Open Your Mouth

Do you think like thinking about all this that like Jesus could very well be that Messiah that all of the Old Testament points to?

I mean to be honest, no.

Uh I don't commit genocide.

Um like it's just sort of like like I make mistakes, like you know, just mistakes any other person would do just trying to make up for that.

We need God to deal with our shortcomings.

I mean, we need his Passover Lamb, and that Passover Lamb is ultimately provided to us in Jesus.

Do you do you think like thinking about all this that like Jesus could very well be that Messiah that all of the old testament points to?

I mean to be honest, no.

Uh sorry to like say no, but I think it's it feels more fulfilling to like like make up for your sins not by like looking at someone else, but to look at yourself, you know, try and be the best you you can be.

You don't have to be perfect, but just be the best you you can be and try and help others and make the world just a bit better, you know.

And all of the Old Testament ultimately says that all of us have sinned, all of us fall short of God's glory, that we deserve judgment, and we are all awaiting Messiah.

We're awaiting the one who will crush the head of the deceiver and who will bring restoration to humanity.

The the difference between a Jew and a and a Christian is that we believe that Messiah has come.

And the whole unfolding drama of the Old Testament is where is that promised seed?

Where's the promised offspring who God promised in the garden we would reverse the curse and bring restore humanity, deal with our sin problem, and bring us back into right relationship with God where we can dwell with him in perfection?

That's really the story of the Old Testament.

Where is that Messiah?

Have you heard that before?

Is that no?

I I don't think that's really like sort of uh perspective I've ever heard of.

So the concept of the Messiah in Judaism, what's your understanding of Messiah?

I think it's just a guy who will come someday.

Jesus really rose from the dead, and he's that guy, you know, that you were saying, like some guy's gonna come.

He's that guy, and because Jesus rose from the dead, he he ushers upon us the power of resurrection where we can be born again and our hearts can experience forgiveness, not by our works, because you had mentioned like you know, I just want to be religious and like living a good life and things.

Well, the Bible actually says that our that God's standard of good is perfection.

So by that standard, none of us actually live good lives, that all of us actually break God's law because God's standard is moral perfection.

So we can't meet that standard.

That's why we need Jesus, that's why we need the Messiah, because He meets that standard for us.

Not only does He meet that standard, but then He dies on the cross for our sin.

And he says that all who trust in me, all who turn from their sin and trust in me, can live, can be forgiven, and can have that promise of Ezekiel 36, where once you had a heart of stone that was in love with sin, but is remade to now be in love with the God who made you.

Well, good morning, Central Church.

My name is Greg Suckert.

I'm one of the pastors here, and that was a conversation that I had not too long ago with a man, a man named Noah, and Noah was a Jewish man, is a Jewish man at the University of Memphis, and he was telling me how he didn't believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament.

That was from a 45-minute video that is on YouTube, and it just never ceases to amaze me that God opens up opportunities all the time for us to be able to point people to Jesus as the Messiah, the one whom all of Scripture testifies to.

And that's what we're gonna be talking about this morning.

Being prepared, being prepared to open our mouths.

We're gonna be talking about evangelism this morning.

So if you've got your Bible, go ahead and open up to Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

We're gonna be in Acts chapter 8 talking about what I think to be the greatest subject in all the world proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ in evangelism.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

As you're opening up to Acts chapter 8, I want to tell you about a video that my wife showed me recently.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

She showed me this video of a woman named Patricia Heaton who plays Deborah in Everybody Loves Raymond.

And uh Patricia was talking about what it's like being a conservative in Hollywood.

She is a conservative, Hollywood is overwhelmingly liberal, and she was saying that all the time conservatives, famous actors, were afraid of opening their mouths to people who would not be a friendly audience.

So what conservatives in Hollywood actually did was they developed a code word to be able to identify each other, to be able to identify whether or not this is a safe place to be able to open up freely about one's personal beliefs.

So they developed this code word, FOA, friend of Abe, referring to Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president, and they would drop this code word just nonchalantly in conversation.

Oh, are you a friend of Abe?

I'm a friend of Abe.

Oh, you're a friend of Abe.

Oh, I'm a friend of Abe.

And if somebody was a friend of Abe, they could open up about their views.

If they were not a friend of Abe, if they did not take the bait, then the conservative would just remain silent.

And I love this illustration because it illustrates, it illustrates for us how much we long for a friendly audience, don't we?

We in our humanity, we long for a friendly audience.

We want people who are gonna be receptive to our message, we want people who are gonna affirm what we believe, we want people who think the way that we do, and we want people who are gonna be able to talk the same lingo that we do.

