April 13, 2025 • 44 mins
Acts 8:26-40
A seemingly random detour forever changed the course of Christianity's spread into Africa. When Philip was divinely redirected from a thriving revival in Samaria to a deserted road, he couldn't have imagined the eternal significance of this one-on-one encounter with an Ethiopian court official.
The Ethiopian eunuch represents the extraordinary lengths some will go in searching for God. Having traveled approximately 1,500 miles by chariot to worship in Jerusalem—a journey consuming months of his life—he was returning home still spiritually hungry, reading from Isaiah's prophecies but unable to understand their meaning. Despite his wealth, power, and religious dedication, something was missing.
What unfolds is a master class in divine orchestration. Philip finds the eunuch reading precisely the passage that prophesies about Jesus' sacrificial death. When Philip explains how Jesus fulfills Isaiah's prophecy, the Ethiopian immediately responds with faith and requests baptism—a particularly meaningful moment considering that as a eunuch, he had been excluded from full participation in Jewish worship under Old Testament law.
This narrative powerfully illustrates how God values individual souls. He redirected Philip from mass conversions to focus on one searching person, demonstrating that in God's economy, the one is worth pursuing with the same passion as the multitude. The text simply states that after his baptism, the Ethiopian "went on his way rejoicing"—he had finally found what he was looking for.
The implications are profound for today's believers. Your willingness to follow God's prompting, even when it seems illogical, might be the divine appointment someone has been praying for. You don't need theological credentials like the apostles—Philip was "just" a deacon who was faithful with what God had given him. Most historians believe this Ethiopian became Christianity's first African convert, potentially carrying the gospel to what was then considered "the ends of the earth."
Who is the "Ethiopian eunuch" in your life? One conversation could change not just a life, but potentially reach the nations.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The scripture reading this morning is from Acts, the
8th chapter, verses 26 through40.
Now an angel of the Lord saidto Philip Rise, go toward the
south, to the road that goesdown from Jerusalem to Gaza.
This is a desert place.
(00:22):
And he arose and went.
This is a desert place.
And he arose and went and therewas an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a
court official of Candace, thequeen of Ethiopia, who was in
charge of all of her treasure.
He had come to Jerusalem toworship, he was returning,
seated in his chariot, and hewas reading the prophet Isaiah.
(00:45):
And the Spirit said to Philipgo over and join this chariot.
So Philip ran to him and heardhim reading Isaiah, the prophet,
and he asked do you understandwhat you're reading?
And he said how can I, unlesssomeone guides me?
And he invited Philip to comeup and sit with him.
(01:08):
Now the passage of Scripturethat he was reading was this
Like a sheep, he was led to theslaughter.
Like a lamb before its shearersis silent.
So he opened, not his mouth Inhis humiliation.
Justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
(01:28):
For his life was taken awayfrom the earth.
And the eunuch said to PhilipAbout whom, I ask you, does the
prophet say this About himselfor about someone else?
Then Philip opened his mouthand began with the scripture.
He told them the good newsabout Jesus.
(01:50):
And as they were going alongthe road they came to some water
.
And the eunuch said See, hereis water.
What prevents me from beingbaptized?
And he commanded the chariot tostop and they both went down
into the water, philip and theeunuch, and he baptized him.
And when they came up out ofthe water, the Spirit of the
(02:14):
Lord carried Philip away and theeunuch saw him no more and went
on his way, rejoicing.
But Philip found himself inNazareth and as he passed
through he preached the gospelto all the towns until he came
to Caesarea.
This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Thanks be to God.
You may be seated.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Now, what's dangerous is whenever a pastor gives a
preacher a microphone laughter,laughter.
But I want to point it'sdangerous, it's whenever a
pastor gives a preacher amicrophone.
But I want to point outsomething With the multitude of
times that I read this scripture, I saw something this morning.
Don't take my points now.
That amazed me, and Chris won'thave to preach when I get
(03:04):
through.
But we read that Philip foundhimself in Asherah Can you
imagine being transported by theSpirit?
And yet he preached the gospel.
That amazed me.
He didn't tell his testimonyabout this great experience he
had.
He preached the gospel andthat's amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Amen.
Well, I did not have that pointin my sermon.
So the point there is befaithful and you can teleport
Praise the Lord.
Well, god not only cares aboutthe multitudes, but he cares
about the individual.
God cares about individuals,our pastors.
(03:50):
Along with our wives, lastmonth, we had the privilege
opportunity to go to Asheville,north Carolina.
There, in the beautifulmountains, to the Cove, the
Billy Graham Training Center, wewent to a pastor's conference
and the campus is breathtaking.
But to me, the most beautifulplace on the campus is the Billy
(04:15):
Graham Prayer Chapel.
It's this sanctuary where BillyGraham himself and countless
others have spent hours uponhours in prayer, in worship.
At the bottom of that buildingis a museum that kind of
(04:35):
chronicles the life and ministryof Billy Graham, and so as
you're walking through thebasement there, you're going to
see picture after picture ofthese large crusades where
thousands of people are thereand each night hundreds, if not
thousands, of people are comingto the Lord.
As a matter of fact, I did someresearch and do you know that
Billy Graham has preached tomore people than anybody else
(04:58):
live?
Do you know that he preached inhis lifetime to some 215
million people, with millions ofthose people professing Christ.
Now I'm grateful for the legacyof Billy Graham his integrity
(05:19):
all those years without scandal,his faithfulness to preach the
gospel all around the worldwithout scandal.
His faithfulness to preach thegospel all around the world.
And when thousands of people inan evening or a weekend come to
the Lord, how many know that'sreason to celebrate.
But I want you to know thiswhen one sinner repents, there
is reason to rejoice.
(05:39):
Jesus said in Luke 15, 10, so Itell you, there is joy before
the angels of God over onesinner who repents.
There's a party in heaven.
So here's what that means forus today there have been five
parties in heaven because ofwhat's happened in this church
over the last two months,because five individuals have
(06:00):
come down, given their heart tothe Lord, hallelujah.
Individuals have come down,given their heart to the Lord,
hallelujah.
And so I want you to know todayyou may never be a Billy Graham
, you may never stand behind apulpit like this and share
Christ with some 100 people, butI'll tell you this you still
(06:22):
play a vital role as anindividual Christian to Christ's
mission to spread the gospel tothe nations to the ends of the
earth.
When you share the gospel withsomebody across from a coffee
table or with your neighbor onhis or her front porch, or in
(06:44):
your living room or on anairplane, and somebody repents.
The Lord has just used you tomake an eternal difference in
somebody's life and you neverknow.
One life is wonderful, but younever know the ripple effect.
Somebody led Billy Graham tothe Lord.
What Mordecai Ham Ron claimsthat he was related to him, but
(07:12):
his name is spelled with one M.
We added him.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
All right, I got you.
So listen, guys, we are allcalled to preach the gospel,
every one of us.
You may not be called tovocational preaching, but it is
incumbent upon every Christianto share the gospel with the
lost.
God cares about the one, notjust the multitudes.
(07:42):
In the book of Acts we'removing kind of section by
section through this wonderfulhistorical account of the early
church and so far up to thethrough the beginning of chapter
eight, the book is generallybeen about the multitudes being
saved.
Remember Acts, chapter two Peter, uh, under the unction of the
(08:02):
Holy spirit, preaches a dynamitemessage.
Uh, people are cut to the heart.
They say, peter, what do we do?
And he said repent and bebaptized.
And that's exactly what 3000men plus women and children did.
You flip the page and Peter andJohn are making their way to
the temple to pray.
When they come up on a lame man, been paralyzed since birth,
(08:24):
they say to him, in the name ofjesus, rise up and walk.
And he gets up and he startsrejoicing a guy that couldn't
walk since birth.
Well, that draws a crowd, amen.
And so peter and john use thatmiracle as a platform and they
preach again the gospel 2 000more men plus women and children
that are added to the church,and on and on it goes.
(08:46):
By the time the deacons areappointed in Acts, chapter 6, it
is estimated that the churchjust in Jerusalem is 20,000
people strong.
Then in Acts, chapter 8, thegospel we see moves out of
Jerusalem on to Judea and thento Samaria, and there's this
(09:07):
revival going on and multitudesare coming to the Lord, and
that's through verse 25 inchapter eight.
But today there's a shift andGod moves away from the
multitudes and he shows us thevalue of one.
He shows us the value of one.
Here's the's the outline.
Today I'm going to unpack this.
God, in this story, uses oneChristian, philip, because God
(09:33):
is pursuing one person, thiseunuch, so that he can lead him
to one person who can transformhis life, namely Jesus Christ.
