From Strong Faith To Stained Glass - Pt. 10 | Rev. Terry K. Anderson

I want to preach the last of our series of messages from strong faith to stained glass.

The fulfillment of Jesus' promise in Acts chapter 1 and verse 8 is beginning to have a ripple effect

Acts 1 · chapter mention

in a series of concentric circles moving outward from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

and the uttermost parts of the earth. The context is foundational to understanding the

story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. For people in that time as well as in this time thought

of Ethiopia as the uttermost parts of the earth. And they also thought of people like the Ethiopian

eunuch as unacceptable from the standpoint of nationality, race, and his denial of entry into

the temple for worship because he was forbidden according to the Jewish law and Deuteronomy

concerning male castration. Philip in our text is not the apostle Philip but one of the seven

deacons chosen in Acts chapter 6 who might well wonder why should he be taken away from

Acts 6 · chapter mention

successful work in a populous city like Samaria and dispatched to the lonely deserted road from

Jerusalem to Gaza. But the Spirit said arise and go and he arose and went because we walk by

faith and not by sight and the command to arise and go can be translated from the Greek be going

which is the durative present imperative verb meaning the action will take some time so keep

going till I tell you the style. The Holy Ghost sent Philip the deacon the deacon turned evangelist

to a full-blooded Gentile, a eunuch, a courtier who led who had been down to being led to Israel's

God and was studying Israel's major prophet Isaiah as he rode in his own chariot. The

unnamed Ethiopian eunuch is the first Gentile converted to the Christian faith and it is the

evangelist Philip, Philip the deacon who is distinguished as the man who brought the gospel

to Africa. The Ethiopia of New Testament times was different from modern-day Ethiopia. It was the

city of Nubia, the Old Testament city Kush, the kingdom south of Egypt in which dark skinned

people lived. The Ethiopian eunuch brothers and sisters was a black man. Since Ethiopians in that

time were considered to be the king was considered to be beneath himself to handle daily administrations

the Ethiopians considered it unlawful or illegal or even beneath his character for the king to

involve himself in daily operations. So the queen became the de facto ruler of Ethiopia. Candice

was not the queen's name. Candice was a title like Pharaoh or Sultan or Tsar or President. This

woman was the de facto ruler of black Ethiopia and this Ethiopian eunuch was her treasure. He was

over all of the money in Ethiopia. When Luke adds that the eunuch had come to Jerusalem to worship,

he informs us that he was a Gentile proselyte at the gate who because of his mutilation,

because of his being castrated was was barred from entering the inner temple courts. The sincerity

and the devotion of this proselyte are evident when we note that he undertook a journey of over

200 miles that was difficult at best and was not without danger in order to visit Jerusalem and

the temple that he was not even allowed to go in. Let me run that by you one more time. He feared

God. He was reading the Word of God on the way to worship God in a temple that would not let

him in. Not only because he was castrated, but they would not let him in because of the color of

his skin. Much has changed in our world, but still much remains the same. You saw those people in

Tennessee the other day, those legislators who protested in the well of the legislature against

gun violence, three of them in all, two black men and one white woman, all of them Democrats,

all of them participated in the demonstration and all of them were up for expulsion from the

Tennessee House of Representatives. When the vote went down, the two blacks were expelled and the

white woman was saved. When they asked the white woman herself what did she think it was, she

said because of the color of our skin. They have the complexion for the protection and she was

spared. They were expelled because all three of them participated in the demonstration. Let me see

if I can help somebody this morning. They kept us out of their churches. They kept us out of their

schools, but God was with us. Our slave masters made a mistake when they let us go to church and

then they compounded the mistake when they let us meet Jesus. We had to worship in a brush harbor

outside because we were not allowed on the inside and they told us one thing, but we heard something

else. They told us you'll be slaves for the rest of your life, but we heard before I'll be a slave,

I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free. They told us that we would never

do anything or never be anything, but we heard. I'm so glad. Trouble don't last always. I don't

think I ought to tell you this morning, if anybody ought to give God praise this morning, if anybody

ought to open their mouth in thanksgiving, if anybody ought to shout hallelujah, it's folk that

