Chasing Chariots

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Last week we were talking about, and we were looking at how you and I can bring our friends to Jesus.

And we talked about that.

We've looked so far at the gentleman, the four friends that brought their friend to Jesus.

And boy, how powerful that was.

But today we're going to be looking at Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

And I want to share with you something that really breaks my heart because I really believe that the average church, you remember last week we talked about that the stewardess, why do we not pay attention to what's going on when she's going through her little spill on the airplane?

It's because we really don't believe the plane is going to crash.

And we brought that to the point where we feel like that the reason we aren't going out into the community is because we really don't believe that there's a literal hell.

Well, gentlemen, ladies, I promise you there is a literal hell.

Amen?

And people that die without Christ go to hell.

So it's our job and it's our duty, it's our command to go out into the what?

Highways and hedges, compel them to come in that my house may be filled.

Luke 14, 23.

Well, as I've been going through a lot of my notes over the years, I saw this little article that I found, and I thought, this is where the average church is today.

A community of people lived on a dangerous sea coast where shipwrecks often occurred.

Eventually, some people decided to put some time and effort and money into a rescue operation.

A small life saving station was built, and the devoted members of that little rescue operation kept an ongoing, and I love this, an ongoing watch of the sea, ready to man their boats and search for the survivors in case of a shipwreck.

As a result of this operation, the town became famous because many lives were saved.

More and more people joined up to become part of the team.

Soon a new building was erected.

It was much larger than the little building at first, and it was beautifully decorated and furnished as with more and more amenities were added for the members, and it was decorated and furnished with fine plush carpet for their own pleasure and comfort.

The new buildings, the new building was slowly transformed into a clubhouse.

As a result, some of the members began to lose their interest in the rescue operation.

But then a shipwreck, excuse me, a shipwreck occurred, and many survivors were rescued and brought into the clubhouse for the first aid.

And during the period of operation, which lasted several days, the rescue operation caused the clubhouse to be considerably marred by such things as blood and dirt and mud and shells on their lustrous carpet.

At the next meeting, there was a split in the membership.

Most members felt that the life-saving operation was a hindrance to the social life and of the observation of those who disagreed were told that they could build another little station further down the coast.

And as the years went by, history continued to repeat itself.

Today, so the story goes.

Wow.

Sound familiar?

But yet, how many people are being rescued?

How many people are coming to know Christ as Lord and Savior?

Acts chapter 8 is one of the most exciting, I think, visible, important passage of scripture, one section in Acts 8, that shows us a young man named Philip.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

And out of all the disciples, and out of all the people in the Bible, not a whole lot said about Philip.

Actually, we see him mentioned three times.

But each time he's mentioned, he's bringing someone to Jesus.

I meant he's mentioned three times, and all three times he's bringing someone to Jesus.

When he got saved, the Lord saved him, the first thing he did was turn to his brother, Nathan, and brought him to Jesus.

Then the next time we see him, he's running through thousands of people hollering, is anybody got a lunch?

Is anybody got a lunch?

Is anybody got a lunch?

And sure enough, he found a little lad that had a little lunch that his mother had packed him that day.

Five loaves and two fish.

Not a big lunch, not to feed 5,000 men, not counting women and children, which probably went to about 18 to 20,000 people.

But what he did, he brought the lad to Jesus.

He brought him to Jesus.

And then the third time we see him, he is here chasing a chariot, and he ends up catching the chariot and jumping in the chariot to witness to an Ethiopian prince.

Really, he was Secretary of State of Ethiopian, and he was reading Isaiah 53, not understanding it.

And long story short, God uses Philip to lead the Ethiopian eunuch, and the results of that, according to Psalm 68, the Ethiopian eunuch takes the gospel to the whole country, uh Ethiopia, and turns the whole country upside down.

From one sinner.

One person.

So it doesn't matter.

One person can make a major difference.

Can I get an amen?

So I want us to look at this passage of scripture.

We pick up at verse 26.

And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is desert.

There we see the angels always kind of helping out.

In the book of Acts, we see angels seven different times used to help carry out what God wants someone to do.

They help equip us as saints to do the work of the ministry, but then we're led by the Holy Spirit.

In fact, in Hebrews 1:14, he says the angels are ministering spirits to us that are what?

Hebrews 1:14

Child that are children of God.

So we see that the angel shows up and he arose and he went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority, under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and he had all her treasure, he was in charge of all the money, and had come to Jerusalem to worship.

So he was an interesting guy.

He had a heart for the things of God.

He was seeking God.

But now he was returning and sitting in the chariot, read Isaiah the prophet.

Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Spirit led, go near and join thyself to the chariot.

