Baptism Week 3 • Acts 8:26-40

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Well, good morning.

If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

That's where we're going to be this morning.

As you turn there, a couple things.

I want to echo what Moses said to our first-time guest.

We are glad and privileged and honored that you are here.

Nothing would warn me more than have the opportunity to meet you.

And so, after the service is over with, I'll be back over here.

You see that I've got some wood against the wall with a welcome sign.

I'll be back there.

Just would love to meet you, learn your name, and just have an opportunity to thank you for

being here and for worshiping with us.

We do have a lot of things that are going on in the life of our church that you can sign

up for.

I want to kind of draw some emphasis to several of those.

First, we've got our Black Mountain and Utah mission trips that are coming up in November.

This week, we're going to be scheduling some information meetings for those of you that

are interested in going and being a part of those.

Get some cost details, what we're going to be doing, what that looks like for you.

And so, if you're remotely interested, if you'd like to be a part of those meetings,

make sure that you sign up.

As you leave today in the lobby, we've got a table with some clipboards out, and you'll

see Black Mountain and Utah mission trips are there.

And then also, we are in our baptism series.

As we talk about baptism, we will be doing a baptism on Sunday morning, October the 10th.

And so, if you would like to be baptized, parents, if you've been talking to your child and they

would like to be baptized, sign them up.

We'll be in contact with you to talk a little bit more about baptism, what that Sunday will

look like, and have an explanation of what all we're going to be doing on that day.

And so, we would love to know and have an opportunity to be a part of that.

Well, I think fall has kind of hit us, which means that you only sweat for like eight hours

of the day in South Carolina, right?

And so, it is a good day.

There's plenty of places we could have all been this morning, but it's a privilege and

an honor to be here today to open God's Word.

And so, let's go ahead and dive in.

We've been talking about baptism for the last couple weeks.

And so, the last two weeks, as we talk about baptism, of the importance of what we see

from Scripture, of what Scripture teaches, we don't want to take baptism in an approach

of that this is some denominational exercise or requirement, but instead that this is something

that we draw from Scripture that Christ commands us to.

And just kind of take a moment, man, sitting here and worshiping just a moment ago, and Scott,

when you were sitting there singing that song, man, like, I went to that day baptizing you

and your wife right here that morning, man, and it was just, it was cool there in that moment,

man, because the words that you were singing, while those aren't words that you wrote, those

were words that God had given to someone else to write, but man, just telling your story

and the power of that.

So, just want to say thank you and so many of your steps of obedience to standing right

here and proclaiming who Christ is, man.

Love you for it and appreciate it.

You crushed it.

But what we've talked about for the last two weeks is baptism.

Why we do it, how we do it, what it symbolizes, and what it means.

Now, next week, when we talk about baptism again, we're going to kind of take, the last

week's going to kind of wrap it all up, put it in one neat package.

There's no way we can answer every question, but we want to kind of get to the heart of

the matter concerning baptism.

That's going to be last week.

But this week, what I want us to do is we're going to take, still in the narrative of baptism,

but we're going to take a step back and look at baptism in a more personal manner and ask

the question, for you and I, as individuals, for you and I, just as believers and followers

of Christ, what is our responsibility when it comes to baptism?

And so, I want to remove some of our titles, all right?

I want to remove the title for me of pastor.

I want to remove the title of you, church member.

And just give us all the title today of follower of Christ.

That what is our responsibility as followers of Christ when it comes to baptism?

Not because we're a part of a denomination, not as because we're a part of a church, but

because we are believers and followers of Christ when it comes to baptism in my life and into

yours.

When we stretch across cultures, when we stretch across denominations, when we stretch across

languages, what does baptism mean and what is our responsibility with that?

And as I started looking at that this week, there was something that, as I looked in scripture

and as I looked at this passage of scripture, as we're going to look at Philip and the Ethiopian

eunuch here in just a second, what it drew to me for all of us as a believer, that this

is going to apply for baptism, but so many areas of our life.

And here's what's going to come down to your and my willingness to be led by the Holy Spirit.

That when it comes to baptism, but also when it comes to so many different areas of our

life, when it comes to the gospel, when it comes to God's will in our life, what I want

us to do is to look at and to be able to answer and really wrestle with, are you and I willing

to be led by the Spirit, all right?

And so this morning, what we're going to do, we're going to get to Acts 8, but I want to

kind of look at a major theme of not only scripture as a whole, but a major theme of the book of

Acts, and especially in the first chapters, right, is the work of the Holy Spirit in Acts.

