THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series

Early on in my walk with , I was living in Arkansas after I had left California, and I had made a commitment in my life to share with someone God’s saving love every day. And I don’t know how long that went on, but that was a commitment that was bold and hard to keep up with. I was out daily sharing Jesus with different people, and one night I realized at about 2:00 in the morning that I had not kept my commitment to share Jesus with someone that day. I was taking a shower before getting ready for bed, and I felt so stirred about it that I got dressed and drove to Walmart.

I thought, ‘God, I was getting ready to go to bed, so what is this all about here?’ But I got dressed and I hopped in my pickup and made my way to Walmart. As I was driving there, I can’t explain to you how elated I felt on my insides. I just sensed that God was going to use me in a great way. So I pulled up in the parking lot of Walmart at about 2:00 in the morning and I said, ‘Okay God, I am ready. Just show me what to do and when and I will do it.’

And I saw some people coming out of the store and I sensed that I needed to go up and talk to them. I needed to go tell them that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I walked up to these people and I said, ‘I know you guys have no idea who I am.’ That was a common statement I would use in those days when I would call people randomly on the phone and just share Jesus. Or I would use it to walk up to people to start the conversation.

Now I know some of you are looking at me like I am nuts. But I had felt like I had been in bondage most of my life with drinking and partying and promiscuity while growing up in California. And I had never heard about the saving love of Jesus until I was in my late teens, and now I wanted other people to know about Him. I look back and I realize that I was giving testimony to how much I believed. Many of you have been a Christian all of your life, you grew up in the church, and you have never told anyone about Jesus. Do you really believe it?

I knew in my heart out there at 2:00 in the morning that I really believed it. So I started talking to these people, and I don’t remember all of the details. I really wish I could remember all the details but time has gone on. I just remember that I had to convince this guy that I wasn’t an . He was so blown away by the timing and the wording and the orchestration of this moment that he thought that I was an angel. And believe me I had to confess to him that I was no angel.

But it was a divine moment and the bringing togetherness was so overwhelming to him. And I am positive if I am remembering correctly that this guy gave his life to Jesus. I know we prayed together and I think he got saved in the parking lot of Walmart that night. Maybe you are wondering why I can’t positively remember this particular incident, but during this season of my life I was literally sharing evangelism with fifty to

Page 1 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series a hundred people a week. I was walking up to people and talking to them. I was pulling my car over and going to knock on doors randomly. I remember my wife telling me on one of our date nights that our date nights were just consisting of my witnessing to people. She said, ‘Honey, we go out on a date and you spend all the time just witnessing, and I want to have some time with you. I want to get caught up with you.’

Now obviously time went on and God began to round out some of my different passions, but at first all I could think about was evangelism. Evangelism, evangelism, evangelism. But then I remember that passion started to shrink down a little bit because other passions began to increase. And I had a pastor tell me that sometimes God has to shrink one passion to increase other passions. And without that energy and without that focus I could have never prepared to be a pastor, because all I could think about was just evangelism. So God had to help me to focus more on doctrine, and on teaching and on other things in my preparatory process.

But I got in my pickup that night after talking to that guy at Walmart and I can’t tell you how satisfying it was to have had that opportunity. It was so amazing and so personal. And it is so powerful to see that God can use us. And God wants to use you and to use me to bring good news to other people, the good news that we believe. But we have to be that good news. Our life needs to demonstrate that good news. Our joy needs to show that good news. I mean people aren’t going to want what we have if we show up at work as believers and just wish we had what the world has. And when a believer sits around and covets what the world has, the world is not going to covet what we have, which is Jesus.

We are going to come to a passage today in Acts Chapter 8 where we are going to meet Philip. Philip is going to hopefully stir us to consider evangelism, to consider what it looks like to share our faith, to consider what it looks like to want to see other people connected to a life that God has for them. It is no secret that we live in a culture that is filled with a melting pot of beliefs. There is a lot of confusion as it relates to worldviews. And one of the reasons many people can get stifled in evangelism is they don’t know where to start; they are overwhelmed by their own pluralist worldview that they live in and hear about all the time. Relativism runs rampant. They don’t want to be seen as intolerant. Fears get in the way. ‘What if they ask a question that I don’t know the answer to?’ We have a sense of people maybe thinking we are a hypocrite if we share because we really haven’t been living it to begin with. And there are so many things that can stop all of us from getting on a mission with God.