And Philip ran to him, to the chariot, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest what thou readest?

And he said, How can I accept some man should guide me?

And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

The place of the scripture which he read was this he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before his shears, so opened he not his mouth.

In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away.

And who shall declare his generation?

For his life is taken from the earth.

And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom?

Boy, that's the most important question right there.

I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this?

Of himself or of some other man?

Then Philip opened his mouth and began, I love it, at the same scripture and preached unto them Jesus.

It's Jesus.

Jesus, Jesus.

Jesus is the way, the truth, the life.

No man cometh unto the Father except by him.

John 14, 6.

Neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

Acts 4.12.

Amen.

Church?

So we see the key was preaching Jesus.

And that's what he did.

And so, when on their way they came unto a certain water, and the eunuch said, Hey, here is water.

What doth hinder me to be baptized?

And Philip said, If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

That's salvation.

When you believe Jesus is God, amen.

He knew who Jesus was.

He was the prophet that Isaiah was talking about.

He was that prophet.

He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we're healed.

Isaiah 53, verse 5.

Isaiah 53:5

We know that to be a fact.

So then he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip.

That word caught there, same word used for rapture of the church, that they, the eunuch, saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing.

But Philip was found at Azotis, and passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

Everywhere, Philip, you see Philip, he's preaching Jesus to somebody.

He's preaching Jesus to somebody.

Now, I want you to look at what's necessary for someone to be saved.

There's some ingredients here I want us to look at in your outline.

Four ingredients necessary, this introduction for what?

Salvation.

First of all, there's got to be the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit of God.

Verse 25 and 26.

We see that right there.

We see the sovereign work of God.

And they went, and hey, and the Bible says, and the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

In other words, the Holy Spirit has to lead us to the place and to the person.

Can I get an amen?

And he will.

Every morning, I promise you, if you get up and you ask the Lord to give you a chariot.

Hey, to send a chariot coming by your way today.

He will.

I guarantee it.

I guarantee it.

He'll lead you.

He'll put you in the right place at the right time to share Jesus.

He will, I promise.

And so we see right here, number one, that the most important thing was the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit.

In fact, Romans 8 14, I love what it says.

It's powerful.

And what does it say?

For as many are led by the Spirit of God, they what?

Are the children of God?

But not only that, it's important, led of the Spirit of God, they are sons of God.

Amen.

And then I love John 6.44.

No man, Jesus said, can come unto me except the Father, draw him.

It's the Holy Spirit of God that does the drawing.

We're just the instruments.

We're just the tool.

Amen.

And then look at John 16, 13.

Howbeit he says, When he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself.

But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come.

He will show you where you need to be, and he will give you what you need to say if you are studying the scriptures and if you're in the word of God.

Or he'll give you the little card, the little, hey, witnessing.

No, that's not the witnessing card.

That's Jack's garage and radiator.

But right here, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is what?

You know it?

Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, with the Romans wrote on the back.

So it's that simple.

But here we see that the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit of God has to be involved for someone to come to Christ.

Now notice the second thing.

Not only the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, but number two, the submissive will of Philip or the submissive will of you and me.

We got to be willing.

Can I get an Amen?

We gotta be willing.

Isaiah said, Here am I, Lord, send me.

Here am I, Lord, send me.

You gotta be willing.

He that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Psalms 126, 5 and 6.

You gotta go.

You gotta be willing.

Go in all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 13, 10 says, the gospel must be published among all nations, and then the end will come.

Folks, let me tell you, the rapture's not gonna come until the last person that the Lord knows needs to be saved, saved.

Amen.

Then, hey, then we're out of here.

We're gonna be caught up.

We're gone.

But till then, we need to be about God's business, and that is we need to be chariot chasers.

That's the title of the message.

Chariot chasers.

But now notice this third thing.

Not only do we have to have, hey, the sovereign leading of the Holy Spirit, we've got to have, secondly, we've got to have the submissive will of Philip.

And I love this third one.

Then we've got to have the, I love it, the searching, ready, lost soul.

The searching lost soul.

Or the searching worshiper.

Now, watch this.

Now here's what's really good about this one.

We have a church person that's lost.

Hello.

I said, we have a church person that is lost.

Now, how do we know that?

Well, look at what he says in verse 27.

This is powerful.

He says, and he arose and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, the queen of Ethiopia, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem to do what?

To do what?

He went to the temple.

He went to church.

He went to church hungry.

Hey, he went to church hungry, but left empty.

He went to church thirsty, but left still what?

Thirsty.

Teach that word.

Amen.