All right, so let's look.

We're going to kind of, I think I have about six verses that are going to pop up that I'm

going to read, or six different sections that we're going to have.

The first one is Acts 1-8.

Jesus is speaking, and he says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on

you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of

the earth.

Now, Jesus is getting ready to ascend.

This is post-crucifixion and resurrection, and Jesus is getting ready to ascend into heaven.

And so Jesus looks at his followers, and he says, but here's what's going to happen.

I promise you, the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you, right?

Holy Spirit, part of the Trinity.

Oftentimes, you and I have a disconnect in the divine nature of God and the Holy Spirit.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit.

And so God the Holy Spirit, Jesus says, will come upon you, and he will give you power, and

you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

So at the very beginning, in the book of Acts, laying the groundwork, Jesus says, the Holy

Spirit will come and indwell in the lives of the believers.

And then he gives a very specific reason for that, right?

The Holy Spirit's going to do a lot of things in your life and in my life, right?

The Holy Spirit teaches us.

The Holy Spirit convicts us, right?

The Holy Spirit does a lot of things in our life.

But the reason why Jesus gives here in Acts 1, 8 is very specific.

That the Holy Spirit's going to come upon you so that you can be my witnesses in Jerusalem,

Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

So Jesus draws a very clear connection in this moment in being led by the Spirit and the work

of the gospel in the lives of the believers.

So here's the connection.

So then in Acts 2, verse 1, you see what happens.

Acts 2:1

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

And suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the

whole house where they were sitting.

And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each

of them.

And all of them filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the

Spirit enabled him.

Now, let's be honest, there's a lot of us who are deep-rooted in our Baptist traditions

that this passage of Scripture kind of scares us a little bit, right?

Like, we're not good with things that we can't understand.

And then all of a sudden we're like, oh, and now they're speaking in tongues, right?

So let's talk about this for just a second, all right?

First thing I want us to point out, what Jesus says will happen, happens, right?

Jesus said this is going to take place, and it takes place.

That the followers of God that Jesus promises to, Pentecost comes, and it says they're gathered

in one place.

So imagine, like, we're sitting in this room, concrete walls, there's no windows, we've got

these couple of doors.

Let's say that these doors don't exist, and we're barricaded in here, and all of a sudden

something like a tornado begins to work around here in this room.

Kind of catch our attention for a moment.

And that's what begins to happen.

They're gathered in a room, they don't believe that there's any way of any outside ventilation

that's coming in, and all of a sudden, like a whirlwind, like a tornado, this wind begins

to happen in here.

And then what the Bible says is that they saw what seemed to be.

So they actually see something.

They're not experiencing a feeling.

They're describing what they saw.

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on them.

And then verse 4, all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other

tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

So here's what God's doing here in this moment.

Now, remembering all the way back to chapter 1, verse 8, what we just read, so that they

could witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

So this is the setting that we see.

Right now in Jerusalem, there are men and women who are coming in Jerusalem for religious

festivals that are coming from all over the world, and they speak many different languages.

And so what God is doing, what God is mobilizing here in this moment is that the gospel will

have the opportunity to be shared with them.

And so we could get into more description about this, but we don't have time for today, so

please trust me.

If you've got questions, we'll talk about it afterwards.

So what we see is the Holy Spirit begins to fill them, and they begin to speak in tongues.

So just really quickly, this tongues, this isn't gibberish, this isn't an unknown language,

this isn't anything like that.

What happens right here in this moment to the followers of Christ is they begin to speak

languages, known languages, that they didn't know before, but now they have the ability

to speak in so that they can share the gospel.

So the context would be, like, imagine if the Holy Spirit of God came and rested on you

in such a way that as you go into another country in a language that you do not know,

but now all of a sudden you're able to speak in that language so that you can communicate

the gospel.

And that's what happens.

And it's part of the miracle of what we see.

So we see now in this moment the boldness of God coming in and resting on the followers

of Christ so they can share the gospel.

But now let's look at chapter 4, verse 8.

Then Peter, this is Peter, Apostle Peter, with Jesus, that had been with Jesus, right?

One of the disciples, the inner core, verse 8, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them,

rulers and elders of the people.

So in chapter 4, what Peter is doing, Peter and John are taken before the council, the Pharisees

and the Sadducees, and they come, and he lays it on them, right?

The truth of who Christ is.

And Peter is not able to do this because he's some great intellect.

Peter is not able to do this because he has this gift of speech and communication.

Peter is not able to do this because he sat back in the back and got this speech ready.