But today is an invitation to missional living. And what we are going to do is we are going to walk through some verses after we meet Philip. We are going to do some fast facts about who this individual is. We are going to walk through some verses and then we are going to ask the questions we have been asking all along in this series: What

Page 2 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series would the character before us want to say to us today? In this case what would Philip want to say to us. There are going to be two groups that Philip is going to speak to. There are going to be believers and non-believers. So if you are someone exploring what worldview to believe, what worldview is most valid, if you are someone on a quest for truth, I believe Philip has some things to share with you as well, that I would invite you to consider.

So let’s fasten up our seatbelts as we get ready to learn from one of the ancient characters in the by the name of Philip. Who is Philip? We don’t really know anything about Philip before we meet him in the book of Acts where he becomes one of the seven . Now a is a servant. And what we do know about these deacons is they were to be men of good repute. They had a great reputation. They were full of the Spirit. That was another mark of these great leaders. So they had a great reputation and they were full of the Holy Spirit. Another thing you would see as it related to these God filled Spirit leaders is they had the heart of a servant. They had a great heart to serve. They were available.

I think about Carolyn Kisloski who came by my office this week; she organized our trip to Israel for us. She had worked very hard on organizing this trip, and she wanted to know if I could just find a small space of time to meet with her. She said she wouldn’t take much time; she just had a simple question to ask me. And what she wanted to ask me was this - she wanted to know where else she could serve now? And I was like, ‘You just spent all this time serving and we just got back a few days ago.’ And she said, “I don’t care what it is that you want me to do. I am going to be helping Pam out in Women’s Ministry, but whatever else you would like me to do I will do it, even if it is just cleaning the toilets. I just want to serve.’

And I thought how wonderful. Carolyn and Eric are a very well to do family in this church and yet she comes in and tells me that she will clean the toilets because she just wants to be busy serving. What a great servant’s heart. I love that kind of attitude. ‘Just plug me in a task. I am not above anything. I am willing to serve wherever. Let me get engaged. Let me get involved.’

And that was Philip. Philip was that way. He was full of the Spirit and he had a great reputation. And he was a servant. And not only that, but he was an evangelist. He is the only person in the Bible who was called an evangelist. Now Timothy is told by Paul to do the work of an evangelist. Timothy was a pastor at Ephesus and Paul tells him as a pastor he is to make sure to do the work of an evangelist. But Philip was an evangelist. That was his nature.

Now some of you may be wondering - what is an evangelist? An evangelist is someone who has been called by God to share the good news of Jesus Christ. And

Page 3 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series maybe you are thinking – aren’t we all called by God to share the good news of Jesus? Yes, but some people have a stamp upon them. Some people have this as a signature gift. Some people if you look at them and you watch them they just seem to have an ability to sense situations out, and to know how to lay the words out at the right time, or know what not to say. They can sense people. They know how God is at work in their lives. They are consumed with this passion inwardly about seeing people come to know Jesus.

Philip was also a Hellenes. Now what is a Hellenes? It is a Greek speaking Jew. So Philip was a Greek speaking Jew. That is something else we can know about this individual. He had four daughters and his daughters were a prophetess. Philip saw some amazing things in his life no doubt. He was someone who would have associated with the apostles. He saw lots of evangelism being spread through others. He was someone who was a great servant. He ended up settling in Caesarea, and would have four gifted daughters who were all a prophetess. This was a family that was incredibly spiritually gifted. They were very God centered in their approach.

Philip was also responsible for helping the spread out moving from Jerusalem, Judea and the ends of the earth. Do you remember in Acts Chapter 1 and verse 8 where Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, and and to the ends of the earth.” What is neat about Philip is he took the gospel from Jerusalem to Samaria. Now we know that the and the Jews didn’t have the best relationships going on. We know that they were separated from each other.

Remember Jesus cut through Samaria and met the woman at the well where he interacted with her. And the disciples wondered what Jesus was doing talking to her. But Jesus was demonstrating that no one is out of reach, no one is out of bounds. He came for all nations. Acts Chapter 1 and verse 8 said they would receive power and they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. And when you read the rest of the book of Acts, you will see that Acts Chapter 1 and verse 8 was the outline for the book. And the book of Acts is how the church spread when the Spirit of God fell. And Philip, as the evangelist, was one who took the gospel to the Samaritans.

But in this passage Philip is going to share the gospel with an Ethiopian from Africa who was in search of God. And God is going to arrange this divine encounter and it is going to be more than serendipitous. This is going to be God at His best and Philip is going to be a part of it.