I meant, aren't you glad to know that at this little church at Chelsea, Westover, bless God, when you come, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after God, for they shall be filled, Matthew 5, 6, that you're going to get the truth.

You're going to be fed the meat of the word.

Amen.

Amen.

Not some kind of flowery story or some.

It just breaks my heart to know that there's men of supposedly God in the pulpits preaching everything but the word of God.

And what did Philip preach?

He preached Jesus.

Guess what?

Jesus is the Word.

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

All flesh.

He became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld his Lord, his Lord, the only begotten Son of God.

John 1 14.

So we see this guy went to church, but he didn't find what he was looking for.

Now, first of all, you got to go looking.

A lot of times the reason church people don't find anything, they don't come looking.

They come out of duty, or they come because they're supposed to, or they come because of contacts.

They don't come for the right reason.

You come to church looking for Jesus.

Amen.

I don't care if you're sitting out there, I don't care if you're in the parking lot.

Hey, you come to church.

Now, some people may come here to just get fed and eat.

And that's okay.

That's why we do it.

Because we know that you need the physical food, but we know if you'll hang around just a little bit, it won't be long.

Jesus is going to jump all over you.

Because the word of God's going to jump on you.

His word never returns void.

Which brings me to the next fourth ingredient.

Not only do we have a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, not only do we have the submissive will of Philip, hear my use me.

And thirdly, not only do we see a seeking worshiper, he is seeking to hear who God really is.

But then number four, we got a scripture that never returns void.

Woo! We got a scripture that never returns void.

Verse 28.

We see when returning and sitting in the chair, he read Isaiah the prophet.

He was in Isaiah 53.

What a tremendous insight.

He was reading in Isaiah 53.

You got the word of God which is inspired.

Isaiah 55, 11.

Look at what it says.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.

Read it with me.

It shall not say that phrase again.

What?

It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper unto the thing wherein to I ascend it.

In other words, he said, with the anointing of the word of God, when God's word is preached and God's word is shared, it is like, hey, Hebrews 4.12.

For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of the soul and of the spirit, and of the joints, and of the marrow, and is the what?

Discerner of the thoughts of the heart.

And the intent, actions of the heart.

Now, I the reason I didn't get past the thoughts is have you ever thought about that?

The word of God knows what you're thinking.

Jesus knows what you're thinking.

And the word of God points out to you what you're thinking.

That's what I don't like.

Hello.

I'm really him.

Constantly I say, whoop, get that thought out of there.

Get out of there.

That thought.

And you know why?

Because when that negative thought comes up, I can't help but think about 2 Corinthians 10, 4, 5, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

When those thoughts jump in there, bless God.

Just get them out.

Keep rowing.

Keep doing what God's told you to do.

That's it.

Notice what he said here.

He said it takes the precious, powerful word.

Luke 4.32, his word is with power.

It'll never return void.

Being born again, I'm getting being born again, not a corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the word of God which liveth in the body forever.

We are the first fruits of his hey creation that have been born again through the word of God.

James 1.18.

So when a soul is saved, these essential ingredients are found.

Look at them.

Now verses 26 through 31.

You've got a prepared sinner.

Write it in.

A prepared sinner.

That was just introduction.

A prepared sinner.

Philip had been in Samaria proclaiming Christ as Savior.

Philip had gone down to Samaria, the Bible tells us, preaching.

Jesus.

Preaching Jesus everywhere he went.

Proclaiming Christ as Savior.

Now I want you to understand something about Philip.

Other than John the Baptist and the Apostle Paul, you know who I see noted as the most, probably the one of the greatest soul winners in the Bible?

Philip.

Philip the evangelist.

But he was not a called professional evangelist.

Philip was a layman.

Hello.

He wasn't a clergy.

He was a layman.

Actually, he was a deacon.

He was one of the first deacons called to serve tables.

He was a waiter.

Hello.

Oh, boy, that sure diminishes the pulpit a little bit, doesn't it?

Oh, what are you?

Oh, I'm I'm Dr.

Reverend Bishop.

Well, who are you?

I'm just a waiter.

But let me tell you what I want to talk to you about.

I want to talk to you about Jesus.

I want to share Jesus with you.

Amen.

That's what Philip did.

Everywhere he went.

He was just a layperson.

He was a servant who recognized his responsibility to spread the gospel of Christ.

Preach the God.

I like Mark, Matthew 10, 27, Jesus told the disciples, preach the gospel upon the housetops.

Boy, that's it.

That's it.

Preach it everywhere.

Speak in the temple to the people.

He said, preach it in the housetops, preach it in the church, preach it everywhere you go.

Now, look quickly about this prepared center, Ethiopian eunuch.

