Up, Down, Up and Away

I think I've got it all covered. Let's pray. Dear

Father God, thank you today that we have the opportunity

to know Jesus through the Bible. Help us to live,

to love you, and to obey and to win people

to you. In Jesus' name. Amen, I'm having a fun

time on this series in the Book of Acts, are

you I plan to finish the Book of Acts? Is

that okay? Okay? Because it's really it's it's stories, which

are real stories of how lives were changed by the

Holy Spirit and how God's people came online to make

a difference in a generation. The title my message is up, Down,

Up and away. Just a hair down, Andrew, just a hair,

thank you. After the that's it. After the Ordeal of

Simon the Great, when the Apostles returned to Jerusalem, Philip journeyed.

This journey had just begun as a Christian evangelists. Now,

what are deacons supposed to do in the church? Help me?

What are some of the things we think of? They

collect offering? What else do they do? They'll open and

close the church? Now, if we go by the Bible,

you know what they're supposed to do to be evangelists

Deacons are servants who not only serve by administering the

church's needs. Deacons are servants who are called of God

to share the Christian faith. Bible believing, Bible teaching deacons.

After the murder of Stephen, the second of the Magnificent Seven,

Deacons had now become a mighty evangelist for Jesus. Phillip's

life was more engaging than just collecting church offering and

taking care of the poor. Philip's life journey illustrates that

there are times in life when we are called to

go up, then down, and up and away. That's his journey.

In our life with Jesus, it may look like we

are going down when we are really going up. We

have to have an eye of faith for the future.

At times, God sends angels into our lives. Have you

ever had an angel come into your life? Okay? God

sends angels into our lives to have us go up

when we feel like going down. Angels are messengers. In fact,

that's what the word angel means in the Greek angeloss

and the Hebrews Well means messenger. They can be supernatural

or human angels if God wills it. Do you realize

that God is very clear. Jesus was very clear that

John the Baptist was an angel, a human angel. If

they come from God into your life with truth, and

God is with you no matter how you feel about

the angel. Friends, we worship a going up kind of

God who has a loving eye for our good future,

who is not content to have us stay down in

life now and Amen is affirming that truth? Is that

worth affirming, then we should engage it. Amen to God's word.

There we have a going up kind of God who

has a loving eye for our future. And mind. You

may have a dim view of yourself and your future,

but God has a brilliant plan for you, so you

can go up in life. After praying for the Holy

Spirit and the laying on of hands, the apostles went home,

preaching the gospel to many Samaritan towns and villages on

the way to Jerusalem. They didn't waste their time. They

didn't say, you know, when we went there, we got

the job done, let's go home. They share their faith

all the way home. Peter and John treasured every minute

of their journey home so as to win as many

people to Christ as possible. Now, we should do exactly

the same thing as Peter and John. When we have

a chance we go on vacation. Do we go on

vacation to get away from the church, or do we

go on vacation to share Christ with others? Sister White

and James White, when they journeyed to their cabin in Colorado,

they would visit churches along the way, sharing Christ in

their vacation time. And so the Apostles modeled that early on,

don't lose those golden opportunities in your life to share

Jesus Christ. They may never come again for the person

that needs it, and they may never come again for you.

Turned to Acts eight, verse twenty five, and when they

had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they

returned to Jerusalem, preaching the Gospel in many villages of

the Samaritans. Never since Jesus met that woman at the

well did anything like this ever happen in Samaria. The Samaritans,

as the hated race of half breed Jews, were now

loved by the Apostles, and the people that were hated

were now embraced. Edwin Markham wrote a poem called Outwitted.

It goes like this. He drew a circle that shut

me out heretic rebel a thing to flout, but love

and I had the wit to win. We drew a

circle that took him in Acts eight twenty six. But

an angel Lord said to Philip, rise and go toward

the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem

to Gaza. This is a desert road. There's so much

packed in this verse. The angel's words were awkward. Here.

South is the direction in Hebrew going down. You go

down south, you go down to Shield, which is south

where the Dead Sea is. Jerusalem is the direction in

the Bible. No matter where you're at of going up,

they would always go up to Jerusalem. Be it north, southeast,

or west, you go up to Jerusalem. And so the

directions here are significant. Gauza is one of those places

in the Bible you go down to. It appears in

Genesis ten nineteen for the very first time in our Bible,

and the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in

the direction of Jerar as far as Gauza in the

direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and Zeboim as far as Lasha.

