FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
God Moments | Acts 8:26-40
Have you ever had a moment that felt like an undeniable touch of the divine? Join us as we embark on a poignant journey through 'God Moments,' those extraordinary encounters with the divine that can change the course of our lives. We'll follow in the footsteps of Philip, one of the first trailblazers of faith who answered God's call. His incredible story of evangelism, from local communities to the ends of the earth, serves as a rallying cry for us all to 'Rise and Go.' It's about embracing the potential within our own spheres of influence, where every conversation and every shared testimony can lead to another 'God Moment' for someone else. We'll hear heartfelt stories from our community in Powder Springs, reminders of the lives touched and changed through simple acts of inviting someone to church, and the urgency of sharing the Gospel. The finale draws us back to the essential message at the heart of it all: Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection. I'll delve into the importance of genuine conversion, emphasizing that our primary message is Jesus Himself, not a checklist of dos and don'ts. Tune in for this moving episode that invites reflection, inspires action, and rejoices in the grace that enfolds us.
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Welcome to all who joined us here in person, those joining us online. And on this Memorial Day weekend, we do want to pause and just remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives that we may have the freedoms that we have. And I've read a quote I don't know who said it so I can't give credit but it says we may not know them all, but we owe them all. We may not know all who died for us, but we not know them all, but we owe them all. We may not know all who died for us, but we do owe them all, and the Bible says to give honor to those who honor or do so. Can we put our hands together and just honor those soldiers, those men and women who have given their lives so that we may have the freedoms that we enjoy today? Well, some of you are looking at me and thinking he looks like Pastor Chip, but I don't think that's Pastor Chip. Well, I am not Pastor Chip. My name's John and I am. Pastor Chip and I are good friends. We had the privilege of serving together in Virginia for eight to nine years and we love Pastor Chip and his wife Michelle and their family. My wife Joy, is right down here on the front row, and so we love them. We're excited to be here and spend time with them this weekend, but to spend time with you as well, and I can promise you, pastor Chip and Miss Michelle are not sleeping in this morning. They've got a newborn and they're joining us online right now. Would you put your hands together, let Pastor Chip and Michelle, their family, know how much you love them and how excited you are that they are here with you. Well, I'm excited and grateful for the opportunity to preach here this morning.
Speaker 1:Before I start, I want to tell you a story. I heard a story about a mom who went to wake up her son for church. Any moms been there before had to wake up your kids for church and she went in and said hey, it's time to get up, get ready for church. I'm going to get ready. After I'm ready. You should be ready, we'll leave, we'll go to church so we're not late. And she gets ready. She goes in and her son is still in bed and she says I said, get up, get ready, it's time to go to church, you're going to make us late. And he kind of rolled over and she shook him a little, said get up, get ready, it's time to go to church. He said I'm not going to church. She said you're going to church? Any of your moms ever give that look? Well, she gave the look. He said mom, I'm not going to church. You give me one good reason why I should go to church. She said I'll give you two. One you're 45 years old and two you're the senior pastor. We're excited to be here with you this morning and I hope you're excited to be here.
Speaker 1:The title of my message is God Moments, and these are just moments in time where God puts something together, he shows up and he does a work that can only be explained by him being present, and so we see some of these God moments in scripture. For instance, you can think back to Moses, when Moses is out keeping the sheep and all of a sudden he sees a bush on fire. It's a burning bush and he goes over and God uses that moment, changes his life forever. He says you're leaving the wilderness and you're going to go and take my people out of Egypt and lead them out of bondage. Or maybe it was Mary. She's just going through her normal day and the angel appears to her and says you're going to give birth to Jesus, you're going to give birth to the Messiah, and her life was changed forever. We all had those moments in our lives as well, where we can look back and we see. God showed up and things changed. Things changed For me. I was at a Cincinnati Reds opening day baseball game and an umpire died on the field, and that began my journey to Christ. My life changed at that moment. I was going to a baseball game, but God had something else in mind.
Speaker 1:This morning I want to look at a God moment from Acts, chapter 8. If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Acts, chapter 8, verses 26 through 40 and this is just a familiar passage. You all know it, most likely a Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. So before we study God's word together, we're going to go verse by verse. There's not three points in a poem today. We're just going to go verse by verse through the scripture.
