GUEST PREACHER: BISHOP CHARLIE MASTERS

May the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight,

O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

Well, dear friends, it's a joy and an honor to be back at Church of the Messiah.

And it's always a great joy to have the privilege of opening God's Word,

which is what I would like to do at this time.

The focus of this sermon will be Acts 8, 26-40,

which was the first scripture reading which was read.

This morning.

I know that you in your sermon times have been making your way through the Gospel of Luke.

I'm a big fan of Luke.

He's a good guy.

And I love the Gospel of Luke.

And I love the second edition of Luke, which is the Acts of the Apostles.

The first is what Jesus began to say and to teach and to do,

which he puts in an orderly fashion, which he made sure.

Luke 1, verse 4, he makes it clear the accuracy and the faithfulness of what he conveys to this guy, Theophilus.

Luke 1:4

But in the Acts of the Apostles, he continues the story.

And in the first chapter, there is the account of those 40-day period between the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension.

Soon we'll be celebrating the ascension of Jesus.

And we are in this period of time right now.

And one of the things which is very clear about the resurrection of Jesus in that period

is that Jesus pounded away with his followers on what we know as the Great Commission.

So, for instance, you have in all four Gospels a very distinct but consistent account of what we call the Great Commission.

Matthew 28, 19-20.

Mark 16, 15.

Luke 24, 45-48.

John 20, 21.

And then Acts 1, 8 is the account of Jesus in a conversation with the apostles

in which they're asking the question,

when are you going to come back?

When are you going to set up your kingdom?

And he, interestingly, kind of deflects the question and says this.

He said to them,

Verse 7,

And it's not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

But here's what we're heading for.

Acts 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,

and you will be my witness.

Witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

Now, of course, Pentecost is the time when we realize that in fulfillment of the promise of old,

and here in Acts 1, 8,

when Jesus, the Holy Spirit was poured out on all the followers,

that 120 in the upper room.

And why was the Holy Spirit given?

Primarily, it was equipped them to be witnesses to Jesus.

Now, the question is,

what form did that take?

How was it possible for the witnesses of this cluster of 120 people

to begin to take the world for Christ?

How did it work from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

to the uttermost parts of the earth?

Well, you might expect that there would have been the best minds coming together,

coming up with a well-reasoned strategy

in which there are a five-year plan, a 10-year plan,

a 15-year plan,

in which they would have training

and all sorts of things to make sure

that the witness is going out in an orderly fashion

to do exactly what it is that Jesus said.

Well, I'm sorry to say that, in fact,

that's not the picture that Luke gives in the Acts of the Apostles.

Apostles.

It's actually, from our viewpoint, pretty haphazard.

But from the viewpoint of the Holy Spirit,

the trajectory is clear.

Now, what is interesting from my viewpoint,

in terms of this today,

is that, in fact,

more often than not,

things were going badly.

More often than not,

there were afflictions, difficulties,

persecutions,

imprisonments,

all the bad things

that you would think would be a hindrance

to this witness going forward.

Acts 3.

Here they are in Jerusalem.

Peter and John went to pray.

A man is healed,

and there's a great furor.

He was walking and leaping and praising God.

And then Peter,

filled with the Holy Spirit,

unlike before when he denied Jesus,

now he proclaimed,

this is all about Jesus.

Witness to Jesus.

This is all about Jesus.

You know, the Jesus whom you crucified,

but God raised from the dead.

And so, there was a great turning,

it says, by Acts 4,

in terms of the Gospel.

And by Acts 4, verse 4,

Acts 4:4

there were 5,000 men,

which means there were more likely

around 10,000 people who were believers.

Look at the trajectory from Acts 1, 15, 120,

Acts 2, 23, 3,000,

Acts 4, verse 4, 10,000.

Acts 4:4

It's incredible.

But so far, all in Jerusalem.

Now what is interesting is that there was a rest,

they were given a hard time,

did Peter, was he cowed by all this?

Not at all.

In fact, he reminded them,

this is all about Jesus whom you crucified,

that God raised from the dead.

As a matter of fact,

there is no other name under heaven

by which men may be saved.

So they didn't know what to do with them.

They kicked them out,

gave them a stern warning

not to ever talk about Jesus.

And did they say,

phew, we got, you know,

we made it.

Let's keep our head down.

This witnessing thing

is getting us in big trouble.

