Full Transcript

 

You can have a seat. . .what a wonderful time in God’s presence! Let me invite you to open your Bible to Acts chapter 8. We’ve begun our series entitled Be Bold. We’ve been looking at what it means to be a bold believer in Jesus Christ, and we learned last week that Christians have a job. Our job is in distribution. . .it’s not in manufacturing, it’s not in marketing. We have a message to deliver. We’re just the “paper boy.” We don’t write the message—it’s just our job to get it in the place where God wants it.

Last week we looked at an episode, out of the book of Acts, where Christians were on the defensive. It’s kind of feeling, in our culture, that we are more on the defensive as the culture gets a little more antagonistic toward this message that we are to deliver. Yet, we are not just to be on the defense in being bold—we are also to go on the offense.

Now, playing offense does not mean that you are offensive! Bold, yes. . .brash, no. Intentional, yes. . .insulting, no. So today we’re going to look at what it means to go on the offense in being bold. We’re going to look at an episode in Acts 8 about someone who was on the offense.

As we get into this, I want to let you know first of all, this is a message for Christians. Every week we have friends and outsiders who come in. They’re kind of dipping their toe into the waters of Christianity, kind of figuring out, “Is this something I want to attach myself to?” Well, this is a message for the Church, for the Christians. Every Christian is to be a bold evangelist.

Now, I realize, when I said the word “evangelist,” you just got a picture in your head of somebody with big hair and a bright blue blazer. You say, “I am not that guy!” I don’t want you to be that guy! But every Christian ought to be able to be bold and able to articulate the gospel to someone who needs to hear the good news. You are an evangelist. But let me set your mind at ease.

I’m going to put a definition up on the screen; it’s a very wordy definition. . .you can begin to write it down. . .you’ll have time. I want to let you know what we’re talking about when we say “evangelism.” If we’re to be bold in our evangelism, what does that mean?

Here’s what we mean: Bold evangelism is the process, usually prolonged, of guiding an unbeliever (or, if you’re an optimist, a “pre-believer”—any optimists out there?), in the power of the Holy Spirit, toward making many mini-decisions to overcome doubtful objections—and trust Christ.

You say, “What does all that mean?” First of all, evangelism is a process. Don’t think of evangelism as an event. To be an evangelist does not mean that you walk up to everything that moves and everything that breathes. . .and in fifteen seconds you share your testimony, you bop them on the head, tell them, “You’re a dirty rotten sinner; the only solution is Jesus, and—would you like to invite Jesus into your life right now so you can go to Heaven when you die?”

It’s a process! It’s a cultivated relationship. Usually the Lord will use you in a relationship to get the gospel into places. That may take hours, it may take weeks, it may take years, before a person trusts you enough to trust this Jesus that you’re delivering with the message.

Sometimes we think of evangelism as, “Man, the world’s just so hard out there!” We tend to kind of evangelism as trying to light a fire in the middle of a driving rainstorm. Don’t think of it that way! It’s more like finding, fanning and fueling a spark that God has already begun in a person’s heart. Our job is not to create the fire, or spark the fire; we’re just in the process of looking for where God is moving in the world—and that is a process.

Secondly, we’re in the process of guiding an unbeliever. Notice, it’s not arguing with an unbeliever. It’s not answering all the objections; it’s not giving a defense for everything that a person could possibly bring up. It’s simply pointing people to the news. We are carriers of news.

It’s like this: You’re watching a football game, but it’s late at night and you’re going to bed, but you’re kind of curious as to who won. You wake up the next morning and you open the sports page or you turn on Sports Center to find out your team has won!! It’s good news!

The message that we’re delivering—even the words “evangel,” “evangelist,” and “evangelism”—mean “good news. . .victorious news that our team has won!” We’re just simply to deliver that message and trust that God will spark in someone faith to believe that message. And we do that in the power of the Holy Spirit, not in the power of our flesh—not in the power of our intellect. We’re simply working in cooperation with what God is already doing, and we’re leading and guiding somebody toward making many mini-decisions.

This is what we mean: The decision to trust Christ as Savior is the culmination of (possibly hundreds) of little decisions someone would make. Before someone trusts Christ, they have to first of all believe there’s a God. Second decision is “I’m not Him.” Some people don’t know that yet, right? That is a decision you have to make: “I am not God; the universe doesn’t revolve around me and I can’t expect other people to bow down and worship me.” Some people are getting to that point.