So what is the theme then of the passage before us that we are going to look at in verses 26 through 40? Well this passage is in Scripture to show us how God used Philip to reach the seeking for Christ. That is what is going on here. This is a passage that teaches us how God used Philip the evangelist to reach a seeking Ethiopian

Page 4 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series eunuch for Christ. That is what is before us. And it is going to get immensely practical. So I want to invite you to turn to the book of Acts and lets look in Chapter 8 and see what God has in store for us.

When we look in Chapter 8, we see this beginning in verse 5, “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did.” So not only was Philip someone who was preaching the gospel, apparently he was preforming signs, or amazing things were happening.

Verse 7, “For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.” We need to realize that when it comes to the in the Bible, I have said this on different occasions, these miracles happened often at transitional points in history. And so what God is doing is He is affirming and working through His apostles, and in this case He is working through this wonderful evangelist Philip. And there are lots of amazing things taking place because this is a transitional moment. We are moving from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. The gospel is spreading and the church is growing, and God is bearing witness through them that He is really with them. And so all kinds of unbelievable things are taking place here.

We will skip over the passage about Simon the magician who basically just wanted power and was rebuked. And we come to verse 26 and it says, “Now an said to Philip, Rise up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place.” So God wants Philip to make his way toward a desert place. The way it reads it sounds like an angelic being encounters Philip.

Verse 27, “And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.” So he had to be a trusted individual. You would never serve as someone who oversaw the treasure to a queen unless you had a reputation of trust. And what God is going to do is He is going to put one person of truth in contact with another person of trust. Philip is going to come in contact with the Ethiopian eunuch. The difference is that Philip is someone who has been saved, he believes clearly in Jesus, and the eunuch is a searcher.

Obviously the eunuch had to be trusted with the queen’s wealth, but it says this in the last part of verse 27: “He had come to Jerusalem to worship.” He had traveled a long way making his way from in Africa to Jerusalem to worship. He was a Gentile, that is a non-Jew, but he was a God seeker. He was in search of truth.

Maybe that is you this morning. You are in church, you are not really sure what you believe, but you have come here seeking something. Maybe you are just someone

Page 5 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series who wants to know why you exist, why you are here, and what your purpose in life is. Is Christianity true? If so, maybe you are wondering how to detect that truth, like this Ethiopian eunuch who came to Jerusalem to worship. No doubt he had heard about the exploits that God was doing there, and he was curious about them.

Let’s continue on in verse 28. “And was returning, seated in his .” Now you have to love the fact that he is still seeking. He was returning, he was making his way back to Ethiopia. “And was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.” He is still seeking even after he has already been to Jerusalem. Now he is returning back to his homeland and he is reading. He is interested. And maybe that is you; you came to church last week and you went home and read your Bible. And now you are back again. You are seeking this out. You are trying to figure out what it is that you believe.

The eunuch was reading Isaiah and notice what it says next. “And the Spirit said to Philip, Go over and join this chariot. So Philip ran to him.” Don’t you love that? Philip didn’t make excuses. He didn’t say, ‘You know what, God, I am not really interested in talking to him.’ ‘God, I have somewhere else to be.’ No, it says that Philip ran to him.

If you are an evangelist, you run at evangelistic opportunities. If you are not an evangelist, you may find yourself running away from opportunities, but Philip was an evangelist and he ran to him. He was ready to do this thing. He had a willing faith and he ran toward the eunuch’s chariot.

Wouldn’t you just love to have that kind of obedience where you sense God saying, ‘Share the gospel with that waitress,’ and you would eagerly, willingly do it? Just to be ready on the fly. Just to have an excuse free kind of Christianity. I wonder how much of the Spirit filled life our excuses cause us to miss out on? We are people that are paralyzed by our excuses. We can make an excuse for anything. And I wonder what it would look like for us to start catching our excuses before our excuses catch us.

“So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, Do you understand what you are reading?” What a great question, “Do you understand what you are reading?” Verse 31, “And he said, How can I, unless someone guides me?” This is what you call one of those softball moments in life, folks. Okay? This is the moment where you hope you have been doing your devotionals and you know what Isaiah has to say about the gospel.

Like, what would you do if someone was reading a Bible in your workplace and you overheard them reading and you were to ask them if they understood what they were reading. And if they said, ‘How can I unless you help me,’ would you be willing to help them? We need to always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is within us.