But friends, uh, we who are a friend of Jesus, that's not how it goes for us.

Uh we're not we're not simply looking for a friendly audience.

We're actually called to find those people who are not friendly towards Jesus and to proclaim Jesus to them.

That's that's what we're called to do as friend of Jesus, friends of Jesus.

We are called to proclaim him, or a phage, as I call us, you know.

I'm a phage.

You know, are you a phage?

We're all phages, I hope.

And if you're not, my prayer is that today you'll become a phage, a friend of Jesus.

That we would seek to find those who are not a friendly audience to proclaim Christ because we recognize how badly people need Jesus.

That's our calling as Christians.

And if there's one thing that's true about followers of Jesus in the book of Acts, it's that they were really not looking for safe places to mention Jesus.

In fact, the Christians in Acts, they would declare they already had a safe space.

I mean, they were citizens of the kingdom of God.

And it doesn't get any safer than that.

Friends, when it comes to your eternal destiny, there's no safer place than being a citizen of heaven.

You know where it's not safe, according to Scripture?

It's not safe outside the kingdom.

It's not safe outside the kingdom.

And that's not my teaching, that's the teaching of Jesus.

Jesus says in John 3.36, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.

Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life.

But the wrath of God remains on him.

Friends, it is not safe outside the kingdom.

So we who love Jesus, we who are friends of Jesus, we are called to open our mouths in love to proclaim Jesus to a lost and dying world.

And this is so important for we who profess Christ to understand.

Because we talk about Christ's redemption all the time, don't we?

We talk about, oh, Jesus redeemed me, he redeemed me.

Well, what does that even mean?

Jesus redeems us, he redeems our soul, right?

He he transforms our soul, he pays our sin debt for our sins, he pays for our iniquities on the cross, rises from the dead.

He he redeems our hearts, he gives us new hearts with new desires, he gives us a new mind with new ways to think, new ways to live.

But but Christian, Jesus doesn't just redeem your soul, he doesn't just redeem your heart, he doesn't just redeem your mind.

Here's one thing that we forget Jesus redeems your mouth as well.

Jesus redeems your mouth as well.

Your mouth belongs to him.

And boy, oh boy, does Jesus have a glorious purpose for your mouth?

Jesus purposes at the mouth of the believer to be a fountain of life to the people around you.

That's amazing.

Do you realize, believer, that God not only redeemed your soul, he redeemed your mouth to be an outpouring, a fountain of life, so that the message of everlasting life can spring from your lips, so that others might experience the redemption that comes through Christ alone.

And the reason this passage is so important this morning is that, friends, Satan has many purposes for your mouth, doesn't he?

Satan has many purposes for your mouth.

Satan wants your mouth to be an instrument where you curse God.

Satan wants your mouth to be an instrument where you abandon God.

But there's a purpose that Satan has for people's mouths that I think is far more sinister than the rest.

And I think it's a purpose that he delights in far more than the others, and it's this Satan delights when he can get someone speaking of God culturally on Sundays, and then going radio silent for the rest of the week.

Satan delights on getting us to speak culturally of God Sundays and then going radio silent for the rest of the week.

Here's why he likes that so much.

Satan loves this because if he can get you to do this, if he can get your mouth to be an instrument for speaking on Sunday and being silent the rest of the week, then he can actually use your life to proclaim a twisted version of Christianity, a false Christianity, a Christianity that is completely foreign to the Bible.

It's a Christianity that I call muzzled Christianity.

Friends, that is not biblical Christianity.

It's the version of Christianity that says, Jesus can have everything.

He can have all of me except for my mouth.

Muzzled Christianity says, Jesus can have my mouth on my terms.

Sundays only, period.

And friends, this is not biblical Christianity.

And for proof of that, just look at our Savior.

Just look at our Savior.

Look at the one who we proclaim as crucified and risen from the dead.

Did he speak one day a week?

No.

No, he did not.

Jesus opened up his mouth.

His mouth was not muzzled.

In fact, do you realize it was Jesus' mouth that got him nailed to the cross.

It wasn't when Jesus handed out bread that got him nailed to the cross.

It was when Jesus said, I am the bread of life, and unless you eat of me, you will not live.

I am the only way.

It was Jesus' mouth that got him nailed to the cross.

And because Jesus' mouth was not muzzled, neither should ours be, friends, and neither should ours.

We who profess Christ must speak of Christ at all times.

We must speak of Christ in all places.

We must speak of Christ no matter the cost.

And friends, this isn't just some rigid, cold marching order.

This is our greatest pleasure.

It is a great pleasure to be an instrument, to be a fountain of life with our words to the people around us.

