Filled with the Holy Spirit for a Purpose | Pr Stephen Kong

You're listening to a message to go from Acts Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

So even as we are on a missions emphasis month,

we do this once a year, so August is our

missions month. Not to say that you can't go for

missions any other time, although we have missions tip through

the entire year, okay the entire year, but August is

the time where we really focus on the heart of

missions to remind us because we always did remind us

even we did remind us, So August is a great man.

In fact, we try our best to I think, bring

some of the some of the missionaries back if they

are able, they will come back to Malaysia. Many of

them are from Malaysia sent to different countries in London, Osaka,

in Japan.

You know what else can I think of? Uh? Yeah,

that's a lot okay, a lot of countries.

Okay, some of them are locals there, but some of

some of them we are sent from Malaysia, the actually missionarys.

Okay. But I want to let us know that that

we have this offering called the.

First Priority pledsh FPP, which banished earlier. I want to

encourage you to really take time to pray and ask

God for an amount to sow into our missions offering.

Okay.

So just to give you a bit of background, these

missions offering is purely for missions, okay. That means it

is used to for our church planting globally. It is

used to send our pastors, uh, to encourage our churches globally.

They will travel to all our different church in the

world every year. I think they go at least once

or at least twice. Okay, So we need to, you know,

send send our pastors there. Sometimes we bring our mission

is back, you know, to be encouraged back home your family,

fill them with.

The Holy Spirit. Of course they already feel, but we.

Feel them again, encourage them and send them back there

again to their to their country that they're at.

Uh.

And even for the planting of our churches, you know,

the operations and running of our churches globally.

We pay missionaries this and that.

We even give to we even support to missions organizations.

Okay. So I want to encourage you to give to

so into this giving.

As I say, it is one hundred percent every ring

and send goes to the missions work that extra does.

And just for information, I think every year our missions

collection hits almost a million ringate almost somewhere there plus minus.

And every ring and send goes to the missions field.

Not for our locature, no none, Okay, it's purely for

the missions, for the mission work. So you can tell

that we are very big on missions because we really believe.

That is the call of God.

God's heart is very uh for missions, and we are

called amen uh.

And that's going to be one.

But the team of my message is going to be

anchored around and I think this entire month, all of

the speakers are going to speak on this team of missions. Okay,

all right, So if you have your Bibles, that's turn

to the Book of Acts. Uh. And if you have

been following us on the NYC forty Days of Prayer

and Fast, fast and pray, I like to quite pray

and fast. Actually, if you're following us, we're actually in

day four, chapter four, right. But today I'm going to

cover a little bit of chapter one and mostly on

chapter eight. Okay, you could just put your hand there

for a while, but I give you my introduction. So

I want to just want to give us a bit

of background about missions.

And sometimes we hear these.

Word missions, right, and we tend to get a little

confused on these word missions, okay, because there's the S

behind the mission, the mission with the S behind okay. Uh.

And if you're writing your notes and you you need

a title the message, the title is filled with the

Holy Spirit for a purpose. That's my title this morning,

filled with the Holy Spirit for a purpose. So allow

me to give you a bit of background first on

these word missions that we always use.

You hear us use this word.

So what's the difference between a mission and missions?

Okay?

For some of us it's a reminder, but maybe for

some of us is new to you. So a mission

is an important goal or a task assigned to a person.

Okay.

I'm sure you have heard of this movie or emission Impossible.

Right. So he's on a mission, right and his his

mission is impossible.

Or whatever you call it. Okay, I have a slight

hite on that.

Okay.

So there's a mission, Okay, you're given a task, you

have a role, you're on a mission to get something done, okay,

assigned to you.

Okay.

And what's the difference with the word missions.

With the S behind? Okay?

So it's a it's a word that we use used

by the Christian Church. Uh to explain, you know, to

have to do denote a Christian moving out of his

or her comfort zone into a different culture. Okay, to

do what to bring the good news of Jesus Christ

to them?

Okay.

So when you were here us talking about missions, this

is what we're talking about actually mainly. Okay. So it's

about going out of a comfort zone to maybe a

group of people not of your own.

Okay.

Maybe it could be in your neighborhood, it could be

in a different city, different state, It could even be

a different country. You know, it can be on the

opposite side of the world. And that is part of

missions that we are doing. Okay, And how many of

you know that Jesus was the greatest mission away?

You know why.

Let me give you a picture. Jesus actually was on

a mission. What was his mission? His mission was to

come to Earth, die on the cross so that you

and I our scenes may be forgiven and that we

may be reconciled back to the Father. So Jesus actually

was on he actually had a mission.

Okay, he had a mission.

