Here I Am! Send Me!
Acts • Sermon • Submitted
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· 27 viewsPhilip shows us what a person led by the Holy Spirit with a great commission heartbeat looks like.
Notes
Transcript
An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road.) So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.
The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.”
When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this:
He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb is silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who will describe his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth.
The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about—himself or someone else?” Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.
As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?” So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing. Philip appeared in Azotus, and he was traveling and preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Intro
As we continue on, we will see several different conversion stories. This is one of the key traits of Acts 8-10.
Last week, we saw a false conversion: Simon
This week, we see the Ethiopian Eunuch’s conversion.
Next week, we will see Saul’s conversion.
And after a few more weeks we will see Cornelius’ conversion
The New American Commentary: Acts The Preparation (8:26–29)
All of these conversion stories mark major advances in the Christian mission, and the heightened emphasis on the Spirit underlines that all the initiative lies ultimately with God, even through a variety of means.
Philip and the Ethiopian. This episode highlights two key themes of Acts: (1) the gospel breaks down all social, racial, and ethnic barriers, and (2) God sovereignly guides and empowers his servants.
Another amazing reality about this section is that it shows us how God truly cares for the individual. The one lost sheep.
Acts: Expanded Digital Edition Main Idea
not only large crowds of people but also single individuals need to hear the gospel
The Holy Spirit is deeply involved in this next section. In fact, all of Acts...
The New American Commentary: Acts The Commitment (8:36–40)
The coincidences are too numerous to be coincidences.
Philip is a person led by the Holy Spirit who wants to fulfill the great commission.
He is an evangelist.
An Evangelist is someone committed to evangelism.
Voddie Bochum, in his book Expository Apologetics, says, “Evangelism is more than merely convincing people of the rightness of Christianity or getting them to walk an aisle and pray a prayer. Evangelism is about making disciples—calling people away from the kingdom of man and into the kingdom of God.”
Essentially, evangelism is faithfully fulfilling the great commission.
There are people who have a spiritual gift for evangelism, like Philip. But, these people are also given to the church to train and teach others how to be evangelists and do evangelism too.
So, Philip is going to serve both roles today. We will see him evangelize while also learning from him so that we might be faithful in evangelism too.
Main Idea
Philip shows us what a person led by the Holy Spirit with a great commission heartbeat looks like.
Exposition
From Philip’s example, we find…
Five probing questions we can ask ourselves regarding evangelism...
1st probing question, from verses 26 and 27...
Am I Willing To Go?
Am I Willing To Go?
An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road.) So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem
Philip had an incredibly successful ministry in Samaria. Leaving it might appear foolish to many!
Philip would have had loads of reasons to stay.
“I’m needed here.”
“God’s given me a great network.”
“I, and my message, are well received here.”
Maybe you would think...
“I have a great job”
“I’m successful where I’m at”
“I’m comfortable here”
When the Lord said go, even though he didn’t know what was in the future, even though the trip would be long, and the work could be costly, Philip went.
I find it interesting that Philip is going to explain Isaiah in just a moment and the book of Isaiah has this testimony regarding Isaiah.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking:
Who will I send?
Who will go for us?
I said:
Here I am. Send me.
Philip essentially said, just as Isaiah said, “Here I am, Send me!”
Philip wasn’t told what he was going to do. He knew he had a long long way to travel. And he knew leaving his current ministry meant losing his influence and position in Samaria.
Philip chose to trust Jesus even though it would make absolutely no sense to the world.
Philip was willing when the Lord called.
Philip showed up when he was called upon
Tony Merida- “half the job of evangelism is showing up. Being present in places where people need the gospel. The other half is opening your mouth”
What if God told you, “________, I want you to go to New York.”… “________, I want you to go to the Congo...”
Would you be able to trust Jesus with the assignment?
Would you be willing to go?
I remember vividly, a conversation I had with a friend in North Carolina just before I came out to the Bay Area for the first time to go to seminary.
When we started talking about my upcoming move, she said, “That’s stupid. There are plenty of seminaries close to home. Why would you go?”
I haven’t told you all this before, but leading up to graduating college, I had several dreams about moving to California, even though I thought it would never happen and that it was a stupid idea.
All of this was happening when I was reading “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan about the Holy Spirit’s ministry in our lives. By mentioning that book, I’m not legitimizing all of Francis Chan’s theology, especially some of his recent things. But, I’m mentioning it because God used that book to work on my heart regarding hearing Him and being led by Him. I recommend that book. I also recommend “Experiencing God” by Henry Blackabee .
But, I literally had to tell a “Christian” that God was leading me and I wanted to be willing.
I mean, this should be kindergarten stuff.
The more I prayed and the more I read the scriptures the more I sensed that God was telling me to “get up and go west to the Bay Area”.
I even laid out several fleeces - Asking my dad, applying for scholarships, etc.
