Asking Great Questions

Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church

Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast

you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. Alright, our

teaching text for today comes from Acts chapter

Acts 8:26–40

8 verses 26 to 40. Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, get

up and go towards the south to the road that

goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a wilderness

road. So we got up and went. Now there was an

Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candice,

the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her

entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to

worship and was returning home seated in his

chariot. He was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then

the spirit said to Philip, go over to this chariot

and join it. So Philip ran up to it and heard

him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, do

you understand what you are reading? He replied,

how can I unless someone guides me? And he invited

Philip to get in and sit beside 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 silent before its shearer. So

he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation,

justice was denied him. Who can describe this

generation? For his life was taken away from

the earth. The eunuch asked Philip, about whom,

may I ask you, does the prophet say this? About

himself or about someone else? Then Philip began

to speak. And starting with this scripture, he

proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.

As they were going along the road, they came

to some water. And the eunuch said, look, here

is water. What is to prevent me from being baptized?

He commanded the chariot to stop and both of

them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the

water and Philip baptized him. When they came

up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched

Philip away. The eunuch saw him no more and went

on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself

at Azotus and as he was passing through the region,

he proclaimed the good news to all the towns

until he came to Caesarea. This is the word of

the Lord. Have you guys ever been in a conversation

with a four year old who just wants to ask questions?

It's intense. We saw a little bit of a... during

communion. It was wonderful. It's fantastic.

Sometimes it's confusing though, sometimes it's

slightly exhausting. Sometimes we tend to ask

a lot of questions, don't we? But we don't listen

for an answer. So asking a question is kind of

pointless as we saw with Forky just then. So,

if I don't know you, my name's Jenny. I'm the

Senior Pastor of Encounter Church, Adelaide.

I normally worship up at Enfield site, but it

is awesome to be down here with you guys at Henley

today. Down or up? I don't know. a cross? It's

a cross, whatever. Anyway, I'm here and I'm excited

to be here. Hey, we are, we are doing a series

called Evangelism for Everyone at the moment.

And last year, last week, Tex talks about hospitality.

It feels like last year because we've been at

a conference already this week. And he talked

about hospitality and if you, that's going to

be up on the podcast really soon. I encourage

you if you haven't, listen to that because it's

a great place to start. But today I'm talking

about asking great Do you know that kids ask

about 300 questions a day? Every mum's like,

yes, I know that. I absolutely do. Well, everybody

else let me tell you, 300 questions a day. But

adults, we actually only ask about between 25

and 30 questions. That's a huge drop from 300

as a child down to just 25 to 30 questions. Maybe

if you're Tim, you ask a couple more, but for

most of us. I was wondering this week about why

that is. Why do we go from asking so many questions

to asking very few questions? And I think there's

a few reasons. But two of the things that I think

it really is, is I think for many of us, as we

get older, we start to think that we have all

the answers, right? Particularly in that young

adult kind of age. But even as we get a bit older,

we feel like we've got a lot of answers. And

probably we do have a lot of answers to questions.

But I think the other reason that we don't ask

a lot of questions is because we don't want to

look silly. We don't want to look like that person

that doesn't know what they're talking about.

So we'd rather spend hours trying to work it

out ourselves rather than just learning that

it is okay to ask questions. And when it comes

to faith questions, I think we're a little scared

to ask them because we worry, what if they ask

us a question back and we don't have the right

answer? Well our goal in this series is to equip

you to share the good news of Jesus and we're

going to give you a framework around how to do

that and today I want to encourage you that you

do have it in you to ask the good questions,

the great questions. And so today our teaching

text in here we see some really great questions

asked by Philip and the eunuch. And we see the

importance of really seeing people where they're

at and what they're going through. So I'm gonna

give you a bit of a framework. For those who

are taking notes or who like, you know, very

things, very structured, I'm gonna give you a

bit of a framework. And it's pretty simple. I've

got four ways that I think will help you ask

really great questions in when you're telling

people about Jesus in your evangelism. But I'm

not gonna give you all the dot points in between.

And there's a reason for that today. It's very

deliberate. When you ask questions to people,

your context is going to be really different

to mine. And when you evangelize to your neighbor

or your friend, your context is going to be really

different to mine. So I want you to fill in the

gaps later. I encourage you to write these four

questions down as they come up, or those four

bits down as they come up, but then fill it in

for yourself later. So the first one I want us

to look at this afternoon is look at where God

is at work already. So if we jump into the scripture,

We can see that it starts off by Philip being

sent by an angel To meet somebody on a road.

He's not told who he's just told to go Right.