I'll say it exactly like it'son the screen God uses one
Christian Philip in pursuit ofone man, the Ethiopian eunuch.
(09:55):
That he, the eunuch, would betransformed by one, the Lord
Jesus Christ.
The significance of one.
Let's start here.
God uses one Christian by thename of Philip.
Who is Philip?
Well, philip is not one of theapostles who was mentioned in
(10:19):
the gospels.
There was an apostle namedPhilip, but this is not him.
This Philip was appointed inActs chapter six as one of the
deacons, the servants who wouldtake care of the food
distribution to the widows, theHellenistic widows, in the early
church.
You know, the church is growing, some people are falling
(10:40):
through the cracks and so theychoose Philip and six other men
out of thousands of people totake care of these needs.
That tells us something abouthim, doesn't it?
And that allowed the apostlesto commit to prayer in the word.
But I want you to know thatPhilip, throughout Acts, if he's
(11:03):
anything, he is a faithful manof God.
He's faithful to the Lord andto the call that God has on his
life.
So in Acts chapter 6, he is afaithful deacon, a man, it says,
of the spirit and wisdom.
Then, as we saw last week inActs chapter 8, we saw last week
in Acts chapter 8, god callsPhilip to, he uses Philip in
(11:26):
Samaria and Philip, god usesPhilip the deacon, not the
apostle to do miracles.
And Philip I mean people arebeing delivered, demons are
being cast out and people arebeing healed by the droves, and
he preaches the gospelfaithfully.
As Jack pointed out earlier,even at this point he doesn't
(11:46):
say look what I'm doing, allthese miracles.
He points people beyond himselfto the Lord Jesus Christ.
We don't read now, today, bythe way, god calls him on this
solo journey, we'll unpack that.
But we don't read about Philipagain until chapter 21.
And in chapter 21, luke, whowrote the book of Acts, calls
Philip Philip, not the deacon,but the evangelist, philip the
(12:11):
evangelist.
And you know what Philip doesin chapter 21?
Get this Philip, who started asa deacon.
He houses Paul and Luke andtheir companions as they're on
this missionary journey.
Imagine Apostle Paul knockingon your door, right.
I mean, here's what I want youto see Every step of the way
(12:35):
Philip has been faithful.
It reminds me of what Jesus saidin Luke 16, that one who is
faithful in very little will befaithful in much.
That's what we see in the story.
So I would just tell you todaythat you know, don't wait to say
(12:56):
well, you know, when the Lordcalls me to do something big, to
start some ministry, then I'llbe faithful.
Just be faithful right now.
Be faithful in prayer, befaithful in Bible study, be
faithful in sharing your faithwithin your neighborhood job
wherever you meet lost people,be faithful in whatever God has
(13:17):
called you to do in this church,in whatever capacity you're
serving in, come early, staylate.
Just be faithful.
Capacity you're serving in,come early, stay late, just be
faithful.
Often, the Lord, as we arefaithful, he will give us more
and more responsibility.
And that's what we see in thestory.
Not only is Philip faithful, buthe's trustworthy.
He's excuse me, yeah, he istrustworthy, but he trusts God.
(13:40):
He just has a habit of trustingGod.
So you go back God.
He just has a habit of trustingGod.
So you go back.
Remember, philip's a deacon.
He's doing a great job andthings are going well.
He's serving God with all hisheart.
And all of a sudden, theenemies of Christianity come
against the church and peopleare being dragged out of their
(14:01):
homes.
The scripture says and so allthese Jews, these multitudes of
people, flee Jerusalem and theygo throughout Judea and they go
to Samaria.
And what's interesting here isPhilip who's serving.
He doesn't question God and sayLord, why would this happen to
me?
Why do I got to leave Jerusalem?
Why would you not smite thesepeople who are persecuting us?
(14:22):
Lord, I'm serving you andyou're going to let this happen?
He doesn't do that.
He just trusts the Lord.
He doesn't understand why theLord's sending him where he's
sending him, but he trusts Godand God had a plan.
Remember the thesis and theoutline for the book of Acts is
found in verse eight.
That says Jesus to his apostleswhen the Holy Spirit's come
(14:44):
upon you, you will receive powerand you'll be what Witnesses in
Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samariaand to the other most parts of
the earth.
This is going to get good injust a moment, but right now,
what's God's plan?
The believers scatter.
Well, guess where they go Judeaand Samaria.
(15:07):
He trusts God.
Well, he trusts him again inthe story today.
Look at verse 8, or, excuse me,verse 26 in chapter 8.
Now an angel of the Lord.
So Philip is in Samaria.
Now an angel of the Lord saysto Philip Rise and go toward the
south, to the road that goesdown from Jerusalem to Gaza.
(15:29):
This is a desert place and herose and he went and there was
an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a courtofficial of Candace, queen of
the Ethiopians, who was incharge of all her treasure, and
he came to Jerusalem to worship.
The angel of the Lord said toPhilip go down this road to Gaza
(15:52):
.
Now, gaza was one of the mainfive cities of the Philistines.
All right, it had been.
The old Gaza had been destroyedand the new one had been built,
closer to the coast actually.
But historians tell us thatthere were two roads that went
from Jerusalem to Gaza.
One had, for all intents andpurposes, been abandoned, the
(16:16):
other was highly traveled.
Guess which one?
The angel tells Philip to godown the deserted road.
Now, just think about this fora moment.
Philip is in Samaria and he'sin the driver's seat for all
that's going on.
I guess he's in the passengerseat, god's in the driver's seat
, but he's the head of thismassive great awakening.
(16:40):
People are being healed,delivered, all this stuff.
Think about that.
And all of a sudden, in themidst, at the peak of this, an
angel shows up to Philip andsays oh, by the way, god's
pulling you out of here and he'sgoing to send you down the
desert road where nobody travels.
(17:01):
How would you respond to that?
I miss the Lord, right.
So why?
God probably had to send anangel to make sure he knew that.
He knew that he knew this wasGod.
Now that'd be like when BillyGraham was alive, calling him
from a you know, let's say,crusade in Louisville and saying
, hey, I want you to go toJackson County or to Hazard, the
small town, right County, or toHazard, the small town, right.
(17:24):
That's what happens.
But look at Peter's response.
I mean he had to be mind blownhere, like Lord.
What You're going to take mefrom this to a deserted road.
Here's all it says in verse 27.
And he rose and went.
Oh boy, that we would have thatmuch trust in the Lord.
(17:45):
And he rose and he went.
The implication is, this wasimmediate.
Perhaps this is speculation,but I think the angel came to
Peter in a dream because I thinkhe was laying down and as soon
as he woke up, he just gets outof bed and goes no waffles and
(18:07):
bacon, are you hungry?
No eggs.
He just goes immediately.
And oh, beloved that we wouldobey God immediately when he
calls us to do something.
It's so, so vital.
(18:28):
Amen, trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's noother way to be happy in Jesus
but to do what Trust and obey.
So the question is why wouldGod send uh, now that we have
the whole story this oneChristian Philip down this
(18:49):
deserted road, this oneChristian Philip, down this
deserted road?
That's a question worth askinghere.
It is Because God is in pursuitof one man, takes him from
revival to a deserted road forone man, because God is not just
caring here about the masses,but he cares about the
(19:09):
individual.
He cares about you individually, amen.
So he's in pursuit of thisEthiopian eunuch.
So look at verses 27 and 28again.
And he rose and went and therewas an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a
court official of Candace, queenof the Ethiopians, who was in
charge of all her treasure, andhe had come to Jerusalem to
(19:32):
worship.
So what do we know about thisman?
We don't know his name, but wedo know he's an Ethiopian.
Now, hear me, this is notmodern day Ethiopia.
Okay, dr Crane, this is not thecountry that's kind of in the
horn of Africa.
Dr Craig Keener points out thatthe Greek term here applied to
(19:53):
all of Africa south of Egypt.
All right, and the particularkingdom in view here is called
Nubia.
Are you with me?
It's called Nubia, so here'swhat's so interesting.
Watch this.
In the ancient world, nubia,this part of Africa, was
(20:14):
considered the end of the earth.
Now let's go back to Acts,chapter 8.
To his apostles, you shall bemy witnesses in Jerusalem, where
Philip serves as a deacon, thenin Judea, and then in Samaria,
where Philip goes, and theuttermost parts of the earth,
(20:36):
which at this point is Africa.
God is using one man, not anapostle, not a pastor, a deacon,
just a man who is faithful anda man who trusts God.
