaneous to us, is not to him

Phillip left a good ministry in Samaria for this one man

I am not sure that this is a good business model

as we saw last week, ministry was going well in Samaria

but what seems spontaneous is not to God, he is not acting on spur of the moment thoughts and ideas

this should reassure us as we follow the spirit’s leading

he is not sending us out on a whim, a wish, a hope

God has a plan for all of eternity

you get to play a part in that

he will direct you, if you are listening, to take the steps that he desires us to take

The Holy Spirit gives one step at a time

If he gave more, you probably would not follow

I would not be here today if I knew that I would be doing what I am doing

I made it very clear when I came and even after I came that I would not take over for the Pastor at the time

I made it so clear that there were many who did not think that I would move into the position when it came available

Everyone is like this…

many people have said

I could not offer Isaac

I could not step out of the boat like Peter

I could not take the hard life like Paul

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.”

but we are not called to be them, we are simply called to obey what The Holy Spirit is calling you to today.

The Holy Spirit Working in Them

We are limited in the text as to what the Eunuch was doing in Jerusalem

we know that he was worshipping

but what does that mean

leaving sacrifices or an offering, possible

why is this man from Ethiopia Jewish

Ethiopia at this time was what we would consider Sudan

just south of Egypt

we have no idea

We know that he worshipped in Jerusalem and on the way back, was reading Isaiah

Acts 8:30–35 (CSB)

30 When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this: He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will describe his generation? For his life is taken from the earth.

34 The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about—himself or someone else?”

35 Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.

Eunuchs loved the book of Isaiah, as we all should

Dt. 23:1 says that Eunuchs cannot be a part of public worship

most likely due to pagan worship (another conversation for a different time)

Isaiah 56:4–5 (CSB)

4 For the Lord says this: “For the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose what pleases me, and hold firmly to my covenant,

5 I will give them, in my house and within my walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give each of them an everlasting name that will never be cut off.

Isaiah writes a lot about the exile, that is to come, when it is over, when the messiah comes and when he comes again

When the people of Israel were exiled, many of the men became eunuchs in Babylon

as such, even if they make it back to Jerusalem and the temple is rebuilt, they are now excluded from public worship

but Isaiah sends them a promise from God

hold firmly to my covenant and I will give you something better than sons and daughters

you were exiled, cast out, but I will bring you in and make you whole

We must be ready to speak God’s word and explain

What I am not saying

we do not have a theological education to share the gospel

we do not have to have a firm grasp on the the doctrine of predestination, imputation, or simplicity or even our eschatology completely worked out

but that is not an excuse to be biblically illiterate

the bible is available for all

it is available on our phone, in fact the church app has a copy of the bible, my sermons and sermon notes on them

discussion questions so that you can have small group material

hard copies are available here, come see me I will give you a bible from the church

if you simply cannot read it, you can listen to it, also available on our app

the only reason that we do not dig into scripture is because we choose not to

Debra - “You aren’t when they’re golf scores.”

we share scripture not opinion

Phillip began with that passage

he knew the OT and how it pointed to Jesus

working from the scripture he showed how Jesus is the messiah that came to take the sins of the world upon himself

we cannot begin with, “I feel that is says…” or “Here is what it says to me…”

God is speaking, what did God mean

this is the thought that we must go into our bibles with then speak that truth

But we must know the scriptures to share the scriptures, we must study the scriptures to know them

because this is the life of a believer, we are not just hear for a conversation the Spirit’s work continues in us until we are with him

The Holy Spirit’s Work Continuing

I spoke to a young pastor… work at your church as if you plan to stay your entire life

I was told work until the Spirit moves you

the problem I have with that is that with that mindset you are always looking for the Spirit to move you

kind of a work while looking over your shoulder

working as if you are staying forever means that you are constantly looking at the things in front of you

does not mean God cannot move us, means we are not looking for it

Acts 8:36–40 (CSB)

36 As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?”

38 So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing.

40 Philip appeared in Azotus, and he was traveling and preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Phillip explained the gospel, baptized him and was gone

but that was not the last that the Spirit had for him to do

The spirit moved him immediately

but I have no doubt, Phillip would have stayed with that man if the spirit would not have moved him

we look as if we are done

I can quit, I can move, I can do what I want because I did that thing

there is no ending to our obeying the Spirit

that does not mean that there is a new task everyday

it means that we never stop listening and obeying

Ministry is not over, simply changes locations

Phillip goes on preaching and teaching

we do not wait for the Spirit to tell us to share the gospel

Exalting Jesus in Acts Reflect and Discuss

Reflect and Discuss

1. How does this story highlight God’s passion for the nations?

2. What does this passage teach about being led by the Spirit?

3. What does this story teach about the need to explain the Bible to others?

4. What impresses you about the character of Philip?

5. Read Isaiah 52:13–53:12. What does this text teach about Jesus?

6. Why is baptism important?

7. How does Acts 8:26–40 reflect some of the same themes as Luke 24:13–35?

8. Why is Acts 8:26–40 a good illustration of Matthew 28:18–20?

9. How does the conversion of the Ethiopian advance the message of the book of Acts?

10. How might you share the gospel this week?