Have you ever wondered how God could use a simple encounter to change the course of history? In Acts 8, a divine appointment between Philip and an Ethiopian official reveals God's masterful orchestration of gospel advancement. Pastor Jeff unpacks how this watershed moment—where an excluded, spiritually seeking leader meets a faithful evangelist on a desert road—launched Christianity's expansion into Africa. Through practical steps of asking questions and sharing Scripture, we see how God uses ordinary moments to accomplish extraordinary purposes. Ready to discover how God might use you? This message will equip you with biblical wisdom for recognizing and responding to divine opportunities. Watch now to learn how your next "chance" encounter could be part of God's greater plan!
Sermon Transcript
If you really want to hear His Word, would you agree with me very loudly by saying the word Amen? Amen. I want to ask you this morning what you're most thankful for. What are you the most thankful for? I had a chance of looking around our kitchen table this week and just being thankful for my wife and being thankful for my children.
But as the day unfolded and we began to share with each other what we're most thankful for, there's nothing I'm more thankful for than the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a pastor. I'm not just saying that because I'm on a platform in a church on a Sunday. I'm saying that because there's no greater gift than the gospel of Jesus Christ. That God so loved the world so much that he sent his son Jesus to be the Savior, that he came and died on a cross in our place for all our sins, that he rose from the dead, that he's the way the truth and the life that there's no one that comes to the Father except through him.
There's no greater gift that's ever been given, and I can prove it to you. I mean, think about this. For some of you, you have Christmas wish lists. There's things that you want, but even if you got all those things, they wouldn't be enough. I mean, for those of you that want, you know, 50 yard line, super bowl tickets for the rest of your life, and for those of you that say, if I just had a million dollars given to me, I'd be totally fine, or if I could vacation anywhere I want at any time, that's.
That's all I'd ever need, maybe that would be sustaining. Unless you got news that day that you only had about three weeks to live and then none of that stuff would matter. I mean, the only thing that matters is what's going to be transcendent, what's going to last. And the gospel of Jesus Christ is not only for this life, but also for the life to come. There's no great greater gift that's ever been given.
That's why when Jesus said, authority in heaven on earth's been given to me, therefore go make disciples. He was saying, hey, the gift that you've been given is so great. Go tell other people about that gift. Go help other people grow in that gifting. Prepare people for what's coming.
Because what's coming is greater than what you're experiencing right now. That's the greatest gift. And so when we go to different places and we hear people preach on the gospel and sharing the gospel, if we're born again, there's something inside of us that says, I need to do a better job of that. I should probably be a little better at that. Some of us who are introverted would say, well, I'm an introvert, so I'm just never gonna be that good at it.
Some of us who are extroverts would say, I've tried, it hasn't really worked, but I probably need to be a little better at that. And if you take kids to camp, they come back, high school kids, and you know, we're like, hey, it's up to you to reach the world. Go, go do it. And so sometimes people even make declarations like this, I'm gonna save 25 people at my school this year. And the reality is you can't save one.
You can't do anything. You don't have that level of power and authority. So when it comes to the sharing of the gospel, how are we to live? Because for many of us in the church, they go to Bible believing churches, many of us live with this guilt. Like I should be doing more, I should be sharing more.
It's up to me. And for others of us, we're like, yeah, but that doesn't have anything to do with me and I'm not gonna worry about it. What does God really want to do? And what I want to talk to you today about is when God directs a moment, how God uses the moments in your life for his glory. Not, not big things, just moments that God sets up for you for his glory.
That's what we want to talk about. And to do that today, we're going to be in Acts chapter 8, starting in verse 25, Acts chapter 8, starting in verse25. And while you're turning there this morning in God's word, I want to remind you of what's just happened. Jesus told us in Acts chapter one, as he told his apostles, and when they were asking him, is that this time you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel. He says, not for you, no dates and times.
But here's what you do need to know. You will be my witnesses in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And this is what he was saying. You're going to start in Jerusalem, you're going to go to Judea and then Samaria and then to the ends of the world, you're going to take the gospel out. Well, they started in Jerusalem, then they took it to the surrounding countrysides of Judea.
Then they went to Samaria and Philip's preaching in Samaria. The Jews hated the Samaritans. They couldn't stand the Samaritans. Why Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan. Nobody liked the Samaritans.
And now they're taking the gospel to the Samaritans. And the Samaritans are getting saved. And they know it's so incredulous that nobody's going to believe. So they call for the apostles. And Peter and John come to see the work that God's doing.
Now you'll remember during Jesus earthly ministry, Peter and John were the ones that were saying, should we call down fire on them? They, they couldn't stand them. And now they're watching these same people respond to the gospel and they're laying their hands on them. They're receiving the Holy Spirit. Now there's one by the name of Sim, who was a magician, he was a sorcerer.
He gave profession of faith in Christ. But we find out later that all he wants to do is buy the apostles power so that he can have power too. And they say, may you perish along with your silver and gold because you thought you could buy the gift of God. You can't buy the gift of God. You need to repent of this wickedness.
I see that there's, that there's the gall of bitterness in you. They point out Simon's sin. They point out he wants nothing to do with Jesus. And instead of Simon repenting, he says, oh, pray that for me. Pray that none of these bad things happen to me.
He gave a profession of faith, but he didn't have an encounter with the living God. And this is where our story picks up. It says this in verse 25. So when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.
This is the desert road. So he got up and went. And there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. And he had come to Jerusalem to worship. And he was returning and sitting on his chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah.