We see that throughout scripture actually that

Jesus and and the disciples They're told to go

that Jesus tells them to go and we see it happen

all the time And so he's sent to this random

place right except it's not random They give

you the name the name is called the wilderness

road Now, if the Bible ever gives you a name

or a description, it's because they want you

to understand something about that place or the

meaning behind that place. And so it also lets

us know that not only was he on the wilderness

road, that he was a eunuch. So they told him

something about that. And you can Google more

information about a eunuch, but essentially a

eunuch had to go through some pretty traumatic

things to become a eunuch. And they were... They

were pretty important in their roles looking

after the Queen's courts in this case. And so

the Bible tells us about who he was, that he

was an Ethiopian eunuch on a wilderness road.

So that helps us understand that because he was

a eunuch, he was actually a bit of a foreigner.

He was a bit of an outsider. So it says that

he was in Jerusalem and worshipping at the temple,

but he would not have been allowed in the temple.

So as a eunuch he would have been out in the

courts. So he was allowed to worship but out

in the courts because he was not a Jew. And so

he wouldn't have been welcome there. So already

he's in a wilderness place in his life. He's

outside the boundaries of what they would call

the people that were most holy and the people

that were most important, the Israelites, the

Jewish people. And he was just there to do a

job. And this is where we find the Ethiopian

when Philip meets him. One of the things that

we need to be aware of is that we need to know

where God's at work already. So the Ethiopian

was already reading the Word of God. He had already

been in worship. God was already at work in his

life. So we need to go friends where God is at

work. The first thing I want to say to us before

we even ask any good question is to look around

and ask, where is God already at work? Where

do you see God at work in your friends, in your

neighbours, in your family? And start there.

I want you just for a second to picture that

person. Somebody who maybe they're like the Ethiopian,

they're seeking God, they might not know God,

maybe they've come into church for maybe they

never have, but you can see that God's at work.

There's just some strange things that have been

happening, some polls that are pulling them towards

asking you questions or just wanting to know

more about what's going on in your life. Think

about that person for a moment, because you're

going to need that person in your mind as we

talk about this message today. I think one of

the reasons that we struggle with evangelism

is because of our fear of rejection. I don't

know about you, but when I think about evangelizing,

like as a concept, I'm super excited, right?

I'm like, yes, I want people to know the name

of Jesus and the powerful, His powerful love.

I want them to know that. But I'm scared that

what if I say something and I get rejected? Like

that's a real thing. Yes, even extroverts feel

that way as well. We worry about that. I know,

it's true. Sorry to burst your bubble. But I

think if we were to understand where and see

where God is already at work, we would actually

find we have less rejection and less worry about

rejection because we've already seen God going

before us. And we are simply meeting them where

they're at. Which brings me to my second point.

See where they are at. In the scripture. We see

that the Ethiopian was reading the Old Testament.

He's reading Isaiah 53. Now in the Bible when

it says reading the scriptures, it means we're

reading out loud. So he was reading this out

loud. And Philip's walking along, I guess pretty

fast, because this guy's in a like, in a horse

and carriage or whatever. Yeah, they would have

had a horse and carriage? Chariot? But that's

like done by horses, right? Anyway, possibly.

Or maybe men carrying. I don't know. Anyway.

He would have been walking pretty fast and he's

walking along and he hears him, he hears the

Ethiopian reading the scriptures out loud and

he recognises it. I think that was a word when

I read this, he recognises the scripture. We've

got to be in the Word of God if we're going to

evangelise to other people and know what it is

that we are getting to share about. So he recognises

that and he doesn't lie and say, hey what are

you reading? Right? Because some of us we want

to ask like, We don't want to ask the exact question

we meant to ask. We want to ask like a leading

kind of question, which is not a bad thing. But

if you know something about someone, you can't

just kind of like lie your way into a conversation.

Not a good idea. Please don't do that. He doesn't

lie. He says one of the most famous questions

in the Bible. Do you know what you are reading?

And we'll get back to this question in a moment.

In this case, the Ethiopian was searching. God

was already at work in him and he was searching

for someone to tell him what on earth he was

reading. So Philip sees him and he sees his need.

He doesn't just walk past, he cares for him.

I think part of our problem with stopping and

asking great questions to people is we've gotten

so busy about what we have to do rather than

stopping and caring about where they're at and

where God wants to take them. And because he

cares for him, he's invited into his chariot.

And in many cases, in this case in particular,

into his world. Watch for the invitation into

someone's life. Watch out for that carefully.

It's such an important part in evangelism. The

question back can be an invite into their world

if you're looking for it. And I think one of

the things that Philip does is he shows that

he actually cares about this Ethiopian. By getting

into his chariot, by going wherever he's going,

he puts aside where he thinks he should go and

he goes with them. He cares about him enough

to spend time in his world speaking to him about

his things. And He listens to where the Ethiopian

is at. One of the most important things I can

teach you before I teach you how to ask great

questions is to listen where people are at. I

think people listen to answer. I don't think

they listen to hear. Let me say that again so

you can understand that. I think people listen

to answer, not listen to hear. And this is a

crucial part in evangelism, in doing this well.