Number one, he was a very responsible man.

He had great authority, very prominent, cabinet member of the Queen.

He was Secretary of Treasure, no doubt.

He was a VIP, no doubt.

He was a man of influence and honor.

A responsible man.

His chariot shows the prestige.

Few people could afford a nice chariot like he had.

I mean, this guy had the marked for Cadillac.

Or the Lincoln.

I marked for Lincoln.

That's I had them different there.

Cadillac de vieal.

You know it's amazing.

Back when I was trying to get a car or something, if you got a Cadillac, everybody said, ooh, Preachy just wants money.

So I just go and buy a truck, but the truck costs one Cadillac.

Nobody ever said anything.

Isn't that something?

All about perception, isn't it?

Yeah, really, really is.

You know, you go pay$50,000 for a big truck.

They don't say anything.

You pay$40,000 for a cadillac, he don't sman, money, money, money, money.

Just perception.

But anyway, a responsible man, his chariot shows this prestige.

In fact, he was a great man of great influence.

But I've got news for you.

Mark 8.36 says this for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

Amen.

People have the priorities out of whack.

Folks, you can't take anything that you accomplish here on this earth, whether it's positional, whether it's power, whether it's prestige, or whether it's money, with you to heaven.

Psalm 49, 17, for when you die.

By the way, you're gonna die.

Every one of us are gonna die.

We're gonna be raptured out.

I vote for the rapture.

Amen.

I'd like to just be preaching.

I'm gone.

I'm out of here.

Boy, wouldn't that be exciting?

I wish the Lord, if you want to do the rapture, let me be preaching when you rapture out.

That'd just be fun.

That'd just be fun.

But when a man dies, what does it say?

Say it with me.

He shall what?

He shall what?

What?

One more time?

Carry nothing away.

Now, watch.

That's all of materialism.

That's all your cars, your boats, your houses, all of that.

Not gonna carry it with you.

But then he goes on, takes it to the next step.

His glory shall not descend after him either.

In other words, it doesn't matter who you are.

Mr.

President, hey, hey, President Obama won't be president in G in heaven.

The governor won't be governor in heaven.

Amen?

The mayor won't be mayor in heaven.

All that's left here.

All that matters when we get to heaven is what did you do with this son?

What did you do with what he gave you?

And did you come alone?

That's all that matters when we get to heaven.

All this other stuff, I gotta say this.

That scared me to death.

I was watching the ball game with David and Christy yesterday, me and Susan.

And when Auburn upset Texas AM, you would have thought Benji and Christy and David, and I'm sitting there, and he fed me a great steak, too, so that was really good.

All of a sudden, woo! They'd start jumping and grabbing each other and going around like that and scare me to death.

Now I want to see you do that in a few moments when you get to a little more reserved.

I've never seen you act like that yesterday.

Usually you are.

But David, woo, woo! I thought to myself, all right.

I said, they're just getting ready for heaven.

Woo! Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

The rapture practice.

The rapture practice.

Amen.

I agree.

But listen, as much as you love football and as much as you love sports, that's not gonna matter up there.

Get your priorities in order, folks, for it's too late.

So we see that right here.

It is so important that we understand that.

He was a great, influential man.

He was a wealthy man, but he was a sinner.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

I don't care how rich you are, your money's not gonna get you to heaven.

I don't care how popular and powerful you are, your position's not gonna get you to heaven.

There's only one way you're gonna get to heaven, and that's through Jesus.

No other way.

He's the only way.

Well, it really doesn't matter as long as we believe something.

Yes, it matters tremendously.

Amen.

There's only one way, folks, and Jesus.

There is not one person that doeth good on this earth, Ecclesiastes 7.20.

There's none righteous, no, not one.

There's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God.

Romans 3, 10, 11.

Notice what else he was a religious man.

He had come to Jerusalem to worship, verse 27.

He had found an elaborate building.

Temple was gorgeous.

Hey, he had found a very impressive ceremony.

Ceremonies are very impressive.

I've been in several liturgical ceremonies.

They're very impressive.

He had found an impressive ceremony.

He had found a multitude of people gathered together to worship.

But he found a religion as dry and as dead as his pyramids.

Jesus.

There was no life.

There was no exalting of Christ.

Jesus said, John 12, 32, unless I be lifted up.

If I be lifted up, I would draw all men into myself.

They were not lifting up the Messiah.

They didn't even believe in the Messiah.

They didn't believe Jesus was God.

They believed in their tradition and in their laws, but not in the Savior.

So we see, again, he came to find the bread of life, but he returned hungry.

He came to find the water of life, and he returned thirsty.

