Will You Tell the Story? (Philip on the Desert Road 2)

Introduction

In Acts 1:8 Jesus said...

Acts 1:8 NASB95

8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

After the death of Stephen and the persecution of the church in Jerusalem, believers began to flee, telling the story of Jesus in Judea, Samaria, and beyond.

This section of the book of Acts highlights four men who played a large role in taking the story of Jesus to the ends of the earth so to speak.

We’ve already mentioned Stephen, the first Christian martyr who served faithfully and preached boldly in Jerusalem.

In the weeks ahead, we’ll talk about Saul the persecutor who will be transformed into the Paul the Apostle, and we’ll talk about Cornelius, a gentile who was led to faith in Christ by the Apostle Peter.

Today though, we are continuing to talk about Philip, a faithful servant and bold preacher like Stephen.

We’ve already seen Philip telling the story of Jesus in Samaria.

Today we see him telling the story of Jesus on a desert road.

[READING - Acts 8:25-40]

Acts 8:25–40 NASB95

25 So, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. 26 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) 27 So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” 30 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “He was led as a sheep to slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He does not open His mouth. 33 “In humiliation His judgment was taken away; Who will relate His generation? For His life is removed from the earth.” 34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. 36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 37 And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

[PRAYER]

[TS] I have two QUESTIONS for you today…

Morning: Do you believe the story of Jesus?

If you do…

…then you know that all of Scripture is about Jesus.

…then you will be baptized in Jesus’ name.

…then you will go on your way rejoicing.

Tonight: Will you tell the story of Jesus?

Major Ideas

Question: Will you tell the story of Jesus?

This passage provides us with good counsel by way of Philip’s good example if we are going to tell the story of Jesus.

Answer #1: If you will tell the story of Jesus, follow the leading of the Lord.

Acts 8:26–29 NASB95

26 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) 27 So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.”

[EXP] The fingerprints of God are all over the salvation of this Ethiopian eunuch. God had been drawing him to Himself long before He led Philip to him, but God did lead Philip to him.

First, God sent an angel of the Lord to direct Philip to the desert road.

Notice v. 27, “So he got up and went...”

Second, the God the Holy Spirit directed Philip to the chariot of the Ethiopian eunuch.

Notice v. 30, “Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet...”

And then, third, once the Ethiopian had been baptized, Philip was snatch away by the Spirit of the Lord.

Repeatedly we see the Lord lead Philip, and repeatedly we see Philip follow the Lord’s leading.

If we are going to tell the story of Jesus, we must follow the Lord’s leading.

[ILLUS] Sometimes, though, following the Lord’s leading doesn’t make sense. Sometimes the Lord leads us in a direction that seems counterproductive. But the Lord always knows best.

The pastor of Cheryl’s home-church, Bro. Leland Hogan, was actually the pastor of another church before he came to Carterville Baptist Church in Petal, Mississippi.

Like today, pastors back then usually didn’t move to smaller churches but only to larger ones. The Lord (it would seem) didn’t typically lead them in that direction. But he did with Bro. Hogan and Bro. Hogan listened.

He came to Carterville from a larger church and stayed there for 45 years.

[APP] Now certainly the leading of the Lord does sometimes make sense to us. I know plenty of pastors who have moved from smaller congregations to larger ones because the Lord had in mind to use them reach a larger audience.

But sometimes the leading of the Lord it downright odd to us.

Sometimes, as in Bro. Hogan’s case, it takes us from the larger church to the smaller one.

Sometimes, as in Philip’s case, the leading of the Lord takes us from a thriving ministry in Samaria to a desert road on the way to Gaza.

Sometimes the leading of the Lord says, “Go up to that chariot,” and we may not know why until we hear someone reading from Isaiah.

But if we are going to tell the story of Jesus, we must follow the Lord wherever He leads even if it doesn’t make sense to anyone else… even if it doesn’t make sense to us.

[TS]…

Answer #2: If you will tell the story of Jesus, tell it from the Scriptures.

Acts 8:35 NASB95

35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.

[EXP] This morning we talked about how all the Scriptures in the Bible point to Jesus. If you’ll permit to repeat myself, I said…

“Some parts of Scripture point to our need for Jesus by pointing out our sinfulness or our foolishness.

“Some other parts of Scripture—like the part in Isaiah that the Ethiopian man was reading—point to the coming of Jesus.

“Other parts of Scripture tell the story of His coming, His earthly ministry, and His first followers.