Speaker 1:But before we hear from God's word, let's pray together. God, what you've done, lord, it's not about what can we do, it's about what you've already done. And, lord, on this Memorial Day, we thank you for what some brave men and women have done in sacrificing their life that we may have freedom. And, lord, we just ask that we would have the same courage and boldness in our witness for Jesus. God, we ask that you would speak to our hearts now, lord. You tell us that your word never returns void. It always accomplishes the purposes for which you send it out. So would you use it in our lives right now and speak to us in Jesus' name? And all God's people said amen.
Speaker 1:Well, let's start in verse 26. It says 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 so we see. This angel comes to this man named Philip. Who in the world is Philip? Well, if you look back a couple chapters in Acts, chapter six, verse five, you will see Philip was one of the first seven men called to be deacons in the church so that the apostles could focus on preaching the word and prayer. And so he's a lay leader in the church that God's already using in a great way. And the command given to Philip is to rise and go. Philip's preaching in Samaria when he receives this command from this angel. And so how did a man called to be a lay leader in the church in Jerusalem end up in Samaria? Well, I'm glad you asked.
Speaker 1:So let's look at Acts, chapter 1, verse 8. Right before Jesus left this earth, he told his disciples these words. Right before he ascended into heaven he said you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, judea, samaria and to the ends of the earth. And all through the first seven chapters of Acts they stayed in Jerusalem. They're just focused on the church in Jerusalem, reaching people in Jerusalem, and they're not obeying this command to go to Jerusalem, judea, samaria and to the ends of the earth. And so we'd see in Acts, chapter eight, at the beginning, stephen, another one of those seven men chosen to be a deacon. He is stoned to death, he is martyred, he becomes the first Christian martyr and he's put to death. And Acts chapter eight, two through four, tells us a great persecution arose against the church and people were scattered. Guess where they were scattered? To Judea and Samaria. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, judea, samaria. And so now they're scattered. And it says wherever they're scattered, they're going about preaching Christ, preaching the word of God. And so Philip's in Samaria. And we're going to see a little deeper into chapter eight. He's part of a great revival taking place and this is where this command comes to rise and go.
Speaker 1:Can I pause here for a moment and just apply this to us, because we don't just need to hear a good story in scripture. Go say, man, that Philip was a great guy, grateful. The unit got saved. What's for lunch? Philip was a great guy, grateful, the unit got saved. What's for lunch? God gives us his word and he gives us stories so that we can apply those truths to our life.
Speaker 1:How many Atlanta Falcons fans do we have in here today? What's the slogan of the Atlanta Falcons? Rise up, rise up. They haven't been doing much rising. Maybe they're gonna resurrect this this year, I don't know. But. But my titans aren't much better.
Speaker 1:So, but if you're a follower of jesus, you need to rise up. We need to rise up as the church, we need to rise up as believers and we need to go, take the gospel to people, get beyond the walls of this church, take the gospel to the community. And if you're a follower of Jesus, this command to rise and go applies to you and me as well as Philip. This wasn't just a command given to Philip. Philip's the one that Jesus gave it, that the angel gave it to so that we could have the example and we could do the same thing. So if you get nothing else from this message this morning, I want you to remember God is calling you to rise up and to go.
Speaker 1:Look back at Acts 1.8. It says you, everybody say you, you will receive power and be my witnesses in Jerusalem, judea, samaria and to the ends of the earth. It's a personal call. Jesus gave it to the disciples who were following him and they pass it on down to us. This was before the church was founded, on the day of Pentecost, and so this is a charge, a command given to individual believers to go. And we go collectively, as the body of believers that formed the church, but we go individually wherever we're at, wherever God has us, and we're called to go For you.
Speaker 1:Acts 1.8 may read this and I've added a little to Scripture, but it doesn't take it out of context. You'll see why I did it in just a second. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. For you, that's Powder Springs In Judea, that's Georgia, samaria, the United States, and to the ends of the earth, worldwide. And I was thinking about this verse when I was on a mission trip over in West Africa about two or three years ago and I was thinking, man, I'm at the end of the end of the earth, I'm taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. And then I looked at our translator and I thought but he's taking it to his Jerusalem. You know, for you Powder Springs is Jerusalem, for me Powder Springs is Samaria.
