A “Nudge”

In 1855, Edward Kimball visited a young man who was working at a shoe store.  This visit and subsequent conversation would later start a movement and revival that continues to this day through the countless lives that have been changed.

What sent Edward Kimball to that shoe store in Mt. Vernon, Massachusetts?  It was a “nudge”.  This young man was in Kimball’s Sunday school class, and Kimball felt a nudge to go visit him and share the gospel.  In the stock room of that shoe store on a cold, damp April day, a young man by the name of D.L. Moody would receive Jesus as his Savior.  Moody continues to this day as one of the most beloved evangelists, with thousands of lives being transformed because of Moody’s boldness to share the Gospel.  Why…Because of a nudge…

Acts 8, one of my favorite sections of Scripture, shows us how a nudge, a conversation and conversion would begin a movement that to this day continues.  It was Phillip who felt a nudge to go south.  What would happen has set the course of history for not just one man, but for an entire country.  Read it with me from Acts 8:26-35:

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?” 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.

Phillip went on a nudge, had a conversation with the Ethiopian about Jesus and today, Ethiopia has a Christianity rate of 70%.  Hallelujah!

Edward Kimball felt a nudge to go visit a young man named D.L. Moody, had a conversation about Jesus…Phillip felt a nudge to walk south and he encountered an Ethiopian that would start a movement that is unparalleled.

My encouragement to you is to not neglect the “nudge”, make the call, send the text, stop for the visit.  The Lord’s “nudges” are purposeful and specific…and lives could be forever changed because of your obedience.