Can people see God among you?

Are the people in your church using the gifts God had given them in harmony and in such a way that when outsider visit they see God among you? Are you? Have you thought about the contribution that God had planned for you to make in his family? It was never the plan for everyone to be the same. Paul asks in chapter 12 what kind of body Jesus would have if everyone was an eye. We all have different gifts. Different roles, different perspectives and when they work together to declare the praise of God's glory, people respond by seeing God among you. We display God best in unity and harmony. We display God best when we as individuals fade into the whole that is the church, together we are Christ incarnate for the world today. Filled with his Spirit, gifted by his Spirit, for the benefit of the others we show the watching world we are not the same.

Your just a middleman

It's clear the gifts of the spirit of God are given by God for the benefit of others and God alone decides who gets what. This puts us between God and God's helping of others. We are the middlemen of God's ministry and blessing of God's people.

God grows the church

It is completely a work of God from beginning to end.

What it really means to have an open mind.

Luke 24:27, 44-45 NLT

Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.”  Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

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The Bible is about Jesus. The books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) are about Jesus. The Prophets are about Jesus. The Psalms are about Jesus.

Jesus is saying the whole Bible is about him. Jesus is not plan 'B'. Jesus is not an after thought. God had been showing his people that Jesus would come. Jesus' arrival would mean freedom for his people, but suffering and death for him. The Bible explained that.

Jesus expresses frustration at the fact God's followers did not understand what was written about him in the Bible.

But to understand he not only explained it from the Bible again but he opened their minds!

It is all there but our minds are blinded. We can not see it unless we are shown and our minds are opened.

I love this passage about the two on the way to Emmaus because Jesus doesn't start with his resurrected body and winsome presence. Jesus starts with the Bible. And with God friends the disciples he ends with the Bible.

Look through the passage below and count up every reference to the Bible, Scripture, Moses, Prophets, fulfilled or written. You'll find it is there a lot.

Can you see that the Bible had been talking about Jesus. Jesus has been using the Bible to talk about himself. And the Holy Spirit will be be coming (has come) so we can proclaim what the Bible says about Jesus.

The primary reference has never changed. It the Bible, cover to cover! Jesus used it, Moses used it, the prophets used it, we are to use it. But remember even with this primary and powerful witness God must open minds.

Are you reading the Bible? Are you looking for Jesus? Are you telling others what you are finding about Jesus? Are you asking the Holy Spirit to open your mind? Are you praying God will open the minds of those you read the Bible with?

__Read the Bible looking for Jesus.

__Pray that God will give you the opportunity to explain from the Bible the good news about Jesus.

__Trust the Holy Spirit to open your mind and to open the minds of those you have the opportunity to read the Bible with.

__Enjoy the story below.

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Luke 24:13-49 NLT

That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?” They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.” “What things?” Jesus asked. “The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago. “Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.” Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures.  Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?”  Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared! They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter. ” Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread. And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost! “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt?  Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.”  As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet. Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”  They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it as they watched. Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.”  Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day.  It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’  You are witnesses of all these things. “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

Seek and you will find.

Acts 8:26-36, 38-40 NLT

As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.” Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him. The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus. As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?”  He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea.

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One of the questions I've encountered over the years is, "What about the people who've never heard about Jesus?".

Jesus wants the good news to be proclaimed and explained everywhere to everyone.

This story demonstrates God's commitment to seek and to save those who are lost.

Here in chapter 8 of Acts it seems like a lot has happened. But we need to think back over the beginnings of the church.
In chapter 1 the expectation is set that the good news would travel to the very end of the earth.

Acts 1:8 NLT

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In chapter 2 it seems that the whole world is hearing and responding to the good news when the Holy Spirit comes on the disciples.

Acts 2:9-11 NLT

"Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!”

So the seeds of the good news have been planted.

So it is no wonder that after the first persecution of the church scatters the believers some back presumably to their home lands that Luke the author of Acts shows us how God is sending his great news about Jesus to the ends of the earth, or at least to Africa.

See since the beginning God has been stirring the hearts of far flung folk to seek him and rewarding their seeking with finding.

God is more concerned about the world than you are. It had been good plan all along to get his message out. No one will be able to say to God that they wanted to know but God failed to get the message or to them.

Are you as concerned about getting the message out as God is?
Will you obey as Philip did? Will you leave an active growing needy work in "Samaria" to walk in a desert? Will you be led to tell those seeking Jesus?

So what about those who haven't heard the good news? Will God send you? Has he already sent them to you?