Acts 8:26-40

Turn, if you will, to Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

If you've got a Black Church Bible, it's on page 917.

!

It can be noisy, can't it?

And so, I want to speak just for a couple of minutes to parents and to all of us.

We believe that the Bible teaches that children should be part of corporate worship.

They belong.

We want them to be with us, seeing mum and dad, seeing uncles and aunts, seeing others, growing up, worshipping and learning, seeing that for our children, this is for them.

They belong as much as we do.

The children of the people of God in the New Testament, they're addressed.

It's just assumed that they would be there.

And so, we love having children with us.

It's one of the great joys, isn't it, to see a generation of kids grow up into young people and adulthood still following the Lord.

And we're also aware that for children to be part of public worship, that takes training, to learn, to sit and to listen.

And so, we want to say that we have great sympathy with the parents of little ones.

We know it's not easy.

As Ruben said earlier, there is a supervised crash for babies.

And there is a room in the church lounge has the service beamed into it.

And so, if your child is getting a little bit scratchy and a little bit too noisy, please feel totally free to take them out into that room.

We recognise that a number of you are training your children.

And we want to really encourage you in that.

And we know that it's easy.

Well, we know it's easy to be frustrated with noise.

And we want to bear with one another in this.

It demands, doesn't it, us as a church family, a high degree of patience.

And so, let me give you a couple of tips to the congregation.

Turning around and glaring is probably not a good thing.

Tutting under your breath isn't particularly helpful.

Above all, pray for our parents.

Pray for our children.

Love our children.

We've got to bear with one another on this, haven't we?

And so, if you want to understand a little bit more of our approach to children in this church,

there's a book on the bookstall written by Jason Halepoulis, Let the Children Worship.

It's really, really terrific.

It's helpful for parents, but helpful for all of us.

Let's pray for each other.

Let's pray for our children.

Our Father, we thank you for the great blessing and privilege of corporate worship.

There are brothers and sisters in parts of the world that are forbidden from meeting together.

There are people, our brothers and sisters, who meet in fear of their lives today.

And so, we are a privileged people.

And we thank you so much for our children.

We thank you for our little ones.

We thank you for the promises of the covenant for them,

that you will be our God and the God of our children.

We pray that our children will grow up knowing and enjoying their God,

following him, enjoying being with the people of God,

hearing your voice in worship.

And so, we pray that as your word is preached now,

by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would speak to us.

For we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

There are times out there when people open up their hearts to us.

We're talking with them.

And suddenly, they tell us something we didn't know before.

Or we knew it, but we didn't know how deeply.

And they felt it.

And they pour out their heart to us.

And we leave knowing that person a little bit more.

Having greater affection for them.

And we understand what makes them tick.

We understand what they're about.

And Acts chapter 8 is a passage where the living God shows us his heart.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

He shows us what makes them tick.

He shows us what he's about.

He shows us his heart for people like you and people like me.

And you'll know that the plot line of Acts unfolds from Acts chapter 1 and verse 8.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

And the risen Lord Jesus says to his apostles,

you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And you will be my witnesses.

And here's the stages in Jerusalem and Judea.

And then in Samaria.

And then to the ends of all the earth.

And that is the story of Acts.

Do you see the picture?

The Father has sent the Son.

And the Son is now sending his apostles.

He's sending them out in the power of the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses.

In Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And the Jerusalem crowds, they hear this.

And thousands of them become Christians.

And then we saw the next stage of the gospel going to Samaria.

The good news of the Lord Jesus.

Chapter 8 verse 1.

Can you see it?

There arose on that day a great persecution.

Against the church in Jerusalem.

And they are scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.

And remember what happened.

You go further on in the chapter.

And those that were scattered.

Verse 8.

They go about preaching the word.

And crowds become Christians.

And verse 8.

What's the result?

Much joy in that city.

Do you see what's happening?

The living God is reaching out to the world.

Jerusalem.

Judea.

Samaria.

Samaria.

The ends of the earth.

And you might think, well that's very impressive.

But it's a little bit impersonal.

Don't you want to know a little bit about the people?

Who were they?

What happened to them?

How did meeting Jesus change them?

It's a really thrilling thing, isn't it?

To hear how people became Christians.

I hope you do that over the lunch table.

I hope when you meet someone new.

And over the lunch table.

You say, why don't you do it maybe after Judea?