Page 6 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series

I Peter 3:15 says it this way: “Be always prepared to give an answer to everyone that asks you to give an account of the hope that is in you.” Obviously this verse is placed in a context of suffering, giving a reason for how your hope is in God in the midst of suffering. But we should be able to reason and to use Scripture to know how to help people. I see apologetics, that area of knowing how to defend the Christian faith, as my responsibility and my way of loving seekers with my knowledge. I take time to study and find answers so that if someone has a question I can give them an answer.

And by the way I didn’t get into apologetics because I wanted to beat people over the head with answers from the Bible. I didn’t get into apologetics because I was interested in having a lot of knowledge in my head. I got into apologetics because I was doing evangelism, and people’s questions got me into apologetics. I didn’t set out to be an apologist. I set out to be an evangelist, and because I wanted to be a good evangelist, I ended up becoming an apologist.

So I would say to you today, think about it. God is going to have moments for you and He can use you if you prepare yourself. You will get opportunities to share the gospel with people and they will have questions. I don’t think it was an accident when we moved to our neighborhood that we had Jehovah’s Witnesses on this side, an Atheist philosopher across the street, and a homosexual couple who lived together just down the street.

And this was like twelve years ago before it became as progressive as it would seem now. And we began reaching out to our neighbors. We would go over for dinner with this homosexual couple with our kids. And we just began investing and connecting with our neighbors looking for opportunities to share the gospel with them. And God had us in this neighborhood for a reason. He will give us opportunities to be around people and we need to be prepared to share dialogue with them about the gospel. So don’t underestimate how God wants to use you in the context that He places you in. He really wants to use you, and He can use you if you are willing.

Let’s continue working through these verses. Verse 31,“How can I, unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this.” And this is from Isaiah Chapter 53. “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”

Verse 34, “And the eunuch said to Philip, About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself, or about someone else?” Can’t you just picture Philip running at this opportunity? He scoots in next to the eunuch in the chariot and he hears the eunuch reading from Isaiah Chapter 53. Philip is probably praying to God for

Page 7 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series wisdom as he senses this is a moment right here for him to be able to witness to this eunuch.

And after he finishes reading, the eunuch asks Philip who the passage was talking about. He asks him if it is about Isaiah, or was it someone else? And now let’s see how Philip responds to the eunuch. Verse 35, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.” He didn’t skirt around the issue. He didn’t say, ‘Let’s just leave this right here as it is a little complex. I heard that in the future there is going to be a book of James coming out. And it is to be written by James the brother of Jesus, and it will be an easier book to understand. Let’s just wait for that to come out. And maybe we will meet up again in a couple of years after that book is in publication.’

No, no, no, it says that, “beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.” Philip told the eunuch the good news about Jesus from Isaiah Chapter 53, but Isaiah was written 700 years before Jesus came. How could it be talking about Jesus unless Isaiah Chapter 53 is a about Jesus. See, it was a prophecy that had been written 700 years before about Jesus, and Philip understood this. He understood that Jesus had been prophesied about in Isaiah. He knew it was telling how He would someday have to die for our sins. Philip understood that Jesus who knew no sin would come and He would die for our sins.

And this eunuch, who no doubt knew that he had sinned against God, would just so happen to be reading a passage about the coming Saviour who would come to die for sinners. And here is Philip in this moment being sent by God to talk to the eunuch and being able to explain it all to him. ‘This passage is about Jesus, the one who recently died in Jerusalem, and He rose from the grave. And all kinds of people have placed their faith in Him and have found salvation.’

Verse 36, “And as they were going along the road.” So Philip is riding with the eunuch in his chariot and he is sharing Jesus with him. He has obviously explained the gospel to him. And we don’t know how long it has been, but as they are going along the road, “they came to some water, and the eunuch said, See here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” Wow! What a great question. See, some people often like to avoid as long as possible, but this guy was ready. He said, “See here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” He didn’t make any excuses; he was just ready to do this next step.

Obviously Philip had told him about the Spirit of God falling on people, how they became believers, and then they how they were baptized. And the eunuch now understood, he believed and he wanted to be baptized as well. Verse 38 says, “And he

Page 8 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series commanded the chariot to stop, and they both wend down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.”

Sometimes people think they need to go through this long journey before they can get baptized. They think they have to spend 15 years studying all this stuff. But guess what, we are having a baptismal service today and some of you might just need to show up at Lake Norman and be like the eunuch and get in the water. If you believe in Jesus, that He died for your sins and He rose again, and you haven’t been baptized, quit making excuses and come out to Lake Norman today.

