Talk Together
Family conversations with God’s Word.
What does a missionary do? The word missionary might make you think of people who travel to lands with strange animals and different food. But not all missionaries travel far from home.
Missionaries are Christians who share the Gospel with people. Sometimes that means journeying far away, but sometimes it means simply walking down the road!
Before Jesus returned to heaven, He told his followers to share the Gospel all over the world. In the book of Acts we read about a Christian named Philip. An angel of the Lord told Philip to go to a desert road. Philip obeyed.
When he got to the road, he found a non-Jewish man — an Ethiopian and eunuch — trying to read the book of Isaiah. The man seemed puzzled. The Lord told Philip to go talk to the man. Let’s take a look at what happened next by reading Acts 8:30-39.
ESV
So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep He was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opens not His mouth. In His humiliation justice was denied Him. Who can describe His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth.” And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 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?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
What did Philip share with the man he met on the road? He shared the Gospel! God knew that man needed to know Jesus. He used His faithful follower, Philip, to share the good news.
Philip was a missionary. He told the man how Jesus died and rose from the dead to pay for the sins of the world. Because Philip followed God’s leading, the man he shared the Gospel with accepted Jesus as his Savior.
You don’t have to travel far away to be a missionary. During your day, pray and ask God who He needs you to share the Gospel with. Watch for God to show you someone who needs to learn about Jesus. You can share your faith at school, in your neighborhood or even in your own home!