And this is where our story picks up. And the first thing I want you to see in this text when it comes to sharing the gospel, when it comes to being obedient to Jesus Christ, is this. That God orchestrates the opportunity. God is always the one who orchestrates the opportunity. So many times we think it's us.
So many times we think, you know, we, we say things like this. If it's going to be, it's up to me. And I don't, I don't know about you, but I don't know if it's because I was a firstborn child or because I was born in the Midwest or, or because of my temperament and personality. Everything about me, I think, from the time I came out of the womb is I'm going to go make it happen. I'm gonna go get this done.
If anybody's gonna do it, it's me. If you tell me no, I'm still gonna prove to you that's been my whole life. Now here's what I would tell you. The longer and longer I walk with Jesus, the more and more comfortable I am to realize I don't control anything. I'm not in control I can't even control myself.
I can't even control my own life circumstances, let alone in my wife, let alone in my kids lives, let alone outside our family, let alone in our church. I'm not in control and I'm very, very comfortable with that. And we hear scriptures that talk about God's in control, and sometimes we like those scriptures and other times we don't like those scriptures. But if he's in control, it means he's always in control, not in control when things are good and not in control when things are bad. He's either in control or he's not.
And the scripture makes clear. Let me just read a couple of them. Psalm 103, verse 19. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all, that's all people, all places, all things. Psalm 115, verse 3.
But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. Or how about Psalm 135, verse 6? Whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all the deeps. I mean, the Bible even tells us that even our best preparation is worthless without God's help.
Did you know that? I mean, we think, well, I'll do this or I'll make this. No, no, no. Proverbs 16:9 says, the mind of man plans his ways, but the Lord determines his steps. Proverbs 19:21 says, Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand.
Or one of my favorites, Proverbs 21:31. The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the Lord. I mean, all of our preparation and all the things we do and all the ways that we want to serve the Lord. And that's good. But God has the final say in everything.
God is the one who is unfolding everything. If your life is in chaos, God is unfolding that for you. If your life seems in order, God is unfolding that for you. Every detail of your life, God is in control of. And when you really realize that, even when you look back on your life, he said even then.
Yeah, even then. He's a loving God that was unfolding things because he wanted you to become what you're becoming. And he had an individual curriculum in your life and to get you there. He's either in control or he's not. The Bible says he is.
There's nothing that happens on this earth where God starts biting his fingernails. There's nothing that's happened on this earth where God is shocked. God's never surprised. I mean, even when the kings of the earth stand against him. Like In Psalm chapter 2, it says, the Lord in the heaven laughs like, you think you're going to control me.
I'm God. That's what I do. By definition. And we need to understand this when it comes to our own individual lives, that God is the one who orchestrates opportunity. I mean, think about it like this.
In Romans or Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, it says, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith. It's not your own doing. It's a gift of God so that no one should boast. Verse 10. For we the church, we that are born again, we are his workmanship.
Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which good works, which God prepared beforehand so that you would walk in them. So before you were even created, before you were even saved, God had a plan for the works that you were gonna do for him. So even the good works you do, God preordained that you would walk in them. He's in control. God orchestrates everything.
Now think about this, because I think about my life and you think about your life and like, it doesn't feel very orchestrated to me. There seems like there's some things out of kilter to me. It doesn't seem that organized to me. I like to think of it like my grandmother used to like to quilt. Have you ever seen the underside of a quilt?
There's all these frays and stragg yarns and all. But when the quilt comes down, it's got this beautiful pattern. We're looking up at the quilt like this, wondering, why are all these strings dangling? Why is all this stuff out of order? And how could.
It doesn't seem like it's in order to me. One day when that all comes down, we're going to be like, that was beautiful. You knew exactly what you were doing. But what does that mean for you? It means every day of your life.
This is the day the Lord has made. You shall rejoice and be glad in it. Every moment of your life, God is unfolding something special for you. So notice this in verse 25. So when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem.
This is Peter and John, and we're preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. They've gone from wanting to call down fire on the Samaritans. Now what are they doing? They're preaching the love of God to the Samaritans. They're preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Samaritans.
Now, if you are Philip, you would say, well, I'm going to hang out with Peter and John. Let's go on this crusade to share the Gospel in all Samaria. But notice what happens in verse 26. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert road.
What is he saying? He's telling you this. You may have plans for your life, but when the Lord prompts you and speaks to you, you better do what God wants you to do. Well, how do I know it's of the Lord? Because, you know, I mean, there's times that you're sitting in church, you're hearing the word of God and God says, you need to forgive them.
And then you ask the question, how do I know I need to forgive them? Well, it's not the devil that's telling you you need to forgive them, so forgive them. Right? Or you need to be open to going this direction or choosing this as a major or doing this or not dating this person or dating that person. You better follow the promptings of the Lord, because he sees the road ahead of you that you can't see.
And the way that faith works is God prompts you and shares with you through His Word what the next steps are. And the more obed you become to those things, the louder the voice of God gets. And as you step into them, the more you're going to see the Lord's faithfulness. So it would be pretty easy if you were Philip to say, I'm not going on some desert road down to Gaza. Who wants to go to Gaza?
I'm going to stay right here in Samaria, where the Spirit is at work, where people are getting saved. That's where I want to be. That's not what he does. Because the angel of the Lord spoke to him and said, this is the way you're going to go. So he says goodbye to two of the apostles that were friends of his, that were doing ministry with him and saying, you guys keep doing what you're doing, but God's calling me over here to do this.
