This week we’ve been studying a story that illustrated nicely the growth and rapid progress of the Christian movement 2000 years ago.
What started as a local upstart religious group in Judaism grew slowly, but then suddenly exploded. The story we explored this week, of Philip sharing the good news of Jesus with an African civil servant, was a tipping point.
He represents the first non-Jew, non-Samaritan to be baptized. And he doesn’t stay in Jerusalem to enjoy the company of his new friends – he goes home to Ethiopia rejoicing and hopefully sharing with those he meets why his life has changed.
We can see exactly what Jesus predicted and commanded finally coming true. The Christian movement is growing in concentric circles: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Ends of the Earth.
The very fact you are hearing this message about Jesus today means the gospel has reached the ends of the earth. We’re ends of the earth people, in this simple structure.
Sometimes I think of Redeem the Commute as God’s way of running after GO Trains, like he used Philip ran after a chariot.
But the big question is – who is the HS sending you to run after? Explore deep questions wiath?
As you can see from this story it doesn’t take any special training. Just attentiveness to the HS, a willingness to read the Bible with someone and try to understand it together.
I tried this back in 2004, asking a friend to read through the Gospel of John with me, through online chat since we lived in different cities. It changed his life, and it can change the life of your friend too.
Challenge: Pray the Holy Spirit will show you someone to take to lunch, and pray that the conversation will turn to life’s big questions so you can offer to read the Bible with them.
Meeting with a Group? Your discussion questions are in this week’s Group Study Guide
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