Text: Acts 8:26-40, Title: In 2008 I, Date/Place: NRBC, 1/6/08, AM
A. Opening illustration: Last year when I called my parents to wish them a happy New Year, my dad answered the phone. "Well, Dad, what’s your New Year’s resolution?" I asked him. "To make your mother as happy as I can all year," he answered proudly. Then mom got on, and I said, "What’s your resolution, Mom?" "To see that your dad keeps his New Year’s resolution."
B. Background to passage: Having just seen the moving of the Spirit of God in Samaria and the entrance into the kingdom of the Samaritans, revival was happening, and Philip was right in the middle of it. Then God leads him away from the revival, away from the hot spot to meet an individual in need of Jesus.
C. Main thought: As today is the first Sunday of 2008, I want to look at this passage related to some New Year’s Resolutions for us in the coming year. It will be a two-part message, which I will finish tonight.
A. Let us be sensitive and obedient (v. 26-27)
1. Philip was a disciple who was doing what he was supposed to do. And then the Angel of the Lord showed up, maybe in his prayer time, maybe after a service, maybe at midnight, but He came and He spoke. And Philip was ready for Him to speak. And when He spoke, Philip arose and went. Philip already knew that if God led him to do something, there was no negotiation needed.
2. Matt 25:21, Mar 4:9, Luke 7:8, Rom 16:19
3. Illustration: most of us are rather hard headed and second-guessing about His leadership, mention Ronnie’s three fleeces, and my refusal to take the restarted LSCC instead of beginning with nothing, In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch. He made application to Prior Richard at a local monastery, asking to be accepted as a contemplative and spend the rest of his life in the monastery. “Your Majesty,” said Prior Richard, “do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been a king.” “I understand,” said Henry. “The rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you.” “Then I will tell you what to do,” said Prior Richard. “Go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you.”
When King Henry died, a statement was written: “The King learned to rule by being obedient.” there will probably be a lot of questions and objections to finishing up cleaning out the church roll, because we will based our opinions more on feelings than on scripture,
4. It is important for you to be doing what you know that you are supposed to be doing for God to speak to you about future events. We must have high expectations about God speaking to us. We are so used to operating without the extraordinary leadership of the Spirit that we have ceased to look or listen for it. Do you anticipate God speaking to you? Does your life grant you liberty to have that anticipation? Pray that God would make you, and your church leaders sensitive to the moving of the Spirit. Many times God does not speak, for He knows that we will not hear. Many times things go undone, because we don’t decide beforehand to do it. We must decide beforehand that we will be obedient. We do the same thing with the bible! We claim to be people of the book, although many of our lives do not reflect decisions based in that book. Certain structures and ministries in our churches are not based on the book, but on tradition and personal preferences. We must decide today that if the King or the Book says it, we will do it. “There is no try, do or do not.” So in this coming year, make it your constant prayer for yourself and for your church to hear from God and radically commit to obedience that we may be known by all as those who are sensitive and obedient to Christ! TREASURE CHRIST BY BEING READY, WILLING, & OBEDIENT TO HIS COMMANDS!
B. Let us bring hope to the nations and races (v. 27)
1. The man whom Philip was sent to meet was a man from Ethiopia, which in the OT was called Cush. It was land south of Egypt, at least 500 miles away. By the way, several ancient writers considered this part of the ends of the earth. It is a possibility that this man was part Jewish, or he could be what’s known as a God-fearer. But never the less, he was vastly different from Philip. He was probably black, he was wealthy, and he had much authority in the kingdom of Ethiopia. Here we see a little of God’s heart. Christ died to purchase men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And God is ensuring that the prideful, racist Jews do not neglect to reach those of other races or nations.