Speaker 1:And what we learned from this is that, no matter where we are at, we are called to rise and go. We are called to rise and go. We got in town Friday night and stopped at the gas station to get a case of water and after I finished checking out, I invited the cashier guy and I said hey, I'm preaching at Powder Springs, first Baptist, this Sunday. I'd love for you to come. And I got a response that I've never gotten before. He said that sounds like an idea which is neither committing to it or saying no, it's like you've got your water, you've paid for it. Thank you, see you later. I don't see him here today. He might be here, but we're not responsible for the results, we're just responsible to go to rise and go.
Speaker 1:So here's the question for you today. Where is God calling you to rise and go? To whom is God calling you to rise and to go? And if God is calling us to rise and go and instead we sit and stay, that's called disobedience. And there's a word for disobedience when we disobey God, it's called sin. So our failure to rise and go is not just preference, it is called sin, and we will be held accountable for that. One day, god's going to ask us why didn't you rise and go when I caused you to rise and go? Why did you stay silent? We have no excuses for not going where God calls us to go, and we have no excuses for not saying what God calls us to say. Say no excuses. All right, y'all, wake up. Say no excuses. We have no excuses. Now let's go back to our passage.
Speaker 1:We see Philip here. He's in the middle of this revival he's experiencing, he. He receives this command to rise and go, and, and God doesn't even tell him the final destination, he just tells him the road to get on. Rise and go. You get on the road that goes down South, the desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and Philip is told he's going to a desert place. I want you to pause and think about that. He's called to a desert place. It'd be one thing if God was calling him to leave a revival for a revival, but he's calling him to leave a revival to go to a barren place, a dry place, a place where there's not many people. And I'm sure Philip could have rationalized saying God, there's so much good going on here, why are you leading me out here? But Philip didn't? He just rise and went.
Speaker 1:And even when God's plan doesn't make sense to us, even when we don't have all the details, we are called to do one thing and that's to obey, to obey God and to do what he's calling us to do. Philip responded in obedience, verse 27 says and he rose and went and there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, a queen, the Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and he was returning, seated in the chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And we see Philip just responds immediately. Delayed obedience is nothing more than disobedience. And Philip responds immediately.
Speaker 1:Imagine if you asked your child to clean their room or take out the trash and they said no. Or, better yet, what if they said I'll think about it, or better yet. What if they said I'll think about it, or better yet. What if they said I'll pray about it? You would say no, I told you to take out the trash. You take out the trash, you clean your room. You don't talk back. You're going to do what I asked you to do. Why? Because I'm mom, I'm dad.
Speaker 1:We may not understand why God's calling us to rise and go, but he says I'm God and you're not. I see everything. You see limited, a limited part of this picture. You just rise and you just go. And we need to have the attitude of the psalmist in Psalm 119, 60. He says I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments. We don't need to wait for more details, we just need to obey the details. We already know. We don't need to wait for more details. We just need to obey the details we already know. We don't need to understand the whole plan, we just need to follow the plan one step at a time, just like Philip got the plan one step at a time. God often gives us the plan one step at a time. And Philip responded immediately. He left the revival, he went to the desert and he rose and went.
Speaker 1:Earlier this year Pastor Chip talked to you about the life of Abraham and Abraham was called to go from Ur and he was told to leave his family in Ur and go to the land. God was to call him and he partially obeyed because he left, but he took his dad with him and my guess is his dad was sick and they had to stop in a place called Haran which was halfway between where God called him from to where God was calling him to, and God had to reissue the call after Tara died. But I wonder how many Christians start? They rise and go, they get halfway there and it's tough, it's difficult and they just stop because it's comfortable, they just stop because it's easy. And I just want to challenge you don't ever stop halfway between where God's called you to, called you from, to where God's called you to, because you won't get the blessing that way. God called Philip, he got up and he went. And here's the truth I want to point out to you. Philip didn't know. Philip didn't know where he was going, but he did know who he was following. You may not know every place God's calling you to, but you know the God you're following and you could trust him. And you may be in a place today. You don't understand why something's happening. If you're following Jesus, he will lead you. You don't always have to know exactly where you're going, you just have to know who you're following.