All the names here associated with Gaza are places to

be shunned in the Bible. They are shameful places. God

destroyed the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admin and Ziboam. How

did he do that? You remember what came down from heaven?

Fire came down from heaven and destroyed those places. The

name Jerar means strangers, foreigners, outcasts. Lasha was a border

city of the Canaanites, famous for its hot water springs

from deep cracks in the earth, and it had spiritualistic connotations.

The Canaanites were the cursed people. In fact, Lasha was

a border city of the Canaanites. The Canaanites were a

cursed people who offered their children on the altars of bail.

You know, it's amazing. We live in a time where

people would like to explain that away in our own culture.

Do we have our own version of bail worship in America?

We do. We offer our children for convenience. We sacrifice

children and destroy them in the millions so that those

children will not be a burden. I tell you, a

child is a blessing of God, and the Church is

to help mothers and children make it. The bell worshipers

didn't think that way, and people today who reason away

the death and destruction of little babies are akin to

the bell worshipers and the Canaanites of ancient times and

Psalms one hundred and six it says they sacrifice their

children to demons. So this was a bad place to be.

The Canaanites were the cursed people of God. They offer

the children on baiales, I mean on altars to bail,

and like many do today, they didn't think twice about it.

Gauza isn't far from all of us in our modern

evil world that we live in. We could be inhabitants

of a God, so to speak. In time, Gazza became

one of the five cities of the Philistines that oppressed

Israel until King David took out the Philistines. Gaza lay

on a very important trade route between Egypt and Syria,

and it was not exactly primetime real estate. Spiritually speaking,

That's why God sent Philip there. God didn't ignore this

city in trouble. God said, I need to send my evangelist,

my deacon to share the word of God there. He

didn't know the Bible as well as the Apostles. He

didn't have direct link with Jesus, but he had enough

to share and make a difference. South is down. But

his mission had purpose and meaning. So the Angel said

rise and go down. That means go up or get

up and then go down. And that's what he did,

and that's what we need to do in life. There

are many times in jesus life of ministry when he

healed people that Jesus said, I say to you, arise.

And maybe you came to church today and you're feeling

like you're down and you can't get up. You know

what the Lord would say to you. He would say

to you, I say to you a rise, A rise

and go down. When God sends a messenger into your

life and that angel says a rise, that's exactly what

you need to do. You need to get up so

God can use you for a good purpose. Don't stay

down in life. Don't let others put you down in life.

Arise and go down to a make a difference in

someone else's life who lives in an awful place, more

miserable than you can imagine. Luke is careful to record

that the road down to Gaza was a desert kind

of road. You ever gone to a desert, you ever

lived in a desert. And Diana took a bunch of

our kids to the Sinai Desert and they slept in

bedo intents as they went to Mount Sinai. We got

to do that again. The Lord doesn't call us to

go where we want to go with padded hotels, easy facilities,

good food, and lots of money. I knew a Christian

evangelist and pastors who worked near me when I was

in the Washington, DC area. His name was Jack Saquera.

And what Jack was famous for is taking his own

personal vacation time and going out to share Christ and

the Gospel in places nobody else would go. When certain

church leaders would go to the five star hotels, Jack

would go to the hotel without air conditioning to save money,

or to sleep in someone's home, or worse, so he

could share the word of God. And I learned a

lot observing this dear man of God as he shared Jesus,

the Lord friends, doesn't call us to go where we

want to go, where it's easy. He calls us to

go where we need to go. And it may be

a desert, hard kind of place. A desert road takes

the resources out of you. A desert road is hot

and weary in the way a desert road is frothed

with danger and unsuspected. Person's friend. Our God is a

god of adventure. Have you like adventure? Should I say

it adventure? How should I say that adventure? We need

to venture out into those desert roads of life, in

the grand adventure and the noble venture of saving souls.

For Jesus Christ, nothing lesse will go for God, Acts

eight twenty seven. And he rose and went and behold

an Ethiopian, a eunuch and minister of the Candace, Queen

of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasure, had

come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning. Seated in

his chariot, he was writing. He was reading the prophet Isaiah.