I had no idea what was ahead of me, I had no job lined up, I had nothing. But, God was telling me, “get up and go west to the Bay Area
So, I got up and went.
And, fast forward, after repeating the same thing, here we are.
I was just a young man. I only had a college degree. I worked in a cafeteria. I had a lot of friends. I had a great chance to lead in my church. Honestly, I was no different than most of you.
Now, you may be saying, “I’ve never sensed God speaking to me. Does God still direct people like he did Philip? If so, how can I have a relationship with God like that?”
I don’t think there is a silver bullet formula. But, what helped me to hear God more clearly was:
Slowing down.
Spending more time with Him in prayer, scripture reading, and meditation.
Surrendering my plans and desires to Him.
Taking smaller obedient steps (no brainers found in the scriptures)
Believing the Holy Spirit did want to direct me.
So, I ask you,
Are you willing to go?
Are you willing to go?
2nd probing question, from verses 27-30...
Am I Quick To Obey?
Am I Quick To Obey?
So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.
The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.”
When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”
God was behind the scenes, preparing someone, preparing the scene, about to throw a slow ball for an easy home run.
God is about to save wealthy, influential Eunuch, who had just visited Jerusalem to worship YHWH.
eunuch. A castrated male who served in the royal court, often in a position of very high status
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 8
As a eunuch, he would have been barred from the inner courts of the temple, which makes his reading “the prophet Isaiah” (v. 28) especially significant. Isaiah held out the promise that God would grant devout eunuchs a heritage “better than sons and daughters”
The New American Commentary: Acts The Preparation (8:26–29)
In all the Old Testament, Isaiah holds forth the greatest hope for the eunuch in his picture of God’s ideal future, a future that promises them a monument in God’s house, a name better than sons and daughters, an “everlasting name which will not be cut off” (Isa 56:3–8). Little did the eunuch know that he was about to experience the fulfillment of those promises.
No foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord
should say,
“The Lord will exclude me from his people,”
and the eunuch should not say,
“Look, I am a dried-up tree.”
For the Lord says this:
“For the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
and choose what pleases me,
and hold firmly to my covenant,
I will give them, in my house and within my walls,
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters.
I will give each of them an everlasting name
that will never be cut off.
The scene, the scripture being read, and the person reading couldn’t have been better.
Philip is essentially a professional MLB player being set up to play tee ball.
The Spirit directs Philip to go to a person He was already working on.
Philip didn’t know what the Spirit had been preparing up to this point.
All Philip had was a command: “go join that chariot.”
You, also, have no idea what God is doing behind the scenes in the people he directs you to minister to.
This should encourage us.
But, there are still times when God simply sends us places for the sake of growing us and giving himself glory even when there aren’t conversions.
The main point of obedience isn’t results, it’s ensuring that God gets as much glory as he can with our lives!
So Philip runs!
When’s the last time you “ran” in obedience to God?
Are you slow to obey? Or are you quick to obey?
By Philip being quick to obey, he essentially ensures that he will get the chance to hit a home run on this game of tee ball.
Are you quick to obey?
Are you quick to obey?
3rd probing question, from verses 30-35...
Am I Competent In The Scriptures?
Am I Competent In The Scriptures?
When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this:
He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb is silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who will describe his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth.
The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about—himself or someone else?” Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.
Again, Philip is an MLB All Star being asked to play tee ball!
This man invites Philip up in order to teach a Bible Study.
They then go through Isaiah 53:7-8.
This is one of the most famous prophetic texts about Jesus.
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a young plant
and like a root out of dry ground.
He didn’t have an impressive form
or majesty that we should look at him,
no appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.
He was like someone people turned away from;
he was despised, and we didn’t value him.
Yet he himself bore our sicknesses,
and he carried our pains;
but we in turn regarded him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced because of our rebellion,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on him,
and we are healed by his wounds.
We all went astray like sheep;
we all have turned to our own way;
and the Lord has punished him
for the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter
and like a sheep silent before her shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
He was taken away because of oppression and judgment,
and who considered his fate?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
he was struck because of my people’s rebellion.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
but he was with a rich man at his death,
because he had done no violence
and had not spoken deceitfully.
Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely.
When you make him a guilt offering,
he will see his seed, he will prolong his days,
and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.
After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied.
By his knowledge,
my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will carry their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him the many as a portion,
and he will receive the mighty as spoil,
because he willingly submitted to death,
and was counted among the rebels;
yet he bore the sin of many
and interceded for the rebels.
The Holy Spirit is all up in this!
But, what would have happened if Philip said, “actually, I’m not very familiar with that passage. I’m not very competent with the Old Testament Prophets.”
This story would be a lot shorter and a lot less exciting.
But, Philip knew his Bible.
Let me ask you: How well do you know your Bible?