Speaker 1:And then we see a new character coming to this story. We've talked about Philip. And then we see the Ethiopian eunuch, and he was like the treasurer or the minister of finance to the queen of Ethiopia. He's a man of great importance. He's likely not traveling alone. He likely has a great entourage and he traveled all the way to Jerusalem to worship. And now he's on his way home and different commentators speculate that he'd probably traveled anywhere from 500 to 750 miles to get to Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:And Deuteronomy 23, one tells us that eunuchs were not permitted to even enter the temple. And so he's traveling 500 to 750 miles to go to a place that he's probably not even going to be able to get into. Yet he's going because he's seeking God and he wants to know more about God, and I want you to compare that to today the average person research tells us that goes to church goes 1.5 times a month tells us that goes to church goes 1.5 times a month. 1.5 times a month. And I want you to know this God's not interested in your attendance, he's interested in you. He's not sitting up there. Why weren't they in church? But he wants you here. Why? So you can hear from the word of God and learn, so that you can use your gifts and serve, so that you can be community to other believers, so that each part of the body joins together, and the hands, not by itself, but it has a body to come to be a part of the foots, not by itself. It has a body to be a part of. And we look at this Ethiopian eunuch traveling all this way and we can't even get up and go to church. If, if it's raining, it can affect church attendance. Trust me, I'm a pastor and we see it. If it's raining, I'm like, oh goodness, attendance is going to be down. Today, most likely, not always. God's not interested in your attendance as much as he is you.
Speaker 1:And how do you show your commitment to Jesus every day? What if God was only as faithful to you as you are to him? What if? Would your life look different? You know, my wife Joy and I have almost been married 27 years. If she came up to me later today said, hey, I've been pretty faithful to you this week, I wouldn't give her a high five, say good job, you're getting better. You were just a little faithful last week, but now you're pretty faithful.
Speaker 1:No, I would say no, I expect complete faithfulness. I expect complete faithfulness. What right do we think we have to expect anything less of God than we expect of our spouse, than we expect of our kids? We expect complete faithfulness. Complete faithfulness, as this Ethiopian man's on his road back home. He's reading God's word and we see this man is religious but he doesn't know Jesus yet he's not saved. And that may describe man is religious but he doesn't know Jesus yet he's not saved.
Speaker 1:And that may describe many people in your circle of influence today. They go to church, but you don't see fruit in their life. They pray, you don't see fruit in their life. They say they read the Bible, but you don't see fruit in their life. And we're not called to be judges, we are called to be fruit inspectors. If people call themselves a believer, we should see fruit. And so maybe those are some of the people in your life, just like this Ethiopian eunuch. They're spiritual, they're religious, but you don't see change. Maybe God's telling you rise and go and don't confront them, but just love on them and share with them and encourage them and disciple them and share the good news of the gospel with them.
Speaker 1:Philip just happens to be walking along this same road and as we read on, we see his life intersect with the Ethiopian eunuch. We're starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together and I just want to remind you that every day, god causes your life to intersect with different people. Are you using those God moments, those intersections, to make a difference? You have these invite cards that say come and see, and I'm just going to challenge you people. Are you using those God moments, those intersections, to make a difference? You have these invite cards that say come and see and I'm just going to challenge you. Grab a stack of these as you leave today and all throughout your week, just invite people to church. It can be as natural as hey. If you don't have a church home, I'd love to invite you to First Baptist, powder Springs and then see where the conversation goes. If they don't engage, experiencing God says see where God's working and move there and work there. So just ask him. And if God's moving, just like with this eunuch, we're going to see. God was moving. God will work, but use these cards.
Speaker 1:I told a story last week at my camp my church Back in November. There was a senior adult couple out to eat after church and they saw a young husband and young wife and went over. They paid for their meal, gave them an invite card to our church, said we'd love for you to come worship with us. And they didn't come right away, but on March 17th he was watching online. He gave his life to the Lord, he called me, wanted to be baptized, and he's been at our campus ever since, ever since, but all because someone gave an invite card. I lead a men's Bible study at Cracker Barrel at 7 am every Thursday, had for about five, six years and I invited a waitress one time. I just gave her a card, said love for you to come to church if you don't have a church home. It's about a couple three years ago. And last year she came up to me and said she said I don't know if you remember inviting me to church and giving me one of those cards, but I want you to know my boyfriend and I are going to your Hampton campus and we both just got baptized last week.