It says in verse 8 that Peter filled with the Holy Spirit.

And so what we see is that ministry in this moment as the early church begins to form is

resting in the power and the ability of the Holy Spirit.

So each single one, like there's not a pastor that they can turn to.

There's not a seminary to go to.

There's not a right now media resource where they can gain all their information from.

They can't go to Lifeway or Mardell's or any Christian bookstore and buy like the 10 steps

to how to share your faith, right?

Like here in this moment, they're resting in the only thing that they can do in ministry.

They don't know what they're doing, but it's through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And this is what we see.

And it's what we see in the people is moving and working in the power of the Spirit.

And then look at chapter 6, verses 3 through 5.

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing.

So let's kind of pause.

Like we've seen some other areas back in here.

Like we're not talking like three or four are getting saved.

We're talking like thousands are getting saved.

Thousands are getting saved.

It says in those days when the number of disciples was increasing,

the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews

because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

So the 12, okay, this is the inner core.

Like we see where this is coming from.

We see that only the power of the Spirit of God can do this.

So the 12, the core that had been multiplied into thousands,

but the 12 gathered all the disciples together

and said it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word of God

in order to wait on tables.

Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you

who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.

And we will turn this responsibility over to them.

And we will give our attention to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.

And this proposal pleased the whole group.

And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.

Also Philip, Prochorus, Nisenor, Taman, Parmenius, and Nicholas from Antioch,

a convert to Judaism.

And so what is going on in the life of the church is people are coming.

And the 12, the apostles, they're looking around and they're like,

man, we can't handle this.

We can't do what we're supposed to do

and take care of all of these things as well.

So a problem arose.

Because very early on, what the church recognized is that

we're here for the spiritual needs, but there's also physical needs.

There's the emotional needs.

There's the things that are having to take place.

And we need to take care of this.

And as the church was growing and outgrowing its leadership structure,

they've got to react.

And so the apostles say like, hey, we want to focus in on prayer

and teaching of the Word.

So that's what we're called to do.

So there's these other things that have to take place.

And so what we find in here is this deacon ministry begins

and this ministry is formed.

Now, it's very interesting.

And I want us to look at this.

They looked out, began to pray through and decide like,

who's going to take this on?

And they didn't say, well, the most organized,

who are the most organized people?

They didn't say, who are the most educated people?

They didn't say, who are the most light people?

Who are the most popular people?

They didn't say, who are the wealthiest people?

Because they could probably fund this ministry.

That's not what they did.

They looked around, those who were called by Jesus

to be the apostles, and they looked around

and they saw these groups, they saw these individuals,

and Scripture tells us they were full of the Holy Spirit

and wisdom.

Now, here's what I want us to be able to see.

This is what's going to kind of carry us through, all right?

When an individual is full of the Spirit,

when an individual is full of the wisdom of God,

it can be seen.

It can be seen, it can be experienced.

You can look and you can know.

And they say, we see these men, right?

And this is what's leading them, the Spirit of God.

The Spirit of God that brought Peter to be able to speak.

The Spirit of God that brought these men out

to be able to proclaim the gospel

in languages that they had never spoken before.

They looked out and said, Stephen and Philip

and you and you and you, we see all of this in you.

And it's the choosing.

And it's how they were chosen to serve.

So as we look at this,

we're going to look at Philip,

a story, an encounter with Philip,

one of the deacons that was chosen.

This isn't a guy who had had years of church training.

This isn't a story of a guy

who had sat through 15 evangelism classes.

This isn't a story of a guy

who could answer every question about baptism.

This isn't the story of a guy

who had it all figured out.

But it is going to be the story of a guy

who said, I'm going to go and do

what the Spirit of God is telling me to do

and calling me to go.

And as I stand here this morning,

and as I look out at a group of people,

and as I stood in my bathroom this morning

and looked in the mirror myself,

that that's the call for all of our lives.

Are you and I willing to be led by the Spirit

to go places, to do things,

to form relationships that only can happen

through the Spirit and power of God?

Or are we trying to do things

in our own ability, in our own might?

And we'll see the connection to baptism here

in just a moment.

So let's read chapter 8, starting in verse 26.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip,

go south to the road, the desert road

that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

And so he started out.

And on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch,

an important official in charge of all the treasury,

the Kandake, which means queen of the Ethiopians.

And this man had gone to Jerusalem to worship.

Now that's not because he was a follower of Christ.

We need to pause here for just a moment.

But as we had seen, there had been a lot of people

who had come into Jerusalem for the religious nature of it.