It's amazing what Philip finds here. Next to the Samaritans,

the Ethiopians were weighed down on the list of people

despised by the Jews. I mean, if you were to

think of the losers in life in the Jewish mind,

the Samaritans were at the bottom of the beryl. When

Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, he was

showing that he was not a racist and he loved

people who are on the outside. To make matters worse,

this man was a eunuch, so he was there. He

was an Ethiopian. He was with the Samaritans. Neither of

these were positive for the Jewish racists of his time.

But he was also a eunuch, which means he had

no personal future except that which was attached to his queen.

Isaiah predicted today when such eunuchs would have a chance

for eternal life, a legacy of future among God's people

in Jerusalem. Look at Isaiah fifty six, and let's look

at three to seven with me. Let not the foreigner

who's joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will

surely separate me from his people. Does God love foreigners?

Does God love people outside our church? Does God want

those people to be in a knowledge of truth? Yes?

Or no? And let not the eunuchs say, behold on

my dry tree, a dry tree, because you can't have children.

For Thus says the Lord to the eunuchs, who keep

my sabbas, who choose the things that please me, and

hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house,

within my walls, a monument and a name better than

sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name,

which shall not be cut off. Now, how can you

have an everlasting name if you can't have children. You

have asked that question. What's the answer. You have to

have eternal life. If your name is never cut off

and you're a eunuch, that means you got to live forever.

God is promising eunuchs the gift of eternal life. Look

at verse six and the foreigners who join themselves of

the Lord to minister to him, to love the name

of the Lord. That means the law of the Lord.

That's the way the Bible speaks of God's law, God's law,

God's name, same thing, and to be his servants. Everyone

who keeps the what does it say, Sabbath? Does God

want the Sabbath only for our church? Does he want

it for people in the earth foreigners? Yes, whoever keeps

the Sabbath and does not profane it. And notice that

keeping the Sabbath here is equated with holding fast my covenant.

Some people said, well, I don't need the Sabbath, Well

you don't need the Covenant. They say, I don't need

the Sabbath, Well, then you've set aside God's moral law.

Look at verse seven. These I will bring to my

holy mountain. I will make them sad and morose, and

the worship service, and just sick that they came to church.

Does it say that? Come on? What does it say?

I'll make them joyful in my house of prayer. They're

burnt offerings, and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar.

For my house shall be called a house of prayer

for all people's friends. Our God is not a racist,

he loves diversity. A knowledge of the seventh day Sabbath

was kept alive in Ethiopia long after Rome sought to

change the times in law that Daniel predicted would happen

in the Middle Ages, where the Sabbath will be attacked

and where the altering of the Sabbath of the Council

of Late to see it in the fourth century three

six three to three sixty four, when the bishops of

the Church met in that great Ecumenical Council, and they said,

we're so good, we're so smart. We're gonna change the

law of God so that the Sabbath is no longer Saturday,

it is Sunday. And then they pronounced a curse on

anybody that wouldn't go along with them. I tell you right,

I'd hate to be in the judgment day having a

council like that, where you're smarter than the Bible, smarter

than God who smoke its Sinai. That's the apostasy predicted

by the Boocadaniel. The Queen's name, Candace means queen. So

if very asked me, and I ask you, what does

Candace mean, what's the answer. Queen? She was called Queen Candace,

so in a real sense she was called Queen Queen

in her native language. Whenever you met Cannis would be

high Queen Queen. There was no missing who was in

charge in her kingdom of Ethiopia. The Opian eunuch was

in charge of the queen Queen's treasury. Out there in

the middle of the desert was a eunuch who controlled

enough resources to take the Christian faith to the world.

And in that god forsaken place there was a desert.

He was reading his Bible when Philip showed up to

show him who Jesus is. The scroll of Isaiah, the

prophet that talks about eunuchs, was open in another place

that talks about a Lamb who is a man. The

man in the chariot was enamored with that place in

his Bible that talked up with the lamb that makes

many to be righteous, that bears the iniquities of people.

He couldn't figure it out. Luke records that he was

in his chariot when Philip found him, and that he

had come to Jerusalem to worship. The man was a

true believer in God who did not yet know the

good news about Jesus. In Acts twenty nine we see

the purse of the Holy Spirit talking directly to Philip,

like Jesus would have done if he were there day.

