All are welcome

Father, thank you for your words. Thank you that you are the speaking God. You speak words of love and power.

Pray that you would speak to each one of us, to our hearts, words of welcome, words of grace.

Pray that Celeste reads your words and then as I try to say a few words, would we hear you speak to us?

Would we hear your voice? Would we hear what you say? Help me to be faithful.

And yeah, would you encourage us today and send us out with the great news of Jesus.

In his name we pray. Amen. Celeste.

Good morning. Scripture reading today comes from Acts chapter 8, verses 26 to 40.

Acts 8:26–40

If you don't have a copy of the Bible, I encourage you to grab a copy from the front and also at the back.

If you're using the church Bible, it's at page 862.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip,

Rise and go toward the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

This is a desert place.

And he rose and went.

And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians,

who was in charge of all her treasure.

He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot,

and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

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 are reading?

And he said,

How can I unless someone guides me?

And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this.

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,

and like a lamb before its shearer it's 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 the prophet say this?

About himself?

Or about someone else?

Then Philip opened his mouth.

And beginning with this scripture,

he told him the good news about Jesus.

And as they were going along the road,

they came to some water,

and the eunuch said,

See, here is water.

What prevents me from being baptized?

And he commanded the chariot to stop.

And they both went down into the water,

Philip and the eunuch,

and he baptized him.

And when 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 as he passed through,

he preached the gospel to all the towns

until he came to Caesarea.

This is the word of the Lord.

Great.

Thanks, Celeste, for reading.

Let's keep that passage open

as we'll look at Acts.

Acts, and some other passage later as well.

All right.

Now, Hong Kong, it's a wonderful city.

Many great places to go.

But one thing that I only found out

in the past few years,

because people took me there,

there's all these clubs, right?

All these places where not everyone can go.

You need to be a member,

pay a lot of money.

But then, yeah, you have this,

the Hong Kong club,

or the China club,

or the, what is it?

The golf club and the yacht club.

And, yeah, most people can't go in there,

because, yeah, it's only for members.

Only if they invite you,

which is kind of fun.

It's a nice place.

I sometimes think, of course,

clubs here are,

there's even more exclusive clubs

than in Hong Kong.

I try to have a look online.

What's the most exclusive club?

Probably the yacht club of Monaco.

Of course, you need to have a,

you know,

two people who are members

need to recommend you.

You need to write a handwritten letter.

You need to have an interview

with the Prince of Monaco, right?

Prince Albert II.

And he needs to see if,

you know,

you've made a recognized contribution

to yachting.

And if you want,

if you're a captain,

you need to have at least

five years experience

being a captain.

And then,

you can only go there

with a blue blazer

with the club logo

and those kind of things.

So I guess this is just funny, right?

Most of us don't really care about it

because it's not something we need.

But what if you,

there's something you need,

but you are not eligible?

I don't know.

You want to go to a certain country

to see family

or to see a friend

and you don't get a visa

because, you know,

you're, yeah,

someone like you can't get a visa.

That's really hard, right?

Or there are certain medical treatments

and you're not eligible for that

because of whatever reason.

You don't meet certain criteria.

Then it's a lot more difficult, right?

That it's not,

it's not for everyone.

Or even worse,

what if you couldn't get

to be with God?

I mean,

God is the one we need most, right?

We want to be able to pray.

We need help.

We need forgiveness.

We need all those things.

But what if you couldn't get in?

And certainly in the Old Testament,

that was often the case, right?

If you wanted to be

one of God's people,

well, you had to be Jewish.

The men had to be circumcised

and you had to be ritually clean.

So you had to keep all these rules.

You know,

those 10 commandments are easy,

but how about the 603 other ones

in the Bible, right?

That's quite a few.

The temple symbolized it so clearly, right?

You have this,

yeah,

this is what the temple looks like.

Of course,

if you were not Jewish,

you couldn't even go in.

But then you can see on the left

the court of women

because that is as far as women could go

and only the men could go further.

But then to go into the building,

you had to be a priest

and to go into the innermost place,

you had to be the high priest, right?

It's basically the deep truth there was,

it's very difficult to be with God,

with someone who is infinite

and perfect and holy.

How can you be with someone like that?

We can't just walk in.

We're not welcome.

But if you want to get in,

then it's tough

that you're not welcome, right?

I guess some of us really feel that.