But he should know that in some sense, Jesus also

did missions. Why because he was sent from heaven a

place where his glory, you know, with the Father. He

was sent from heaven down to earth, to a place

that was messy, filled with sin, filled with you know,

humans who were selfish when to talk about ourselves. You know,

humans who were rebellions, who were stubborn. So in some

sense Jesus also did missions. Why because he left his home,

you know, to another place, because he loved us, so

our reminders. Jesus was the greatest missionary of all and

we can learn from him. And so missions is all

about God's glory. If you went homes. How many of

you went homes this week? Hey, okay, that's about half

of you. Okay, So if you were in homes this week,

you would have heard that this was the main point.

Missions is about God's glory. Everything that we do, everything

that we are, that we have, is for his glory.

We are made to worship him because without him we

are nothing. And so missions is really for God's glory.

And the key verse that we often use for missions

is taken from Habercook, chapter two, verse fourteen, and he

says this, for the earth will be filled with the

knowledge of the glory of the lawn. As the waters

cover the seamen. So this actually is the basis of missions.

And as believers, all of us here we are, we

also have a mission. And our mission here on earth

is to be a witness for Jesus, which I'll get

deeper into that. Because I think of it this way,

we only evangelize to others here on earth. Did you

know we don't need to evangelize anymore in heaven? Think

about it for a moment, right. That makes the mission

that we have even more important here on earth because

you don't need to do it in heaven. In heaven

everyone is saved, right, So even more so we need

to focus on this mission that we have here on earth,

which is to be a witness for Christ.

And so missions can be very uncomfortable for us.

I'm talking about missions as in going out, you know,

going out to a different country, a different place, a

different people group.

It's often very.

Uncomfortable for us because we are very we're creative creatures

of like comfort.

You know.

We love to be around our own people, our hangouts,

our want clicks. You know, we're very selfish in nature. Okay,

that's a sinful nature in us. And if you're not careful.

We can end up spelling spelling missions as missions. Me

Son remind us missions is not spelled missions, because sometimes

we can end up going to missions and think about us.

But really it's all about God's glory. It's not about us.

It's about God's glory and about the people that we

are reaching with the love of Christ for the glory

of God. So it's not about us, not about what

I want to do, not about why where I want

to go, But it's where God has called us to

go and where God and what God wants us to do.

Even Jesus think about it, even Jesus on earth, he

went to where the Spirit wanted him to go. Can

imagine even Jesus himself was led by the spirit and

he went where the Lord wanted him to go. And

so the basis of missions is stay the earth will

be filled with the glory of the Lord as the

waters cover the sea. And missions is often cross culture. Oftentimes, okay,

oftentimes it's cross culture. And that's why we tend to

feel it uncomfortable about and encourage us today and I

prayed it we'll be ready and willing to go out

for missions. Okay, So let me begin with Act chapter one,

verse eight, and if you were at homes, you would

have also read this verse. At homes, Act chapter one,

verse eight says, but you shall receive power when the

Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be

witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria,

and to the end of the earth. So this was

the promise of the Holy Spirit given to the disciples,

that God will fill them with the power and with

the Holy Spirit, the power the Holy Spirit. And if

you look at this verse, clearly we can tell that

the Holy Spirit was given to them not just for

their own benefit. But what do you say so that

you shall be witnesses? Come on, somebody say, witnesses, witnesses.

So that was the reason why the Holy Spirit given

to the people to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judaea, Samera

and to the ends.

Of the earth.

So what does this word witness mean? Let me just

try to break it down and let's go deeper. What

does this word witness mean? If we go back to

the root word, this word witness in the strongest concordance

G one A three one four four is actually martyrs. Okay,

M A R T Y s you can actually go

and find it yourself, okay, And if you go and

study the meaning, right, it actually literally means a witness

a legal or historical or ethical sense, but by analogy

is actually a martyr. Did you know that? Well, I'm

not sure whether how many evers? Just do you want

to be a witness after you?

You heard that? Okay?

Because even the Greek word itself sounds like a martyr

if you look at it, okay, witness a martyr? And

I thought about it, well, in some sense, yeah, it's true,

you know, because in order to be a witness, right,

sometimes we are very shy to tell others about Jesus.

Have you ever been in the situation before, especially with

family members? You know why I was just sharing this

in homes essay in the when we broke out in

the groups, right because I find when you family members,

they've seen the worsiness, and that's why we feel very

shy to share with them. But to be a witness,

right for Christ, we actually have to die to our

own self, or to die to our own shyness, if

I can put it that way, you know, uh, you know,

die to yourself from being cool, you know, And profess

Jesus and to share the love of Christ with somebody else,

because sometimes even if you're shared it before to your

school friends or your in your secondary school, private school,

you were known, sometimes people would just like say, don't

talk to me about Jesus, you know, talk about anything

else except don't talk about don't talk to me about him,

you know. And sometimes because of your because of your

faith that you profess, people will sideline you.

