God Still Speaks

vs 3 "......always keeping yourselves united in the Holy Spirit and bind yourselves together in love." What a challenge set before us to be united in the Holy Spirit. The greatest enemy to this is our flesh and our will. When our flesh and will doesn't line up with the Spirit we start to walk in strife and disunity. This says to "keep yourself united", it takes some effort to be unified to walk in unity with another. Then he says to "bind yourself together in love." This is the key to walk in unity, stay in love. When we love, we can be united. Our selfwill removes us from love to be selfish and demand what we want. Lets walk in unity and love, let the Holy Spirit lead us.

Down in verse 32 we see Peter doing some traveling, he took the words of Jesus seriously that said, "Go into all the world". Here Peter finds Aeneas who is bed ridden and paralyzed. Peter just speaks to him and says, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you, get up and make your bed." And he arose immediately. Next verse, ...and all who saw him turned to the Lord." One miracle brought many people to Christ. God wants to increase his power in his people to allow miracles to happen. Miracles are not just for the clergy, miracles are for the believers as well. Jesus said, "these signs will follow those who beleive.." Every beleiver can experience Gods power for miracles. How does this happen? As we step out in faith and act upon Gods word, He confirms that word with signs. If we want to walk on the water, we have to get out of the boat. It's uncomfortable to get out of the boat because we worry about failure. Just do what the word says to do and leave the results to Him. Remember Peter was just a fisherman, a normal man like you and I and God was able to bring healing and do this miracle through him, He will do the same with you as well.

It didn't take Saul long to upset the religious folks. He riled them up so much that they sought to kill him. If interesting to note that Saul was not a "politically correct" preacher. It's obvious that he is not tolerant to the beliefs of others. He preached, (TO HERALD, TELL ABROAD, PUBLISH, PROPOGATE, PUBICLY PROCLAIM, EXHORT, CALL OUT WITH A CLEAR VOICE, COMMUNICATE, PREACH). Its no wonder they wanted to kill him. When Christians today do what Saul did, they too would be in danger of getting thrown into jail. In a time when Christains are being persecuted around the world, there are some who raise up a clear voice and are proclaiming the good news of the kingdom knowing full well that they could end up in jail or dead. What drove Saul to do what he did? Why would a man be willing to give up his life for his new found faith? Something remarkable happened to Saul on the road that day. His encounter with Jesus changed his life and values. If folks today could get this same kind of encounter with the Lord, they too would experience total change in values and principles of life.

Sauls transformation or salvation was so remarkable that we see instant change in his life. One thing jumps out at me in vs 20, "Saul stayed with the beleivers for a few days and (vs20) immediatley began preaching that about Jesus." He understood the importance of "christian fellowship." He must of been like a sponge soaking in everything he could from his new friends. Learning to pray, learning to be led by the Spirit, learning all about this new life style. He had no problem cutting off his past, leaving old friends and following Jesus. Later on in the chapter he continued to seek beleiver out but because of fear many thought that it was a scam to discover them and throw them into prison. The Apostles accepted him, they saw the real deal, the life change that repentance brought to his life. Interesting to note that there was peace through out the region after Sauls conversion and the beleivers walked in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

The conversion of Saul is one of the most powerful testimonies of Gods power to transform a life. Saul was responsible for sending Christian people to prison and persecuting them. He was feared by the followers of Christ and did what he did from a zealous religous position. We see him here having an encounter with Christ that completely changed his life. He was blinded, hears Jesus speak to him, is healed from his blindness, water baptized and starts to preach in a very short period of time. I wonder what kind of response he would get in modern day christianity if this were to happen to him today? He understands immediately what the plan, purpose and call of God is for his life and he sets out to fulfill it. We can see from this that there is no life so bad and lost that Christ cannot completely transform. We can see immediate and obvious fruit of repentance and the grace of God working in a life. Don't judge a book by its cover, look inside to see the signs of a new creation in Christ.

It's interesting here in verse 26 that an angel spoke with Philip. God has different ways to speak to us. How would you like an angel to appear to you and give you some direct orders from God? Philip was having great success in Samaria, many people were getting saved, healed and filled with the Spirit but now he has a new assignment. I like it that Philip obeyed, didn't argue with God, wasn't concerned about his reputation or about what people might think about him leaving the revival, he just went. Then in verse 29, it says that "the Spirit spoke to Philip." Why didn't the angel talk to him like last time? Here he is listening to the Spirit speak to him. We have to be attentive to the different ways God speaks to us. Not get accustomed to just one avenue of communication. Philip obeyed again and was able to minister to the eunuch. He left the masses of Samaria to reach one soul traveling on the road. God has a plan to reach the world, we need to listen and be obedient to follow His leading in our lives.