Called to Transforming Encounters

And this morning I was asked to speak on called to transforming encounters.

Some of you might think, what does that mean?

Some of you might think, oh, please don't ask me to have to go and speak to anyone and have a transforming encounter.

And some of you might be thinking, yeah, let's go.

I'm sure that's Dave Sims if he's in the room.

But first of all, I think we need to look at what do we mean by transforming encounters?

And what did this passage mean?

Why, out of all of the transforming encounters that took place in the early church, was this one singled out?

But first of all, I'd like to just show a little video clip and then I'd like to ask a couple of questions about it.

Hey, life is crazy, is it not?

I'm such a heavy tumour.

How many people know who that lady is, have seen or heard or know anything about her?

This was just a woman in America and she bought that mask for her children but it made her laugh.

So in the car she videoed herself laughing in the Chewbacca mask because it made the sound of Chewbacca from Star Wars.

And that clip of her in her car with the mask on went absolutely viral within hours.

And she, as a result, she was on James Corden's Late Show.

She was on Good Morning America.

She was on Oprah Winfrey.

She just went absolutely mega.

She's written a book.

It's just gone absolutely mental.

Now, it turns out in her interviews that she is also a Christian and she does believe in, she's got a very sort of vibrant sense of humour.

And I think God just used who she was naturally.

The fact that none of you have heard about it kind of blows the first point of my sermon.

But we'll forget about that.

So anyway, I was going to ask you two questions, neither of which you will know the answer.

So my question was going to be, what does that clip have to do with the sermon today?

Well, the first point was her name's Candice.

And the queen that the Ethiopian worked for, her title was the Candice of Ethiopia.

The second was the fact that both Philip's message to the Ethiopian and her message on Facebook went viral.

But they obviously went viral in completely different ways.

So in the day when Philip met with the Ethiopian and had their transforming encounter, there was no internet, there was no mobile phone to video it and upload it to Facebook and Twitter.

There were not even planes, trains and automobiles.

And yet, their conversation spread the message of the gospel around the world.

I want to look at how and why that happened.

In order to do that, I felt like we needed to just have a quick whistle-stop tour through the early church.

So Jesus has been crucified.

He rose from the dead and he met with his disciples.

They're all petrified in Jerusalem.

And Jesus comes to them and he says,

I'm going to go to my Father in heaven now.

But you need to wait here and you are going to receive the Holy Spirit.

And when you've received the Spirit, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem.

But also in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

If Jesus had come to us today to say that, he'd be saying,

wait in Bristol, you'll receive the Holy Spirit,

but you're going to be my witnesses in all in Bristol,

but also in the whole of the southwest and even to the ends of the earth.

But don't forget, they had no internet to just post online.

So they probably had no idea how they were going to be witnesses to the ends of the earth.

Nonetheless, they do what Jesus asked them.

They wait in Jerusalem.

They receive the Holy Spirit.

And I'm sure some of you know the story.

Amazing things begin to happen and the church begins to grow at a phenomenal rate.

On the day they receive the Holy Spirit,

Peter gets up to preach and 3,000 people give their life to God after that one sermon.

So they begin to build community together

and they begin to share fellowship with each other.

They meet to pray.

They meet to look at what God would want of their lives.

And God continues to add daily people to this community that is growing alive in faith.

They are so transformed themselves that the book of Acts tells us

that they even begin to share their possessions.

I think that's miraculous.

I think that would take some really amazing transformation

for us all here to suddenly get up and say,

yeah, I've got a car, you can have it.

Yeah, I don't need my house moving with us.

We've got two spare bedrooms.

They begin to share everything.

They begin to sell everything they've got

and they begin to give money to anyone who needs it.

So first of all, they themselves are transformed

before they go out and start transforming other people.

But as they continue to grow

and miracles are taking place in Jerusalem,

the officials don't like it

and they start to think of ways

that they can slow down the phenomenal growth of this new community.

But it does keep growing.

They get to 5,000.

It says, Acts tells us then,

that even priests begin to believe

and they start being added to the church

and officials begin to believe

and miracles are taking place.

So the apostles are no longer able

to keep doing what they believe they're called to do,

which is to pray and to bring the word of God.

So they choose seven other men

to take over the administration

of this huge new community that's growing.

And Philip, who we hear about in the reading today,

is one of those men.

Another one of those men is a man called Stephen,

who is also performing miracles

and people are coming to faith

through encounters with him.

So at this point,

the officials in Jerusalem

really want to put a stop

to the growth of this community

and so they drag Stephen to court.

They bring some trumped up charge against him

and they stone him to death.

At that point where Stephen is stoned to death,

the church is persecuted and scattered

and they have to flee for their lives.