And this is why he was there.

Verse 28.

And on his way home was sitting in his chariot

reading the book of Isaiah the prophet.

And the spirit told Philip,

go to that chariot and stay near it.

And then Philip ran up to the chariot

and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet.

Do you understand what you are reading?

Philip asked.

Verse 31.

And this is the passage of scripture that eunuch was reading.

It's found in Isaiah 53, by the way.

He was led like a sheep to the slaughter.

And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

In his humiliation, he was deprived of justice.

Who can speak of his descendants?

For his life was taken from the earth.

And the eunuch said,

Philip, tell me please,

who is this prophet talking about?

Himself or someone else?

And then Philip began with that very passage of scripture

and told him the good news about Jesus.

And as they traveled along the road,

they came to some water.

And the eunuch said,

look, here is water.

What can stand in the way of my being baptized?

And he gave the orders to stop the chariot.

And then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water

and Philip baptized him.

And when they came out of the water,

the spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away.

And the eunuch did not see him again,

but went on his way rejoicing.

Philip, however, appeared in Azotus

and traveled about preaching the gospel in all the towns

until he reached Caesarea.

The story, not of a pastor,

the story, not of a missionary,

but the story of a follower of Jesus Christ

who says yes to the spirit.

Yes to the spirit.

Yes to the spirit.

So what would it look like in your life and mine?

Let's lose the title.

Let's lose the organization.

What if we're there in this culture,

in this context?

We're not dependent on what the church,

the place we go is going to do,

the organization that we're a part of,

what we're leaning in and pressing in onto each other.

What if you and I just begin to put ourselves

as individual followers of Christ,

what does it mean to walk in the spirit?

What does it mean to be led by the spirit?

What does that mean?

What can we draw from this?

And I think number one,

what I want us to get to is this,

is God gives us unlikely people.

God gives us unlikely people.

Before we talk about everybody else,

let's talk about us.

You and I are unlikely.

Here's what I mean.

None of us, not one,

deserve to get used and to get saved by God.

Not one.

A few weeks ago,

I got a text message from someone

who's very dear to my heart.

They don't go to church here.

Very dear to my heart.

And this individual was going through

a series of grieving and loss.

And the question that was asked to me

was,

if a good person does bad things,

can that good person still go to heaven?

And my answer was,

we got to understand that it's not about being good.

It's about being saved.

We got to talk through and understand that.

Because the truth is,

in light of the gospel,

what I know,

what you know,

is that none of us are good.

We're not good.

We don't deserve to get used.

And you think,

well,

I've done these good things,

but said in the holiness of God,

you're not good and I'm not good either.

It's only by the blood of Jesus Christ,

it's only by the work that he's doing,

that God saves us and uses us.

So as we press into this,

as we think about,

as we look to the unlikely people,

let's understand that you and I

haven't established ourselves on some pedestal

because you and I are unlikely.

Your story's messy.

My story's messy.

It doesn't matter how good we think that we were.

God's not looking to save a bunch of good people.

God's just saving people.

And he's not even making us good

and he's making us holy

through who he is.

So you and I are unlikely.

And for Philip,

right,

as we see in his life,

there's not a whole lot that we can see

that is going on in his life,

but the Holy Spirit is leading him.

And so for him,

it's not about being good,

it's about following.

And sadly for most of us,

that's where the breakdown happens.

We're so focused in on all the things

that we want to do,

all the things we want to accomplish,

even if it's creating the spiritual checkbox

and marking those off.

But the question is,

are we following,

are we seeking the spirit of God

and what God has for us?

And so God in this moment

is going to give Philip someone.

And I guarantee you,

it's not the someone

that Philip would have been looking for.

It's not the someone

that he would have thought,

this is what's going to make it in.

This is what's going to be the story.

This is going to be the defining moment.

But this is what we see.

And God brings him

an Ethiopian eunuch.

Right?

And what's great that we can see in this,

and we'll talk about there in just a moment,

is God's taken the gospel context of the story

and he's magnifying even more

that he's moving it

just from what people would thought of

of a Jewish context

to a Gentile everyone.

So this Ethiopian eunuch,

who is he?

Number one,

he's a high-ranking government official

from Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a long ways away

from Jerusalem, right?

And so he's on this journey

and he's religious,

he's spiritual.

And so he's come to Jerusalem

for a place of worship,

but now on his way,

he's leaving.

And a beautiful thing

of what we see is happening

is the Spirit of God

is drawing him closer to Christ,

is that he's reading a text

and he's beginning to wrestle him

with like,

who is this about?

