Ethiopian Church
Notes
Transcript
As we head into following Jesus it should be noted that to follow Jesus it will cost you your life
Not only are we to die to ourselves
but church it is a real possibility that our physical life will be taken because we walk with Jesus
Just like Stephen and we read his defense last week
at the very beginning of Acts 8 we see
2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
I didn’t want us to sail right over that verse
I don’t think we have faced persecution like this in America
And yet maybe just maybe that is why the American church is the way it is soft
Because we enjoy the comforts our great county affords us
So in Acts we start to see the Gospel spread like wildfire
4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. 6 The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.
Philip is one of the guys from Acts 6 who was interviewed and they asked to come and be on leadership
He is doing just what we saw Stephen doing
Some absolutly amazing things
Church are you understanding that these men are being used of God to do some abolutly amazing things
Things that only God Himself can do
And what we see as common theme through these men
Their own desire to know Jesus
Their personal walks with Jesus
Things like this do not happen if we are not as individuals walking after Jesus in our personal lives
Out of this we see their obedience
So Philip is scattered out of Jerusalem I mean they the Jewish Religious Elite just stoned stephen
For their safety lets get some of you guys out of here and do what it is you do
Walk with Jesus
Live for Jesus
And what happens when you start to do that is people take notice
People are starting to listen
As the Gospel is spreading people are coming to know Christ
People are seeing the power and acts of the Holy Spirit
One guy looks to purchase the power the Holy Spirit and is told no because you can’t buy the Holy Spirit
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.)
We have a history of philip being obedient
Here we see the Holy Spirit speak to Philip and tell him to go south to the road that leads out of Jerusalem
We see the Holy Spirit calling Him
There are times that that the Holy Spirit calls us
And church like Philip we must be prepared to be obedient
Years ago Pastor Gary did a sermon titled GoBey
We must be preapred to Go and Obey
The way we prepare ourselves is by spending time in the word of God ourselves
We spend time praying to God ourselves
When we do that we can better hear the Holy Spirit calling
And church when the Holy Spirit calls us
instead of debating or arguing with God
Instead of coming up with excuses or trying to justify our blantant disobedience
We must obey
I know it feels like we should have more to the answer but it is just that
I don’t want to make light of that because I know that sometimes God calls you do to things that are difficult and costly
However church as we see with Philip it is so worth it
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.
First church let me explain something
The Church was alive before this Ethiopian Eunuch was alive
We know that the Queen of Sheba is credited with bringing Faith in God to the Ethiopians
So Philip is obedient to the call of the Holy Spirit
Even though it seems weird or awkward
He is still obedient to the call of the Holy Spirit
And as he is walking he hears someone reading
He runs up and asks do you know what you are reading
He didn’t know why he would be walking on the road
Some of us including me think I need to know why before I take the steps of faith and yet when we disobey we miss out on what God does
Philip is able to recognize the word of God because He has spent much time with it
I wonder if we would be able to recognize the word of God if we simply heard it
Have you and I spent enough time with the Word of God to know it
So he wants to explain and share what He knows with the man
What an incredible softball
To hear someone reading the Word of God and then you have an opportunity to share with them what it means
All because you spend time with Word of God
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.
This man was reading about the salvation of people of himself and didn’t know
So Philip was obedient to the call of the Holy Spirit and was at the right place at the right time to do what God had called him to do
Church do you start to see how important your own personal walk with the Lord is so vital to the kingdom growth
Not only are we to be reading and praying, but church we are to be obedient in our service to the Lord
To be obedient to our giving of Tithes and Offerings as we seek to be obedient to the Call of the Holy Spirit
We are also to be obedient to go when he calls us to go
To be prepared to share what Christ as done in our life
To be prepare to share what a piece of scripture means
And let me be clear scripture means the same it did 50 years ago
Scripture means the same to me and you
The meaning of scripture does not change what does is how you and I apply it to our daily lives
So what does philip do
He preaches Jesus from the beginning
This is what the the Eunuch was reading
And because Philip was prepared to be used by God he is prepared to explain what he is reading
And because it is about Jesus he preaches the Gospel message to Jesus
1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
Church this is the Gospel Message This is what Philip i believe probably shared with him
Vs 4-5
Jesus was beaten and mocked, and beaten some more for you and I
This is what Philip was preaching and sharing with the Eunuch
The reason he was beaten and mocked and beaten some more was because of our sin
Vs 5-8
Because of our sin he died
Your sin and my sin put Jesus on the cross, it was His love for you and I that kept Him there
Church his death saved us from our sin
And had that been the end of it there would have been no hope for the Eunuch
Vs 8-10
But church that wasn’t the end of the Gospel message
Jesus died and was put into a grave
But He arose from the grave
All the way back in Isaiah, the prophet was saying that Jesus who would die for your sin and my sin would arise later
Would come back to life
Church this is the Gospel message that Philip preached to the Eunuch because he was prepared and because he was obedient
He was sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s voice and was able to recognize it when he spoke
Because he had spent time with the Holy Spirit
Church are we preared to be obedient
Are we willing to be obedient to the Call of God
Would we know the voice of the Holy Spirit
Philip has shared the Gospel with the Eunuch and because he has shared the Gospel
The Holy Spirit moves and the Eunuch accepts the free gift of Jesus dying on the cross and raising from the grave
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.
The eunuch is saved because of Jesus
He was introduced to Jesus because Philip was obedient
Philip was prepared
Philip was obedient
And because of this
This Ethiopian court offical comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ
and church one website puts it like this
Website Says this
Ethiopia embraced Christianity and has maintained its doctrines from the era of the apostles to the present day. Acts 8:26-39 recounts the story of the Ethiopian eunuch who was baptized by St. Philip. This eunuch was a minister of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia. This story is the beginning of Ethiopian Church history. Eusebius speaks of this eunuch as the first fruits of the faith in the whole world. Irenaeus writes that he preached the Gospel to the Ethiopians.
Because of the obedience of one man
A whole country and nation and people group are now on fire for Jesus
See what happens when we have trained our ears to hear the voice of God because we have spent so much time with Jesus through His word
See what happens when we take the step of faith and are obedient
See what happens when we take the step of faith to share the Gospel with people
Church people come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and savior
So church as we come to a close this morning
We are going to ask the band to come up
As they come up
We invite you to the front if you do not know Jesus personally
There will be someone up here who would love to speak with you about Jesus and how you can be saved
Or maybe you need to spend sometime in prayer at the alter
Maybe there is another decision of church membership or baptism that you need to make to do
Would you be obedient this morning
And let me say this
If God is calling you to the front to speak with someone or pray with someone and you won’t do that in this church then don’t think kyou will be obedient out there
Lets pray
