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John the Baptist had emphasized that the Lord Jesus would baptize His people “with the Holy Spirit and with fire”(Matthew 3: 11).

Just prior to His ascension and exaltation to eternal glory, the Lord Jesus promised His disciples, “For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1: 5.)

The promise of this baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire was so gloriously and so powerfully fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. “There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2: 3, 4).

The evidence that those early Christians were filled with the Holy Spirit is demonstrated in several ways. One of the most obvious confirmations is seen in the commitment and compulsion with which they proclaimed the gospel to everyone everywhere.

When severe persecution first broke out (Acts 4), the Christians gathered together the Church, and they prayed that the Lord would give them boldness to enable them to continue to be faithful. In answer to this prayer, once again “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 4: 31).

Following the stoning of Stephen, extremely severe persecution scattered the majority of the Christians from Jerusalem. This resulted in the Gospel being spread throughout the entire area of Judea and Samaria.

Continually the fire of the Holy Spirit's ministry was breaking out in new places. This was happening in so many areas, particularly in places that previously had been unreached and untouched by the witness of the Church. This meant that the Lord was continually adding many more people to His Church.

These developments bring us to a very significant incident demonstrating the way in which the Holy Spirit uses one person to witness to another person, with the most exciting results.

The Holy Spirit had been working so wonderfully in the city of Samaria, and the man He was using in this ministry was Philip.

When Philip arrived there, he “preached Christ unto them” (Acts 8: 5). The response of the people to this dynamic, Holy Spirit anointed and powerful witness was immediate, and so extensive. “The people with one accord gave heed unto the things which Philip spake.”

The Holy Spirit used his witness to the Lord Jesus so effectively, and so fruitfully, that the entire population was drawn to respond to this message of salvation. It must have been so very moving to have been there and witnessed this exciting response. It must have been so very thrilling for Philip so see such a dramatic development, particularly the fact that the entire population of the city was caught up in this great revival movement.

There have been other times when this same dynamic ministry of the Holy Spirit has used some servant of the Lord in a similar way, and hundreds, if not thousands have been brought to vital faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must always humbly remember that there is only one Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who accomplished this glorious work in Samaria is still the same Holy Spirit who is personally present with us today. Everything that He did back then He is still able, and willing, to do today - if only He can find someone who will let Him use them.

“The Witness” “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God, and the Name of the Lord Jesus, they were baptized both men and women.”

Prior to these events these same people had been held in evil spiritual bondage. This was a condition that had been inflicted on them by Simon who had been used by demonic powers to snare and enslave people. He claimed, and they believed, that he was “the great power of God!”

But through the Gospel, these people found glorious liberation from the demonic domination; and they claimed salvation through the Lord Jesus and Him crucified. Thus they so willingly and joyfully gave public witness to this new faith and their new birth in baptism.

With all that took place through the Holy Spirit filled ministry of Philip, it is not at all surprising that: “There was great joy in that city.” (Verse 8) This was the joy of salvation, the joy of knowing that their sins were forgiven. It was the joy of experiencing deliverance from all of the powers and influences of the spiritual hosts of wickedness.

What a revival! That was the kind of mighty moving of the Holy Spirit that inspired a thrilling sense of wonder in the hearts and lives of everyone who was involved. It would have been so exciting to be able to share in all that the Holy Spirit was accomplishing there.

Do we want to share in such a wonderful work of the Holy Spirit? Are we willing to pay the price?

This new development took place at the time when the great revival in Samaria was still at its height. The spiritual momentum would have been at such a level that all those who were involved must have been continually thrilled by the anticipation of all that the Holy Spirit would continue to be accomplishing among them.

It was into this atmosphere of great spiritual drama that the Lord sent an angel to speak to Philip. It is important for us to take careful note of the spiritual implications of this new development. God was acting according to His perfect will and plan when He sent the angel to speak to His Spirit-filled servant.

This intervention by the Lord may well have surprised many of the people who were sharing in that great time of blessing. It may come as an even greater surprise to many Christians today. Why should the Lord interrupt such a valuable and fruitful ministry? Why should He take out the one person who He was using to bring such great blessing?

There are several aspects of this, of which we need to take into account. First, no human agent is indispensable to any work of God, not even if that person has been used by the Lord to bring great blessing to many people. God can continue His work using other people, and whether He chooses to do so or not is His decision, not man's.