Who is this about?

But he's this high-ranking government official

from a faraway land.

Now, he's the Ethiopian eunuch.

Real quickly,

we won't spend too much time on this, right?

He was castrated.

He was castrated.

Due to his career

and his position,

he was castrated

so the king

or the queen

at the time

would not have to worry

about what he was trying to do

or what he was trying to accomplish.

And he was a Gentile.

He wasn't Jewish.

And so what this would have built up

in the life of Philip,

if Philip were just seeing him

through his own eyes,

that this would have been a man

who was unworthy

of the gospel,

of the things he had done

to his body,

allowed to be done,

the things that he was doing,

the things that he was a part of,

the land that he'd come from.

He was unworthy.

But what's so important

is God didn't think so.

God didn't think so.

And so God brought this point

in time for Philip, right?

As we look about the gospel

and as we think about our role

and our part in it,

I want to kind of deal

with a tension

that I know

that is in the lives

of individuals

and what we think of

and what we do

and what pushes us.

We all have people

in our life

that we think

are unworthy

of the gospel.

When we're not being led

by the Spirit,

the sin begins to creep

in our mind

that they're not worth

being saved

or that God can't save them.

And so we chalk them up

as they're no good.

There's no use.

What's the point?

Why even bother?

And here's what I want us

to think of.

Think about that person

in your life.

That individual,

that family member,

that co-worker,

that friend,

that really obnoxious neighbor

that you don't like,

right?

Like, think of who they are.

They're not worth it.

They're too rough.

They're not worth it.

Think about their past.

They're not worth it.

Think of all the things

that they've done.

They're not worth it.

They're unlikely.

What if we started

viewing these people

not as burdens

but as gifts?

What if we started

viewing these people

not as a burden

that God has placed

to live next door to us?

A burden,

not as a burden

of the person that,

why do we have to work with them?

Not as a burden

of why did they be in my family?

What if we stopped

defining them

by their past failures

and mistakes?

And what if we started

defining them

as the gift

that God

is giving us?

And that's what it means

to begin to be

walking and being led

by the Spirit,

especially in the Gospel.

Second thing I want us

to look at

is the timing of God.

The timing of God.

I'm probably

the world's worst

at this, okay?

But I want to make

this statement.

God doesn't need

to check your schedule

or mine.

He doesn't.

I can't tell you

how many times

I think I've got

everything laid out,

I've got what I need to do

and then God detours

and in that

it creeps in my heart

the inconvenience

of the moment, right?

But let's kind of establish

God doesn't have to check

your schedule or mine.

His plans are bigger

and His plans are better.

Right?

His plans are bigger

than what you think.

His plans are bigger

than what I think

and here's what's remarkable.

His plans are better

than what you could describe

and His plans are better

than what I could describe.

They're even better

than what we can hope for.

As Philip is going into

to this day

of what is going to unfold

within this,

I don't know

what was lined up for him

but here's what I know.

What God had in mind

was bigger.

What God had in mind

was better.

And I want us to think

of the timing of this.

The timing of the characters

and who God chose

and all these things.

God sends a deacon

not an apostle.

This isn't Peter

who'd gone through

the test of this.

This was a deacon.

This was Philip.

This was the everyday guy.

This was a guy

who was sitting there

in a part of the church

one day

and he had a group

walk up to him

and he's like,

hey man,

by the way,

here's what we've noticed.

We've noticed

that you love the Lord.

We can see this in you.

Would you come

and start serving

and doing some

of these things,

right?

And then from this

what we begin to see

is the journey

of salvation

of what God's

going to do

in his life.

That's God's timing,

not ours.

That's God choosing,

not ours.

But in the timing of God,

God sends him

to a Gentile

and not a Jewish leader.

And what we're going to see

in this moment

is the gospel

is going to go global.

The gospel is going to

begin to expand

even more so.

The gospel is going to go

from largely

a group of men

and women

of financial

insignificance

to now an individual

who heads up

the treasury

of an entire kingdom.

And that's what it's going to do.

But that didn't happen

in anyone else's timing.

That happened

in God's timing.

And here's what I think

is remarkable, right?

God sends to a desert,

not to a city.

I don't know about you.

I was just telling somebody,

I was telling Kim and Kyle,

I think this morning

we were talking

before the service started.

I said,

how's that thing going?

I was like,

man, busy, right?

No one told me

that 13-year-olds

are busy, right?

And that's what

we're learning, right?

A 13-year-old boy,

a 13-year-old girl,

they're busy.