When we get really good at asking good questions,

it's amazing. But I think first we've got to

ask ourselves the question, are we ready to really

listen to where people are at? The questions

that they're asking, the things that they're

thinking, what they're going through. And let's

say we listen to them and they invite us into

their world, then we get to part three, ask a

nudging question. There's a great book. There's

a great book by Sam Chan and it's called How

to Talk About Jesus Without Being That Guy. It's

got a bright yellow cover. I want to, if you'll

write that down because I want to encourage you

to all of you go out and buy that book. It is

worth reading. It's super easy. I'm not a reader.

I have read it twice now. It is a brilliant,

brilliant, well, most of it twice. The second

time I skimmed through it a little bit to be

honest, but just don't want to lie from up here.

All right. I don't want to lie in general, not

just up here. Clarify that. So and in this book

he talks about nudging questions and nudging

questions are questions that nudge the conversation

towards the next layer. A question like how are

you is fine but it's not a nudging question.

It's a direct question that needs a direct response

that you might get just a okay or good but you're

probably not going to get much more than that.

A nudging question nudges the conversation to

the next level, the next layer. From interest

to values, from values to worldviews, from secular

conversation to sacred conversation. So a nudging

question might be something like, what are you

hoping for in life? Why is it important to you?

What is the one thing you must absolutely have

in this life? And what do you think it all means?

Philip asked the Ethiopian a nudging question.

He says, do you know what you are reading? Right?

He wants to know something about this guy, where

he's at in his faith, what he understands, what

he doesn't understand. And not only does the

Ethiopian answer him, he invites him into his

world with this question. How can I unless someone

guides me? In that moment, he gave him permission

to keep the conversation going. The Ethiopian

doesn't tell, say, tell me the answer. We read

from the NRSV version, and Ash talked to our

interns this week actually about the NRSV version

being one that's really accurate to the translation

of the Greek and Hebrew. And in this translation,

it says, guide me. Now guide doesn't mean to

pull or to convince it means to provide direction

Provide direction not to pull not to try and

convince them but just to provide direction and

that's what Philip does here When you ask a question

it gets people thinking it moves them in a conversation

to another level And when you just ask someone,

you know, how you going or isn't that just a

lovely day? You know, they're lovely questions,

they're not bad questions. I don't want to knock

you if that's what you do, and I'm pretty sure

I do sometimes. But it's not something that's

going to make them push to think. And what we

want to do when we're talking with people and

caring with people is we want to hear their story,

right? So the nudging question allows you to

hear their story. And you need to start where

they're at. So for me to share, to ask a question

to my school friend who I've been friends with

for... I don't want to say how old I am, but

let's go 20 years or perhaps a little bit more.

I might be able to ask questions like, where

are you going in life right now? Right? I can

go deep. I can ask them questions. But if I've

only met someone over coffee, it may not be quite

appropriate for me the first time I meet somebody

to ask them a question. Where are you going in

life right now? Like, I feel like they're probably

going to look at me and like, see you. Maybe

something like, have you ever had any church

experience? Or even, what do you just, simple,

what do you enjoy most in life? Allow them to

share a little bit about who they are. And when

you ask these questions, don't go into thinking

mode. Now, I know most of you are thinking like,

yeah, I know, right? But let me tell you, how

many times have you asked the question, what's

your name? And they've said, Tom. But you have

gone on to the next question, so you can't remember

what his name is. Right? It's happened so many

times. It happens to me all the time. I was actually

really impressed. I'll say to Bob here, I met

him just before the service and I came to sit

down and he said my name and I was like, you

remembered my name. This is fantastic. I'm actually

going to preach on that. That's so good. But

we do don't ask. Most of us go into, so thank

you Bob for remembering my name. Most of us go

into thinking mode once we ask a question. We

ask a question and then we think about either

something going on in our life or what the next

kind of question is rather than actually listening

to people. So make sure when you go into a conversation

with someone you actually listen to what they're

going through. There's a little bit of a trick

that Sam says, and I don't have my water up here

so I can't do it, but he says when you're talking

with someone and you ask them a question and

they start sharing, when the pause comes, there's

always a pause, right? Take a drink of water.