Instead of that,

it says in Acts 4, 29,

And now, Lord,

they prayed,

look upon their threats,

and grant to your servants

to continue to speak your word

with all boldness.

Interestingly,

they didn't pray so much

for their protection.

I'm sure they were calling out

for God's protection.

But they were confident

in the sovereign purposes of God

that that was not the critical issue.

The real issue

was whether they would be bold

in their witness

in fulfillment of Acts 1, 8.

And so what they prayed

was that even in the midst

of setbacks

and threats

and difficulties,

Lord,

make us bold.

Acts 5,

there's kind of the amusing situation

by verse 17

where the leaders

are jealous

of what's going on,

so they arrest them again.

They throw them in prison,

but an angel opens the door,

and instead of them

scuttling home

and keeping their head down

so that this will never happen again,

the angel says,

go into the temple courts

and preach.

So that's what they did.

And there's this,

in my view,

amusing picture

of this great Sanhedrin court

waiting for these folk

who are in such big trouble

to be dragged in before them,

and they waited for them

to be dragged in,

and those who were the authority

went to get them,

and there was nobody in prison.

They ended up going to the courts,

and they found them there,

and then they brought them in.

But by then,

the damage was being done.

Finally,

they beat these men,

though there was nothing wrong

other than them naming

the name of Jesus.

And when they were released,

verse 41 and 42 of Acts 5 says,

then they left the presence

of the council rejoicing,

and they were counted worthy

to suffer dishonor for the name.

And every day in the temple,

and from house to house,

they did not cease teaching

and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Power to be witnesses,

Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria.

So far, we're still in Jerusalem,

but this is bold witnessing

in the midst of many setbacks.

Acts 6 gives the account of conflict

within the fellowship.

The Hellenist widows

are not being looked after

as well as the Jerusalem widows,

and so as a result of that,

there's a problem.

The apostles make the conclusion

they're to turn their attention

to prayer and to preaching,

and therefore they assign seven

who were Hellenists,

who were filled with the Holy Spirit

and wisdom,

who had gifts of administration

to take over.

Two of them, you know,

they're named Stephen and Philip.

And Stephen, by the end of Acts 7,

is martyred,

this mighty man of God,

simply for witnessing.

Bold witness can get you to trouble,

but the gospel goes forward.

And so it is in Acts 8, verse 1,

Acts 8:1

and this is all by way of background

to getting to Acts 28, verse 26,

Acts 28:26

so I hope you're staying with me.

What we're trying to think about

is the sovereign purposes of God.

When you want to be a bold witness for Jesus,

you're on a path with those

that we're reading about

in the Acts of the Apostles.

You're in good company,

and you are in line

with the mighty arm of God at work.

What you don't have

is a guarantee

that there will never be difficulties

in your life.

You don't have that promise.

So it is that Acts 8, verse 1 says,

Acts 8:1

And Saul approved of his execution,

that's Stephen's,

and there arose on that day

a great persecution

against the church in Jerusalem.

That was a dark day.

And they were all scattered

throughout the regions

of Judea and Samaria.

Does this sound familiar?

Judea, Samaria,

to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Judea and Samaria,

except the apostles.

Devout men buried Stephen

and made great lamentation over him.

But Saul,

this is Saul of Tarsus,

was ravaging the church

and entering house after house.

He dragged off men and women

and committed them to prison.

Now those who were scattered,

verse 4 of Acts 8,

went about preaching the word.

Instead of furtively running

from bush to bush,

making sure that nobody's following them,

instead of that,

these guys, yes,

they're leaving Jerusalem

because that was the wise thing to do.

The apostles made it clear

that that's what they should do.

But as they're going,

they're gossiping the gospel.

And now they're in Samaria.

And the crowds,

with one accord,

paid attention

to what was being said by Philip

when they heard him

and saw the signs that he did.

For unclean spirits,

crying out with a loud voice,

came out of many who had them.

And many who were paralyzed

or lame were healed.

So there was much joy in that city.

You may or may not know

that one of the churches in Annick,

the Annick Network in Canada,

named its name based on this verse.

It's Celebration Church in Barrie, Ontario.

And they are praying,

and when they had what they called

their hard launch,

looking out over the lake

in this great, you know,

medium-sized city north of Toronto,

with all the pastors around them.

They commissioned Brian McVitie,

who is our Annick priest,

and they prayed

that there would be joy in the city

because of the gospel being received.

