Listening to God: The Power of Obedience
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "I consider myself to be a good listener. I think I'm pretty good, a decent listener, especially when it comes to my wife. I think I'm a pretty good listener. I think I would range above average. But there's been times where she'll say, hey, did you do such and such? I'm like, well, no, I didn't know I was supposed to do that. She goes, well, I told you. Well, when? I'm like, when? I don't remember that. So, like, sometimes, I'll say, I said this in front of her. She was here last service. Sometimes I think she thinks she says things out loud, but she says them in her head. The women didn't like that one. Men, does that not happen sometimes? But more often than not, okay, more often than not, when that has happened and she has asked me to do something or said something. I said, hey, we need to get this done, and I didn't hear her. It's probably because I was listening to something else, right? There's something on the TV. I'm trying to listen to what somebody's saying. I got something on my phone I'm watching, and she'll be saying it. But I, at that moment, consciously or unconsciously, am choosing to listen to something else, right? That happens. I'm sure I'm the only husband that's ever done that in the history of husbands. But that happens sometimes. You choose to, you know, and I think sometimes we do that with God, you know, and we're going to talk about that, where we hear that something's going on, but we choose to listen to something else, right?" [29:51]
2. "Wouldn't it be great if we got to hear directly from Jesus like that? Wouldn't it be so awesome if we got to hear directly from Jesus, right, like Peter did right there, and like the other disciples did? I bet you, if you're like me, you think that too. And you're like, oh man, it'd be so good if he could just look me in the eye and say, this is what I want you to do. It would make doing what he wants us to do a little bit easier. It wouldn't always make it super easy, but man, it would be so great if we got to hear from Jesus like that. Wouldn't that be so great? That's not what Jesus says. Look, in fact, look, turn over to John chapter 16. Look what Jesus says about this. He has a little bit different take on it. John 16, starting in verse 7. Jesus is speaking. He says this, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. He's talking to his disciples. I tell you the truth. I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer. Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in the way of the Lord. And when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. And he will declare to you the things that are to come. And he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." [35:00]
3. "Okay, so real quick, if you believe that the Holy Spirit is saying something to you, and it does not go against scripture, it does not produce bad fruit in you, it does not move you away from God, it does not dishonor God, and you've brought it to God, and you've prayed with him, and you've brought it back to him, and you've sought wise counsel, and you're still not sure, I would say if it doesn't do any of those things, then hey, why don't you step out in faith and do it? Let me give you an example of another one of my failures that I should have done, even if I wasn't sure it was from God. When I was down at UC Irvine, you know, I'd have all, I'd have all morning classes, and, but Monday, this, this particular situation, I had a Monday, Wednesday, Friday class, right, and, and it would be probably at eight o'clock, I don't know if it was nine o'clock, but eight o'clock, and so I have to walk from my dorm to that class, and I take the same, I told this at men's retreat, and in my life group, so you guys have heard this, just, you can tune out, but so I had to, I had to walk the same path, you know, every day from my dorm to this class, and then from my dorm back, or from the class back to my dorm, and so, and then, you know, all the other students that have eight o'clock classes are doing the same thing, so after a while, after, you know, you get going through a semester, you're passing a lot of the same people, right, because they're, we're leaving at the same time to be at class, and we're, we're, we're passing each other's crossing paths. Well, so I, I had noticed after a while, I had seen this blind, this blind kid, you know, and I saw him pretty much every day, and when I, when I passed one day, and I was heading back to my dorm, I, I saw the, I saw the blind kid, and again, I don't know if this is from God or not, but I just, I felt this prompting, like, I, I do, I do feel like God was saying, I want, go over and pray that he would receive his sight, and I'm like, no, no, I'm not going to do that, like, that's, what if it doesn't work, like, what if everybody's seeing me pray over and nothing happens, or, well, you know, just, like, I'm just like, no, that's kind of, kind of crazy idea, you know, and so I didn't, I didn't, I left, and I've always held on to that, because I don't know, I don't know, I might have went over and prayed over