How did you come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

For many of us it'll be, well I can never remember a time when I didn't know and love the Lord Jesus.

But for many others it's not like that, isn't it?

And there are some amazing stories in this room.

Thrilling stories of how people have come to know the Lord Jesus.

And it turns out that these people that we meet in Acts are a little bit, well, are a lot like you and me.

I'm going to break the section into three scenes.

The first is a divine appointment.

A divine appointment.

Look at verse 25.

Can you look at that?

Now when they testified and spoke in the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem.

Back to HQ.

Preaching the gospel to many villages in Samaria.

Peter and John, they go back to Jerusalem via Samaria.

That's where the action is.

Where the crowds are being converted.

But verse 26, look what happens.

An angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise.

And go towards the south to the town that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

And you need to know that angels are very rare in the Bible.

And usually when angels appear, they appear to signify that this is a key moment.

An angel appears to say, hang on a minute, something significant is going to happen.

It's a signal to everyone that you need to pay attention.

Everyone is going back to where the crowds were.

Back to Jerusalem.

But God wants Philip to do something he would never have thought of by himself doing.

He's told to go south.

To go into the desert.

Why?

It doesn't sound very strategic, does it?

People are always talking about strategic church planting.

Well, Philip doesn't seem to buy into that.

Who is in the desert?

Verse 27.

He rose and he went.

There was an Ethiopian there.

A eunuch.

A court official of Candace.

Queen of the Ethiopians.

He was in charge of all her treasure.

He'd come to Jerusalem to worship.

Ancient Ethiopia is that part of Africa that we now know as Sudan.

And the Romans said that it was the ends of the earth.

What did Jesus say?

Jesus said, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.

And so the living God sends Philip to go after this man.

Of course he does.

We're told he was a eunuch.

He's unable to have children.

He's unmarried.

And in the ancient world what often happened is that people who were in high government,

those who were in high government had important roles.

Because their servants were often castrated for various reasons.

This guy we read, he's been put in charge of the treasury.

The treasury of the Ethiopian queen.

Actually the queen mother.

And we see, don't we, that this guy is really different to Philip.

Philip is an ordinary Jew.

Here is a high-ranking African who is very different.

But in verse 29 the Holy Spirit says to Philip, go over and join this chariot.

You can imagine, can't you, Philip looking at this guy saying, are you sure you want me to do that?

It seems very unlikely that a man from the ends of the earth, this high-ranking African,

would be interested in the Lord God of Israel.

But here is the thing.

There is a good chance that this man from the ends of the earth, this high-ranking African sitting in this chariot,

well, it's very unlikely, isn't it, that he would be, that God would be interested in him, we might think.

Look what's happened so far.

He's been to Jerusalem.

It would have been a very, very long journey, wouldn't it, from Sudan.

It's about 4,000 kilometers.

Can you look in verse 27, he's gone to Jerusalem.

Why?

What's the reason?

To worship.

We don't know what led him to worship in Jerusalem.

And we don't know what he'd shared of the God of Israel, the God of the Jews that had drawn him.

But most commentators agree that his journey to worship at the Temple of Jerusalem would have left him feeling very disappointed.

This Ethiopian eunuch would have come away from Jerusalem feeling marginalized.

If you went to the temple in Jerusalem and you were not a Jew, you had to stay in the outer courts of the temple.

You weren't allowed into the temple.

If you were a non-Jew, you were allowed into the outer courts.

But this man is not only a non-Jew, he's not only a Gentile, he's a eunuch.

Which meant he was not allowed to gather in the assembly of God's people.

He'd gone all that way, 4,000 kilometers, in a chariot, pulled by oxen, to not be allowed to gather with the assembled people of God.

He'd gone all that way, hungry to worship God.

And what had happened? He'd been shut out.

How do you think that would have made him feel?

But amazingly, he is not put off.

Verse 28, he's on his way home.

He's sitting in his chariot, reading the book of Isaiah the prophet.

Which had been written about 700 years before Jesus.

What that means is he's taken the trouble to go to waterstones.

He's taken the trouble to go to a physical bookshop.

He managed to find one.

Back in those days, there were real, proper bookshops.

He bought a scroll of the Bible for himself.

It's an expensive thing to buy.

There's something in him that wants to know more of this God.

He'd heard about it.

And so he might be sitting there thinking,

Of course, this God, he's not very interested in me.

