Taking the Lead
Acts 8:25-40
Pastor Allan Kircher
Shell Point Baptist Church 29 May 23, 2011
Introduction
A milestone was reached when Philip goes and presents the Gospel to a Gentile.
Through this man, a high official in the court of the Ethiopian Queen, the Gospel would first penetrate the souls of the great African continent.
There are three elements represented in the faith of this man.
Believing, obeying, and continuing.
Phillip was given the opportunity of extending the Gospel beyond the Jewish boundaries of Jerusalem.
This is the first time that He (HS) came in power upon any believers outside of Jerusalem and Judea.
The HS moves among the Samaratians… the hybrid race, the mongrel stock.
Moving of the HS in individuals, and see Him in His individual dealings and leading…Now here, HE guides one believer and Leads one inquirer.
This is a principle that we must remember…,
• Christians have been given an overwhelming task to accomplish.
• Remember? In Matthew 28 Jesus commanded us to "...go and make disciples of ALL NATIONS."
• This should be familiar to you/past couple months/studying
• First church began to accomplish this colossal task.
• Early Christians right attitude because they did a phenomenal job!
• in just 27 years/good news/Gospel all the way to Rome!
But the fact is, WE'VE still got a LONG way to go before this task will be done.
There are still millions of people who have not heard of Jesus' love-and it's our job to tell them!
Okay-you'll remember that last week we looked at the first part of Acts 8 and we saw there how Philip had gone to Samaria and shared the Gospel.
We learned that when he arrived and began to preach and minister, a great revival broke out.
God richly blessed this part of Philip's ministry. Thousands came to faith in Christ through his preaching.
Think of him as "the Billy Graham of the 1st century." I mean, the work in Samaria couldn't have been going better-and that's where this morning's text picks up.
Open your Bibles to Acts 8:36-40
Sermon:
Acts 8:25-40
There is a point often overlooked.
1. Genuine saving faith demands the proper preparation.
2. In the Seed of the sower.
a. Only the good, properly prepared soil brought forth fruits of salvation.
Proper Preparation
1. Text begins unusual time of blessing on the early church.
a. Revival in Samaria was growing and spreading.
b. Philip/chief evangelist/important part of all this.
c. Peter and John sent to inspect/gone back to Jerusalem.
d. Philip was alone now—the front man in this revival.
e. The “Billy Graham” of his day.
f. Phillip seemed to be indispensible.
But at that moment God called him away.
So how did Philip take the lead?
1. ...the attitude of SENSITIVITY.
a. Submissive will of Philip.
b. God told Philip to take off for the desert. Whistle! Train
* No reason was given.
* No arrangements were made for someone to take his place in Samaria.
* There was just a command to go.
How easy it would have been for Philip to be so caught up in the excitement and electricity of that Samaritan revival-where God was obviously at work-that he wasn't sensitive to a new direction.
But, not this guy! No, he was alert and ready.
He was sensitive to God's leading.
He had walked with God long enough to know that He has the right to throw a surprise curve-and in fact often does.
I mean, Philip could have said:
"All right, Lord, I'll go-but NOT NOW. We'll get to that region but later in the proper time. Things are going great here now. It's not the time to leave."
Or he could have said,:
"NOT ME, Lord. I'm needed here. What about the 12 apostles sitting up in Jerusalem? You gave them the Great Commission too. Send one of them."
Or he could have said,
"NOT THERE Lord. Not that desert area. Nobody even lives down there, plus at noon it's 135 in the shade. No one ever travels that road-especially at this time of day God. I need to stay here because this is where the action is."
Philip didn't say anything like this.
1. He was mature enough to trust God's leading.
2. He knew that God knows more than we know, that as God says in Isaiah 55:8 says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."
3. And if we are to complete this great task of evangelizing the world then we too must embrace this attitude of trusting God's perspective-
a. being wise enough to be sensitive to His leading.
b. We must always keep our spiritual "ears" perked up and tuned so as to hear God's instructions.
c. being sensitive to God’s prompting you to witness.
It all began with his attitude of being sensitive to the leading of the Spirit of God.
• God sees more than we see.
• He knows more than we know.
• He will guide us to people who need to hear the good news of the Gospel.
Now let me ask you. "Is there a 'cul de sac' that God has been prompting you to cross?"
"Is there a hall at work that God has been saying, 'Walk across there and talk to that new co-worker.'"