They will put you aside or this is some holy joke,

you know.

And so sometimes we can feel like that, and so

I encourage you. You know, we ought to die to

our own selfish desire so that we can be a

witness for Christ.

Imen.

It's especially hard with family, close friends, sometimes even neighbors.

You know, when you know when it's the best place

we can share openly. Actually it's out there in the

missions field. Think about it, because when you go out

to a different people group, right number one, they don't

know you, right, okay, First of all, it's not about us,

I need to mind, it's not about us, but just

that they don't know us. And so we can very

readily openly share with others.

I thought. I find it to be very true in

my life. I don't know about you.

So when I go to the missions field, I have

no problem like sharing about Jesus to others, but I

find it really hard to share.

We close up, close ups have seen the worse than you.

The minus.

Again, it's all about him, It's all about Jesus. But

I want to encourage us really to be a witness.

We ought to die to ourselves so that we can

we we can be a witness for Him. And if

you look at the Book of Acts, you continue reading it,

you will see that Stephen, not me, but the Stephen

in the Bible actually died for his faith. He was

martyred because he was a witness to the council right.

And you'll see many other of the disciples also were

a witness, and they died for their faith. And so

I'm not saying that you ought to die for a faith,

although if the time comes, I pray that you'll be

strong to never you know, deny Jesus, but will stand

firm in your faith amen to witness for him. But

all I'm saying is that we ought to die to

our own selfish desire so that we can be a

witness of Christ to others, and to be a witness

is as simple as telling others about your story, your experience,

your first experience, because nobody will be able to debate

with you on your personal experience, your personal testimony. They

can argue and debate about theology and doctrine, but not

your personal story unless you're tending the lila. You know, uh,

and you know I think in the olden days it

requires two people as a witness, you know, to be

to be verified. So clearly, your witness, your testimony, is

your story and all you need to do is to

share your personal story with someone else to be a

witness of Christ.

And so let's look back at the X Chapter one

was eight.

It says you shall be you shall receive power when

the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall

be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, a j and to

the ends of the earth.

So we see right in this verse. Okay, let me

point to you a few things. First.

Now, God's plan was for the disciples not only to

remain in Jerusalem, right uh. He said that they will

be his witnesses in all of Judea, Samaria and to

the ends of the earth. But if you realize in

the first seven chapters, all of the seven chapters of

X was only within Jerusalem. Okay, let me show you

that there's one a slide that has X one to seven,

eight to chelf.

Can you go to the slide? Yeah, there you go.

So you see, the Gospel was prech to Jerusalem X

one to eight, and then X eight to twelve, the

Gospel was pressed to Judea and Samaria, and X thirteen

to do the eight even further and beyond.

So what I'm trying to say to us is this.

You know, when this, when this promise that the Holy

Spirit is given to the disciples, they continue to remain

in Jerusalem. But how many of you know that God

does not want us to just remain where.

We are at.

Some of us have got to go, one of us

have got to go, you know. But I want to

say to us, actually all of us have a part

to play. Some will remain in Jerusalem, some will go

to Judea, some will go to Samaria, and some will

go to the end of the earth, the miss to

the other countries even further. And so for seven chapters

in Book of CS, they remain in Jerusalem. Here's where

the turning point happened. The turning point happened in Acts

chapter eight, Verse one. I call it a turning point

because you just flipped X one eight and X trip

it around. X one eight says you shall be my

witnesses in Jerusalem, all of Judaea, Samaria, and to the

ends of the earth. X eight one says, Now Saul

was consenting to his death. At the time, a great

persecution arose against the church, which was a Jerusalem, and

they were all scattered throughout the regions of there you

go Judea and Samaria.

Accept the apostles.

That means the apostles remain in Jerusalem, and the disciples

were scattered across Judea and Samaria. You should just see

the do lot come to pass? This accord it a

turning point X one eight. You flip it around X

eight one, you get to see it come to pass.

So what was okay?

First of all, to keep the context, what was consenting

to He was consenting to Stephen's death in X chapter seven. Okay,

when he presented the witness to the council. So this

was the sword that was persecuting the church, which eventually

became Paul.

Okay, there's a context.

So in Actuapter eight one to a great persecution started

by Saul, the church began to be scattered across Judea

and Samaria. And so God does not want us to

just remain in Jerusalem, but he wants us to go out.

