ACTS: "Phillip the Evangelist" - Acts 8:26- 40 - Part 2

Brett Meador: Notice that Philip, he went without knowing. If the Lord calls you, would you go? And here's even a bigger question: would you go not knowing where you were going?
Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador reminds believers with your call comes your enablement. The book of Acts is about normal dudes like Philip who the Holy Spirit came upon them and suddenly they're doing stuff that's way bigger than what they are able to do. And see, this is where you have the same power to tap into that Philip does, the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 8 tells of a faithful believer eager to tell others of his faith. With Philip as our example, we learn how God often orchestrates circumstances for us to present the gospel, how we should respond when we find ourselves with an opportunity, and how to obtain the power to be bold as we share. It's all in our study of today's word with Pastor Brett Meador.
Brett Meador: Here in Acts chapter 8, we meet the next deacon in the New Testament. The first one we looked at was Stephen. This one here we're going to look at Philip here in Acts chapter 8, and he's called Philip the Evangelist. Later on in the book of Acts, he's going to be called Philip the Evangelist. Evangelism just means this: spreading the Christian gospel by public preaching or by personal witness. That's what evangelism is, spreading the good news of the gospel. Let's pick it up here in Acts chapter 8, verse 26. It says, "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. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, a 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, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Isaiah the prophet." Now pause there just for a second. What's going on? Well, this guy's a great ruler, leader from Ethiopia. The queen there is Candace. Now, Candace isn't her name; it's a title that was of these African queens. These queens were powerful and wealthy, and this guy's like one of the high-up treasurers, the guy of the money. But this Ethiopian, why is he traveling to Jerusalem? Well, it tells us here he had come to Jerusalem to worship. So Philip is told to go into the desert, and he meets this guy. Now what happens? Well, we pick it up here in verse 29. "Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 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." "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. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of himself, or of some other man?" "Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 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? 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." "And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both of them into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea." Wow, what a story. Philip meets the Ethiopian eunuch out in the desert. There's so much that I think you and I can learn from Philip. As we learn from Stephen, so we will learn from Philip. I've got five things I want to show you in this story about Philip that are noteworthy for us today. The first one is notice that Philip, he went without knowing. If the Lord called you away from your situation where you are now, what if you're doing really well? What if spiritually you're just discipling people and sharing the good news? Because Philip had a Holy Ghost happening work going on in Jerusalem there in the early part of the chapter, and what if God calls you? Would you go? And here's even a bigger question: would you go not knowing what you were doing or where you were going? Notice a couple key verses here. In verse 26, it says, "And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise and go." And then verse 27, it says, "And he arose and went." He went without knowing. That's number one. The second thing that I want to point out of Philip's behavior is he went with enthusiasm. Where do we see the enthusiasm? Well, it says here in verse 30, "He ran thither to him." He wasn't just mozying. It just reminds me of Colossians 3:23 that says, "Whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord and not unto men." We're living in days where we should enthusiastically share the gospel with whoever we can, whenever we can, and trust the Lord that he's going to guide you. That gets us to the next thing. I like how there's something to learn here from the way Philip engages with this Ethiopian guy. What he does, and this is point number three, notice he asks the right question. He asks the right question, "Do you understand what you're reading?" The old "ask the question" technique, can I just say that's one of the better things to do when you're wanting to spark a good conversation? Ask a question. Now, I'll get to this in a second, but before you ask a question, you should probably know what the answer is. This is a great example. Philip, it says here in verse 30, ran to him, heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and he said, "Do you understand what you're reading?" By the way, think about questions that you can ask that can actually promote a good conversation. This is a technique you see in the Bible a lot. You'll see Jesus often ask questions to his disciples and then he'll give them the answer. Or even Jesus would answer questions with a question. One of the things that I think that we drop is the people that are right closest to us. People that we work with, people that we go to school with. Do you have a question? Bring up a question that might be pertinent to their situation. I love how Philip realizes this dude's reading from the book of Isaiah, and so he asks to say, "Do you understand what you're reading?" By the way, why does Luke, who's writing the book of Acts, why does he not say he was reading from Isaiah 53? Anybody have an answer to that? There weren't any chapter numbers in those days. But guess what? Philip knows that passage. He knows Isaiah 53, as we'll call it today. What's Isaiah 53 about? Well, I love how he asks the right question, and because of asking the right question, that brings us