God brought that they tried to keep out. They would not allow him in the temple. So he purchased

the scroll of the prophecy of Isaiah, got in his chariot and was reading it aloud. The Ethiopian

unit was reading aloud as was the custom in antiquity. It was surely the Lord's providence that had

placed Isaiah, the evangelist of the Old Testament into the devoted proselytes hand and had led him

to the very passage of scripture in the book of Isaiah when Philip arrives and hears him reading

about a sheep being led to the slaughter. Philip asked him, do you understand what you're reading?

And he asked that question not as an insult, but as an inquiry because reading does not guarantee

understanding. You can read the scripture and never grasp it. Philip desires to know through

the spirit from this unit. Have you arrived at some knowledge? Have you acquired some information?

Have you grasped the significance of what this passage of scripture means? Because while I'm

preaching, the devil is trying to distract somebody. While I'm declaring the truth, the devil is

making you think about what you're going to eat after church. But faith comes by hearing. Have I

got a witness? And hearing by the word of God and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how

shall they preach except God sent him? Walk with me around the text. The first thing I want us to

see this morning, brothers and sisters, as a hurry, is this passage of scripture is designed to teach

us that you've got to take the gospel everywhere. The passage implies that the church, the early

church, has taken Jesus's commission seriously in terms of a global perspective. The church took

Jesus seriously in terms of a global perspective. There are some people who, because they are so

parochial in their thinking, who thinks that Lily Grove ought to just be on this corner. And what we

do ought to just involve what we do. I instituted Lily Grove Global, which is Lily Grove going

all over the world. There are people right now watching us in South Africa. There's a lady who

writes to this church all the time. She emails us all the time that she and her friends get together

in London, England, and sit down and listen to me preach. There are people in Jamaica. There are

people in Honduras. There are people in Haiti. There are people everywhere the worldwide web

can reach. And that's all over the world. People are listening to the gospel be preached. There's

a whole lot that's wrong with social media, but there's something good about social media in that

the gospel would not be in all those places from this church were not for YouTube and Facebook.

Thank God for these mediums that we are able to reach people with the gospel, but people in this

church who are small and they thinking say we don't need all of that. We just need us. We need

a choir. We don't know. No, we don't. Because you can have church without a choir singing. You can

have church without us just so ensuring people where to sit. But you can't have church unless the

gospel has been preached. And until the gospel is preached to the whole world, Jesus will not come

back again. Now, now listen to me. The early church had to deal with many issues simultaneously.

Missionary outreach and evangelism always was a part of the, not the main part of their church

program. I'm with everything we do here at the church. We have to pay for this building. I said

we have to pay for this building and we cannot do it without your tithes and offerings. If our

projections are correct and we are on course, we are on target, we will be through paying for

this building over $25 million in six years. We will be through paying for this building. But

while we are paying for this building, this building is not the most important thing we

ought to be doing. This building is not the main thing. The main thing is that we ought to be

telling somebody about Jesus Christ. We ought to be feeding those who are hungry. We ought to be

clothing those with a naked. We ought to be visiting those who are in prison. Because when

Jesus comes back, he's not going to ask you, how much did you pay for your building? The question

is, when I was hungry, did you feed me? When I was outdoors, did you take me in? When I was sick,

did you come to see me? Well, Lord, we have to pay for this building. I didn't tell you to build,

no building. I told you to feed the hungry. I told you to close the naked. I told you to save the

lost. Because we can worship God as Starbucks. We could empty Walmart and put some chairs down

and have church. No, we built this building to accommodate all these people who come Mother's

Day, Christmas, Easter. Thank God you're here. I'm glad you're here. Praise God for your presence.