It is a great pleasure, our greatest pleasure to know our King, to trust our King, and to speak of our King.

This message is entitled, Open Your Mouth.

And it's for all the friends of Jesus in the room, all the fajes.

And if you're not a friend of Jesus, may today you turn from yourself, turn from your sin and trust in Jesus Christ today and become his friend.

So let's stand for the reading of God's word.

We're in Acts chapter 8, starting with verse 25.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 8, starting with verse 25.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

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

This is a desert place.

And he rose 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 and join this chariot.

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, Do you understand what you are 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 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.

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.

This is where we get this idea this morning.

Then Philip opened his mouth.

And beginning with this 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 came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way, rejoicing.

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

This is an amazing passage about the joys that come when we open our mouths to proclaim of our king.

May you be blessed by this passage, may you be encouraged, you may be seated.

I love this passage because it talks about God's purposes for us in redemption.

He doesn't just redeem our soul, he redeems our mouth, and our mouth becomes an instrument so that others might be redeemed as well.

And here's really the main idea this morning, the whole sermon in a sentence, it's this God opens your eyes so you would open your mouth.

God opens your eyes so you would open your mouth.

I mean, just read through the book of Acts and look for these silent Christian.

They don't exist, they're not there.

A true believer is someone who professes their Savior, who follows in the example of their Savior.

And because Jesus' mouth was not muzzled, neither will ours, neither will the true believer.

But also, this passage wants you to see this morning that proclaiming Christ really is a divine adventure.

I mean, it's it's a great adventure, the greatest adventure you could possibly have, this side of heaven.

And when once you realize that proclaiming Christ is the greatest divine adventure, this side of heaven, I mean, just the simple act of walking outside your door will never be the same.

It will never be the same.

I remember when this hit me like a ton of bricks, and I realized, oh my goodness, God redeemed me so that I would be an instrument of blessing to the people around me with my mouth, with the message of salvation.

Friends, it changed the way that that I approached everything.

I I worked a mundane job in in Southern California, a mundane marketing job, and uh I would get up in the morning and I'd say, no, this is no mundane job.

This is where God has put me to live for Christ, to proclaim Christ, and to go on a divine adventure, making his name known.

I mean, it changed everything, and I would run out my door like Bilbo Baggins, running out of the Shire going, I'm going on an adventure.

This is no ordinary day, I'm going on an adventure.

And then I would proceed to get in my car and sit in two hours of traffic to get to work, you know, about one hour in.

Still going on an adventure.

Still going almost there.

Any minute now, I will be there.

God bless the traffic of Southern California.

Uh, so glad that God redeemed my soul from the pit.

Amen.

And uh it's it's really my prayer that you would see, you would see that that sharing Christ is a divine adventure, that you would see that all of life is a divine adventure to know God, to love him, to make him known.

That's what I want to be to you this morning.

I want to be like, I want to be like Gandalf, just pushing Bilbo Baggins out his door to go on a big adventure.

That's what I want our passage to do for us this morning.

Acts is really all about the fulfillment of Jesus' promise in Acts 1.8.

If you remember, in Acts 1.8, Jesus promises, he says, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And friends, that's exactly what is playing out in the book of Acts.

That's exactly what we see happen.

According to Jesus, all disciples are given the Spirit of God and power and calling to be witnesses for God.

Now, what does it mean to be a witness?

Well, according to Acts, to be a witness is to be one who speaks.

It's to be one who speaks.

If you're called as a witness in court to give testimony of your experience, to give testimony what you have seen and what you have done, if you if you are called to speak and you refuse to speak as a witness in court, you will be held in contempt of court.

You will be seen as an obstruction of justice.

You cannot be called to the court stand and say, you know what, judge, lawyers, I don't really want to talk about this whole thing, but look, I just want to be really nice.

I made everyone some cookies.

Here, let's pass out some cookies for for the the juror and the judge.

No, you can't, you can't do that.

To be called as a witness is to be called to speak.

And friends, if there's a great treachery in not speaking in the courtrooms of man as being called upon as a witness, how much more uh treasonous is it to not speak for our king who calls us to be witnesses, to use our mouths, to be one who speaks for the sake of his name.

I want you to see this emphasis in the book of Acts on speaking the gospel and words.

It says of Peter in Acts 2.40, and with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them.

When Peter and John were charged not to speak or to teach in the name of Jesus, they answered in Acts chapter 4, verses 18 through 20, they said, But we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

Acts 4:18–20

After seeing Peter and John threatened for speaking the gospel, the early church did not respond with fear.

When persecution was breaking out, the early church did not respond with fear.

