Deuteronomy 4:32-40 | Psalm 66 | Acts 8:26-40 | John 14:15-21

Pray with me.

Father in heaven, gracious Lord, we thank you Father for this beautiful day. This opportunity we have to gather here together. You have promised Lord that when two or three are gathered in your name you will be present amongst us. So I pray Father that your presence will be made known, that you would open our hearts and eyes to the truth as you reveal it to us in the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. We pray this in your son Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

Fifth Sunday of Easter. Five weeks since the day our Lord came forth from the tomb. Establishing the sign that he indeed is the Lord of Life and the Son of God. That he had accomplished the work that the Father had sent him to do here on earth. Interestingly enough, five weeks and one day since the disciples sat huddled in one room scared and uncertain of what was going to happen in their lives because their master and teacher had just been arrested and executed at the hands of the Romans.

In our readings today we see one of the twelve, Philip, embarking on a journey of healing and teaching and baptizing. What an amazing transformation had come about in his life. Why? Why had this man gone from a scared, frightened individual to boldly proclaiming the truth? It was for this reason. God is in the business of transforming. Not just transforming the cosmos-for he defeated sin and death on the cross, he ended Satan's reign on earth but more amazingly, God is into transforming the human heart. To breath life in to that which was dead. I think Charles Wesley, one of the great hymn writers in the church, put it so eloquently, "Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and natures night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I awoke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off and my heart was free. I rose and went forth and followed thee." Yes, God is in the business of transforming.

I think one of the well known analogies for God's transforming work in our life is given to us by the prophet Jeremiah and in chapter 18, the Lord speaks to Jeremiah, "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so you are in my hands." Some of you may know the well known song, "You are the potter and I am the clay." I want to clarify a point on this analogy. Make no mistake that we are the clay but we are not lifeless, dead lumps in the hands of the potter. Through Christ we are made alive and are living clay. In Ephesians chapter 2 Paul tells us this, "That God who is full of love and rich in mercy made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our sins." So we are to be molded by God, but because we are alive we are not molded against our will. God will not override his mandate in creation. We are made in his image which means we are given free will.

So the issue I want to address this morning is, if we are indeed alive and are to be "living" clay in the hands of the potter, are we going to be "willing" clay in his hands? Will we be responsive to the workings of his hands in our lives? For indeed we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. It is faith that leads us to respond to God. What do I mean by this "Responding to God"? I mean that when God speaks we listen, when he acts we follow suit, when he does something we pursue.

One of the great truths of being a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ is to know that God is not "Plan B". So many times we get caught up in doing our own plans and figuring things out in our lives and organizing things a certain way and when things don't seem to be working out the way you had hoped you say, "Oh God, what can you do for me now?" God is not our back-up plan. Truth of the matter is that God is the author and finisher of life. So if he is writing, are we reading?

Looking at our lessons, I want to focus on Acts. One of the things that struck me as I read this is how many instances there are given of documented response to something. Philip listens to God and runs to the chariot, the Eunuch listens to what he has to say and is baptized. There are all these instances of responses going on.

Before I start I want to say that responding to God is not a mechanical thing, a function that follows a certain formula that follows steps one, two and three or even twelve steps. Sometimes in life God requires us to respond to him in a moments notice. When you may have to respond to God with little or no warning and then other times we are given the opportunity to think or reflect on what God is doing. Whichever the case, I think if we use the times where we have the opportunity to reflect and think about what God is doing it will equip and enable us to better respond in the instances where we are not given much warning.

Nevertheless, I do believe the bible tells us that responding to God does not easy or natural for us but must be learned. So what I want to look at today in our Acts reading is four key components to establishing a mindset that will cultivate our life which deliberately and readily responds to God. While these are not steps in a particular order, think of them as ingredients for a recipe for a life of faith and responsiveness to our Lord.

Let me read Acts 8:26, "An angel of the Lord said to Philip, `get up and go toward the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' (This is a wilderness road) So he got up and went." Previously in chapter 8, Philip had been serving with John and Peter in the area of Samaria. Peter and John had been recalled to Jerusalem and left Philip behind and it is at this instance where the spirit speaks to Philip to go. The question is why did Philip go? The answer is he knew that God was up to something. The first key point to responding to God is to acknowledge that God is already doing things in the world even when we cannot see it. So to get our mind set to respond, we need to acknowledge that God is doing things already even before we show up. In Deuteronomy, God reminds his people that, "you need to acknowledge I am God in heaven and above earth and I am working my purpose out." We pray that in our Lord's Prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." There is a wonderful illustration of this as I looked at the way Hebrews look at their cycle of the day. In the Hebrew calendar, the day began and ended at sunset. So when you woke up in the morning, the sixth hour, the day was already half over. This may seem odd to us but I believe there is a great truth in that. While we were asleep and it was dark, God was starting the day. God was already at work in the world around them. I believe also that at times when it is darkest in our lives, God is at work the most. So acknowledge that God is already at work establishing his sovereign purpose.