I'm glad you're here. I ain't hating on you. Come back next Sunday. But I'm saying this is not

what the church building is about. The building of the kingdom is about preaching the gospel so

that people who are lost and on that way to hell will hear about a man named Jesus. I can't wait to

get to the end of my sermon. I'm going to say it right now. He died. Didn't he die? Take the gospel

everywhere. Our Little Grove global team is somewhere in this church answering the phone and

answering YouTube and answering Facebook for people who have questions about being saved or

questions about joining our church. There are people who are not even in Houston who are members

of Leningrhoge Missionary Baptist Church because our church is no longer on this corner. Our church

is around the world and thank God for people who have dedicated their time and their gifts and their

energy freely to make our church have an impact around the world. Take the gospel everywhere.

But then secondly, if you're going to take the gospel everywhere, it's got to be directed by the

Holy Ghost. As important and as helpful as strategy and methodology and planning are in the task of

missionary proclamation and evangelistic outreach, Christians must not miss the prompting of God's

spirit to initiate spontaneous conversations in unforeseen circumstances that some people might

deem inappropriate. Sometimes the Holy Ghost moves at the line at the bank. Sometimes the Holy

Ghost moves while you're eating lunch at Lubish. Somebody will just come alongside you looking

despondent and the spirit of God will move in your spirit to say to that person, have you heard?

I don't know what you're going through. I don't know what you're up against. I don't know what

life has thrown at you. But let me tell you my story. I know a man named Jesus who can fix whatever

is wrong in your life. He can straighten out whatever is crooked in your life. He can put

back together whatever is broken in your life. There will ever be a shame to tell your story.

Everybody here who is saved got a story to tell. The shout this morning is that every Christian

has a past and every sinner has a future. Can I say it one more time? Everybody here who's Christian

has a past but everybody here who's a sinner got a future. I once was lost but now I'm fine. I was

blind but now I see. Don't be ashamed to tell your story. Let people know the reason I'm in this

church this morning is because you should have seen me when the Lord got his hands on me. The

reason I shout so much you want to know why I carry on so much. You want to know why I make so

much noise. You want to know why I give God so much praise because I spent so much time doing

wrong. I spent so much time in the streets. I spent so much time smoking weed. I spent so much

time doing bad stuff and God let me live through that. And you think I'm gonna let you stop me

from girl plea. I got so much. I got so much to be grateful for and if you don't want to praise him

go sit somewhere else. Because if you sit over here it's gonna be noisy. If you get on this

pew it's gonna be some racket because the Lord brought me from a mighty long way and if you

don't want to praise him get out of my way. Hallelujah. I need a witness here. I need a

believer here who's got a story to tell. What God did for you. Spirit is in this place and

somebody might have walked in with a bow down head but you can walk out with your

shoulders back with your head thrown in there. Testifying. I don't know how I'm gonna pay them

bills but that preacher said God is able. I don't know how I'm gonna take care of all these

children but that preacher said if you trust him never die. He was sure. I don't know how

I'm gonna make it in court when I gotta go before the judge but I trust in God because that

pastor said he'll make a way and then there's some folks sitting around me that I don't even know

that name but I see them raising their hands. I see him clapping for joy. It must mean that

God did something for them. This joy that I had. The world didn't give it and the world

can't take it away. Take the gospel everywhere. Let the Holy Ghost direct you but then the Holy

Spirit does not just direct to groups of people. Sometimes he wants to speak just to an individual

of the many thousands of people in this church this morning. This sermon might just be for one person

because if you had been the only person on earth God would have sent Jesus to die just for you.

Evangelism before larger groups of people involves preaching but evangelism of individuals is

never preaching in the formal sense of the word but involves a conversation with questions and

comments by the person who is willing to hear the gospel. Brethren and sisters if Christians can

talk about the weather. If we can talk about sports. If we can talk about our children. If we can

talk about our dog. I'm trying to get through this little sermon but my family kicked me off

of our monthly prayer calls. Can you imagine that? They kicked the pastor off the prayer

call because one of my cousins had a dog that had to go in the hospital and she was asking us to

pray for a dog and I just went smooth off. And so Johnny and Wanky called me off the line and said

get your stupid. I can't tell you what they said and they're supposed to be Christians. Get off

of this call. You can't be talking to people like that but if you can pray for your dog you

should be able to find the words to talk about what you claim is your first love. If you can talk

about the Astros and you ain't getting none of that money. If you can talk about the Rockets and

they ain't about to win no game. If you can talk about University of Houston who almost made it to

the final four. Then look like to me a God who woke you up this morning. Who put food on your

table. Who brought joy to your dark life. Who dried your tears. Who's been a mother and a father

and a sister and a brother. Look like to me every time you get a chance you ought to talk about that.