to number four: he knew the answer to the question. That's an important part. When you say to somebody, just for joking, "Do you know where you're going to go when you die?" What do you do when the person says, "Yes, I go into oblivion. I cease to exist. That's what I believe." You're like, "Oh, okay. Goodnight," and walk away. You should have an answer to that. Before you ask the question, you should have thought through what the response might be. What is the answer? In God's word, the Bible, it says that you end up in one of two places, and God makes it clear that you're going to either go to heaven or hell. Well, what's the next thing they say? "Well, if God is love, he won't send me to hell." You don't understand; you send yourself to hell. The Bible tells us, remember we talked about Peter saying, the Lord would that none should perish, but all would have come to repentance. It reminds me of what First Timothy chapter 2, verses 3 and 4 says: "This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Isn't it interesting that the Bible says God desires all people to be saved? And you might say, "Well, then doesn't that mean that everybody's going to be saved then? If God desires it, it's going to happen." Well, that's not how it works, the Bible says. It seems to me that from God's perspective, he already knows who's going to be saved and in his sovereignty, he already divinely elected and chose. But from our perspective here on earth, what you're going to have to realize is you've got a choice to make. That's part of evangelism. By the way, if you take hyper-Calvinism to the furthest extent, you'll notice those guys don't believe in evangelism because God already pre-ordained everything. So why should I go out and witness to somebody if they're already chosen by God? I'm not going to waste my time being an evangelist if God's already done that. Meanwhile, we're told to go out and preach the gospel, and the idea is to convince people that they need to be saved because they have a choice to make. That's something to remember. When you talk about that, don't forget to tell people, man, that's one of the biggest cop-outs when they say, "Well, if God is love, he's not going to send me to hell." But we have to remember you are sending yourself to hell if you reject his loving kindness. What greater opportunity does Philip have to talk about the love of Jesus with Isaiah chapter 53? If I could pick one chapter in the Old Testament and say I want to talk about Jesus, I'd probably choose Isaiah 53. Good for Philip; the Lord teed it up for him. The Lord teed up that scripture. The guy just happened to be reading Isaiah 53. What is Isaiah 53 about? Let me just give you a quick snapshot for reminder. Isaiah 53 is all about Jesus prophetically. The first thing that you'll notice in chapter 53 is it describes Jesus at his birth in verses 1 and 2. It talks about what his life and ministry would be about in verse 3. Isaiah 53 talks about how he would die substitutionally in our place for us in verses 4 through 9. It talks about how he would victoriously rise from the dead in Isaiah 53, verses 10 through 12. You're like, "Yeah, Brett, God teed it up for Philip." True, I'll give you that. But how many times has the Lord teed it up for you? I mean, how many times have you been at work and all of a sudden somebody comes up and asks you a question? "Hey, what do you think about..." and suddenly your heart starts beating, and you're like, "Man, there's the tee-up for me. This is an opportunity to talk about faith in Christ, about salvation." The Lord does that all the time. The question is, are you sensitive to that and are you open when the Lord sets the stage for you to share and talk with someone? Or do you chicken out and say, "Hmm, must be the burger I had for lunch. I'm feeling a little weird right now. My heart's beating. Anyway, let's get back to work. God bless you." I wonder how many opportunities we miss. I've noticed that God tends to do that. He tends to, if you would, tee it up for you to set up the stage for you to share the gospel. The question is, are you faithful like Philip? I love that Philip stays on topic. Did you see what it says there in verse 35? "Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Can I just give you that reminder: when you're sharing the gospel with people, don't get off on other topics. If you start making some good points, what's the first thing they'll do? They'll say, "Well, the church is full of hypocrites." Suddenly you're talking about the hypocrisy of other people. The question I would ask is, what does that have to do with a person going to heaven or hell? See, what you need to do is bring it back to Jesus. Always bring the conversation back to Jesus Christ. That's always what you do. So, "Well, I think the church is full of hypocrites." What I've just said is, you've heard me say it here, I just say, "You don't even have any idea. I've been a part of the church my whole life. It's worse than you think." But here's the thing: aren't you glad that Jesus died for hypocrites like me and like you? Like, that's the whole reason hypocrites come to church is because they need to be forgiven for their hypocrisy. Guess what? Jesus is the answer for that. Bring it always back to Jesus. "Well, do you believe in evolution or creation?" Got to get it back to, you know what, one thing I know about the way we exist, whether whatever you believe about creation, we all have this sin nature. The Bible tells us that we're going to be held accountable for our sins. And guess what? There's someone who says, "I'll pay your sin, your price." You've got to get it back to Jesus Christ every single time. People will say, "Bible's full of contradictions." And I'll say, "Many scholars have studied the Bible extensively, and there's a lot of people who can offer insights and explanations on the apparent contradictions in the Bible, but right now, let's talk about Jesus Christ because that's the real issue. What are you going to do about Jesus Christ and your salvation and heaven and hell?" Philip didn't preach to him Judaism. He didn't teach Bible prophecy. He didn't even talk about what baptism means. I love how this story ends with the guy getting baptized. I love the simplicity that they're riding along. All of a sudden the eunuch says, "Hey, here's some water. What hinders me from being baptized?" And Philip did not say, "Well, we've got to go on baptismalrobe.com and get you a white robe. We've got to make sure your family's there with flowers, and we've got to go through our nine-week series on baptism. A lot of work to do before we get you baptized." No, the guy says, "What hinders me from being baptized?" Verse 37, "And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest be baptized. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." What's required for a person to be baptized? To believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. To believe and accept. And if you're there getting baptized, we can share with you in just a minute, "Hey, this is you recognizing your old sin nature being buried in the river. You're coming out a new creation in Christ." Old things are passed away and floating down the river. All things become new. It doesn't mean you're perfect; it means you're perfectly forgiven from this day forward. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward commitment. Now, the idea of keeping it on the point of Jesus Christ, don't let them get off course on that. They'll try to get you onto all the controversial subjects. Paul the Apostle kind of gave us a lesson in this in Mars Hill where all the philosophers and the brainiacs of Greece and Athens would sit there and pontificate and cerebral discussions of all kinds. Paul was preaching in the marketplace, the agora, and then they said, "Hey, you're a smart guy. You need to go up on Mars Hill and talk to the big dudes." So Paul wanders up there to the big Mars Hill, and he starts a sermon and all these brainiac guys. "Well, hear this guy. Let's see what this dude has to say." Sadly, only a couple people were saved. Largely his sermon was rejected. The reason this is interesting to me is when I was in a secular university, Southern Oregon University, I was in a literature class and we were reading some of the greatest Greek writers. We had an assignment to read a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and we read some Homer. But one of the assignments was to read the Mars Hill sermon of Paul the Apostle. The reason a secular college like Southern Oregon University would have us do that is because those who know Greek writing, nobody uses the Greek language like Paul the Apostle. Paul is like the most highest level of vocabulary, using a very academic level of Greek in his sermon to Mars Hill. It's second to none. What's interesting, though, is my professor did not believe the gospel message, nor did he believe what Paul was saying. He's just like, "Wow, listen to this guy speak." And that's really the result of Paul's message. See, some of you think, "Well, I can't share the gospel because I'm not smart. I don't have enough smartness." Guess what? Paul's smartness got him nowhere. In fact, Paul would learn a lesson from this sermon I think there because eventually he gets to a point there in First Corinthians where he says in chapter 2, verse 1: "And I, brethren, when I came to you in Corinth, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." That's King James way of saying, "I've done this before. I've come with excellency of speech and fanciful words and wisdom and all that. Waste of time." But he said, "I came to you at Corinth with just a simple, single-centered message on Jesus Christ and him crucified." And really, Paul's ministry got simpler and simpler as he got older and older, and he was more effective. When he started just focusing on Christ and him crucified, then suddenly people were getting saved because that is how people will receive Jesus Christ. We have to remember that, especially when we're talking about evangelism. I love the old Andre Crouch song: "Jesus is the answer for the world today, above him there's no other, Jesus is the way." It's so true. I hope you understand that. Well, there's one final observation here that I'd like to put in there. He went without knowing. I love his faith, a leap of faith. He went with enthusiasm. He asked the right question and he knew the answer to the question. Number five, he was empowered by the Holy Spirit. Remember we have different relationships; the Holy Spirit's with you before you're saved, he's in you, but then he comes upon you. The book of Acts is about normal dudes like Stephen, like Philip, like Peter, who the Holy Spirit came upon them and suddenly they're doing stuff way out of their league. They're doing stuff that's way bigger than what they are able to do. And that's one of the things we see here. You might say, "Well, good for Philip. He's an evangelist, and he was able to see this guy saved." But see, this is where you have the same power to tap into that Philip does, the Holy Spirit. Well, Brett, how do you know Philip had the Holy Spirit? Well, there's a couple perhaps places. The first place I would say is verse 29 where it says, "Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot." So Philip was in tune with the Spirit, and the Spirit was leading him. Brett, are you suggesting that the Holy Spirit will talk to you? In a way. I've never heard the Holy Spirit speak to me in a certain voice, like word-for-word voice. I've never. Maybe some of you have; I haven't. The Bible gives us an indication of what the Holy Spirit does. It's like in Colossians 3:15: "Let the peace of God rule your heart." The book of Isaiah chapter 30, the Lord says, "I'll be a still small voice whispering in your ear whether to turn right or whether to turn left." It's an impression that your heart gets. You feel like a sense of peace about going this way and you have a sense of no, I'm not going that way. And that's the way the Holy Spirit rules your heart. But if you've never had the Holy Spirit upon you, you don't know what it feels like. By the way, baptism is linked, I think, to the Holy Spirit in some way, shape, or form because every time somebody's