The Replacement

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.