What Are The Odds? (Seeker, Servant, Savior)

11/16/08

What are the Odds? (Seeker, Servant, Savior)

Ac 8:26 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.

Ac 8:27 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,

Ac 8:28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.

Ac 8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

Ac 8:30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

Ac 8:31 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.

Ac 8:32 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:

Ac 8:33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

Ac 8:34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?

Ac 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

Ac 8:36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

Ac 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Ac 8:38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

(prayer)

I’ve entitle this message, “What are the Odds?”

The odds of you winning the lottery are 18 million to one.

Odds of being wrongly declared dead by a Social Security data entry mistake: 1 in 23,483

Odds of becoming president: 1 in 10,000,000

Odds of dying from parts falling off an airplane: 1 in 10,000,000

Odds of finding a four-leaf clover on the first try: 1 in 10,000

Odds you will be injured by a toilet this year: 1 in 10,000

Odds of winning an Academy Award: 1 in 11,500

Odds of bowling a 300 game: 1 in 11,500

Odds of writing a New York Times best seller: 1 in 220

Odds of dating a millionaire: 1 in 215

-www.stephendaniel.com/stephen_daniel/2008/07/what-are-the-od.html

Seeker…

I want us to look at three people this morning. Three different views as to how this thing played out. Three different ways this thing against all odds came unbelievably together.

Let’s start with the Ethiopian eunuch. We don’t know a lot about him, but we do know some things.

We know he was a person of great responsibility.

He was the treasurer to the Queen of the Ethiopians, Queen Candace.

We know that he had traveled a great distance, over 1,000 miles.

The Bible tells us that he had traveled that far to worship in Jerusalem.

We know that he had questions…questions that he wanted answered.

The Bible tells us that he was actually reading some verses from the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 53…and he had questions about it. (We will get to those questions later.)

We are going to call him a “seeker” this morning, because he was seeking to know the Truth.

There he is this morning…heading home…along this desert road…what are the odds?

He had traveled a long way to get some answers, but he was heading home still looking for the Truth…still looking for those answers he was seeking.

There are a lot of people out there in this world, like this Ethiopian Eunuch looking for answers to questions they have.

Servant…

This passage of scripture talks a lot about Philip.

Other scripture tells us that this Philip had been chosen by the apostles in the early church to distribute food, and help the needy.

This day, we do not know what Philip was doing…it may be that with the wording in verses 26 -27, that he was in bed…maybe he was laying there thinking…planning his day (my wife wants me to do this and that…I’ve got to drop the kids off at school…I’ve got to go to the hardware store…take out the trash…go to work…etc.)

Somewhere in all the mundane, routine stuff of life…the Lord spoke to Philip…

Ac 8:26 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.