"Divine Appointments" September 15 Readings: Acts 8:4-40

Today's Reading - Acts 8:4-40

Background

In Acts 1:8 Jesus gave the disciples his final word, telling them that after the Spirit's power came on them they would be witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. The problem was that the disciples stayed in Jerusalem and showed no signs of moving the gospel outside of that city even to Judea and Samaria (the ancient nation of Israel), much less the ends of the earth. That only happened when persecution fell on them in Jerusalem and people like Philip (the star of today's reading) was sent to Samaria and then to the Judean wilderness.

Two events happen in this passage. First, we have the spread of the gospel to the Samaritans, the first non-Jewish evangelistic outreach, and the Samaritan Pentecost. Then Philip is taken to the wilderness where he meets the eunuch who is a God-fearer, possibly a diaspora Jew.

Philip ends the chapter in Caesarea, a Roman town by the sea, one that becomes a key to the later Gentile expansion of the gospel. 

See the note on the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the end of the devotional for extra study.

Devotional - Divine Appointments

It was not a call that many preachers would have accepted. Most of the time we tend to want to receive the calls that take us from smaller churches to bigger, from low pay to larger pay, that help us climb the ladder. But Philip got a call that few preachers would want to take.

He was in the middle of a true revival in Samaria. It was so extreme that "Samaria had received the word of God," - a movement of God's Spirit so dramatic none of us have seen its like. People were being healed and freed from evil spirits and these were no charlatans with their parlor tricks but real acts of God's Spirit. Great miracles were being performed - the greatest of them was the salvation of lost Samaritans who were receiving the gospel.

In the middle of that great work, God spoke to Philip and told him to go down from Jerusalem to Gaza (v. 24). That road is pretty barren - a true wilderness. God told him to leave a massive revival to wander a lonely road in a wilderness. Why? Because God puts his people where they need to be. He matches his people with lost people in need. This was a divine appointment in which God was playing eternal, cosmic matchmaker.

On that road, Philip encountered a man from Ethiopia who was spiritually interested. God was at work in his life, the Spirit was moving. And as the Spirit was moving, God made sure there was a man of God there to help. God uses us in his process of evangelism. He matches the person he is working ON with the person he is working THROUGH. That's why we need to be ready to speak when God gives us opportunities.

Philip followed the Spirit's lead, explaining that which the man was reading, telling him that the words of Isaiah pointed to Jesus who had died and risen. He led the man from confusion to Christ. Our goal is always to simply and directly point people to Christ.

Of course, most of our encounters are not as clean as this one, but we must remember that God is at work around us and the Spirit is at work in us. He arranges his servants so that we are available to minister to those in need when his Spirit is dealing with their souls. We must only be praying, be ready, be watchful and available to the God who arranges our appointments!

Lord, thank you for working in us and in this lost and dying world, and bringing us together with those in need. Help me to be sensitive and to have my eyes open to those divine appointments you set for me. 

Think and Pray

Are you watchful during your day for those divine appointments God sets for you, or do you walk through your day oblivious to his workings?

How can you be more sensitive to God's activity and watchful?

NOTE: On the Baptism of the Spirit:  The discussion rages about whether the baptism comes at salvation or whether it is subsequent to it - a second blessing. Those who believe in the second blessing point to Acts 8, in which the baptism fell on the Samaritans and to Acts 10 in which the Gentiles experienced it as proof that even after Pentecost the Spirit's baptism was an event subsequent to salvation. A few perspectives here.

• There is a key authority issue here. The Apostles in Jerusalem were the ones through whom the gospel and truth would be revealed. If the Spirit had been given independently of them, the Samaritans might have felt no need to submit to the Apostles' Teaching and been prone to following other gospels.
• The three "baptisms" in Acts follow the general outline. In Acts 2, the Jews are baptized in the Spirit. In Acts 8, it is the Samaritans, then in Acts 10 it is the Gentiles. This follows the teaching of Acts 1:8 (Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth). 
• After Acts 10, the Spirit has come on all peoples and there is no other evidence of a post-salvation baptism. (In Acts 19, it is disciples of John who are converted and receive the Spirit). 
• In 1 Corinthians 12:13 and other passages, the baptism of the Spirit is viewed as a past experience common to ALL believers. 
• After Pentecost (all three phases - Jew, Samaritan, Gentile) there is no command in any of the Epistles to seek the baptism of the Spirit. It is assumed that every believer is already baptized and must be obedience to and filled by the Spirit who already indwells him or her. 

There is no evidence to support Spirit baptism as a second-blessing experience and ample evidence to see it as simultaneous with salvation.