So he got up and went, and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. And he had come down to Jerusalem to worship. Now, there's a ton in that verse, just so you know. Let's just. Let's kind of walk through this so he's on assignment from an angel of the Lord to go down to Gaza.
And on the way it says there was an Ethiopian eunuch. He was a court official of Candace. Candace is not the name of a person. Candace is a title. Think Caesar, think Herod, think Pharaoh.
That's a. That's a Candace. She. She was the queen of all of Ethiopia. That would be modern day Sudan today.
That's where he's from. And he's an Ethiopian eunuch. And notice what he did for a living. He was in charge of all of her treasure. And, and he had come to Jerusalem to worship.
So he was the, the. The Ministry of the treasury or the Secretary of the Treasury. He handled all the funds for that nation. So he's a trustworthy guy. He was a eunuch either by birth or because he had become castrated in order to serve this queen well.
So there was no interference with his duties. And so when you hear this story here, here's what you have. You have this politically powerful racial outsider because he's not Jewish. He's religiously excluded because Deuteronomy 23 in verse 1 says that if you were a eunuch, you couldn't enter the temple. So he could have gone into the court of the Gentiles, but he couldn't have gone all the way in.
So even though he traveled hundreds of miles to go worship in Jerusalem, he's only going to get close enough to hear them giving praise songs and hearing prayers, but he can't go into the service. So what you have is this religiously excluded, sexually broken, spiritually seeking guy. He's going to travel hundreds of miles just to hear prayers. He's going to travel hundreds of miles because there's something inside of him that says there's got to be more to life than this. And let me tell you something, what a true seeker is.
A seeker is not just you seeking. When you see somebody who is seeking the Lord, it is God behind the scenes that's orchestrating all that. It is the Lord that is giving them the hunger for those of you who are born again. And you look back at your life and say, at this time, I started seeking the Lord when I was 18. I really started seeking the Lord because I had a friend that died six weeks before graduation.
At the funeral, I remember thinking, where's he at? And how do you know? And. And all the things I'd been told didn't make sense. I started seeking.
But that wasn't me seeking. That was the Lord getting my heart. That was The Lord drawing me. That was the Lord bringing people into my life. So that as I was asking questions, he was on a rescue mission for me.
It's the Lord who does that work. So when we see this in the life of the Ethiopian eunuch, it's not just that he woke up one day and says, you know what? I think I'll see God. You know what? I think I'll go find out who the real God is.
No, it's God behind the scenes in his heart, drawing him to himself. And he's hungry. So you have this extremely powerful broken man that's traveling hundreds of miles that just so quote, unquote happens providentially to be on the same road to Gaza that Philip was called to go to. That's what's going on. Why?
Because God is the one that orchestrates the opportunity and notice what happens next. And he was returning, sitting on his chariot, and notice what he was doing. And he was reading the prophet Isaiah. He's got his Old Testament out. He's reading Isaiah.
We're going to realize he's reading Isaiah, chapter 53, verses 7 and 8. That's what he's reading. And so he's in this chariot. He's with this caravan of people. He's an extremely powerful man.
He's traveled from modern day Sudan all the way to Jerusalem to worship. And now he's on his way back. He doesn't understand anything. And here he is. I mean, this is why God sent Philip there.
Now, if Philip would have said, God, why do I have to go down to Gaza? What's the big whoop? What's the deal? God wouldn't have even told him. The angel of the Lord said, go.
So you know what he did? He went. When you go in faith, that's when you experience the blessings of the Lord. When you go in faith, that's when you experience God's best. He goes in faith, and this is what he experiences.
And notice what happens next.
Then the Spirit said to Philip, So now the Spirit of God's going to talk to Him. Verse 29, Go up and join this chariot. I mean, God set it all up. Angel, Lord told him to go. Now the Spirit of God's like, just run up alongside the chariot.
Just go join him. Really? Me? Like, I have no authority, I have no power. Like, what?
Why? Why am I? Because the Spirit of God told you to go, so you go. When God tells you to go, you go. That's what he did.
Now we have all sorts of stories in our life where Things happen and we don't understand why. And some of the things that happen in our life, we'll never understand why. This side of heaven, there's just detours. And I thought we were going to go this way, and I ended up over here. I mean, just recently, our last missions team, when they.
When they left here, they left on a Wednesday to go to Zanzibar. And by the time they left, there was political unrest in Zanzibar. So instead of getting to Zanzibar on Thursday night, they found themselves in Amsterdam, then having to go to Paris, then having to go to Kenya, and then ending up there on Saturday night. So instead of a day and a half trip, it ended up like a three day and a half trip. And I don't think any of them could even tell you right now why that happened other than it was a long trip.
Right. I mean, have you ever had those circumstances in your life? I mean, you. We were clear, clear, clear. God told me to go do this, and I went and did this, and then this happened.
If you haven't, you will. Like, that's not what I expected. This isn't the way I thought it was going to go. I had it figured out that this was what we were going to do. And I did this and I checked this box and I went here.
And none of it worked out. Why? Because God was orchestrating something different. And God doesn't orchestrate just the big things. God orchestrates the minute things.
He down to the final detail, and this is where he is. So I want you to understand this. Every situation in your life, when you have to wait in line too long, when traffic's not good, when things go your way, when things don't go your way, that's God unfolding a story in your life. He's orchestrating something. Amen.