Some people need to understand what God is like. He is holy, but He’s also a God Who loves us enough to communicate to us! He doesn’t just exist somewhere out there. He didn’t just spin the world into place, and He’s out there just kind of watching us do our own thing. He’s actively involved in our lives.

And God has spoken! Do you believe that He has spoken? How has He spoken? Well, He wrote a Book. Do you believe the Book? “Well, what does the book say? Now I’ve got to know what’s in the book and decide whether or not I believe what’s in the book and decide if Jesus is the One that God has provided to make a way. . .” All of those are mini-decisions that a person must make before they make the ultimate decision to trust Christ with their lives.

And we lead them to overcome doubtful objections. Did you have any objections the first time you heard the gospel? Did you believe the gospel the first time you heard it? Were there some objections? “I don’t know if I want Jesus to be my Boss and the Ruler of my life.” Those are objections. Finally, we trust Christ, but understand that evangelism is this process, and we don’t have to convince someone. We just have to deliver the news.

Here in Acts 8 we’re going to see an episode of how God uses our evangelism to get to someone’s life. There’s one thing that both Christians and non-Christians totally agree on. Both Christians and non-Christians hate telemarketers, right? Did you ever sit down at dinner and, what happens? (For those of you who still have landlines. . .How many of you still have a landline?). . .Who wants to talk to a telemarketer who’s trying to sell me something I’m not interested in? God doesn’t want you to be telemarketer. God doesn’t want you to be a televangelist, annoying people who aren’t interested in the news we’re to deliver.

But there is some news God wants us to get into the hands of those who are interested! I want you to see this. Evangelists are always looking for openings. There are six openings that an evangelist is looking for. Here’s the first one—he’s looking for an open door.

An evangelist:

 

• Walks through open doors. (Acts 8:26, 27)

 

Here we are in Acts 8:26-28: “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ This is a desert place. 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. He had come to Jerusalem to worship. . .”

So, notice here, we’re talking about this early follower of Christ whose name was Phillip. Phillip was the early evangelist. He’d already evangelized—he’d already gone and delivered the message to the Samaritans—and now God is going to use him to deliver the message to Africa. So we’re seeing this in the early history of the church, how God is using this man named Phillip.

Phillip heard from this angel. Now, what you have to understand, from the earlier part of this book, Phillip had just led an incredible mass evangelism event in this region of Samaria. Thousands of people were coming to Christ, and Phillip was being used.

He was so fruitful, he was so productive; at that point he was such a model, such a great leader. He was in the zone! He was doing what he was built to do! And in the middle of all of that productivity, God sends an angel to Phillip and says, “I want you to shut it down. I am relocating you from Samaria to a desert place. . .in the South.”  [This little strip of land called Gaza.] Gaza was the last watering place on the road to Africa. And it was not a vacation destination. This was not a place you would want to go and spend a little time because of the amenities offered—the climate, the sweetness of the people, the low taxes. . .

This was not a place you would want to go. I believe that’s why God had to send an angel to get his attention, right? By the way, angels are very prominent in the book of Acts. We see them at work doing God’s bidding. In Acts chapter 1an angel talked to the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection. In Acts chapter 5 an angel opened the prison door and let the apostles out. In Acts chapter 10 an angel appeared to Cornelius. In Acts chapter 12 an angel let Peter out of prison. In Acts chapter 27 an angel comforted Paul during his shipwreck.

We see the activity of angels all through the early part of the history of the church. Some of you say well, “I wish I got a message from an angel.” How many of you, it would help your boldness—if an angel would appear and tell you to get busy? Well, who’s to say that angels aren’t at work? The only reason we know of the activity of angels is because the Holy Spirit is inspiring the writer of Acts, Luke, to tell what’s happening in the invisible realm, in the spiritual realm. There are angels at work.

Here’s what we need to understand. . .as evangelists, we’ve got help! There is an army of spiritual warriors that God has created to get His work done. At times, God assigns them to come alongside of us to get His work done. I believe there are angels at work, doing God’s bidding, right now in this room. Don’t diminish the role of angels in evangelism. We need to know we’ve got some help!

