But it is sad to say that many in our churches when they die, their death will not affect God’s church whatsoever! At their death their name will be removed from the church roll and the church will continue without any interruption whatsoever.
But there are others we have in this church when they die they leave behind some shoes that will be hard to fill.
This church is bless to have such Christians.
In the sixth and seventh chapters of Acts, we read about the life and death of that great deacon, Stephen.
The church lamented his death, and probably wondered who could take his place.
They did not need to wonder, because when the Lord takes a saint home, He always raises up someone to take up where that saint left off.
When we got to chapter 8, we find that God had done just that!
After Stephen’s death God raised up a man by the name of Philip.
Due to the intensity of the persecution after the death of Stephen, most of the Christians fled Jerusalem to try to keep from being killed.
Look at verses 5-8, say, "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city.”
In the midst of this great revival, God did a strange thing. He uprooted Philip, and sent him to a desert to preach to one man.
Something worth noting here is that when God took Philip from that great revival the revival continued!!!
WHY IS THAT SIGNIFICANT?
Because the revival was not about Philip, it was about the Lord Jesus!!!
Illus: A lot of well meaning Christians will sometime say to a pastor, “Pastor, if something ever happen to you this church will go down hill immediately!”
• It will if the church is built on the pastor
• But if the church is built on the Lord Jesus God will raise up another man and the church will continue to do great things for the Lord.
Illus: A good football coach when he has a good quarter back he knows he will not have him forever. He has a good replacement so that his team can continue to win!!!
Anytime God takes home one of his choice servants he has a GOOD REPLACEMENT ready to step in and take over.
There are churches all over this nation when a pastor left or died, the church died and it was because the membership was built on a pastor not the Lord Jesus.
Let me share with you what we can learn from this portion of God's Word.
First, we need to consider…
I. THE SPEECH
We read in verse 26, "And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert."
Many times, it would seem that God asks us to do things, that seem to be a mistake to us.
Maybe Philip thought that perhaps, what the angel of the Lord was asking him to do was a mistake.
But we must always remember, God does not make mistake!!!
He never has and never will, because if God made a mistake he would be like us mortals who often make mistakes.
WHY DOES GOD DO NOT MAKE MISTAKES?
God’s ability to do all things and comprehend all matters prevents Him from making mistakes:
Psalms 147:5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
Again, Scripture shows that God is infallible. Limited knowledge leads to mistakes, but God has unlimited knowledge and makes no mistakes.
However, there are those who tell us God does make mistakes, such as, those who are transgender.
• We have men who tells us as a man outward they are a woman inward. IN OTHER WORDS THEY TELL US GOD MADE A MISTAKE IN CREATING THEM!
• We have women who tell us they are a woman outward but they are a man inward. IN OTHER WORDS THEY TELL US GOD MADE A MISTAKE IN CREATING THEM!
• We have those today who tell us they can not help they are homosexuals because God made them that way. God made them Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve!!!
Listen, this is not true, but what is true if you mess around with sin, sin will warp your mind where you no longer think rational.
Philip was in the midst of a great revival and it would seem to any of us it was a mistake for him to pack up and leave and go into a desert where only one lost soul was.
WHY DOES IT SEEM IT WAS A MISTAKE?
• He was being used of God in Samaria to bring about a great revival.
• People were being saved by the scores.
• Some were delivered from demon possession.
• And God even healed some who were lame.
• It was so great the Bible says the town was filled with the joy of the Lord.
It would seem that, in the midst of a move of God like that, it would be a mistake, to ask Philip to pull up stakes and leave. ABSOLULETLY!
Illus: If Philip came to me and said, “Pastor Belger, in the midst of this great revival I am thinking about packing it up and going into a desert and preach to one lost soul there!” I would say to Philip, what hae you been smoking!!!
Yes, the Lord asked Philip to do something that seemed to be a big mistake.
However, it is noteworthy to note there is No record made of Philip protesting. It says, "And he arose and went..,"
Illus: There are those God call to the mission field and their families and friends tell them…ARE YOU CRAZY!!!
But God never makes a mistake, NEVER! NEVER! NEVER!
Illus: There is a sign in some places of business that says, “You do not have to always agree with the boss, but you do have to remember - He is the boss!"
The same thing goes for us. We do not always agree with God, but we do have to always remember, “He is God, and He has never made a mistake!"
We read in verse 26, "And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert."
We looked at the SPEECH, now look at…
II. THE SINNER
What a contrast this must have been for Philip!
• He left a HOLY GHOST REVIVAL,
• People getting save,
• Devils being cast out,
• A town of happy people rejoicing in the Lord.
Look at the contrast in Verses 27-28 “And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet."
The story of the Ethiopian has many nuggets of truth for us to draw from, but if you do not get anything else from this true story, get this: God loves souls so much, that if there was only one lost soul in this universe, He still would have sent His beloved Son to die for that soul.
In Samaria, people were being saved by the scores. Other apostles heard about this revival and came to assist Philip.
When sufficient help was present to take care of Samaria, God took Philip out of that tremendous revival, and sent him to a lonely desert to reach one lost Ethiopian.
When he arrived look what happened.
Look at verse 29, we read, “Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot."
Some Christians are not aware that the Holy Spirit can speak to us.
THERE IS A REASON WHY GOD DOES NOT SPEAK TO SOME FOLKS….
(1) SIN
The reason God does not speak to them is because their lives are filled with sin.
Illus: Listen, if you were thirsty and you went into a home that was filthy and they offered you a glass of water out of a glass that was absolutely filthy would you drink water from that glass?