Instead, they responded with this prayer.

They said, Oh Lord, grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.

Do you see the priority in Acts on speaking the gospel with our words to lost people?

And this isn't just the apostles, friends, this is all disciples.

We saw that with Stephen in Acts chapter 7.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

Stephen was not an apostle, yet he opens his mouth.

He opens his mouth to proclaim Christ, and we saw what that cost him.

It cost him his life.

But yet we saw what it did.

It emboldened other believers to see their purpose, to open their mouth, even in a time of persecution.

And that's what we see with Philip.

Philip is one who opens his mouth.

We see Philip boldly go and share in the likeness of Stephen, going and preaching the gospel, even at great personal cost.

Now we arrive to the question, knowing that this is all for us.

We all need to open our mouths for the sake of our King.

We ask the question how?

How do we open our mouths?

How do we do this?

And our passage answers this morning.

Number one, you've got to trust that God pursues all kinds of people.

You've got to trust that God pursues all kinds of people.

Look at verse 25.

Now, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

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

This is a desert place.

And he rose and he 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 and join this chariot.

Join this chariot.

Go speak to the Ethiopian eunuch.

You know, one of the best questions you can ask walking through the book of Acts, studying through the book of Acts is, who are these people responding to the gospel?

And you actually see this amazing unfolding in Pentecost of all these Jewish people from all over the world responding to the gospel.

You see men and women responding to the gospel.

You see Greeks responding to the gospel.

You even see Jewish priests responding to the gospels.

You see Samaritans, those whom the Jewish people despised.

You see them responding to the gospel.

And now you get to a royal Ethiopian eunuch, a court official, and we see he is going to respond to the gospel.

And here's what I love about this.

You really do see in the book of Acts, God is pursuing all kinds of people.

All kinds of people.

And we're actually seeing that unfold in Acts.

And we're actually seeing that unfold in our world today.

And we have to remember that, that the gospel is for all kinds of people.

God is pursuing all kinds of people.

And because he's pursuing all kinds of people, we cannot write anyone off.

We cannot write anyone off.

You know, all of us have those people in our minds that we just truly think will not respond to the gospel, don't we?

Right?

We may know intellectually know the gospel is for them, but practically speaking, we won't eat we won't ever talk with that person because we truly in our heart of hearts just don't think that they will ever respond, right?

Whether it's a Muslim woman in a hijab or a tatted-up man with piercings and blue hair, right?

All of us have our prejudices of people who we think will would never receive the gospel, would never respond to the gospel.

You know, for me, just opening up, for me, it's it's really hard for me to share share the gospel with someone who looks like they have all their life together.

Uh it's really hard for me to share the gospel with someone uh who's who's very wealthy.

You know, I call them men in crisp white shirts.

You know, it's really, really difficult for me to share the gospel with well-to-do men who have more money, more status, more worldly success than I do.

It's really hard for me because you know, what do I have to sh to share with them?

What do I have to tell them?

You know, they'll never want to listen to me.

They have everything they need.

You know, I really do struggle.

I'm just being honest.

I struggle to reach men in crisp white shirts.

Unless they're Mormon.

Uh if they're Mormon, I can do that all day, baby.

I can do that all day.

But uh, you know, men with uh with a lot who look like they have their whole life together and who look like they know a lot more than I do, you know, it's hard for me to share.

You know, I think what can I offer them?

They won't listen to me.

But this passage reminds me.

Yeah, I don't have anything to share.

But you know who does?

King Jesus.

King Jesus has everything to share, and I and an ambassador for King Jesus, and he has everything to offer wealthy people because wealthy people need the gospel too.

Wealthy people need their soul redeemed too.

Wealthy people need Christ too, and King Jesus has himself to offer wealthy people, and King Jesus knows how to grab hold of their hearts.

And that's why, friends, we've just got to stop making assumptions.

We've got to stop writing people off.

We've got to stop excluding people, we've got to stop assuming like we know how people are gonna respond.

We have to stop making assumptions, and friends, we just gotta obey.

We just gotta obey.

We just gotta get this and say, hey, the Bible says the gospel is for all people, okay?

So who are we gonna take the gospel to?

All people.

All kinds of people.

We will not make assumptions, we will obey.

We will obey God.

And that's what we see with Philip.

Philip obeys God's call to go to the desert, which, by the way, might have seemed greatly irrational to Philip, because just before this passage, you see all these Samaritans responding to the gospel.

I mean, Philip has a thriving ministry.

And you know where God calls him?

Out of that ministry, to a desert place.

Really?

Leave behind this thriving ministry where all these people are responding to go to a desert place?