Some of you are looking at me like, ‘Okay, now this preacher has gotten a little strong. I don’t want to go to this church anymore. I want to hear preaching that is a little bit lighter.’ Let me tell you this. Years ago in 1994 I was in an AA meeting and I had not been baptized. I was going to AA meetings every day and I met this guy named Leon. And Leon said, ‘I am going to a baptismal service today in our church.’ And I told him that I had never been baptized. Leon said, ‘Well you should come with me.’ So I went to this church and I don’t even remember the name of the church.

And some people think, ‘Oh you don’t even know the name of the church?’ Look, we complicate things sometimes. Philip just baptized the eunuch because there was water available and he was ready. Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave? If so then you need to get baptized.

Anyway I showed up at this church and I must have looked like an idiot. I had no proper protocol. I was just so unchurched that when people talked about the forefathers I thought they meant four different men. I didn’t know anything; I was unchurched. I walked into this sanctuary, took off my shirt and I was baptized. And I look back and I know why I got baptized. I just wanted to publically say that I believed in Jesus and I wanted everyone to know that I was not ashamed of the gospel, “for it is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe.” So get baptized. Quit making excuses.

Now we read verse 36 and saw that the eunuch was ready to be baptized. Now notice there is no verse 37; it just goes to verse 38. That may seem like a problem here, but know this - there were no chapters or verses in the apocrypha. Those were later put into the Bible to help us to have sections so that we could understand it better. So obviously what is going on here is there are some manuscripts that are side by side and one manuscript reads one way and another manuscript reads another way. One will break it one way and the other will break it another way. And sometimes this is what happens.

Verse 38 says, “And when they came up out of the water.” So Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch went down and Philip baptized the eunuch. “When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more.” Now this was before the transit system, okay? So again, there are interesting

Page 9 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series things taking place here as the gospel is spreading. I would look at this as another way of God making sure the gospel is going to be going to Ethiopia as well. God did some amazing things that maybe we don’t understand as things like that have never happened to us, but God was helping the gospel to be spread.

I would liken this to some of the Muslims today that I have heard have been experiencing these unbelievable dreams about Jesus; yet they have no one able to witness to them. My friend, Nabeel Quresh, who is a former Muslim, has a book that is going crazy. It is a New York Times bestseller titled, ‘Seeking Allah - Finding Jesus.’ You can read this book and you will learn how God gave him three different dreams, and it is unbelievable. Nabeel is a very intelligent man who was a doctor, and he is now at Oxford working on his PhD. And his book tells about how he made his way out of Islam and became a Christian.

So we see that Philip was carried away and seen no more. And we know something similar happened to Elijah when he was taken up in a whirlwind and was seen no more. Let’s look at verse 40 and it says, “But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.” And I like that it says he kept preaching. He has this moment with the Ethiopian eunuch and sometimes people think, ‘Okay, God, I have done my one mission trip for the year, so now I am done. Maybe in a year or so I will get my energy up again and I will share Jesus with someone else.’ And that is not the way Philip was wired. He was an evangelist. So he is like, ‘What’s next?’ He realized that this was the call for his life.

So now what I want to do is very practically walk through and give you six points for believers and six points for non-believers. Let’s see what Philip might say to us if he could speak to us today. First of all what would Philip the evangelist say to believers? I think he would say this first - be sensitive to the evangelistic opportunities that God provides for you. Philip was sensitive to the Spirit’s leading. And we have to be careful that we can sense God’s Spirit. Pray for God to give you opportunities. Pray for God to help you to be aware of those opportunities. Look for those moments. Nothing will stoke your fires more than feeling the sense that God is using you.

I really believe one of the missing ingredients to evangelism is a lack of joy in people. Honestly, why in the world are people going to want our Jesus if they can look at us and think, ‘You seem angry’ or ‘You look miserable.’ If we go around and look like we are angry at people all of the time, or we look like we are lacking in joy, they are not going to be interested in anything that we can say to them. We have to fall in love with God, and understand the joy that He gives us, and then spread that to others. That can make a difference.

Page 10 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series

But if we just look miserable all the time it is going to affect how others see us. Of course we are going to have problems, but we have hope in the midst of our problems. And if we act like we don’t, it sends a wrong message. So be sensitive to those opportunities. Spend time with the Lord, and get yourself excited about those opportunities.