But, secondly, don’t make too much of angels. Some of you are sitting here and saying, “Well, if an angel appears to me, I’ll be bold—and I’ll get after it.” No. You are reading about the activities of angels from a holy, inspired book. You have the Holy Spirit; He’s using the illumination of His Word right now to get that message to you. You’ve got plenty of spiritual resources to be bold right where you are. So don’t make too much of angels.

Notice the message that the angel delivered. . .he said, “Rise and go toward the south.” Now, as a person who grew up in the South, that is a happy message for me. I like it when it’s time to go on vacation. All of our vacation destinations lead South. Anybody agree with me. . .especially if you’re living up here?

That was personal application for me. The prompting of God’s Spirit, for my ministry, has never said that. It’s usually my flesh that’s saying, “Orlando’s a nice place to plant a church!” The message God kind of prompted on the hearts of Andrea and I was, “Arise and go North!” The question for you is, what has God said to you about where you are to be bold? And I would ask you this. . .where is your desert place?

Do you see what it says: It was a desert place. No amenities, no frills, not the happiest place on the planet. Where is the one place that you are praying God will not send you to be bold? That might be the place God wants to send you. As a matter of fact, I would say this: Some of you that are waiting to hear this message (“God, where do you want to send me? Where would You want me to go?”), I would suggest this: God has probably already spoken and God has probably already sent you. The place you currently occupy is the place God wants you to evangelize.

God wants to send His messengers, getting this message out. So, where do you regularly rise and go? For some of you that’s a workplace, for some of you that’s a school. For some of you that’s a neighborhood where you live; for some of you, that may be a retail or a marketplace. Where has God already sent you?

Speaking of the workplace, the workplace is probably where you spend more time than any other place except your bed (when you’re unconscious, asleep, it’s hard to be bold). So I would suggest that the place you spend the most time is probably the primary place of your evangelism. For most of you, that is the marketplace, the place where you work.

How many of you have a job? Do you know I have a job? Your job may be different than my job. Some of you say, “Man, I wouldn’t want your job!” Some of you may say, “Man, I wish I had your job. You only work like one day a week and just sit around and pray the rest of the time. . .a really cushy job.”

Listen. . .do you want me to do my job for the right reason? What if some of you came and asked me, “Hey, Trent, why do you do what you do? Why do you go to work?” What if I told you I go to work to make money? How many of you would be a little disappointed in your pastor if that’s the reason I go to work? How many of you would say, “That’s a shallow reason for you to do what you do”? What If I asked you, “Why do you do what you do? Why do you go to work?” You’d say, “Well, my family has to make a living, I’ve got to put food on the table. I go to work to make money.”

Let me suggest something to you. If you go to work for a different reason than your pastor goes to work, one of us is going for the wrong reason. Do you know why I go to work? I go to work to be a bold evangelist and get the gospel out. Why do you go to work? It had better be for the same reason. If you go to work for a different reason than I go to work, you’re going for the wrong reason.

You need to see your job as the place where God wants to use you to carry the gospel, to interact in the flow of pagan culture to get the gospel to the place where God wants to get it. So, God sends Phillip to this desert place where he interacts with this Ethiopian eunuch.

I don’t know what you think of when you read the Bible, but when I read the Bible, my mind kind of reads between the lines, and my question was this: If God has an angel that’s committed to doing His work, why didn’t God send the angel to the Ethiopian eunuch and leave poor Phillip alone? Anybody think like me when you read the Bible? Why do you think God sent the angel to Phillip, and then sent Phillip to the Ethiopian eunuch? I believe that it’s not only because God wants to get some stuff done through you. . .God wants to get some stuff done in you.

For Phillip to gulp real hard, pack his suitcase, shut down his ministry, say good-bye to friends and family and kind of die to the vision of building a megachurch in Samaria—and to go to a desert place—(he doesn’t even know he’s going to meet a guy…doesn’t know who he’s going to meet, what he’s going to do)…that is a sanctifying process where you have to become a little more like Jesus every day. Rather than building your own kingdom, you have to be committed to His.

Listen! God always uses a bold evangelist to get the gospel to people who will believe. God uses people in the process of evangelism. He doesn’t need you. He has angels! But He chooses to use you because He wants to get some stuff done in you while He’s getting some stuff done through you. He wants to develop boldness in you. Listen, no one has ever come to Christ without the faithful, bold witness of an obedient evangelist. No one. Think about your story. When you came to Christ, God used someone.

