Acts 8:26-40

When they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him anymore, but went on  his way rejoicing.

This is a fantastic story. Philip is prompted by the Spirit, or an angel, to go to this desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza. Philip ran to it and sees this Ethiopian dude reading Isaiah.

No strtegery involved here, just listening to and obeying the Spirit of the Lord.

How Spirit attuned, led, and obedient are you?

What really struck me from this passage was verse 39 you see above. After Philip gives this guy the straight up Gospel, he is convicted and asked to be baptized right there where he sees some water. The Spirit snatches Philip away, not to be seen again by the Ethiopian, YET, he goes on his way rejoicing!

Humanly, you’d think he’d be quite bummed that this man who opened his eyes to the Scriptures and preached Jesus to him was taken away from him. Seems like he would want to bond and hang out and all.

But what we see much of in Acts is this emphasis on the power of the Spirit of God, and the comfort brought, the authenticity of being touched by God through people.

I just think we glorify people so much, that it takes our eyes off God’s Spirit. These new believers in Acts were made new by the Holy Spirit, and were not dependent on people for their joy, they were dependent on the Spirit. Now there were communities–the new church as God’s way of working in the world. This does not take away from that. But the true Gospel as I understand it does not leave us needy and dependent on other humans to prop us up–maybe for periods in which we are weak of course–I’ve definitely experienced that, but not for extended seasons, not for our whole life.

Our rejoicing comes through the Gospel, the Spirit in us, through supernatural means.