Perhaps you have a neighbor you've never talked to but you heard he just had open heart surgery and God said, "Take him a fruit basket.
Encourage him in his recovery. Offer to help."
If we're going to win this world for Jesus, we all need to be sensitive to these kind of promptings because if we are,
God will direct us to hurting people-people who need to hear about Jesus. This leads to the second attitude we must embrace...to take the lead.
2. ...AVAILABILITY.
Doesn’t do us good to be open to hearing God’s call if we’re not willing to follow it.
• when we ARE willing and able-when we make ourselves AVAILABLE, exciting things happen-as we see here in this example from Philip's life. Look back at verses 27-28:
"...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 in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah."
Now, let's be sure we all understand exactly who this Ethiopian was.
• very high-ranking official in the Ethiopian government.
• He worked for the "candace," which is another word for "queen" so he reported to the Queen of Ethiopia herself and was in charge of the entire nation's treasury.
• The second most powerful person in Ethiopia.
You see the kings of this African nation were thought to be incarnations of the sun god and as such the everyday affairs of running the country were beneath them.
So the real power lay in the hands of the queen mother and this eunuch worked for her.
Now, back then Ethiopia was much larger than it is today.
It's borders covered a huge chunk of Africa south of Egypt-the whole region of the upper Nile.
And-this is the same nation from which the Queen or "candace" of Sheba had come back in the days of King Solomon.
• So there is a link between that area and Judaism.
The Bible tells us that the Queen of Sheba had been greatly impressed with Solomon.
Perhaps he had shared the Scriptures with her.
Maybe that's why this man came to Jerusalem.
For some reason he had gotten it in his mind that in Jerusalem, 1200 miles away, there was a religion that he should investigate if he was serious about finding God.
He was probably like many people of his day who were weary of mankind's worship of
• multiple "man-made" gods
• loose morals that go with that kind of false worship.
So understand. This guy wanted to find truth.
• He yearned to fill the emptiness-that God-shaped hole that is in all of us-
• So he traveled many hundreds of miles from his home-all the way to Jerusalem.
• the fact that he could afford to make such a long journey is another indication
o he was indeed a wealthy
o influential man in his country.
Now, I don't know about you but I can't read this text without sensing a note of disillusionment.
*Came all this way to investigate the Jewish faith but he is going home dissatisfied.
* He had no doubt discovered that he could not enter the temple.
* So he was left out-and he was going home empty-handed-
* but not completely empty-handed.
* while in Jerusalem/purchased a copy of the book of Isaiah.
Perhaps he was drawn to this particular book because Isaiah 56 speaks to his situation saying:
"Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the Lord say, 'The Lord will surely exclude me from His people. And let not any eunuch complain, 'I am only a dry tree.' For this is what the Lord says, 'To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, who choose what pleases Me and hold fast to My covenant, to them I will give within My temple and its wall, a memorial and a name. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off." (Isaiah 56:3-5)
In any case as he traveled along he was reading out loud from this scroll. This was the custom.
a. Luke tells us he was reading from chapter 53
b. foundational text that prophesied Jesus' birth, life and ministry, substitutionary death and victorious resurrection.
• these powerful words puzzled this Ethiopian
• at that precise moment he began to yearn for an answer to his questions,
Philip came walking by and God said, "Go to that chariot Philip and stay near it."
He did and as he drew near he heard the man reading from Isaiah.
Is God's timing perfect or what!
• Philip was sensitive to God's Spirit
• obediently made himself available for this assignment
• made it possible for him to be involved in a truly exciting Divine encounter.
Now-think of it. Like his Master, Philip was willing to leave the cheering crowds in Samaria and deal with one lost soul.
that's God's way.
• He not only cares about the masses and throngs.
• He cares about the individual. That means that out of all the billions of people on this earth,
• God knows YOU. He knows your name. He knows all about you.
• He cares about you.
We see this same quality of love in Jesus' ministry. Remember?
• There was A demoniac who needed soundness of mind and Jesus went to him.
• There was A teacher-Nicodemus-who needed birth from above and Jesus spent an entire evening talking with him, answering his questions.
• There was A prostitute by a well who needed someone to guide her out of the shadows and Jesus ignored the prejudice of the day and initiated a conversation that led to her salvation.
• There was A thief on a cross who needed His redemptive promise in the hour of his death and Jesus gave it to him. Jesus never neglected the ONE for the crowds.