No one told me

when I was in,

I thought when I was

in college, right,

that going to school

for five classes a week

was like the most

I would ever have

to work in my life.

And then I got

like a job, right?

And then it got even more.

And then I got married

and I got even more.

I got married

and got kids

and got even more

and time and time and time.

And so I thrive

with being able to say

like here's the schedule

of what's there

of what I need to do

and when something happens

to cause me

to break from it

and so God goes to Philip

and says,

not in the city

where we see everything going,

not in the city

where you see everything planned

and not in the city

where you think

everything's going,

but I'm going to take you

and I'm going to take you out

and I'm going to send you

into the desert.

I'm going to send you

in the desert.

And I have a moment,

I have a feeling

in that moment

like Philip's calendar

got messed up a little bit.

Right?

But what's remarkable,

what I want us to see

is what this looks like in this.

What does it mean

to be led by the Spirit?

It involves this

listening and looking.

And it's kind of connect.

The angel came

and went to Philip

and Philip goes.

Right?

Look back at that first,

very first verse.

Now an angel

of the Lord

said to Philip,

go south to the road,

the desert road

that goes from Jerusalem

to Gaza.

In the very beginning

of verse 27,

so he goes.

He goes.

It didn't matter

with his schedule,

it didn't matter

with his time.

So what's the difference

between Philip

and us oftentimes?

Well,

Philip was listening

and looking.

Now,

let's be fair.

If,

an argument could be,

well,

if an angel

says to me,

go,

then I'll go.

Right?

Is that a fair statement?

Like,

if an angel comes

into your,

into your home tonight,

like,

you're sitting there

watching TV

and says,

go do something.

Like,

we'd all probably agree

in that moment,

it was just me

and then all of a sudden,

right,

like angel there.

You know what it looks like,

don't know what's gonna happen.

Be careful.

Most of the time

when angels show up,

people are scared,

but I guess

if there's somebody

standing behind my recliner

and I didn't know

that they were there,

I'd be scared too,

right?

So we would say,

well,

that's easy,

Bo.

Philip's at his house,

an angel appears,

so he's gonna go.

So here's what I'd like

to ask you,

just in rebuttal,

rebuttal to that,

right?

Quick question,

do you believe

that this is the

authoritative,

inspired word of God,

that it is perfect,

that it is true,

that every word

that it is written

came from God to us?

We'd all shake our heads,

yes,

right?

We agree with that.

Well then,

what we talked about

in Matthew chapter 28,

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

what we talked about

in Acts chapter 1

Acts 1 · chapter mention

is that Jesus says go.

Jesus says go.

So I think that

in our hearts

there's some of us

that would even argue

with an angel

that pops up

behind our recliner,

right?

Because we won't listen

to Jesus to go.

But that's what we see.

You know,

he says yes.

He says yes.

And then I love this.

Verse 27,

before the interaction

begins,

it says simply

in verse 27

that he met him.

That he met him.

How many people

a day do you meet?

How many people

a day do you interact with?

How many people

a day do we

pull through

a drive-through

and scan our card

and grab our food

and go?

How many people

a day do we

interact with

at a grocery store

or a line?

How many people

a day?

How many people

do you work

with people

that literally

their desk

is 20 feet

from yours

and you don't

know who they are?

How many people

do we meet

but we don't know?

God didn't give him

a sign

but it simply says

that he met him.

That he met him.

What if we begin

to think through

the individuals

and the people

that God bring us

and the timing

of all these things

and begin

to go ahead

and set

within the mindset

of our heart

and who we are

is this a God

appointment?

Is this a God

appointment?

And so now

the person

at Starbucks

isn't someone

just taking our order

but is it a God

appointment?

Now the person

who's delivering

our mail

isn't just someone

to be there

and then we can

yell at them

because they didn't

come the day before

right?

But it's a God

appointment.

What if the person

at the grocery

store

is not someone

to just give us

something

but what if it's

a God appointment?

But then what I love

within here

is God takes us

on this ride

as the

in verse 29

it does also

say though

that the spirit

says to him

right

and the spirit

said to Philip

go over

and join

this chariot.

I love that

because Philip

has got the mindset

of I'm gonna

go and do

and I've got

all of these

and so I'm

looking

I'm looking

I'm thinking

and then in this

moment the spirit

says to him

and I'm telling

more times than not

I've heard people

say so many times

I just wish

the spirit

would tell me

but I don't

hear him.

