The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Acts 8:4-8,
“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city.”
As the gospel message begins its march from Jerusalem out to the rest of the world, Samaria is its next destination. As Jesus gave direction prior to his ascension into heaven he said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Now, following the proclamation of the gospel in Jerusalem on Pentecost and days following, at the temple and to the Sanhedrin and the nation, the gospel moves on to Samaria.
I note that the Lord provides a great persecution in Jerusalem to help scatter the believers with the gospel message. The Lord provides well equipped folks like Philip who will be instrumental and effective in proclaiming the message. The Lord provides miraculous signs: paralytics and cripples were healed and evil spirits were driven out of many. The Lord provided the approval, endorsement and authority of the new fledgling community of believers to the gospel message in the sending of key leaders, Peter and John, to Samaria.
This is what I see in this passage: God provides! Despite whatever our agenda is in this life from day to day, God has his own agenda of having the gospel proclaimed to the world. Here we see clearly how he provides in the accomplishment of it. He has chosen to carry on his purposes in a fascinating collaboration with believers, using them as the vehicle to take his message to the world and providing them with all they need to accomplish just that, and sometimes in surprising ways.
How wonderful our Lord has decided to include us in his purposes, to make us his partners in what he is doing in the world. And what is even more wonderful is the many ways in which he provides us all we need to accomplish what he desires: the proclamation of the gospel message!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!
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