Here’s the next thing: A bold evangelist not only walks through open doors, he:

 

• Looks for open hearts (Acts 8:27b-28).

 

Look at Acts 8:27 again. Scripture says, “And he rose and went. . .” Good job, Phillip! He obeyed, He didn’t make excuses, he didn’t say, “I’ll go later,” he didn’t send a delegate. He chose to obey.

[And when he did obey. . .] “there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch. . .” Let me just explain this a little without getting too graphic—some of you are wondering what a eunuch is. A eunuch was a castrated young man that was used to serve and care for harems in the ancient world. So, in order to put a boy in the middle of a bunch of women without him being a threat, there was an operation—a little procedure—that took place in order to ensure that he wasn’t going to be a threat to the harem.

So this man, probably a young man, was made a eunuch against his will as a young man. Apparently he had been such a faithful servant to this queen that she put him in charge of all her money. He was the CFO of Candace Corporation in Ethiopia!  I want you to notice how different this Ethiopian eunuch was from Phillip.

We don’t know a whole lot about him, but if he was from Ethiopia, we know that he was black, he was an African. We know he was rich, because he was entrusted with all the money. We know he was Southern (which speaks well for him!), and he was disabled. He was single (he had a poor love life), and he would never be a father.

Let me ask you a question: Are there people who are so different from you that you have trouble cultivating a relationship with them? Because Phillip was completely different.

Phillip was middle-Eastern in origin, he had a Jewish religious background. This Ethiopian was pagan, had false worship in his background. So, God chose to send somebody very different—cross-cultural—to engage this guy with the gospel. This tells us a couple of things. First of all, there is no one outside the reach of the gospel. The gospel is for everyone—no matter skin color, nationality, race, origin, disability, marital status. The gospel is for everyone!

The second message is this: We cannot use the excuse, “I don’t understand the culture; I can’t talk to this person.” Rise and go, for crying out loud! And see what God will do with your faithful witness and look for an open heart.

Let’s find out if this guy had an open heart. Notice what it says he was doing. He was returning from Jerusalem, the passage says, where he had gone to worship. Now, think about that. The distance between this Ethiopia (which is modern-day Sudan) and Jerusalem is a twenty-one-hundred mile journey…over two-thousand miles. This guy made the journey without an automobile, without an airplane, without a train—just simply doing what he could to get to the place of worship. Some of you had trouble getting to this place of worship this morning, and you only had to drive like five or ten miles in an air-conditioned car.

This guy worked hard to get to the place of worship, and yet he was a pagan coming out of a false worship culture. How did he even know where to go? Why did he even have a heart to worship? The reality we find in Scripture is this: everyone has a heart that was made to worship. Your heart will worship.

If you’re an atheist here this morning, your heart is going to find something to worship. If you choose not to worship Jesus, you will find substitute saviors to worship. For you that might be sex, it might be money, it might be entertainment, it might be football, it might be a wonderful marriage, it could be a lot of different things. A lot of people worship religion, and it’s a substitute for the gospel in their lives. Our hearts were made to worship.

This eunuch’s heart was created to worship, so he was searching for some worship that would ultimately satisfy his soul. Apparently his false pagan worship was not satisfying, so he was willing to go on this trek, two-thousand miles away, to this place of worship. Apparently someone had told him, “That’s where you will find the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. There’s a temple there, this holy place. If you want access to God, that’s the place you’ve got to go.”

If you’re a Muslim, one of the places you have to go to be right with their god is a placed called Mecca. Sadly, seven-hundred people were trampled to death last week as they journeyed to try to get to this place of false worship.

Well, this guy was trying to get to the place of true worship in Jerusalem, where he had heard this holy God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob hangs out. Guess what? He gets to the temple and he is denied access to God. After [over] two-thousand miles to try to connect with God, he begins to walk into the temple to worship, and somebody tells him, “You’re not allowed in here.” We don’t see that in the story, but we know it from the Old Testament, because the Old Testament tells us eunuchs were not allowed into the holy place…because they were eunuchs. I don’t understand that, but there were requirements. Not just anybody could go trippin’ into the presence of God.

So, he’s denied access. So now, he is on his way back home. Can you imagine how frustrated and disappointed and rejected he must have felt…maybe even a little embittered at the guy who told him, “You can go worship in Jerusalem.” It was at that moment that God sends Phillip into his path, and Phillip finds an open heart.

