{"id":16218,"date":"2015-06-05T01:01:40","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T06:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.cancaonova.com\/catholicismanew\/?p=16218"},"modified":"2015-05-24T12:51:07","modified_gmt":"2015-05-24T17:51:07","slug":"welcoming-the-word-of-god-welcoming-salvation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cancaonova.com\/catholicismanew\/2015\/06\/05\/welcoming-the-word-of-god-welcoming-salvation\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcoming the Word of God; Welcoming Salvation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcoming the Word of God, we receive salvation, because its essence is one: it is the salvation that we men need in Christ Jesus our Lord!<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“Then Philip began to speak and on this passage of Scripture and told of Jesus to the eunuch”<\/em> (Acts 8, 35).<\/span><\/p>\n

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What a wonderful passage to contemplate in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, when Philip meets an Ethiopian eunuch, who actually is a minister of the Queen of Ethiopia!<\/span><\/span> This man opens to God’s grace and meets Philip“Philip ran up, he heard the eunuch reading Isaiah the prophet and said. ‘You understand what you are reading?” The eunuch said,’ How can I, if nobody tells me? ‘”(Acts<\/em> 8: 30-31).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

From that same passage from Isaiah read by the eunuch, Philip announced to him the kingdom of God, preached from that same Scripture about who Jesus was.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Let me tell you: this is a passage from the Old Testament, Isaiah, but it is important not to lose the heart of the message.<\/span><\/span> Old to the New Testament, the whole Bible leads us to the heart of<\/span> Jesus!<\/span><\/span> So we can not get stuck or tied to secondary matters and not going to the essential in the preaching of God’s Word.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And then another very important thing to be seen is the one eunuch wanted to understand the Scriptures, he was thirsty and he\u00a0needed someone to teach this.<\/span><\/span> With evangelical wisdom and docility to the Holy Spirit, Philip will announce \u00a0God’s Word to the\u00a0Ethiopian.<\/span><\/span> He is so convinced by the preaching of Philip, that right there he asks to be baptized, they go down to where there is water and Philip baptized him.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, we need to proclaim Jesus, we need to preach the name of Jesus, we need to help people understand the Scriptures.<\/span><\/span> And understanding the Scriptures does not mean simply taking a course in theology, becoming an exegete or anything on the Word of God.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Good who can study, who can understand more, but we can not fail to give the kerygma of God’s Word!<\/span><\/span> The essence of the Word of God is one: it contains the salvation that we men need in Christ Jesus our Lord!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What we need is to preach Jesus;<\/span><\/span> He\u00a0is light, wisdom, understanding and knowledge is.<\/span><\/span> We must preach Jesus that leads us to repentance of our sins. We must preach Jesus leading to thirst for God and desire to live things from him. Do not waste time with preaching, with ads and often with parallel discussions lead nowhere!<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There may be times when we satisfy our curiosity;<\/span><\/span> yet the Word of God is not a book of curiosities;<\/span><\/span> God’s Word is the Word that leads to God and salvation!<\/span><\/span> We can not lose time, we must announce the name of Jesus whom God sends us: friends, relatives, children, husband (wife).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Do not wait for the salvation until\u00a0your home needs to be in this or that situation.<\/span><\/span> Salvation is close to us, but often we ignore it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That same Spirit that led Philip to announce, preach, convert and baptize the heart of the eunuch, who was a minister of the Queen of Ethiopia, be upon us, leading us to preach the Word of God and to lead men to know and love Jesus, because when we know Him and love Him He becomes the Lord, the light and the direction of our life!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

God bless you!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n