God cares for the individual and one sheep that can be reclaimed is precious enough in God's estimation

to send the Holy Ghost to move Philip to stop what he's doing. Go to the country and get on a

chariot of a black man who wasn't even allowed in the temple because he was castrated and black

but he was reading the scripture. Which leads me finally to the study of the scripture and the

proclamation of Jesus Christ because brothers and sisters the question that Philip asked that

unique is the question I want to raise in this house this morning. Do you understand what you're

reading? Do you understand what you're reading is the most fundamental question of biblical

hermeneutics because now that the pandemic has struck and we have disappeared from prayer

meeting because of the communicative spread of the virus. We are not in prayer meeting anymore.

We are not in Bible study opportunities as we once were. It's online but we are not in Bible

study opportunities as we were where we could ask questions and get answers and in prayer meeting

and while I'm on that many of y'all didn't come to prayer meeting before the pandemic

and many of you didn't come to Bible study before the pandemic. So let me give you an excuse that

you were not there because of the communicative spread of COVID-19 but because of all of that we

were not able to gather together as we once did but worse than that that is an emphasis now on

church becoming entertainment and we have depreciated scriptural content. People are coming to church

with an entertainment philosophy and a nightclub mentality as if we are supposed to entertain

you but Leningroth church is not an entertainment venue. I'm funny from time to time but I'm not

a comedian. I joke and carry on with the best of them but I'm not a comedian. If you want that you

got to go see Cedric the entertainer or somebody like that. I can croon pretty good but if you

want some singing you got to go hear Beyonce or Jay-Z or somebody like that because this is not

what this is about. If you got an entertainment philosophy and a nightclub mentality you're

going to be disappointed when you come here on Sunday morning because I got the same thing

I've been saying for the last 32 years. He died. Didn't he die? You've been hearing me say that

ever since you've been hearing me preach and if the Lord lets me live and you keep on hearing

me preach you're going to hear the same thing because he died is the reason I live. He went to

the cross in my place. He died a vicarious substitutionary death on the cross that we

might have access to the tree of life and we are in here this morning not because we want to be

entertained but we are here this morning because we want to be inspired by the story we've heard

over and over and over and over again he died. I wish I had somebody to help me close right here.

I wish I had something more sophisticated than that. I wish I had something more popular than

that. I wish I had something more enlightening than that but I don't have anything more powerful

than that. Somebody ought to help me preach here. On February 7, 1973 my grandmother who I love in

her grave died but that didn't make me happy. December 10th, 1985 my daddy died but that didn't

make me happy. August the 12th, 20 years ago my mama died but that didn't make me happy.

I was standing at the bedside in Hawaii at the at the VA hospital when my oldest brother died,

took his last breaths but that didn't make me happy. I went to visit my brother Carl and came

back to Houston and I was sitting down on the Monday morning when Johnny called and told me that

Carl had just died but that didn't make me happy. I was standing at the bedside when when my brother

Lee was in the room dying. I held his hand prayed for him held his hand he looked in my eyes with

the most tenderest expression and Lee closed his eyes and died but that didn't make me happy.

Gwynne ran to my house and brought me the news that my brother Bobby died of a heart attack

in Costa Rica but that didn't make me happy. All of us were together on Lewis Street down in

Eunice in 1973 the same year my grandmother died we got the word in April that my brother Steve was

killed shot in the back with a sawed-off shotgun on the campus of Grambling College in Grambling,

Louisiana. I heard about his death but that didn't make me happy. I've had some good friends of mine

who've gone to be with the Lord. I've had some church members to die I held their hand when

they went to the valley of the shadow of death but that didn't make me happy. But one Friday

I heard an old story about a man named Jesus who went to the cross

and said father, enter your hands. I commend my spirit and Jesus died. My mother's death didn't

make me happy. My grandmother's death didn't make me happy. My daddy's death didn't make me happy.

