God's Calling

In one paragraph

Lissa Hunter brought the message this Sunday, working through the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. Her aim was straightforward: that everyone in the room could leave feeling encouraged to take one step of obedience toward what God has placed in front of them, without needing to see the whole plan first. The conversation format the congregation is used to meant several voices...

Read together

1. Acts 8:26-40 the main passage read aloud by Ian, the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch
2. Acts 6:1-7 background on Philip being chosen as one of the seven, his character and role in food distribution
3. Acts 8:1-5 read to show persecution scattering believers and Philip preaching in Samaria
4. Matthew 19:12 Jesus describing the three types of eunuchs, born that way, made by others, and voluntary for the kingdom
5. Luke 16:10 if you are faithful in little things you will be faithful in large ones, and dishonesty in little means dishonesty with greater responsibility
6. Isaiah 56 referenced as the passage just after what the eunuch was reading, containing the words let not the eunuch say I am only a dry tree

Talk about it

1. Philip was chosen for greater responsibility partly because of his everyday character before anyone was watching. Where in your own life right now do you think God might be paying attention to small acts of faithfulness that nobody else notices?
2. Lissa talked about how the persecution that scattered the early believers actually spread the gospel further than it might have gone otherwise. Can you think of a difficult season or closed door in your own life that, looking back, God seemed to use to redirect you somewhere?
3. Amanda shared a story about buying a bike for a stranger who then turned it down, and she said she still felt she had been obedient regardless of the outcome. How do you personally decide when a prompting is from the Holy Spirit, and how do you handle it when obedience does not produce the result you expected?
4. The sermon pointed out that Philip never saw what happened to the Ethiopian after the baptism. He was simply taken away to the next thing. How comfortable are you with obeying God and then never knowing the outcome, and what makes that easy or hard for you?
5. Lissa asked whether we might need our own healing before we are ready to be sent out to others. What does it look like practically, in your own life, to take your own healing seriously enough that you can be present and available when God puts someone in your path?