Speaker 1:God can use it and our lives are intersecting. But are we distracted? Are we focused? Are we going to allow God to use us? Don't miss those God moments. Let God use you in those moments.
Speaker 1:We move on to verses 29 and 30. And the Spirit said to Philip go over and join this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked do you understand what you're reading? And the Holy Spirit is leading here, as he must for any person to get saved, for any conversion to take place. And he tells him to go and be joined to the chariot. We have to go Again. We see the word go. We cannot be sitting, saints. We can't come sit in church and worship. Leave unchanged, go about our business the rest of the week and come back. It's not about going to church, it's going for Jesus. And part of going for Jesus is coming to church so that you can be filled with the Spirit, so you can be filled with His wisdom, so that you can be filled and go out and pour out of what's been poured into you. And I'm afraid at a lot of churches today and this is my first time at Powder Springs, so I'm not saying this about you, but I'm afraid at a lot of churches today and this is my first time at Powder Springs, so I'm not saying this about you, but I'm afraid a lot of churches today the church has become more of a social club than it has about a sending place.
Speaker 1:Philip's only given the next step, not the entire plan. Go to the desert, go to the chariot, and too many of us live paralyzed by fear from doing God's will, because we want to know the whole plan, not just the next step. If you ever walked in the dark with a flashlight, you take one step and it lights that up and then it'll light up your next step. And you have to walk step by step, and more and more of the plan is revealed to you as you walk. That's what's happening to Philip, that's what happens to us, and I love Philip's response. It says he ran. Now, keep in mind, this chariot's likely being pulled by oxen, so they're not very fast. It's not like it's the Kentucky Derby out there but it says he ran why? It's indicating a sense of urgency, a sense of urgency, and I want to share some statistics with you.
Speaker 1:I just found this on Google. We know the internet's true, right? I do believe this is true because it comes from United States Census Bureau. It says Powder Springs has a population of 16,700 people and it says 55% of Powder Springs is religious and that's every denomination and every other faith denomination and every other faith. So 45% of Powder Springs is unreligious. So at best, best case scenario, 50% of the people you see in the grocery store are lost and going to spend eternity in hell. 50% of the people on your sports teams are lost and going to hell. 50% of the people in your neighborhood are lost and going to spend eternity in hell.
Speaker 1:Yet God has put us in those places. He's put us in those grocery stores, he's put us in those on the sports teams, he's put us in those neighborhoods, at those coffee shops, wherever we go, and he wants our life to intersect with other people's lives so that they can learn about who Jesus is and what he did for them. Who do you need to run and share the gospel with? And one of the guys in my men's group on Thursday mornings was sharing with our group a few weeks ago. He said he just found out his friend had cancer. He was down in the hospital in Norfolk, which is about an hour, 20 hour, 30 minutes away, and he says I need to go down and talk to him and just see where he is with Jesus. And it was just a few days later, tuesday or Wednesday. He was on his way to Norfolk to do something for work and then he was gonna go by the hospital but he got a call from another friend that said that friend had died.
Speaker 1:Guys, I'm telling you, time is short. We're not guaranteed another moment on this earth. They're not guaranteed another moment on this earth. They're not guaranteed another moment on this earth. And we need to run, and we need to rise, we need to go, we need to run, we need to share, because eternity is an urgent matter. Philip runs with urgency. He gets to the chair. He recognizes this eunuch is reading the word of God and he asked him one simple question that has eternal consequences Do you understand what you're reading? And when you begin by listening to people, god will help you bridge from their situation to the gospel. And the eunuch's response in verse 31 was he said how can I, unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Speaker 1:Now we see why Philip was commanded to leave a revival and go to the desert. God had a message someone's seeking him and God had a message to take him. So he sends Philip to share with him, and it's as if God is setting this opportunity upon a tee for Philip. Deuteronomy 31, eight says the Lord himself goes before you. He will be with you. He will be with you, he will never leave you, he will never forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. And so right now, this day, this week, this month, this year, the rest of your life, god is going before you preparing people for you to share with. He's preparing their hearts, he's preparing you and he's also going to be with you as you share, and he's going to be with you and that person after you leave. We'll see that with Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in just a moment. We just have to rise and go, we just have to follow in obedience, and then we finish rising and going. One place is going to cause us to rise and go to another place. You aren't responsible for the results, but you are responsible for the sharing. And so the eunuch invites Philip up and probably keeps going towards Ethiopia. And this is what he was reading verses 32 through 34.