Now, here’s what’s interesting about this. He’s a pagan, but somebody had pointed him to the place of worship, and Scripture even tells us this Ethiopian had a Bible. Look at verse 28, “. . .and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.”

So somebody had pointed him to the place of worship, somebody had told him about the true and living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, somebody had told him he could have access to God at the temple…and somebody have even given this guy the Bible! Phillip, when he engages him, finds this guy is well on his way to believing the gospel. He just needs another faithful witness.

Let me ask you this: How many people could you identify who played a role, humanly speaking, in you believing the gospel? Could you identify some people? You may think, “My mom, my dad, Grandma, Grandpa, maybe some aunts, some uncles, brothers, sisters, maybe even some children.” You can think of some pastors, maybe a youth pastor. You might think, “I heard Billy Graham one time on TV, and I heard this guy on the radio one time. There’s this church—maybe two or three churches—and after all those different people, I finally put my faith in Christ!” Did you identify some people?

Here’s what surveys tell us: the average Christian can identify sixteen different human agents that God used to deliver the gospel to them. So, in our evangelism, here’s what we need to realize. You never know which link in the chain you’re going to be. You may be the first person to ever broach the subject that there is a God with somebody, and that that God is holy, and that you are a sinful person who cannot have access to God outside of Jesus.

That message may get delivered through a lot of different sources. You never know if you’re going to be the first link, or if you’re going to be the one who is actually present when they get converted to Christ. Here’s the thing—you don’t have to be every link in the chain. You just have to make sure you’re not the missing link in the chain, right?! You never know, when you’re having a conversation about Jesus, “Is this going to be the conversation that’s going to produce faith in their heart? Am I going to be the one who actually prays with them to receive Christ?”

You don’t have to be every link. That removes a little pressure. All you need to do is look for open hearts. Around here we say it this way, “We are looking for red apples. We practice red-apple evangelism.” Do you know the difference between a red apple and a green apple? You have an apple tree that produces apples, and if you love apples so much that you’re a little impatient, and you grab an apple and pull an apple off that tree and bite from the apple, you’re going to be sadly disappointed, because the apple’s not going to be ripe. It’s not ready to be picked.

What we’re doing is we are looking for “red apples.” We’re looking for someone in whom God has cultivated a curiosity about worship. We’re looking for people who are dissatisfied with what they’ve looked to try to quench their appetite, their craving, for purpose and meaning.  We may be looking for people who are broken and hurting – somebody who’s lost a loved one, someone who’s experienced a tragedy, somebody who’s been diagnosed with a fatal disease, somebody who may just be having a loneliness in their soul, and they’re wondering, “Where am I going to find somebody to meet the deepest needs of my heart?” We look for open hearts, and you cannot force your way into a heart God has not prepared.

We practice “red apple” evangelism. Here’s what we like to say, “If you can’t pick the apple, don’t bruise it!” Don’t beat somebody over the head with the Bible, trying to ripen their apple! God has thousands of ways to ripen an apple. By the way, you may be somebody who God is “ripening your apple.” You’ve tried everything else and God now has brought you to the place where you are ready to receive and believe the gospel. Then, at the end of this service come forward, and we might be able to be the final link in the chain of seeing you come to Christ.

Here’s the third thing an evangelist does: He;

 

• Listens with open ears (Acts 8:29-31).

 

Look at verse 29: “And the Spirit said to Philip…” Now that’s interesting, because where’d the angel go? The angel’s not there anymore, but now the Holy Spirit’s still speaking. That’s good news, because the same Spirit that spoke to Phillip is available to us today. He’s speaking right now in this message. ‘Go over and join this chariot.’

“So Philip RAN to him…” Don’t you love that? I mean he’s bold, intentional. He’s not slowly walking, he’s not walking the other direction, he’s not waiting for some strategic move. He runs to the guy in obedience to God. “…and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet. . .” Notice, he didn’t interrupt; he just got close enough to listen to what this guy had been reading. A great point here. If you want to be a good evangelist, you need to get close enough to find out what is filling the ears of people who have yet to hear the gospel.