Some people today say, how do we know the Holy

Spirit is a person? Well, you can tell by verse

twenty nine he is a person, as a real person.

The Holy Spirit spoke to Philip with the authority of

the Godhead in his divine person there present, just like

he would speak to you and me, or I would

talk to you verse twenty nine. And the Spirit said

to Philip, not an impression, go up and join this chariot. Now,

if you can put a sentence out like that, you're

a person. And Philip's day a chariot was the kind

of corvette anybody here like driving fast cars? Okay, a

lot of unhonest people here. When you buy a car,

I don't want to give this lowest car I can

that can barely go anywhere? Or do you want something

you can open it up and can hit that gas

it takes off like a rocket? How many want rocket cars?

Something like that? Okay, we know who the men are,

and some of the great women of the church too,

because it's not just manly. I'm having fun with you.

But you know, a Porsche this kind of thing. Now,

my brother had a Ford fair Lane when he was

in high school. You know what a Ford fair Lane is.

You remember, that's an old car and it was it

had had a I call it we caught a straight

shift or you know where you just manual transmission. And

he would get these retread tires. And when he left school,

he left a cloud of smoke by just going up

the hill. And he'd leave that cloud of smoke like

a chariot of fire going all the way up. Do

you know that God rides a hot rod? Did you

know that? To say no, If you don't, Daniel seven,

God's chariot thrown has wheels of fire and a river

of fire comes out from before him. When he moves,

it's hot and fast, and he came down to get Elijah.

He came down and swooped him up in his hot

rod chariot, which is the ark of the Covenant, the

heavenly throne. Now Philip's name in Greek means lover of horses,

and here was his chance at last to meet up

with those lovely horses that go fast with a chariot.

Bend her each your heart out. Philip was there and

the chariot with the Ethiopian eunuch, and those were good horses.

Acts eight thirty. So Philip ran to him and heard

him reading Isaiah the Prophet, and asked, do you understand

what you're reading? Verse thirty one? He said, how can

I unless someone comes to me, and he invited Philip

to come up and sit with him. The man who

rose up to go down now went up into the

chariot to talk with the eunuch. That must have been

a good sized chariot to hold them both there, for

the one to the read and the other to drive

the horses. Philip asked the question, do you understand what

you're reading? And the unich asked another question, how can

I unless someone guides me. Friends, there are people all

in our community, all around us, who are asking that question,

how can I understand the Bible? How can I know

how to be ready for the sun kind of Christ?

How can my family deal with this problem and that?

And do you realize that God sends you into their

lives so that you can help them. He sends you

so that you can speak hope and courage to them.

You can take your Bible and share some of the

stuff that helps you so you can help them. God

doesn't expect you to have all the answers in life,

but he does expect you to listen and to share,

and to listen to that man or woman that God

sends into your life who has answers, who can lift

you up and help you be a committed Christian. I

didn't learn the Bible on my own at first. I

was taught by godly people who took the time to

share the Sabbath with me, to share the Gospel with me,

to show me the Bible and its prophetic teachings. Friends,

there's no shame in saying I don't understand the Bible.

Please help me understand the Bible. I live for people

to ask me to help them understand the Bible. That

eunuch had one very good thing going for him. Guess

what it was. He was reading his Bible. Many a

soul will be saved because they opened their Bibles and

they read it in just the right place. Now, we

live in a day where people like to have all

kinds of programs that don't have anything to do with

the Bible. I'm in an emotional support group that helps

me to deal with grief. That's good. But he opened

the Bible to help you deal with grief. Right, Well,

we have a young adult youth event. This is not

our church. I'm talking about it, and we're going to

just talk about our feelings. Shouldn't we open the Bible

and talk about how God feels and grow in God's words.

This book is really the source of strength in our lives.

Acts eight thirty two. Now, the passage of the scripture

which he was reading was this, as a sheep led

to the slaughter or a lamb before its cheer, as

is dumb. So he opened out his mouth and his

humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation?

For his life was taken up from the earth now

the word renowned the world renowned German psychiatrist Karl Jung,

who I think is one of the most intelligent men

of the last three hundred years. He wrote, unhealed souls

often crucify the very ones who tried to save them.