As Christians we are vessels, but if our vessel is polluted with sin you think God is going to have anything to do with us!
The reason God does not speak to a lot of Christians by the HOLY SPIRIT is because they are an unclean vessel.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger tells the story when him and his congregation went looking at some property to build a new church. While they were looking at the property this man that lived in the neighborhood saw them stopped and came to where they were standing.
This man was known for his filth, I mean for him to become clean he would have had to be sand blasted.
But some of the men were going to play a trick on Dr. Belger, he walked away from the group of men scouting the property out.
They gave this man a cup of water and told him to take it to Dr. Belger. The man was more than happy to accommodate them not knowing they were using him to play a trick on Dr. Belger.
He walked up to Dr. Belger with this cup of water dirty and smelly and actually had one of his dirty fingers in the water and he told Dr. Belger he brought him this cup of cold water.
Dr. Belger looked at him and immediately he made up his mind he is not going to drink that water. He did not want to hurt his feeling, but he was not going to drink that water!!!
We are vessels of God but if we are living an unclean life God we cannot have a close walk with the Lord.
But also, there is another reason God does not speak to some and it is because of their…
(2) World
That is, God cannot speak to some because the things of the world drown out the voice of God.
Illus: For example, a man and his wife can be having a nice meal and a nice conversation in a quiet restaurant.
But someone comes in, and decides he does not like things quiet, he goes to the "noise machine"(Juke Box) and all of a sudden he can create so much horrible noise, that it fills the building.
Now the two people can no longer talk, because the juke box drown out each of them and they cannot hear each other.
This happens in the spiritual realm, if we let it. This is why so many professing Christians have never heard the Spirit of God talking to them. Their lives are filled with the noise of this world, and if He did try to speak, they could not hear Him!
Spirit of God spoke to Philip telling him what to do…
Illus: Not long ago, a program was aired on television that was an interview about the trouble Oral Roberts was facing with his hospital plans he said that God told him to build.
Before he built this hospital the city council met with him and told him there was demand for another hospital in Tulsa Oklahoma.
He built it ignoring their advice.
Once it was built in that big hospital, there were less than two hundred patients on any given day.
A journalist who was interviewing Mr. Roberts, asked him a question something like this, "Did God make a mistake in telling you to build this hospital, or do you think perhaps He never told you to build it in the first place?"
Mr. Roberts had to lower his head. He said something like this, "God does not make mistakes, I guess perhaps I did.”
God does speak to us, if we are a clean vessel.
Illus: Every pastor loves to hear:
• Men and women come to him and say, “Pastor, I feel the Lord has been speaking to my heart about teaching a Sunday School class.
• Men and women come to him and say, “Pastor, I feel the Lord has been speaking to my heart about driving the church van.”
• Men and women come to him and say,k “Paster, I feel the Lord has been speaking to my heart about joining the choir.
Listen, God does speak to those who are clean vessels.
But it is astounding what people claim God told them to do!!!
Illus: The story is told of a man who brought a brand new pair of shoes to D. L. Moody, and said, "God told me to buy you this pair of shoes. By the way, what size do you wear?"
Mr. Moody said, “If God told you to buy those shoes for me, they will fit. God knows exactly what size I wear!
The Spirit of God told Philip to go to the Ethiopian. When Philip did what God told him to do, he could not go wrong!
We have looked at…
• The Speech
• The Sinner
Now let us look at…
III. THE SPEED
Verses 30-34 “And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?”
Philip arrived, and saw the man the Holy Spirit had sent him to.
Then the Spirit told Philip to go to him. The Bible says, " And Philip ran thither to him,”
Philip wasted no time, HE RAN TO THIS MAN!
God has spoken to some and for years they have never gotten around to do what God called them to do.
Illus: A preacher had this man in his church and after every sermon he would say, I AIM TO DO THAT!
• Preacher would preach on tithing and he would say, I AIM TO DO THAT!
• Preacher would preach on prayer and Bible study and he would say, I AIM TO DO THAT!
• Preacher would preach on witnessing for the Lord and he would say, I AIM TO DO THAT!
This preacher got tired of hearing about this fellow AIM TO DO ALL THESE THINGS. One Sunday he came out aiming to do what the preacher had preached about and the preacher said, “Fellow, for God’s sake, quit aiming and cock the gun and shoot!”
God did not have to put a fire under Philip, as soon as he saw the spiritual need of this man HE RAN TOWARD THE MAN!!!
We all have heard people say,
• "I wish I had more time. I would love to do some things for the Lord, if I had the time."
•“I wish I had more money. I would love to give more to the Lord, if I had it to give."
But, did you know:
• That everyone of you here is doing as much as they want do for the Lord!
• They are giving as much as they want to give to the Lord?
If God gave the people who say these things eight days a week, and a hundred dollars more a week on their incomes, they still would not have time or money for the Lord.
Why? Lack of time and money is not their problem.
Their problem is that they have not put God first in their lives. That is why they have neither time, nor money to give God.
Philip was not that way. When God spoke to Philip, he immediately left Samaria to go where God instructed.
When God spoke again, the Bible says, "And Philip ran thither to him..."
Philip was not looking for an excuse, he was looking for an opportunity!
Conclusion:
Philip knew something that a lot of Christian do not know.
That is, he knew when God opens a door…WE NEED TO STEP IN!!!
Also, when God close the door…WE NEED TO BACK OFF!!!
When it comes to the life of Philip we have looked at…
I. THE SPEECH
II. THE SINNER
IV. THE SPEED
