Water In The Desert

WATER IN THE DESERT

Acts 8.26-40

S: Evangelism

C: Willingness to speak

Th: A People with Purpose

Pr: GOOD NEWS MUST BE SPOKEN.

?: How? How do we accomplish this?

KW: Tasks

TS: Let’s study how Philip leads a spiritually thirsty man to life-giving water.

Type: Inductive

I. Obeying

II. Approaching

III. Speaking

IV. Completing

PA: How is the change to be observed?

• We are to go where we are ordered to go.

• We are to connect with people.

• We are to tell about Jesus, because GOOD NEWS MUST BE SPOKEN.

• We must finish what we are called to accomplish.

Version: ESV

RMBC 07 May 06 AM

INTRODUCTION:

ILL Evangelism: How Not to Evangelize

A Christian man owned a barber shop. One night, at a church service, the barber felt greatly burdened to do more with his testimony for Christ. The next evening, the barber began attending an "evangelism class" at his church. He attended faithfully every night for two weeks. He rehearsed all the material, took extensive notes, and memorized the assigned Bible verses. At the end of the two weeks he received a plaque acknowledging his completion of the course.

The next morning, in the barber shop, he hung the plaque and bowed his head. "Dear Lord," he prayed, "help me to witness to the first man to come through that door this morning." At that moment in walked the biggest, meanest, foulest man the barber had ever seen. It seems this man had recently lost a bet with some "biker" buddies and now he had to get his head shaved. Needless to say, the barber did not feel very comfortable quoting the "Roman Road" to a man with a tattoo on his neck.

The rest of the day did not go any better for the barber. At 5:00 p.m., the barber was sobbing with shame. He had not witnessed to a single person. He bowed his head again. This time he prayed, "Lord, if you will allow one more opportunity, I promise I will do my part." At that, the door opened and in walked a pleasant looking gentleman. The man smiled at the barber, apologized for coming in so late and took a seat in the chair.

As the barber draped the man in his protective sheet, he began to try to remember what he was supposed to say. He began to get very confused. As the barber put shaving cream on the man’s face, he tried to remember the answers he had learned to the possible objections. As the barber began to prepare his razor, he realized that he simply could not remember a thing he had learned. This made the barber very nervous and soon sweat began to break out on his forehead.

Finally, in desperation, he shook the razor at the man and screamed, "ARE YOU PREPARED TO DIE??!!!"

1. How do you do when it comes to sharing the good news about Jesus?

There are some of us that sharing the good news about Jesus is very natural.

It comes easy for us.

But for others, like this barber, we find it very difficult.

We get tongue-tied and nervous.

We even worry that we might say the wrong thing.

Yet, like this barber, we know we should say something.

We know that God has changed us, and because of that, we know He can help others as well.

We want to be a witness to this difference Jesus has caused in us.

This year, we have been working through the book of Acts.

And…

2. In our study of Acts, we have observed how God has orchestrated the church to move out of Jerusalem.

Persecution of the believers in Jerusalem, and more specifically, the martyrdom of Stephen, has caused them to scatter out into the countryside and cities of Palestine.

Now all of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee are hearing the good news about what Jesus has done as the Messiah.

They are hearing about His deliberate sacrificial death, that He went to the cross on purpose in order to demonstrate His love and to save humanity from their sin.

They are hearing about His utter defeat of death by doing the impossible – raising from the dead.

They are hearing about how Jesus fulfilled His promise to send the Holy Spirit and the new life He now brings.

This message was spreading like wildfire.

One of those who took advantage of the new opportunities was Philip.

For…

3. God effectively used Philip to open salvation to the Samaritans.

When we last studied in the book of Acts, we saw that the Samaritans, who were considered by the Jews to be impure in race and faith, were readily accepting the truth about Jesus.

Those that were considered outside the faith when it came to Judaism, were finding a home among the Christians.