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Acts 8:26-40 NRSV

“Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: 

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, 

and like a lamb silent before its shearer, 

so he does not open his mouth. 

In his humiliation justice was denied him. 

Who can describe his generation? 

For his life is taken away from the earth.” 

The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.”

You know this story. But keep in mind that it would not have been possible had Philip not responded to God. He had preached to crowds in Jerusalem and now he is sent to one person. One person who because he was a eunuch (deformity) and black could not be accepted into Judaism. But that is who God sent Philip to on that road. 

The Eunuch was from a culture with different beliefs, but he worshiped God. This Ethiopia is not what we know now as Abyssinia, which is in the hill country to the east of upper Nile. But most probably the ancient kingdom of Meroe, which was south of Aswan between the first and sixth cataracts of the Nile.  The cataracts are places of shallow water or  whitewater rapids where the surface of the rocks ad stones stick out of the water. 

Meroe was a flourishing kingdom from the eighth century BCE to the fourth century CE. Their kings were  viewed as incarnations of the sun god and was a ceremonial role. The real administration was in the hands of the powerful queen mothers called “the Candace.” The eunuch was held in high position as what we would call “the Minister of Finance.” 

So God sent Philip who was already in Jerusalem to someone leaving Jerusalem and getting near the last watering place before the desert to help him understand what he was reading, and he was baptized. God uses who he uses, accepts who he accepts. Our position is to listen, and obey. Don’t you love it? There is no big opportunity or small opportunity as the big come out of the greatness of the small. Don’t miss what God is doing in your life. enough for now.

We have to Get There

Habakkuk 3:17-19 NIV

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

This Habakkuk’s resolve after he had lamented to God. He complained and received answers, although not the answers he wanted. Go back and read all three chapters. But he shows us how to get real with God.. When we get real God is real with us. Too often we say he is real, but we are not real with him, and we miss that space of communication with him.

When we can pour out what we are feeling, then we can hear clearer what he says. But we have to release first. This passage is the closing of Habakkuk’s release. and it’s a resolve that we want- we want to be in that place that whatever happens-yet we will rejoice. But we rejoice after releasing in lament. more later.

Listening

Acts 16:13–15 (NRSV)

“On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.”

The book of Acts is also called the Acts of the Apostles, Acts of Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. We can see that played out in this passage. Lydia was from Thyatira and made purple dye for the fezzes and prayer shawls. Thyatira was known for producing quality purple dye.   

Holy Spirit showed me that the importance of the color purple lies in how it was acquired. Purple, ar-gaw-mawn, in Hebrew, por-foo-rah, in Greek, was produced from the secretion of the murex shellfish. “Tyrian Purple,” was a high-priced dye produced from the mucus of small gland (hypobranchial) (hy po bran kial) found in the neck of the mollusk marine mulex trunculus. The shellfish were opened, and the glands were removed and crushed, producing a liquid that turned purple when exposed to the air. It took 12,000 shellfish to extract 1.5 grams of pure dye. Purple was an expensive color to produce. So she was a great business woman.

Thyatira was also know for its spiritual formication. Yet, Lydia was a worshipper of God, and God had moved her from Thyatira to Philippi. Holy Spirit blocked Paul from going into Asia. Thyatira was in Asia. But Paul had a vision of a man asking to come to Macedonia to help him. Paul went to Philippi and went to the river to meet. You see, whenever there were ten males of households a synagogue could be formed. If there was no building, they would always meet by the river. So Paul expected to meet the men but found women worshipping. And Lydia was there. She and her family were baptized and the first church of Philippi was started. She was the overseer, or pastor. All because she was listening. Paul was listening. We have to listen to Holy Spirit, and obey. Can you see how God will move us into where he wants us for his purpose for us? More later

Peace in Unity

Psalm 133:1-3 NRSV

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, 

running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, 

running down over the collar of his robes. 

It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord ordained his blessing, life forevermore.”

The blessing of unity is indeed powerful. While the original hearers would have understood the imagery. We see that the anointing oil used for priest was not to be duplicated. It was special. In fellowship with one another it is a special moment and never the same. 

Mt Hermon stands 10,000 feet above sea level and is snow capped 2/3 times of the year. Although in Syria, it can be seen 120 miles away. It is indeed majestic. The precipitation from Mt Hermon feeds many different canals. It flows into the Sea of Galilee, on into the Jordan River, and down to the Dead Sea. Just as the lands needs water we cannot live without it. It refreshes, restores. 

Fellowship- unity among kindred hearts refreshes, restores. We can’t live without that unity. 

Just as I’m writing this a lizard ran behind my stove. I don’t need to be unified with him. There is no peace, as I keep looking up to see where he is. When we have no peace with some we may “fellowship”with, we need to rethink it. Peace is important. Blessings of unity. more later