I like this. We just read a general principle that where there is preaching great joy is the result. That was in reference to crowds of people. Sometimes God does work in huge crowds. But now we are going to focus in on one individual reminding us that God cares for the ‘one’ as much as He does the many.
We read that Philip, one of the apostles, as caught and sent to the desert where he found, not a great crowd awaiting, but one single man from Ethiopia. He is sitting in a chariot trying to get his head around a scroll written by the Hebrew prophet Isaiah. It is the segment we now know as Isaiah 55 which speaks of the suffering Messiah.
‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Philip asked the man. “How can I unless someone explains it to me?’ the man replied.
And we read, ‘’Philip opened the scriptures and preached Jesus.’
What a simple yet powerful praise. Philip knew just what to do. He didn’t talk about the weather or ask how things were back in Ethiopia. He didn’t talk about the chariot or the queen – he preached Jesus.
It is great for us to love others and get interested in their lives and be their friends. We should always do that as a part of who we are and how we act. But it is vital that we don’t stop there. Early on in our relationship we need to be ready to ‘preach Jesus’ to those we come in contact. If we don’t ‘preach Jesus’ then they, like this Ethiopian, are going to be helpless and hopeless.
When I think about my friends and ask myself how faithful I am in preaching Jesus I find myself falling short of what I could be doing. I am letting my friends down when I fail to preach Jesus.
Lord give me the grace and strength to lay my fears aside a preach Jesus to thos around me.
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