The deacon Phillip is one of my favorite preachers in the Bible. God scattered the infant church into the world and Phillip originally landed in Samaria. Here he won a great apologetic victory over a leading false teacher, and joy and salvation, healing, baptism, church planting, and amazement abounded. It was the definition of revival, and Philip was at the center of it.
Then Philip is directed by God to pick up and move to a desert place. It's a desert place because there is very little water, but it's more of a desert because there were very few people. No joy, no salvation, no healing, no baptisms, no churches, and no amazement save for what Philip brought with him.
I wonder if Philip was tempted to throw his hands up in the air and question God why he had to move from a feast to a famine, from a paradise to a desert, from abundant ministry to a lot of quiet time.
Chaplain, has God ever called you from a revival to a drought? Have you spent years at one duty station building towards revival only to see it passed on to other shepherds? Does your new duty station look like a desert? Doesn't God appreciate your talents and your ministry and your impact? Doesn't he need you?
The truth is, God doesn't need you, but he opts to use you, and sometimes he puts you in the desert for your good and his glory. I don't know about Philip, but I know about me, and I've been tempted to see myself as the catalyst for church growth, that I'm some sort of savior for struggling people and ministries...God has a unique way of humbling us when that happens.
I'm not perfect. But, Jesus is perfect! I'm not holy. But, Jesus is holy! I'm not righteous. But, Jesus is righteous. I'm not perfect love, but Jesus is perfect love. Apart from Jesus, I'm not perfect, holy, righteous, or loving...but apart from me, he still is perfect, holy, righteous, and loving. So, who needs who? I need him! He doesn't need me! And likewise, you need him, and you don't need me! ~ Eric Ludy
But then Philip learns why he's in the desert when God uses him to lead a man to Christ. The man is going the wrong way to find faith and the truth, but God gives him what he needs: a Bible and a preacher to show him Christ (Romans 10:14-17). And then the Spirit transferred Philip to a new ministry in Azotus and Caesarea, and guess what he did there? He preached.
Go and do likewise, after reading Acts 8:4-40 for encouragement.
More:
1. Have you had mountaintop experiences and valley experiences in your Christian life and ministry? Was God faithful in both? Were there victories in the valley that can encourage you and others today?
2. Elijah found himself hunted and in despair after a great victory on Mount Carmel; God uses the experience to humble Elijah and call Elisha. Elijah's time in the desert was intense, but God, as always, proved himself faithful (See 1 Kings 19). Why might God put you through the desert?
3. Jonah was called from a thriving ministry in Israel to a hostile desert land in Assyria. Though Jonah was not happy about it at all, God won one of his greatest victories there only dwarfed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the salvation of your soul. I wouldn't change a thing about Jonah's story, and I'm sure he wouldn't either. What would you change about your story?
4. Chaplain Preston Taylor said after his desert experience that nearly took his life, "Never doubt in the darkness what you learned in the light," and Ross King puts his spin on it, "Let me believe in the desert what I believed by the riverside." Consider memorizing both of those quotes and putting them to work.
5. Resources:
King, Ross, "Believe in the Desert," Unfinished, Garden Entertainment, 2021.
Shearer, Canyon. Honing the Congregation to Be Attentive to Expository Preaching at First Baptist Church New Lebanon, Ohio. Louisville: The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2020. https://repository.sbts.edu/handle/10392/6133 (Read Chapter 2 specifically on Philip)
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