Oh, the significance of one.
Do you know that scholarsbelieve that this could have
been the first dark-skinnedAfrican to come into the kingdom
(20:59):
of God?
Beyond that, this is the firstfull Gentile that's come into
the kingdom of God.
Oh, god is using Philip tobreak down social and racial
barriers.
Amen, because the kingdom is aworldwide religion.
(21:21):
I wasn't going to share this,but I'm going to share this with
you.
Tim Keller, I heard him in asermon.
He was quoting a professor Idon't remember the guy's name
from Yale.
He's a Christian guy and he didsome research, and the argument
is that Christianity, of allthe major religions, is the only
(21:45):
truly worldwide religion.
And here's what he means.
All other religions outside ofChristianity are overwhelmingly
contained roughly where thereligion started.
Now, watch this 96% of allMuslims live in the Middle East,
africa and South Asia.
(22:05):
So generally, where the Islamicfaith started, it's been
generally contained there.
88% of Buddhists live in EastAsia.
98% of Hindus live in India orSouth Asia.
You see this, but watch this.
(22:26):
Christianity 25% of Christiansare in Central and South America
, the Caribbean.
22% of Christians reside inAfrica.
15% are in Asia and that numberis rapidly growing.
And do you know that only 12%of Christians are in North
(22:49):
America, 20-something percent inEurope?
Beloved, this is a worldwidereligion.
In other words, no culture, noone people group has the hold on
Christianity.
It's for the whole world, redand yellow, black and white.
They are precious in His sight.
Amen.
(23:11):
And God is using Philip, adeacon who's just been faithful
in the little things, to pursuea man who's searching for God,
and then the gospel will go toAfrica, where now 22% of
(23:31):
Christians reside.
Wow, he's an Ethiopian.
Beyond that, quickly, he's aman of influence and power.
It says here he's a courtofficial of Candace, the queen.
Now, candace is not her name.
Do you know somebody namedCandace.
It's not her name, it's a title.
It's much like emperor Allright.
He was over the treasury of theEthiopian people, of the queen's
(23:55):
money.
He's like the CFO, chieffinancial officer, like he's
somebody right.
He's a court official and,beyond this Gulp, he's a eunuch.
You know what that means.
Young people cover your ears.
He was castrated, all right.
Now that is like what in theworld?
But in the ancient world it wasnot uncommon from for a man of
(24:19):
high power, particularly in theum what would you say Royal
courts to be castrated.
And here's one of the reasonsum, this stops him from let's
say let's say it positively thiskeeps him focused on what needs
to be focused on.
See, they knew men right, allright, I digress.
(24:39):
So he's a man of influence andpower.
He's wealthy.
As a court official, he wouldhave been taken care of.
Now, when Philip finds him, he'sin a chariot and only the, you
know, top class, upper class,got to ride in chariots.
Everybody else it was a donkey,or you're walking in sandals
right, or barefoot.
So this would be, and he's gothis own driver.
(25:02):
Like this is, he's got it.
This would be like you havingyour own chauffeur and he's
driving you around all the timein your brand new Bentley.
All right, shake your head, newBentley.
All right, shake your head atme.
Act like you're happy to be atchurch this morning.
All right, there we go.
So this guy's wealthy andbeyond that.
This is surprising.
Maybe he's extremely religious.
(25:24):
Where was he coming back fromwhen Philip came upon him From
Jerusalem?
And Luke tells us what he wasdoing he was there to worship,
watch this Full Gentile, not aJew, but at some point he came
across some Jewish people and hebecame really interested in
(25:44):
knowing the one true God ofIsrael, yahweh Jehovah, yahweh
Jehovah.
And so he, with all of hisheart, pursues the true and
living God.
And it says that he went sofrom Nabia to Jerusalem to
worship.
(26:05):
Now, are you with me?
This gets crazy.
Historians estimate that thistrip would have been up to casey
1500 miles that is roughly thedistance, uh, cheryl and john,
from here to tucson.
Is that is that close?
About 1500 miles now?
I lived in tucson and it tookme two and a half days in a
(26:30):
U-Haul truck and I was like, arewe ever going to get there?
Nikki and I flew out to Tucsonto see some friends just a
couple of months ago and it tookus four hours in a plane from
Atlanta and I felt like it wasan eternity.
Do you know how long it wouldhave taken they estimate this
guy to get from Navia, southAfrica, to Jerusalem
(26:56):
Conservatively one month, ridingin a chariot on a deserted road
.
Why did he go there?
Just to worship?
So a month there, a month back,and it's likely that he stayed
there a month to make it worthhis while.
He didn't just go to one churchservice and leave.
So get this Conservatively.
This man is so hungry for Godthat he takes Bob a quarter of
(27:20):
his year, leaves his business aquarter of a year to say I want
to know this God.
And my point is he's way morereligious than most of us in
America.
We have, like what?
A five-minute, ten-minute,maybe 45-minute drive to church.
And do you know that theaverage Christian quote-unquote
(27:44):
goes to church twice a month?
This church, I mean we have 150people that call this church
home.
And look at it today.
And if you're watching online,this is for you, watch this.
Well, why don't they come tochurch?
Here's the excuses I hear allthe time.
Well, it was raining.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
It's not here.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Or it's too cold and I don't want to get out, or it's
a really warm day, it's thefirst one of the year.
We want to be at the park andjust enjoy it with our family.
I figured out that there's justa there's got to.
There's like a window of likeeight degrees where people will
come to church.
I've heard the excuse.
Well, I had company, I havecompany.
(28:23):
Well, bring them.
Bring them.
Let them know that Jesus isfirst in your life.
Let them know that Jesus isfirst in your life.
Well, I've got the sniffles.
Come on and on and on.
I stayed up late.
That's on you.
It's my only day to be withfamily.
Well, bring them to church.
(28:43):
What better way to spend timewith family?
Here's a guy oh man, I get offmy soapbox here.
Here's a guy.
It's not even a jew and hedrives 1500 miles right in a
chariot that he might know thisgod.
He's wealthy, he's a man ofpower and influence and he's
(29:06):
religious.
But here's what I want you tosee he's still empty at this
point.
He's empty.
According to Deuteronomy,chapter 1, no castrated man
could be welcomed into theassembly.
He would not driving all thatway, he could not have become a
(29:33):
full Jewish convert.
He didn't have access to thetemple.
So you drive 1,500 miles toTucson to attend a church and
they won't let you in.
But I love this.
On the way back he's so hungryfor God, discouraged as he must
be.
He somehow obtained a scroll ofIsaiah and he's reading through
the scroll, trying to figureout how he can know this great
(29:57):
God.
U2's Bono.
Anybody U2?
All right, bono wrote years agoa very popular song and it's
about his faith journey.
Bono talks quite a bit aboutfaith and you know it talks
about him climbing the highestmountain, swimming the deepest
(30:19):
sea and the end of every verseas he's on this journey for
satisfaction and happiness.
Every verse ends with the wordsthat are the title of the song.
I still haven't found what I'mlooking for.
(30:39):
High and low, that's the mantra, that's the song that the
Ethiopian has to be singing here.
I searched high and low, 1,500miles, but I still haven't found
what I'm looking for.
And he's searching thescriptures going God, where are
you?
How can I know you?
But here's the great news Goduses one man, philip, because
(31:04):
he's in pursuit of one man.
The eunuch Pulls him out ofrevival because this one man is
seeking him, seek and you willfind.
In 29, the Spirit, the HolySpirit tells Philip, think of
this.
The chariot's moving and theSpirit says, hey, strange man,
(31:29):
stranger danger, run.
Have him roll down the windowand jump in the chariot.
I was thinking about the oldWesterns, you know, when the
cowboys are riding next to atrain and they're, like you know
, trying to get on a cart orwhatever.
Listen, imagine this.
The chariot's going and he'srunning.
(31:50):
Hey, hey, slow down, slow down,let me.
What are you reading?
Go to this man.
You know what I thought here.
The man has searched high andlow for God and he can't find
him.
So, god, god finds the eunuch,he runs to him.
You, you didn't find God, godfound you, amen, amen.
So here's what happens Philip'son the deserted road and he
(32:19):
just so happens to come across aeunuch who's seeking God, who
just so happens to be reading apassage We'll look at it in a
second From Isaiah 53.
Which just so happens to beabout the Messiah whom this man
is looking for.
No, it didn't just so happen.
There are no coincidences withGod.
Let me just tell you a storythat happened just a few weeks
(32:44):
ago.