2. Isa 49:6, 24:14-16, 52:10, Zeph 2:11, Micah 4:2
3. Illustration: There are 1.6 million unreached or unengaged peoples in Peru, 2 million in Afghanistan, 4 million in Indonesia, 12 million in China, 14 million in Saudi Arabia, 21 mill in Sudan, 400 million in India, according to the IMB population clock the world’s population increased about 85 mill last year, and 70 mill will be lost, and only ¾ of a billion out of 6.7 billion are believers in the gospel,
4. If God has a heart for the nations and races of the world and of GA, then we should too. As far as the nations go, pray that NRBC would do more for the nations of the world to come to know Christ than any year in our 130 year history. Don’t expect the WMU or the Brotherhood to lead the charge. God didn’t ordain and command that the WMU/Brotherhood reach the world. He commanded the church to! And so it is the responsibility of every member in the church to be active in reaching the nations. Hopefully this year, we will give you an opportunity for the church as a whole to embrace a particular people-group that we can all get behind and on our knees for, and come together to reach. This would include prayer, meeting needs, trips, updates, and responsibility to take the gospel to them. As far as the races go, we have a long way to go. We have two Hispanic works in our association for roughly 8000 Hispanics. We have no black churches in a county with 40% of the population is black. If Philip had been a Tift Co. Southern Baptist he probably would have looked for somewhere else to send him. Or worse yet, left without ministering to him at all. We must repent and develop a heart for other races. God called a man away from a revival to go witness to this one man that he might win other nations, and we rarely go across the street to tell others, let alone plant a church, or go across the world. Let 2008 be the year that NRBC begins to reap the nations and the races as a harvest. TREASURE CHRIST BY LOVING THE NATIONS AND THE RACES AND REACHING OUT TO THEM THIS YEAR!
C. Let us become proficient in the scriptures (v. 30-31)
1. It probably started to click in Philip’s mind about what exactly he was doing there when he heard the eunuch reading from Isaiah. And it was confirmed when the Spirit told him to boldly go up to the chariot. So he asked if the eunuch understood the prophet Isaiah. Philip knew that the scriptures were the key to the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. And he had obviously put in the time and discipline into reading, studying, hearing, meditating on, and memorizing the scripture.
2. Ps 119:11, Heb 5:12-14, 6:12, 2:1, Luke 9:44, Deut 32:46, Pro 2:2, Mark 4:23,
3. Illustration: if I just say “memorizing scripture” all the groans and excuses begin to form in your mind and throat, David Plaitt and his recitation of Ps 147-150, Romans 1-8, we used to do bible drills, “Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose bible memorization, because it is the fundamental way to fill our mind with what it needs.” –Dallas Willard, “My own conviction is that a hundred—dare I say a thousand—problems will be solved in your life by memorizing scripture…before the problems ever come...(not only solve a thousand problems, but) heal a thousand wounds, kill a thousand sins, and sweeten a thousand days with drippings of the honeycomb.” –Piper, Barna notes “Our most recent surveys indicate that about half of all adults listen to preaching or Bible teaching in a typical week; one out of three read the Bible; one out of ten study the Bible during the week; fewer than one out of every twenty-five devote themselves to memorizing at least one new Bible verse during a typical week. Less than 2 percent are committed to all four of these practices on a weekly basis. It’s no wonder that Americans have tremendous spiritual hunger, but no consistent spiritual growth” tell about the other day when I read for the fist time of the congregation of Israel laying hands upon the Levites to separate them to God for use,
4. Bible memorization helps you make war on sin, gives you joy, and helps you transform your mind. And scripture memory is not the only thing. Knowing the scripture is important to. Not just in a “doesn’t the bible say…” kinda way, but being able to point chapter and verse. We must be able to explain what it means. Most of you can’t pick up a bible and show someone how to be saved or where to find references on certain topics. And it is not that you should all be bible experts, but you should all have a basic knowledge of where stuff is. And you should be familiar with the resources and tools for how to find it when it’s not committed to memory. And its always OK to say “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” And I know that some of you don’t like AWANA, but I watched 10 and 11 year olds recite the entire book of 2 Timothy one night in NC. How many could quote ten verses? How many know the books of the OT/NT? Where should I look at for scripture on marriage, on salvation, on abortion, on raising your children? Let 2008 be the year that you immerse yourself in the Word of God. Let it be the year on the whole that New River outscores all the other churches in bible knowledge. TREASURE CHRIST BY TREASURING HIS WORD TO THE POINT YOU CAN USE IT!
A. Closing illustration: Our “aim is that Jesus Christ be made known in all the world as the all-powerful, all-wise, all-righteous, all-merciful, all-satisfying Treasure of the universe. This will happen when Christians don’t just say that Christ is valuable, or sing that he is valuable, but truly experience in their hearts the unsurpassed worth of Jesus with so much joy that they can say, ‘I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.’ (Phil 3:8) Christ will be glorified in the world when Christians are so satisfied in Him that they let goods and kindred go and lay down their lives for others in mercy, missions, and if necessary, in martyrdom. He will be magnified among the nations at the moment that Christians lose everything on earth, and say, ‘For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ (Phil 1:21) ‘Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured. For here we have no lasting city that is to come.’ (Heb 13:13-14) This we will do for the joy set before us!...Christ is supremely glorious and supremely valuable. Therefore He is worth the fight!” -Piper
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