I'm glad when we come here, we find music that exalts Jesus.

And that we find teaching and preaching of the word that exalts Jesus.

Now I want you to see something.

This is exciting.

As he was right as the Ethiopians riding along, verse 28.

He is reading from Isaiah the prophet.

So that brings me to the third point.

He was a very receptive man.

Now, see, a lot of people say it's a lot easier for Jesus to reach the down and outer.

That's true.

Most of the time you see him reaching out to the down and outers.

Do you know why?

Because they're so more easily receptive.

You know why?

They don't have the power, the prestige.

They don't have the money.

They don't have the position.

They have to depend on Jesus for everything.

When you go to Africa and you'll go with us, or we go to some of the, we go down to Dominican or we go to some of these other third world countries, you'll see why they really so more excited.

Let me give you an example.

Why at the foundry the other night, when I walked in there and the worship was just phenomenal, unbelievable.

And worship plays a vital part in a service.

I mean, they they were, Benji, they were worshiping.

They had when they started doing that name of the song, I can't even remember, but it with the cross, and they showed uh Jesus hanging there with, you know, of the passion play some of those signs.

It was just unbelievable.

But I mean, people are there they're standing there with their hands, and and and you know why that that worship is so so electrifying and dynamic before I even got up to preach?

It's because those people are there and they're desperate.

They're desperate.

We come in here on Sundays.

Are we really desperate?

Not most of us.

We're not desperate, but we're comfortable.

Guilty.

Guilty.

This man.

Now watch.

Now let me show you the other side of the coin.

He was wealthy, he was influential, he was seeking, and he was sensitive.

He was desperate, even as influential as he was.

He was desperate to find Jesus.

That means not only did Jesus die to reach the down and outers, but he also died to reach what?

The up and outers.

Amen.

And he also died to reach the in and outers.

One's the in and out, in and out, in and out.

He died for all of them.

What a picture here.

And I'm so glad this picture's here because when you go and see the young rich ruler, it's not a good picture.

He was seeking Jesus, but when he met Jesus, and Jesus looked him right in the heart and said, Oh, he, oh, he was going down the list of all the commandments he had kept and was keeping.

And Jesus said, Yeah, but there's one thing you got to do.

You got to sell everything you have.

Give it to the poor and come follow me.

Boom! That was it.

He couldn't give up his position and his money and his power.

He couldn't give it up.

And the Bible says that he turned and walked away.

But here's a rich, influential, powerful, unbelievable Ethiopian eunuch, major in the cabinet of Ethiopia, the secretary of treasure, at least not what else.

I mean, he was in charge of all the money.

He must have been trusted.

But yet he had a voice.

He had, hey, you, I mean, the only probably better position he could have had would have been the queen's position.

I mean, he who controls the purse.

Hello.

I'd say he's got some power.

My wife got power over me.

She controls the purse.

No.

I don't want it.

I just want my allowance.

I've been a good boy.

Can you raise my allowance, please?

I mean, this man, I want you, you gotta get this picture.

Because what I'm praying for, that we'll have the up and outers in America get desperate for God.

Because if those guys get desperate, they can change a country.

And he did.

That's what I'm praying God to do.

Get us desperate.

Like those that the foundry were the other night that I preached.

I left there.

And I said, Oh God, please let our church be this desperate.

It was receptive.

Matthew 13, 9 and 16, he that hath a hear, I mean, he that hath an ear to hear, let him hear.

He that, verse 16, he that has eyes, blessed are they that have eyes that see and ears that hear.

Wow.

Proverbs 18, 15, the ear of the wise.

Oh, he says, the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

This gentleman was seeking the truth.

Brings me to point number two.

You gotta have a prepared sinner.

But secondly, you gotta have a prompt soul winner.

Look at verse 26.

Philip was a man God had ready to witness to the eunuch.

Now watch this.

If you're ready, then God's gonna have a eunuch, a chariot ready for you.

Let's say it.

Think about it.

If you're ready, he's got a chariot waiting for you.

Amen.

If you're ready, he's got a chariot waiting for you.

Verse 26, where we see God uses men, not angels, to witness to other men about Christ.

Acts 1.8.

You know it.

If you know it, quote it with me.

You shall receive what?

After what?

Why?

Because He's the one that guides us, He's the one that fills us, He's our power.

After you receive power, after the Holy Spirit's coming to you, and you should be witnesses what?

In Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world.

Look at this other verse.

You'll love this.

Man, when I saw this this week, I had a little spell in my office.

Psalms 106, verse 8.

Psalms 106:8

It says that we have been called by God and given his, hey, we've been called by God to make his mighty power to be known.