So they flee.

Where do you think they flee to?

From Jerusalem,

where do you think they go?

I know somebody in the congregation

knows the answer.

So Jesus has said,

you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem

and in all Judea and Samaria

and to the ends of the earth.

So when they're scattered from Jerusalem,

where do you think they go?

They go firstly to Judea and Samaria.

They get scattered

and that's their nearest neighbours.

So it would be like us

having to flee our homes here.

We'd go to the other parts of the south west

or we'd go to where we'd got family.

We'd go to local cities round about.

You might be asking yourself,

what was that all about?

Why would God allow the church

to be broken up and persecuted like that

when it's growing at such an amazing rate?

Well the answer lies in what Jesus has told them

they're going to do.

They're amazing witnesses in Jerusalem

and things are happening

beyond their wildest dreams.

But I wonder if maybe

they were getting a little bit comfortable

and used to those things happening

and they were enjoying what was happening

because it was all good.

So they're persecuted and scattered

and they flee to Judea and Samaria

and what do you think they do there?

Go into hiding?

No.

They start sharing their message there as well.

So now the gospel isn't only being accepted

by people in Jerusalem,

it's being accepted by people in Judea and Samaria

which is what Jesus said would happen.

So the church community begins to grow

and be established there.

The persecution, the stoning of Stephen,

none of these things can stop the spread

of the message of the gospel

and Philip is the one in the book of Acts

that is named as being responsible

for the church in Samaria being established

because he goes to Samaria,

he preaches the gospel,

the good news of Jesus Christ

and what he's done for us

and the church, the people in Samaria

accept his message

and they also are added

to this new vibrant community of believers.

So there he is in Samaria

sharing the good news.

So they've witnessed in Jerusalem

and the ones that are scattered

have witnessed in all of Judea

and all of Samaria.

At this point,

an angel, we're told in the reading,

comes to Philip and says,

just go south of the city today

and go to the road

that runs between Jerusalem and Gaza.

Now the angel doesn't tell him

why he's got to go

but he hears and he goes.

He doesn't know what's going to happen there

but he goes in the heat of the day

at an inconvenient time

to a hot and dusty desert road

simply because he believes

that God has asked him to do so.

And as he goes

and he gets to the road,

he sees a chariot.

Now this road was the main road

out of Jerusalem.

So this chariot's leaving Jerusalem

and he hears someone in the chariot

reading scriptures out loud to himself.

And so he sidles up,

Philip does,

alongside this chariot

and starts to ask the man inside

who is the Ethiopian,

do you understand what you're reading?

The Ethiopian is reading

from the book of Isaiah

and he's reading it out loud

as Jews especially

are prone to do.

And in ancient biblical times

that's how most people read out loud.

So Philip says,

do you understand what you're reading?

And the Ethiopian says,

well, I can't really

unless someone explains it to me.

So Philip takes that opportunity

to explain

that the passage

the Ethiopian is reading

is about Jesus

and Philip begins to share

his message

with this Ethiopian.

Now at this point

I ask myself,

well, Philip's been sharing

that message everywhere

and everyone's been

hearing him,

believing him

and agreeing with him.

So why is this

particular encounter

special

and highlighted

in the Bible?

And as I researched,

I found out

it was because

in those days

the sort of

Jewish,

Roman,

Grecian world

believed

that

Ethiopia,

the top of the Nile

region,

was the end

of the earth.

And Jesus

had said,

you will be

my witnesses

in Jerusalem,

in all Judea

and Samaria

and to the

ends of the earth.

So God doesn't

send Philip

and the disciples

to the ends of the earth,

he brings the ends

of the earth

to them.

And there's

the Ethiopian

and he is

a wealthy

Ethiopian,

he works for the

Queen of Ethiopia,

he's her treasurer

and he's going back

after what he was

doing in Jerusalem,

taking part

in the festivals,

he's heading back

to Ethiopia.

So Philip

gets this opportunity

to share

the good news

with this Ethiopian

and that encounter

transforms

the Ethiopian's

life,

so much so

that he stops

the carriage

and he says,

there's some water

I need to get

baptised

and give my life

to Jesus.

Lottie

has been baptised

this morning,

she has had

a transforming

encounter

with the Holy

Spirit

and he will

continue to

shape

and mould

her life

and as family

and friends

and particularly

as parents

and godparents,

you have a very

specific role

to play in that,

you will be like

Lottie's

Philip,

it is your

responsibility

to share

the good news

with her

so that she

understands it

like the Ethiopian

was then able

to understand

what he was

reading

because Philip

shared it

with him.

