Helping Others See Jesus

As we move on in the Summer Travelogue series, we come to Samaria as our destination for this Sunday. The disciples experience persecution in Jerusalem and are forced to move out of the city.

Philip ends up going northward to Samaria and is still determined to speak for Jesus! There Philip is responsible for the conversion of Simon the magician. Peter and John lay hands on folks in that area, and they receive the Holy Spirit. Simon wants to purchase this power, but he is reminded that the Spirit's power in one's life is a gift.

Then, an angel of the Lord directs Philip to meet up with an Ethiopian who is traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. Philip goes directly to this foreigner's chariot, notices that he is reading from the book of Isaiah, and asks, "Do you understand what you are reading?" The Ethiopian replies, "How can I unless someone guides me?" (Acts 8:30-31)

Are we willing to help people see Jesus in Scripture? We are people of the book and ought not shy away from making reference to it even if people are not already reading it. The Ethiopian was reading a passage from Is. 53. We can help people to see that Jesus is the fulfillment of prophesy as put forward in the Hebrew Scriptures. Of all the predictions given in the Hebrew Scriptures concerning the Messiah, only Jesus matches all of them. He fits the fingerprint of who the Messiah was to be!

I wonder how much we must be aware of what image people have of Jesus as they are searching in their faith. Might they not have some misconceptions which need attention?

Have you ever used Scripture to help someone see Jesus? How might you grow in your own knowledge of Scripture to use it as a tool for witnessing?