Wow.

We've been called by God to make his mighty power known.

Psalms 106, verse 8.

Psalms 106:8

Man, that's good.

Now quickly, look at this prompt soul winner.

Number one, he was an obedient.

He was obedient.

Verses 5 and 8.

He was obedient.

Look, look in verse 5 and 8.

Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and he preached Christ unto them.

Amen.

And there was great joy in the city.

A revival.

Revival broke out.

And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out, and many that were possessed with them.

I'm telling you, we got a lot of possessed people that need to be delivered.

And many taken with palsies, and they were lame, but they were healed.

And there was great joy in the city.

Man, we see here is a soul winner.

And he's obedient.

He's already doing what God asked him to do.

Look at verse 29.

So then the Spirit prompted him.

Go near and join thyself to this chariot.

Now look at verse 30.

And Philip ran to the chariot.

Now that's enthusiasm.

That's enthusiasm.

Now, first of all, let me tell you a little bit about Philip.

He's in a mass revival going on in Samaria.

Hundreds of people, crowds.

Now the Lord says, Philip, I'm going to take you from Samaria.

I'm going to send you a hundred miles south to the desert.

Now, wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

I'm the pastor of First Baptist Church.

We're running two or three thousand people.

Now you're going to send me to the desert where there's nobody?

There were two roads to the desert, and he told him to go on the road where nobody was.

I mean, he went from the top to the bottom just that quick.

Can't you imagine Philip saying, Oh, what have I done?

What have I done to deserve this?

I've been there.

Have you had your own little come on now?

We're going to get right down to where the meat comes to the bone.

Have you ever been there and all of a sudden now, next thing you know, you're in a pretty good position.

Now all of a sudden you're back at the beginning and you're saying to yourself, now wait a minute, this isn't fair, Lord.

I've already paid my dues.

Woo! I'm preaching to me.

Y'all just gonna get in on it.

I mean, I was a president of the seminary.

I was a president of the university.

Now what are you you you you sending me where?

Where?

I can't even spell Chelsea.

Are you getting this?

Because a lot of us get there real quick.

Because we want it our way.

And not God's way.

I want you to notice something about Philip.

He didn't question God one bit.

He just went.

He didn't even know where he was going.

He just went to the desert.

And he gets to the desert.

And next thing he sees, there comes a chariot.

Now you tell me that was just coincidence.

No, that was a divined appointment.

How many times have we watched chariots pass us right by when God had them to be a plan appointment for us and we let them run right by?

Huh?

He went to the desert.

Now watch what he this is so good.

He joined himself.

Philip ran.

He was excited.

Philip was not probably not a Baptist, just a thought.

But he was anxious to win souls to Jesus.

That's all he was interested in.

It didn't matter if he was in the Metropolitan City of Chicago, New York, or if he was in the Sahara Desert.

All he wanted to do was find somebody to preach Jesus to.

That's all that mattered to him.

He wasn't worried about his position.

He wasn't worried about his popularity.

He was worried about his mission.

The fruit of the righteous, Proverbs 1130, is a hey, is a tree of life.

Those who win souls are wise.

Isn't that beautiful?

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

Psalms 102.

Psalms 119, verse 46.

Psalms 119:46

I will speak of thy testimonies before kings and will not be ashamed.

I will speak.

It's right there.

I will speak of thy testimonies before kings and will not be ashamed.

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first, then to the Gentile.

I'm not ashamed.

Susan sings a song.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

She's sung it here a time or two.

She needs to sing it again soon.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

Yeah, you don't have that with you, do you?

You do invitation?

Now watch.

Watch.

He was an obedient man.

The chariot represented that divine deployment, and he caught the chariot.

You see this.

In fact, we're gonna order another, probably gonna order at least three hundred of them.

The last two days.

Well, Thursday, I'm at the golf course.

We had our I don't play golf.

I try, but best friend told me I need to keep riding a motorcycle and not play golf.

So that's what I do.

Now watch this.

What's this?

We're sitting there eating with them after we've been getting all the golfers to come in because all the money's taken up for the golf tournament goes to our chaplaincy program because all of us chaplains they don't pay us.

We volunteer our time.

Actually, we pay our own way.

But they do take care of our badges and our in fact now they're going to make us wear vests to ride with the deputies.

Those are$600 a piece.

Those are very, very expensive.

But they buy those for us through the monies that we raise through different events and the the golf course is our biggest.

So our church and SERPRO always support a team to help raise money for that.

But I'm sitting there and I've, like I said, it's been years since I've had a Jesus awesome bracelet off of my wrist.

That stays on me at all times.