He does not want us to get comfortable in church,

you know, just in our own place, but He wants

to move us out of our comfort zone. And sometimes

it would take times like this, a time of persecution,

a time of a time of testing, because God can

turn every trial and every testing into a testimony for

his glory. And if you know the story of Joseph

and the Bible, you know thats a scripture that says

what men, or what you meant for evil?

You're staying to the brothers.

What you meant for evil, God meant for good. And

so during this time of persecution, the believers were scattered

all across Samaria Judea, and also introduced them itself, and

we get to see these formis come to pass where

they became witnesses of Christ, where God has called.

Them to go.

And God didn't choose the easiest of places, you know,

because if you know the Bible history, the Jews will

not associate themselves with Samaritans, okay, Why because they considered

the Samaritans as like half breeds because they intermarried with

foreigners I think from Assyrians during the time of Babylon,

and so you know, they had the sot of a

different law, different teaching kind of thing. So they don't

associate themselves with the Samaritans, okay. And of all places,

God caused them to go to Svea, a place that

they don't want to go to or people they don't

want to associate themselves with, you know. And in fact,

Judea was not an easy place, do you know that Judeo.

You know, they rejected the ministry of Jesus, you know,

and so it's not an easy place to be at.

In fact, Jusalem is not the easiest as well, because

that was where Jesus was tested, child, crucified, died, and

was buried. And of course it goes again, Amen, and

God didn't choose the easiest of places.

And think about it.

Even when Jesus came to Earth, he did not come

as a comfortable, reigning king. He came as a suffering messiah.

Sound remind us if you think that Christ is done

on the Cross for us. Today you and I can

live a comfortable life on our own. Think again, I

think again. When you look at the scriptures, clearly God

wants us to reach out to the others, and he

will give us a strength.

He will give us a grace.

In fact, He has given us the Holy Spirit, the

power of the Holy Spirit, to help us to be

witnesses for him where he has called us to go

so powerful. And if you look at words scattered, if

you put a verse back, okay, yep, the next light.

So the believers are scattered, right, Actually, this words scattered,

It's very interesting.

There's two different meanings to it.

Okay, if you look at two different occurrences of this

word scattered. One you are finding in the Old Testament

at the story of the Tower of Baber.

Are you familiar with that? Okay?

If you're not familiar, go and read Genesis nine ten

eleven somewhere there, okay, that somewhere those chapters. So when

the people you know, of course, God gave a comment

one to Noah and his and uh and and and

the people to be foodful and multiply and feel the earth.

But what are the people in Genesis standard eleven said

they wanted to build a city for themselves lest they

be scattered. That's what they say, and that's where we

see the scripture that says it's eight. So the lot

scattered them abroad from there over the face of all

the earth, and they cease building the city. So in

that context, the word scattered that was used is to

scatter or to.

Disperse literally, okay.

But in X chapter eight, the word scattered is a

different word that was used to the root word. That's

when you study scripture, right, If you really go and

study the root word, it's very interesting. You will begin

to see the scripture in the deeper way that you've

never seen it before.

And that's how we get the word dies diespora.

If you heard the word before whereby the nations were

scattered and they form a new group, this is where

we get the word from. Is actually dies paral okay,

which is a combination of two words, to scatter, which

is there, and to sow, which is speral. So actually,

you think about it, right, the scattering was so that

the word of God could have been sold into the

world into different places. When you really that way, it

begins to have so much more richness in the word scattered.

You don't just too get the words scatter by yourself.

It's not just scattering seed, you know, Yes, of course

I'm talking about scattering seed, you know, to plan, to

sow the word of God, to plant into into a

different place, plan the word of God so that they

may grow and to be more like Christ.

And so we see that God had a bigger plan.

His salvation was not only for the Israelites, not only

for Jerusalem, but for all of Judea, Samaria, and to

the ends of the earth.

Praise be to God.

And that's why we have the Gospel here today, because

God loves all and he wants to reach everyone.

Amen.

And so let's continue reading in action to aid, because

I want to point to you about this man called Philip.

Okay, this Philip, which Philip evangelist.

Let's ookay, what Philip did and what the desiples when

it got scattered? Okay, So let's turn to accept aid

and I'm gonna read a few verses.

Okay, so follow follow me. Okay, let me read from

verse one first.

Now, Saw was consenting to his death, and at that

time a great persecution arose against the Church, which was

which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout

the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Okay,

I'm gonna continue reading and devout man carried Stephen to

his burrier and made lamentation over him. As for Saul,

he made havoc of the church, entering every house and

dragging off men and women, committed them to prison. And

verse four say is therefore those who were scattered went

everywhere preaching the word. Come on, Then Philip went down

to the city of s Maria. Actually, if you look

at the map Samaria as a Bertha. Philip went down

to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them

and the multitudes he won a court heeded the things

spoken by Philip. Hearing and seeing the miracles which he

did for unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came

out of many who were possessed, and many who were

paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy

in that city. Amen, there was great joy in the city.