him, and maybe nothing happened, but what if God really wanted to give him his sight, what if God wanted me to go pray for him, and he was going to receive his sight, and God was going to do a miracle at that moment, I will never know, because I said no, and I held on to, I, I, I remember it so clearly, and I, I feel like maybe God reminds me of it, but I've held on to that, because I use that in other situations, where I'm like, I don't really want to do this, but you know what, I, I don't want to say no again, because this could be a chance for God to do something amazing, and so that's been a motivation for me in, in future situations, where I say, we got to, I want to step out in faith here, and I want to just, I, I'm going to give this, I need to give this a shot." [01:08:27]
4. "Here's a question for you. What's God saying to you? What's he saying to you? He's speaking to you. He talks to you all the time. It can be a thing like, hey, uh, go pray with this person at work. Or it could be, I want you to change careers. I mean, it could be something little, be something big, but I, I think he speaks to us all the time. I'm not saying he always speaks to us all the time. I'm not saying he always speaks to us all the time. He just has a, you know, a very specific, I want you to work at this company for this many years. And I don't think he always does that, but, but he's just speaking to us. What's he saying to you? That's what you have to determine. That's what you got to seek him out for. That's what you got to listen for. That's what you have to figure out. What's he saying to you? Is he saying, I'll help you do that thing that you're scared of. I want you to trust with the, trust me with that decision that's in front of you. Maybe he's saying, hey, I want you to forgive that person that hurt you. Maybe he's saying, I want you to forgive that person that hurt you. Maybe he's saying, I want you to stop neglecting your wife. Stop being harsh with her. Maybe he's saying, I want you to share your faith with your coworker. Maybe he's saying, hey, what you're doing is sinful. I want you to make a change. Maybe he's saying, hey, I want you to help this person. Maybe he's saying, I want you to start serving at your church. Maybe he's saying, hey, that relationship you're in, it's keeping you from me. Maybe he's saying, hey, my approval for you is enough. Maybe he's saying, hey, I don't want you to give up. What is he saying to you?" [01:03:20]
5. "Do believers today need the Holy Spirit to speak to us any less than the early church did? Do you believe that the Holy Spirit speaks any less today than He did in the first century? I don't think there's anything in the Bible to indicate that the Holy Spirit has stopped speaking to believers, that He has stopped speaking the things of Jesus to us. The Holy Spirit was not just for the early believers. He was given to all of us as believers, to all of us who follow Jesus, and He continues to work, and to lead, and to guide, and to speak today. If you're a follower of Jesus, He's speaking to you all the time. I mean, are you aware of that? If you're a follower of Jesus, then you have the Holy Spirit, and He's speaking to you all the time. The problem is that too often, we're either not listening, because we're listening to something else, or we don't want to hear what He's saying. I hear you, Lord. That doesn't fit in with my plan. I hear you, Lord, but that's too scary. I hear you, Lord, but I can't do that. I hear you, Lord, but I've never done that before. I hear you, Lord, but I don't want to stop doing that, because I like doing that." [58:05]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Peter didn't think it was, it could possibly work, but because Jesus asked him to, he went ahead and did it. And what happened? Man, an amazing, miraculous catch of fish. So much so that their, their nets began to break. They had so many fish. Peter got to see God's power because he was willing to listen to Jesus. Wouldn't it be great if we got to hear directly from Jesus like that? Wouldn't it be so awesome if we got to hear directly from Jesus, right, like Peter did right there, and like the other disciples did? I bet you, if you're like me, you think that too. And you're like, oh man, it'd be so good if he could just look me in the eye and say, this is what I want you to do. It would make doing what he wants us to do a little bit easier. It wouldn't always make it super easy, but man, it would be so great if we got to hear from Jesus like that. Wouldn't that be so great? That's not what Jesus says. Look, in fact, look, turn over to John chapter 16. Look what Jesus says about this. He has a little bit different take on it. John 16, starting in verse 7. Jesus is speaking. He says this, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. He's talking to his disciples. I tell you the truth. I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer. Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in the way of the Lord. And when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. And he will declare to you the things that are to come. And he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." [35:00]
