Here Is Water, What Hinders You

In one paragraph

Pastor Mark opened Acts 8:26-40, the story of Philip and the Ethiopian official, and traced how the gospel spread outward from Samaria to the edges of the known world. The morning included the baptism of Ernesto Valenzuela, who had come to the church looking for exactly this, and two more baptisms happened during the service itself. The whole thing felt to Pastor Mark like a living illustration of...

Read together

1. Acts 8:26-40 the main passage being preached, Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch
2. Isaiah 53:7-8 the passage the Ethiopian eunuch was reading in his chariot, quoted in full from the New Living Translation
3. Matthew 28:18-20 the Great Commission, quoted and discussed as the basis for making disciples of all nations

Talk about it

1. The pastor described Philip as someone who 'wanted the ball' and acted immediately when he got direction from the angel and then the Holy Spirit. Where in your own life do you find it hardest to act quickly on what you sense God is directing you to do, and what gets in the way?
2. The pastor pointed out that the Ethiopian eunuch responded to Philip's question with humility, saying he could not understand the scripture unless someone taught him. What does that kind of humility look like in practice, and how does pride keep people from asking for help with the things of God?
3. Philip started with Isaiah 53, a passage the eunuch was already reading, and worked from there to tell him the good news about Jesus. What does this suggest about how we might begin spiritual conversations with people who are already curious or searching?
4. The pastor noted that the eunuch was baptized with no extended waiting period or confirmation process, simply on his confession that he believed Jesus Christ is the Son of God. What is your understanding of what baptism is for, and what should genuinely precede it?
5. The pastor said that Christians can make the mistake of reading the Bible and thinking 'look at how good God was' rather than 'look at how good God is,' and that God is still in the same business now that He was then. How have you seen evidence of that in your own life or in what happened in this church this very morning?