I go back

to our series

on prayer

we're not gonna

reteach it

but two of the

things that we

took out

do you want to

hear from the

spirit of God?

Two things

that I think

can help us

with that

number one

pray consistently

every day

every day

and listen

every day

but also pray

continuously

all the time.

You know

it's hard

to communicate

with someone

that we never

talk to.

Think about that.

It's hard

to communicate

with someone

we never

talk to

and we so

often times

want to hear

from God

but the question

is are we

communicating

with him?

Philip was

chosen

to be a

deacon

because people

saw the

evidence of

the spirit

of God

and the

wisdom

of God

in him

because before

it was a

job description

before it was

anything else

he was living

and communing

with God

right?

Listening

and looking

is not about

angels

in dreams

and burning

bushes

in the desert.

There's only

been a handful

of people

right?

That things

like this

have happened

to.

But listening

and looking

for the spirit

of God

to be led

by the spirit

of God

is simply

just being

obedient

to what

we know

the wisdom

that God

has set

for us.

What do you

think they

saw

in Philip

when they

chose him?

I bet

they saw

someone

who in

every moment

of his

life

was seeking

to be

obedient

to the

call of

God

on his

life

right?

And then

lastly

we're going

to close

with this.

What we

got to see

with Philip

what we

got to see

in his

life

is what

I call

participating

with God

right?

Participating

with God

and it's

what God

is inviting

us to

right?

I'm going

to take a

burden

off of

you.

You

can't

save

anyone.

You

can't.

Neither

can I.

We

can't

save

them.

God

saves

people.

And what

God

does

is God

invites

us

into

this.

God

says

here's

what I'm

going to

do.

Here's

how I'm

going to

work.

Here's

what I'm

going to

make

known.

And in

this

you

get

to

participate

in it.

Now I

went to a

Carolina football

game last

night and

we don't

have to

really talk

about how

that game

turned out

but I'm

used to it

by now.

All right?

Been 42

years of

suffering.

All right?

Even when we

were good we

weren't good

enough.

All right?

It's the

gospel.

All right.

We were in

the stands

and me

and Grayson

were those

obnoxious

fans come

up on the

thing make

some noise

and we'd

lean over

and hit the

metal bleachers

as hard as

we could in

front of us

and my

wife and

daughter would

look down

at us like

really?

Yeah.

We're that

guy right?

Yeah.

In a

slight glimmer

that we can

get like three

turnovers in

three seconds

right?

We stay to

the end

you know?

Just in

that hope

right?

In that

moment.

And sometimes

we think that

that's what

the gospel

is.

We just

stand on the

sidelines and

cheer for what

God's doing.

And that

ain't it.

That ain't

it.

Participating in

the gospel is

not about standing

on the sidelines

and always saying

yeah God

yeah God

yeah God

you go do it

all right?

Participating is

getting in the

game.

Getting in the

game.

And when you

get in the

game you get

bruises and

you get cuts

and you get

bloody and it's

hard.

When you get

in the game

it's a battle

it's pressing

but what is

beautiful is

your teammate

is the one

who never

fails.

Your teammate

is the one

that crosses

the finish

line.

Your teammate

is the one

who does it

all and who

gets all the

glory and the

beauty of it

is he says

come do this

with me.

Right?

Come do this

with me.

And so what

we see is

God saves

people you

and I

don't but

we can

participate

with him.

What I

love about

this story

is God

provided the

word.

When Philip

walks up

he's reading

out of

Isaiah

but God

says hey

Philip I'm

going to

provide the

word.

I'm going to

provide the

setting.

I'm going to

provide all

these things

but here's what

I'm going to

give you to

brother.

Go be the

messenger in

that moment.

Well who is

this lamb?

Let me tell

you about

this.

Jesus.

God

provided the

person.

Philip just

simply told

him who

Jesus was.

Look at

verse 34

and 35.

And the

eunuch

said to

Philip

about whom

I ask you

does the

prophet say

this about

himself

or someone

else?

In verse

35 then

Philip opened

his mouth

beginning with

this scripture

he told him

the good

news about

Jesus.

He provided

it.

In these

moments

here's

where I fail

so many

times.

I answer

the question

but I

don't dive

into the

gospel.

Philip

could have

just said

man it's

Jesus

catch you

later man

I know

you're on

a journey

right?

But it

says he's

in the

chariot

he's

in his

life

he's

going

wherever

he's

going

he's

doing

whatever

he's

doing

that are

on the

journey

it doesn't

matter

and he

begins to

share with

him.

And then

I love

this

I love

this

participating

with God

God provided

the water

God provided

the water

What road

are they on?