2. "So the first thing that comes to my mind when we read this passage is, man, what a bummer for Philip. Because he was in Samaria. He preaches the gospel. Revival breaks out. It's exciting. Everything is going great. And he gets pulled away. He gets pulled away from all that excitement going on in Samaria at the height of Philip's success. The Lord tells him to leave that behind and travel, south from a road that went from Jerusalem to Gaza. Yeah, same Gaza, same spot that we hear about today. So he goes, go down to this place from Jerusalem to Gaza. In verse 26, it describes it as a desert place, which it is. It's the Negev. It's very deserty down that way. It was far away from the excitement and the spiritual revival that was going on in Samaria. Now here's a question. Why would God take Philip away from, from all that was going on in Samaria? Why would he take him away from, from that revival that he used him to spark and to get going? Why would he take him away? And then, and here's another question. How many of us, if we were in that situation, would have used that exact question to ignore what God was telling us to do? We'd say, well, look, God's using me here. Why would he pull me, you know, away from that? Why would he take me away from, from this revival? Everything that's going so great to a desert place. I don't even know what's down there. I don't even know what I'm, what I'd be going to. How many of us would, would use as an excuse to disregard what, what we, what we believe we're hearing from the Lord? I, I, I might have done that. Philip, I'm sure, was not certain about God's plan. I, he probably didn't like it at all. I bet he didn't like God's plan at all. Leave where things are going so great to go, this desert place. That, that can't be God speaking. Besides that, this journey from Samaria to Jerusalem down to Gaza would be about a hundred miles. That, that doesn't sound super far for us because we can jump in our car and do that in a while, a short while. Depends on how you drive. But, but, but, you know, hopefully not an hour, but hopefully a little longer than an hour. But, but it would take, you know, a short time. But a hundred miles on foot? Like, that's a, that's a haul. That's a journey. Like, that's, that's far. That, that would make it easier to come up with an excuse to ignore what God is saying to him. But it says that Philip, he got up and he left immediately. God said, go down, leave this, go down there. He got up and left right away. He listened to the Lord and he went. I, I imagine he thought like Peter did in the story. He said, I'm going to go to the story we read earlier. Well, I don't really want to do this, God, but since you told me to, I'll go do it. Then in verse 29, we see the Spirit speaks to Philip again. He tells Philip, hey, you, you see that, see that chariot? See that, there's an Ethiopian there? Go, go over there and join him. And it says in verse 30 that Philip ran to him. He ran to him. I thought, that, that just stood out to me, like, um, just, just more than, than I had ever had when I read that. Philip ran to him. Now, it could have been that he's just so excited to do whatever God told him to do, but here's why, here's what I think is why he had to run over there. It's because the chariot was heading to Ethiopia. It was, it was heading away from him. He's coming down the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, um, and this guy's going, going to go through Gaza, all the way down through Egypt, down to Ethiopia. So he's going away from him. The only way he could catch up to, that chariot was to run, was to run to catch up. Well, that's even another hurdle to me, and that's what comes to my mind. That's another challenge, another opportunity to come up with a reason not to listen to the Holy Spirit. He could have got down there and be like, oh, well, there it goes. There he goes. Okay, Lord, you know, I tried, like, I tried, you know, I'm going to go back to Samaria. I, I think it, like, that, that's, I think, sometimes how we too often do things. Like, like, when it, like, when it comes All right. Well, see you later. Like, oh, God, I tried, you know, big gulps. Oh, well, I, you know, I, I put my neck out there. I, I talked to him, you know, and that, that's our evangelism effort. You know, sometimes we do that, like, okay, man, I really need to call and, you know, call this person and encourage them or God, you know, I feel like God's put them on my heart to call and you call and, and they don't, they don't answer and you're like, okay, good. You're like, okay, God, I tried, right? I tried. You know, I gave it a, I gave it a shot, you know, um, um, and that would have been easy for, for, uh, Philip to, to have done that, but he ran and he caught up. See, one of the things that made the early church such a powerful church, such an explosive fellowship was the fact that they would obey God even in the face of opposition, even when it was challenging. And Philip is such a good example of this for us. The Holy Spirit, he was active in the church, in that early church. In fact, um, in,