Speaker 1:Now the passage of scripture that he was reading was this 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. And the eunuch said to Philip about whom, I ask you, does this prophet say this? About himself or about someone else? And this eunuch is confused. And I love Philip's response, the response in verse 35. It says then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with his scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. He opened his mouth. He opened his mouth To share the good news. You have to open your mouth.
Speaker 1:Faith comes from hearing, which means someone has to be talking. Your lifestyle needs to match your mouth. Faith comes from hearing, which means someone has to be talking. Your lifestyle needs to match your witness. But you must open your mouth.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm an alumni of the University of Alabama and if I say roll tide, some of you are going to say something else. Here go dogs. I see a volunteer fan over there. We'll pray for you, brother, I'm joking, tennessee's pretty good now, but we jump right in, don't we? We'll defend our favorite sports team, we'll share our opinion, we'll tell people where to eat, we'll say everything, but when it comes to something eternal, why do we worry about it? Because the enemy has paralyzed us with fear, with comfort, with selfishness, and I'm telling you, we got to move past that and we need to rise and go, because eternity is a long time to be wrong. Eternity is a long time to be lost. There's urgency. Eternity is a long time to be lost. There's urgency.
Speaker 1:I love how verse 35 of this, how the King James Version translates verse 35 of this passage. It says he opened his mouth and he preached Jesus to him. He preached Jesus to him, and if he was reading verses seven through eight, he likely had read the first six verses of Isaiah 53 as well, which says who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground. He had no former majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and is one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. This passage is all about Jesus. The Bible is all about Jesus, from Genesis to Revelation. It's all about Jesus.
Speaker 1:Jesus isn't part of our message, he's our only message, and we are to preach Jesus, not morality. We are to preach Jesus, not good works. We are to preach Jesus, not behavior modification, because all of those other things are temporary. But Jesus is eternal, salvation is eternal and we need to follow Jesus and tell people about Jesus in church. Like I said, jesus isn't part of our message, he is all of our message, he is our only message, and if we ever start preaching anything besides Jesus, in addition to Jesus, we're in trouble. Do invite people to church, but invite them to Jesus as well. This says come and see First Baptist Powder Springs. You need to be a church for people to come and see, full of people that go and tell, go and tell, invite them to church, invite them to Jesus, let them come and see and experience that. If you believe that, say amen. It's obvious.
Speaker 1:Philip shared the gospel with this man, and the word gospel just means good news, and when something good happens to us, we're quick to share it. And in 1 Corinthians 15, one through four, we see the gospel and I'm just gonna highlight it. It says brothers, now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, and this is the gospel Christ died for our sins, verse three. He was buried. He was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, and so that's the gospel Jesus died, was buried, rose again, and because of that you can have hope, you can have victory. He took your sin. He left it in the grave. He took your shame he left it in the grave. He took unbelief and left it in the grave, and he came out of the grave, left all that there, and you can follow him and have hope, you can have victory, you can have a new life and you can be a new creation. That's the message that Philip is proclaiming to the eunuch, and while Scripture doesn't record their eunuch's response per se, we can see that he trusted Christ as his Lord and Savior, because it says in verse 36, as they were going along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said see, here's water. What prevents me from being baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stop. That's why I think they were continuing on to Ethiopia and they went down into the water and Philip and the eunuch, philip and the eunuch, and he baptized them.
Speaker 1:And you're going to notice in some of your Bibles it goes from verse 36 to verse 38. There is no verse 37, but there's a footnote and if you look down there it'll tell you what it is. Some of your translations may have it and the reason it's not in there is it wasn't in a lot of the oldest manuscripts. It was in some of them, but not all of them, and so they decided some translations to put a footnote. But here's what that verse says Philip said if you believe with all your heart, you may. The eunuch answered I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And then they were baptized. And regardless if it was part of the manuscript or not, it still lines up with all of Scripture. And we see here some commentators say one of the reasons that Philip may have asked that question or said, if you believe you may be, is because of Simon the magician just earlier in Acts, chapter eight.
