Stick To It!

Stick To It!

Acts 8:5-8; 26-40

5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.

6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.

7 With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.

8 So there was great joy in that city.

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road-- the desert road-- that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."

27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,

28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet.

29 The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."

30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.

31 "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth."

34 The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?"

35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?"

38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.

40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Key Verse: (Acts 8:29): “The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’”

The Hebrew word translated, “stay near it” in the NIV is a pictorial one. It means literally, “to give yourself to the chariot; stick to it; hang on tenaciously until your mission is accomplished.”

Aren’t you glad that Philip “stuck to it?” If he hadn’t, we wouldn’t have this beautiful story to inspire us. The Ethiopian Enuch wouldn’t have been converted and the Gospel wouldn’t have been taken into that part of Africa.

Without a doubt this is one of the great events in the New Testament. Philip was down in Samaria and God was greatly using him. He was in the midst of a revival. Folks were coming to Christ and being healed of diseases. Crooked lives were being straightened. Empty souls were being fulled with the presence and power of God!

Then suddenly, in the midst of this fruitful city crusade, an angel came to Philip and told him to go down to Gaza. And Philip did it! He didn’t argue with God. He didn’t whine and complain. He just went. Such obedience of this kind only a preacher can fully appreciate! Incidentally, this is the foremost sign that he was a Spirit-filled man—no arguing with God!

When the angel said, “Here’s your assignment; stick to it,” he did just that!

Moses stuck to it until Israel was out of Egypt and on the threshold of the promised land.

David stuck to it until he held Goliath’s head in his hand.

Daniel stuck to it even though he was the main course at the Lion’s Club dinner.

Jesus stuck to it even when it meant rejection, humiliation, suffering, and death.

Paul stuck to it though it meant beatings, imprisonment and isolation.

How many BATTLES would have been lost without persistence?

How many GRADUATES never would have received that degree without perseverance?

How many CRIMINAL CASES would never have been solved were it not for the determined effort of dedicated detectives?

Thank for a moment about the great works of art, pieces of music, poetry, and inventions that we have today because someone stuck to it.

Think of the long and lonely hours that went into books, sermons, and the like, that have shaped our faith and infused fresh hope within us.

Robert Louis Stevenson had tuberculosis. When his right hand became paralyzed, he used his left. When his left hand quit, he dictated. When his speech failed, he dictated using the deaf and dumb alphabet.