Secondly – refuse to place limits on those whom God can reach by modelling love for all people. Philip took the gospel to the Samaritans, and they were distained by the Jews. They worshipped on separate mountains and all kinds of stuff. Now only that, but Philip was willing to share the gospel with this Ethiopian eunuch. So share the gospel with anyone you have an opportunity with.

I can remember when I would go out and do my ‘happy face evangelism.’ Now that didn’t mean my face was happy, it meant that I would look for happy faces to share the gospel with. I would be walking along, and if this person looked angry, or this person looked like they wanted to beat me up, or this person seemed to be in a big hurry, I would avoid them. I would look for someone who looked like they had a Golden Retriever personality before starting a conversation with them.

And it is easy to start making these judgments about people, and the truth is maybe that person who looked like they were angry was the very person I needed to talk with. So don’t let people who look mad or angry make you withdraw. Maybe sometimes we stay away from people that are crying out for contact. They want to hear good news. They may be hurting. They may have been through something painful in their life. And they just need to be met where they are.

Third – maximize your effectiveness by focusing your attention on those most receptive to the gospel. The eunuch was very receptive. Now this doesn’t mean we don’t try to spend any time with people who are not receptive. Let’s say that you know someone and they are not interested in hearing the gospel. We don’t want to cram the gospel down their throats. They will feel used by this; they will get turned off by this, so just be a friend. Just connect with them and wait for the right time.

But if someone is hungry for the gospel, then be intentional. We learn in the Scriptures that there are these different distances with people. Some are closer than others. Maybe there are some that are close to you. It could be a great opportunity to spend time with those people intentionally. There are others who are far away and are hard hearted and they are not going to want to hear. They are going to want to see us live it. They are going to want to see if we are the real deal. Those who are up close may want to hear more. In fact Jesus told His disciples they were to go in pairs, and if the people didn’t want to listen they were to wipe their feet off and go somewhere else. Paul would go into the synagogues and if they didn’t listen he would look elsewhere for

Page 11 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series receptivity. If you are going to go fishing you try and choose a place where the fish are biting.

Fourth – begin where the person is at and start with his or her questions. What did Philip do? He started with the book of Isaiah that the eunuch was reading. And he asked him if he understood what he was reading. He began where the eunuch was. The eunuch was interested in learning who Isaiah was talking about, so Philip started where he was at. We can’t start where someone is at unless we know where that person is at. So figure out where they are at. If they don’t believe in God at all, you don’t necessarily have to start with the Bible; you can start with philosophical arguments for the existence of God. Like the cosmological arguments, or the anthological arguments, or the teleological arguments, or the moral arguments of the existence of God. Those are some things that you can utilize in conversation.

Fifth – when you do share your faith, use the Scriptures to point people toward Christ. Isn’t that exactly what Philip did? He started with the Scripture and he pointed the eunuch to Jesus. He showed him Jesus. And that is what we should want to do. Use the Scriptures to show people Jesus. Jesus is the theme of Scripture, and He loves you is written large in the Bible. It is an exciting thought to be loved by God.

Sixth – when someone appears ready to believe in Jesus, invite that person to respond. Obviously Philip, even though it doesn’t record that he asked the eunuch to say the sinner’s prayer or whatever, we know that he shared Jesus with him. Philip had spoken to the eunuch so clearly that he was ready to respond. “See here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And they went down to the water and the eunuch was baptized. When someone appears ready to believe in Jesus, invite him to respond. When a fish is biting, pull it in. That is what we are to do.

Think about those points that are very practical for us as believers. I would say to think about someone you know maybe in your family, or in your neighborhood and start praying about them. Ask God to give you an opportunity to reach that person. Look for opportunities to share with that person.

I remember Rick Warren once said, “God always ministers to people’s needs, hurts and interests.’ That is what Jesus would do. He would minister to people’s needs, hurts and interests. So think about this person you want to reach out to. What are their needs? What are their hurts? What are their interests? And then start meeting their needs. Or start ministering to their hurts. Or take an interest in what they are interested in.

And now let’s think about what Philip would want to say if you are a non- believer. If you are someone who is seeking, someone who feels empty or confused. I think first Philip might say this – begin a spiritual search for truth. I want to say if you

Page 12 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series are here and you are just searching that is wonderful. We are so excited that you are here and we hope you will ask your questions. And maybe there are some of you that have come back to church after you have been burned or hurt in a church and you are struggling with trust and you have your guards up. That is okay. Sometimes we get hurt in life and I too have had my guards up.