Let me tell you the second thing God does. God not only orchestrates the opportunity. God speaks through scripture. God always uses his word. God always uses his word.
Now, I love this next verse because notice what happens. Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet. So check this out. You're Philip. An angel of the Lord tells you, go to Gaza.
You go to Gaza. You're on your way. You see this Ethiopian eunuch in this caravan, the Spirit of the Lord says, run up alongside. You run up alongside and you notice he's reading Isaiah chapter 53. Like, what are you gonna do?
I know what I'd be thinking. Done. Let me tell you what you're reading. Let me tell you what's going on. Do you understand?
This points to Jesus and all this kind of stuff. That's not what he does. Notice what he does. He does. The key to every bit of good evangelism, especially for those of you that would say here today, I'm just not a good evangelist.
How many would say just by show of hands, be honest. I'm just not good at evangelism. That's not my, like, lead. I'm not really good at that. Here's why.
Because when you think about evangelism, you think about the statements you need to make to be winsome to people. That's not what he does. Notice what he says. Do you understand what you are reading? He starts with a question.
The best way to do evangelism is start with a question. Oftentimes we think of evangelism as getting out a stool that we can stand on to yell or project our voice or getting a megaphone to. What does he do? He runs up alongside of a guy that's reading Isaiah, chapter 53, and he's like, hey, do you understand what you're reading? I mean, ask questions.
I mean, think about the people in your sphere of influence that you know. Man, if I start making statements about Jesus, I'm gonna blow up my whole family. I'm gonna blow up all my friends. I'm gon. Why not say something like this?
Hey, you know what? You know that I attend church, and that's pretty important to me and my family, and I know that you don't. Could I just ask you? Because I've never really asked why. Like, why is.
Why is that not important to you? If you're genuinely interested asking questions, people will genuinely give you answers, and you may find some things and discover some things about why they're not interested, and they'll tell you their story. And when they tell you their story, then you can listen and be like, I'm so sorry that happened to you. Hey, I'm so sorry that happened. You know, that.
You know, that's really not what was intended to happen. Or I'm sorry that that hurt you, or now all of a sudden you have a relationship. The reason we don't ask questions. Can I just tell you the number one reason we don't ask questions? Because we don't care.
We don't care. If you don't ask questions, you don't care. If you're in conversation with people and you're the only one asking questions, they don't care about you. If you're in a conversation with somebody, they're the Only one. Asking questions.
You don't care about them. It's just a fact. Asking questions, going back and forth. So Philip does what a good evangelist does. What's he do?
He asks a question. He could have totally told this guy, Isaiah 53 is pointing to Jesus. He could have run right up and said, let me tell you what you're reading. I know you're lost, you're dead, you're blind. No.
Do you understand what you're reading? Notice what happens then. And he said, The Ethiopian eunuch said, well, how could I unless someone guides me? Do you understand what you're reading? I don't know.
I've been reading this Bible. It doesn't make any sense to me. There's a lot of people that read this book that don't understand it at all. And we make the assumptions a lot of time that people read this book, and they don't. We think because people are Catholic or Methodist or Lutheran or Baptist or Protestant that they've read the Scriptures.
We think that people are Jewish, have read through the whole Old Testament. They haven't. And those who have, they don't understand it. They just don't know it. I mean, I went to a Lutheran grade school.
We had to memorize Scripture. I read through the Bible. I memorized Luther's small catechism. I would read the Bible. It never made any sense to me.
Then I got saved, and it all made sense to me, like, really, really fast. Like, oh, this is so easy. How come I never saw this before? Well, because I was blind and dead before I was born again. So just because you read the Bible doesn't mean you understand it.
So he's like, how am I going to do this unless somebody explains it to me? And then notice what he does. And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. So here's a caravan with one of the most powerful men in the world at that time, God tells him to go down to this desert road. He thinks he's just on this pathway, going on a desert road.
Next thing he's doing, he's sitting next to the Secretary of Finance or Secretary of the treasury for a large nation. And he's in the caravan with him on his chariot, sitting there as his caravan's going down the road, explaining the gospel to him. Who could orchestrate that? Only God. Only God.
And here's the truth. God will orchestrate similar things in your life. Philip's not meeting with him because he feels called to rich people. Philip's not meeting with him because he Feels called to politicians. Philip's meeting with him because he loves Jesus.
And Jesus told him, go do this. And he did it. Like, if you really love Jesus and you pray like this, say, lord, I don't even know if I'm good at evangelism. I don't even think I am. But I do love you.
And if you'd be willing to orchestrate a circumstance or two for me so I could see you unfold that in my life, I'd be open to it. Not sure I'd know what to say. Not sure I'd know what to ask or do, but I'd love to see you work in my life that way. And I'll be obedient if you give me that opportunity. You pray some bold prayer like that, and you'll be shocked at what God unfolds in your life.
And it won't be the way you think it happens, because he's God and you're not. And he'll unfold it in your life and you'll have some story to talk about, like you read about in the Book of Acts. You're like, I can't even believe this happened. I can't even believe I went there and this happened, and this person, and then this. And I shared and they.
It was amazing. Well, it was. Because you just asked God to show you what to do, and you were obedient. It's that simple. And he speaks through the Scripture, so he invites him up.
He's sitting next to him. Now, the passage that he was reading was this. This is Isaiah 53, verses 7 and 8. He was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as the lamb before it shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. And humiliation as judgment was taken away.