Also, the one Person who really does know what He is doing is God, even as He is the only one who fully comprehends why He is acting. His plan is always perfect, and we can be sure that He will never make a mistake in such matters.

Then there is the fact that the person who is filled with the Holy Spirit will have the kind of attitude, which will clearly reflect the mind of the Lord Jesus. This means that such a person will always be sensitive so as to hear when the Lord speaks, and will always be prompt in obeying whatever the Lord commands him to do. To fail to do so would inevitably see the Holy Spirit withdrawing from the one who had, in fact, become disobedient.

“The Instruction” which was given to Philip was quite specific, “Go to Gaza, which is desert.”

Again, from a merely human perspective, this appears to be quite strange, and, even foolish. Leave Samaria, where great crowds are responding, and the revival is spreading, so as to go out into the desert, where there would be no crowds, and very little possibility of the kind of revival in which he had participated in Samaria.

The Lord did not ask Philip for either his permission or his opinion in the matter. He simply instructed His servant to go, expecting that Philip would give immediate and complete obedience to His command.

The Lord always works in our lives in exactly the same way. He does not ask either our opinion or our approval concerning anything that He commands us to do. He does not ask us whether we think we should, or even could do what He commands. He simply tells us exactly what He requires of us, and He fully anticipates that we will obey Him in an attitude of true love and devotion.

“His Obedience.” The Book of Acts makes a very brief and simple statement concerning Philip's response to the Word of the Lord. “And He started out!” That is the response of true faith.

It is this quality of genuine faith, which we always see in all of the great men of faith. For example, The Lord warned Noah that there were some things that were going to happen which no human being had even experienced. That because there would be a flood, which no one had even seen, Noah should begin to build an ark, which no one had ever built before. The Lord gave His servants very specific instructions, and, we read, “He built an ark!” (Hebrews 11: 7).

God called Abraham to go out to some unnamed place which, in due course; the Lord would show to him. In faith, Abraham packed up and began that journey with no idea where his destination would be. Faith trusted and obeyed the Word of the Lord. (Hebrews 11: 8).

God reveals to His people the next step that He calls His people to take, but He does not show them their destination, nor many of the experiences which will be theirs along then way. Very often He does not even reveal to them what their second step will be until, in faith, they have taken the first step. True faith obeys: “So he went!”

It was Abraham's servant whose experience illustrates this for us. The servant had been sent to find a bride for Isaac. He knew what Abraham required of him, and as he was going he continued to seek the guidance and direction of the Lord. When he had achieved his mission, he gave this testimony, “I, being in the way, the Lord led me.”

The Lord leads true faith, step by step, along the right road, to His chosen goal. This was Philip's experience.

The timing of the Lord was perfect. Every detail of His gracious plan fitted together exactly. The two men He wanted to meet were both in the right place at the right time.

There are probably many people who, as they look that this meeting, would choose to speak about it being quite a coincidence that Philip happened to meet the Ethiopian as he did. Or that it was “lucky!” Philip certainly knew better than that.

The Lord knew exactly the right time to speak to his servant with the purpose of sending him. The Lord knew that Philip would be in the right place - the Lord's place for him, at the right time: the Lord's time for him to be there. The Lord always knows, what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. He never makes a mistake.

The Christian who loves and honors the Lord sees in this a very strong reminder of our responsibility to listen closely to all that the Lord is seeking to say to us. We see just how vital it was that Philip obeyed the Lord promptly and completely. Delay of any kind would have resulting in him being late for this vital meeting.

Again, such thorough obedience is the mark of the man or woman who is genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Ethiopian was on his way back to Ethiopia, traveling in his chariot. He had been to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. He was one of those people who, in those days, were referred to as “God-fearers!” They honored and worshipped the Lord, the God of Israel, even though they themselves chose not to become proselytes. They did not choose to become Jews, even though they were committed to worship the Lord.

Like the Centurion, whom we read about in Acts 10, the Ethiopian had made the Lord his God, and he humbly and sincerely worshipped and served Him.

As he was riding along in his chariot, this man was reading aloud from a scroll that contained the prophecy of Isaiah. The fact that he possessed such a scroll is in itself very significant. It tells us much about the real depth of his interest in the things of God.