I generally wear a suit jacketon Sunday mornings.
That's where my anointing comesfrom, I think.
Or I wear a sweater.
By the way, God doesn't give arip about that, it's about
what's in here.
Amen, but I wear it so you allwon't be mad at me.
I think it was three weeks ago.
(33:09):
I went to my closet.
This is going to sound likemystical to some of you, but I
went to my, won't you, jan?
You'll get this, you'll lovethis.
I go to my closet and I'mstanding there looking for my
suit jacket and I sense the Lordtelling me not to wear a suit
(33:29):
jacket.
If you were mad at me, you,three weeks ago, you talked to
God.
I'm looking and there's hangingin front of me a long sleeve
black shirt that I feel like theLord wants me to wear.
I don't even know if I wouldhave said it was the Lord.
I think I assumed that, but Ijust felt nudged.
(33:49):
And then I saw some black jeansthat I don't think I've ever
worn to church I think I've onlyworn them twice and I felt the
Lord wanted me to dress likeJohnny Cash.
And then I looked down, jeff,and I had tennis shoes at the
bottom of my closet.
Boy, it's getting heretical andI feel the Lord nudged me to
(34:13):
wear black tennis shoes.
They were kind of dressy.
Well, I get to church and Idon't let me say one other thing
If I were to dress without asuit jacket, generally my wife
would not let me out the door.
Chris, you sure you don't wantto wear a suit jacket?
And she's not really asking.
She's not suggesting, she'stelling me what to do Because
(34:38):
she doesn't know what Paul saysabout husbands and wives in that
relationship in Ephesians,chapter 5.
Is she in here?
She left.
Thank you, yara.
So she says nothing to me aboutit.
I get out without a lectureBecause she tells me you know
(35:01):
change, can you imagine?
God told me to wear this, comeon.
So I think nothing else aboutthis, and we sing and I preach
this and we sing and I preach.
At the end of the service, ayoung man who had not been to
church came into the VIP roomand we started talking and the
first time he had been here andhe was hungry, searching,
(35:26):
searching for something.
He said I'm empty and we havewhat he's searching for here.
He said one of the reasons andwe have what he's searching for
here.
He said one of the reasons Ididn't go to a particular church
is because I didn't haveanything to wear.
Do you want to guess what hewas wearing?
Black shirt, black pants andtennis shoes.
And I looked at him and I said,brother, you're wearing exactly
what the preacher's wearing.
(35:46):
Do you think that was acoincidence?
Exactly what the preacher'swearing.
Do you think that was acoincidence?
Do you know?
God, that morning, in hisforeknowledge and his power and
his sovereignty, wanted thisyoung man who, by the way, got
saved that day, wanted him to besaved so much that the Holy
Spirit would tell me what towear to church.
Oh, what a God we serve, andthat's exactly what happens here
(36:11):
, desert Road.
Lord, what are you doing?
Serve, and that's exactly whathappens here, desert road.
What are you doing?
He's pursuing one man, becausethe one matters Isaiah 53.
Let's look at it here, verse 31.
Excuse me, 32.
Now the passage of scripturethat he was reading just so
(36:32):
happens to be like a sheep hewas led to the slaughter, and
like a lamb before its sheareris silent, so he opens, not his
mouth.
In his humiliation, justice wasdenied.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away.
Now let me just man.
(36:55):
I'm sorry I'm preaching so long, but this is so rich.
Do you know?
I'm sure this is not the firsttime in this long trip that he's
been through this scroll.
I won't take you there, you canread this later.
But do you know?
In chapter 63, so it's talkingabout this figure, this
messianic figure who will comeand bear the sins of his people.
Now, remember, the eunuch hasbeen rejected into the assembly
(37:20):
of the Jews as a castrated man.
But in chapter 63, this is soamazing Do you know that Isaiah
starts talking aboutprophetically how the eunuch is
going to be brought in, howsomething's going to happen,
that this messianic figure isgoing to do something that will
(37:43):
allow the one who's beenexcluded in to the kingdom.
Do you know one of the greatesttragedies of this man being a
eunuch?
It shows his commitment.
In the ancient world it wasn'tindividualistic like it is now.
Your success and yourprominence came not by what you
yourself did, but by your family.
Life was about family.
It was about your name going onin a legacy.
(38:09):
And this man had no hope ofhaving children.
He had no hope of having afamily.
His lineage would be when hepassed away.
But do you know what it says inIsaiah 63?
It says for the eunuch, he willhave something better than sons
and daughters, brothers, sister, because he's going to be
brought into the family of God.
And so you can hear this man ashe's reading this oh, this is
(38:33):
great, but what in the worlddoes it mean?
And so he asked Philip aboutwhom, I ask you?
Verse 34, does this prophet saythis?
Is it about himself or someoneelse?
So what does Philip tell him?
He doesn't talk about the manupstairs.
Well, this is about the big manupstairs.
He doesn't talk about God ingeneral.
(38:53):
He doesn't tell him I just wantyou to know.
God has a purpose for your life.
What's he say?
Verse 35, and Philip opened hismouth and, beginning with this
scripture, he told him about thegood news of Jesus.
He didn't need to hear aboutphilip's ministry, he didn't
(39:13):
need to hear about thesacrificial system in the temple
.
He just needed to hear aboutjesus, because jesus is the one
who will change your life.
So so here's what happens.
Here's what happens God usesone man, philip, to reach one
man, namely the eunuch, so thatthat man could be pointed to the
(39:35):
one man that can transform hislife Jesus Christ.
Oh, the significance of one.
And finally, how does theeunuch respond?
Verse 36.
And as they were going along theroad, so're still, you know,
like he's not slowing down, he'sgot.
I don't know if philip's likehanging on the side or what, but
(39:56):
but he says this uh, as theywere going on the road, they
came to some water by chance.
There's an oasis.
It's a desert road, there's anoasis.
And Philip looks down, pastorJack, and he says what's
stopping me right now from beingbaptized?
Now, why would he ask that?
(40:18):
Oh, this is rich, connor, youcan go ahead and come to the
keyboard, so I'll quit, listento me.
He comes to this water and hesays you've told me about Jesus.
Do I have to go throughconfirmation class or anything,
or can I just right now go inthe water?
(40:38):
I don't understand everydoctrine, but I know who Jesus
is and I know about his deathand I know about his burial and
I know about his resurrectionand I know that Isaiah 53 is
talking about him and I knowthis is the way I get into the
kingdom.
Can I be baptized right now?
Very first thing jesus asked usto do after repenting is to be
(40:59):
baptized, and that's what hewants to do.
But there's something deepergoing on here under the old
covenant, in in the oldtestament, what was the sign of
the covenant?
That you belong to God's people?
For the male it wascircumcision, and the eunuch,
because he could not become afull convert, could not be
(41:22):
circumcised, and every singleday he was reminded that I can't
get to this God of Israel, theywon't let me in.
But what's the sign of the newcovenant?
It's baptism.
Oh oh, I've been excluded forso long.
And this new sign is a covenant.
(41:44):
You mean, I can be baptized, me?
I can become a full convert.
I can come into Me.
I can become a full convert, Ican come into the kingdom.
There's some water, let's goswimming.
God uses one man, philip, inpursuit of one man, the eunuch,
(42:10):
to point him to one man who cantransform his life.
So what happens after that?
Philip is jacked, istransported, teleported, pretty
cool.
And Philip comes out of thewater.
He doesn't even discuss, likehey, where'd he go?
He's so enamored with Jesus andall the Bible says about him we
never hear about him again.
He went away rejoicing.
(42:32):
When people see Jesus for whohe is, they tend to want him,
the man that was rejected inJerusalem after 1500 miles of
travel, a month's journey, a manwho could never be a full
Jewish convert, could neverfully know the true and living
God as far as he knew, and a manwho was scratching his head on
(42:54):
the way back reading the book ofIsaiah going.
I don't understand it.
But one man, philip, used ofGod, says oh, I know who this is
about.
It's about Jesus, it's aboutJesus.
And at the end of this, philipgoes down confused and a bit, or
(43:17):
as he's driving, riding, he'sconfused and despondent and
downhearted and heavy laden.
But when he comes out of thewater here's all the scripture
says he went away rejoicing.
He finally found what he waslooking for.
Beloved, you are significant inthe kingdom of God.
If you're faithful, if you'lltrust God, if you'll take
(43:39):
seriously what he's asked you todo, you can reach one person
and make an eternal differencein their life.
And to reach one person, youhave to know the one true Savior
Church won't change them.
So I want to just leave youwith this.