Who will relate his generation for his life is removed from the earth. So they read it, and he has no clue what he's reading. So he looks at Philip, and the eunuch answered Philip and said, please tell me, of whom does this prophet say this? Of himself or someone else? Like, is Isaiah talking about Isaiah or is he talking about somebody else?
Like, I. I don't get it. I don't know it. Now, if you talk to Jews today and you ask them why they don't believe in the Messiah, and you say, well, Isaiah 53 is right there. And Psalm 22 that talks about his death on the cross is right there. And there's so many Old Testament scriptures that prophesy the coming Messiah and how he was going to be cut off from his people right before the City got destroyed.
I mean, it's all right there. How come you don't see it? Well, number one, many Jews don't read it. Number two, even when they read it, they're blind to it because you can't understand the Scripture unless you've been born again. And they're dead in their trespasses and sins.
That's why they can't see it. We make assumptions that people of religious background understand things that they flat out do not understand. Until you're born again, you do not understand spiritual realities. Until the spirit of God comes and takes up residence in your life, you don't know anything more than religion. And whatever your religion teaches, that's kind of what you hang on to.
So he starts right there. Now, notice what he does in verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth. And beginning from this scripture, what'd he do? He preached Jesus to them.
The gospel's not hard. It's simple. It's clear. Notice what he didn't do. He didn't sit around and say, well, my name's Philip, and let me tell you about my story.
And he's not telling his story. Nothing wrong with telling your story. But that's not where he started. He started with the word of God. And then what did he tell him about Jesus?
He took him from the word of God to Jesus as quickly as he could. Well, I don't know that much about Jesus. All I know is that he died on the cross and rose from the dead. That's plenty. Tell him that.
Tell him he's the way, the truth and the life. Tell him for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Tell him that God made him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Tell him that Christ died once for all the righteous, for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. I mean, whatever you know in the scripture, just tell them that.
And if you don't know that, just say Jesus died for you and rose from the dead. Tell him that. I mean, just tell them about Jesus. The reason we have a hard time, whether we're introvert or extrovert, sharing the gospel is. We do everything but share the gospel.
We prepare ourselves for rejection. And so we're like, now, don't. Don't get me wrong. I mean, I know some of the Bible's confusing. And don't get me wrong.
I know this is really Hard, by the time you tell them about Jesus, they're not even listening to you anymore. He starts right at that scripture. And like, let me tell you, that's talking about Jesus. Let me tell you about Jesus. He.
He was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, just like you read a few verses earlier and by his stripes were healed. Here's what he did on the cross. Let me tell you about Jesus. That's what he did. Just tell him about Jesus.
Friends, I'm here to tell you you don't need to get really religious before you get to heaven. You just need a lot of Jesus. You want Jesus? Amen. And God speaks through his word.
Romans 10:17 says, so faith comes through hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ. Why do we preach the Word? Not because it's like the chic, cool thing to do, but if you preach this book, people hear God. If you share this word, people hear God. It's amazing to me how many people that come to Brave Church will tell me after a service if they're new to our church.
And hey, I've been coming for a while. How is it you know everything about me? I'm like, I've never met you before. Have my friends told you about me? No.
Well, what's going on? Well, what's going on is the Spirit of God is sharing with you from his Word truth that you need to hear. Or have you ever had the experience where you walk into a church service? Maybe today's one of those days. And the preacher's preaching and you're like, this is exactly where I'm living.
This is exactly what I needed to hear. Why is that? Because the Word of God is alive. And the Word of God will meet you wherever you are. And the Word of God has a way to encourage and build and do great things.
And those that want to receive it and those that want to reject it, it has the ability to harden your heart where it makes you angry when you hear it. And all of those things happen every time the Word of God is being proclaimed. The more you know of the Word, the more you can share of the scriptures, the more effective you can be in your witness. Why Hebrews 4:12 says, for the Word of God is living and active. It is sharper than any two edged sword.
It penetrates to divide both soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and it judges the attitudes and intentions of the heart. This scripture reads you, the scripture tells you about you. And the reason we need the gospel is because we're talking to dead people. We're talking to dead people. You're talking to blind people.
I mean, when you're sharing the gospel, trying to convince them of a. If you're talking to blind people and trying to convince them of a color palette, it doesn't work. When you're talking to dead people, they can't hear you. Like, they need the gospel to make them alive. God's gotta.
God's gotta awaken them. So we share Christ and we trust that Christ wants to do his work in and through us. Amen. I mean, think about when Jesus met the two guys on the road to Emmaus in Luke chapter 24. I mean, it's the one scripture I always tell this church.
I wish I had that message. Because beginning of the Old Testament, he walks them all the way through the Old Testament, tells them everything about who he is, and then their eyes are opened and they. They see him. I mean, if somebody's heart stopped beating, you wouldn't talk to their dead heart. You wouldn't try to convince the heart beat.
Please stop. Be. Please beat. You'd get a defibrillator and shock on. Right?
I mean, God is the one who brings life. He's the only one who can do it. The gospel is what gives them truth about the reality and the things to come. Amen. So keep this in mind when you're out in the world.
God is the one that's orchestrating your opportunities. God is the one. When everything goes wrong, look up because something's coming. God's the one that's orchestrating all of it for his glory through you. And God speaks through the scripture.
So use the Scripture and then tell them about Christ and then know this. Here's what God does for those who are truly born again. God fuels obedient faith. God fuels obedient faith. Right after Philip preached Jesus to him, we know that he got saved because notice what happens in verse 36.