Praise be to God. When the word of the Lord

is preached, and when signs and miracles happened, there will

be great joy.

So as believers.

You and I are called to bring great joy to

wherever we go, because the Bible says that we are

called to be the start of the earth, the light

of the world.

We're there to bring joy.

And so we can see through the scattering of the disciples.

They went everywhere preaching the world. So God can accomplish

his purposes in into every challenge that you and I

can see, every challenge is the opportunity for a break too,

and for God's miracle, and He's working our lives. And

Philip went to Samaria and preached Christ to them. So

I can imagine how uncomfortable or how difficult it was

for Philip to preach in Samaria. Just think about it.

I just told you that they don't associate themselves with

the Samaritans. But Philip did it out of obedience. And

what do we do admissions. It's as simple as this,

preach Christ. That's exactly what they did. Preach Christ, Jesus

Christ and what he has done on the cross for us,

and the love that Jesus has for you and me.

That's what we do. Admissions. A man she is to

preach Christ.

And so there was great joy in Samaria and let

me continue continue now on on what Philip did. Okay,

because the focus is now I'm trying to share on

the life of Philip the evangelist. If you go all

the way down to verse twenty six, now fhlip your

bibles to verse twenty six and follow me. Now, verse

twenty sixty is now an angel of the Lord spoke

to Philip. This is the same Philip I'm talking about, saying,

arise and go toward the south along the road which

goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

This is desert.

So he arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia,

a eunuch of great authority under Candace, the Queen of

the Eutopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and

had come to Jerusalem towards she was returning.

Okay, so this man is Ethopian.

You know, we don't know his name, but he wasn't

He's from Ethiopia, Okay. He was returning from Jerusalem, okay,

and sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the Prophet.

So that brings us to my first point today, which

is obedience. That's the first all I have for you. Obedience.

But add the word in fun called simple, simple obedience.

So the Angel of the Lord spoke to Philip. What

did the Angel of the Lord say, Go toward the

south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

And he asked him to take the desert road. This

is desert, the Bible says. Okay, so imagine right now,

Philip went from Jerusalem to Samaria. He preached the word

of God there, many people were saved, there was great

joy in the city.

And then the Angel of the Lord told.

Him go from Samaria down towards Gaza into a desert road. Okay,

if you can put a map up, this is his journey.

He went from Jerusalem to Samaria. Okay, Jerusalem is down

in the middle, went up to Samaria and went all

the way back down into the desert road. So why

do I call this simple obedience? Because then the Lord

commanded Philip to go to this desert road. Philip did

not know that he was about to meet one man,

which is the utopian you know, think about it. He

was in Samaria, right and his minishi was thriving, reash

out to so many people. But God would ask him

to go into a desert road. Just to meet that one,

just to meet that one. I can't imagine if Philip

knew that he was going to meet one person, right,

he would have told God, God, I think I'm better

off here in Samaria.

Think about it, the more people to reach here.

In fact, he was going for me, living from a

city and going to the desert, to the desert world.

So I want to say to us, when the Lord

commands us to go, all we need to do is obey.

All we need to do is obey. The question is this,

many of us are filled with the Holy Spirit. The

question is how we led by the Holy Spirit? Because

when the Lord calls you to go, and even though

it does not make sense at the moment, will you

still be willing to obey the word of the Lord.

So I can imagine what Philip went to at the moment.

Just just imagine it for a moment. You know, he

was in Samaria. He was great joy, and in the

joy God asked you to go to the desert just

to meet one. And that tells you the heart of God,

isn't it. If you're familiar with the parable of the

Lost ship, he will leave the ninety nine and go

after that one sheep that was lost, and Philip obeyed,

even though it may not have made sense to him,

because the Bible reminds us that obedience is better than sacrifice.

It is better to obey him when the Lord calls

us to go. And so Philip obeys the voice of

the Lord or the angel of the Lord. And he

went to this desert road in the middle of nowhere,

and in the desert he meets this et opien.

You not on the way back home.

He was sitting on a chariot, and he was reading

from the Perfect Isaiah. By the way, if he has

the chariot, I would presume he's quite wealthy, Okay. It's

an assumptioner Okay, that he would have been quite wealthy, okay,

because in those days people will walk on their feet,

and if you either had horses or chariots, you are

definitely on a certain level of a class. In fact

he had, I would think he had a score of

you know, score of Perfect Isaiah.

And if you could, you could even have it. Right.