But he starts reading the Bible.

He starts with Genesis.

And that means that the God of the Bible is the God who made the world.

Not just the God of the Jews.

You get to the book of Psalms.

All nations would worship him.

There was a psalm, actually.

We don't know whether the Ethiopian read it.

But it says,

The Cushites, those who are from Ethiopia,

One day they would worship the Lord God.

The heart of God, the God of the Bible, is a heart for all nations.

And of course, he sees Philip.

Into the desert.

He sends Philip into the desert to go after this Egyptian.

And maybe, just maybe this morning,

You have come to church, come to this church,

And you get how the Ethiopian feels.

And maybe you're curious about God.

And you wish that you had some kind of relationship with him

That other people seem to have.

You look at other people in this church,

And maybe you're a little bit wistful

About the relationship with God that they seem to have.

But perhaps,

Perhaps,

Maybe people have made you feel unwelcome.

They've made you feel unwelcome because you're different.

Maybe you look different.

Maybe you sound different.

Maybe you feel different.

Maybe you dress differently.

And it's left you thinking,

That this is just not for me.

It's not for people like me.

Do you see God's heart?

This is the God who sends Philip after Ethiopian eunuchs.

And so if you're here today,

And you're not someone that would call themselves a Christian,

It may just be that there's someone who's come into your life.

Who is a Christian?

And there's something about them that is drawing them to you.

Or it may be this morning that you are a believer in the Lord Jesus.

You are a follower of the Lord Jesus.

And as you think about your week ahead,

You think about people who you interact with,

And you think that you just happen to work with a load of people.

Or you think you happen to live on the same street as a load of people.

But what if God has sent you to them?

Because they're on his heart.

Because he wants to reach out to them.

Have you thought of that?

Maybe you're here this morning and thinking,

Where do I fit in with God's plan?

Maybe you're thinking,

Where am I supposed to go?

Who am I to speak to?

God never sends me an angel.

Angels are very rare.

We are not promised angels, are we?

But we see God's heart.

We see that God wants his people to go after people who feel shut out.

And so maybe it's someone in your class.

In your school.

Maybe it's the guy in the shop.

Maybe it's someone at work you share a desk with.

And you say,

Well she is so different to me.

And you just assume that she's not interested in God.

She's not that kind of person.

But do you see what God is doing in Acts chapter 8?

Acts 8 · chapter mention

What if God has begun to work in their heart,

and given them a hunger to know him?

What if he's sent you to reach them?

And so through Acts chapter 8,

Acts 8 · chapter mention

is he speaking to us this morning?

He is saying to you and I,

that I am in control.

God is in control by his spirit.

And I am at work sending Philip.

And by my spirit,

I am at work in the Ethiopian preparing him.

It's not an accident.

It's not a coincidence.

I've brought these two together.

And so what that means for us,

in 2025 in Ealing,

he's saying,

wherever you are,

whoever you are,

you are not there by accident.

And you are not here this morning by accident.

God is the great missionary God.

Can you see God's heart?

And so as we think about the week ahead as a church,

that person who sits at your desk,

they're not someone that you just share a desk with.

This is someone that the Lord wants you to reach out to.

And maybe that is why you're there in that workplace,

in that place,

sharing a desk with them.

That's why you're on that school run with those mums.

Do you see how this changes everything?

It changes Monday morning, doesn't it?

That God is reaching out to the world,

and he does that through his people.

That's why we gathered last week as a church,

to pray,

for what the Lord is doing.

Because it's not about our plans.

We would have gone back, wouldn't we,

to Jerusalem where the crowds were?

No, Lord, we pray,

reach out to the world,

and would you use us?

Send us to the people

you want your gospel to go to.

I have a friend who's always got stories

about people they've talked to

about the Lord Jesus.

They're just one of those people.

They're really, really ordinary,

but they always seem to naturally

talk about the Lord Jesus to people.

I'm terribly envious of them.

Takes me all my courage.

I'm stammering tongue.

But they seem to be able to talk

about the Lord Jesus naturally.

And I asked my friend,

how is it that you seem to have so many stories?

And they said to me this,

they start every day with a prayer,

Lord, use me to reach out to someone today.

Lord, use me to reach out to someone today.

It's a great prayer, isn't it?

Lord, use me to reach out to someone today.

A divine appointment.

Secondly, an open Bible.