Speaker 1:Regardless, the eunuch wants to be baptized. And in this passage we see what biblical baptism looks like. It's immediate. You trust Jesus and you get baptized. Baptism doesn't save you. This wedding ring doesn't make me married. Baptism doesn't save you, but this ring shows I'm married to joy and baptism shows you're married to Jesus. And baptism will never save anyone, because it's a good work, but it is our first step of obedience. It is our first step of obedience. Just like your child, cleaning their room won't make you love them more, it will make you happy. And so here we see, believers. Baptism is immediate. It's about identifying yourself with Jesus and it's a picture of your old way of life is buried. You're raised to walk in new life following Jesus, and it's by immersion. Your old way of life is buried. You're raised to walk in new life, following Jesus, and it's by immersion. It says they went down into the water and you know, I thought I was saved, around 10 to 12 years old at a vacation Bible school.
Speaker 1:I got baptized but my life didn't change. College I lived for the world some In college, someone shared the gospel with me and my life changed and I rededicated my life to Jesus because I'm a good Baptist and I believe. Well, I made a decision before. I just know more now and for some of you that may be you, but for me I was not saved. My life was not new, I was not changed, I was not transformed and I wrestled with it. I was ordained as a deacon in my church in Alabama before I ever had believer's baptism.
Speaker 1:And it was 2001. At our church in Tennessee I started wrestling with was my baptism legitimate? And I wrestled from July till September 9th. It was Sunday, september 9th. On the way home from church I just told Joy. I said I'm tired of wrestling with this. I'm just gonna do it. I'm tired of wrestling with this. I'm just gonna do it. I'm tired of struggling with this, fighting with this. So I called my pastor on September 10th 2001. September 11th 2001,. We met. We kept our meeting September 12th. I went forward at church September 16th, I was baptized.
Speaker 1:And here's the thought I had after that. Why did I wait so long? And some of you, you're letting the enemy wrestle with you on this. What will people think? Can I tell you what? It doesn't matter what people think. It's about what God thinks. When you get to heaven, god's not going to say, well, what did your mom think about that? What did your dad? What did this person? No, he's going to tell you well done, good and faithful servant for obeying me. And so if you're struggling with baptism and you're not sure, take out this next steps card, just mark I want to be baptized. And I can promise you someone will reach out from this church, from the staff, and they will follow up with you on that. Maybe today the Spirit's calling you to rise and go and be baptized. If so, I challenge you to respond In verse 30, we see what happens next.
Speaker 1:They came up out of the water. The spirit of the Lord carried Philip away and the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way, rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus and he passed through and preached the gospel to all the towns he came to, in Caesarea, I'm sure, philip no longer being there probably had a huge impact on that whole caravan. They're like where's this guy you were just talking to? Where did he go in the water? You know, you came up, where is he? But he's 20 miles away in Azotus. And what's he doing? Preaching the gospel. You see, the command to rise and go isn't just to rise and go to one place, it's to rise and go wherever God sends you, wherever God takes you, wherever you find yourself. Rise and go, and that's what Philip was doing. It has to be a part of who we are, regardless of where we're at.
Speaker 1:The unit goes on his way, rejoicing why he's a changed man, he's a saved man, god's done something new in his life. And and If he did, I think as he goes home he's reading on in Scripture. And if he did, I want you to imagine his delight when he sees chapter 56. And we have verses 3 through 7. I'm going to just read a little of it for the sake of time. But it says Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say the Lord will surely separate me from his people. So here the Ethiopian. He's a foreigner, he's not an Israelite. And let not the eunuch say behold, I'm a dry tree. For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who have keep, who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give him my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. And so this is what the eunuch's new promise is. He's rejoicing I can only imagine he's shouting hallelujah at this point and the chariot's going down the road, and they're probably rejoicing and singing. And God's done something new. The gospel is now spread from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, and now it's going to the ends of the earth. Tradition tells us the eunuch went back and started a church in Ethiopia. And so, to close, I want to ask you the question Every single person in here is either Philip or the eunuch.