Fortunately, this guy had been reading the Bible. You talk about a “red apple!” Let’s say that God puts on your heart to go present the gospel to somebody, so you show up at work Monday morning thinking, “Okay, Trent said I’m supposed to be an evangelist in the marketplace. . .” and somebody walks up to you and says, “Hey, I was reading the Bible this weekend, and I don’t really understand what I was reading. Could you come over here and sit down and explain to me about this Jesus guy?” You talk about a red apple, an open heart—this is the easiest fruit that has ever been picked in the history of the world.

Scripture says Phillip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and Phillip “asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’” [verse 30] Notice the power of a question. A question is a diagnostic tool to find out if God is at work in this person’s life. So, Phillip asked him the question. [verse 31] “And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”

So what kinds of questions would we use to discern if God is at work in someone’s life? You could ask all kinds of questions. You could just simply say, “Hey, how could I pray for you?” And then just listen. People might tell you things that are going on in their lives and things that have been dissatisfying to them or hurtful things.

You could ask them, “Do you have any spiritual beliefs?” And just listen. When you ask that question, no matter their answer, it’s going to basically fall into one of two spiritual “buckets.” Either somebody is going to say, “I try really hard to obey God so He will accept me,” or people will say, “Because God has accepted me, I’m trying really hard to obey God.” That’s the difference between religion and the gospel.

If someone gives you a religious answer—“I’m really working hard, I’m really trying to pray, I’m really trying to do better, I’m really trying not to sin. . .” you know this person needs to hear the gospel, because God’s never going to accept you based on your performance. He’s only going to accept you based on the performance of Jesus Christ. So, we ask questions. Our job is not to bring people to Christ. Our job is to bring Christ to people. It is to guide them and answer their questions and overcome their objections to the gospel.

So, Phillip guided him. And it’s our job to guide them, through relationship. Even this week. You can ask all kinds of questions. Especially on an airplane, this is a good one. “If you were to die—if this plane were to go down, like right now—where would you go?” That’s a great question on a plane, right? And just listen.

Here’s a great question (and more of this will be unpacked with Kent and Paul in our evangelism class that’s going to happen tonight) – after you’ve asked all those other questions—and just listen—then ask this question, “If you were wrong, would you want to know?” Somebody would have to be really arrogant to say “no” to that question. In almost every case someone would say, “Well, yeah, I would want to know.” And you ask, “Can I open my Bible and just kind of show you what God has to say about those questions?” That’s the point at which you’ve listened, and now you can walk through the next doors.

 

• Use an open Bible (Acts 8:32-34).

 

So this guy was reading in the book of Isaiah. We know he was reading chapter 53, because in Acts 8:32 it tells us, “Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: ‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter. . .’” This guy said, “I don’t understand what’s going on here. He’s like a sheep? And there’s a slaughter? Why would you slaughter a sheep?”

“And what’s the antecedent to the pronoun ‘he?’ Who is ‘he?’ Who is he who was slaughtered like a sheep.” “. . .and like a lamb before its shearer is silent. so he opens not his mouth.” [Verse 33] “In his humiliation justice was denied him.” “Why would he be denied justice if he was so humble?” We all long for justice, we all get upset when we see things in the world that are not just. When will justice be served? Underline that word “justice;” it’s very important.

    “Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” His life was taken? Whose life was taken? Why was it taken? These are all questions that this guy had. Notice verse 34, “And the eunuch said to Philip, ‘About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’” So the eunuch asks him, “Who is this guy? And why was he slaughtered?” And it gave Phillip an opportunity.

            Look at verse 35: “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus [Christ].” He was reading in Isaiah. Do you know, this was chapter 53? If he actually had a copy of the entire book—or maybe he had a little section (maybe it was chapters 50 through 60), do you know what one of the things was that he would have read, (you have to remember he’s a eunuch)? In Isaiah 56:3-5, Scripture says this, “Let not the eunuch say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree.’

 Do you know what God is saying through His Word here? “There’s hope, even for a eunuch!  You don’t have to be hopeless. You don’t have to describe yourself as a dry tree: ‘Nothing good’s ever going to come of my life. My life will never be productive; I’ll bear no fruit.’” God says, “You don’t have to say that!” “For thus says the Lord: ‘To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the [right] things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters.” If that eunuch had been reading that, do you know what the hope was that was held out to him? “You could have father/son relationship with this God.” The question was, “How!?”

And it gave Phillip the opportunity to say, “You know this sheep that was slaughtered? Let me tell you what happened just a few years ago. God sent His Son as an innocent lamb, and God hung Him on a cross and slaughtered Him, and the blood flowed out, and He died as a substitute for your sin!”