It will be buried with it on, too.

And but now watch this.

I still think about that tattoo.

Jesus is awesome.

When I'm dead, who cares?

Someone there, I'll be sitting there.

Yeah, tell him.

Let her A, he's awesome.

Fishy, let her W.

He's a word.

Let her in.

The bracelet of the dude.

All right.

Now watch this.

And the lady waiting on us says, Jesus is awesome.

Can I have that bracelet?

I said, Yeah, you can have it.

No, I'm not ready.

No, I said, I'll give it to you if you promise me you'll wear it and not be ashamed of it.

Oh, I promise I will.

I said, All right, let me tell you what it means.

And then I went through.

He's all sufficient.

I went through my preaching.

And now everybody there was listening.

I gave him a bracelet.

Well, yesterday, we uh uh Adrian and Dustin and I were at the huddle house having breakfast, and the little waitress comes up and she sees that.

She says, Can I can I have that bracelet?

I said, Yeah, you can have it if you promise me.

You'll wear it.

And then I went through the caustic, come to find out she had just gotten saved, just got married there, and God had changed her life, turned it around at the revival center, and she was just excited about Jesus.

And so we just started preaching right there.

Now I noticed the two people behind there didn't notice, I mean, they didn't look at well, they looked and then turned around real quick.

But that's okay.

That's an opportunity.

That's a chariot that you take the opportunity to share Jesus.

Did we nominate her?

She was just bubbling.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

She's pretty smart, too.

She said, you know, you could leave me a hundred dollar tip.

I said, girl, that's good.

At least you ask.

Amen.

You have not because you ask not.

I just like her asking.

Bless God.

Amen.

So the opportunities come by all the time.

Isaiah, number four.

Let's go.

It's so good.

Or it's just number three.

It's number three.

A powerful scripture has to be used.

Isaiah 53 has been pointing out that Isaiah, you may not know this, but this is some good knowledge to know, has been called the miniature Bible.

Why?

Why?

Because, guess what?

There's 66 chapters in Isaiah.

39, 27.

There's 39 Old Testament books.

There's 27 New Testament books.

And guess what?

Right in the center of those 66 chapters is Isaiah 53, verses 7 and 8.

Isaiah 53:7

Do I have those two verses up there?

Flip them up there.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shears is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment.

Who shall declare his generation?

For he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgressions of my people was he stricken.

He was wounded, verse 5, for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement of our peace was upon him.

With his stripes we're healed.

So right in the middle, right in the middle, the gospel of Isaiah.

The gospel.

What?

Unbelievable truth.

Psalms 19, verse 7 the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

Psalms 19:7

Now notice what the eunuch did in verse 34.

He said, Of whom speaketh this prophet?

That was the question again for all of us.

Who is Jesus?

Who is this prophet?

Who is Jesus?

That's the question of the ages.

The purpose of witnessing is to confront people with Jesus.

What are you gonna do with Jesus?

Remember?

First question when we get to heaven?

I said that God taught me years ago.

God's gonna ask you, what did you do with my son?

What did you do with my son?

S-O-N.

What did you do with my son?

Did you receive him or did you reject him?

And then look at verse 35.

Then Philip opens his mouth and he begins at the same scripture and he preached unto him Jesus.

Now see, some theologians have problems finding Jesus in the Old Testament.

Isn't it interesting to know that Philip didn't have any problem finding Jesus in the Old Testament?

He's all the way through it.

And by the way, Jesus didn't have any problem finding himself in the scriptures either.

In the Old Testament, amen.

I mean, when you come to Shadrach, Meshach, and Nebed and Nego in the hey, fiery furnace, Jesus shows up.

When you come to the lion's den, Jesus shows up.

In fact, when he showed up on the road to Emmaus with the two disciples, he started at Moses and all the prophets, and he expounded them, expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

He began at Moses himself.

Luke 24, 27.

Amen?

In Genesis, he's the promised seed.

In Exodus, he's the Passover lamb.

In Leviticus, he's the scapegoat.

In Numbers, he's the brazen servant.

In Deuteronomy, he's the lawgiver.

In Joshua, he's prophet, priest, and king.

In Ruth, he's our kinsman, redeemer.

In Samuel, he's the anointer of kings.

In kings, he's the king of kings and lord of lords.

In Chronicles, he's the great historian.

In Ezra, listen to this.

He's the rebuilder of the temple.

Nehemiah, he's the rebuilder of the wall.

In Esther, he's the savior of the Jews.

In Job, he's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

In Psalms, he's the song of all the ages.

In Proverbs, he's the wisdom of God.

Woo! In Ecclesiastes, he's the great preacher.

In the Song of Solomon, he's the wonderful lover.

Amen.

In Isaiah, he's a wonderful counselor of the mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the everlasting Father.

In Jeremiah, he's a weeping prophet.

In the minor prophets, he's the star coming out of the Bethlehem sky.

Don't tell me you can't find Jesus in the Old Testament.

Mm-mm.

And then the last thing.

Boy, this is good.

Precious Savior, verses 36 through 40.

The enoch asked in verse 36, see here, is water.

What doth hinder me to be baptized?

Then Philip says, if thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest.

Now watch this.

Salvation is a heart matter.

It's the heart first, not the head first.

Can I get an amen?

A lot of people are gonna miss heaven 18 inches.

That's exactly how far your head, your brain is from your heart.

It's heart first.

You say, Well, I'm not sure I understand it.

Oh, you understand it.

It's as simple as a six-year-old kid can understand it.

That Jesus came, he died, he was buried, and he rose again the third day for you, and he loves you, and he wants to be your deliverer.

Come and ask him to come into your heart and your life, and he will save you.

That's why we're having not only Friend Day, but that same week on Wednesday night.

Now, a lot of you haven't signed up.

I need your help.

We have small groups on Wednesday night, but this is gonna be a small group night for all, every one of our church members, every one of us.

We want you to be in a home.

Because we're gonna allow Billy Graham is what, how old is he?

94 November the 7th.

And we're gonna invite people in their homes.

We're gonna have finger foods, and then we're gonna hear Billy preach about a 25-minute message.

And then we're gonna somebody out of the group will give up.

Get up and give their testimony, and we'll have those ready.

You don't have to worry about you doing that.

We'll have the right people there to share their testimony and to draw the net.

So we want you to bring your friends that night too.

It's worked out perfect.

By the way, we didn't plant it this way.

This is one of those divine appointments.

Okay?

Friend Day's Sunday.

My hope, Billy Graham's Wednesday.

So our goal is to get the same ones that came to Friend Day to go on Wednesday night with us.

We could see one of the greatest harvests this new church has ever seen.

We've already had a great harvest.

40 saved, baptized, close to 40.

Got several more to be baptized right now.

Isn't that exciting?

But we'd like to see, here's what they've said, out of every home, and we plan to have 10, that two people get saved in each home.

That'll be 20 people minimum saved that night.

20.

Right there.

Boom.

All we ask you, if we say, well, what if I don't have a friend?

We don't care.

You come.

I'd like to get, I'd like to, I'd like to see us have 150 people in those small groups that Wednesday night.

That's about what we're averaging here, 140, 150 on Sundays.

We really would.

So would you make plans to be a part of that?

Bring a friend on friend day, but then invite them to come back on the small group night.

It's gonna be a glorious week.

Sign up with Sonia that you'll come.

And even if you don't have a friend, you sign up to come.

We want you.

I want every one of us sitting right here, right now, to be in one of those groups.

We'll have nursery and all here.

That'll be all taken care of for you kids.

But we want every one of our adults in a small group that Wednesday night to hear this unbelievable presentation.

You miss to be?

Honey, what's to be?

What is it?

He was Yes, he was obedient, and he was observant.

Amen.

Now, let me ask you.

Here's the invitation.

Thank you, Paige.

Usually some of my teachers will say, You miss this blink.

David used, he did, I know.

I can't help it sometimes, folks.

Wednesday night, I mean Thursday night when we're at the foundry, Paige will tell you, oh, I have my outline and I was getting ready.

And Susan's seen this happen a time or two.

I got up there and I said, But before I get to the outline, I want to read something to you.

God has told me.

And I went to Psalm 66 about He's an awesome God and all His works, and verse 5 says, He wants to do awesome works in and through you.

And then I started preaching.

I started preaching my outline, but I never went back.

And for the next 50 minutes, the Holy Spirit took control.

And I'm telling you, when you get in that zone, you won't get you don't get out.

You don't want to get out.

I could have cared less about an outline.

Not that those aren't important, but but it was here anyway.

It's always here and here.

I promise you, it's here.

Just let it flow.

Amen.

Now here's the invitation.

Every one of you have a chariot that God wants you to catch.

Every one of you.

I don't care if it's your children.

I don't care if it's your husband, your wife.

I don't care if it's your classmates, the people you work with.

Every one of you have an opportunity to catch a chariot and to share Jesus.

And by the way, that's all you're responsible to do is share Jesus.

Hey, the Holy Spirit will do the rest.

Can I get an amen?

Holy Spirit will do the rest.

Amen.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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Send us an email at office at the church at cw.com.

We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.