And that's a sign for the other person to continue

on talking, right? Because we want to allow people

to actually share where they're at. I tried it

this week. It works. It does. I thought I'd better

try this. It absolutely works. So ask a great

question and you will get a great answer. If

you ask a dumb question, you're going to get

a dumb answer. Sorry. But if you ask a yes or

no question, you're going to get a yes or no

answer. And it's not going to lead to actually

being able to have intentional conversations

that go to the next level. And what we want to

do is make sure that when we ask that question,

we're really caring about them. So maybe after

tonight, you need to go home and you need to

think about some questions in your context that

could be nudging questions that could help people

go to the next level in the conversations that

you're having with them. And I do want to really

encourage you and just to hone down a little

bit on that listening thing. Don't come prepared

with like five questions, right? Come prepared

with one. Right, because what you should be doing

is listening to what they're saying and then

your next question should come out of what they're

already talking about. The question, Philip asked

a question and then because he is invited in,

he's able to speak. But he lets the Ethiopian

speak first. He lets the Ethiopian ask the question

to him. He doesn't come with five different questions

for the Ethiopian. He just sees where he's at

and then he leads them on. And I hope that by

seeing and just listening that might take a little

bit of the pressure off you because I think with

evangelism we feel pressure right even when we

hear that first word evangelism some of us if

we're not a capital E evangelist in our in our

name which like Cheryl is talk to Cheryl about

evangelism later but if you're not you might

feel a little bit uncomfortable so my number

four point is that asking good questions takes

the pressure off at you and it lets the good

news speak for itself. The cool thing about God

is he doesn't need only you to bring someone

to faith. The Ethiopian had already been reading

the Word. He had already come from worship. There

were many other people that had spoken into his

life as he went along. Philip just had the joy,

and my friends it is a joy, to bring someone

into a relationship with Jesus. And so he's already

on his way into this relationship with Jesus.

And as in verse 35, Philip began to speak and

starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to

him the good news about Jesus. Philip opens up

a conversation with a nudging question and after

being asked to guide him, Philip doesn't just

tell him stories about himself. He opens up the

very thing that he has been talking about. This

is really important. It starts with the thing

the person is interested in. Do we start what

other people are interested in or do we have

exactly what we feel like they need to hear in

this moment? He starts unpacking Isaiah 53. Isaiah

53 is all about Jesus. It's a prophecy about

what is to come for all believers. Now the Ethiopian

was not a Jew. Right. So he was not welcomed

into the rest of the people that would follow

Jesus into the temple. He knew that he was missing

something. But in Isaiah 53, this was the climax

of Israel's story. And the fact that Jesus was

the destination, the fact that he was included

in that meant that this was the most exciting

news that the Ethiopian had ever heard. For the

first time, he understood what Romans 10 is,

even if it wasn't written down then. For there

is no difference between Jews and Gentiles. The

same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all

who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the

name of the Lord will be saved. Hallelujah. And

in this moment that becomes his personal story.

He ended up finding everything he needed in the

truth of Jesus. When we fully understand that

God is in control. and that He can lead someone

towards Himself, then surely we have to understand

that we are not the hero of the story, friends.

We're not the hero. God is the hero of every

story, every single person that you meet. God

is what they need. Sometimes when we meet somebody,

we have the opportunity to share our story. And

we're going to talk about testimony in a couple

of weeks. So hang around for that. But sometimes

what we need to do is simply point them to the

good news of Jesus. We need to remind them of

that thing that they're missing. It's Jesus.

We need to understand that if they are seeking

the good news, if they are open to the things

of the gospel, give them the gospel. Share about

the truth of Jesus. You don't have to have all

the right answers. You don't have to get it perfectly.

If you know Jesus at all, start there. Start

with it. Listen to what they're saying and start

by sharing the good news exactly where they're

at. Jesus is the answer, my friends, but I want

to ask us the question today. Do we know? that

Jesus is the answer. Do you truly know without

a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the answer?

Because if you don't know that, they will see

right through you. People outside of these walls

who don't know Jesus, if you go there and you

say, let me tell you about somebody that I don't

even know, they're not gonna listen. They're

not gonna be interested. So my question to you

today. is do you know that Jesus is the only

way? Maybe today, before you even go out of these

walls and you start to tell people about Jesus,

you start asking those nudging questions or you

start seeing where God's at work, maybe you have

to ask the question, Jesus, who are you to me?

Remind me of your great love. Maybe you need

to go back to that first love. Remember why you

fell in love with Jesus. Because then and only

then, He will lead you to share about the good

news of Him. Jesus asked great questions throughout

scripture. But all His questions were helping

people understand that He is the way, the truth

and the life and nobody comes to the Father except

through Him. Everyone who is searching needs

to meet Jesus. He is the Saviour. He is the one

that loves you. He is the one that knows you.

He is the one that has plans for your life. And

we cannot ask great questions and guide people,

but it is Jesus who transforms. God bless you.