They were praying for bold witness,

and that's what we pray.

Well, there was a great turning in Samaria,

and this is so exciting.

Do you remember the Good Samaritan?

Do you remember what happened in 77,

22 BC, and so on?

The North Kingdom and the South Kingdom.

Largely, the North Kingdom was lost

and dark and in trouble

as you follow the trail of the Old Testament.

So for now,

for little old Philip,

the administrator guy

who had a gift

by the Holy Spirit also preaching,

who makes his way fleeing

from the authorities in Jerusalem

and speaks about Christ,

isn't it exciting

that in the purposes of God,

the gospel came to Samaria,

and there was a great turning,

and there was joy in the city.

Do you remember in Genesis 50,

when Joseph was with his brothers

after their father had died,

and his brothers,

who had tried to kill Joseph before,

sell him to slavery,

they were now worried,

and they said,

tell, you know,

you should know that our father said,

be nice to us.

That's my paraphrase.

That's not actually what it says

exactly in the scriptures.

You look up Genesis 50.

But Joseph was very clear.

He was gracious,

but he was clear,

and he said,

as for you, brothers,

you meant evil against me,

but God meant it for good,

to preserve many people alive.

See, that's the amazing thing

of the sovereign God we serve.

He has many means

of bringing about his purposes.

He can even use the sin of man

as the means of bringing about his purposes.

Exhibit A, the cross.

Satan and all mankind

thought they were dealing with

the Son of God,

the one good man,

the sinless one.

Get rid of him,

and he'll be gone.

And so they nailed him to a cross.

They got their way.

But what they didn't know

was that, in fact,

that's the means

through which salvation comes

to the whole world.

This is the God whom we serve.

And this is the God that Philip served.

And this is the God that you serve.

And so it is

that they were in Samaria

on this great turning,

but by verse 26,

amazingly,

Philip is yanked

out of the revival of Samaria

to go to one man

in the desert.

Is that not crazy?

This is the Lord we serve.

He worries about the individual,

and he sees through the one

nations being raised.

So it is

that it says in verse 26,

Now an angel of the Lord

said to Philip,

Rise and go toward the south

to the road that goes

from Jerusalem to Gaza.

This is a desert place.

And he rose and went.

I'm amazed at this guy.

I would have thought,

bad decision,

maybe sometime,

but right now

I'm kind of busy

with the revival,

you know,

and so there's a lot of things

going on here, Lord.

Lord,

that might have been

the lines of my prayer.

And maybe Philip

prayed that prayer too.

But at the end of the day,

he heard the angel of the Lord.

And what that is,

the angel of the Lord,

as opposed to verse 29,

which is the spirit of the Lord,

I'm not sure.

I think it's the same.

It's God speaking to him

by a means which he knew

it was God.

So what we're thinking about,

friends,

is what does

the witnessing

of the Holy Spirit

as in Acts 1-8

look like

in a person?

When you see

bold witnessing

personified,

what are some of the qualities

or characteristics?

That's what we're looking at

when we look at Acts 26-40.

We're seeing a man

who is a bold witness.

Number one,

now the angel of the Lord

said to Philip,

rise and go.

And verse 27,

he rose and went.

Verse 29,

and the spirit of the Lord

said to Philip,

go over and join this chariot.

So Philip ran to him.

Remember,

we're in the desert.

It's hot out there.

What we see here

is a man

who's a witness,

which means he's in contact

with the living God

and he's learned to obey.

If you want to be

a bold witness,

you need to

be connected

to the vine

and then allow

the message

of the Holy Spirit

to come to you.

You're listening carefully

and you've learned

to bend your will

even though

all your instincts

say,

bad idea.

That person's not

going to want to hear

from me.

They're going to laugh

me out of the room,

etc.

And yet,

the Spirit of God

says,

go over there,

talk to that person.

They need to hear

about Jesus.

Philip,

number one,

was in contact

with God

and learned to obey.

Secondly,

he was a servant.

That's the posture

of the Christian.

For even the Son of Man

came not to be served,

but to serve

and to give his life

as a ransom for many.

When we're connected

to Jesus the vine,

we find ourselves

automatically

in that relationship

to everything around us

and everyone around us.

We're here only

as a servant,

as he is the servant

of the world.

And so it is

that Philip was available

and enthusiastic.

And so it is,

he ran up.

And what did he do?