Here's your to-do for the week.
I want you to prayerfully, Iwant you to pray for a lost
(44:00):
person in your life and I wantyou to share the gospel this
week, and if you can't do this,I'm going to give you a
get-out-of-jail-free card righthere.
If I'm going to give you a getout of jail free card right here
If you say I don't feelcomfortable, we want to help you
, as pastors, get comfortable.
So come see us.
But next week is Easter and Idon't know why.
But people who are notChristians, people who never
come any other time of the year,will come on Easter If you
(44:23):
invite them.
And next week we just so happento be on the text where the
Apostle Paul, the chief ofsinners, as he calls himself, is
radically saved and transformedby Jesus.
So you bring the sinner whothinks they're beyond salvation
and let them hear about how theone who killed sinners was saved
(44:47):
.
Sinners was saved.
May God use each one of you toreach one that the world may be
transformed by Jesus.
The scripture reading this morning is from Acts, the
8th chapter, verses 26 through40.
Now an angel of the Lord saidto Philip Rise, go toward the
south, to the road that goesdown from Jerusalem to Gaza.
This is a desert place.
(00:22):
And he arose and went.
This is a desert place.
And he arose and went and therewas an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a
court official of Candace, thequeen of Ethiopia, who was in
charge of all of her treasure.
He had come to Jerusalem toworship, he was returning,
seated in his chariot, and hewas reading the prophet Isaiah.
(00:45):
And the Spirit said to Philipgo over and join this chariot.
So Philip ran to him and heardhim reading Isaiah, the prophet,
and he asked do you understandwhat you're reading?
And he said how can I, unlesssomeone guides me?
And he invited Philip to comeup and sit with him.
(01:08):
Now the passage of Scripturethat he was reading was this
Like a sheep, he was led to theslaughter.
Like a lamb before its shearersis silent.
So he opened, not his mouth Inhis humiliation.
Justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
(01:28):
For his life was taken awayfrom the earth.
And the eunuch said to PhilipAbout whom, I ask you, does the
prophet say this About himselfor about someone else?
Then Philip opened his mouthand began with the scripture.
He told them the good newsabout Jesus.
(01:50):
And as they were going alongthe road they came to some water
.
And the eunuch said See, hereis water.
What prevents me from beingbaptized?
And he commanded the chariot tostop and they both went down
into the water, philip and theeunuch, and he baptized him.
And when they came up out ofthe water, the Spirit of the
(02:14):
Lord carried Philip away and theeunuch saw him no more and went
on his way, rejoicing.
But Philip found himself inNazareth and as he passed
through he preached the gospelto all the towns until he came
to Caesarea.
This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Thanks be to God.
You may be seated.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Now, what's dangerous is whenever a pastor gives a
preacher a microphone laughter,laughter.
But I want to point it'sdangerous, it's whenever a
pastor gives a preacher amicrophone.
But I want to point outsomething With the multitude of
times that I read this scripture, I saw something this morning.
Don't take my points now.
That amazed me, and Chris won'thave to preach when I get
(03:04):
through.
But we read that Philip foundhimself in Asherah Can you
imagine being transported by theSpirit?
And yet he preached the gospel.
That amazed me.
He didn't tell his testimonyabout this great experience he
had.
He preached the gospel andthat's amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Amen.
Well, I did not have that pointin my sermon.
So the point there is befaithful and you can teleport
Praise the Lord.
Well, god not only cares aboutthe multitudes, but he cares
about the individual.
God cares about individuals,our pastors.
(03:50):
Along with our wives, lastmonth, we had the privilege
opportunity to go to Asheville,north Carolina.
There, in the beautifulmountains, to the Cove, the
Billy Graham Training Center, wewent to a pastor's conference
and the campus is breathtaking.
But to me, the most beautifulplace on the campus is the Billy
(04:15):
Graham Prayer Chapel.
It's this sanctuary where BillyGraham himself and countless
others have spent hours uponhours in prayer, in worship.
At the bottom of that buildingis a museum that kind of
(04:35):
chronicles the life and ministryof Billy Graham, and so as
you're walking through thebasement there, you're going to
see picture after picture ofthese large crusades where
thousands of people are thereand each night hundreds, if not
thousands, of people are comingto the Lord.
As a matter of fact, I did someresearch and do you know that
Billy Graham has preached tomore people than anybody else
(04:58):
live?
Do you know that he preached inhis lifetime to some 215
million people, with millions ofthose people professing Christ.
Now I'm grateful for the legacyof Billy Graham his integrity
(05:19):
all those years without scandal,his faithfulness to preach the
gospel all around the worldwithout scandal.
His faithfulness to preach thegospel all around the world.
And when thousands of people inan evening or a weekend come to
the Lord, how many know that'sreason to celebrate.
But I want you to know thiswhen one sinner repents, there
is reason to rejoice.
(05:39):
Jesus said in Luke 15, 10, so Itell you, there is joy before
the angels of God over onesinner who repents.
There's a party in heaven.
So here's what that means forus today there have been five
parties in heaven because ofwhat's happened in this church
over the last two months,because five individuals have
(06:00):
come down, given their heart tothe Lord, hallelujah.
Individuals have come down,given their heart to the Lord,
hallelujah.
And so I want you to know todayyou may never be a Billy Graham
, you may never stand behind apulpit like this and share
Christ with some 100 people, butI'll tell you this you still
(06:22):
play a vital role as anindividual Christian to Christ's
mission to spread the gospel tothe nations to the ends of the
earth.
When you share the gospel withsomebody across from a coffee
table or with your neighbor onhis or her front porch, or in
(06:44):
your living room or on anairplane, and somebody repents.
The Lord has just used you tomake an eternal difference in
somebody's life and you neverknow.
One life is wonderful, but younever know the ripple effect.
Somebody led Billy Graham tothe Lord.
What Mordecai Ham Ron claimsthat he was related to him, but
(07:12):
his name is spelled with one M.
We added him.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
All right, I got you.
So listen, guys, we are allcalled to preach the gospel,
every one of us.
You may not be called tovocational preaching, but it is
incumbent upon every Christianto share the gospel with the
lost.
God cares about the one, notjust the multitudes.
(07:42):
In the book of Acts we'removing kind of section by
section through this wonderfulhistorical account of the early
church and so far up to thethrough the beginning of chapter
eight, the book is generallybeen about the multitudes being
saved.
Remember Acts, chapter two Peter, uh, under the unction of the
(08:02):
Holy spirit, preaches a dynamitemessage.
Uh, people are cut to the heart.
They say, peter, what do we do?
And he said repent and bebaptized.
And that's exactly what 3000men plus women and children did.
You flip the page and Peter andJohn are making their way to
the temple to pray.
When they come up on a lame man, been paralyzed since birth,
(08:24):
they say to him, in the name ofjesus, rise up and walk.
And he gets up and he startsrejoicing a guy that couldn't
walk since birth.
Well, that draws a crowd, amen.
And so peter and john use thatmiracle as a platform and they
preach again the gospel 2 000more men plus women and children
that are added to the church,and on and on it goes.
(08:46):
By the time the deacons areappointed in Acts, chapter 6, it
is estimated that the churchjust in Jerusalem is 20,000
people strong.
Then in Acts, chapter 8, thegospel we see moves out of
Jerusalem on to Judea and thento Samaria, and there's this
(09:07):
revival going on and multitudesare coming to the Lord, and
that's through verse 25 inchapter eight.
But today there's a shift andGod moves away from the
multitudes and he shows us thevalue of one.
He shows us the value of one.
Here's the's the outline.
Today I'm going to unpack this.
God, in this story, uses oneChristian, philip, because God
(09:33):
is pursuing one person, thiseunuch, so that he can lead him
to one person who can transformhis life, namely Jesus Christ.
I'll say it exactly like it'son the screen God uses one
Christian Philip in pursuit ofone man, the Ethiopian eunuch.
(09:55):
That he, the eunuch, would betransformed by one, the Lord
Jesus Christ.
The significance of one.
Let's start here.
God uses one Christian by thename of Philip.
Who is Philip?
Well, philip is not one of theapostles who was mentioned in
(10:19):
the gospels.
There was an apostle namedPhilip, but this is not him.
This Philip was appointed inActs chapter six as one of the
deacons, the servants who wouldtake care of the food
distribution to the widows, theHellenistic widows, in the early
church.
You know, the church is growing, some people are falling
(10:40):
through the cracks and so theychoose Philip and six other men
out of thousands of people totake care of these needs.
That tells us something abouthim, doesn't it?