baptized, something of the Spirit almost always happened in the Bible stories. Remember when Jesus was baptized, what happened? The Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove and was like right on his shoulder. Why did that happen? Because I think linked to baptism, the Holy Spirit is like that's where the Spirit might come on your life in kind of a new and fresh way. The Holy Spirit is where you and I need to tap into that source of power. It's not by your might nor by your power, but it's by the Spirit of the Lord, saith the Lord of hosts. That's where the real power is. So when you're afraid to take that leap of faith because you don't have the right words or you're not smart enough or you don't know what to say, that's where you have to say, "Lord, would you fill me afresh with your Holy Spirit? Give me that same power of Philip and of Peter and of Stephen." We need to tap into that same power that is from the Holy Spirit. If you don't feel like you have enough, the answer is you really don't. But that's where the Holy Spirit comes in. The simplicity of the gospel, keeping it simple, but also having the power of the Spirit behind you. Philip is an example of that, and I think that that's an example for you and not just for old Pastor Brett up here talking because I can say with absolute certainty that the Lord has used a very ordinary goofball like me to share the gospel. And I think sometimes we get used to, "Well, that's the pastor, so he's up there doing what he's supposed to do or whatever." But I just want to say long before I was sitting up here on my stool or behind the pulpit, long before that, for some reason the Lord just made me not smart enough to be afraid. When I was a kid, I would share the gospel with my friends. I'd talk about Jesus, and I saw, wow, people are hungry for Jesus. People are starving for salvation, and they want to hear the good news about Jesus Christ. And some of you maybe somehow missed that, and I would say it's time to get on the wave. It's time to be concerned about the people that we love and know whether they're going to heaven or going to hell. So I think we should take our challenge that the Lord gives us going to all the world, preach the gospel, make disciples, and baptize them. May the Lord give you maybe a new heart to just be open to share the good news with people. Maybe you're one who's never been saved to begin with. I know about Jesus, but what's this being saved and all this? The point is the Bible says in order to be saved, you must repent of your sin. This is the gospel, by the way. It's just a really easy description. We're all corrupted by sin and the wages or the cost of sin is death. But good news: for God so loved the world, that's you and me, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him, Jesus, will not perish but have everlasting life. That's salvation. That's what we would call heaven, a future and a hope of heaven. And it's for the person who confesses. Romans 10:9 and 10: "If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart the Lord Jesus, that God raised him up from the dead, it says you will be saved."
Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador summing up the message of the saving grace of the gospel as offered to all who believe from today's word. And for those ready to make a confession of faith, Pastor Brett will share how to take that next step in just a moment. But first, today's word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church in the Portland, Oregon area where Pastor Brett Meador's the senior pastor. We invite you to find out more about Pastor Brett and Athey Creek Church by going to todayswordradio.com. If you missed any portion of this study, you'll find all of his messages online at todayswordradio.com. Well, as promised, here's Pastor Brett Meador telling how to receive God's gift of the hope of heaven.
Brett Meador: I wonder if there might be a few here even today who would say, "I need to be saved. I need my sins forgiven." I'd be honored to pray a prayer of confession of faith with you right now. If that's you right where you are and you want to acknowledge that you want to accept Christ, we'll just pray through that with you right here right where you sit. Just acknowledge that right now and let's just pray this prayer of confession of faith. Just have this come from your heart, and the Bible says God will hear this and he'll honor this. It's nothing you do to deserve this. He's done all the work. He died on the cross, Jesus did, for your sins. So let's accept that. Let's pray. Dear Father in heaven, I believe in your Son Jesus. I believe that he died on the cross for my sins and that he rose up from the grave, and that I'm forgiven. Help me to walk with you. Thank you for saving me. In the name of Jesus Christ. And Lord, I pray that you'd bless these people who've just confessed their faith in you. Lord, I pray that they'd know their sins are forgiven. Lord, we know we're not perfect, but we are perfectly forgiven because of the work of the cross. So would you just wrap your loving arms around them, may they know your goodness, Lord, and may they grow as they grow in faith and understand how good you are, Lord. I pray that you'd just bless them. Lord, help us to all let our light shine in this dark world, Lord. We know we need your Son Jesus. So give us a boldness, Lord, to present the gospel wherever we can. So we commit this to you and pray your blessing now in Jesus' name. Amen.
Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador here on today's word. And if you just prayed those words with Pastor Brett, we want to welcome you into the family of God. And to help, we put together some teachings that will assist you as you begin your walk with Jesus. Just go to our website at todayswordradio.com and click on the link that says, "Are you a new believer?" Again, todayswordradio.com and click the link "new believer." Well, we're so glad you joined us today. Next time, Pastor Brett will continue another verse-by-verse study looking at the Acts of the Apostles. Today's word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.