Friday, January 3, 2014
Download MP3 (right click to save)
There are some advantages to living where it's cold in the winter, especially if you're a child in school. You know, it's those two great words, "Snow Day!" I remember on one particular overnight snow when the guys were real small. We heard our sled calling us from the garage. I said, "Snow Day! Let's play!" So there's this hill near us, and when we got there half the town was there. So, we got on our sleigh; my oldest son and I were on it this one time. We started down the hill and we were almost to the bottom when I looked behind us. I didn't like what I saw. There was this big sled speeding straight at us. He didn't see us. I had time for one word, "Jump!" My son responded instantly. We both jumped off and I think we might have missed some injury by inches. I was really glad he didn't take time to ask, "Why, Daddy?"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Unexplained Orders."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts 8. It says, "Philip went down to a city in Samaria, and proclaimed Christ there. When the crowd heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said." The Bible goes on to say, "There were wonderful miracles. There was great joy in the city." Now, boy, if I'm Philip, I'm going to stay there for a while, because God's really working and this is awesome!
In lieu of all this, though, "An angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Go south to the road - the desert road - that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' 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, and on his way home he was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, 'Go to that chariot and stay near it.'"
Well it goes on to lead to the conversion of this man and ultimately the planting of Christianity in Africa, all because Philip does what he's told. Honestly, I'm not sure the orders made much sense. God didn't give any orders except "Go to the desert." And Philip was in the middle of these great meetings going on. So why am I going to leave these and go to the desert?
I think my son felt the same way when he got unexplained orders that day, "Hey, it's going great! We're having fun! Why would we jump?" God sends orders for Philip to quit what he is doing, go to the desert, and it leads to this powerful result. But he doesn't tell Philip what's going to happen. Philip doesn't say, "Why, Daddy?" He was obedient without explanation. He's told to go to the desert without explanation. Then he's told to go stand next to this chariot without explanation. But he obeyed.
See, God is preparing something supernatural, but it depends on your obeying without explanation. Notice, Philip's only given the first step, and God leaves it that way; it's kind of take a step, see a step. Seldom do we know where the step is going. He asks us to obey in faith, walking by faith not by sight, and if we obey like that, we will live a life that's full of supernatural encounters and divine matchups, and destiny events. See, powerful lives go one step beyond obedience without explanation; it's obedience without hesitation.
Maybe you're disobeying something God is speaking to you about because you want more details. But maybe God is saying, "Leave," or "Go," or "Go for it," "Talk to that person," "Change this," "Try that." This is the crossroads of faith and obedience. Will you obey without explanation? If not, you'll probably miss God's best. That day in the snow I really praised my son for his quick obedience. He didn't need an explanation. He just trusted his father, and he was rewarded for it.
Now, God is your Father, and He has certainly proved you can trust Him at the cross where His Son gave everything for you. Can't you trust Him enough to obey Him without question? It's like the old song says, "Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."