What if...

We are beginning a new sermon series called “Sharing God.” We will be looking at some misconceptions and some reasons why we need be willing to, as followers of Jesus, to share God with our friends, family and community.

This sermon series is the beginning of a focus on sharing God for the next 12 weeks. Part of our mission statement is for us to “Connect with those around us.” It is through sharing God through our words and actions that will allow those around us to desire to get to know more about God.

This week we ask the question “what if…? Our scripture comes from Acts 8:26-38.

 26 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. 27 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 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

       “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”

34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 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?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

Please pray with me…

What if… we each decided to ask one person to come to church with us. What if… all of us became comfortable with having conversations with those we meet about the one who has saved us. The one who died for us. The one who became our example of how to live our lives.

The word that is often used within the church when speaking of sharing God with those around us is evangelism. It is a word that for some good reasons has become a bad word in the church. A word that will often make people uncomfortable.

But I am sure that is not the case for any of you. I am sure that each and every one of you are happy and respond immediately when you have the chance to share your faith with someone you know or maybe even a stranger. Right???

(Transition)

If that is not the case, you are not alone. I would expect that you are like a majority of those of us that call ourselves Christians. The problem with not spreading the word of God to the world is that we have been told this is something that we are supposed to do.

Jesus’ last words to his disciples were that they were to tell about him in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This should be telling us that there is no one walking the earth that we should not be willing to tell about Jesus.

But again, we are not alone. The latest research done on the area of evangelism had pastors being asked how does your church do at reaching those outside the church. Only one percent of pastors said they believed their church was doing a good job at this. Again, these are pastors of the churches saying this.

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Why don’t we speak up? One reason is because of how we see this represented in movies and sometimes in real life and occasionally even within scripture. It is these negative connotations that keep some people from spreading the word of God.

We have John the Baptist telling his audience “Repent for the kingdom of God is near.” We will sometimes have people on the street corners expressing similar thoughts and ideas. We know that this is not how we want to tell people about Jesus. How we believe we have been called to tell those around us about the one who saved us.

Sometimes we hear people in person or on social media remind people that if they don’t change their ways, what’s going to happen? They are going to hell. Even if you believe that is true, it is not the best way for us to get someone to choose to be a follower of Jesus.

These are ways to share God, but for a majority of people this is not the way that we would choose to spread the word of God. Therefore, we have decided that we are just going to keep our faith to ourselves.

(Transition)

The next reason is why I believe a majority of people have decided that telling others about Jesus is not for them. They, and by they, I mean me, have allowed their fear factor to be greater than their faith factor.

They are worried that they are going to end up saying the wrong thing. This way of thinking leads to a different type of “what if” statements. It leads us to decide that we aren’t going to take the chance. We aren’t going to trust God.

Some statements that people will sometimes use is “What if… I’m not able to articulate what I want to say?” We have decided beforehand that it is all up to us. We have removed God helping us from the equation.

We also might find ourselves worried that someone is going to ask a question that we don’t have an answer too. I think this is a big one. What I have found is that if you don’t know the answer most people will be impressed and keep listening if you admit it and say that you are going to find out.

A third reason a person might allow fear to win is that they are afraid that they will fail. The person isn’t going to decide in that moment to give their life to Jesus or to go visit their church. They don’t want that awkwardness.

Again, what I have discovered is that people will be polite and often thank you for telling them or asking them even if they say no. and you have done what God has asked for you to do. You have stepped out of your comfort zone and was willing to spread the word of God.

What this points out is that we need to find a way to not allow the fear factor to stop us from telling those around us about Jesus. There are people in our midst that are hurting. Many people know that something is missing in their lives. They are waiting for you to tell them that they are missing Jesus.

(Transition)

Our scripture for today shows us a way that many of us would be comfortable sharing God with someone else. It is through listening to God, responding to God, and speaking for God that we find Philip reaching out to the eunuch in our story.

Philip has an “angel of the Lord” tell him to get up and go out into the middle of nowhere. We have Philip getting up and doing what God asks for him to do. I know what you are thinking, if “an angel of the Lord” told me I also would respond right away.

It is my belief that we can replace “angel of the Lord” with the “Holy Spirit.” Have you ever had that feeling you are supposed to go do something or supposed to speak to that person? That feeling may be God asking for you to respond like Philip responded.