It also reveals that he had to be a man of considerable wealth, as such scrolls had to be carefully written by hand, which made them very expensive.

In the right way, at the right time, the Holy Spirit brought together these two men. One of them was a humble, Spirit-filled servant of the Lord. The other, a very important, wealthy and educated man, who was sincerely seeking to know and honor the Lord.

The Lord had this very wonderful plan to bring this man to Himself, and Philip was the one who had the great privilege of being used by the Holy Spirit as the crucial instrument in bringing to fruition this plan of the Lord.

It is in these challenging developments that we are made to see how vitally important it is for every Christian to know that they are actually filled with the Holy Spirit, and then to be constantly alert and responsive to the workings of the Holy Spirit.

How very tragic it is that so many similar crucial opportunities are missed, and lost forever because the Lord seeks a person who is available, and is unable to find one who will respond. Christians whom the Holy Spirit wants to be able to use cannot be used. They have been content to claim that they are saved, but have not been willing to pay the price of allowing the Holy Spirit to come on them in His special anointing, and live in them in power.

It is so very instructive and challenging to watch each detail as these events unfold. Philip was walking along the road that passed through the Gaza Desert as the Ethiopian dignitary drove past him in his chariot.

It is obvious that Philip was alert and aware of all that was going on around him. He was fully cognizant of the fact that his presence there at that moment was the direct result of the perfect will of God. As a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit he was particularly sensitive to whatever the Holy Spirit may be seeking to accomplish through him.

This meant that, as soon as the Holy Spirit spoke to him, Philip was ready to hear and to respond to the direction given to him by the Holy Spirit. There was no question or doubt in his mind; he immediately identified the fact that the Holy Spirit had spoken to him.

Most Christians today would have looked at the Ethiopian riding along in his chariot, identified him as being from a different race and culture, identified the fact of his important status, and hesitated before agreeing to act lest they appear to be presumptive by intruding uninvited into his affairs.

But then, thank the Lord that Philip was not like the vast majority of Christians today. As a man who continued to live in genuine fellowship with the Holy Spirit, he knew that there was only one thing for him to do: Glorify the Lord by immediately obeying the command given to him by the Holy Spirit.

But - what if - something went wrong? That was not Philip's concern. Nor is it ours, especially is we are filled with the Holy Spirit and responding to His leading in our lives. Whenever we obey a directive given to us by the Holy Spirit, we must simply leave all of the “what ifs” in His capable hands. He is more than adequate to look after all such things. All we have to do is: Obey!

“Philip ran to the chariot!” He was determined that he would honor the Lord by giving Him immediate and full obedience. If he had to exert himself and run to make sure that this opportunity was not lost, then he would run!

He knew that the Lord had a plan that definitely involved this particular Ethiopian official. He also knew that the Holy Spirit was using his personal involvement as a crucial part of this plan of the Lord. And, so, he focused his attention on ensuring that he did everything he could so that the Lord would be glorified in this encounter.

Philip had personally witnessed the glory of all that the Holy Spirit had accomplished in Jerusalem. He had also personally participated in the glorious revival, which the Holy Spirit had brought to Samaria. At this point, Philip fully expected to witness the Holy Spirit glorifying the Lord Jesus in the events which were about to take place down there in the Gaza Desert.

That is the confident attitude and expectation of the one who willingly allows the Holy Spirit to have complete access to his life. This level of faith is so richly rewarded over and over again. This is available to every Christian who will diligently seek and enter into their own personal Pentecost.

Philip heard the Ethiopian reading from the Prophecy of Isaiah, and would have immediately identified the particular passage that he was reading, along with the vital significance of that passage. He was reading from the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Philip asked the Ethiopian, “Do you understand what you are reading?” This question went right to the heart of the issue. It reveals the unfailing wisdom and decisive guidance that the Holy Spirit gave as He worked in and through the life of His servant.

It is this decisive and dynamic ministry of the Holy Spirit which is so urgently needed today, and which He will gladly share with all those whom He fills, guides, and uses

“How can I, unless someone guides me?” There is every evidence that the Lord had been so carefully and graciously working in the heart and life of this man as He brought him to this crucial moment. He had such a deep hunger for the things of God. A strong desire to be able to understand the truth. He was motivated by a great longing to be able to come to know the Lord.

