Isaiah 12
2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD , the LORD , is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation."
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4 In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD , call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing to the LORD , for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
Acts 8
Philip and the Ethiopian
26Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road--the desert road--that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." 27So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
30Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.
31"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:
"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth."
34The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?" 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
A legend recounts the return of Jesus to heaven after his time on earth. He returned bearing the marks of his earthly pilgrimage with its cruel cross and shameful death.
The angel Gabriel approached him and said, “Master, you must have suffered terribly for people down there.”
“I did,” said Jesus.
“And,” continued Gabriel, “Do they now know all about how you loved them and what you did for them?”
“Oh, no,” said Jesus. “Not yet. Right now, only a handful of people in Palestine know.”
Gabriel was perplexed. “Then what have you done,” he asked, “to let all people know about your love for them?”
“Well, I’ vet asked Peter, James, John, Phillip and a few others to tell people about me. Those who are told will in turn tell others, and the Gospel will be spread to the farthest reaches of the globe. Ultimately, all of humankind will hear about me and what I have done on their behalf.”
Gabriel frowned and looked skeptical. He knew that people weren’t dependable. “Yes,” he said, “but what if Peter and James and John and Phillip grow weary? What if the people who come after them forget? And what if, way down in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, people get too busy to bother telling others about you? Haven’t you made any other plans?”
“No, I’ve made no other plans, Gabriel,” Jesus answered. “I’m counting on them.”
It’s been said that the Christian faith is only one generation away from extinction. That’s because with each generation comes the renewed responsibility to take the good news of the Gospel to the world. Are you doing your part? “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
Charles Haddon Spurgeon in his book “The Quotable Spurgeon”, tells this story:
‘Old Betty was converted late in her life, and though she was very poor she was very active. She visited the sick; out of her own poverty she gave to those who were still poorer; she collected a little money from others when she could give none of her own, and told many of the love of the Saviour. At last she caught a cold and rheumatism and lay in bed month after month, pain-worn and helpless. A good minister went to see her and asked if after her active habits she did not find the change very hard to bear. Listen closely to Betty’s reply:
"No sir, not at all. When I was well, I used to hear the Lord say day by day, ’Betty, go here. Betty, go there. Betty, do this. Betty do that," and I used to do it as well as I could. And now I hear him say every day, ’Betty, lie still ...’"
Don’t we all know Betty’s and Phillip’s, these people who are endless in their service to God? These people capable of hearing God speak to them. And sometimes aren’t we a bit jealous that we don’t hear him speak to us or when we do we don’t quite get what he is saying.
Yesterday, I went to a celebration of life service of an incredible man. He was a man who heard what the Lord said and went where the Lord sent him. This man was not an ordinary man. Let me tell you about this man. Delbert Vern Troxell was a tall man with long arms and legs who through every fiber of his being emitted his love of God. His smile shone through with God’s love. He served during World War II in the United States Navy and was stationed in the Pacific theatre. (And no this was not a place to go and watch movies). His experienced in the invasion of Okinawa, and later in Nagasaki, influenced his life to return to Japan at a later date, armed with God’s words of love and reconciliation instead of weapons of destruction and death. Del entered Northwest Christian College in Eugene, Oregon. While in the school he met Martha Hendrickson, the daughter of missionary parents ministering in Japan, and they were married. They were jointly ordained to Christian mission and ministry. And together they returned to Japan. From 1953 to 1969, being assigned primarily to rural churches. Upon there return home Del served at churches in Washington and Oregon.
At Del’s service yesterday, all the churches that he had served had a representative speak of him and his service. Seven churches had speakers as well as the Regional office and the Retirement Village. And this did not count the family members who spoke or the pastor who conducted the services. Also at the service were a choir and a quartet. Ron even got drafted back into his old seat in the back row of the choir. The same theme was there, Del was a man of God, a pastor, a mentor, a friend who moved you with his love of God in his life. The other theme that was present was that Del listened to God.
We have all these people that listened to God and God blessed them through their ability to hear him and follow his instructions. Sometimes don’t we wonder why we can’t hear God?
Dear ones, it’s hard for God to get through to us when our line is busy or we hang that do not disturb sign on our doors. Or better yet haven’t some of you seen the no soliciting signs on doors or when he is calling us, we look on our caller ID’s and see that it is him and we don’t even pick up the phone.
These are not literal analogies but figuratively speaking don’t we do that. We are too busy; we are too self-absorbed, we only want to hear that “church” stuff on Sundays. We don’t want to open ourselves up all the time. We have lives to live and we can’t slow down to take time to read the Bible, go to a Bible study, pray, or stop and be still.
Remember God says, “Be still and know that I am God.” We get so busy living our day to day lives that we forget to be still so we can listen to God and go where he sends us. We are so busy getting things done that we forget to stop and do the things he wants us to do.
Back to Phillip and our eunuch friend. Let me explain something to you: This eunuch was not an ordinary man in more than one way. He was a high serving official in the Queen’s service. Not only was he important, he played with the money. So this is not an ordinary man sitting in his chariot reading. And we can assume that he had the Cadillac Escalade version and not the Ford Pinto version of the chariot. And more than likely being an official he had some type of emblem or flag that stated that, “Hey, I am an important government official.”
So here we have Phillip walking up to this man and saying, “Do you get what you are reading?” Phi here is being a bit assumptive. That would be like you or I walking up to a tinted window Cadillac with the state flag flying on the front and knocking on the window and saying to the man sitting in the back seat reading the Wall Street Journal, “Do you understand what you are reading?” A bit presumptuous, don’t you think?
It wasn’t though because Phillip listened to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit wanted Phillip to go and share the good news with this man; he knew that this man was ready to hear the news.
Listen to this again from our scripture:
31"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:
"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth."
34The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?" 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
Do you understand what happened? Phillip listened and the eunuch, this high mucky muck of the Ethiopian government was ready, he listened and he acted upon what he heard.
How often and be honest with yourselves, do you feel God nudging you and you push it aside. You have all sorts of excuses:
• Why would God call me?
• Can’t be God, must be indigestion…
• I can’t let people know I am hearing things; they might want to lock me away...
• If that was God he will come back
• I’ll do it tomorrow
But sometimes tomorrow is too late. What if Phillip would have waited till the next day; he would not have found the man. And don’t you think that this important government guy’s religious beliefs will make a difference in the Ethiopian community.
There is an old story that goes like this:
A Native American and his friend were in downtown New York City, walking near Times Square in Manhattan. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were squealing around corners, sirens were wailing, and the sounds of the city were almost deafening.
Suddenly, the Native American said, “I hear a cricket.”
His friend said, “What? You must be crazy. You couldn’t possibly hear a cricket in all of this noise!”
“No, I’m sure of it,” the Native American said. “I heard a cricket.”
“That’s crazy,” said the friend.
The Native American listened carefully for a moment, and then walked across the street to a big cement planter where some shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes, beneath the branches, and sure enough, he located a small cricket. His friend was utterly amazed. “That’s incredible,” said his friend. “You must have super-human ears!”
“No,” said the Native American. “My ears are no different from yours. It all depends on what you’re listening for.”
“But that can’t be!” said the friend. “I could never hear a cricket in this noise.”
“Yes, it’s true,” came the reply. “It depends on what is really important to you. Here, let me show you.”
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a few coins, and discreetly dropped them on the sidewalk. And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, they noticed every head within twenty feet turn and look to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs.
“See what I mean?” asked the Native American. “It all depends on what’s important to you.”
What’s important to you? What do you listen for? Some people say that there is no God, and that he never speaks to us anymore. But perhaps they can’t see or hear him because they aren’t listening for him. They are living for themselves, not for God.
If you are in tune with God, you will be able to notice him at work in your life and in the world. And you’ll be able to hear him when he speaks.
Jesus said, “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them…But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear” (Matthew 13:15-16).
We need to remember to listen, to hear and to obey God. We are never alone. And if we want to be like the Phillips, the Bettys, and the Dels of the world not only do we have to listen but we have to act like the children of God. We need to get rid of the things that distract us away from him and turn toward things that bring us closer to him.
I want to still grow up and be like Del Troxell, I want to go to my bed when it is time like Betty and to rest; I want to go and share God’s word like Phillip.
I want to go where God sends me. So I am hanging up the phone and not keeping my line busy, I am going to slow down and open God’s word more than I did yesterday, I am going to sit and be still and listen to God’s voice, when the phone rings, I am not going to look and see who it is, I am going to take the no soliciting sign off and open myself up. What are you going to do?
Remember we shine as examples; be it good ones or bad ones; by our actions and our words. And I hope you shine for God, because God may be speaking to you and if you aren’t shining for Him you just may not get the message.
Let us pray.