We really know,

okay, yeah,

I want to be with God,

but how can I,

given who I am,

given how unworthy I am?

And yeah,

well,

that is why this passage

and indeed so much of this series

that we're doing in Acts

is such good news

for those who think

they're not welcome.

Now, yeah,

we're doing this series

in the book of Acts,

seeing how the gospel expands.

Yeah,

you may,

it's a,

well,

it looks like the human hero

is this guy called Philip,

who is,

yeah,

a deacon of the church.

He plays a key role.

Although you may wonder,

actually,

why is it called the book of Acts?

People call it the book of Acts.

It's short for the Acts of the Apostles,

right?

The things that the apostles did.

Although the first thing

that I notice here

that I think,

well,

what we see so clearly in Acts

is that it's really,

actually,

it's not about the people,

right?

So,

when we heard this story,

it is so much God's initiative,

again,

right?

It is God doing this.

All through this section,

God is sending visions

and he's sending angels

and he is,

the Holy Spirit

is giving explicit directions.

I think this passage

is pretty wild,

right?

I mean,

verse 26,

now an angel of the Lord

said to Philip,

rise and go towards the south

to the road

that goes down

from Jerusalem to Gaza.

This is a desert place,

right?

So,

here's just Philip

and he's doing evangelism

and then an angel shows up

and says,

okay,

go to that desert road

over there.

Go and stand

in the middle of nowhere.

Why would you do that?

Well,

of course,

there's a plan,

right?

Because then this guy

comes along

in his chariot

and again,

the Spirit,

okay,

the Spirit said to Philip,

verse 29,

go over

and join this chariot

and as you've heard,

yeah,

it's great,

right?

Because here's someone

who wants to know

about Jesus

and he explains the gospel

and he gets baptized.

Verse 39,

and when 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

and Philip found himself

as a resultist,

right?

You know,

the Spirit just teleports

Philip away

to his next kind

of gospel conversation.

I think this is pretty,

pretty wild.

I mean,

even for the book of Acts,

right?

Where sometimes

these things happen.

It's especially

in this section,

all these wild things happen.

I guess this is where

people are being pushed

out of their comfort zone

and so God needs

to do a lot of pushing,

right?

And so it's so clear

that this is God

being active.

God wants to,

the gospel to go somewhere

and so Philip

is being pushed,

right?

God is active.

Now,

does this happen today?

It could,

but I guess it's unlikely.

I mean,

I've never been teleported.

Anyone here has been

teleported by the Spirit?

No.

No,

I think,

I mean,

I wish this was true,

right?

It would make evangelism

so much easier.

Just an angel,

hey,

go and stand on that

street corner,

third person,

they will be wearing

a red jacket.

They want to know

about Jesus.

Tell them about Jesus.

Right?

I wish many of us

are shy.

It would be so much

easier if God

just would do that

for us.

Now,

of course,

that's not how it works.

That's not how we should

apply this passage,

but it does show

God's heart,

right?

God wants the gospel

to go out.

He wants to save people

and in some ways

some of these things

do happen.

I mean,

I remember one time,

you know,

we can take risks.

When I worked in London

for a church,

one time we were having

lunch as a staff team

and I kind of felt

convicted.

Why are we sitting

here inside

when people outside

need the gospel?

And so,

I decided to just

go out to take my

lunch and sit on a

bench and try to

strike a conversation.

So,

yeah,

I saw a guy

sitting alone on the

bench,

so I kind of just

sat next to him

and,

you know,

try to,

hey,

it's cold,

isn't it?

It was January.

That's what British

people do.

They talk about the

weather.

But,

you know what?

We started talking

and what is your job?

Oh,

yeah,

I work for that

church over there.

Oh,

wow,

that's interesting

because I really

want to know about

Christianity.

Last week I bought

this Bible.

Can you help me

read it?

Like,

wow,

nothing to do with

me,

but,

you know,

God just put me

in that place

and,

yeah,

you know,

let me encourage you

to speak up.

Let me encourage you

to invite.

I mean,

sometimes it will be

very ordinary.

Sometimes God

can do extraordinary

things,

but God is,

his heart is to

invite people,

right?

There's an alpha

course coming up,

as you may know,

you know,

trying to invite

someone.

Be surprised at

God being at work,

at God already

having taken the

initiative to

prepare people.

But,

that's wonderful,

but that's not just,

that's not the main

point,

right?

