“Come and Follow Me - Partnering with God and Playing a Part in His Plans” on Acts 8:26-40 by Andreas Degn – August 23, 2026

1. Recap from last week

   1. Mike talked about the “Come and follow me” aspect of discipleship.

   2. This week I’ll continue to talk about that aspect of discipleship. 

2. Introduction

   1. The topic of this week is "Partnering with God and playing a part in His plans."

   2. This past week I’ve been reflecting on how we GET to be a part of God’s plans.

   3. We have already heard a number of examples this morning of what that has looked like in our congregation, and at Rock Nest.

   4. God has plans for individuals, families, nations, people groups, institutions etc. It’s all over the Bible.

   5. God is committed to having humans be a part of His plans. We see this from Genesis to Revelation. God rarely does anything where there is no human agency involved. 

      1. I said rarely, because nothing, except Creation came to mind, but again I could be wrong.

   6. We also see it in our world today, if you have the eyes to see it. 

We’re going to read a story from the book of Acts where a believer got to play a small, yet significant part of God’s plan. 

For context, Philip just came back to Jerusalem after a successful ministry trip to Samaria, fulfilling Jesus’ command from Acts 1:8 to take the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the Earth. 

3. Scripture reading: Acts 8:26-40

We’re not going to do an in depth study today. We’re going to look at 2 things we can learn from this story. 

1. God often gives guidance one step at a time.

   1. Step 1 - vs 26 An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

   2. Step 2 - vs 29 The Holy Spirit said to Philip “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”

   3. Step 3 - vs 34-35, notice how Philip doesn’t need God to tell him what to do, the eunuch is asking for it. 

Why does God choose to do this? Why not show Philip everything he’s planning to do in this situation? 

He knows the eunuch, his situation and it must be very significant. 

I don’t know for sure, but here are some reasons to consider:

1. It’s an opportunity to grow in trust. These are God’s plans, He is entrusting us with a small role to play.

2. When you don’t know the outcome of a situation, obedience to God is based on who He is, it’s not based on a guaranteed outcome. 

3. I wonder if we would say “no” if we knew where it was headed.

2. God rewards us with an invitation to a deeper relationship to Him. 

• Philip got to experience the excitement of playing a part in God’s plan and to experience the eunuch encountering God.

• He also didn’t have to walk back, He got carried or ‘teleported’ by the Spirit of God(vs 39). That must have been exciting! Try to imagine him telling others about it.

• We don’t always get to see the outcome we hoped for, sometimes the opposite actually, but there’s always an invitation to a deeper relationship with God.

• I have a story about my uncle, who is not a Christian. While visiting him a few years ago, I could tell that God wanted me to talk to my uncle about Jesus, but I didn’t want to. We were together on a long drive, but I was afraid to bring it up. Eventually, I thought, ‘Okay, God you really want me to do this.’ So I shared about Jesus with him for about 10 minutes. Afterwards, nothing changed with my uncle’s outlook, but I had done what God asked me to do. The main point being was my obedience to God that gave me freedom and joy. I don’t know the final outcome of that drive.  

  
  

3.Application: “God, how can I play a part in your plans today”?