He said,

he listened,

says,

so Philip ran up to him

and heard him reading

Isaiah the prophet

and asked,

do you understand

what you're reading?

And he said,

how can I

unless someone guides me?

This is a servant.

It wasn't,

I just happened

to have a talk,

Ethiopian eunuch,

which I'd like to drop

on you at this time

because I've gone

to all this trouble

to come into the desert

and you're going to listen.

He was listening

to what the Spirit of God

was obviously doing

and he was making

himself available.

To be a bold witness

is to be a servant

who's enthusiastically

available to the people

that God leads you to.

Thirdly,

he knew the word.

It says,

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 scripture

that he was reading

was this,

like a shepherd

he was led to the slaughter

and like a lamb

before its shears

is silent

so he opens

not his mouth.

In his humiliation

justice was denied him.

Who can describe

that his generation

for his life

is taken away

from the earth?

And maybe

we would think,

gulp,

where in the world

is that?

Yikes,

we're in trouble now Lord.

I don't know where that is.

It seems pretty obscure

to me.

Because the eunuch

went on,

verse 34,

and said,

about whom I ask you

does the prophet

say this?

About himself

or about someone else?

Philip didn't miss a beat

because he knew

the word of God.

He knew the word of God.

Of course it was Isaiah 53.

There's no more

important passage

in understanding

the cross of Christ.

What it was for him

to be the shepherd,

to be the victim,

the sheep that was slain,

the lamb of God.

What it was for the father

righteously

to judge sin

who is the propitiation

for sin.

And then to be satisfied

satisfied

that in fact

it's enough.

All of that

is in Isaiah 53.

So clearly

the spirit of God

was at work here.

But what I want you

to know

is that to be

a bold witness

requires of you

to live in the Bible.

It's interesting

that Paul said

to his young

protege Timothy

in verse 15

of 2 Timothy 3

he says,

start verse 14,

but as for you

continue in what

you have learned

and have firmly believed

knowing from whom

you've learned it

and how from childhood

you have been acquainted

with the sacred writings

the Bible

which are able

to make you

wise for salvation

through faith

in Christ Jesus.

It's the spirit

who gives life

the flesh profits

nothing Jesus said.

The words that I have

spoken to you

are spirit

and life.

For people to come

to saving knowledge

of Jesus

there has to be

a work

of the word

of God

in their lives.

And if you're

to be a witness

that's effective

you have to be

involved in the Bible

so that you can

be used

with the scriptures

to open them up

to the would-be person.

I have a theory

which is not

original to me

but I like it.