As they went along the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, look, water, what prevents me from being baptized? So they clearly talked about the fact that when somebody is born again, the first step of obedience is to get baptized in water. It's all over the New Testament now. You're not saved because you're baptized.
And being baptized doesn't make you doubly saved. It's an outward expression of your obedience to Christ that you've died to your sins and been risen with Him. I grew up in a tradition that did not baptize people after they got saved. I Grew up in a tradition that baptized infants and babies. I was told that I was baptized at age 6 months.
I don't remember it, but I was told that happened. And I'd seen it happen enough in our church where they would sprinkle water on your head in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And that was baptism. And that was supposedly a really, really good thing. And all this stuff.
You don't read infant baptism anywhere in the Bible. There's no place for it. You won't find it. Go. Go look for it.
You just won't find it anywhere. What you see in the Bible everywhere is, once somebody's converted, then they get baptized. Jesus even, you know, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them who? The disciples who have been made disciples. Those who have been born again.
Baptizing them in what? The name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. So what is the first step of obedience once you become a believer? Get baptized. Now, as a young Christian who was a youth director in a church at the age of 24, and I'm reading my Bible.
I'm seeing this everywhere. I'm seeing it all over the place. I'm like. And every time I'm reading it, there's this fire going off in my heart. Like, I want to get baptized.
I totally want to get baptized. And I don't know where to go to get baptized. They don't do it at the church I'm at. They baptize infants at my church. I think all those freaky people that probably speak in tongues, they do it there.
But I don't want to go to that church. I mean, I didn't know what to do, right? I mean, I didn't know what to do. And so I kept praying to Lord, Lord, if you want me to get baptized, show me how to get baptized. That's all.
I kept praying. So I was speaking as a youth director. I'm 24 years old and single. I take six kids down to this camp in the middle of Nowhereville, Virginia, one of the poorest areas I've ever been in. And I was the camp speaker that week.
I spoke Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in the morning and at night. And so I was the main speaker. But there was one guy there who was a missionary from Zaire who had been a pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church. And he had one time to speak, and he spoke on Wednesday. He spoke for 30 minutes.
Can anybody guess what his topic was that day? It was baptism. And he was saying, when you get born Again, you need to get baptized right away. And I'm sitting there feeling like I'm the only person in the room that the sermon was for, and I think it was. And as soon as he got done, he didn't call people forward.
He didn't do anything. I was making a beeline from the back all the way up. I grabbed him by the arms. I'm like, hey, I want you to baptize me. And I want you to baptize me right now.
I have to get baptized. And you can't tell the kids in my youth group because we don't do that at our church. And I don't want to make a big deal, but God wants me to get baptized, and I want you to baptize me now. So he took me with another pastor down to this pond, and I was baptized in Virginia. And I remember coming up out of the water saying, oh, praise God.
That's exactly what he wanted me to do. Now, did it change my life forever? No, Christ changed my life forever. But it was an important step of obedience, because when you read the Word, it shows you what you need to do. And this is exactly what was going on in the heart of this Ethiopian eunuch.
Like, I'm born again, and here's water. Like, why wouldn't I get baptized, like, immediately? Like, I want to be obedient to Jesus in every way. And Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
That's really your only requirement for baptism, by the way. You believe that Jesus Christ is God's one and only son. You believe he's the Lord of the Universe, then you can be baptized. I mean, he wanted to be baptized. He wanted to be identified with the family of God.
And here's why this is so important. When you see somebody who's truly born again, God begins to fuel obedient faith. When you see someone that's not born again, that just gives a profession obedience feels like a drag. Like, if you're really not born again, there's nothing in you that wants to be obedient. But you're trying to be obedient, but you don't want to be obedient.
And then you come to church, Like, I'm really struggling with that. I'm struggling with this. When you're a Christian and you're born again, yes, you still struggle with things, but there's this part of you. But I want to do right. I want to do good.
I want to do it God's way. And if this is what the Bible says, Lord, help me do it that way, because I want to do it God's way. That's. That's what every born again believer says, right? And this is what's going on in the heart of the Ethiopian eunuch.
He's truly born again because God fuels obedient faith. Being obedient to Jesus is so normal for a Christian. Christians want to be obedient. They're not always obedient. They don't do it perfectly.
They do it how increasingly. I mean always. I want to get better at honoring Jesus. That's what I want with my life. When you see somebody who's been a believer for three months, five months, five years, 10 years, 20 years, and they have no desire for obedience, here's not the.
The question isn't, why don't you want to be obedient? The question is, why isn't Jesus your Lord? Because if he really was inside of you through His Holy Spirit, you'd live differently. You'd want what Jesus wants. And even when you don't and you fail, you'd repent because you still want what Jesus wants.
Amen. That's why James says that in James 2:17, that faith without works is what it's dead. It's pointless if you say you have faith, but there's no obedience to back it. You really don't have faith. You're fooling yourself.
You're just making a profession. It's like we make little statements all the time that aren't true. Like there's. There's some people that, you know before they get married, they, they live together, they fornicate together, they share bank accounts, they do all this stuff. And they say, well, we're kind of married.
No, you're not married. You're. You're. You're professing that you are, but you're not. Here's.
When you're married, when, when you take vows in front of someone and you invite your family members and you exc. Rings and you say, till death do we part, we're preferencing one another, then you're married, right? You can say you're a Christian, you can come to church, you can do a lot of good stuff. But until you're born again by the spirit of God because you've repented and believe that Jesus is the Christ, you're not saved. Right?
