Yes...far more flawed than I dare can imagine BUT so loved and valued!!

"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks God.   All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;  no one does good, not even one."   Romans 3:11-12 Glued to my TV over the recent events... unspeakable events.  I am horrified...scared.  People, ordinary people like me doing the unspeakable.   It brought to mind a story I heard years ago, and so I looked to find the story... to make sure it was not an "urban legend."  It's about a survivor of Auschwitz.  His name was Yehiel De-Nur and he testified at the Adolf Eichmann trial.   A film clip from that trial showed "Dinur walking into the courtroom, stopping short, seeing Eichmann for the first time since the Nazi had sent him to Auschwitz eighteen years earlier. Dinur began to sob uncontrollably, then fainted, collapsing in a heap on the floor as the presiding judicial officer pounded his gavel for order in the crowded courtroom. Was Dinur overcome by hatred? Fear? Horrid memories? No; it was none of these. Rather, as Dinur explained to (Mike) Wallace ("60 Minutes" aired February 6, 1983), all at once he realized Eichmann was not the godlike army officer who had sent so many to their deaths. This Eichmann was an ordinary man. 'I was afraid about myself,' said Dinur. '. . . I saw that I am capable to do this. I am . . . exactly like he.' He summarized his feelings by saying, 'Eichmann is in all of us.'"   Bible says the same thing....  Romans 3:13-18 ~ "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.  The venom of asps is under their lips.  Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.  Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.  There is no fear of God before their eyes."   Romans 3:23 ~ "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..."   Romans 6:23 ~ "For the wages of sin is death..."  Can't get away from that truth, as much as I hate it.  All means all ... All includes me. No matter how I try to spin it ...  I'm included.  Before a Holy and Just God I am condemned.. my sins have earned me death ... hell, separation from God for all eternity.  Selah. Someone said:  "We are far more flawed and far more sinful than we can dare imagine." BUT... the Bible has more to say....Romans 6:23 ..  "but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Ephesians 2:8 ~ "For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no  one may boast." "Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?   Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"  Romans 7:25 And there is salvation in no one else,  for there is no other name under heaven given among mean by which we must be saved.   Acts 4:12 Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished!"  Paid in full!  From horror and fear to flat on my face before the Lord, grateful ... that JESUS, The Creator of everything...the Word became flesh, gave His life for our sins... for my sins.... ...the Just for the unjust  ...that He might bring us -- me! to God..  Yes... far more flawed and far more sinful that I can dare imagine BUT  "...I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me." (Timothy Keller)

We have been given the message....

"Now an angel of the LORD, said to Philip, 'Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.  This is a desert place.  And he rose and went.  And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.  He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.  And the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go over and join this chariot.'  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?'"  Acts 8:26-31

I love this story in scripture.  An angel of the LORD speaks to Philip. And from what I understand from scripture, angels are pretty amazing.  They are God's servants who carry out some of God's plans on earth; bring God's messages to people, carry out some of His judgments; battle demonic forces; protect God's people; and generally patrol the earth (Luke 1:11-19; Acts 12:23; Daniel 10:13; Psalm 91:11-12; Zech. 1:10-11).    But it is to be Philip, not the angel who was to go to the Ethiopian in a "desert place" and tell him about Jesus!!!   Acts 8:35 "...Philip opened his mouth and beginning with this Scripture (scripture the eunuch was reading,Isaiah 53:7,8) and told him the good news about Jesus."

Philip proclaiming the Gospel in Samaria after Stephen's stoning which scattered many believers from Jerusalem, and there was much persecution...and an angel of the LORD interrupts Philip telling him to travel south, to a desolate place.  Philip obeys, and once there he sees the Ethiopian eunuch.  The Spirit of God then says "Go over and join the chariot." And catch this, Philip RAN!!  He runs to him and overheard 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."

Could not the angel have told the Ethiopian about Jesus?   The Spirit of God gave that charge to Philip.

There are people much like the Ethiopian who don't understand the Scripture, and they don't know Jesus - "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be save." (Acts 4:12)."   And there is no one else, not the angels, who have been given that charge....that commission, that command to proclaim the good news about Him, other than His people - Christ followers.

Some say a "godly life" should serve as a witness...but "Without words, what can our actions point to but ourselves?  A godly life cannot communicate the incarnation, Jesus' substitution for sinners, or the hope of redemption by grace alone through faith alone.  We can't be good news, but we can herald it, sing it, speak it, and preach it to all who listen.  In fact, verbal communication of the gospel is the only means by which people are brought into a right relationship with God." (Ed Stetzer Preach the Gospel, and Since it's necessary, Use Words)

The Apostle Paul in Romans said:  "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'"  Romans 10:13-15