Because the person

that Philip is sent

to is not just

anyone.

It's a very special

person,

because this is

God's initiative,

but,

yeah,

to do what?

And I think what we

should see is to

welcome outsiders.

This guy is very

interesting.

Look at who this guy

is.

Verse 27.

And Philip rose

and went,

and there was an

Ethiopian,

a eunuch,

a court official

of Candace,

queen of the

Ethiopians,

who was in charge

of all her

treasure.

He had come to

Jerusalem to

worship and

was returning.

So,

I mean,

this guy must

have been pretty

important and

wealthy,

right?

If you are over

all the treasure

of the,

you know,

the royal family

of the queen

of Ethiopia,

I don't know,

was he a

minister of

finance or

something?

He was a

pretty important

official.

He was very

religious,

right?

He had come to

Jerusalem to

worship,

right?

So,

that's months

of travel all

the way from

Ethiopia to

Jerusalem.

And he was

reading a

scroll of the

prophet Isaiah.

Now,

back then,

not everyone

could read,

and certainly,

I don't know,

these days,

you know,

we can buy

these Bibles

pretty cheaply.

A handwritten

scroll of

Isaiah,

66 chapters,

that's expensive.

Right?

So,

this guy is

pretty wealthy,

but he can

buy a whole

scroll of Isaiah

just for his

own reading.

That's amazing.

My guess is he

was a Jewish

convert.

It says he

was a foreigner,

he was an

Ethiopian,

so certainly

ethnically not

Jewish.

But in

chapter 10,

we get kind

of Cornelius,

the first

Gentile,

and this

guy,

you know,

why not

this guy?

I guess because

he wasn't a

Gentile anymore.

He, you

know,

he had

converted,

he'd become

a Jew.

But the

main thing

that you

heard that

gets repeated

is that he

is a

eunuch,

right?

Five times

it says the

eunuch.

I mean,

surely Luke

could have said

the Ethiopian,

said,

and the

Ethiopian

rejoiced,

or the

official said

this.

Why does

he keep

saying the

eunuch?

I think

that's the

thing that

he wants

to draw

attention to.

And the

thing is,

eunuchs,

they,

yeah,

the Bible

says things

about eunuchs.

And one

clear thing

that it

says,

I mean,

maybe you

don't know,

maybe what

is a

eunuch?

Well,

here's a

verse from

the Bible.

It's a bit

graphic.

No one

whose testicles

are crushed

or whose

male organ

is cut

off shall

enter the

assembly of

the Lord.

This is the

Bible.

Yeah,

this is one

of the rules

in the law.

Yeah,

eunuchs are

not allowed

into the

assembly of

the Lord.

I don't

know exactly

the reason.

Maybe be

fruitful and

multiply,

increasing the

people of

God.

That was a

very key

command.

And someone

who couldn't

do that,

yeah,

obviously

something

wrong with

them.

Maybe they

were not

allowed in.

But this

guy,

yeah,

he traveled

all the way

to Jerusalem,

but this

means he

couldn't go

into the

temple,

right?

He had to

stay on

the outside.

He wasn't

allowed in.

Can you

imagine how

sad that

was?

Right?

After all

this travel,

yeah,

he could buy

a scroll of

Isaiah,

but for the

rest,

he couldn't

get into

the temple.

I'm not

sure if he

was born

a eunuch,

or maybe,

you know,

if he wanted

to work for

the queen,

yeah,

only Eunice

could do

that.

Had he

made a

big sacrifice

for his

career?

I don't

know.

But,

yeah,

he was

excluded

from the

people of

God.

He was

an outsider.

And,

you know,

he couldn't

do much

about it,

right?

Under

Jewish law,

many people

were like

that because

of their

nationality,

or the

jobs they

did,

or just

because they

were unclean,

because it's

so hard to

approach God,

right?

He is holy

and pure,

and we are

not.

And so

often we just

can't do

anything about

it.

I mean,

the eunuch,

he couldn't

really just

try harder,

right?

He couldn't

just,

I mean,

he really

tried,

and he

couldn't

change who

he was.

He couldn't

change,

a bit like

we're saying

just now,

if the leopard

who can't

change his

spots,

we can't.

but then

what happens

on the road

to Gaza?

That's

amazing,

right?

So he's

got his

new scroll,

he's reading

in his

chariot,

he doesn't

really understand

what he's

reading,

and then

suddenly he's

got this guy

running along

his chariot,

hey,

what are you

doing?