“Let me tell you about justice: God declared that innocent Lamb guilty of your sin and treated him as if He had committed your sin. So that He can treat you as if you were an innocent lamb. That’s the gospel!” He learned that story in the Bible.

Phillip:

 

• Spoke with an open mouth (Acts 8:35).

 

That’s what an evangelist does. He speaks with an open mouth—we read it here in verse 35. So I would just say to you, do you know how to use your Bible to get the gospel in the ear of someone who needs to hear it? Are you bold enough to know how to use your Bible? Can I just very quickly help you with that? Keep your finger there for a second and turn over in your Bible for a moment to Romans 3:23.

You will find there, really, one of the first places where you need to open your Bible and talk to people about how to come into a relationship with God. Scripture declares in that verse that we’re all separated from God. Do you see it there?  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All grandmothers have sinned, all Boy Scouts have sinned, all popes have sinned, all pastors have sinned. Everybody has sinned. You can just look at people and say, “You know what, I’ll bet in your most honest moment, you know that you have committed wrong against God, right? Have you sinned?” “Hmm. . .As a matter of fact, I have.”

Now what you need to do is, right beside that verse, take a pen and write Romans 6:23. Just write that. And then flip over there, and this is what you’ll find when you flip over there: “The wages of sin is death [that sin is transgression against God and it produces death. That just doesn’t mean that you’re going to die physically, it means that you’re going to be separated from God eternally. Death is not the cessation of life, death is the separation of body and soul.

And spiritual death is the separation of a human soul from God—so the question is, “How do we get this human soul and this eternal God to be in right relationship?” That’s the second half of this verse. It’s a free gift, in Christ Jesus our Lord.), “. . .but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” “Who’s Jesus our Lord?”

That’s over in Romans 5:8. Write that verse beside Romans 6:23, and then you take somebody over there. “So, let me tell you about Jesus. This is what Jesus did! God, the Father, showed His love for us in that while we were dirty rotten sinners (that’s my translation), while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The most important word in the Bible is the little three-letter word “for!” What Jesus did on that cross was “for” us, “in” our place, “as” a substitute “for” our sin. And then just write beside there, Ephesians 2:8 and 9, and then you can take somebody over to that place in your Bible:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith.. . .”  saved from what? saved from sin, saved from wrath, saved from eternal separation from God—you’re saved through faith. “And I just have to believe something?” That’s right. You have to believe the gospel, the good news, the evangel. . .the good news that our team wins. . .

“And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God [it’s a gift; you don’t work for a gift], not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” It’s not about your performance, it’s not about how religious you are, it’s not about the good things you do. None of the good things you do can erase the sinful things you’ve done. It’s all by faith.

So what is faith? It’s putting my trust—bearing my weight of my sin—on Jesus Christ. . .in the same way that, right now, you’re exercising faith in the chair you’re seated in—that it’s not going to fall. It’s bearing your weight. That’s what we do when trust Christ. We put all of our hope for eternal life in Jesus. He’s bearing my weight; He’s holding me up. I’m going to stop trusting myself, I’m going to put my faith in Christ.

Then you take them to Romans 10:9 and 10, which simply tells us that a person in whom God is activating faith will do these things: He will . . .” confess with [his] mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in [his] heart that God raised him from the dead [He’s alive! And in believing that, in confessing that—it’s the evidence that you have been. . .] you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified [do you see the word justified there? It’s connected to the word justice, which means that God declares you—a guilty sinner—as if you’d never sinned. It’s a declaration by God that changes your legal status before Him so that you can be in right relationship with Him], and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

It’s not the confession that saves you, it’s not even the belief that saves you. It is the justification that saves you—that God changes your legal status as if you’ve never sinned. That’s how a person can come to faith in Christ.

I would ask you. . .I told you this message is for Christians; that’s the message we carry. . .But are you a Christian? Have you been justified? If not, you need to believe that message. You need to be bold enough to believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, and you need to be bold enough to confess that with your mouth. It’s the evidence that you have been saved.