Speaker 1:Which character are you? Because if you're Philip, you're a believer, you've given your life to Jesus, you're saved. There's still a response for you right now. Maybe God is calling you to rise and go and be baptized. Rise and go and find a group. Rise and go and join one of the serving teams at this church and use your gifts to serve the kingdom. Maybe he's calling you to rise and go and join this church, make this your church home, go to that next steps lunch. Maybe he's calling you to rise and go and volunteer to serve in vacation Bible school. Some of those may not be as specific for each individual, but God has something he wants you to rise and go do. And for all of us, he's calling us to rise and go and take the gospel to our circle of influence.
Speaker 1:And I'm confident that if I've preached today, there's been at least one name that God's laid on your heart saying I need to rise and go share the gospel with that person. Maybe it's a friend, a family member, a neighbor, a coworker. Can I challenge you to do that this week? You don't have to make up a big plan and plan it for a month or two for now, because it's urgent and all you have to do is go up to them and just say, hey, I love you, you're my friend, I care for you, and I just want to ask where are you at spiritually? And just listen. Philip asked one simple question Do you understand what you're reading? Just listen and then preach Jesus to them.
Speaker 1:I know for certain God's calling every believer in this room to rise and go and preach Jesus to people. But maybe in this room, to rise and go and preach Jesus to people. But maybe let me say this too the only way you can fail as a witness is if you fail to witness. Let me say that again the only way you can fail as a witness is if you fail to witness. You're not responsible for the results God is but you are responsible to rise and go and to run and share. I believe God's telling us what he told Paul in Acts 26, 16 through 18. Rise, stand up on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I'm sending you to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, and they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Wouldn't you love to see some friends and some coworkers and some family members turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God and run and share with them.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're more identified with the Ethiopian eunuch today. Maybe that's who represents you. You're a seeker. You have questions about Jesus. Maybe you are saved, but you've wandered away and you're trying to determine should I come back or should I not.
Speaker 1:I'm here to tell you that today is the day of salvation. Today, today, this day, right here, is the day of salvation. God sent you here today to hear the good news that he loves you. He died for you, he was buried for you. He was buried for you. He rose again for you. Your sin is gone, your shame is gone. You can be a new creation. He sent you here today, if you're the eunuch, to hear that good news and I'm running alongside your chariot right now trying to help you understand that and, just like the Ethiopian eunuch, you can leave here today rejoicing that you have new life by trusting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. So, with every head bowed, every eye closed, I just wanna encourage you.
Speaker 1:If you've never made Jesus your Lord, or if you're not sure if you've made Jesus your Lord, today's your day. You can just pray this prayer after me. There's no magic in these words. The power is in your heart, but you can just say something like this Dear Lord, god, I know that I'm a sinner. I believe that you died for me, you were buried and you rose again. Thank you for salvation, thank you for dying for me, and as much as I know how I put my faith in you, I turn for my sin and I turn to follow you. Help me to follow you all the days of my life In Jesus name. Amen. Well, the Bible tells us that all of heaven rejoices when just one person, one person gives their life to the Lord.
Speaker 1:Can we put our hands together for anyone who may have given their life to the Lord in this service or online today? Welcome to God's family. We want to walk alongside you, and the way we do that is through our next steps card. You may this may be your first time, maybe you've been here a long time this card's for you to let us know what next steps you have to take, how we can walk alongside with you. We don't want to bombard you or harass you, but we do want to help you take that next step with Jesus, to walk with him, so you can let us know that on the front, on the back.
Speaker 1:There's a place for prayer requests. There's a way we can be praying for you this week. Would you let us know? And you can just turn this in as you leave today. But we want you to take whatever your next step is and, because I mentioned baptism, if baptism is your next step, let us know. I'm gonna pray and we're gonna continue to worship, and then we'll close our service from there. So let's pray. Father, you've called us to rise, you've called us to go and so, lord, we ask that you would just show us where you're calling us, to whom you're calling us to. We ask that you would speak to us individually. And, lord, now we return this song of worship to you as praise for who you are. Do a mighty work in this place today. In Jesus' name, amen, would you stand and worship?