The desert

road.

What makes

a desert

a desert?

Lack of

water

right?

And God

provided the

water.

He provided

the person

he provided

the means

of his

salvation

and the

working of

the spirit

God saves

him and

then God

provided the

water and

Philip simply

went and

baptized him.

Church I want

you to hear

this.

Please hear

this.

It doesn't

take a

pastor to do

this.

It takes a

follower of

Christ who's

willing to say

yes.

And Philip

doesn't say

no no no

now let's

wait a minute

we gotta wait

and hopefully

an angel

will appear

to one

of the

apostles

and then

they'll

come out

here too

and we

can kind

of wait

we can

see we

can get

this

scheduled

and we

can get

this taken

care of.

Now Philip

says now

let's get

dirty let's

get down

into this

and so

they walk

down into

the water

and he

baptizes

him.

And then

largely the

story of

Philip's

done.

We see him

again in

Acts chapter

Acts 21 · chapter mention

21 when

he's visited

by Paul.

But here

in this

moment is

the high

emphasis

of importance

that we

see as

he seeks

to be

obedient and

to be led

by the

spirit.

What's your

responsibility

in baptism?

Take off

your title.

What's

my

responsibility?

Let me

ask you

this.

In all

that you

do are

you being

led by

the Holy

Spirit?

Are you

looking for

opportunities

of obedience

especially in

the difficult

ones?

And then

where is

he taking

you?

Who's

determining

your schedule

every single

day?

Are you

trusting in

God's

timing?

Admitting

that he

knows best

and not

you?

Who

has God

given

you?

Who

has God

given

you?

Who

is

that

thorn

in the

flesh

the

pain

the

depth

of

the

lost

person

that

you

know

and

you're

saying

no no no

you don't

know them

if you knew

them you would

know there's no

way God

would save

them.

Well can I tell you

before I got

saved

somebody said

do you know

him?

And more than

likely there's a

whole group of

us in here

that before you

got saved

somebody went

oh no

not him

and maybe

even after

are you

sure?

Right?

Who has God

given you?

But be the

messenger

share

study God's

word

give the

answer

and then here's

what I want to

challenge you

with

here's what I

want to

impress on your

heart

here's what I

want to lay

there

be the one

that baptizes

be the one

that baptizes

baptism is

not

it is

ordained

it is

called

it's what

the church

does

not just

by the

pastors

and so as

I'm talking

to someone

I'm asking

them

I mean

who shared

the gospel

with you?

Who's the

greatest

influencer

in your

life?

Who's the

one that

are bringing

you alongside?

Who's

discipling

you?

And what

I would

love to

see

what flips

this

country

what flips

this world

what flips

this community

upside down

is that when

men and

women are

investing in

the unlikely

sharing the

gospel with

them and

they're the

ones that

are seeing

through the

power of

the Holy

Spirit of

what God

is doing

and turning

their lives

upside down

and taking

those unlikelies

and making

them the

saved saints

that God's

going to use

to empower

the kingdom

and then it's

not the

bows

it's not

the pastors

it's not

the leadership

that's

baptizing

but it's

the men

and women

who are

boldly

sharing their

faith

living through

the power

of the

gospel

it's the

Philips

it's the

Philips

that are

out there

and it's

the Philips

that are

baptizing

let's pray

Lord I thank

you for the

life of

Philip

Lord I thank

you for who

he was

and what he

did

Lord I thank

you that

sitting here

in this

room

Lord there

are so

many men

and women

who are

Philips

they love

you Lord

they desire

your will

for their

life

Lord would

you just

help us

to open

our ears

to hear

open our

eyes

to see

Lord bring

bring our

unlikely to

us

Lord may

we pray

for them

that they

would know

you

Lord may

we share

with them

so that they

could know

Lord may

we be willing

to be

inconvenienced

Lord may

we be willing

to be bold

Lord would

we be willing

to

to stop

being the

people

that sit

in the

nosebleed

section

and

bang on

the bleachers

and watching

everybody

do the

work

but Lord

may we be

the ones

that get

off

and go

and get

the game

the game

game's

hard

game's

tough

we don't

always feel

like we're

winning

but Lord

we know

that you

win

so Lord

I thank

you

that all

you take

is unlikely

people

and save

them

that all

you take

is unlikely

people

and use

them

you're

taking

old

things

making

them

new

you're

redeeming

our

past

and our

failures

so that

people may

know what

we've

done

but that

just gives

us Lord

a springboard

to be able