“And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’” – Acts 8:36

The Ethiopian eunuch, a high official of a far off kingdom considered at the time to be the “end of the earth” heard the good news of Jesus Christ and immediately responded in faith. He was so delighted about his new life in Christ that he was eager to be baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Spotting water, he asked whether there were any barriers blocking him (as there were in Judaism). He was delighted to learn there are no barriers to any Christ-follower being baptized and he was baptized right there by the side of the road!

Baptism is intended to be the powerful first step and symbol of obedience when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. It is an act of obedience to the example of Jesus and a symbolic identification with His death, burial, and resurrection. It is our public re-birth announcement to the world that we are new creations in Christ.

Baptism doesn’t save us – God’s grace saves us through faith in Christ alone – but it’s an important part of telling the world that we are saved and that Christ is our Lord! If Jesus is your Lord and Savior have you eagerly taken this first step like the Ethiopian eunuch?

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.” – Acts 7:51

While Stephen is addressing the religious leadership of his day in Jerusalem, we must be careful that he isn’t also speaking to us!

An uncircumcised heart isn’t completely yielded to, and reshaped by, God’s grace, mercy, and love in Jesus Christ. An uncircumcised heart is hard, proud, and unyielding. It may like God and Jesus, it may go to church regularly, but it doesn’t look like God’s. An uncircumcised heart likes its own way more than God’s way. An uncircumcised heart places greater priority on personal opinion, preference, comfort, self-identity, and politics than on the things of God. Often an uncircumcised heart is completely unaware of that fact that it’s uncircumcised.

Uncircumcised ears hear only what they want to hear – they do not listen with the ears of Christ nor listen for Christ. Uncircumcised ears are not quick to listen, are not sensitive to the cries and concerns of the most vulnerable among us, and are not seeking to hear Christ’s voice among the cacophony of voices that surround us.

Far too many Christians today are walking around with uncircumcised hearts of harshness, defensiveness, and anger. Far too many Christians today have uncircumcised ears that are deaf to anything that doesn’t fit their narrative of the world. Take time to examine your own actions, attitudes, thoughts, and words. Are they those of Christ Himself or are they those of a cultural caricature of Him? Don’t resist the Holy Spirit: yield to Him, listen for and to Him, let Him reshape your heart, mind, and ears to be like those of Jesus Himself!

“May his name endure forever,
his fame continue as long as the sun!
May people be blessed in him,
all nations call him blessed!”
– Psalm 72:17

God’s eternal plan is to bless and redeem for Himself a people from ALL nations. He isn’t a God just for one nation or a special handful of blessed nations. He is God of all Creation! His promise to Abraham was to bless all nations through Jesus Christ, not just some.

For this reason Jesus gave His church a mission: to make disciples of ALL nations. Each local church and each individual Christian has a responsibility to advance this mission. While for most of us, our primary disciple-making work will be in our local community, we all have a responsibility to understand, pray for, encourage, fund, send, and welcome back disciple-makers to those nations which don’t yet call Him blessed. We’re must also be willing to go ourselves when called.

The blessing we enjoy in Him is meant to be shared freely, joyfully, and widely throughout the world. Every follower of Christ should seek to understand his or her personal responsibility as well as his or her church’s responsibility for this important work!

“Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” – Acts 6:1

The growth of the early church was threatened by ethnic inequality in her ministry. While poor Aramaic-speaking Christian widows born in Israel were being well cared for, the Greek-speaking Christian widows born outside Israel were being neglected. This seemingly wasn’t intentional, but it was real and this injustice threatened the health and future of the church. Would the church be a place for all who followed Jesus or primarily a place for those Christ-followers fortunate enough to be born in Israel?

Praise God! The church didn’t ignore the problem, pretend it didn’t exist, try to deny it, rationalize it, explain it away, or justify it. Instead, as a body (leadership AND congregation together) they leaned into the problem and developed an effective solution. They raised up servant-leaders from the neglected ethnic group and gave them responsibility for administering this critical ministry.

Because the church cared for the neglected among them, took seriously the concerns about injustice, and developed innovative solutions that truly addressed the problem, a tremendous period of gospel advance began, as even hardened opponents were drawn to what they saw. Verse 7 reports, “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”

That same opportunity lies before the church today, if we can take seriously the problems and concerns that divide us along racial, ethnic, economic, and cultural lines and seek to genuinely heal those divisions through the gospel of Jesus Christ!

“But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ‘Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.’” – Acts 5:19-20

It’s helpful to be reminded of God’s priorities from time to time! When we’re in a difficult spot, we rightly cry out to God to help us. At all times He hears our prayers. However, because He sees the bigger picture (not only for us personally but for a lost and fallen world), He sometimes calls us to stay right where we are, comforted by the knowledge that He is right there with us. Other times He sets us free and calls us to step right into a more dangerous situation as in these verses.

The mission to which God has called every follower of Christ is to make disciples. This mission isn’t for the faint of heart and it isn’t for our convenience and comfort in this life. While doing the work of God is one of the deepest sources of joy, we must always remember that our ultimate and eternal comfort and reward awaits in heaven. Therefore we must be willing to be inconvenienced, uncomfortable, and even at risk for His sake now.

The Christian life is a call to courage, to boldness, to danger, and to share the good news of Jesus Christ as you go through life. Have you answered the call today?