Here’s the last thing: As an evangelist, we:

 

• Call for open identification. (Acts 8:36-40)

 

Look at Acts 8:36: “And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’” Look at verse 37. Are you looking at verse 37? How many of you have a Bible that somebody stole verse 37 out of your it! Are you looking at it? “Wait a minute! I didn’t get a complete Bible! There must have been a typo! Somebody left out verse 37!” How many of your Bibles do have verse 37 in it?

So let me tell you what’s going on here. The English translators, who did us a great favor in learning Greek and Hebrew, translating the original language into the English language—every now and then, very seldom (one-tenth of one percent of all the verses in the Bible) there is a dispute on whether or not some words were a part of the original manuscripts. The author of Acts is Luke. Those who study these things, as they studied the original manuscripts—some of them include verse 37 and some of them don’t. The older, more trusted manuscripts don’t include verse 37.So the question is, “Who put verse 27 in there?!”

Do you ever write in your Bible, write notes in there? I hope you have a lot of my notes in there, right? So here’s the thing. You remember the Bible was written before the printing press—people hand-wrote it. If you are translating a manuscript, and it’s a copy of Luke’s words—and if you wanted to put a comment on Luke’s words in there and you wrote it down, then continued with Luke’s words later, it would become very hard to discern, “Are these Luke’s words, or is this a commentary about Luke’s words?” And so some people would say verse 37 is probably an added commentary on Luke’s words. So now you’re really curious about what verse 37 is.

If you have a modern translation (we like to read from the ESV, the English Standard Version around here), if you look down in your footnotes, they included verse 37 there. It says, “And Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may [be baptized].’ And he replied, “’I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’” Should that be included in the text or not? I don’t know! But let me ask you this: Is that biblical? Absolutely? Does that confirm all the other verses we just read? Yes!

Whether that happened or not, we don’t know, but we know that this guy believed the gospel because he’s asking now to be baptized.

Verse 38: “And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.” So what’s baptism all about? It’s all about identifying with the death, the burial and the resurrection of Christ.

Phillip had unpacked, for the eunuch, Jesus Christ was slaughtered like a lamb on that cross; He died on that cross; He was buried Him; for three days we thought He was dead, but He came back to life. We’ve seen Him! He’s commissioned us to deliver this message to you.

Those who are saved, they identify with Christ publicly as a Christian through the picture of baptism, which pictures Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. All who believe and are converted are baptized. So, throughout the New Testament, they’re baptizing people who have confessed faith in Christ boldly, to come out publicly as a Christian.

Last verse: [verse 39] And when they came up out of the water. . .[just a little side note here: What is the proper method for baptism? Why do you think these guys had to get down out of the chariot, go down into the water and then come back out of the water? Because “baptism” means “immersion.” It means to go all the way under and then come up all the way out. We see that picture here in the Scripture], the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away [because he had another assignment], and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

What was the question the eunuch asked? “What prevents me from being baptized?” The question is, “Do you believe? Are you bold enough to go public with that?” I would ask some of you, “What prevents you from being baptized?”

[You might say] “Well, the water’s cold; my make-up will run; it’s so embarrassing; I’m nervous; What if I drown?” [laughter] Listen, what prevents you from being baptized?

The answer is, some of you aren’t bold enough to be baptized. Some of you need to be baptized. You have confessed Christ, you’ve believed in your heart, and it’s time for you to go on record—and run the “Jesus flag” to the top of the pole and be baptized as a way of identifying with the One Who gave His life for you! You identify with His death, burial and resurrection through baptism.

What’s our job as Christians? It’s to get the message of Jesus Christ out into the community, and trust God to work.

Let me ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes. Let me just first speak to you as Christians, those of you who need the boldness that we’ve talked about. God is calling you, like Phillip, maybe to go to a desert place. But for most of us, God has already put us in the place where we need to evangelize—it could be our marketplace, it could be our neighborhood, it could  be a team we’re on. Will you look for the opening. . .open hearts, and then open your mouth, open your Bible—to get the message that God wants in that place.

Others of you may just be at the beginning stages of coming into faith with Jesus Christ. It’s a decision. It’s a point of conversion. And today I would ask you, do you believe the message? Would you be bold enough to identify with Jesus through baptism?

[Trent extends invitation to come up afterward to talk to those at the front about baptism, then he closes in prayer asking God to continue to spark in hearts throughout the community an interest in the true worship of God, and boldness of the congregation in sharing Christ—the only way to God—for God’s glory. After prayer, he charges the congregation to go be bold and reminds them they are loved!]