These were the very feelings and desires that the Lord had lovingly cultivated in the man's heart and mind. Remember, as much as the Ethiopian wanted to know the Lord, the desire of the Lord for the Ethiopian to come to know Him was infinitely greater!

There are so many people today who have a very strong hunger for the things of God. They do not understand what this hunger is or why they have it. They understand even less how this hunger in their hearts can ever be satisfied. But there is a deep, undefined void in their heart and life that only the Lord can fill.

But, they have no one to explain to them why they have this hunger, or how it can be satisfied. The Lord is urgently seeking for a Christian who is filled with the Holy Spirit, a Christian whom He can introduce into the lives of such hungry people, so that they can be shown exactly what their need is and how it can be satisfied. The tragic fact is that far too often the Lord is unable to find that one person whom He can use to meet this deep and great need.

The Ethiopian was reading from that part of Isaiah which so powerfully spoke of the time when the Lord Jesus would die on the Cross to save from their sin all who would believe in Him.

Probably there was no part of the Old Testament Scriptures which was more appropriate to be used to lead a person into a vital relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Every detail of these developments must have increasingly thrilled Philip. The Lord's ways in accomplishing His glorious goals are always so perfect. He takes every detail into account. His thorough preparations give His servants the most exciting opportunities to see the Holy Spirit at work in magnificent effectiveness and dynamic power.

“And Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.”

The Ethiopian had asked Philip whom the prophet was speaking about. Was he speaking about himself, or about some other man? In his response to this question Philip used two vital facts as he began to witness to this man.

First, Philip began right where the man was, with the specific question that the man asked. This was always the strategy followed by the Lord Jesus, even as it is still always the strategy followed by the Holy Spirit.

We think of the way in which the Lord Jesus dealt with the Samaritan woman who came to draw water from “Jacob's well.” The Lord Jesus focused on the very thing that occupied the woman's attention at that very moment: Water! As He did so the Lord Jesus expanded the emphasis to include reference to “living water!”

Philip began to deal with the Ethiopian by answering the question that he had asked, by focusing on the very thing that was on his mind at that moment.

In the opportunities that the Lord gives to us to deal with people, we need to follow this example; we must start working with them where they are, in their thinking, in their understanding. It is only as we begin to work with people where we find them that, by the help of the Holy Spirit, we can then begin to help to move them to where the Lord wants them to be.

If we fail to apply this principle we will make it almost impossible to reach them. It is foolish to insist that before we will deal with them people must move to the position we happen to wish they occupied. We must start where the people are.

Second, Philip applied the Word of God. “Beginning at this Scripture.” The Word of God is the Sword of the Holy Spirit, and it is always the most potent and effective weapon that we have.

Far too often Christians ignore the vital place of the Word of God because they feel that some cute story, or some highly emotional emphasis will be far more effective in moving people to respond to us.

If we would be a true partner with the Holy Spirit in His ministry, then our goal will be to move people spiritually, and that will require the effective use of the Sword of the Spirit.

Philip “preached unto him Jesus.” He was completely yielded to the leadership and direction of the Holy Spirit in this vital witness of revealing the Lord Jesus, and exalting Him. As we read through the teaching of the Lord Jesus, especially in John chapters, 14, 15, and 16, we will notice how He repeatedly focused on this crucial emphasis.

It was for this very reason that Paul wrote, “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2: 2). “We preach Christ crucified, . . . Unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1: 23, 24).

The question that the Ethiopian asked was the key giving to Philip an open door of opportunity to share with him the message of Jesus and Him Crucified! Philip immediately grasped opportunity, and in doing so he was so powerfully used by the Holy Spirit.

Peter was absolutely right when he boldly announce to the Jewish Council, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4: 12).

This is in complete agreement with the Word of the Lord Jesus: “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me” (Acts 1: 8)

“As they traveled along the road,” Philip continued to share the gospel with the Ethiopian, and as he did so the Holy Spirit used his faithful witness to win over the heart and the mind of the Ethiopian. “The light of the glorious gospel of Christ,” (2 Corinthians 4: 4), or, “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,” shone through into the once darkened heart and mind of this man.

The Ethiopian was brought to see clearly his own great need, the fact that he was a sinner who desperately needed a Savior. The Holy Spirit also revealed to him the Lord Jesus in all His amazing grace, the One who was able to save him to the uttermost.