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "I consider myself to be a good listener. I think I'm pretty good, a decent listener, especially when it comes to my wife. I think I'm a pretty good listener. I think I would range above average. But there's been times where she'll say, hey, did you do such and such? I'm like, well, no, I didn't know I was supposed to do that. She goes, well, I told you. Well, when? I'm like, when? I don't remember that. So, like, sometimes, I'll say, I said this in front of her. She was here last service. Sometimes I think she thinks she says things out loud, but she says them in her head. The women didn't like that one. Men, does that not happen sometimes? But more often than not, okay, more often than not, when that has happened and she has asked me to do something or said something. I said, hey, we need to get this done, and I didn't hear her. It's probably because I was listening to something else, right? There's something on the TV. I'm trying to listen to what somebody's saying. I got something on my phone I'm watching, and she'll be saying it. But I, at that moment, consciously or unconsciously, am choosing to listen to something else, right? That happens. I'm sure I'm the only husband that's ever done that in the history of husbands. But that happens sometimes. You choose to, you know, and I think sometimes we do that with God, you know, and we're going to talk about that, where we hear that something's going on, but we choose to listen to something else, right?" [29:51]
2. "Wouldn't it be great if we got to hear directly from Jesus like that? Wouldn't it be so awesome if we got to hear directly from Jesus, right, like Peter did right there, and like the other disciples did? I bet you, if you're like me, you think that too. And you're like, oh man, it'd be so good if he could just look me in the eye and say, this is what I want you to do. It would make doing what he wants us to do a little bit easier. It wouldn't always make it super easy, but man, it would be so great if we got to hear from Jesus like that. Wouldn't that be so great? That's not what Jesus says. Look, in fact, look, turn over to John chapter 16. Look what Jesus says about this. He has a little bit different take on it. John 16, starting in verse 7. Jesus is speaking. He says this, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. He's talking to his disciples. I tell you the truth. I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer. Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in the way of the Lord. And when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. And he will declare to you the things that are to come. And he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." [35:00]
3. "Okay, so real quick, if you believe that the Holy Spirit is saying something to you, and it does not go against scripture, it does not produce bad fruit in you, it does not move you away from God, it does not dishonor God, and you've brought it to God, and you've prayed with him, and you've brought it back to him, and you've sought wise counsel, and you're still not sure, I would say if it doesn't do any of those things, then hey, why don't you step out in faith and do it? Let me give you an example of another one of my failures that I should have done, even if I wasn't sure it was from God. When I was down at UC Irvine, you know, I'd have all, I'd have all morning classes, and, but Monday, this, this particular situation, I had a Monday, Wednesday, Friday class, right, and, and it would be probably at eight o'clock, I don't know if it was nine o'clock, but eight o'clock, and so I have to walk from my dorm to that class, and I take the same, I told this at men's retreat, and in my life group, so you guys have heard this, just, you can tune out, but so I had to, I had to walk the same path, you know, every day from my dorm to this class, and then from my dorm back, or from the class back to my dorm, and so, and then, you know, all the other students that have eight o'clock classes are doing the same thing, so after a while, after, you know, you get going through a semester, you're passing a lot of the same people, right, because they're, we're leaving at the same time to be at class, and we're, we're, we're passing each other's crossing paths. Well, so I, I had noticed after a while, I had seen this blind, this blind kid, you know, and I saw him pretty much every day, and when I, when I passed one day, and I was heading back to my dorm, I, I saw the, I saw the blind kid, and again, I don't know if this is from God or not, but I just, I felt this prompting, like, I, I do, I do feel like God was saying, I want, go over and pray that he would receive his sight, and I'm like, no, no, I'm not going to do that, like, that's, what if it doesn't work, like, what if everybody's seeing me pray over and nothing happens, or, well, you know, just, like, I'm just like, no, that's kind of, kind of crazy idea, you know, and so I didn't, I didn't, I left, and I've always held on to that, because I don't know, I don't know, I might have went over and prayed over him, and maybe nothing happened, but what if God really wanted to give him his sight, what if God wanted me to go pray for him, and he was going to receive his sight, and God was going to do a miracle at that moment, I will never know, because I said no, and I held on to, I, I, I remember it so clearly, and I, I feel like maybe God reminds me of it, but I've held on to that, because I use that in other situations, where I'm like, I don't really want to do this, but you know what, I, I don't want to say no again, because this could be a chance for God to do something amazing, and so that's been a motivation for me in, in future situations, where I say, we got to, I want to step out in faith here, and I want to just, I, I'm going to give this, I need to give this a shot." [01:08:27]
4. "Here's a question for you. What's God saying to you? What's he saying to you? He's speaking to you. He talks to you all the time. It can be a thing like, hey, uh, go pray with this person at work. Or it could be, I want you to change careers. I mean, it could be something little, be something big, but I, I think he speaks to us all the time. I'm not saying he always speaks to us all the time. I'm not saying he always speaks to us all the time. He just has a, you know, a very specific, I want you to work at this company for this many years. And I don't think he always does that, but, but he's just speaking to us. What's he saying to you? That's what you have to determine. That's what you got to seek him out for. That's what you got to listen for. That's what you have to figure out. What's he saying to you? Is he saying, I'll help you do that thing that you're scared of. I want you to trust with the, trust me with that decision that's in front of you. Maybe he's saying, hey, I want you to forgive that person that hurt you. Maybe he's saying, I want you to forgive that person that hurt you. Maybe he's saying, I want you to stop neglecting your wife. Stop being harsh with her. Maybe he's saying, I want you to share your faith with your coworker. Maybe he's saying, hey, what you're doing is sinful. I want you to make a change. Maybe he's saying, hey, I want you to help this person. Maybe he's saying, I want you to start serving at your church. Maybe he's saying, hey, that relationship you're in, it's keeping you from me. Maybe he's saying, hey, my approval for you is enough. Maybe he's saying, hey, I don't want you to give up. What is he saying to you?" [01:03:20]
5. "Do believers today need the Holy Spirit to speak to us any less than the early church did? Do you believe that the Holy Spirit speaks any less today than He did in the first century? I don't think there's anything in the Bible to indicate that the Holy Spirit has stopped speaking to believers, that He has stopped speaking the things of Jesus to us. The Holy Spirit was not just for the early believers. He was given to all of us as believers, to all of us who follow Jesus, and He continues to work, and to lead, and to guide, and to speak today. If you're a follower of Jesus, He's speaking to you all the time. I mean, are you aware of that? If you're a follower of Jesus, then you have the Holy Spirit, and He's speaking to you all the time. The problem is that too often, we're either not listening, because we're listening to something else, or we don't want to hear what He's saying. I hear you, Lord. That doesn't fit in with my plan. I hear you, Lord, but that's too scary. I hear you, Lord, but I can't do that. I hear you, Lord, but I've never done that before. I hear you, Lord, but I don't want to stop doing that, because I like doing that." [58:05]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Peter didn't think it was, it could possibly work, but because Jesus asked him to, he went ahead and did it. And what happened? Man, an amazing, miraculous catch of fish. So much so that their, their nets began to break. They had so many fish. Peter got to see God's power because he was willing to listen to Jesus. Wouldn't it be great if we got to hear directly from Jesus like that? Wouldn't it be so awesome if we got to hear directly from Jesus, right, like Peter did right there, and like the other disciples did? I bet you, if you're like me, you think that too. And you're like, oh man, it'd be so good if he could just look me in the eye and say, this is what I want you to do. It would make doing what he wants us to do a little bit easier. It wouldn't always make it super easy, but man, it would be so great if we got to hear from Jesus like that. Wouldn't that be so great? That's not what Jesus says. Look, in fact, look, turn over to John chapter 16. Look what Jesus says about this. He has a little bit different take on it. John 16, starting in verse 7. Jesus is speaking. He says this, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. He's talking to his disciples. I tell you the truth. I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer. Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in the way of the Lord. And when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. And he will declare to you the things that are to come. And he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." [35:00]
2. "So the first thing that comes to my mind when we read this passage is, man, what a bummer for Philip. Because he was in Samaria. He preaches the gospel. Revival breaks out. It's exciting. Everything is going great. And he gets pulled away. He gets pulled away from all that excitement going on in Samaria at the height of Philip's success. The Lord tells him to leave that behind and travel, south from a road that went from Jerusalem to Gaza. Yeah, same Gaza, same spot that we hear about today. So he goes, go down to this place from Jerusalem to Gaza. In verse 26, it describes it as a desert place, which it is. It's the Negev. It's very deserty down that way. It was far away from the excitement and the spiritual revival that was going on in Samaria. Now here's a question. Why would God take Philip away from, from all that was going on in Samaria? Why would he take him away from, from that revival that he used him to spark and to get going? Why would he take him away? And then, and here's another question. How many of us, if we were in that situation, would have used that exact question to ignore what God was telling us to do? We'd say, well, look, God's using me here. Why would he pull me, you know, away from that? Why would he take me away from, from this revival? Everything that's going so great to a desert place. I don't even know what's down there. I don't even know what I'm, what I'd be going to. How many of us would, would use as an excuse to disregard what, what we, what we believe we're hearing from the Lord? I, I, I might have done that. Philip, I'm sure, was not certain about God's plan. I, he probably didn't like it at all. I bet he didn't like God's plan at all. Leave where things are going so great to go, this desert place. That, that can't be God speaking. Besides that, this journey from Samaria to Jerusalem down to Gaza would be about a hundred miles. That, that doesn't sound super far for us because we can jump in our car and do that in a while, a short while. Depends on how you drive. But, but, but, you know, hopefully not an hour, but hopefully a little longer than an hour. But, but it would take, you know, a short time. But a hundred miles on foot? Like, that's a, that's a haul. That's a journey. Like, that's, that's far. That, that would make it easier to come up with an excuse to ignore what God is saying to him. But it says that Philip, he got up and he left immediately. God said, go down, leave this, go down there. He got up and left right away. He listened to the Lord and he went. I, I imagine he thought like Peter did in the story. He said, I'm going to go to the story we read earlier. Well, I don't really want to do this, God, but since you told me to, I'll go do it. Then in verse 29, we see the Spirit speaks to Philip again. He tells Philip, hey, you, you see that, see that chariot? See that, there's an Ethiopian there? Go, go over there and join him. And it says in verse 30 that Philip ran to him. He ran to him. I thought, that, that just stood out to me, like, um, just, just more than, than I had ever had when I read that. Philip ran to him. Now, it could have been that he's just so excited to do whatever God told him to do, but here's why, here's what I think is why he had to run over there. It's because the chariot was heading to Ethiopia. It was, it was heading away from him. He's coming down the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, um, and this guy's going, going to go through Gaza, all the way down through Egypt, down to Ethiopia. So he's going away from him. The only way he could catch up to, that chariot was to run, was to run to catch up. Well, that's even another hurdle to me, and that's what comes to my mind. That's another challenge, another opportunity to come up with a reason not to listen to the Holy Spirit. He could have got down there and be like, oh, well, there it goes. There he goes. Okay, Lord, you know, I tried, like, I tried, you know, I'm going to go back to Samaria. I, I think it, like, that, that's, I think, sometimes how we too often do things. Like, like, when it, like, when it comes All right. Well, see you later. Like, oh, God, I tried, you know, big gulps. Oh, well, I, you know, I, I put my neck out there. I, I talked to him, you know, and that, that's our evangelism effort. You know, sometimes we do that, like, okay, man, I really need to call and, you know, call this person and encourage them or God, you know, I feel like God's put them on my heart to call and you call and, and they don't, they don't answer and you're like, okay, good. You're like, okay, God, I tried, right? I tried. You know, I gave it a, I gave it a shot, you know, um, um, and that would have been easy for, for, uh, Philip to, to have done that, but he ran and he caught up. See, one of the things that made the early church such a powerful church, such an explosive fellowship was the fact that they would obey God even in the face of opposition, even when it was challenging. And Philip is such a good example of this for us. The Holy Spirit, he was active in the church, in that early church. In fact, um, in,
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