And that allowed the apostlesto commit to prayer in the word.
But I want you to know thatPhilip, throughout Acts, if he's
(11:03):
anything, he is a faithful manof God.
He's faithful to the Lord andto the call that God has on his
life.
So in Acts chapter 6, he is afaithful deacon, a man, it says,
of the spirit and wisdom.
Then, as we saw last week inActs chapter 8, we saw last week
in Acts chapter 8, god callsPhilip to, he uses Philip in
(11:26):
Samaria and Philip, god usesPhilip the deacon, not the
apostle to do miracles.
And Philip I mean people arebeing delivered, demons are
being cast out and people arebeing healed by the droves, and
he preaches the gospelfaithfully.
As Jack pointed out earlier,even at this point he doesn't
(11:46):
say look what I'm doing, allthese miracles.
He points people beyond himselfto the Lord Jesus Christ.
We don't read now, today, bythe way, god calls him on this
solo journey, we'll unpack that.
But we don't read about Philipagain until chapter 21.
And in chapter 21, luke, whowrote the book of Acts, calls
Philip Philip, not the deacon,but the evangelist, philip the
(12:11):
evangelist.
And you know what Philip doesin chapter 21?
Get this Philip, who started asa deacon.
He houses Paul and Luke andtheir companions as they're on
this missionary journey.
Imagine Apostle Paul knockingon your door, right.
I mean, here's what I want youto see Every step of the way
(12:35):
Philip has been faithful.
It reminds me of what Jesus saidin Luke 16, that one who is
faithful in very little will befaithful in much.
That's what we see in the story.
So I would just tell you todaythat you know, don't wait to say
(12:56):
well, you know, when the Lordcalls me to do something big, to
start some ministry, then I'llbe faithful.
Just be faithful right now.
Be faithful in prayer, befaithful in Bible study, be
faithful in sharing your faithwithin your neighborhood job
wherever you meet lost people,be faithful in whatever God has
(13:17):
called you to do in this church,in whatever capacity you're
serving in, come early, staylate.
Just be faithful.
Capacity you're serving in,come early, stay late, just be
faithful.
Often, the Lord, as we arefaithful, he will give us more
and more responsibility.
And that's what we see in thestory.
Not only is Philip faithful, buthe's trustworthy.
He's excuse me, yeah, he istrustworthy, but he trusts God.
(13:40):
He just has a habit of trustingGod.
So you go back God.
He just has a habit of trustingGod.
So you go back.
Remember, philip's a deacon.
He's doing a great job andthings are going well.
He's serving God with all hisheart.
And all of a sudden, theenemies of Christianity come
against the church and peopleare being dragged out of their
(14:01):
homes.
The scripture says and so allthese Jews, these multitudes of
people, flee Jerusalem and theygo throughout Judea and they go
to Samaria.
And what's interesting here isPhilip who's serving.
He doesn't question God and sayLord, why would this happen to
me?
Why do I got to leave Jerusalem?
Why would you not smite thesepeople who are persecuting us?
(14:22):
Lord, I'm serving you andyou're going to let this happen?
He doesn't do that.
He just trusts the Lord.
He doesn't understand why theLord's sending him where he's
sending him, but he trusts Godand God had a plan.
Remember the thesis and theoutline for the book of Acts is
found in verse eight.
That says Jesus to his apostleswhen the Holy Spirit's come
(14:44):
upon you, you will receive powerand you'll be what Witnesses in
Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samariaand to the other most parts of
the earth.
This is going to get good injust a moment, but right now,
what's God's plan?
The believers scatter.
Well, guess where they go Judeaand Samaria.
(15:07):
He trusts God.
Well, he trusts him again inthe story today.
Look at verse 8, or, excuse me,verse 26 in chapter 8.
Now an angel of the Lord.
So Philip is in Samaria.
Now an angel of the Lord saysto Philip Rise and go toward the
south, to the road that goesdown from Jerusalem to Gaza.
(15:29):
This is a desert place and herose and he went and there was
an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a courtofficial of Candace, queen of
the Ethiopians, who was incharge of all her treasure, and
he came to Jerusalem to worship.
The angel of the Lord said toPhilip go down this road to Gaza
(15:52):
.
Now, gaza was one of the mainfive cities of the Philistines.
All right, it had been.
The old Gaza had been destroyedand the new one had been built,
closer to the coast actually.
But historians tell us thatthere were two roads that went
from Jerusalem to Gaza.
One had, for all intents andpurposes, been abandoned, the
(16:16):
other was highly traveled.
Guess which one?
The angel tells Philip to godown the deserted road.
Now, just think about this fora moment.
Philip is in Samaria and he'sin the driver's seat for all
that's going on.
I guess he's in the passengerseat, god's in the driver's seat
, but he's the head of thismassive great awakening.
(16:40):
People are being healed,delivered, all this stuff.
Think about that.
And all of a sudden, in themidst, at the peak of this, an
angel shows up to Philip andsays oh, by the way, god's
pulling you out of here and he'sgoing to send you down the
desert road where nobody travels.
(17:01):
How would you respond to that?
I miss the Lord, right.
So why?
God probably had to send anangel to make sure he knew that.
He knew that he knew this wasGod.
Now that'd be like when BillyGraham was alive, calling him
from a you know, let's say,crusade in Louisville and saying
, hey, I want you to go toJackson County or to Hazard, the
small town, right County, or toHazard, the small town, right.
(17:24):
That's what happens.
But look at Peter's response.
I mean he had to be mind blownhere, like Lord.
What You're going to take mefrom this to a deserted road.
Here's all it says in verse 27.
And he rose and went.
Oh boy, that we would have thatmuch trust in the Lord.
(17:45):
And he rose and he went.
The implication is, this wasimmediate.
Perhaps this is speculation,but I think the angel came to
Peter in a dream because I thinkhe was laying down and as soon
as he woke up, he just gets outof bed and goes no waffles and
(18:07):
bacon, are you hungry?
No eggs.
He just goes immediately.
And oh, beloved that we wouldobey God immediately when he
calls us to do something.
It's so, so vital.
(18:28):
Amen, trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's noother way to be happy in Jesus
but to do what Trust and obey.
So the question is why wouldGod send uh, now that we have
the whole story this oneChristian Philip down this
(18:49):
deserted road, this oneChristian Philip, down this
deserted road?
That's a question worth askinghere.
It is Because God is in pursuitof one man, takes him from
revival to a deserted road forone man, because God is not just
caring here about the masses,but he cares about the
(19:09):
individual.
He cares about you individually, amen.
So he's in pursuit of thisEthiopian eunuch.
So look at verses 27 and 28again.
And he rose and went and therewas an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a
court official of Candace, queenof the Ethiopians, who was in
charge of all her treasure, andhe had come to Jerusalem to
(19:32):
worship.
So what do we know about thisman?
We don't know his name, but wedo know he's an Ethiopian.
Now, hear me, this is notmodern day Ethiopia.
Okay, dr Crane, this is not thecountry that's kind of in the
horn of Africa.
Dr Craig Keener points out thatthe Greek term here applied to
(19:53):
all of Africa south of Egypt.
All right, and the particularkingdom in view here is called
Nubia.
Are you with me?
It's called Nubia, so here'swhat's so interesting.
Watch this.
In the ancient world, nubia,this part of Africa, was
(20:14):
considered the end of the earth.
Now let's go back to Acts,chapter 8.
To his apostles, you shall bemy witnesses in Jerusalem, where
Philip serves as a deacon, thenin Judea, and then in Samaria,
where Philip goes, and theuttermost parts of the earth,
(20:36):
which at this point is Africa.
God is using one man, not anapostle, not a pastor, a deacon,
just a man who is faithful anda man who trusts God.
Oh, the significance of one.
Do you know that scholarsbelieve that this could have
been the first dark-skinnedAfrican to come into the kingdom
(20:59):
of God?
Beyond that, this is the firstfull Gentile that's come into
the kingdom of God.
Oh, god is using Philip tobreak down social and racial
barriers.
Amen, because the kingdom is aworldwide religion.
(21:21):
I wasn't going to share this,but I'm going to share this with
you.
Tim Keller, I heard him in asermon.
He was quoting a professor Idon't remember the guy's name
from Yale.
He's a Christian guy and he didsome research, and the argument
is that Christianity, of allthe major religions, is the only
(21:45):
truly worldwide religion.
And here's what he means.
All other religions outside ofChristianity are overwhelmingly
contained roughly where thereligion started.
Now, watch this 96% of allMuslims live in the Middle East,
africa and South Asia.