Whenever a Christian who is filled with the Holy Spirit shares the Gospel with another person, it is the Holy Spirit who is the most active partner in that witness. He is the One who gives the dimensions of both dynamic power and effective fruitfulness. He is the One who both convicts the person of their sin, and convinces them that they do need the Lord Jesus as their Savior.

Any Christian who leaves the Holy Spirit out of their thinking when they are attempting to witness to another person will inevitably fail to reach their objective, which is to bring the person to true faith in the Lord Jesus as their Savior.

This message which the Ethiopian heard as Philip shared with him gave to him the answer which he had been so urgently seeking. He was convinced that the Lord Jesus did come to die for him on the cross, therefore He was the One who could save him and meet his need.

He was not only ready to respond personally and publicly to this liberating message, he wanted to do so immediately. He wanted to know if there was any reason that he could not be baptized there and then.

We should always be aiming for this kind of response, encouraging others to not only listen to the message of the gospel, but to respond immediately as the Holy Spirit brings the truth and the light to their heart and mind.

“If you believe”- if you have faith in the Lord Jesus, and all that He has done for you. If you believe - with all your heart - so that your response is one of true love for Jesus and genuine devotion to Him. If it is your greatest desire is to receive Him into your heart and life a your Savior and your Lord.

That is the true faith that the Lord Jesus always seeks to inspire, and which He always requires.

There is a “faith” which falls short of “believing with all your heart.” In John 2: 22, 23 we read, “Many believed in His Name, when they saw the miracles which He did, But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them.”

They believed, but He did not trust them. The reason is not difficult to find. Their attitude in responding can best be defined as: “Seeing is believing!” “When they saw - they believed!” That level of “faith” is much too shallow and superficial.

It could never stand against the inevitable tests that would come. In fact, it did not last. It was for this reason that we read, “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him” (John 6: 66). Why did they do back? Because He, in the Word He spoke to them, required a much deeper level of faith, a demand to which they would not respond.

Why did he believe this? Because the Holy Spirit had used the living Word in the witness of Philip to reveal the full glory of the truth to the Ethiopian. It was by this means that this faith came to be real and so personal to him.

Such faith comes only by hearing and receiving the witness of the Word of God as the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ.

What did the Ethiopian believe? He believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Anointed One of God, the Son of God. He believed that the Lord Jesus was everything that God had promised He would be.

Jesus, the Son of God who became man, who was anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit, and who became the Lamb of God who takes away the Sin of the world. It is He who has made freely provided salvation to the uttermost to all who will believe with all their heart.

This was the dynamic testimony given by the Ethiopian, and by this testimony he was revealed as one who had been given the right to become a child of God.

Philip immediately received this testimony as being completely authentic, and proceeded to act on it.

The Ethiopian immediately ordered that the chariot be stopped. He then rejoiced to be able to go with Philip down into the water. This must have been a moment of truly great joy for both of these men.

Philip then baptized the Ethiopian. We do not how many other people there were who were present to witness this very significant event. We do not know whether the Ethiopian had attendants accompanying him. It may have been that there were just the two of them.

No, there were many more present than just Philip and the Ethiopian. There was the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who were sharing in this very wonderful moment of joy and rejoicing. They would have been attended by the hosts of heaven, and those heavenly hosts would have been rejoicing with great enthusiasm as they witnessed the first African give witness to the wonderful transformation which had taken place in his heart and life.

The Ethiopian “went on his way rejoicing!” His joy was so great than on his arrival back in Ethiopia he immediately began sharing with others the gospel that had come to mean so much to him. While the details are not recorded in the Scriptures, history does give witness to the fact that the Holy Spirit used this one man to bring so many of his own people to personal faith in the Lord.

We have no way of knowing what the outcome will be when we allow the Lord to use us to reach another person for the Lord Jesus Christ. This adds to the importance of always being faithful to every opportunity that the Holy Spirit gives us to share the gospel with others.

Philip, a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit. He was a man to whom the time would come when he would stand before his Lord, and he would hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.” When, as he stood before the Lord, there would be many thousands, who could witness, we are here because you were faithful to the work that the Lord gave you to do.

Philip is such a dynamic challenge to us. An inspiration to us, calling us to make sure that we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and faithful in seeking to be used fruitfully by Him to reach other people with the Gospel.