• He was and is the Great Shepherd Who isn't satisfied with ALMOST all of the sheep in the fold but goes out searching for the one who is lost.
• He calls us to this same individual-one-on-one-type of caring ministry.
Surveys show that 90% people who come to faith in Christ
• not through a massive church visitation program
• Or a great evangelistic crusade but through a friend...
• A Christian who is sensitive to the leading of God and makes himself AVAILABLE for God to use to reach out to ONE lost soul who is seeking God.
Like this Ethiopian all human beings have an inborn longing for God.
God sends Christians, like He did Philip, to tell them about His great love.
As God says in Jeremiah 29:13,"You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."
What about you? Are you making yourself AVAILABLE to God?
Do you embrace an attitude where you say as Isaiah did, "Here am I Lord. Send me. I'm ready, willing and available to go where you need me to go."
This leads to a third attitude all effective evangelists must embrace...to take the lead.
3. ...INITIATIVE
God told Philip to stay near the chariot and he did.
When he heard what the man was reading, he took the initiative to run up to the chariot and ask, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
Now-doing this took a lot of courage because there were probably soldiers guarding the Ethiopian.
• He may have had huge bodyguards armed with razor sharp swords close at hand.
• running up to this chariot was dangerous
• the troops could have interpreted it as an attack but Philip bravely did so anyway.
• He trusted God's guidance so he didn't worry about the guards.
• he didn't wait for the man to lean out of his chariot and holler, "Excuse me but do you happen to be an Old Testament Scholar?"
• No, he saw his God-given opening and he took it.
• He was sensitive enough to God's Spirit to see that God had been there before him, preparing this man for his visit.
We need to realize that as well.
• God does go before us in every witnessing encounter.
• there are still people like this Eunuch today.
• They hunger for God but they don't know how to find Him.
You'll find them experimenting with cults or drugs or false religions, listening to radio and TV evangelists.
• even reading their Bible not understanding they're reading.
• These kind of people are everywhere-and the same Spirit Who sent Philip to this Ethiopian wants to direct you to them as well.
• They need somebody like you or me to care enough to have the initiative to chase down their "chariots" and tell them about Jesus.
Let's review some examples of how you might "run up" on some modern "chariots."
children play with the next door neighbor's children.
"run up to your neighbor" and say, "My child is singing in a musical at our church. It's based on a best-selling book called Experiencing God. Why don't you bring your family to hear it?"
Or say, "How would you like a few hours of peace and quiet a few evenings a week this summer?
Our church is holding VBS in the evenings. We could drop the kids off and then you can go shopping." Then, ask them what they think about the devotional their kids heard that day.
• Take the initiative to find God-given openings like this and use them.
Remember Romans 10:13 says,"Everyone…..
But how can they call on the One they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the One of Whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone telling to them?" Christians, we need to take the initiative to TELL THEM.
The fourth essential evangelistic attitude Philip displayed was...
4. ...TACTFULNESS.
* he was completely unoffensive.
* He didn't pull out his text book on apologetics ready for an argument.
* He didn't tote his concordance under his arm.
* He wasn't out to impress or convince.
* He came graciously with only one simple question. "Do you understand what you are reading?"
There is no hint of offense or put down in his approach.
• He genuinely wanted to know if the stranger in the chariot understood those words.
• he listened without responding as the man confessed his ignorance. Philip wasn't pushy.
• He graciously awaited an invitation to climb up into the chariot before doing so.
• He started where the man was, rather than cranking out a canned sermon.
• Not once did he put the man down or pull rank, or attempt to impress.
• He gave the stranger space to think it through without feeling foolish.
• he displayed courtesy and tact.
It is important for us to do so as well. We must remember that it is the CROSS that will be offensive, not the one who witnesses.
• Evangelism isn't some sort of assault by the God squad
• or some spiritual mugging mission where we shove the gospel down people's throats.
• Those in-your-face tactics never work.
No-to fulfill our part of the Great Commission we must be tactful-gracious. Love them like Jesus.
Rather than attacking we show genuine concern. We always uphold the dignity of the individual.
That's what Philip did-and then when the time was RIGHT he came to the point, which leads to a fifth, attitude we must embrace....
5. ...PRECISENESS.