An open Bible.

Can you see that?

Verse 28.

The Ethiopian is reading away.

And in those days,

you would read out loud.

And Philip runs up to the chariot,

which isn't quite as impressive

as you might think.

And the chariot is kind of pulled by oxen,

so it wouldn't be going very quick.

The oxen's trundling along,

but he runs up to the side of the chariot

and he says, remarkably,

do you understand what you're reading?

That is quite bold, isn't it?

I just imagine tomorrow,

I'm cycling along the Exbridge Road

and a car pulls up at the traffic lights.

And in the back is Sadiq Khan,

London's mayor,

and he's reading something.

Would I be bold enough

to tap on his car window

and say,

do you understand what you're reading?

I'd probably want to say

a couple of other things as well.

But it is bold, isn't it, to say that?

Do you understand what you're reading?

Ethiopian says an amazing thing.

Do you see that verse 31?

How can I?

How can I understand

unless someone explains it to me?

And so he invites Philip

to come up and sit with him in the chariot

and explain it.

Sometimes Christians can say

something like this,

Christianity,

the Christian faith,

is caught, not taught.

And there is something in that.

But Christianity is not just

a pattern of living

for someone to copy.

There is something

that needs to be explained.

There is someone

who needs to be explained.

The Ethiopian,

he doesn't get what he's reading.

So he invites Philip up

and we read in verse 32,

the eunuch is reading

this passage of scripture.

You'll be familiar with it,

those of you are regulars.

He was led like a sheep

to the slaughter.

And as a lamb

before his shearers

is silent,

so he did not

open his mouth.

In his humiliation,

justice was denied him.

Who can describe

his generation?

for his life is taken away

from the earth.

We don't know

why it's this particular

section of Isaiah

that the Ethiopian eunuch

was reading.

But I wonder

if he might have come across

Isaiah chapter 56.

Isaiah 56 · chapter mention

Will you come with me

to Isaiah 56?

Isaiah chapter 53.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

And I want you to listen

to what Isaiah chapter 56 says.

Isaiah 56 · chapter mention

It says in verse 3,

Isaiah chapter 56

Isaiah 56 · chapter mention

in verse 3.

It says this,

it says,

Let not the foreigner

who has joined himself

to the Lord say,

The Lord will surely

separate me from his people.

And let not

the eunuch say,

Behold, I'm a dry tree.

For thus says the Lord

to the eunuchs

who keep my Sabbaths,

who choose the things

that please me

and hold fast to my covenant,

I will give in my house

and within my walls

a monument

and a name

better than sons

and daughters.

I will give them

an everlasting name.

They shall not be cut off.

And I suspect

that if the Ethiopian eunuch

read Isaiah 56,

his heart would have

burst with joy.

Because here is a man

who for his whole life

has been shut out.

And he's gone to worship

God at the temple

and he's been shut out.

But here is a promise.

Here is a promise

that one day

people like him

are going to be

welcomed in.

And here is a promise

that people like him

are going to be given

something better

than sons and daughters.

Can you imagine

that promise for a eunuch?

And you're thinking

when?

But how?

And he flicks back

and he comes across

this person

who we've read about

in these verses

that are quoted

in Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

This person

who was humiliated,

who was deprived

of justice

and this person

who you see

in the middle

of verse 33,

who can speak

of his descendants?

What's going to become

of his generation?

And these people

who've been eunuch

is thinking

this is someone

like me.

I've been humiliated.

I've been made

to stand outside

and this is someone

like me.

Someone with no descendants

and he wants to know more.

Who is this?

Who is it

that the prophet

is talking about?

And verse 34

the eunuch says

ask,

well who is this person?

Is this the prophet?

Is he speaking

about himself?

Or is this someone else?

And so Philip explains

verse 35

Philip opened his mouth

and began

with this scripture

and told him

the good news

about the Lord Jesus.

Who is this?

Who is this

that the prophet

is speaking about?

This is Jesus.

This is the Jesus

that the apostles

have been preaching.

Who's been raised

from the dead.

Who is Lord of Lords.

this is the Son of God

who is ascended

and sits on the throne

of heaven.

The throne of the universe.

And you think this morning

what possible relevance

could the Lord of Lords

have for me

in my life?

And it turns out

doesn't it

that the very things

I've been through

are the very things

he's been through.

All those things

in my life

that I think

nobody gets

it turns out

he does.