How are you?

And,

yeah,

do you know

what you're

reading?

No,

I've got no

clue.

Hey,

come and

sit next to

me.

So he

invites Philip

up,

and,

yeah,

he happens

to be

reading Isaiah

53,

and if you're

a Christian,

you probably

know,

ooh,

that's a

great passage,

about this

individual who

is silently

going to his

death like

a lamb to

the slaughter.

We will talk

about it more

in a moment,

completely unjustly

going to his

death.

Who is this

about?

asked the

eunuch.

Well,

Philip knows,

and so,

and Philip

opened his

mouth,

and beginning

with this

scripture,

he told him

the good

news about

Jesus.

Wonderful.

And guess

what?

The eunuch

gets it,

and they

come by

some water,

and he

asks a

very good

question,

verse 36.

See,

here is

water.

What

prevents

me from

being

baptized?

And

baptism,

the sign

of inclusion,

the sign

that you

are a

Christian,

the sign

that you're

part of

it.

What

prevents

me?

That's

the thing,

right?

In the

past,

something

prevented

him.

In the

past,

he

couldn't

go in.

But,

yeah,

nothing

prevents

him.

So,

Philip and

him,

they go

into the

water,

he dunks

him,

and he

is an

official

Christian.

Wonderful,

right?

He is now

part of it.

Such wonderful

news,

right?

After this

disappointing

temple visit,

he is now,

he is really

now part of

it.

And the

spirit takes

Philip away

to his

next

appointment,

the eunuch

goes away

rejoicing.

Here is

an outsider

who is

welcome.

And I

think that's

the big

point,

particularly

with the

Old Testament

background,

because,

you know,

if you know

the Bible,

if you know

Isaiah,

you know,

certainly if you

read Acts,

you notice a lot

of Isaiah.

It's like Luke's

favorite book.

It's quoted

all over the

place.

This prophet

who promises

this great

rescue,

a new

exodus.

But there's

a reason,

I think,

that Philip,

you know,

the spirit

sent Philip

to an

Ethiopian

eunuch

that we

get this

story.

Why don't

you come

to page

577,

Isaiah

Isaiah 56 · chapter mention

chapter 56

in the

church

Bibles,

or in

whatever

Bible,

Isaiah

Isaiah 56 · chapter mention

chapter 56,

yeah,

page 577

if you have

the church

Bibles.

And Isaiah

talks about

a great

rescue,

but who

is part of

that?

Who gets

to be

part of

that?

And then,

yeah,

it's a

wonderful

passage,

56 verse

3.

What is

God saying

to people?

Verse 3,

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,

right?

I can't

bear fruit.

For thus

says the

Lord,

to the

eunuchs

who keep

my

Sabbaths,

who choose

the things

that please

me,

and hold

fast my

covenant,

I will

give in

my house

and within

my walls

a monument

and a

name better

than sons

and daughters.

I will

give them

an everlasting

name that

shall not

be cut

off.

Right?

So here

were foreigners

and eunuchs

who used

to be

excluded,

but now

God says,

well,

this eunuch,

he will come

into my

house,

in my

walls,

and he's

got something

even better

than having

a family.

he's got

me,

he's got

this great

salvation,

right?

Same with

the foreigners,

foreigners,

they'll come

to my

holy mountain,

they'll pray,

right?

Verse 8

summarizes it,

right?

The Lord

God who

gathers the

outcasts of

Israel declares,

!

I will gather

yet others to

him,

besides they

was already

gathered.

God is

gathering

outcasts.

Because of

this great

rescue,

he is bringing

outcasts in,

and great

example,

foreigners and

eunuchs.

So what

better to

illustrate that?

Okay,

here's a

foreign eunuch,

right?

And the

Holy Spirit

brings him

in,

and we

have it

here in

the Bible

to really

see this

is happening,

right?

God is

fulfilling

what he

promised.

He's

bringing

outcasts

in.

If they

believe,

right?

People who

join themselves

to the

Lord,

they're

welcome.

How does

that speak

to us?

I guess

some of us

surely,

we were still

on the

outside,

right?

We

wouldn't

call

ourselves

a

Christian.

I think

the eunuch

asks the

question,

right?

What is

preventing

me?

What is

preventing

you?

Maybe

that you

don't

believe.