Yes.

Philip, go.

And Philip obeys.

He leaves behind a thriving ministry to obey God and to go where God calls him.

Philip also obeys the Spirit to join the chariot of a wealthy man.

He didn't write off a rich man.

And he didn't write off a man who was, I like this one, reading a Bible.

Oftentimes, when we're sharing our faith, we can see people who we know.

They say they go to church, they wear crosses, they might even have a Bible on their desk, and we think, oh, they're good.

Friends, I promise you, that is not true a lot of the times.

That is not true.

I cannot tell you how many people I have met that go to church every week, who read the Bible, who do all the things, who wear Christian crosses and t-shirts, but they do not know the gospel message.

They don't understand the gospel message.

They're still trying to earn salvation for themselves.

Philip doesn't see a man with a Bible reading Isaiah and go, oh, he's good.

He just obeys God to go and talk with him.

I love that.

I love that simple obedience.

Just go.

Go and talk.

How do we know that God is calling us to talk with someone?

Well, to know that God is calling you to talk with someone, first you have to realize God is calling you to talk with someone.

That's literally why we're here, right?

God doesn't just zap us up to the kingdom of glory.

He redeems us and he leaves us here to be ambassadors for his name.

So we need to start looking at our location as not an accident.

Where we live, our neighbors, our workplace, our communities, our kids, sports fields, that none of it is an accident.

You are called to the witness stand, not just to bake cookies for the people around you and be a kind person.

Yes, be kind.

Be kind.

Be Christ-like towards others, love others.

But you are called to speak.

You're called to speak.

You've got to see where you've been placed as your witness stand.

You've been called to the stand to give a testimony of who Jesus Christ is, what you have seen and what you have heard in his word.

So you've got to realize that God has called you to the witness stand.

Two, you've got to pray for opportunities.

Here's one prayer that will radically change your life, but most people will not pray it because they don't want the answer.

God, give me one person today who you want me to speak the gospel in words to.

God, put that person on my heart.

God, put that person in my path.

Start praying that prayer.

I promise you, God will answer it.

God will answer it.

You know, one of the reasons why we don't know who God is calling us to is because we're afraid to pray that prayer.

Friends, my encouragement is don't be afraid to pray that prayer.

Pray that prayer because you will experience something glorious of God doing something through you.

God shows up, God delivers, he delights in making his name known.

Before we can even open our mouths, we have to ask: Is my mind opened?

Are my eyes opened to see my purpose?

To proclaim Christ.

We've got to get there, church, we've got to get there.

Another way to know that God is calling you to talk with someone is really, you've also got to just go where your church is going.

Go where your church is going.

This is what I love about sharing the gospel together as a church family.

We get to do it in a way where we can encourage one another.

You know, we do a lot of outreach here at Central Church.

This past week, yesterday, we were out here doing evangelism at the Collierville Police Car Show.

Uh we're we're out every Monday night somewhere in Memphis sharing the gospel, handing out hot dogs and gospel tracts and sharing the gospel.

Um this upcoming October 8th, uh, me and my friend Mark Spence with Living Waters, he and I are gonna be going to the University of Memphis and we're gonna be setting up a table where students can ask us anything about God, any question they have about God.

We're gonna be on the UC Lawn and we're just gonna dialogue with students and just meet them right where they're at and we're gonna share Christ with them.

Come, come to that event October 8th on the UC Lawn at 11 a.m.

at University of Memphis.

We are an outreach and go focused church.

We're a going church.

Uh and friends, I've not even mentioned food for families that's coming up, where we hand out food and share the gospel.

We've got Fall Fest coming up at the end of October.

We've got Songs on the Square coming up, where we will bring the gospel to the Collierville Square with songs proclaiming Christ.

Go with your church.

Show up.

Know that God is a God who is reaching all kinds of people, and all he calls us to do is to show up and to participate.

God opens your eyes so you would open your mouth.

We must trust that God pursues all kinds of people.

Next, number two, we must trust that God prepares hearts behind the scenes.

We must trust that God prepares hearts behind the scenes.

This is one of my favorite things about sharing the gospel, by the way, is that when you go out to share the gospel, you actually get to see God at work in someone's life long before you ever get to that person.

It's amazing.

And that's what we see here with Philip and the eunuch at verse 30.

So Philip runs to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, Do you understand what you were reading?

And the eunuch said, How can I unless someone guides me?

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

Now the passage of 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.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.

And the eunuch said to Philip, You just look at this divine appointment, friends.

About whom, I ask you, does this prophet say this?

About himself or about someone else?

And then we see God was doing the work long before Philip arrived.