Because he's been there.

If you've

if you come across

somebody who has

been through

what you've been through

your heart is

automatically drawn

to them isn't it?

Aren't you drawn

to them?

Tell me more.

Why did he die?

Why was he led

like a lamb

to the slaughter?

What happened?

You say it's good news.

It doesn't sound

like very good news.

Do you see why

it needs explaining?

And I imagine

Philip would have

explained the Old Testament

system of sacrifices.

That God had given

his people.

He would have explained

how our sin

our rebellion

means that we

cannot live

with God.

And we think

well that just

goes to show

how mean God is.

But no it goes

to show how good

God is.

So good that

in his presence

there is no sin.

There's no lying.

There's no lust.

There's no bullying.

There's no abuse.

There's no promise

breaking.

There's no war.

Isn't that good?

A God who will not

have sin

in his presence.

That is good.

It is good but it's

also sobering

because when we

really understand that

he will not have

people who lie

or bully

or abuse

in his presence.

He will not have us.

But he loves us.

And he wants us

to be with him.

So in his mercy

he provides a system

of sacrifices

and at the heart

of that sacrifice

the sin of the people

is transferred

to a lamb.

A lamb that dies.

And by his death

the lamb

the death of the lamb

takes away the sin

of the people.

And Isaiah is saying

all that system

of sacrifice

is pointing forward

to somebody

who would be

the lamb of God

who would take away

the sin of the world.

And in his death

the sins of his people

would be dealt with.

the Lord Jesus

he was cut off.

Why?

So that you might

come in.

And that you might

come in

not to a temple

in Jerusalem.

The temple stood

for the presence

of God.

The point was

to show the people

that they were

shut out of the temple.

It was to show them

that they were not only

just shut out of a building

but they were shut out

from the presence of God.

And one day God says

there will be

a lamb who will come

who will take away

your sin

so that you can

enter into God's presence.

We who were far away

can come near to him.

And again and again

and again

the Lord Jesus

has said of himself

I am the one

that they pointed to.

He was the one

who just came to

cut off

so that you might

come in.

And you might say today

is God really interested

in me?

Do you see his heart?

This is the God

who says

eunuchs

and bullies

and liars

and addicts

in Jesus

I have stepped

into your world

I have stood

in your shoes

for all you have done

and all that has been

done to you

I have suffered

I have been humiliated

for it.

I've died for it

I was cut off

so that you might

come in.

In Jesus

I became a eunuch

so eunuchs

could be welcomed in

and given something

better than sons

and daughters.

Eunuchs could come home

could come and live

with me forever

that is

the good news

that our God

wants the world

to hear.

and can I say

if you're sitting

here this morning

and you like

the Ethiopian

you are baffled

as to why

Jesus died

on the cross

can I ask you

plead with you

ask someone

to explain it to you

ask someone

to open up

the Bible

with you

and if you

don't know

who to ask

come and ask me

there's nothing

we'd love to do

more than explain

the good news

to you

but maybe

you're not

the Ethiopian

you get this

but you've forgotten it

and you think

about your life

and you think

about how things

have not been

so great recently

and you're wondering

this morning

is God really

interested in someone

like you?

You're wondering

are you really

welcome

to come into

his presence

and you keep

thinking

or you fall

back into thinking

if I'm good enough

then he'll welcome me

and that is not

the good news

that is not

the good news

because

when am I ever

good enough?

The good news

is not because

we make the grade

none of us

make the grade

we are all

eunuchs

he welcomes me

because of the

Lord Jesus

and so this morning

don't look at

your life

don't think

about what

you think

of yourself

don't think

about what

others

think of you

fix your eyes

on the Lamb

of God

fix your eyes

on the Lord

Jesus

and if you're

thinking about

the person

that you share

a desk with

well we must

live our lives

in a way

that adorns

the gospel

that shows

the difference

that Jesus

has made

but it does

lead explaining

doesn't it?