I mean, we make statements all the time as to what we are that we're really not. And the Ethiopian eunuch is not giving lip service like Simon did. The Ethiopian eunuchs are saying, I want to go all in on all this stuff. I mean, there's a difference. I mean, anybody in grade school.
Did you have fire drills when you were in grade school? Okay, I know I'm not the only one that had fire drill. It was the stupidest thing in the world, right? They would ring the obnoxious bell and it would continue to ring. The teachers told you we were going to have a fire drill that day.
And when it happened, you were to line up in single file. And then you wait for the teacher. And then they were to let you out of the school. And you were staying single file all the way till you got out there. And.
And then you had to wait and you couldn't talk. I remember I didn't do any of that stuff, right. Apparently. Cause I didn't like I was getting yelled at the whole time. So then you had to stand there and then 10 minutes later the bell would ring and you'd walk back in.
Well, I remember saying, that's so stupid. And I was stupid because there was no fire. It was just a drill. Had there been a fire, I would have led the charge out of the building. Right, here's the truth.
When it comes to your spiritual life, are you just going through the drill or are you living in light of the spiritual realities that you're going to face? God fuels obedient faith in the life of a believer. If you're truly born again, you're going to live out your faith obediently. You're going to grow in it. You're going to want to honor the Lord more in what you do.
And then when you do that, I mean, if you're living a life where you're trusting God to orchestrate opportunities, you're speaking through the scripture and proclaiming Christ, you're letting God fuel your faith. Then you'll see this happening. This is why I read the Book of Acts. I love the Book of Acts. Why don't we see this more?
You'll see it happen. You'll see it happen. And it's this that God multiplies the mission. God always multiplies the mission. He starts with the little moments.
He starts. I mean, this is. I mean, think about this. This is one on one with one guy from Ethiopia. That's it.
I mean, it's not even newsworthy yet, but notice what happens. Verse 38. He orders the chariot to stop. And they both went down into the water. Philip as well as the eunuch.
And he baptized him so that you, the Ethiopian unit, gets baptized. Notice what happens when they came up out of the water. The spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus and he passed through and he kept on preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea. So check this out.
So, okay, here's water. Why shouldn't I be baptized? Well, we should. Let's both go down in the water. Philip and him go in the water.
Philip baptizes him. When the Ethiopian unit comes out, Philip's gone. He got snatched away. He got raptured to azotas, which is 20 to 25 miles away. So immediately he's gone.
He's 25 miles away. Which tells me this. As a former evangelist that used to go to crusades and did Billy Graham stuff, they would always have this thing following this crusades called follow up. We got to follow up. We got to follow up.
We got to follow up. And I used to ask the question all the time, why do you need follow up for somebody that's truly born again, Somebody's truly born again will make their way into the church because they're hungry. Somebody's truly born again will find a preacher that has the word. Somebody's truly born again is going to want to grow. But if they're not born again, they're just professing, you got to follow up because you got to try to get them in the church, right?
You got to follow. So Philip's not going to follow up because Philip's gone. Philip's not going to see the Ethiopian eunuch ever again. Philip did his job. He shared what God wanted, and God moved him on.
And now he's going to go up the northeast coast of Israel, he's going to preach the gospel all the way to Caesarea. Because now guess what. Okay, well, I was there. I was in Samaria preaching. God took me to Gaza.
Now I'm in Azotus and I'm going to go up to Caesarea. It doesn't matter where I'm at. I'm going to do the same thing no matter what. I'm just going to tell people about Jesus. That's what's important.
And so that's what he does. But notice what happens to Ethiopian eunuch when he came up out of the water after Philip was snatched away, he went on his way rejoicing. He was fired up. He's like, I Met Christ. I mean, here's this guy who was formerly a religious outsider, who was excluded, who was sexually broken, who was spiritually searching, who was politically powerful, who realized when he went to worship he couldn't even participate, that now is a citizen of the kingdom of heaven and a citizen of the kingdom of God.
And he has all full rights to Jesus. And he's been baptized and his eternity is totally secure and he's fired up going back home. Pretty cool, right?
But why is this so important? Why is this story so important? Like, why does this story make it here? I mean, several of you have had encounters with people. You've led somebody to Christ.
Why is this story in here? Let me tell you why. Because this is the Jesus said, you're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and in Samaria and where? To the ends of the earth. So where's it going now?
It's going to Africa. He's the first African convert. This is how the Gospel is getting into Africa. Now pay attention really quick because I got to say this because a lot of people say, well, Christianity is a white man's religion and they colonized and they did all this stuff. Friends, long before there were ever white people in the kingdom.
You had Jewish people, you had Semitic people. Now they're going to Africa with really dark skinned people. I mean, they don't. The gospel doesn't get to northern Europe for a while. It's not a white man's religion.
It's just not like if you go looking for a white Jesus, you'll never find him because he's not white, He's Jewish. Do you understand what I'm saying? And think about this. I mean, Philip went and did what God wanted him to do. But what if Philip hadn't gone?
What if he hadn't gone? God would have got somebody else to go do it. Do you know why? Because I listen to a lot of Christians, like, what if I do it wrong? What if I share it wrong and they go to hell because of me?
Friend, you're not that powerful.
You don't control someone's eternal destiny. Nobody's going to hell because of you and nobody's going to heaven because of you. You just live out the gospel in front of people and you proclaim Christ. You let God do all the work. It takes all the pressure off of you.
It's all the pressure off you. Yes, Pray for your family. Yes. Pray for your colleagues. Yes.
Pray for the people at work. Yes. Pray for the people in school. But it's not your responsibility to get them saved. It's your responsibility to be obedient to Jesus all the time.
And as you get opportunities, share why you're obedient and share how great our God and leave all the results to Jesus. He'll do it. There's no pressure on you. It's just a privilege. The privilege is you get to open your mouth and say why you have hope.
That's the privilege that you have, and that's what's going on. So God's gonna multiply this mission. And if you study church history, you'll realize that for the first three centuries, some of the greatest theologians and missionaries come all out of Africa. The people that we quote. Right.
That's where it starts. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Africa. It's gonna spread all over the place. Why? Because Jesus is the greatest prophetic voice in all history.
And what Jesus says is going to happen always happens. Amen. I mean, what you have in this text is similar to what you have in Isaiah, chapter 6, verse 8, where Isaiah is standing before the throne, where he says, here am I, Send me. Like, here am I. Send me.
I'm. I'm available. I'm available. My sphere of influence, God, if you direct my steps, if you direct my moments, I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll be your witness.
And why is this so important? Because when you really get the gospel, you realize it's generational. Second Timothy 2. 2 talks about four generations. It says, these things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and trust of faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
What's he saying? He says, these things which you have heard from me. That's Paul talking to Timothy. That's two generations. Paul to Timothy.
He said this in the presence of many faithful witnesses. Entrust these to faithful men. That's generation three who will be able to teach others also. Like when the gospel's truly real and you're hearing the word of God, you're to take what you hear, entrust it to faithful people who are also going to entrust it to other people. That's how the gospel multiplies, right?
So what's your responsibility? Being faithful with what you've been entrusted with, living it out and sharing it to the best of your ability. And sometimes you'll hit the mark and sometimes you won't, and it's okay. And God's not up in heaven saying, well, I wish they would have made it to heaven, but when they go to hell, It'll be your fault. That's never going to happen.
Because God's the only one that can save. God's the only one that can save. All you're called to do is be faithful. And here's what I'm trying to explain to you. When you finish your race, don't be holding the baton.
Pass it forward. You got the baton while you're alive. Pass it forward. Pass it forward. I mean, what we see when wildfires spread is that they don't stay isolated.
They move outward. I mean, this was Africa's first spark that started moving outward. That's why this story's in here. This story's in here not because of the Ethiopian eunuch and not because of Philip. It's in here because God says, I'm always faithful to what I say I'm going to be faithful to.
I'm going to take the gospel where I said it's going to go. And here's the two agents I chose to use. I chose Philip, who had the gift of evangelism, and I chose this Ethiopian eunuch who was a totally powerful yet broken man, but had influence in where he was. And I was going to save him first so he could take the gospel back. And who did all that?
God said, well, I did. So when you read this text, God saying, celebrate me because I'm pretty awesome. I'm the one that did all this. I'm the one that gave Philip the words. I'm the one that orchestrated them.
I mean, how do they know to meet at the exact same time? Because I'm God. What's he saying? I'll do the same things in your life, too. I'll do the same things in your life, too.
If you would be so bold as to pray for the moments that God has for you. If you'd be so bold as to say, God, I don't even know if I know what I'm doing. I don't even know if I know how to do this. I don't even know if I get it right. But, Lord, I love to be used by you.
Lord, would you give me opportunities in the coming days where I can see your hand at work as you unfold things for me to share? Would you be bold enough to pray that prayer? Because if you are, you will see God orchestrate things for his glory on your behalf, for you to represent him? Well, maybe sometimes it's just living faithfully. Maybe it's sometimes saying, I don't participate in that because of my love for Jesus.
Maybe sometimes it's saying, well, let me ask you a question. Why? Why? Why do you act the way you do? Why do you talk the way you do?
What? Why do you act so empty and so, I mean, what's the question that you need to ask somebody? Be thinking in terms of questions. Don't feel like you gotta race out and throw tracks and Bibles in people's faces. Go love them, go ask them questions.
And then as you give opportunity for the hope that you have within you, share it with all boldness. Friend, if you're here today, I'm here to tell you I'm not asking you to get religion. I'm not asking you to join the church. I'm not asking you to serve more. I'm not.
I'm telling you that there's a God in heaven that loves you so much, he sent Jesus to pay for all your sins and the relationship you're looking for and the stirring that you have in your heart and the pounding that you have is him calling you home saying, I want a relationship with you. And if that's you, we're going to pray here in just a minute for you to receive Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. So would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise for who you are. And Lord, we ask in this moment that you would do a great work.
If you're here today and you're saying, I know I need faith in Christ, I want it personally. I don't want religion anymore. I don't want to identify with denominations and rituals. I want to identify with Jesus. You can pray this three word simple prayer.
Here it is. Lord, save me.
Believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose from the dead. I want to turn from my sins and trust you as my personal Lord and Savior. Save me, Lord. Come into my life, Lord.
I pray that for those that prayed that this morning they would have palpable evidence this week of your work in their life. And Lord, for those of us that know you, here's our prayer. Lord, this week, this very week, today, tomorrow, through the rest of the week, unfold opportunities, orchestrate opportunities by your hand so we'll have opportunities to live for Christ and share Christ in places that you're taking us in our sphere of influence, Lord, not with pressure, but with pleasure that we would enjoy you all the days of our life. We give you glory, we give you honor and praise in Jesus name, Amen and Amen. Can we give God praise for his word?