BULLETIN ARTICLE – 13 May 2018

“But 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.” (Acts 1:8).

The book of Acts in the Bible is a record of the spread of the Good News after Jesus’ time on earth. The Good News was shared by believers of the Way in the early Jerusalem Church to many people as they were scattered out of Jerusalem due to severe persecution. Philip, one of the Seven in the Jerusalem Church, obeyed Jesus’ command: “you will be my witnesses”. He left Jerusalem for Samaria to share the Good News about Jesus. In Samaria, crowds of people saw God’s power working through Philip. When they heard the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, they believed in him. Philip simply obeyed Jesus’ command and many precious lives were changed in Samaria – “So there was great joy in that city.”

It was not only the Samaritans who were blessed with the Good News. This Good News is intended for all peoples everywhere and for all time. An angel’s instruction to Philip was to go south to Gaza and Philip again obeyed the Lord and followed the direction. He, just like the Patriarch Abraham, followed the supernatural guidance and not knowing what God had in mind. Along the way, Philip encountered a Gentile, an important Ethiopian official in charge of all the treasury of the queen of the Ethiopians. This Ethiopian official was open to the sharing of the Good News of Jesus and readily accepted Philip’s message. It was very probable that this Ethiopian official who came to believe in Jesus and was baptised led to the evangelisation of Ethiopia in the early church days. Today, a large proportion of Ethiopians are Christians.

God, in His infinite wisdom, leads people to himself in various ways. Not everyone comes to salvation in Jesus in a spectacular way like the Ethiopian official. There are many who come to salvation simply through the sharing of the Good News by Christians in their everyday walk of life. It was wonderful that during our recent Church Baptism Service in April the Good News was shared. Some in the Service responded to the Good News when they raised their hands to show their desire to believe in Jesus. The onus is on the Christian to give up one’s comfortable position and to reach out to the unbeliever with the Good News. It will cost various measures of time, resources and effort. However, like Philip, we must be open to divine appointments that the Holy Spirit has set up for us to do his will. So let us all rise up to the challenge to simply share the Good News about Jesus Christ.

All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.
I surrender all, I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all.