In response to Philip's tactful question, "Do you understand what you're reading?" the Ethiopian said,
"How can I unless someone explains it to me-so tell me please, Who is the prophet talking about, himself or Someone else?"
This is an open door…..
And then Philip began with that passage and began to tell him the good news about Who? Jesus!
Philip didn't give the man any highfalutin philosophy;
• he didn't issue any "turn or burn, forsake or bake" threats
• or scary prophetic charts about seven-headed apocalyptic beasts.
• He didn't even give him any irresistible promises of cloud-nine peace or answers to all of life's problems.
• He just told him precisely what he needed to hear,
• The news of Jesus' perfect life and sacrificial death on our behalf.
We must practice this same precision in our evangelistic endeavors.
If we don't, people will pull us down the rabbit trail discussions of evolution or the latest church scandal.
We must remember, that like Paul,
• we are called to PREACH one thing: CHRIST CRUCIFIED!
• news people need to hear.
• This is the message they will respond to.
• JESUS-and JESUS ALONE-must be the focus of our evangelistic message
• faith in Him is the only issue that matters.
Now, let me ask you. Could you be that precise?
could you take that Scripture from Isaiah and tell this Ethiopian about Jesus.
Could you do that? Remember, as Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ."
Well, do you know your Bible well enough to do this?
Could you take it and use it to point someone to Jesus?
If not-then learn how. Get active in Sunday School and a good Small Group Bible study.
Commit yourself to a daily quiet time. Train yourself to use the Sword of Truth.
So to review. If we are to do our part in completing the Great commission we need
Attitudes of sensitivity, availability, and tactfulness.
We need to always be ready to take initiative and must be able to tell people about Jesus with Scripture-laden precision. AND one further attitude Philip modeled was...
6. ..DECISIVENESS
As they rode along and looked at the Scriptures-as Philip told Him of Jesus' life and ministry and death and resurrection-I think Philip finally came down to the point that he told the Ethiopian about Jesus' ascension and of His final command to, "Go make disciples of all nations, BAPTIZING them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." About that time I think they came upon a pond of some sort-a wadi in the desert-and at that point the Ethiopian said, "Well, look, here's some water. I want to be a disciple. Why shouldn't I be baptized?"
Now, later manuscripts include a verse 37 where Philip says, "If you believe with all your heart you may." and the eunuch answered, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Some scholars don't think this verse was in the original manuscripts but
I disagree because after his experience with Simon the Sorcerer who had feigned a faith in Jesus-and then just gone through the motions of baptism, well, Philip would have seen a need to make sure about the Ethiopian's faith. He didn't want the Simon deal to happen again so he explained to him that belief precedes baptism.
He made sure this man understood how to become a Christian before he baptized him.
And we, need to be just as decisive. We must be careful not to assume.
There is a point in every evangelistic encounter when we must encourage people to make the decision to confess their faith in Jesus.
Well, Luke tells us that they went down in the water and Philip baptized the Ethiopian.
And the moment he brought the man up out of the water God's Spirit suddenly "took him away."
Interestingly enough, this is the same word we find in 1st Thessalonians 4:6-17 where it says that when Jesus returns we will be "caught up" to meet Him in the clouds.
So basically, Philip was raptured here-but instead of ending up in the clouds with Jesus, God took him to Azotus, his next evangelistic assignment.
Sometimes when we're shopping I think my wife has been raptured. I'll turn my head and she'll be gone. I'll look and find her all the way across the store!
Well, tradition says that this Ethiopian then went home and shared the Gospel with his nation.
So understand, by witnessing to a single person, Philip had an impact on an entire continent, further proof that the attitudes he embraced are important-vital if we are to complete the Great Commission.
Invitation:
Now as we always do, we are going to sing a hymn of invitation-to give you the same opportunity that Philip gave the Ethiopian-an opportunity to decide to believe in Jesus and to make that decision public by walking the aisle. Christians present-I would encourage you to be sensitive to God's leading as we sing. Is He calling you to a decision? Is He telling you of a "cul de sac" or a hall at work or a yard you need to cross? Is He telling you that you need to join this church and serve Him here? Come now and share the decisions God has laid on your heart.
Benediction
Let the PEACE OF CHRIST rule in your hearts
since as members of one body you were called to peace.
Let the WORD OF CHRIST dwell in you richly
and whatever you do...in word or in deed
Do it all in the NAME OF CHRIST giving thanks to God the Father
through Him.