So this

transforming

encounter

takes place

and the

Ethiopian

carries on

his way

back to

Ethiopia

and takes

the good news

that he's

received with

him

and spreads

the gospel

message

to the

ends of

the earth

and we

are recipients

of that

message.

So this

morning I

want to

just

kind of

leave a

couple of

questions

with you

regarding

what

transforming

encounters

are either

one taking

place in

our life.

I think

it's really

easy to

assume

that

whenever

we read

passages

in the

Bible

we're

always

the

Philip

we're

always

going to

be the

one

that

sent

and that

is true

God

does want

us to

take

that

gospel

message

but I

would just

wonder

how

often

we're

aware

that we

might be

the

Ethiopian

in

the

passage

and

God

might be

sending

someone

to us

to

transform

our

lives

so be

aware

of

encounters

through

which

we

can

be

transformed

and then

secondly

be aware

of

encounters

that

God

does

want

to

use

us

to

transform

other

people

and that

can

happen

in two

ways

in

Samaria

Philip

publicly

proclaimed

and preached

the gospel

and crowds

were coming

to faith

Lottie

has taken

part in

a public

declaration

of faith

in Christ

this morning

but secondly

Philip had

an opportunity

to share

a personal

testimony

with

the Ethiopian

no one

watching

it didn't

go on

social media

anywhere

he didn't

get public

recognition

for it

in fact

he just

disappeared

at the

end

of that

encounter

but the

passage

tells us

that

the Ethiopian

just went

on his way

rejoicing

anyway

and he

took that

good news

with him

so these

encounters

aren't for

fame and

fortune

therefore

what God

wants to

do

in our

life

and in

the lives

of the

people

that we

do

encounter

so go

in

faith

but go

in courage

as well

that God

in us

will give

us what

we need

in those

individual

situations

and I'll

just leave

you with

one encounter

that stayed

with me

for a

really long

time

I was at

Bible college

before

studying

Greek

and used

to have

to translate

10 verses

of scripture

every week

and they

used to

take me

hours

I'd spread

them out

all my

books

it'd be

like three

hours

before I

got through

them

one weekend

I was going

to London

to stay

with a friend

and I

thought I'll

just find

a quiet

little corner

on the

train

get my

homework

done

and out

the way

then I

won't have

to worry

about it

and the

train was

packed

so I

sat in

a

two

seat

I

spread

my

books

out

and said

to God

I'm not

talking to

anyone

I'm doing

my homework

because I'm

a talker

naturally

a really

elderly

blind man

gets on

the train

and someone

who's just

helping him

on says

to me

can you

move your

books please

at which

point I'm

really irritated

and I

shove all my

books up the

corner

and this

man sits

down next

to me

and I

say again

to God

I'm not

talking to

him

I'm doing

my homework

so I get

my Greek

sentences out

read the

first one

and I think

oh I know

what that

means

write it

down

move on

to the

second one

I think

oh I know

what that

one means

write it

down

move on

to the

second one

and I

just fly

through all

ten

sentences

and I

think

there's

absolutely

no way

I

of my

own

ability

know

what

these

mean

it's

God

so I

take the

hint

I repent

of my

irritability

and

finish my

sentences

and say

just start

up a

conversation

with this

gentleman

next to

me

we spend

two hours

talking about

war and

politics and

religion

and every

five minutes

he tells

me he's

an atheist

he's chairman

of the

atheist

party

chairman

of the

humanist

party

and that

there isn't

a God

but talks

also about

his Quaker

friend

his Catholic

priest

friend

and he's

got a

whole litany

of believing

friends

and towards

the end of

the journey

he says

I know

there isn't

a God

because if

there was

he would

have allowed

me to

believe in

him

so I

say

do you

know what

Ron

the Bible

says that

if anyone

would come

to God

he must

first believe

that he

exists

and you

by your own

admission keep

saying he

doesn't exist

so maybe you

just need to

ask him

are you

there

and he

begins to

weep

a gentleman

in his

90s

blind

weeping

and he

says

yes

I can

see that

now

so I

said

can I

pray

with

you

Ron

yes

I'd

like

that

very

much

he

said

and he

lets me

pray

with him

and he

gets off

at Reading

crying

I get

off in

London

crying

and I

will never

see that

gentleman

again

but I

know

that was

a

transforming

encounter

for both

of us

for him

to hear

the good

news

and to

be

encouraged

in his

own

journey

with

God

for me

to know

that when

God

wants me

to do

something

he makes

it possible

if we

just

will

give him

our

yes

so as

we close

today

be

encouraged

when you

have

opportunity

to

encounter

someone

that is

going to

be

transforming

for them

and allow

the Holy

Spirit

to bring

people

into your

life

in a way

that will

transform

you

to