The Father

wants people

to get his

son

to get

what he's

done

and so pray

for the Holy

Spirit

the help

of the Holy

Spirit

to help you

to speak

of him

and why

he died

and of

why his

death

is good

news

and pray

for that

opportunity

that is

his heart

for you

a divine

appointment

an open

Bible

and then

lastly

a changed

life

do you see

the Ethiopian's

response

verse 36

verse 36

and as they

were going

along

they came

to a road

they were

going along

the road

they came

to some

water

and the eunuch

said

see

here's water

it's the middle

of a desert

what prevents

me from

being

baptised

there's a

danger

isn't there

in saying

that we

need to

explain

the good

news

and the

danger

to that

is

that

the gospel

becomes

something

that we

kind of

tick a

box

to

you know

the terms

and conditions

it sounds

like Christianity

becomes

assenting

to certain

truths

you've

prayed

this

prayer

hey presto

you're a

Christian

you've

ticked

this

box

you've

affirmed

that you

agree

with it

please

sign

here

but can

you see

the Ethiopian

he's a

changed

man

the Ethiopian

says

is there

anything

to stop

me

being

baptised

it's

not

is there

a

form

it's

is there

anything

to stop

me

being

baptised

what we've

seen in

acts

already

is that

the way

to respond

to the

good news

is to

get

baptised

we read

in verse 38

that he

gave instructions

to stop

the chariot

and Philip

and the

eunuch

get down

into the

water

and Philip

baptised

him

it is

pretty

amazing

there is

water

in the

desert

and we

do not

know how

much

water

there was

and we

do not

know how

deep

it was

the point

is this

baptism

is a

visible

sign

of the

washing

away

of sins

and the

baptism

of the

spirit

and identifying

and joining

the people

of God

it starts

by explaining

Jesus

but it

doesn't

end

there

becoming

a

Christian

is not

just

understanding

about

Jesus

it's

starting

a new

life

with the

Lord

Jesus

you could

sum it

up

the old

life was

living

for me

the new

life is

living

for him

and it

may be

that it's

at this

point that

we begin

to shrink

back

and we

think

well that

doesn't

sound like

really good

news

living for him

sounds like

actually it

would spoil

my life

it sounds

like it

would cut

across all

my plans

but can

you see

the end

of verse

39

when they

came out

of the

water

the spirit

suddenly

took Philip

away

and the

eunuch

didn't see

him again

but he

went on

his way

rejoicing

when the

angels

announced the

birth of

Jesus

do you

remember what

good news

of great

joy

for all

people

chapter 8

verse 8

what happened

when the

people of

Samaria

believed

there was

great

rejoicing

we live

in a

culture

don't we

where more

than anything

else people

want to be

happy

but happiness

is pretty

elusive

isn't it

we try and

buy it

we try and

buy our

way to

happiness

but we

never seem

to be able

to buy

quite enough

to make

us happy

we want

a relationship

to make

us happy

but most

relationships

are not

that simple

we think

if I

get fit

then I'll

be happy

and that's

far more

difficult

I'm finding

than

you saying

it

and we

think of

our whole

life lived

for Jesus

that cannot

be the way

to happiness

but the

living God

is reaching

out to us

this morning

with what

will make

us truly

happy

he gives

us himself

and so

you're

looking for

happiness

in all

kinds of

places

all that

you long

for

you will

only

truly

find

in him

do you

long to

be loved

do you

long to

be understood

do you

long to

be accepted

you will

only truly

find that

in the

Lord

Jesus

do you

long for

beauty

do you

long for

wisdom

do you

long for

truth

for justice

only

only

only

will you

find that

in Jesus

do you

long for

freedom

do you

long for

adventure

do you

long for

a sense

of purpose

in your

life

you will

only find

that

in him

you long

perhaps more

than anything

else

to feel

at home

at home

and it is

in him

that we

come home

do you

see the

Ethiopian

has been

on a

journey

he's

looking

for

something

and he

goes home

rejoicing

he says

I found

it

in fact

he says

I found

him

I found

what I'm

looking for

or rather

he would

say he

found me

and he

heads home

to the

ends of

the earth

and he

doesn't know

what the

future

may hold

for him

he doesn't

know

what will

happen

at work

he doesn't

know

whether his

health

will hold

out

he doesn't

know how

his friends

will react

but what he

knows

is this

he is not

cut off

he has

come in

he's come

into life

with the

living God

and he may

lose his job

and he may

get sick

and his

friends may

turn on him

but whatever

happens

God is with

him now

by his

spirit

which means

whatever

happens

he has

this joy

he has

what he

most longs

for and he

has what his

heart most

needs

the living

God

and he

goes home

rejoicing

and when he

gets home

do you think he

might reach out

to his

friends

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray