The Book Of Acts | How Do I Fulfill The Great Commission? (November 8th, 2020) - Mike Armstrong

We're getting into God's word now.

You can turn it uh to your turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter eight.

Acts chapter eight.

And two weeks ago when I was with you last, we talked about courageous evangelism, right?

We looked at that through the story of uh Philip.

Okay, Philip was one of the seven Hellenists uh who was chosen.

He had taken up the mission to proclaim and preach Jesus Christ to the Gentiles in Samaria.

So the mission is moving outside of Jerusalem now.

We can read all about that at the beginning of chapter 8 in verses 4 and 5.

Now the the the the focus of his story then shifts to that interaction that he and Peter had with Simon the magician.

You remember that guy?

He was that uh that misguided soul who saw the Holy Spirit working through the power of Peter and Philip, and he's like, hey, I I want to learn that power as well.

And so he offered them money in exchange to learn how to use the power to just wow people, which of course led Peter to rebuke him.

He didn't understand all of that.

And then after all of that, of course, the gospel continued to be proclaimed by the disciples among uh the Samaritans.

Now, in that account, we looked at again two weeks ago, and then in the passage that we're gonna look at this morning, we see something truly incredible taking place.

Okay, the Lord is using his followers, he's using his brand new church here to fulfill the Great Commission.

Okay, where at first, again, the gospel had been proclaimed to the Jews, right?

To the Jews in the Jerusalem or the greater Jerusalem area, G J A, I don't know if that's a thing, but let's just say it is now, and it was preached to them, and now it's starting to branch out to the world where the Gentiles are being told what the gospel is, and they are now invited to receive Christ as Lord.

Now you've heard of the Great Commission before, I'm sure, and it comes to us from Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 and 20.

Matthew 28:19

And so we've got this on the screen just so that it's clear in our minds, it's fresh in our minds.

But this is, these are Jesus' words, right?

His final words to his disciples, to the twelve, before he ascended to be with his father.

This is what he said, it's so important, and really the core of what we're talking about today.

He said this.

He said, He said, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

Okay, so what Jesus said right there, we said a couple of thousand years ago uh to his disciples, uh, is our mission, and it's our purpose today, uh, just as much as it was the moment that he uttered those words.

Okay, to the point where our mission statement as Redemption Church really really embodies all of this.

You see it up there now.

It is it is we exist to glorify God, okay?

We do exist to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Right?

We're here to fulfill that mandate, that that mission that God gave, and we do that in the spirit of the Great Commandment.

That part comes from Matthew 22, where Jesus told his followers to love him and to love their neighbors.

Okay, so that's literally the mission statement that you will find smack dab in the middle of our main page on our website.

It's it's what we're all about, it's why we why we exist, right?

This is what the God of the universe invites each one of us, you myself, in, to participate in and being a part of as those who are saved by grace.

Okay, this is how, again, we bring him glory, which is what our lives are really all about.

This is this is our top priority.

It's it's why we're here.

Now, a really good question that perhaps you've asked or perhaps you need to ask is like how do I do this?

How do I actually fulfill the Great Commission?

Well, that's exactly what we're gonna be talking about uh today as we see it in the conversation between Philip as his story continues, uh, his conversation that he has uh with the Ethiopian eunuch.

And so I want to read this passage uh with us now, and so you can follow along in your copy.

This is chapter 8, starting in verse 26, uh, down to the end.

Isaiah 8 · chapter mention

It says, Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, Rise and go to the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

This is a desert place.

And he arose and went.

And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.

He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

And the spirit said to Philip, Go over there and join his chariot.

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, Do you understand what you're reading?

And he said, How can I, unless someone guides me?

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

Now, the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its sheer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.

In his humiliation, justice was denied him.

And who can describe this generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.

And the eunuch said to Philip, About whom I ask you, does this prophet say this?

About himself or about someone else?

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with the scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus.

And as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, See, here is water.

What prevents me from being baptized?

And he commanded the chariot to stop.

And they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

And when they had come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing.

But Philip found himself at Azotis, and he passed through, and as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Father, as we uh gather ourselves before you and before uh your word, God, I pray that you would open up our minds and our ears and our hearts to truly understand it.

And Lord, beyond just understanding it, that we would seek to obey it and then that we would seek to fulfill what you have called us to, Lord, which is of course the great commission.

And and Father, I pray that this great call that has been placed on our lives wouldn't be something that is relegated to a back burner or or off the stove entirely.

But Lord, I pray that it would be what our entire lives are about, Lord.

I pray that you would help us as we think through uh carefully what our lives really entail, Lord, and I pray that you would help us to embody the call to go and make disciples, Lord.

I pray that we would be excited about this, I pray that we would be passionate about this, I pray that we would be eager to obey you in these things, Lord.

I pray that it would not be a guilt-driven thing to take up this mission, Lord, but something that we love to do because we we love you and we see that you love the loss.

So, God, uh transform our hearts.

Lord, help us again to uh not just understand your word, but to truly apply it to our lives today and to live uh passionately for you.

So, God, um be glorified through everything that we um cover today.

We pray all this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, so we're asking ourselves the question here this morning: how do I fulfill the Great Commission?

How do I do that?

Okay, we're gonna look at three steps uh from this passage here, three steps that you and I uh can follow so that we ensure that this is actually happening.

Okay, here's the first step.

Uh obey the Lord's leading.

Okay, obey the Lord's leading.

Take a look at verse 26 now as we walk our way verse by verse uh through this passage.

Look what it says.

It says, Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, Rise and go.

A very simple rise and go.

Okay, remember that Jesus had said, back to the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28, he said, Go therefore.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

All right, so this is a command, a direct command that that Christ expected his disciples to obey, to follow through on as he leads them out into the mission field.

Okay, and the exact same thing is happening here.

This is this is the mission unfolding and rolling out, okay.

It's boots to pavement time here for Philip.

It says there that the angel of the Lord commands him, keep going, rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

This is a desert place.

Now, if you're thinking about uh Gaza, uh maybe for you that kind of triggers some memory of some of your Old Testament learning and understanding.

Gaza at one point was uh a Philistine city.

Um, but back in uh 332 BC, Alexander the Great, who I'm sure you're familiar with, he actually leveled the city, he destroyed it, and uh by this point it was under uh Roman rule.

Okay, so again, just so we kind of have a sense as to where Philip is headed off to here, uh, but look what happens after he's called and told to go, verse 27 says, uh he arose and went.

Alright, so very simply put, he he obeys the Lord's leading.

God says go, he does it.

Okay, keep going, he says, and there was an Ethiopian, okay, which is actually modern-day Sudan now, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, it says, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians.

Now, Candace, just so you know, that actually would have been uh her title rather than her uh given name.

That was the name they gave to all the queens of the Ethiopians.

Okay, but back to this uh eunuch there, it says that he was he was in charge of all of Candace's uh treasure.

Okay, now eunuch, okay, what's what's that all about?

Okay, well, it could have meant um two things.

Okay, it could have been, first of all, a title given to uh the treasurer.

Okay, that word eunuch uh did become a term uh that simply meant official, okay, which this guy obviously was.

It says that he was a court official.

Okay, and then second possibility, and and very likely in this case, it referred to him uh being castrated for the purpose of devotion or or or really reliability in the uh as a servant in a royal court.

It was something that would happen uh from time to time.

Now I'm gonna kind of leave the definition and the unpacking of all of that there, okay?

Young ears, of course.

Have fun with that one this afternoon, parents.

All right.

Okay, but regardless of of what exactly this guy was, um clearly this eunuch was a an important, high-ranking official uh in uh in Ethiopia.

Now, what is he doing here uh exactly?

Okay, well, the last part of verse 27, take a look, it tells us that he had come to Jerusalem, notice, to worship.

Okay, which tells us that he, at least to some degree, he believed in God.

He's a God-fearing man, he believed that that God existed, and so he had made some kind of a pilgrimage here to Jerusalem uh to worship, but obviously, as the rest of the story will let us know, uh he hadn't gotten saved yet.

He hadn't heard the gospel, received the gospel.

Okay.

Now, uh verse 28 tells us that um he had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning.

He was seated in his chariot and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

Okay, so somehow he's he's gotten his hands on a copy of Isaiah, on a on a copy of the prophets uh of some kind.

And and and now, interestingly, I think this is kind of um kind of interesting to note, in Isaiah chapter 56, uh the Lord actually speaks and addresses eunuchs specifically and um and tells them of the immense blessings that that godly eunuchs will receive as uh as God's very own.

Isaiah 56 · chapter mention

Just infuses them uh with hope and assurance of his love.

Have you read that part yet?

Uh we don't really know exactly.

Maybe he had, maybe he he hadn't.

But verse 29, notice here, it says, and the spirit, okay, okay, so the spirit said to Philip, so the spirit's leading Philip all the all the way along here.

He says, Go over now.

First of all, he said, rise and go.

Now he says, Go over and join this chariot.

Okay, so so another command that Philip obeys.

How do we know that he obeys it?

Well, verse 30 tells us, okay.

So Philip, it says he ran over to him and and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, Do you know what you're reading?

Okay, pretty interesting.

Now, I I think that uh something that you and I uh really need to be struck by here in the text is it's that before we ever get into evangelism and discipleship strategies, before you know we we work through what are the best methods and approaches to effective biblical engagement with the world.

Okay, all of which are really important things for us to kind of wrestle down and think through.

Okay, but before we get ahead to all of that, you and I must first be gripped by the fact that we are called to obey the Lord.

We're called to go as as the Lord leads us.

Okay, because I because I think what tends to happen, maybe speaking generally here about us, is that is that we sense somewhere kind of in our in our soul, there's there's a hesitancy to do this.

There's a fear involved in going, right?

There's a there's maybe even you would notice an unwillingness on your part to fulfill the Great Commission and get deeply engaged in that.

And so what we try to do, I think, to to combat that that hesitancy, that unwillingness, that fear, is we try to, we gotta kind of get ahead of ourselves and try and think about and imagine how those eva uh evangel evangelistic conversations might go.

Right?

We think about like how, you know, what if the person asks me that question and and I don't know it?

Or or or what if I'm I'm bold and I talk to them about heaven and hell and sin and wrath and and they're offended by all of that?

We we think about like how how would I even start a conversation about all of those things and get the conversation going towards the gospel, right?

We think about the objections.

And again, it's not wrong to think about all of those things, not not at all.

It's good for us to prepare.

Okay, but I think what what happens is that we get a little bit too far ahead of ourselves sometimes, where we we we haven't even really come to grips with that very first step.

The primary critical question of will I obey him?

Right?

Will I go wherever he leads?

Have you and I have we resolved deep in our hearts and with our actions to do that very, very crucial thing?

Okay, before we ever know the, you know, where exactly am I going and who's the person I'm gonna be talking to, and what am I gonna be saying before we get to all of that stuff?

Are we even willing to go?

Are we willing to obey?

Because I think this is what stands out here with Philip.

Right?

The Lord, it says in verse 26 that an angel of the Lord, and then in verse 29 it says the spirit, right, leads Philip by telling him to go.

And what does he do?

Complies.

He's like, Yeah, totally, I'm I'm I'm going, I'm doing it.

Okay, all he's been told to do is rise and go to some dirt road.

Like, just go there.

And then when he gets there, he's told to go over to this guy's this guy's chariot.

Again, so so don't miss the very simple fact that at the heart of this for Philip, there was a willingness to do what God commanded, an eagerness to go.

Wherever the Lord was to lead him, whatever that was to look like.

Philip obviously he trusts the Lord's in the details of what would follow after all that, how the conversation's gonna go uh with this eunuch uh specifically.

And so, hey, have you come to grips with or really embraced uh that you and I are called to obey God's command to fulfill the Great Commission?

Is that something that has struck you?

Have you grabbed hold of that?

Is that driving your life?

Okay, if you're you know sitting here this morning or you're or you're watching from home or listening uh later this week and you're thinking, kind of in a moment of honesty, you're like, man, I I actually am not really that willing to go.

I I'm not that eager to obey God's leading in all of this.

Okay, then well then if you're admitting that, which I think is a good first step here, if you're admitting that, would you would you be at least willing to explore that a little bit?

The the kind of the why behind that, what's really going on in your heart and in your life, you know, would you would you be willing to invite the Lord in to transform you into somebody who, like Philip, is extremely willing to obey?

If so, I'd really encourage you to start by asking yourself and really asking the Lord, you know, why am I not committed to to obeying him?

Why am I not committed to fulfilling the Great Commission as He's been so clear to lay that out?

And maybe for you, as you think through the why and what's really going on, you're noticing, well, it's just because I'm I've got other priorities in my life.

About other things that I am gripped by and things that are the and other priorities that are driving me.

For you, maybe it's a it's a fear.

Or for you, you're realizing, man, I don't know if I have even a love for the lost.

I find them kind of irritating or annoying.

Like maybe that's what's going on in your heart.

Maybe for you it's just a lack of love for Christ.

What Christ loves, you should love.

Who Christ loves, you should love.

Maybe these are some of the things that that you are kind of noticing in your life, right?

It really comes down to, as we've talked about in our last series, even, to identifying some of those behaviors or those those actions in your life that need changing.

Okay, in this case, it's it's maybe a lack of obedience, right?

A lack of being willing to follow God's call to fulfill the Great Commission.

Maybe that's the action in your life.

Ah, that's got to change.

And and then remember we talked about it's it's after that, identifying the idols kind of under the surface in your life that drive those behaviors, that drive those actions and need changing.

And so the idols are those are those strong desires for things, in this case, other than obedience.

Right?

I have a strong desire to make money more than I have a desire to follow the Lord.

Maybe that's an idol in your life.

That's just one example.

But then after the idols, you've got the behavior, you've got the idols, then you've got what?

The lies.

Remember we talked about that?

Identifying the lies deep down that you and I believe that promote the idolatry and then drive the behavior and actions in our lives.

And so maybe for you, as you're thinking about, you know, do I obey the Lord?

Maybe a lie that you believe is deep down, and you would you wouldn't even consciously think this, but subconsciously it kind of goes on that what you want is more important than obeying the Lord.

Is that true?

Well, no, of course not.

I don't think any of us would say, yes, what I want is more important than what the Lord wants, but that can be a lie deep down that drives us all the way to this point where we're not actually really engaged in the mission of Christ.

And so when you and I, when we've determined what those things are, then we can really get to work being transformed by the renewal of our mind.

Remember Romans chapter 12, verse 2, where our minds are renewed on what we think about.

Romans 12:2

And remember, it's it's telling ourselves truth.

That's Philippians 4, uh, eight and nine.

We're telling ourselves of the reality, the truth, that that being on mission, that obeying the Lord is is is awesome.

Right?

That's the reality that I've been called to engage in.

And and and there's nothing better than that.

There's nothing better than obeying the Lord, right?

That is the truth.

And and when we obey the Lord, he leads us into these exciting opportunities, just like we're seeing Philip here with the eunuch, where it's like that I Philip couldn't have drawn this up.

He's just following the Lord.

The Lord leads him to this conversation where he ends up sharing the gospel with this person.

And this is exactly what the Lord will do with us.

He'll lead us.

You into opportunities, exciting opportunities, where you will get to share the most exciting thing, the most exciting truth, the most exciting thing that's ever, ever happened, right?

That Christ has made a way for sinful people who have transgressed his law, have gone against him, how we can be forgiven and reunited into a relationship with God.

We can be saved from our sin, saved from the wrath of God, saved from the horrors of hell, rescued into a relationship and promised a life of being able to join him in this mission and then an eternity in heaven with him.

I mean, how how awesome is that?

Right?

And when we're thinking rightly, we're thinking about those things, and we're we're we're telling ourselves these things.

Our minds are being renewed in these things.

This changes our idolatry, the idols start to crumble, and then our behavior starts to transform, and we get on mission and we obey.

And what an amazing thing, what an exciting thing, what a joy that it is that you and I get to do this.

Right, love it.

More I would love to say, but let's keep going here.

Second step.

Okay, how do you and I fulfill the Great Commission?

Well, step two is engage in purposeful disciple making.

All right, remember that Jesus had said in the Great Commission, Matthew 28, go therefore and do what?

Make disciples.

Okay, make disciples of just the Jews?

No, of all nations, he says, baptizing them.

He goes on and says, teaching them.

All right, and that's exactly what we see Philip doing right here.

This is the Great Commission just being rolled out.

Remember, he'd ask the eunuch, do you understand what you're reading?

Okay, and here's how the eunuch responds, verse 31, he says, How can I unless someone guides me?

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

Now you need to know, even that was a really unique moment.

I mean, this eunuch was what you would call a big deal back in this day.

He was an important official.

And notice here how how God is just, you know, leads him into this conversation where the guy is so ripe and just so ready to hear the gospel.

He's like, How can I understand unless someone shows me?

Imagine Philip in that moment.

He's like, Well, now I can see exactly why the Lord told me to get up and go.

Okay, verse 32 now.

Keep going.

He says, Now the passage of the scripture that the eunuch was reading was this.

And so this comes from Isaiah chapter 53, okay, verse 7 and 8.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

He reads, like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shear is silent, so he opens not his mouth.

Okay, now who does this automatically get you thinking about?

Okay, Jesus, right?

Now, verse 33, in his humiliation, justice was denied him.

Who can describe this generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.

Verse 4 34 now, and the eunuch said to Philip, about whom I ask you, does the prophet say this?

It's talking about himself or is it about someone else?

It's the eunuch that just perfectly tees it up for Philip to share the gospel.

Right?

The eunuch was such a ripe apple, he was eager, he wanted to know, and the Lord, of course, knew this, and again, that's why he sent Philip to him.

And so Philip, he just dives right in, verse 35.

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture, the Old Testament, he told him the good news about Jesus.

How awesome is that, right?

He's he's teaching him, which again is what Jesus tells us to do in the Great Commission.

He's he's teaching, he's unpacking the scriptures, starting the Old Testament, he's bridging it to the New Testament and showing how it all comes together in Jesus Christ.

All right.

Now, verse 36, it says, And as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, See, here's water.

What prevents me from being baptized?

Okay, so again, baptism was also what Jesus told us to do in the Great Commission.

Go and make disciples, uh, baptizing them.

Okay, and so this is what's happening.

Verse 38 now, it says, and he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

The fact that the eunuch asked about getting baptized, um, but there's no real mention here in the text of him uh first getting saved, leads us to just assume that Philip had already appealed to him to repent and get saved and then get baptized, very similar to what Peter had said uh to the Jews in uh Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

It's just that Luke here, the author, he doesn't record it.

Okay, so uh that's really what's going on there.

Now, for whatever reason, uh Luke decided that that part doesn't need to be uh included here, uh this that part of the conversation, and so he he kind of leaves it out.

But if you notice there in your Bible, take a look.

You see how there's no verse 37?

Do you see that there?

Do you have a Bible with you?

Goes from 36, skips over 37, goes right to 38.

Well, that's very intentional.

Let me explain.

Um instead of a verse 37, um, there's actually a little note probably at the bottom of uh of your page there um that kind of gives us a little bit more detail, right?

It tells us that that some of the early scribes, as they were making uh more copies of uh Luke's letter of Acts, um saw that that for whatever reason Luke didn't include that, and so they felt, well, you know what, we should give some more detail here and explain a little bit more of what was going on.

So they added in their own little verse 37, and again it might say it at the bottom of your page, but it says this.

It says, And Philip said, Well, if you believe with all your heart you may, you may be baptized.

And he replied, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

You know, nothing theologically wrong with that whatsoever, um, but modern translators of the Bible, uh, they've recognized that the oldest manuscripts that we have, so the ones closest to the very time, the very copy that Luke wrote, uh, the translators knew or recognized that uh those old manuscripts don't have that verse 37 part in there, and so they've correctly uh left it out.

They realized Luke didn't have it there, so it doesn't need to be there, while instead just choosing to make a note of it because some of the more recent manuscripts do have it, so it's just kind of an FYI uh thing for us.

Okay, but bottom line here is that Philip is cre uh fulfilling rather the the Great Commission.

He's engaging in purposeful disciple making uh with this man.

Right?

He's told him of the good news of Jesus.

He shared the gospel.

Uh, this man gets saved, right?

We're we're right to presume that, I think.

And and then right then and there, Philip baptizes the guy because of this man's desire to obey his savior and express what you know, the joy of what Jesus Christ has done for him.

Okay, so hey, like like Philip now, as we think about ourselves, are we engaged in these same things?

Are we purposeful?

Are we intentional when it comes to actually making disciples?

Is that something that you think about?

Is that does that does that get you up in the morning?

Is that what you're thinking about on Sunday mornings when you are getting ready for church?

You're thinking about it's about discipleship here.

I get to come to church where where I am gonna be encouraged to be uh uh a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I'm gonna I'm gonna interact with people where they get to challenge and encourage me, and I get to challenge and encourage them as well.

What an opportunity this is as I as I gather with my church family to be involved in the mission to make disciples.

Is that what you think about in the morning when you come here on a Sunday morning?

Or as you as you wake up and and and you're at home and you've got your family gathered and you're you're watching the live stream and you're thinking, man, this is an opportunity now to to engage in the discipleship of my wife and and my kids, my family.

Is that what we're thinking about?

Is this is that your attitude when you serve in the church?

I mean, it's about making disciples.

When I come and serve, I'm I'm I'm helping, you know, God is using me and my gifts to create an atmosphere here, whether I'm greeting or I'm clicking buttons on a computer or I'm setting up chairs or tearing them down, I'm creating an atmosphere where people can come and hear the gospel, hear the scriptures proclaimed, they can grow and be edified in their walk with the Lord.

You see this as discipleship, and you're very much involved.

Is discipleship your purpose and and on your mind when you attend small group?

This is why you're going over the questions in advance and you're thinking carefully through this because you realize I gotta grow as a disciple.

And then as you have conversations with people and you're praying together in small group, this is us growing together as a community of believers.

We have to we have to disciple each other.

It's disciple making your your mentality and your attitude when you have those seemingly casual conversations with your neighbors.

Right?

Is it really just about like how the guy's lawn looks, or or are you trying to think about like how can I how can I get this conversation to things of the Lord?

I I got that I'm on earth, I I exist, I'm here to glorify God through through making disciples, and and I gotta do this.

Is that what's driving you?

Is that the drive of your life?

Because what you've likely noticed is that it's extremely easy to attend church, to serve, to go to small group, to to talk to unbelievers without really engaging much at all in purposeful disciple making.

Have you noticed how easy it is to do that?

We just kind of show up, we we roll in, wipe the sleep out of our eyes, and click the link to watch the service, or you know, the service, we leave.

We we we maybe look over the questions on the car ride on the way to small group.

Right?

I serve, but I'm kind of annoyed that to be here a little bit early.

Right?

We're not thinking about the discipleship opportunity that lays in front of us.

And all because somewhere along the way we've we've lost sight, I think, of why we've been put here.

Again, it's to fulfill this mission that God has given us.

It's first, of course, being a purposeful disciple, it's receiving discipleship from other people, it's it's owning our own walk, and then again, it's engaging with others so that they can grow in Christ like I am.

What a compelling thing that you and I have been called to to participate in.

That's really the second step, and then again, there's a lot there, but how about this third step?

How do I fulfill the great commission?

Step three, just repeat steps one and two.

That's really what it is.

And you see this starting in verse 39.

It says, And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord get this, carried Philip away.

And the eunuch saw him no more.

Definitely a unique occurrence that I think reminds us maybe a little bit of when like Elijah was carried away, whisked off into uh heaven.

The last time was that you were carried away to Vaughn or something like that.

Never happened to me.

You know, it says that the eunuch that he went on his way rejoicing.

This guy's so full of joy, right?

He's fired up, he's just gotten saved, he's baptized.

Now, verse 40, but Philip found himself as at Azotis.

You ever try and figure out like what was that like?

Like, whoa, okay, here I am, a Zotis.

Good to meet you, right?

And it says that as he passed through, he preached the gospel, notice, to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Okay, Caesarea apparently where he ends up putting down roots, as Acts 21, verse 8 tells us, it's where he lives, and that's the next time we're introduced, reintroduced to Philip again.

Acts 21:8

Now, I just love when you kind of look at these two verses here, the urgency on the Lord's part for the mission here, right?

And Philip's, right, to keep fulfilling the Great Commission.

Right?

The Spirit of God here doesn't even wait for the length of time that it would have taken Philip to travel by foot to get to Azotis.

No, he just he just transports them there like in a blink of an eye, as you know, from the looks of it, right?

And Philip is is eager to get right back at it himself.

He says that he's preaching the gospel to all the towns over and over again.

He's just he's involved, right?

He's engaged here between those towns, between Azotis and Caesarea, just obeying the Lord's leading all the ways, engaging in in purposeful disciple making with the different people that he encounters.

Right?

That's the exact same call on your life, that's the exact same call on my life as well.

And listen, it's always gonna be that.

There's no mystery in that.

It's not gonna change, it's not gonna become about something else.

It's obey the Lord.

Right?

It's go, it's it's engage in discipleship, disciple making.

And then see what the Lord does with all of that.

Just watch as the Lord saves, as the Lord builds his church.

So listen, as we close here today, I want to say two things to you.

First of all, if if you're not a Christian, get saved.

Okay, get saved.

Recognize that the God of the universe created you to be in a relationship with him, which is just a it's a mind-blowing thing to even consider.

But the reality is because you and I are sinful beings, we've we've we've inherited a sinful nature, we choose to sin.

Because of that, that sin has actually driven a wedge between us and God.

And there's nothing that our morality, our goodness, our good behavior, our actions, our whatever, there's nothing that we can do to fix that, to close that gap, to heal that you know, what's broken.

And so what God is is he said, Well, I don't want to pour out my wrath on my creation.

I don't want to do that.

I I love them, but because I'm a God of justice, I have to deal with sin.

And so rather than punishing you, he decided to punish his own sinless son.

That's why he sent Jesus to the cross.

That's why, that's why Jesus died.

He was up there taking on the punishment, he's taking on God's wrath.

That was meant for you, that was meant for me.

So, what is salvation?

What is becoming a Christian?

Well, it's recognizing that whole sin piece that I talked about.

That you your sin has offended God, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Only Jesus Christ can fix that for you.

So it involves admitting your sin, humbling yourself, admitting your sin before God, and then receiving what Jesus did as for you.

And because of what Jesus did, I'm you you're you're gonna receive that by faith.

It's nothing you can earn.

You simply receive it as a gift.

And it's and it's Jesus' work in your life, in your heart that enables you now to be in a relationship with God.

Would you get saved today?

If you still have questions about what that's all about, would you would you talk to me afterwards?

Would you talk to the person that you came with?

That's the first thing.

If you're not a Christian, get saved.

Second thing, if you haven't been baptized, time to get that done.

Right?

Obviously, this passage does talk about that.

It talks about a baptism.

That's what Philip does with this eunuch.

It's something that the Lord Jesus commands us to do.

It's an act of obedience.

It's not this mystical superpower thing that once you get baptized, you'll never have a bad day and you achieve Christian Jedi status or something like that.

That's not what it's about.

It's simply about obeying the Lord.

It's about identifying with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

It's telling your church family that Jesus has has saved you, and now I want to tell the world, I want to be accountable to you as my church.

I want to obey the Lord.

Have you done that?

If you haven't, please let us know.

Come find me today and say, hey, listen, I want to begin talking about this.

You might have fears, you might not even know what it's really all about.

We'd love to walk you through that and explain that to you.

We're kind of in the process right now of figuring out what a baptism service in the middle of COVID even look like?

Like, how do you even do this?

Typically speaking, since we've started as a church, we've had a baptism service in November.

Well, it's November now.

We would love to be able to do this again.

So be patient with us, but pray for us, and we can talk about how we can make this happen.

We've got some ideas, and so we're working towards getting a baptism service or more than one happening in our very near future, just so you know.

But if you haven't been baptized, get baptized.

If you know somebody who hasn't, gently encourage them.

Man, go talk to go talk to the pastor, go talk to John, go talk to Jeremy, whatever it might be.

Allow us to continue to fulfill the great commission.

This is exactly what Christ has called us to.

That's what he's called you to as well.

So I want to pray for us that the Lord continue to do that here in his church and unite us all in this passion to glorify him in it.

Lord, we thank you for this time together.

Lord, we pray that as we as we consider the Great Commission, Lord, this isn't just a kind of an option.

This is the whole thing.

And so, God, would you would you stir our hearts to these things?

Would you give us a passion for Jesus Christ?

Would you stir up our motives and break down our idols and give us joy in these things and give us courage and boldness?

We pray it all in Christ's name.

Amen.