Let us continue, verse 27. "Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, `Go over to this chariot and join it.'" So I get the impression here that Philip has left Samaria and gone down the road and is standing there saying, "Okay God, now what?" Now this road was a wilderness road but not a deserted road. We know that it was a well traveled Philistine highway. So you can picture Philip standing on the side of the road with traffic going by saying, "God, what are you doing here?"

I think our second key point to responding to God is to "Seek", to see what he is doing. Looking for the opportunities of God might bring his way. Earlier this week I was in conversation with someone and it gravitated towards prayer. Praying to God and talking about his response to us. I asked this person, "When you pray and lift things up to God, how do you respond when he answers you back? Do you believe that when you pray, God indeed answers?" She said, "Well, yes." I asked, "How do you know when it is God that is answering?" She thought for a moment and said, "I remember a time ago when my Mom was really upset and I prayed for her. In that same day my Grandmother called and in that conversation my Mother got the answer she needed." I asked, "Do you believe that was God's answer through that phone call?" She thought for a moment and smiled and said, "Yes, it was." I said, "One of the great challenges to maturing our relationship with God is to begin to learn to identify when he speaks to us. We begin to learn when we start looking for his answers. Keep your eyes open." He can use people and things and sometimes the answer he is going to give is right in front of us. So we need to train ourselves to keep asking, "God, what are you up to?"

Let's continue, verse 28, "So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah." I find it interesting that although Philip has been listening to God this whole time, we are almost given the impression that God is dialoging with him through his Holy Spirit. The moment Philip gets a bead on what God is doing; he opens his ears up and runs to the chariot. He looks for the opportunity to see what is going on and hears the man reading Isaiah saying, "Hey I know the man who filled those scriptures." So the third key point is and perhaps the most difficult is that we need to listen for God.

One of my laments with our youth culture and living in the twenty-first century is that I think we find it so hard sometimes to listen. I talk to our kids in our youth group and they are doing their homework with the T.V. on, talking on the phone with the radio on and other activities. They say it helps them concentrate. I think that when we listen to God we need to do what the scriptures tell us, Psalm 46, "To be still and know that I am God."

Billy Graham just finished the second to last stop on his tour in San Diego. I think that if I was trying to hear him speak and everyone is screaming in the stadium I may not hear what he said. One of the things as Christians we need to learn is to slow down and take a moment from our packed Palm Pilot schedules and listen. I think it is best illustrated in the Old Testament with Elijah and God was trying to tell him something. In I Kings, "The Lord said, go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great a powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord. The Lord was not in the wind. After the wind was an earthquake. The Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire. For the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire came a gentle whisper." We need to learn to hear that whisper from God. Tune out the world for a moment and take the time to listen.

And lastly, as we move through this passage we see a transformation in the life of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He responds immediately to what Philip says and asked to be baptized right now. I think the one thing that makes this story more amazing is the Coptic Church traces their roots to this single event. They believe that when this Eunuch returned to Ethiopia, he spread the Gospel. From this single act of responsiveness, an entire church in the Pagan country had been established. Because Philip acknowledged that God was us to something. He sought God's will and listened to his command. But most important of all is that he obeyed.

Our fourth key point to responding to God is best told by our Gospel reading in John 14, "If you love me you will obey my commandments." You cannot speak of responding to God without preparing your heart and mind to obey him. Paul tells us Romans 1:5, "Faith produces obedience." So our faith in Jesus Christ should naturally lead us to love him and obey the things he calls us to do.

Are you willing to be obedient to what God is up to in your life? Ask yourself, "what is his "Plan A" and chuck "Plan B" out the window. For with God there is no "Plan B". This is it people, one life, one purpose, one will. What is God up to in your life? Acknowledge that he is up something. Seek His kingdom in prayer and earnest. Listen in the stillness and quiet. And lastly, obey the voice of the Good Shepherd. For he may lead you through the valley of the shadow of death but he is with you, his rod and staff will comfort you. And we know ultimately he will lead us beside still waters and into green pastures. Will we follow and obey? Will we respond to the potter's hands with willingness as living clay to respond to God as he molds and transforms our lives into the image of Jesus Christ?

Amen.