It's

maybe

that you

have

doubts,

that there's

things you

don't find

hard to

believe in

the Bible,

like the

teleporting,

I have

no idea.

But maybe

you wonder

if you

are welcome,

if you're

welcome,

maybe because

of what

you've

done,

maybe because

of who

you are,

maybe,

you know,

your background,

your nationality,

you have a

certain impression,

this is what a

Christian is like,

and you don't

need that.

Well,

look at this

passage,

look at this

Ethiopian eunuch.

Next time he

comes to

Jerusalem,

he won't go to

the temple,

he will go to

a church service,

and he can

come in,

he is welcome,

he is,

you know,

he would really

stand out,

right,

from Ethiopia,

and yet he

would be fully

part of it,

he is welcome,

nothing stands

in his way,

it's the same

for you,

whoever you

are,

if you're

still on the

outside,

you can come

in,

nothing stands

in your way,

I mean,

your lack of

faith,

that stands in

the way,

right,

you need to

believe,

right,

you need to

say yes to

Jesus,

but that's in a

way that's on

your side,

right,

from Jesus'

side,

there's nothing

that prevents

him from

welcoming you

in,

no matter what

you've done,

no matter who

you are,

no matter what

you think is

wrong with

you,

you can come

in,

so if that's

you,

let me encourage

you,

I guess as a

church,

how does this

apply to us?

I guess in some

places the church

can stand in a

way,

right,

maybe the

church gives

the impression

that,

you know,

the gospel is

only for a

certain kind

of people,

that's,

yeah,

you come to

Watermark and

I guess most

people,

they're ethnically

Chinese and

they're educated

professionals,

so maybe that's

who I need to

be if I want

to be a

Christian,

I guess it's a,

you know,

if all are

welcome,

that should be

seen ideally in

the church,

right,

last week the

Samaritans,

these dirty

half-breeds,

they were

welcome,

and now this

Ethiopian eunuch,

who,

I'm not sure if

they thought he,

what they would

think of him

before,

but he is

welcome,

so it would

be great if

Watermark,

yeah,

I think in

many ways we

are like this,

mission trip,

a lot of

different people,

all being,

you know,

serving together,

would be great if

we see that here

as well,

we have a,

you know,

a growing number

of people from,

especially the

Philippines,

that's wonderful,

would be wonderful

if we,

yeah,

if we're a real

community,

where people know

that,

hey,

whoever you are,

you're welcome,

and not just on

Sundays,

maybe in our

community groups,

I know that's

not always

practically easy,

maybe you have a

young mom and a

young professional,

and they're never

free at the same

time,

it's hard to be in

a group together,

some people can

afford to live on

the island,

and other demographics

can't,

and that makes CG

sometimes difficult,

but hey,

can we do as much

as we can,

that to show that

all are welcome,

that the gospel's for

everyone,

and therefore church

is for everyone,

although you may

wonder,

but how can God

do that,

I mean it's

wonderful that

outcasts are

welcomed in,

given they were

excluded,

but I don't know,

maybe you have

ever been to a

club,

and someone

invited you,

and you're early,

and you kind of,

can I come in,

what is the reason

I can come in,

you're always afraid

that you're being

found out,

I mean one thing

that's really hanging

over these chapters

is the temple,

if you were here

two weeks ago,

I started preaching

on that,

and I said that,

yeah,

God doesn't need

a temple,

but again,

how can God

do that,

right,

the temple

had sacrifices

for sin,

the temple

had forgiveness,

sin is the

big problem,

right,

ultimately all

these things

about people

not being allowed

in,

is about sin,

but does God

ignore that now,

well Luke

wants us to see,

hey,

this is why

everyone is welcome,

and it is through

Jesus'

