The Spirit works through God's people

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Embraced by Words
Embraced by Words (Photo credit: Robbert van der Steeg)
“And the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over and join this chariot.’ So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” Acts 8:29–31

Have you ever had someone give you tremendous help? Maybe it was on a tough homework assignment where you didn’t know what to do and your parents came to your rescue. Perhaps your family was stuck on the side of the road, and some nice person stopped to give you a hand. Maybe you didn’t have enough money to buy something you wanted, and you were able to do a little extra work for someone and get paid exactly what you needed to get what you wanted.

We all need help in various ways, and part of the joy of living in community is having people around us to give us help when we are in need.

The Spirit loves to do this when it comes to helping people understand his Word, the Bible. Think of all the ways that biblical explanation plays a role in our growth as Christians. We have preachers who speak to us from God’s Word about the good news of Jesus and how it applies to our lives. We have small group leaders who facilitate discussion around God’s Word so that we can encourage one another to grow in the grace and knowledge of God. We have close friends who help point us to God’s Word as we walk through life together and endure various challenges along the way. We have various forms of media, including the Internet and podcasts, which explain the Bible to us.

God loves it when we seek to grow in our understanding of his Word. That is what we see here: Philip, compelled by the Spirit, is eager to explain God’s Word, and the Ethiopian man is eager to learn.


“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” Hebrews 3:12–14
  • How often should we encourage one another with the Word?
  • When we explain the Word to one another, how does it help us grow?
  • How have you been encouraged in your life as the Ethiopian man was by Philip?
Father, thank you that you provide so many different ways for us to learn and grow like the Ethiopian in this text. May we be eager to learn and grow like him. You have been so faithful to provide. Thank you, Father. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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