Whoever thought of it

I think it's a good idea

that when Philip

approached this

Ethiopian

great court official

but a eunuch

who was a God-fearer

but would have been

excluded from the

inner court of the temple

because he was a eunuch

he I think

would have been thinking

also about Isaiah 56

about a promise

that says this

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 am a dry tree

for thus says the Lord

to the eunuchs

who keep my Sabbath

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

this is exciting stuff

you see

in a very real way

Philip had before him

not only an Ethiopian

so the whole world

is before him

but a person

who by rights

was in every way

disqualified

and yet in the gospel

there was everything

there for him

he knew the word

fourthly

and this is the biggie

are you ready

drum roll please

then Philip

opened his mouth

and beginning

with this scripture

he told him

the good news

about Jesus

dear friends

Philip

nailed it

because

he taught him

about Jesus

there would have been

so many things

he could have digressed

and talked about

there could have been

so many things

that he might have found

as sort of preliminary

to it

but what is consistent

about the witness

that you find

in the book of Acts

is that whether it be

Peter

or anyone else

that in fact

they get to Jesus

quickly

and directly

and unabashedly

see

Philip understood

the truth

that there's only

one name

by which a person

could be saved

he understood

the truth

that God loved

the world

so much

that he gave

his son

that whoever

believes in him

should not perish

for God

did not send

the son

into the world

to judge

the world

but that the world

might be saved

through him

and then verse 18

says this

whoever believes

in him

is not condemned

but whoever

does not believe

is condemned already

it's that simple

it's reduced

to one thing

what have you done

with Jesus

and so if he cares

in any way

for this man

he's going to

teach him

the good news

about Jesus

if you're a bold

witness

and I remember

it was actually

I was in a group

where there was

a new person

who was hired

in our diocese

in a time before

to be the evangelism

person for the diocese

and there was a

two hour

presentation

where Jesus' name

was never mentioned

even once

well that's

unthinkable

how can you speak

about the good news

and communicating

the good news

if it's not

all about

Jesus

because he's

the only thing

that saves

Philip got it

right

Jesus said

I am the way

the truth

and the life

no one comes

to father

but by me

John said

he who has

the son

has life

he who has

not the son

of God

has not life

so it is

when

when they

it says

so

as

as they

were going

along

the road

they came

to some

water

and the eunuch

said

see here's

water

what prevents

me from being

baptized

and he

commanded him

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

recently

just

the

the

predecessor

to the present

bishop of the

arctic

his name

was Bishop

Andrew

the story

of his

conversion

is an

extraordinary

one

I heard

him

give it

once

and

he was

as a young

man of about

20

because he

spoke English

was used

as a translator

for Marnie

Patterson

Marnie Patterson

was preaching

and he would

say a phrase

and Bishop

Andrew

then just

Andrew

would say

a phrase

and so on

this was the

second night

and Marnie

was doing

his thing

and Andrew

was doing

his thing

and then

suddenly Marnie

said a phrase

and nothing

happened

he said the

phrase again

and nothing

happened

and they

looked over

and there

was the

prayer desk

where people

would come

to pray

and receive

and there

was Andrew

kneeling

at the

prayer desk

and what

Andrew

said was

that he

suddenly

realized

this message

was for

him

and though

it was

embarrassing

he was

afraid

if he

didn't go

there

right now

he might

never feel

this way

again

and he

was not

prepared

to risk

salvation

even

although

it was

tremendously

humbling

to break

up a

pretty good

sermon

by kneeling

there

and so

Marnie

went over

and actually

Andrew's

wife

Mary

they were

a young

couple

she slipped

in beside

him

and the

two received

the Lord

then they

came back

and Andrew

continued in

his translation

dear friends

this is

what's

exciting

about this

story

is that in

fact the

man understood

now is the

time

now is the

day of

salvation

and Philip

understood that

as well

he didn't

defer

didn't hold

him up

he knew

the spirit

of God

had brought

new life

and they

sealed the

deal by

baptism

that day

in the

water

in the

desert

I made

a commitment

to the

Lord

early on

when I

became a

bishop

knowing that

I would be

doing lots

of traveling

and lots

of preaching

in different

situations

which is to

take the

opportunity

though I

would know

that the

vast majority

of people

that were

before me

and maybe

all in

some cases

already know

the Savior

of whom

I speak

to always

give an

invitation

to acknowledge

the fact

that it's

possible to

have the

grace of

God dangling

before you

and to

leave it

there

Paul said

in 2nd

Corinthians 6

don't

receive the

God

allow the

grace to

be of

God to

be in

vain

behold now

is the

acceptable

time

now is

the day

of salvation

and so

dear friends

I throw

out the

invitation

once again

here at

Church of

the Messiah

as I

did

at the

early

service

as well

but I

also want

to say

to you

who do

know

the

Lord

have

you

heard

the

call

that

the

reason

you've

been

given

the

Holy

Spirit

is

to

equip

you

to

be

a

witness

do

you

understand

that

you've

been

given

a

tongue

a

tongue

to

bring

glory

to

God

and

to

witness

to

the

saving

power

of

Jesus

are

you

in

active

contact

with him

and

obedience

have you

learned to be a servant

in the environment

and the people around you

are you involved in the word of God

so that it can be used even through you

to bring people to

the wisdom that leads to salvation

and when you have opportunity

do you go to the goods

do you preach Jesus

anything less than that

is to miss the mark

would you stand

and let's pray

Lord Jesus Christ

I thank you for this

wonderful church

family

and I thank you for

everything you're doing here

and through this

congregation

I pray that

no one

that you bring

within the circle

of influence

of this church

would miss out

that no one

would receive

the grace of God

in vain

but would

appropriate it

by repentance

and faith

and even today

Lord

if there's anyone here

who needs to respond

would you hear our prayer

Lord Jesus

I know I'm a sinner

I repent of my sin

would you come

into my life

right now

I want to be yours

forever

and would you begin

the process

of change

and then one day

I look forward

to being with you

and to be changed

to be like Jesus

and Lord

for this company

of mighty men

and women

boys and girls

who know you

would you enable us

to be bold witnesses

to this needy dark world

that you love so much

hear my Lord

send me

Amen