How you like that? Unhealed souls often crucify the very

ones who try to save them. Jesus' death was the

ultimate injustice in the history of the universe, proving correct

Jung's point. The hands that hung the worlds in space

were nailed to the cross of Calvary. The king of

the universe was crowned with a crown of thorns. The

man who is the tree of life was hung on

a tree with a thief on each side. Is the

king of the Jews. It was written by Pilate in Hebrew,

Greek and Latin. Because it is also true for the

whole world. Jesus is the king. We all crucified. The

King Jesus had the right to rule in the throne

of the universe, but he stepped down to come and

die for us for our sins, so we can be

with the King. Christ became the human lamb, mocked, ridiculed, attacked.

Most of the people who worked with him in his

ministry turned on him at the end of his life.

At the end, only a few hovered around the cross,

and they fled from fear. John and his mother alone,

and he had to take his mother away, so that

Jesus died alone in the darkness of the cross, with

everyone at a distance. But in that grave injustice, God's

justice was man manifested. That justifies the sinner. And that's

why Isaiah said, so shall my righteous one make many

to be a kund of righteous, for he shall bear

their iniquities. Friends, if you want to get to heaven

about Jesus, you're not getting there. If you want to

get to heaven the right way, Christ is God's righteousness,

Acts eight thirty four, and the Eunuch said to Philip,

about whom pray, does this prophet say this about himself

or about someone else? According to the Jewish rabbis, in

the Talmud and in the Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah,

the rabbis taught that Isaiah was cut in two by

the evil king Manassah. Hebrews eleven thirty seven seems to

affirm this tradition, so it was natural for the Ethiopian

eunuch to ask this question. Philip had perfect clarity on

who the gospel is about. Even though Isaiah died a

horrible life, it wasn't about Isaiah. The death, the burial,

and the resurrection of Jesus. Friends, is the gospel of

God that saves us because Jesus is the Gospel Acts

eight thirty five. Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning

with the scripture, he told him the good news of

and how does it read in the Bible of Jesus.

The good news were gospel. The gospel is not some

theory about some final generation. The gospel is not some

theory about how you can make a point and prove

something to God. Friends, The gospel is Jesus. Philip had

two processes in two steps in sharing his faith. Two

step process here. Step number one he opened the scriptures

that was his bible, specifically Isaiah. Where do we get

the gospel from from the bible? Number two? Step number

two he told he told the eunuch about the good

news of Jesus. He didn't focus on the good news

about his church, not the good news about how good

a preacher he was or not or deacon. Not the

good news about how he might or might not be.

Not the good news about some philosopher king theologian type,

or a philosopher expert who's smarter than the Bible. He

shared the good news about Jesus. That is the gospel,

and friends, that's what God calls on us to do,

to share Jesus with people. That Christ died for us,

that he was buried, that he was raised for our acceptance.

And we are nowhere without Jesus, but Jesus we are

in the bosom of the Father accepted Romans one one

and two. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, a slave

of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle set apart

for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through

his prophets. Where what does it say in the come

on in the Holy Scriptures Verse three? The gospel concerning

his son Jesus is the gospel. Friends, We sometimes have

to let our fancy theories go to fall on our

knees and embrace God's word that is simple and profoundly true.

The Bible is the mighty book that points to Jesus

and Acts twenty one eight to nine Paul with his

companions stayed at the home of Philip the evangelist in cesarea.

Both Philip and Paul were in the soul winning business

to save people for eternal life. The Bible and Jesus,

and that was the prophetic truths of the Bible that

point to Jesus, not just general truths. They were masters

of their Bible to point to Christ. I'm going to

move to the new King James version here because my

translation emits verse thirty seven for textual reasons that aren't

good enough reasons. Acts eight, thirty six and thirty seven

will include it. Now, as they went down the road,

they came to some water, and the eunuch said, see

here is water. What hinders me from being baptized? Then

Philip said, if you believe you see modern critics, based

on textual criticisms say the first thirty seven shouldn't be

there because it's not in the older manuscripts. The reason

it's not in the older manuscripts is because anti Trinitarian

scribes after Constantine removed texts that would point to Jesus deity.

It wasn't until Constantious the first that there was a

correction of this and those verses found their way back

into manuscripts streams. This is why one John five to

seven belongs in your Bible. It's quoted in the third century.

There are three that bear wesness in heaven, the Father,

the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one.