“Still other parts of Scripture point to how we should live as we followers Jesus.

“And still other parts point to His return and what awaits us in eternity with Him.

“But all of Scripture flows from Jesus, through Jesus, and to Jesus. It’s all about Him!”

How does all of Scripture flow from Jesus?

John 1:1 NASB95

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus is the Word.

How does all of Scripture flow through Jesus?

John 1:3 NASB95

3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Jesus made the word.

How does all of Scripture point to Jesus?

John 1:14 NASB95

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The word is all about the Word taking on flesh and tabernacling among us.

If the word comes from Him, through Him, and is to Him, then we ought to use the word when we tell others about Him.

[ILLUS] When I was in my mid-20s I went to Dallas, Texas, to help with a week-long Christian soccer camp. After we did our drills on the first day, it was my job to share the Gospel with all the campers.

Sipping on water in the hot Texas sun, they gathered around as I talked about how I was an angry teenager after my parents divorce, my mom’s drinking, my dad’s remarriage, but then I heard about Jesus and trusted Him as my Savior.

Once I did, all the angry burden fell away and I had peace and happiness like I’d not known before.

The campers seemed attentive. The guy who organized the camp said, “I don’t want to say that was a home run because its the first day, but it was at least a triple!” I thought it was strange that he was using baseball lingo at a soccer camp, but I felt good about his encouragement.

However, on the way to the next camp (we had one in the morning and one in the evening) my mentor in ministry (the guy who invited me to come on this trip), he said, “Let’s make sure that at the end of this afternoon camp, when we tell the kids about Jesus, we use the Scriptures.”

You see, in the morning camp, I had shared my testimony, but I had not shared the Word—and the Lord does His work through His Word.

[APP] If we are going to tell the story of Jesus, we need to tell it from the Scriptures. We need to take the time to understand passages and memorize verses so that we can recall them when we are telling someone about Jesus’ perfect life, His sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection.

If you want to get better at this, let me encourage you to develop a daily Bible reading habit. And at the end of every day’s reading ask yourself, “How would I get to Jesus from here?”

Sometimes that answer will be obvious because the passage will be directly about Jesus.

But sometimes that answer will not be so obvious because the passage will only be indirectly about Jesus.

Either way, that exercise will prepare you to tell the story of Jesus from the Scriptures.

[TS]…

Answer #3: If you will tell the story of Jesus, keep telling it everywhere you go.

Acts 8:39–40 NASB95

39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

[EXP] Philip told the story of Jesus in Samaria, people believed, and then he was moved by God to a desert road.

There he told the story of Jesus, the eunuch believed, and then he was moved by God to Azotus.

As he passed through that area, he told the story of Jesus, and no doubt some others believed as well.

Finally, he came to Caesarea where we will see him later in the book Acts telling the story of Jesus so that others can believe.

Wherever we go, we should be telling the story of Jesus.

[ILLUS] I think I’m a naturally suspicious person. I tend to think people are up to no good. If a stranger knocks on my door, I don’t assume it’s a neighbor looking to be neighborly. I assume it a killer looking to be deadly! So, the question I always ask myself when someone new comes along is, “What are you up to?”

But over the last several years, I’ve also developed what could be called an evangelistic paranoia.

An evangelistic paranoia is when I meet someone new and I ask, “What are you up to, God?”

I meet the neighbor kid down the street playing basketball, “What are you up to, God? Do you want me to tell him about Jesus?”

I meet the repair man who comes to the church to fix the alarm system, “What are you up to, God? Do you want me to tell him about Jesus?”

I get into an accident with another diver, “What are you up to, God? Do you want me to tell him about Jesus?”

[APP] It takes boldness to tell people about Jesus in those situations, but I’ve never once told someone about Jesus and regretted it.

We might feel awkward at first.

The ones we share with may feel awkward too.

But we must tell the story of Jesus wherever we go because eternity is at stake.

As people step into Hell, no one will turn to us and say, “Thank you for not making it awkward. This is much better.”

[TS]…

Conclusion

The Bible doesn’t say what happened next with the Ethiopian eunuch, but the early church theologian and apologist Irenaeus who lived about 200 A.D. said that after the Ethiopian eunuch believed the story of Jesus, he went to tell the story of Jesus to his own people (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.12.8).

If you believe the story of Jesus is a true story, then you tell the story of Jesus to others just as someone once told it to you.

[PRAYER]