sacrifice,

sacrifice,

so I guess

you're still

in Isaiah

Isaiah 56 · chapter mention

chapter 56,

let's go to the

chapter that the

eunuch was reading,

just on page 574,

a little bit back,

Isaiah 53,

a very famous

chapter,

I mean the eunuch

was reading about

the sheep going

to the slaughter,

I don't know what

you think of a sheep

going to the slaughter,

maybe you think of

lamb steak,

I think of lamb steak,

if you were in the

Old Testament,

you would think of

sacrifices,

sacrifices,

the big thing is,

we need a sacrifice

for sin,

and this song

that Oscar preached

on two years ago,

it's full of allusions

to sacrifice,

already,

you know,

it's framed,

it's like a

chiasm,

at the beginning

and the end,

I mean what will

this servant do,

well 52 verse 15,

just before chapter 53,

it says he will

sprinkle many nations,

if you look for

sprinkling in your

Bible,

that's all over

Leviticus and

Numbers,

sacrifices for sin,

at the end,

53 verse 10,

when it was the

will of the Lord

to crush him,

he's put into grief,

when his soul

makes an offering

for guilt,

guilt offerings,

again,

Leviticus and

Numbers,

I mean what is

a sacrifice,

I don't know what

we think of sacrifice,

we're thinking of

giving up something

costly,

in some ways

that's true,

well you had an

animal,

an animal that

was innocent,

an animal that

was blameless,

no defects,

that would be a

substitute,

the priest would

take this animal

and he would do

something with that

animal,

he would take hold

of its head

and confess all

the sins

over that animal,

and he would

basically,

he would lay the

sins on that

animal,

that's what God

was doing

through this

priest,

he was putting

the sins

on that animal

and basically

the sins

are no longer

on you,

they're now

on that animal

and what will

happen to it,

well it gets

slaughtered

and its blood

gets poured out

and its body

gets burned,

it's pretty gruesome

and that's kind

of what our sin

deserves,

right,

if we,

what is sin,

well it's all

our law breaking

as we talked

about,

our offenses,

our living

our own way,

all those things,

they deserve

judgment,

they deserve

death,

but this animal

would take that

in our place,

it would be so

cleared,

our sins are put

on this animal,

the animal gets

killed and so

the sin is taken

care of,

the judgment's

taken care of,

it's wonderful

grace,

of course with

these animals it

was not very

effective,

every sin a new

sacrifice and of

course is an animal

really a very good

substitute,

now the real

substitute would

come one day,

God promised,

he promised,

you know Isaiah

has this,

this servant,

this spirit

anointed king

who is a servant

of the Lord

and he would

take,

this is what

would happen

to him,

right,

what would

happen in

verse 6,

53 verse 6,

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,

same as with

a sacrifice,

all our iniquity,

all our sin

laid on

this king

and what

would have,

and then what

happened,

verse 5,

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

and you hear

the interplay

between him

and us,

he and

we,

we deserve

punishment but

he got

punished in

our place

for our

transgressions,

and that is

the beauty

of this

chapter and

yeah,

Luke,

you know,

Acts doesn't

mention the

cross very

much but

it's there

in the

background,

right,

and this

is why

people are

welcome because

all our sin

is paid for

because the

ultimate sacrifice

for sin has

taken place,

so we don't

need a temple

anymore,

it's all

done and

that is why

you get

great chapters

including this

chapter 56

with a eunuch

being welcomed,

a foreigner

being welcomed

because in

through the

cross,

yeah,

everyone is

welcome,

that's the

wonderful truth,

right,

and this is

what you need

to know,

again,

so think of

yourselves,

you're in that

club,

isn't it good

to know,

okay,

my name is

on the guest

list,

someone has

put my name

on the guest

list,

someone has

done something

so I could

get in,

or someone

has paid for

a ticket for

me so I can

get in,

so I don't

feel like an

imposter when

I'm waiting

for at the

American club

or something,

right,

that's the

idea,

and many of

us as

Christians,

okay,

yeah,

we are

Christians,

but maybe

you still

have doubts,

right,

I know God

welcomes me,

I know I

can pray,

and yet you

often feel like,

what am I doing

really here,

right,

how can I be

sure that God

will welcome me,

well,

why would he

welcome someone

like me,

well,

that's why you

need to look

at the cross,

right,

the cross

says your

sin is paid

for,

you are

welcome,

you know,

even though

there's so

many reasons

you shouldn't

be welcome,

right,

so many

things you've

done,

so many

things you

are,

and you've

got nothing

to offer

to God,

and you don't

belong to

God,

but it

doesn't

matter,

Jesus took

care of

it all,

he's put

you there,

he's included

you,

he's welcomed

you,

and that is

so wonderful,

right,

it doesn't

give you peace,

I don't know,

you know,

maybe you've

had this

week off

tomorrow,

you're going

to go to

work,

you're going

to go to

your normal

week,

and maybe

something terrible

will happen,

you know,

something will

go wrong,

that's your

fault,

or someone

else's,

isn't this

great that

God,

that God

is there

for you,