But go on your spiritual search. That is what the eunuch did. He went from Africa to Jerusalem and that was no small journey. In fact what we read in the Zondervan International Background Bible Commentary is this: “This was an incredible journey for this man and his retinue to undertake. If he covered an average of 25 miles per day, the trip to Jerusalem would have taken anywhere from 48 to 60 days. And roundtrip would have been 96 to 120 days. The journey would have taken considerably longer if he stopped for any length of time in the cities along the way. This man was earnestly seeking the God of Israel, and he spent a great deal of time to go and worship Him.”

Now does that help to put it in perspective? Imagine if you knew it would take you two months to get to this moment right here. I see some empty seats here today. Do you know what went through my mind when I walked up here today? I honestly don’t like that I even think this way, but I thought, ‘Well, the weather is nice today. So some people must have just gotten up and thought it was such a nice day that they decided to skip church today. That is just their commitment level.’

And I personally would not want to model that to my kids. But I think that is our culture today, and we are being anesthetized without even realizing it. The Ethiopian eunuch was a non-believer who was searching for the truth. He was willing to spend months looking for truth. So I would encourage us to be hungry and thirsty for the truth.

Next I think Philip would say this to the non-believer – don’t give up searching just because God appears silent. Notice what it says in verse 28, “He was returning.” In other words he had traveled for months, gone to Jerusalem, and now he is returning. He is returning and he is reading Isaiah. He obviously had not had the encounter that he wanted. Maybe that has happened to you. You went on a spiritual quest or a spiritual search, you read this book, or you went to hear this person, and you are still wondering where God is.

I just wonder if this eunuch was on his way back to Africa after his long journey thinking, ‘Here I am reading Isaiah and I still don’t know where you are, God.’ And I wonder if he didn’t offer a prayer up to God, and the Spirit of God moved on Philip’s heart as a result of this prayer. Because there was a divine encounter! So don’t give up your search just because God appears silent. Continue to search.

Page 13 of 14 pages 5/15/2016 THE STORY OF PHILIP – ‘Six Men & Six Women’ Series

Third, I think Philip would say – read the Bible; perhaps starting with the about Jesus. That is what the eunuch was doing. He got into the word. He started reading the Bible, trying to dig into the Scriptures. There are so many practical points in the Scripture for us to find.

Fourth, Philip might say – don’t be afraid to ask questions. I love that the eunuch who oversaw a queen’s treasury, and obviously had a high level role, was not afraid to ask questions. He was inquisitive. And I can’t tell you how many questions I asked early on, and I still have more questions today. There were just lots of questions that I asked because I was totally ignorant about Christianity and the Bible. But the way that God helped me to come out of some of my ignorance was by asking questions. So don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you are in a Life Group just learn to ask questions. Let’s not measure our spiritual life based on our ability to answer questions. Our spirituality is based on our ability to love God and others.

Fifth, Philip would want to say – when your questions have been satisfactorily answered, commit yourself to the truth. And then sixth, Philip would say – get ready to rejoice. That is what it says at the end of this story. It says at the end of verse 39 the eunuch, “went on his way rejoicing.” He had been coming back from Jerusalem still seeking, still searching for the truth. Philip shows up and leads him to the truth and the eunuch goes home rejoicing, and no doubt he began spreading the gospel in Africa.

When we were in Israel, I told the group that I could get overwhelmed with the gospel. We were in Israel where twelve men were willing to be faithful and to start where they were. They believed and from there the gospel spread throughout the entire world. You are hearing about the gospel today because of those twelve men who were willing to believe that their lives could make a difference. Sometimes we feel like evangelism is like voting and we think, ‘What difference can one person make? I have just one vote. I am just one witness.’ But it does make a difference. Let’s pray.

Father, use your word to instruct us, to change us, to guide us. Thank you for allowing us to have this time together today. If there is anyone here that does not know you in a personal way, may they just understand that Jesus came to die on a cross for our sins and He rose again from the dead. And if they will believe in Him, you will forgive them of their sins and help them to know you in a personal way. We love you and we praise you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The preceding transcript was completed using raw audio recordings. As much as possible, it includes the actual words of the message with minor grammatical changes and editorial clarifications to provide context. Hebrew and Greek words are spelled using Google Translator and the actual spelling may be different in some cases.

Page 14 of 14 pages 5/15/2016