Mostly he had money to buy it, right, I don't

think so it's as cheap as today. Okay, Today the

Bible is very accessible. You can buy the Bible a

full Bible for as cheap as thirty fortying it. So

everyone can own a Bible today. But in those days,

I don't know. I don't think so, I would think

it was very costly. So clearly this guy is a

guy of influence. He had power, he had wealth, and

he's on the way back home. And let's look at

what God told Philip to do. From verse thirty I'm

reading on okay, he was. He was reading from verse

twenty nine. It was verse twenty eight says he was

returning and sitting in his chariot. He was reading Isaiah

a perfect Verse twenty nine says, then the spirit said

to Philip, there you go, go near and overtake this chariot.

So Philip ran to him and hurt him reading the

prophet Isaiah, and said to him, do you understand what

you are reading? And he said, how can I unless

someone guides me. And he asked Philip to come and

sit with him. The place in the scripture which he

was which he read, was this, he was led as

a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before

its shearer is silent.

So he opened not his mouth in his humiliation.

His justice was taken away, and who will declare his generation?

For his life is taken from the earth. So the

eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you of whom

does the prophet say this of himself?

Of some other men.

Then Philip opened his mouth and began at this scripture, preach,

what do you do?

Come on? He preached Jesus to him. He preached Jesus

to him.

So this is my second over you opportunities, divine opportunities.

When you and I learned how to.

Obey him and obey the Spirit, the law will open

divine opportunities for you and me to do what he

has called us to do. So Philip saw this chariot,

and the spirit asked him to run after this chariot.

And by the way, if Philip can run after the

chariot and still talk to him, I think it was

a miracle in himself, you know, because the chavot was

around the horse right, and Philip is running next to

the chariot while talking to these men. Okay, I don't

know how long I talk, but of course he asked

a question or two.

But then it side with the miracle. You know, it's

quite amazing. If you read it.

If you read into it, it's very interesting. And so

if you read the scripture in chronological orders, it can

be a little bit confusing because he actually talks about

the question for the passage. It's to be confusing, but

let me break it down for you in the easier manner.

So basically, when Philip runs to the chariot, the echopian

unit was reading from the perfect Isaiah okay, and Philip

hurt what he was reading. Why in those days they

would often read out loud. Okay, today we're very shy

with read quietly. Okay, you go to the library, it's quiet, okay.

But in those days they will often read out loud.

So Philip heard what the etopa Unut was reading, and

he asked him this question, do you understand what you're reading?

Friends?

It's very important that when you and I read something

we understand it because there's the difference between knowing and understanding.

Did you did did you catch that? Because if you know,

if you.

Just know it, you know, I know that Jesus okay,

I just I know that Jesus is Lord, right, but

do you really understand what he did?

You know?

Do you already understand what that means to you and

to me that Jesus Lord, that Jesus came to die

on the cross for your sins and for my sins.

Do you already understand what it does to you? And

so the question was very apt, was very on point.

And that's what I mean by the divine opportunities because

Philip heard what he was reading.

And asked a question straight to the point.

And because of that, the Uturan n not invited Philip

onto the chariot to continue on his journey back home.

And that's where Philip began to preach Jesus.

Think about it, I imagine what Philip was preaching to the

n We are called to be witnesses, and Philip was

one of those witnesses. Why because if you go backwards,

you know, in the choosing of the seven deacons, Philip

was more of them who was chosen as the seven deacons.

Going backwards out, Okay, if you're following us on the

any forty days, you will go to the whole story.

But the point is that Philip was filled with the

Holy Spirit, he was fe full of faith, full of wisdom,

and had good reputation. So clearly Philip, you know, was

led by the spirit, and he knows the scripture. You know,

I thought about it in those days. Imagine it's not

so accessible information. But yet, even with a simple question

like that, like do you understand what you're reading? And

this itpy you're not asking him to explain to me,

what is this perfect Isaiah talking about? Who's talking about?

And Philip could immediately explain. That tells us that Philip

actually knew his scripture. So my question to you, when

you and I are given the divine opportunity to share,

will you be ready to share about the gospel of

Jesus Christ to someone else? I pray that you will

be You'll be ready because you and I ought to

be ready to share in and our season. Anytime when

the Lord opens the door, he gives you an opportunity,

a divine opportunity, you have got to seize that opportunity

and share with somebody.

You've got to be ready.

And the gospel is as simple as the person of

Jesus Christ. And I would assume that's what Philip shaid.

He said about Jesus Christ.

And how do we know you will see the respond later, okay,

in the coming verses. And so Philly was very prepared.

He knew he knew his scripture. He knew he could

explain it on the spot. I pray to you and

I will be ready to give an answer even when

we are asked, you know about a question like that.