I’m not saying you need to be a Greek and Hebrew scholar.
I’m saying that Christians should be so entrenched in the book that we know how to explain passages like this one Philip explains. And we should be able to do it in a CHRISTOCENTRIC way
Everyone say: Christocentric
Christocentric: Having Christ as its center
Philip taught Isaiah Christocentricly.
The New American Commentary: Acts The Witness (8:30–35)
His response enunciates a basic principle that runs throughout Luke-Acts concerning the interpretation of the Old Testament prophetic texts—the need for a Christian interpreter. The disciples themselves had needed such guidance, and Christ had “opened … the Scriptures” for them (Luke 24:45).
Jesus had a christocentric view of the scriptures and so did his disciples in the early church.
I should be preaching Christocentric sermons. Our preaching and teaching from the Bible at FBC should be able to make Jewish visitors uncomfortable.
If you need help in being able to be competent in the scriptures, I recommend…
Read your Bible daily!
Read your Bible using a Study Bible!
ESV Study Bible
CSB Study Bible
NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible
Gospel Transformational Study Bible
MacArthur Study Bible
Attend church regularly!
Attend Bible Studies regularly!
So, I ask you,
Are you competent in the Scriptures?
Are you competent in the Scriptures?
4th probing question, in verses 36-39...
Does Something Keep Me From Fully Identifying With Christ?
Does Something Keep Me From Fully Identifying With Christ?
As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?” So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing.
Obviously, Philip must have explained the gospel AND what kind of response God desires when we hear the gospel.
Philip would have explained how Jesus came from heaven, lived among sinners, was rejected by His people, suffered as the suffering servant (from the text in Isaiah), died on a cross, was dead three day, resurrected from the dead, gave the great commission, and ascended into heaven.
He then must have mentioned that God calls us to believe this message, repent of our sins, and then to show what has happened inwardly, we are to publicly identify with Jesus in baptism.
This man was so moved by the gospel that Philip didn’t have to be the one to say, “would you like to be baptized now?”
The man initiates it himself.
This is the type of situation pastors pray and long for.
And after the whole ordeal is finished, it appears as if this Eunuch is fully included into the family of Christ.
ZECNT:
Acts: Expanded Digital Edition Explanation of the Text
The Ethiopian official continued his journey “rejoicing,” a remark that reflects the reality of his faith in Jesus as Israel’s Messiah and the Savior from sins, implying that he had received the Holy Spirit; the present participle (χαίρων) suggests a permanent reality of his commitment to Jesus.
Sadly, the normal scenario is:
Someone refusing to repent of obvious sins.
Someone declaring that, “sure, Jesus is the way to the Father, but, He’s one of many ways!”
Someone wanting all the benefits of church community without fully identifying with Jesus in sacrificing their own desires to obey the Lord.
Or even some refusing water baptism because of some random reason.
All these types of responses keep people from fully identifying with Christ. Some aren’t salvific issues (like baptism or church membership).
But some are (like repentance and faith in the biblical Jesus)
I ask you listening: Do you identify with any of these things?
Does something keep you from fully identifying with Christ?
Does something keep you from fully identifying with Christ?
Our 5th and final probing question, from verse 40.
Is The Gospel On My Lips?
Is The Gospel On My Lips?
Philip appeared in Azotus, and he was traveling and preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
The text seems to indicate that Philip was supernaturally transported from the baptism to Azotus (Ashdod, a coastal town 20 miles north of Gaza)
But it says he continued north to Caesarea “preaching the gospel in all the towns…”
Notice how it says he kept preaching the gospel.
Philip exhibits traits that show he is not ashamed of the gospel message. He doesn’t need to be asked by someone to do a Bible Study before sharing Christ.
He was unashamed!
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.
Do you have this character trait?
Are you afraid to share the gospel because you might lose a friend?
Are you afraid to share the gospel because you might get fired?
Are you afraid to share the gospel because it will effect your popularity with others?
Where are you at regarding a willingness to share the gospel, even if you aren’t being tee’d up for it?
What I mean is, sometimes there are moments like we see Philip had with the Eunuch.
But, most of the time, sharing the gospel is costly.
Does the cost concern you more than God’s glory?
Does the cost concern you more than someone’s eternal destiny?
Does the cost concern you more than living in obedience?
Is the Gospel on your lips?
Is the Gospel on your lips?
Conclusion
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We have a mission.
ZECNT
Acts: Expanded Digital Edition Theology in Application
As important and as helpful as strategies, methods, and planning are in the task of missionary proclamation and evangelistic outreach, Christians need to take care not to miss the promptings of God’s Spirit to initiate spontaneous conversations in unforeseen circumstances that some might deem even inappropriate
Sometimes we are MLB stars playing Tee ball
Other times, we are 5th graders participating as best as we can.
Invitation