THE MINISTRY OF PHILIP

This is a year that every serious Christian should
receive Philip’s kind of ministry. What is Phillip’s
kind of ministry? Act 8: 5-8 s; “Then Phillip went
down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ
unto them and the people with one accord gave
heed unto those things which Philip spake,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For
unclean spirits crying with loud voice, came out of
many that were possessed with them, and many
taken with palsies, and that were lame, were
healed. And there was great joy in that city.”
Philip was not an ordained pastor. He was just a
layman filled with the Holy Ghost. He was not a
pulpit man but a layperson who believed in the
power of the Holy Ghost. Philip went everywhere
expecting miracles to happen. He was the man of
the market place but he caused things to happen.
We need to imbibe his kind of ministry.
For Christians to make an impact on the nation or
city where they are, they must become Christ-
consumed and Holy Spirit-filled like Philip. We
must become evangelists with faith to cast out evil
spirits and pray for salvation and healing of others.
Don’t stay where you were last year. Some people
before they were blessed with cars, came to
services early. Now that they have cars they come
late and give all kinds of excuses. If they do not
say that the carburetor of their car is faulty, they
would say that their drivers came late. So, they are
blaming God for the breakthrough. Where do we go
from here?
A certain minister was sent to a town in the West
African coast region. When he got there, he
decided to visit the chief priest whom he learnt
was the one causing trouble in the place. The chief
priest said, “My dear pastor, I will demonstrate
something to you now." He picked a piece of
maize and placed it on his palm and instantly the
maize started to grow on his palm. The pastor
watched him and was very scared. The chief then
asked him if his God could do that. He did not
have an answer, and he quickly looked for an
excuse and ran back to Nigeria. Later, another
minister was posted there. He also went to the
chief priest, who began to demonstrate his
demonic power again. He put the maize in his
palm and it started to grow as usual. The brother
watched, and the priest said, “Can your God do
this?” The brother said, “No. My God does not
waste time on things like this but I will show you a
little bit of what my God can do. He then opened
his mouth and said, “You satanic maize, be
roasted, in the name of Jesus.” And the chief priest
cried out, “My hand, my hand.” After the maize was
roasted, the fire began to burn his hand.” The
brother had to pray for his hand to  be healed. That was
a troublemaker.
Where do we go from here? Do we want to
continue our Christian race with such complaints
as ‘something is pressing me down on my bed’,
‘something is pursuing me.’ or ‘I saw a snake.’ ‘I
saw water and I wanted to cross and one woman
said I should not cross?’ Would we allow the
children of the bondwoman and the children of
darkness to sit on our wealth and we will be
watching them and believe that well, one day,
something will happen? No. Nothing will happen
until we begin to pray and address what should be
addressed. Then things will start changing. The
spirit of demonic silence must go. Many of us are
too quiet about the things of God.
If you are a boss somewhere, buy tracts, put them
on your table and distribute to those who come to
see you. Don’t sit in the bus and sleep. If you open
your mouth wide and preach, there is no way you
will fall asleep. God will only commit Himself to
those who will take a stand.
Create time for evangelism. The reason God puts
you where you are is for you to reach out to some
people. And if you are a failure there, it will be a
disaster for the Almighty. You never know what
you can do until you try.
Sometime ago, the daughter of a certain sister had
a mental problem and she was very wild. She took
her to the hospital where she was given a special
room because the drugs were not working. She
bounced on anybody who tried to enter into the
room. One day, the sister listened to a message
entitled, “You, the sleeping giant, stir up yourself.”
After listening to the message, she went to the
hospital and asked to see her daughter. They told
her to talk to her from the window. She said no,
that she would like to enter the room. She entered
and when the daughter saw her, she became wild.
But the sister said, “In the name of Jesus, you wild
beast, come out of her now.” It was as if she gave
a punch to the girl. She fell down and straightaway
she said, “Mummy.” She became calm as she was
delivered from the evil spirit troubling her.
The sister was shocked that she could do it. God
will not commit Himself to those who would just
sit down at home, or to men who after Sunday
service, would sit down at home and watch
television, who are not interested in house
fellowship or group activities.