252 – Acts 8: How to hear the voice of God
Become
a follower of Jesus
Not every spiritual voice is God’s voice
Dear
friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must
test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false
prophets in the world. 1 John 4:1 NLT
For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to
sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look
for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 1 Timothy 4:3 NLT
Stay
obedient to the commands of Jesus
And this is his
commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one
another, just as he commanded us. 1 John
3:23 NLT
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all
the nations,[a] baptizing them in the name
of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new
disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am
with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 NLT
Why would God
say something personal to you, when you ignore what is very personal to him?
Let
God use my voice to speak to others
A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the
church in Jerusalem… But the believers who were scattered preached the Good
News about Jesus wherever they went. Philip, for example, went to the city of
Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. Crowds listened intently to Philip because
they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. Many
evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who
had been paralyzed or lame were healed.
So there was great joy in that city. Acts 8:1-8 NLT
Listen
for the voice of the Holy Spirit
As
for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that
runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he
started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority
under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to
worship, and he was now returning.
Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet
Isaiah. The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the
carriage.” Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah.
Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man replied, “How
can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the
carriage and sit with him. The passage of Scripture he had been reading was
this: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he
did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The
eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone
else?” So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News
about Jesus.
As
they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s
some water! Why can’t I be baptized?” He ordered the carriage to stop, and they
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 never saw
him again but went on his way rejoicing. Meanwhile, Philip found himself
farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in
every town along the way until he came to Caesarea. Acts 8:26-40 NLT
Small Group Questions