It's not in the older texts because it was removed

in the fourth century by posts by Constantine's officials led

by two eusebiuses, which finally ended in irreversal after the

death of his son Constantious the first and then they

researched it and pulled those verses back. So God has

given us the Bible for the last days. And I

studied textual criticism at the seminary, but I came to

understand that historical evidence matters in deciding what belongs or

doesn't belong in our Bible. And this verse belongs, and

so does first John five to seven. They belong in

our Bible, and you should. In new King James version

has them, the King James version does. The New American

standard has this verse here, even though I think it

emits verse John five to seven, or may have it

down below. But these are verses that belong in our Bible.

So here's what Philip said. Philip said, if you believe

with all your heart, you may And he answered and said,

I believe that Jesus Christ is what the son of God.

And for the Jews, that meant he was God, not

a son of God, the son of God. When a

man or woman comes to understand who Jesus is, that

Jesus was God, that God was in Christ, as Paul says,

reconciling the world unto himself. That Christ, as God humbled himself,

as it says in Philippians too, he emptied himself even

though he held the attributes of deity. Paul says, he

relinquished the power to become a human being, and as

a human being with God locked up inside that human nature.

Jesus died for our sins, and we don't have to

prove that to God. We need to accept what God

has done for us. If people are moved in their

heart to give their life to Jesus without reservation, then

they can be baptized. As soon as that eunuch was

taught the scriptures with Jesus, he knew he was ready

to be baptized. No one had to say, oh, would

you please be baptized, or manipulate him into the tank.

He was a converted man Acts eight thirty eight. So

he commanded the cherry to stand still. They were moving along.

I mean, this whole thing occurred with Philip sharing the

scriptures as they were moving. So he was talking to

him as he was running those horses through the desert.

Philip was sharing the gospels. The chariot was moving along,

but he came to stop. Philip didn't stop the chariot.

The Ethiopian eunuch did. He wrote in the chariot sharing

Jesus on the way, and Philip and the eunuch went

down into the water, and Philip baptized him. He baptized him.

The Greek word baptized means to go down, to dip down,

and then to come up. Sprinkling won't work for baptism.

Now I have baptized people who cannot get to a

body of water, and the Lord impressed me how to

do it. It's not by sprinkling. You took a towel, or

you take a blanket or something, and you put that

over them, so they go down to the water. You

take it up, so they come out of the water

and people on their deathbed have been baptized that way.

It's still the idea. You are baptized, you go down,

and you come up. And so sometimes we've had to

be creative to make sure a person didn't die without

the assurance of Christ and Michael. That's how your dad

was baptized. It was worth every minute of it, as

the toss was the ancient Philistine city of Ashdod actually

ahead of myself here. Bible baptism teaches the gospel truth

that Jesus died for our sins. Why don't we go

down in Bible baptism because Jesus went down in death,

he was buried. Why was Jesus buried to remove our

sins from us? Why did Jesus come up in resurrection

in the Bible? Write this down your Bible Romans four

twenty five. He was raised for our justification, which means

our acceptance. So he died for our sins First Corinthians fifteen.

Of first importance. He was buried. That means he took

our sins away, and then he was raised for our

justification and acceptance. That is the Apostolic God gospel. That

is Jesus. What Christ has done for us. The gospel

isn't what we do for Jesus. It's not even what

Jesus does in us. That's not the gospel. That's the

fruit of the gospel. The gospel is what he has

done and who he is. Jesus is the good news.

In the next verse, we have an amazing action on

the part of the Holy Spirit for his servant Philip.

Philip's time and Philip as a person was precious to God.

He might die on that desert road and never share

the word of God again if he left that chariot.

In God's plan, Philip needed to get out of that

chariot and move on to save others quickly. Look at

verse thirty nine. Now, when they came up out of

the water, the spirit of the Lord caught Philip away,

so that the eunuchs saw him no more, and he

went on his way rejoicing. Have you ever read anything

like that in your Bible before? Well, Ezekiel was caught

by the lock of his hair, but we're not sure

it was in vision or what Elijah. The Bible indicates

be caught up, but we don't. We don't have an

example of that other than when he was caught up

and taken to heaven. But it mentions that he would

move from place to place the Spirit would move him.