(22:05):
So generally, where the Islamicfaith started, it's been
generally contained there.
88% of Buddhists live in EastAsia.
98% of Hindus live in India orSouth Asia.
You see this, but watch this.
(22:26):
Christianity 25% of Christiansare in Central and South America
, the Caribbean.
22% of Christians reside inAfrica.
15% are in Asia and that numberis rapidly growing.
And do you know that only 12%of Christians are in North
(22:49):
America, 20-something percent inEurope?
Beloved, this is a worldwidereligion.
In other words, no culture, noone people group has the hold on
Christianity.
It's for the whole world, redand yellow, black and white.
They are precious in His sight.
Amen.
(23:11):
And God is using Philip, adeacon who's just been faithful
in the little things, to pursuea man who's searching for God,
and then the gospel will go toAfrica, where now 22% of
(23:31):
Christians reside.
Wow, he's an Ethiopian.
Beyond that, quickly, he's aman of influence and power.
It says here he's a courtofficial of Candace, the queen.
Now, candace is not her name.
Do you know somebody namedCandace.
It's not her name, it's a title.
It's much like emperor Allright.
He was over the treasury of theEthiopian people, of the queen's
(23:55):
money.
He's like the CFO, chieffinancial officer, like he's
somebody right.
He's a court official and,beyond this Gulp, he's a eunuch.
You know what that means.
Young people cover your ears.
He was castrated, all right.
Now that is like what in theworld?
But in the ancient world it wasnot uncommon from for a man of
(24:19):
high power, particularly in theum what would you say Royal
courts to be castrated.
And here's one of the reasonsum, this stops him from let's
say let's say it positively thiskeeps him focused on what needs
to be focused on.
See, they knew men right, allright, I digress.
(24:39):
So he's a man of influence andpower.
He's wealthy.
As a court official, he wouldhave been taken care of.
Now, when Philip finds him, he'sin a chariot and only the, you
know, top class, upper class,got to ride in chariots.
Everybody else it was a donkey,or you're walking in sandals
right, or barefoot.
So this would be, and he's gothis own driver.
(25:02):
Like this is, he's got it.
This would be like you havingyour own chauffeur and he's
driving you around all the timein your brand new Bentley.
All right, shake your head, newBentley.
All right, shake your head atme.
Act like you're happy to be atchurch this morning.
All right, there we go.
So this guy's wealthy andbeyond that.
This is surprising.
Maybe he's extremely religious.
(25:24):
Where was he coming back fromwhen Philip came upon him From
Jerusalem?
And Luke tells us what he wasdoing he was there to worship,
watch this Full Gentile, not aJew, but at some point he came
across some Jewish people and hebecame really interested in
(25:44):
knowing the one true God ofIsrael, yahweh Jehovah, yahweh
Jehovah.
And so he, with all of hisheart, pursues the true and
living God.
And it says that he went sofrom Nabia to Jerusalem to
worship.
(26:05):
Now, are you with me?
This gets crazy.
Historians estimate that thistrip would have been up to casey
1500 miles that is roughly thedistance, uh, cheryl and john,
from here to tucson.
Is that is that close?
About 1500 miles now?
I lived in tucson and it tookme two and a half days in a
(26:30):
U-Haul truck and I was like, arewe ever going to get there?
Nikki and I flew out to Tucsonto see some friends just a
couple of months ago and it tookus four hours in a plane from
Atlanta and I felt like it wasan eternity.
Do you know how long it wouldhave taken they estimate this
guy to get from Navia, southAfrica, to Jerusalem
(26:56):
Conservatively one month, ridingin a chariot on a deserted road
.
Why did he go there?
Just to worship?
So a month there, a month back,and it's likely that he stayed
there a month to make it worthhis while.
He didn't just go to one churchservice and leave.
So get this Conservatively.
This man is so hungry for Godthat he takes Bob a quarter of
(27:20):
his year, leaves his business aquarter of a year to say I want
to know this God.
And my point is he's way morereligious than most of us in
America.
We have, like what?
A five-minute, ten-minute,maybe 45-minute drive to church.
And do you know that theaverage Christian quote-unquote
(27:44):
goes to church twice a month?
This church, I mean we have 150people that call this church
home.
And look at it today.
And if you're watching online,this is for you, watch this.
Well, why don't they come tochurch?
Here's the excuses I hear allthe time.
Well, it was raining.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
It's not here.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Or it's too cold and I don't want to get out, or it's
a really warm day, it's thefirst one of the year.
We want to be at the park andjust enjoy it with our family.
I figured out that there's justa there's got to.
There's like a window of likeeight degrees where people will
come to church.
I've heard the excuse.
Well, I had company, I havecompany.
(28:23):
Well, bring them.
Bring them.
Let them know that Jesus isfirst in your life.
Let them know that Jesus isfirst in your life.
Well, I've got the sniffles.
Come on and on and on.
I stayed up late.
That's on you.
It's my only day to be withfamily.
Well, bring them to church.
(28:43):
What better way to spend timewith family?
Here's a guy oh man, I get offmy soapbox here.
Here's a guy.
It's not even a jew and hedrives 1500 miles right in a
chariot that he might know thisgod.
He's wealthy, he's a man ofpower and influence and he's
(29:06):
religious.
But here's what I want you tosee he's still empty at this
point.
He's empty.
According to Deuteronomy,chapter 1, no castrated man
could be welcomed into theassembly.
He would not driving all thatway, he could not have become a
(29:33):
full Jewish convert.
He didn't have access to thetemple.
So you drive 1,500 miles toTucson to attend a church and
they won't let you in.
But I love this.
On the way back he's so hungryfor God, discouraged as he must
be.
He somehow obtained a scroll ofIsaiah and he's reading through
the scroll, trying to figureout how he can know this great
(29:57):
God.
U2's Bono.
Anybody U2?
All right, bono wrote years agoa very popular song and it's
about his faith journey.
Bono talks quite a bit aboutfaith and you know it talks
about him climbing the highestmountain, swimming the deepest
(30:19):
sea and the end of every verseas he's on this journey for
satisfaction and happiness.
Every verse ends with the wordsthat are the title of the song.
I still haven't found what I'mlooking for.
(30:39):
High and low, that's the mantra, that's the song that the
Ethiopian has to be singing here.
I searched high and low, 1,500miles, but I still haven't found
what I'm looking for.
And he's searching thescriptures going God, where are
you?
How can I know you?
But here's the great news Goduses one man, philip, because
(31:04):
he's in pursuit of one man.
The eunuch Pulls him out ofrevival because this one man is
seeking him, seek and you willfind.
In 29, the Spirit, the HolySpirit tells Philip, think of
this.
The chariot's moving and theSpirit says, hey, strange man,
(31:29):
stranger danger, run.
Have him roll down the windowand jump in the chariot.
I was thinking about the oldWesterns, you know, when the
cowboys are riding next to atrain and they're, like you know
, trying to get on a cart orwhatever.
Listen, imagine this.
The chariot's going and he'srunning.
(31:50):
Hey, hey, slow down, slow down,let me.
What are you reading?
Go to this man.
You know what I thought here.
The man has searched high andlow for God and he can't find
him.
So, god, god finds the eunuch,he runs to him.
You, you didn't find God, godfound you, amen, amen.
So here's what happens Philip'son the deserted road and he
(32:19):
just so happens to come across aeunuch who's seeking God, who
just so happens to be reading apassage We'll look at it in a
second From Isaiah 53.
Which just so happens to beabout the Messiah whom this man
is looking for.
No, it didn't just so happen.
There are no coincidences withGod.
Let me just tell you a storythat happened just a few weeks
(32:44):
ago.
I generally wear a suit jacketon Sunday mornings.
That's where my anointing comesfrom, I think.
Or I wear a sweater.
By the way, God doesn't give arip about that, it's about
what's in here.
Amen, but I wear it so you allwon't be mad at me.
I think it was three weeks ago.
(33:09):
I went to my closet.
This is going to sound likemystical to some of you, but I
went to my, won't you, jan?
You'll get this, you'll lovethis.
I go to my closet and I'mstanding there looking for my
suit jacket and I sense the Lordtelling me not to wear a suit
(33:29):
jacket.
If you were mad at me, you,three weeks ago, you talked to
God.
I'm looking and there's hangingin front of me a long sleeve
black shirt that I feel like theLord wants me to wear.
I don't even know if I wouldhave said it was the Lord.
I think I assumed that, but Ijust felt nudged.