All Philip had to do at this moment is open his mouth.

And beginning with this scripture, beginning with Isaiah 53, open his mouth and proclaim the good news about Jesus.

Philip meets a man who is very rich materially.

This court official is very rich, but spiritually he's starving.

You need to know that on his trip to Jerusalem, the eunuch would have been kept at a distance in worship because under the law, under Jewish law, eunuchs were barred from entering the assembly of the Lord.

But here, Philip gets to proclaim how the kingdom of Christ works.

In the kingdom of Christ, outsiders become insiders.

I love that about the kingdom of Christ.

In the kingdom of Christ, outsiders become insiders.

And God had set up this moment for Philip to declare that good news.

God was stirring up the eunuch's spiritual longing for God long before Philip ever showed up.

I mean, just think about it.

Who put it on the eunuch's heart to travel to Jerusalem to worship?

Who put it on the eunuch's heart to purchase an Isaiah scroll, which would have been very expensive, by the way?

It's not like everyone's just walking around with these things.

That would have been a very costly item.

Who put it on his heart to read Isaiah and to long to understand what Isaiah is talking about?

Who did those things?

Who arranged this divine appointment?

Who called Philip to the eunuch?

God did.

God did.

This is what I love about sharing the gospel, friends, is you get to see God at work in someone's life long before you ever show up.

By the time Philip got to this guy, he was primed to receive the gospel.

You know, Pastor Matt says something that I love hearing all the time in ministry here because we see it all the time at Central Church.

It's just amazing how much we'll go out for an outreach or how someone will come, and you'll just see that their heart is just primed to receive the gospel.

We see this all the time, and so Pastor Matt has this phrase where he says, it's almost like this thing is rigged.

Friends, it is.

It is.

Evangelism is rigged.

It is rigged in favor of the kingdom.

Why would you not want to participate in something that is rigged for taking over the whole world?

God is redeeming every tongue, tribe, and nation, and he's preparing hearts long before we get to them.

We have to remember, while we are called to share the gospel, we are not the ultimate evangelist.

We are not the ultimate evangelist.

When we share the gospel, we are caught up in something far bigger than ourselves.

That's what we see in this passage.

And notice when Philip meets the eunuch, he jumps right into sharing the gospel.

Now this is going to step on some toes, okay?

I'm just giving a heads up.

When Philip meets this stranger, he jumps right in to share the gospel.

Notice, Philip's strategy is not to get to know the court official first.

His strategy is not to first invite him to become Roman bathhouse buddies and to have a friendship of at least 10 years before we can ever start pressing in on the things of God.

That is not Philip's strategy.

His strategy is not to build this long friendship first and then hope that someday the question comes, Philip, you know, I've been, I've just had this question.

You just live so differently than everyone else.

Can you just tell me about that?

And then Philip goes, finally, 10 years later, the friendship has paid off.

Now I'll share the gospel.

No, that is not the strategy that Philip uses.

Philip was prepared.

A stranger was reading Isaiah 53, and Philip was ready to show that stranger how Christ is the fulfillment of this passage.

God called Philip to share the gospel with that stranger right then and right there, and if Philip didn't do it, Philip would have been disobedient.

The reason why this steps on so many toes this morning is because I bet you've heard it before, that there is only one effective way to share the gospel, and it's this.

You must have a relationship with someone first.

You must have a friendship first.

Then, once you have established a friendship, then you can share the gospel.

Now, friends, I'm all for having long-term relationships where you're constantly investing Christ into someone.

I'm all for that.

But biblically speaking, saying that friendship evangelism is the only way that you've got to have this relationship first before you can proclaim Christ, biblically speaking, that's not true.

That's not true.

You see it in this passage.

Philip shares the gospel with a stranger, and that stranger responds.

Friends, I despise this phrase that I hear all the time.

You've got to earn the right to share the gospel with someone.

You realize that's ridiculous?

You've got to earn the right to pull someone out of a burning building.

You've got to earn the right to give someone the cure for cancer.

You've got to earn the right to pull them out of the way of that car.

No, friends, we're called to love.

And Christ has said, all authority has uh under heaven has been given unto me.

Go and make disciples.

Teach them to observe all that I have demanded.

Consider yourself, you have the right by the authority of your king to share the gospel with everyone who you come into contact with, friends and strangers.

You have the right.

There's no earning the right.

You have the right to love.

That's what your king calls you to do.

And we love by proclaiming him.

We have to be honest that sometimes we use this idea of friendship evangelism as an excuse to have all friendship and no evangelism.

We just have to be honest about that.

You know, some of us treat evangelism like we treat our 30-year mortgages.