But here we see it. He's in the water. Does

he ever get out of the water. No, he's caught

up in the In the Greek words, he was dragged

by the Holy Spirit. So probably took him by the

head and say it's time to go. It's a good

thing you have long hair. And just like a rocket

or an intercontinental ballistic missile that comes out of the water.

Or he was caught up metaphorically to where he was

de materialized like Star Trek used to do. Beat me up, Scottie,

and then he comes back. We don't know. But the

Holy Spirit teleported him to a different place Verse forty.

But when Philip was found at Azotos and passing through,

he preached in all the cities till he came to cessarea.

Isotos was the ancient Philistine city of Ashdod. In ancient times,

it was a stronghold of Satan and evil angels. God

sends Philip to the fun places. Friend. The Holy Spirit

is in the conquering business. There is no Satanic realm

off limits to Christian evangelists. Who will be angels or

messengers for God to share Jesus Christ. From Ozaitos, Philip

moved on preaching the Gospel to all the cities till

Philip reached Cesarea, where he settled down with his four

lovely daughters. Now why did he settle down in Cesarea.

It was a coastal city right in the trade route,

so he didn't have to go to people anymore. They

were coming every day from Egypt and from the north,

back and forth through that major city. He could evangelize

for the rest of his life. When he got tired

and worn out, he found the rights place to live

so he could evangelized with his four prophet daughters. Cesarea

became the missionary base for Philip the evangelist for saving souls,

with the help of his daughters, who were also profits.

Every church should be a missionary center for saving souls.

Look records that Philip met the apostle Paul right there

in Cesarea, where he stated his home. No doubt. Paul

shared with no excuse me, no doubt. Philip shared with

Paul how much he shared the Gospel with that man

in the middle of the desert. How just using the

Bible and pointing to Jesus that the Ethiopian eunuch who

was the treasurer of the Queen Queen Candace, the Queen

Queen of Ethiopia, gave his life to Jesus and was baptized. Friends,

the Bible was hot that day on the desert road

to Gaza, wasn't it. Take your bible out? Now, pull

your bible out, come on, got one with you? Yeah?

How many you give you cell phones for your Bible?

You got your cell phones. H got your cell phones.

If you don't have your bible, take yourself, phon, hold

him up. Imagine a hot, flaming torch in your bible

your hand. The Bible is hot. It was hot that day.

It was active. The Holy Spirit was steaming up through it,

and it helped that eunuch with Philip's help, to see Jesus.

Can God use you and your Bible do the same

thing in other people's lives? I think? I think so.

So let's make a decision here today. How many of

you want to personally be empowered to share Jesus Christ

with other people in your life? Raise your hand I

in that group. God will take your decision. You don't

have to be experts in the Bible. But you can

start sharing and you can come to me John Angels

and the Glen others who have been bad. Sometimes people

who have been baptized become the best teachers. You know

why they don't believe they can't do it? Now, Anita,

when were you baptized? What year was this? November fourth,

twenty twenty three? And you taught Sabbath school class today?

How many of you are blessed by that? And she

has learned the Blue Stone? Now, I believe you did

the bluestone study back there. John used to do it

for years in that room, and you did it today.

Any one of us here can grow in the Word

of God and share it. Even if you get tracks,

just single Bible verse tracks where you can share a

single idea. Gregory, you have a presentation on the blue Stone.

You've developed with two tables of sapphire like stone, which

are made of an acrylic material to mimic the originals

on Mount Sinai and one of these Sabbaths. We're gonna

let you present that to the church here. But I've

seen those beautiful tables of stone. You find your own way.

God will work with you, but Philip as a deacon,

proved that deacons and others are really called to be evangelists. Friend.

The Bible's hot that day on the desert road to God,

and it is still hot on the desert road of

life today for those who are willing to go up, down,

up and away when the Holy Spirit uses them to

save a dear person for the Kingdom of God. Dear

Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus, who is the Gospel.

And Father, may we never be arrogant as believers to

think that we are the Gospel. Jesus is the Gospel.

And there may be someone here just has never accepted

you as savior, or maybe someone who needs to reaffirm

it because they got it wrong, or someone who's slipped away.

Just right now, raise your hand to Heaven, say I

need the Gospel right now, renewed in my life. Raise

your hand to God. I'm closing my eyes. God sees you,

Dear Father, hold these dear people to you, Save us

in the Gospel in Jesus' name. Amen.