(33:49):
And then I saw some black jeansthat I don't think I've ever
worn to church I think I've onlyworn them twice and I felt the
Lord wanted me to dress likeJohnny Cash.
And then I looked down, jeff,and I had tennis shoes at the
bottom of my closet.
Boy, it's getting heretical andI feel the Lord nudged me to
(34:13):
wear black tennis shoes.
They were kind of dressy.
Well, I get to church and Idon't let me say one other thing
If I were to dress without asuit jacket, generally my wife
would not let me out the door.
Chris, you sure you don't wantto wear a suit jacket?
And she's not really asking.
She's not suggesting, she'stelling me what to do Because
(34:38):
she doesn't know what Paul saysabout husbands and wives in that
relationship in Ephesians,chapter 5.
Is she in here?
She left.
Thank you, yara.
So she says nothing to me aboutit.
I get out without a lectureBecause she tells me you know
(35:01):
change, can you imagine?
God told me to wear this, comeon.
So I think nothing else aboutthis, and we sing and I preach
this and we sing and I preach.
At the end of the service, ayoung man who had not been to
church came into the VIP roomand we started talking and the
first time he had been here andhe was hungry, searching,
(35:26):
searching for something.
He said I'm empty and we havewhat he's searching for here.
He said one of the reasons andwe have what he's searching for
here.
He said one of the reasons Ididn't go to a particular church
is because I didn't haveanything to wear.
Do you want to guess what hewas wearing?
Black shirt, black pants andtennis shoes.
And I looked at him and I said,brother, you're wearing exactly
what the preacher's wearing.
(35:46):
Do you think that was acoincidence?
Exactly what the preacher'swearing.
Do you think that was acoincidence?
Do you know?
God, that morning, in hisforeknowledge and his power and
his sovereignty, wanted thisyoung man who, by the way, got
saved that day, wanted him to besaved so much that the Holy
Spirit would tell me what towear to church.
Oh, what a God we serve, andthat's exactly what happens here
(36:11):
, desert Road.
Lord, what are you doing?
Serve, and that's exactly whathappens here, desert road.
What are you doing?
He's pursuing one man, becausethe one matters Isaiah 53.
Let's look at it here, verse 31.
Excuse me, 32.
Now the passage of scripturethat he was reading just so
(36:32):
happens to be like a sheep hewas led to the slaughter, and
like a lamb before its sheareris silent, so he opens, not his
mouth.
In his humiliation, justice wasdenied.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away.
Now let me just man.
(36:55):
I'm sorry I'm preaching so long, but this is so rich.
Do you know?
I'm sure this is not the firsttime in this long trip that he's
been through this scroll.
I won't take you there, you canread this later.
But do you know?
In chapter 63, so it's talkingabout this figure, this
messianic figure who will comeand bear the sins of his people.
Now, remember, the eunuch hasbeen rejected into the assembly
(37:20):
of the Jews as a castrated man.
But in chapter 63, this is soamazing Do you know that Isaiah
starts talking aboutprophetically how the eunuch is
going to be brought in, howsomething's going to happen,
that this messianic figure isgoing to do something that will
(37:43):
allow the one who's beenexcluded in to the kingdom.
Do you know one of the greatesttragedies of this man being a
eunuch?
It shows his commitment.
In the ancient world it wasn'tindividualistic like it is now.
Your success and yourprominence came not by what you
yourself did, but by your family.
Life was about family.
It was about your name going onin a legacy.
(38:09):
And this man had no hope ofhaving children.
He had no hope of having afamily.
His lineage would be when hepassed away.
But do you know what it says inIsaiah 63?
It says for the eunuch, he willhave something better than sons
and daughters, brothers, sister, because he's going to be
brought into the family of God.
And so you can hear this man ashe's reading this oh, this is
(38:33):
great, but what in the worlddoes it mean?
And so he asked Philip aboutwhom, I ask you?
Verse 34, does this prophet saythis?
Is it about himself or someoneelse?
So what does Philip tell him?
He doesn't talk about the manupstairs.
Well, this is about the big manupstairs.
He doesn't talk about God ingeneral.
(38:53):
He doesn't tell him I just wantyou to know.
God has a purpose for your life.
What's he say?
Verse 35, and Philip opened hismouth and, beginning with this
scripture, he told him about thegood news of Jesus.
He didn't need to hear aboutphilip's ministry, he didn't
(39:13):
need to hear about thesacrificial system in the temple
.
He just needed to hear aboutjesus, because jesus is the one
who will change your life.
So so here's what happens.
Here's what happens God usesone man, philip, to reach one
man, namely the eunuch, so thatthat man could be pointed to the
(39:35):
one man that can transform hislife Jesus Christ.
Oh, the significance of one.
And finally, how does theeunuch respond?
Verse 36.
And as they were going along theroad, so're still, you know,
like he's not slowing down, he'sgot.
I don't know if philip's likehanging on the side or what, but
(39:56):
but he says this uh, as theywere going on the road, they
came to some water by chance.
There's an oasis.
It's a desert road, there's anoasis.
And Philip looks down, pastorJack, and he says what's
stopping me right now from beingbaptized?
Now, why would he ask that?
(40:18):
Oh, this is rich, connor, youcan go ahead and come to the
keyboard, so I'll quit, listento me.
He comes to this water and hesays you've told me about Jesus.
Do I have to go throughconfirmation class or anything,
or can I just right now go inthe water?
(40:38):
I don't understand everydoctrine, but I know who Jesus
is and I know about his deathand I know about his burial and
I know about his resurrectionand I know that Isaiah 53 is
talking about him and I knowthis is the way I get into the
kingdom.
Can I be baptized right now?
Very first thing jesus asked usto do after repenting is to be
(40:59):
baptized, and that's what hewants to do.
But there's something deepergoing on here under the old
covenant, in in the oldtestament, what was the sign of
the covenant?
That you belong to God's people?
For the male it wascircumcision, and the eunuch,
because he could not become afull convert, could not be
(41:22):
circumcised, and every singleday he was reminded that I can't
get to this God of Israel, theywon't let me in.
But what's the sign of the newcovenant?
It's baptism.
Oh oh, I've been excluded forso long.
And this new sign is a covenant.
(41:44):
You mean, I can be baptized, me?
I can become a full convert.
I can come into Me.
I can become a full convert, Ican come into the kingdom.
There's some water, let's goswimming.
God uses one man, philip, inpursuit of one man, the eunuch,
(42:10):
to point him to one man who cantransform his life.
So what happens after that?
Philip is jacked, istransported, teleported, pretty
cool.
And Philip comes out of thewater.
He doesn't even discuss, likehey, where'd he go?
He's so enamored with Jesus andall the Bible says about him we
never hear about him again.
He went away rejoicing.
(42:32):
When people see Jesus for whohe is, they tend to want him,
the man that was rejected inJerusalem after 1500 miles of
travel, a month's journey, a manwho could never be a full
Jewish convert, could neverfully know the true and living
God as far as he knew, and a manwho was scratching his head on
(42:54):
the way back reading the book ofIsaiah going.
I don't understand it.
But one man, philip, used ofGod, says oh, I know who this is
about.
It's about Jesus, it's aboutJesus.
And at the end of this, philipgoes down confused and a bit, or
(43:17):
as he's driving, riding, he'sconfused and despondent and
downhearted and heavy laden.
But when he comes out of thewater here's all the scripture
says he went away rejoicing.
He finally found what he waslooking for.
Beloved, you are significant inthe kingdom of God.
If you're faithful, if you'lltrust God, if you'll take
(43:39):
seriously what he's asked you todo, you can reach one person
and make an eternal differencein their life.
And to reach one person, youhave to know the one true Savior
Church won't change them.
So I want to just leave youwith this.
Here's your to-do for the week.
I want you to prayerfully, Iwant you to pray for a lost
(44:00):
person in your life and I wantyou to share the gospel this
week, and if you can't do this,I'm going to give you a
get-out-of-jail-free card righthere.
If I'm going to give you a getout of jail free card right here
If you say I don't feelcomfortable, we want to help you
, as pastors, get comfortable.
So come see us.
But next week is Easter and Idon't know why.
But people who are notChristians, people who never
come any other time of the year,will come on Easter If you
(44:23):
invite them.
And next week we just so happento be on the text where the
Apostle Paul, the chief ofsinners, as he calls himself, is
radically saved and transformedby Jesus.
So you bring the sinner whothinks they're beyond salvation
and let them hear about how theone who killed sinners was saved
(44:47):
.
Sinners was saved.
May God use each one of you toreach one that the world may be
transformed by Jesus.
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