You know?

I'll get to the payoff someday.

Someday I'll get to it.

And you realize, friends, biblically speaking, that's foolish.

That's foolish.

There are strangers whom God is priming to reach with the gospel.

We have to open our mouths and speak.

We're not promised tomorrow.

They're not promised tomorrow.

So when do we open our mouths?

Today.

We open our mouths today.

You know, on the flip side, there are people who also love sharing the gospel only with strangers.

And the only time they'll ever share the gospel is with stranger after stranger, track after track.

And friends, biblically speaking, that's not biblical either.

Because the danger of that is we begin to see people as projects and not people.

Friends, the Bible calls us to both.

The Bible calls us to both.

We've got to share the gospel with strangers.

And we actually find that both of these, by the way, enrich each other.

When we share the gospel with strangers, we actually see there are so many different worldviews.

And when we're exposed to so many different worldviews in the way that people think, it actually helps us share the gospel with our friends and with our loved ones, with our family members.

And vice versa, when we share the gospel with loved ones, we learn and we see that these are people with stories who are made in the image of God.

These are people whom we're to have compassion for.

They have their own story, and we can bring that same approach of compassion to strangers.

We've got to share the gospel with all friends, friends, and strangers alike.

And that's what Philip does.

Beginning with Isaiah 53, he walks through, he focuses the gospel message on the only thing that the gospel needs to be focused on, and that's the person and work of Christ.

That's what Isaiah focuses in on, the person and work of Christ.

Why was Jesus led to the sheep, led like a sheep to the slaughter?

Because he's the Lamb of God who's who's come to take away the sins of the world.

Why was Jesus silent?

Because in love, Jesus chose to open not his mouth against his enemies, so that instead he could go to die for his enemies.

I mean, just think about that thought for a second.

Jesus, in Isaiah 53, it's spoken of Jesus, that he went with his mouth closed so that he would face a criminal's death on the cross for us.

He kept his mouth closed so that we would be redeemed and that our mouths would be opened for him.

I mean, that's just amazing.

Christ could have absolutely destroyed his enemies with a word, but he kept his mouth closed and instead died for them, so that his enemies would be redeemed to open their mouths for him.

How was Jesus humiliated?

Well, he's God in the flesh, who's come to be a servant to the very people he created, to die for the very people he created, to die at their hands.

And why was justice denied him?

Well, because the Bible tells us that humanity loves darkness more than the light.

So we crucify the light.

We did not give the light justice.

But here's the beautiful thing.

While Jesus was facing the injustice of man, he was facing the justice of his Father.

He was taking our sin debt on himself, paying our penalty in full, and he rose from the dead and he calls us to turn from our sin and put our trust in him alone for salvation.

Are you prepared to do what Philip did, to focus in a conversation on the person and work of Christ with a lost person?

Are you prepared for that?

You've got to be prepared for that.

You know, when I was younger, my parents put me in karate, and uh, this is crazy.

I did karate for about a decade, and I thought I was awesome.

I went to a lot of tournaments, I won a lot of trophies.

I mean, I thought I was really good.

I thought you mess with me, I'll take you out.

You destroy.

And then I got into my first fight, and I I got whooped.

I got absolutely whooped.

And I was wondering what went wrong?

What happened?

Well, it turns out the type of martial arts I did was more like performance dance than it was actually learning how to fight.

I was more prepared for musical theater than I was to defend myself, you know?

That's the kind of martial arts I did.

And that was a wake-up call for me.

I could not, I did all these years of martial arts, but I could not do the simple task of defending myself.

Friends, I love this illustration because it's true for many of us, right?

I think many of us would say, because I've been at church all this time, I've done all these things, that I know how to share Christ.

I know how to lead someone to Christ.

I know how to focus in on the person and work of Christ with the lost person.

But here's the question this morning: do you really?

Do you really?

When it really comes down to it, can you do the simple task of leading someone to Jesus?

Can you proclaim him from the scriptures?

That's a challenging thought for us.

If you can't, you need to come out with our evangelism team.

If you can't, you need to come to our next evangelism class next semester.

You've got to learn this work.

This is not another thing to do, friends.

This is the thing to do.

This is the thing to do.

God opens your eyes so that you would open your mouth.

We must trust that God pursues all kinds of people.

We must trust that he prepares hearts from behind the scenes.

And lastly, we must, number three, trust that God prevails in all circumstances.

We must trust that God prevails in all circumstances.

This will be a quick point.

But here's what I love about this passage is that we really do see that God fulfills his promises.

God fulfills his promises through Philip's obedience.

He gets to experience the joy of God prevailing in all circumstances, the joy of God fulfilling his promises right before his very eyes.

The promise of salvation to the ends of the earth happening right before his very eyes.

And because of Philip's obedience to the Spirit, this guy responds to the gospel.

He gets to see the promises of God fulfilled.

He gets to see the joy of new life in Christ.

He gets to see the joy of a baptism, and we see that that joy actually fuels him to share the gospel all the way to Caesarea.

By Philip's obedience, salvation to the ends of the earth wasn't for Philip just words on a page.

And that's my charge to you this morning.

Don't let salvation to the ends of the earth be words on a page.

Let it be something that you actually experience in your life, to experience God prevailing in all circumstances.

And once you get started seeing God transform people's life through your opening your mouth to proclaim Christ, you get hooked, friends.

You get hooked.

God opens your eyes so that you would open your mouth.

As the team comes up, I want to share with you the moment when I got hooked on evangelism.

I'd been a Christian for six weeks in Southern California, and someone from my church invited me to share the gospel.

And I actually recorded over 13 years ago in my journal exactly what I felt and exactly what I thought the moment that I, after I had shared the gospel with someone for the first time in my life after coming to Christ.

This is what I wrote in my journal, Friday, April 5th, 2013.

I said, today was my first time approaching random people and sharing the gospel.

It was amazing.

This day was huge for me.

First, it made me see further into this hurting world of ours.

Second, it made me realize how much God has equipped me for cold call evangelism.

That's what I was calling it, talking to strangers, cold call evangelism.

Lastly, I learned today.

It's hard for me to read this without just seeing how God has hooked me on evangelism.

Lastly, I learned today that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

God has saved me from much destruction.

And I want to share his love with this hurting world.

I want all to see his goodness and his life-changing power.

I want to be an evangelist.

It's from my journal 13 years ago.

And I've thought about, I've thought about why did I get hooked?

You know, why did I get hooked so quickly?

And then it dawned on me, you know, for all of my life, you know, my tongue, I used it for evil purposes to cut people down.

But when God redeemed me and He forgave me for the ways that I've hurt myself and the ways that I've hurt others, when He gave me a new life, He not only gave me a new life, but He gave me a new use for my tongue.

No longer to cut people down, but to actually be a wellspring of life to the people around me.

Friends, there's no better purpose.

There's no greater purpose than being a wellspring of life to the people around you.

We're gonna have a time of response right now.

So if you're on the response team, I'd love to welcome you, to come up.

Guys, we need to respond to the scriptures.

All of us struggle to be a wellspring of life with our mouths, to speak the gospel with our words.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna have a time of response.

And I'm inviting you to come up here and to pray with someone, to pray that God would help you to open your mouth, to behold the beauty of Jesus, to behold the beauty of being an instrument for his great name.

Let's stand together.

As we think about responding to this passage, I really want you to ask the question: what greater purpose for your life is there than being a wellspring of life to the people around you?

What greater purpose is there?

And when we boil it all down to one thing, what's the reason?

Why don't we go and share Christ?

Well, when we boil it all down to one thing, it all comes down to this, doesn't it?

Faith.

It all comes down to faith.

It all comes down to do you trust God to fulfill his promises through you?

And here's my plea for you this morning: trust him.

Trust him.

He will fulfill his promises.

Christian, has God been good with your soul?

That's a question.

Has God been good to your soul?

Has God been good to your soul?

Amen.

If God has been good with your soul, will he not also be good with your mouth?

Will he not also be good with your mouth?

If you're not willing to open your mouth for Christ, you know that's a real question.

Do you really belong to him?

And if you don't, this is your moment to respond to him.

Because, friends, I'll tell you what, you cannot tell Christ you have everything but you have all of me but my mouth.

Because you know what?

Christ does not own anyone partially.

He doesn't own anyone partially.

He owns all of you, including your mouth.

So maybe your time in response today is to surrender it all to Christ for the first time.

To give him all of you, including your mouth.

So I'm gonna pray for us.

And then please come, seek prayer that you might be an instrument to share the gospel in your life.

God opens your eyes so you would open your mouth.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for this time, God, where you have truly fulfilled your promises and are fulfilling your promises to redeem to the ends of the earth.

God, I pray that we would respond to this, God, that we would respond to the heart.

That we would say that, God, you have all of us.

My heart, my soul, my mouth.

Lord, I know it's a hard task to go out and open up our mouths for your great name, but God, you give us your spirit to do this.

So may we trust you.

May we trust you with all that we are and all that we have.

God, may you do this to us through the praise of Jesus Christ.

It's in his name we pray.

Amen.