So I remember, you know, one time this morning when

I was when I was worshiping with you, the Lord

reminded me of a simple encounter I had one of

my colleague. So the one day I was driving on

the road to get my colleague and as we passed

by a hospital, so as you passed by a church,

passed by a church, there was a cross, and my

Coliaque was not a believer, asked me what does that

cross mean? You know, he asked me whether He asked

me whether it was it a hospital or church. And

I looked at it immediately I could tell us the

church why because the cross simbold is longer on the

vertical as compared to a hospital. You may you may

have a plus right, maybe they call it like first

eight right. And by the way, I really loved the

image of the cross, you know, because it tells us

that we were always negative and when Christ came, he

cut through our negativity and made it always positive.

Think about it.

The power to the cross negative and he comes in cuts

through and he made it positive in our lives, made

it always positive. So that's the way how I imagine the cross,

you know. And so basically the story was that my

colague asked me what does that? What does that mean?

And I took the very opportunity to share him. First

of all, I explained to him there's a difference in

the cross. You know, in first aid, the cross is

like a plus symbold, but in Christianity, the cross is

longer on the on the particular side. And I begin

to share with him about what the cross meant and

what Jesus did on the cross for all, for each

and everyone of us. And I just took the opportunity

because the divine opportunity was given to me, and I

prayed him, when you have the opportune like that, you

also do the same. And by the way I shd

to him in my broken cantonis so my continies is

quite quite broken enough to order food and enough to converse.

But I just shared with him regardless, you know. And

it's not about how well we do it. It's about

the work of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. Remember, and the Holy Spirit is in you.

He gives you the power to be his witness, and

all we need to do is just to be a

witness for him. That's what I did and I and

I know that the work the Holy Spirit will complete

whatever I share. You know I've done my best. I

shared whatever I could in my broken cantonese, and the

Lord will do the rest. So divine opportunity, friends, if

you pray and ask her for divine opportunities, he will

give you opportunities to reach out to those around you. Again,

as I told you Jerusalem, jude Samaria, and to the

ends of the earth, so I would think of Judaea

and Samara as our neighbors. God will give you opportunities

to share, to be a witness for him if you

ask of it. Let me go to my last step,

as I finished. Verse thirty six says, now as they

went down the road, they came to some water, and

the unit said, see here is water. What hinders me

from being baptized. Then Phillip said, if you believe with

all your heart, you may come on. If you believe

with all your heart, not half, not some, but all,

with all your heart, you may And he answered and said,

I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.

That is why I say that Philip preached Jesus, because

the response was very clear. The Ittopian unit said, I

believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. So

he commanded the cherit to stand still, and both Philip

and the eunuch went down into the water and he

baptized him. Now, when they came up out of the water,

the spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that

eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way,

rejoy saying, that's the second time you're seeing a joy

that occurs when people received Christ into their hearts.

Amen.

And last verse forty, Philip was found. But Philip was

found at Zotus, and passing through he preached in all

the cities till he came to he Sairia.

Wow. So Philip never stopped preaching.

He continued to preach to all the cities until he

ended up at Cinesia. So my third point to you

is this outcome supernatural outcome. I believe, I really really

believe that our salvation in the Lord is not just natural,

but supernatural, because for every for anyone to give their

heart fully to the Lord, surrendered to him. I actually

I believe it's a supernatural event for that kind of

transformation to happen. It's not easy, even as we give

our hearts to the Lord, and so on the spot,

when Philip shared and preached Jesus to this, you know,

he received Christ on the spot and he believed that

Jesus Christ is the son of God, and God baptized immediately.

So when we obey the Lord, and when the Lord

opens a divine opportunity for us, you and I will

see a supernatural outcome. In fact, Philip experienced something very supernatural.

He was teleported. Do you know you did you beat that?

It's quite amazing. Uh, he was teleported. I think not many.

You don't find many occurrences of this in the Bible

where people were teleported. I think there's maybe one or

one of the field, you know, and actually asserts was

very near Ane. If you look at the map, it's

very near any But he was transported from you know,

the spirit of Lot to him and he ended up

at Asotus. So he experienced God's supernatural power. You know,

I would imagine it's a miracle. A man and so

if you, if you really obeyed a lot and walk

in his calling, you and I will continue to experience

the supernatural, the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

And so just as I'm closing, you know, I remember

just uh, you know, sharing in ex Karawachi in Indonesia.

Some a few months back, my wife and I went

to Indonesia for missions.

And I had to preach.

Back to back to services for Good Friday and Easter.

And I've never done it before, back.