Do you also notice that Philip was not told why he was going to where the “angel” told him to go. He didn’t know why, he just knew that he was supposed to do what God told him to do, and he got up and did it.

He gets there and he finds one person alone who happens to be reading scripture. God had set up the chance for Philip to tell this man about Jesus. We need to trust that God has a plan, and he is having us help him fulfill that plan.

(Transition)

The man isn’t just reading scripture. He is reading a specific scripture that is a part of the Old Testament prophesy regarding Jesus. This man knew that what he was reading was important he just didn’t understand it and needed Philip to help him.

The eunuch was missing something in his life he just wasn’t sure of what he was missing. He would have been someone who was enslaved but he had reached a point that he was one of the most trusted advisors to the queen Candace.

(Transition)

Jesus can be the remedy to many of life’s struggles. In fact, I would expect that many of you here today have had or are having Jesus help you in a part of your life in which you were once struggling or maybe still are.

Jesus can help heal us when we are hurting. We can speak of both physical and emotional pain. We say during our prayers that we have a God that heals. We find within scripture the healing touch of Jesus on many people’s lives.

Jesus can offer us peace when we are struggling. This could be a big area where Jesus can help those we meet. Many people struggle with anxiety and fear because the world is not what they want or expect. Jesus can help bring peace to our hearts and minds.

Jesus can offer his presence when we are lonely. We hear that we are in the middle of a loneliness epidemic. We can first help by asking someone to join a church community where they can feel welcome.

We also believe that when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have the Holy Spirit within us. We are never alone. God is always with us no matter what life’s circumstances that we are facing.

Jesus can offer love to those who believe they are not worth loving. There are many people out in the world and maybe some in person or online with us right now that have been through some stuff. They don’t believe they can be loved.

Scripture shows us that Jesus loves all people. He loved those he wasn’t supposed to associate with. He loved those that hated him to the point of asking for forgiveness for them on the cross. Jesus will offer his everlasting love to anyone who desires to receive it.

(Transition)

We find in our first reading a Psalm reminding us that God is with us on the journey. The Psalmist is reminding the Jewish people of the way that God was there for their ancestors during the Exodus.

We have a God that leads us and helps us because of the everlasting love he has for each one of us. Just like the psalmist points out we have a story to tell those that need to hear how God can impact their life.

We have a message to share. For some they may need to hear our story before they would be ready to hear about Jesus. They need to begin to trust us and understand the impact that Jesus has had on our lives.

That is why we need to have a Jesus story. A three-to-five-minute synopsis of a way that Jesus has impacted your life. We will be learning the Jesus story from some of those here at The Church of the Good Shepherd in a few weeks.

(Transition)

Our main scripture reading points out that God places us in situations where we can offer a person salvation. The chance to be free from the power of sin and death. Not only that, but if we allow him, God will help make this possible.

The eunuch was seeking answers on what was missing in his life. He needed help to discover the answer and God provides. Philip provides that help. Philip allowed for the eunuch to discover that he needed Jesus.

(Transition)

One of the most interesting aspects of this story for me is that Philip never asks the question. God has set up the parameters to allow for the eunuch to understand and make the decision to follow Jesus, but Philip never asks him if he wants to be a follower of Jesus.

We will often have a relationship with someone but when the time comes to ask the “big question” we become afraid. We spoke of this earlier. Philip shows us that we are not alone. We don’t know why he didn’t ask but for some reason he chose to remain quiet.

It may be easier for you to focus not on asking someone if they want to follow Jesus but just beginning with an invitation to church. It is my hope that we have created here an environment in which you can believe that your friend will be able to feel safe and loved.

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What we can recognize is that we need to be connected to God so that God can speak to us and help us. We have a God that desires to be with us and to help us. We need to be willing to ask for him to put people before us that we can help become followers of him.

We all should have a story to share. A way that God has impacted our lives that lead us to pray to him and worship him. Let us ask God to help us find those around us that our story will help them discover how God can fulfill what they are missing in their life and help them become the person that he desires for them to be.

(Transition)

We are on a journey together at The Church of the Good Shepherd. Our first reading points out to us that we should thank God for all that he has done for us. Let us

“give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, 9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”

Let’s return back to our first questions. What if… we each decided to ask one person to come to church with us. What if… all of us became comfortable with having conversations with those we meet about the one who has saved us.

Let us overcome our fears and be willing to be the people of Christ that God desires for us to be.

Please pray with me…