I didn't shout when either of my brothers died but I shout every time I think about

a man named Jesus died on the cross. You gonna help me talk about him won't you? Didn't he die?

Thank God he died. He died until the sun refused to shine. He died until rocks split wide open.

He died until graves started vomiting up at their dead and the dead in Christ

started walking down the streets of Jerusalem. I tried to talk about that a little bit at

Wheeler the other Friday. What did those dead people talk about and who were they talking to?

I imagine one of those dead people was a man named Simeon who held Jesus in his hands

when Jesus was dedicated in the temple. I imagine Simeon got out of the grave

and went to Caiaphas house and told Caiaphas I told you that baby that was born would die

to save the whole world. I imagine David got up from the grave and went down the streets of

Jerusalem. I imagine Isaiah was one of those who got out of the grave and went and talked about a

stone that the builders had rejected who has become the chief corner stone. I imagine one of the

other old prophets got up out of their grave. Moses said I told you that when I saw him when I was

up on the mountain of transfiguration talking to him with Elijah another prophet from the old

testament. We knew that this Jesus was born to die and his death would not be like any ordinary

death because his death saved the whole world. You ought to hear me right here brothers and sisters.

Two other men died on the same hill Jesus died on but when they died nothing happened.

One a thief on the right hand and a thief on the left hand. Both of them died around the same time

Jesus died but when they died nothing happened but when Jesus died salvation was born. When Jesus

died the church was born. When Jesus died you and I were born brand new. I need somebody who

know you've been born again. I need somebody who knows that his death has made a difference.

I need somebody who don't care who's looking at you. You don't care what they think about you.

If the Lord saved your soul you ought to let the world know I've been born again.

If the Lord forgave your sins you ought to shout like you've been born again.

If the Lord answered your prayers dried your tears put food on your table

put clothes on your back put money in your pocket gave you a car to drive gave you a house to live in

gave you a job in the moment gave you peace of mind you ought to shout like you mean it

you ought to praise him like you know it tell him thank you thank you thank you for all you've done

for thank you for Easter Sunday morning I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. I know

that he is living whatever men may say. I see his hand of mercy. I hear his voice of cheer

and just the time I need him he's always near. He lives.

He lives. Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me. He talks with me all along.

He lives. He lives.

Salvation to impart. You asked me how I know he lived. You asked me

how I know he lives. He lives in my heart. If he's in your heart why don't you tell somebody.

He lives. He lives. He's alive. He's alive. I know he's alive.

He lives.

He lives. Hallelujah. Christ lives. Hallelujah. Christ is alive.

He lives. Hallelujah. Christ is alive. Hallelujah. Christ is alive.

Christ is alive.

He is alive.

He's alive.

He's alive, he's alive, he's alive, he's alive, he's alive, he's alive, because he's alive.

I can face tomorrow because he's alive.

All my fear is gone because he's alive.

He's alive, I can love my enemies.

Because he's alive, I can pray for those who despisefully use me.

Because he's alive, I can do good to them that try to hurt me.

Because he's alive, I'm going to heaven one of these days.

And because Philip joined himself to that chariot and asked that eunuch, do you understand what you're reading?

He said, how can I, except somebody guide me?

And Philip led him to Christ.

And the gospel went to Africa.

And listen to this, the fastest growing explosion of Christianity is in Africa.

Not North America, not Europe.

The biggest explosion of the expansion of Christianity is on the continent of Africa.

Because Philip listened to the Holy Ghost.

Africans are not savages.

While Europeans were crawling on the floor, Africans were building pyramids.

And the gospel went to Africa because Philip, a deacon, did what God told him to do.

And who knows who will come in the kingdom if you just do what God tells you to do.