To back like that like that, to to to services,

and it was not easy. But I just trust the

Lord and as I continue to preach, Jesus and then

on the Sunday, I opened, you know, the the call

for salvation of a rededication and for the first time

in many years, at least for many months, in ast Karawachi,

there was one hand that was raised a rededication in

the service itself. And why am I sharing this to

you because, as I said, even as we begin to

be obedient to the Lord, because you know, our missions

board came up to me and asked can me and

my wife go to Jakata or go to Indonesia? And

I said, Lord, okay, if I cannot, I will, I'll go,

you know, and we went, my wife and I went.

It wasn't easy, but even as I obeyed, I also

get to experience God's supernatural hand over me and as

well as over the church. We saw one with education

that day. And so I want to encourage you, you know,

I say to you that all of us can be

involved in missions, because when the Holy Speak was given,

we are called to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, in

all of Judaea's maria, and to the ends of the world.

As I close Romans Chapter ten, verse fourteen to fifteen.

Roman Chapter ten, Verse fourteen to fifteen, how then shall

they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

And how then shall they believe in Him of whom

they have not heard? And how shall they hear without

a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?

As it is written? How beautiful are the feet of

those who preach the Gospel of Peace, who bring glad

tidings of good things? Amen, and so on. Encourage us.

I know sometimes when you read the verse x one eight,

many of us like to be like the apostles who

stay in Jerusalem.

Not many of us want to go out bout.

I encourage you, if you're still young and you have

energy in your bones, go go for a mission strip,

because when you go out and see the world outside

and you come back, it will give you a different

perspective of life.

It will.

And when you come back you have very little to complain,

very little to complain, because when you go to the

missions feel you begin to be a part of the

community there for a few days and you realize how

black and how privileged we are here.

And so I encourage you.

I know that's a place that some of us will

be in Jerusalem, some of us will go to neighboring

places Judy a Samaria, and some of us will be

called to go to the ends of the of the

earth where we travel further. I prayed that if you

are still young, I encourage you to.

Sign up for a missions trip. I want to say

this to you.

Somebody had to pay the price to bring the Gospel

to a different country. In fact, somebody paid the price

to bring the gospel here at Malaysia, every country, and

as I close, I was really encouraged and reminded by

this story of this man.

His name is Andrew. We call him brother Andrew, if

you're familiar.

He has a title that people give him his called

It's called God's Smuggler. Have you heard of this before?

Have you heard of the of God's smuggler, which is

Brother and Jrew. So in those days, in the early days,

he was led, you know, to go and bring the

Gospel to communist countries.

And you know, he prayed, he.

Said, Lord, for every Bible that I can lay my

hands on, I want to bring this Bible to these countries,

you know, to the children in those countries. And he said, Lord,

for every open door that you give me, I will go.

So this brother by the name of Brother Andrew, he

made his first smuggling trip, smuggling trip, and he smugged

thet Bibles, okay Bibles, Bibles and tracks into this country.

Called you you got Levia? Okay, you got Levia.

And when he smuggled and he went to this checkpoint

where the officer officers and the guards who asked him

to stop, and he was seeing the movies.

They asked you to get down.

They will open your boat, check your your your luggage,

checked the that you're carrying.

And at the checkpoint this butter, butter and you prayed

a prayer.

Which was very special. You know, people call it the

prayer of God's smuggler. He said, Lord, in my luggage,

I have scriptures that I want to take to your

children across this border. When you were on Earth, you

made blind eyes. See Now, I pray, make seeing eyes blind.

Do not let the gods see those things you don't

want them to see. Long story shot. They opened the boat.

The guards look at the boat filled with the bibles,

but they could not even see it. Close the boat.

You're free to go. And this man drove past the checkpoints.

And I find that prayer so amazing. You know, God,

when you were on Earth, you made blind eyes. See now,

make seeing eyes blind. And he did once, twice, street times,

countless times. He smuggled in bibles to countries after countries,

and then he started his organization called Open Doors. That's

what it actually means. Lord, For every open door you'll

give me, I will go.

I will go.

Friends, you don't have to be like brother than you

who were smuggled bibles in. But I just want to

let you know that somebody had to pay the price.

Somebody had to pay the price to go out to

a country far from their own place, out of the

comfort zone, to bring the Gospel, to bring the Bible.

Many gave their lives, many were martyred.

And I pray to you and I would never take

it for granted, but I want to encourage you. If

you have the opportunity, go for a mission strip. Sign

up for a mission strip. Say Lord, if you can

send somebody, if you can use anyone, use me. And

when you go to the mission strip, you will be

a mis of how God can use you and your story.

Just be a witness for Jesus and a missions feel

That's all you need to do to be a witness. Amen, Halidjah,

Come and look to the Lord in prayer.

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