100 Years

Philip and the Ethiopian

Acts 8:26–30 ESV

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. 29 And 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?”

This was a “bad idea” for Philip

He left a successful ministry to go to the desert

Then he took the road no one would want to take...

But it wan’t his idea, it wad the HS

On that road, another guy was being led by the HS

I don’t know what his faith looked like...

But he was seeking God (to Jerusalem with the OT)

As he’s reading out loud, Philip goes, “Hey! That’s Isaiah!”

Then he says, “Do you know what you’re reading?”

That could be a little offensive - do you even know what that means?

But eh Ethiopian says, “Nope! How can I? I need someone to explain.”

“Well, good thing I’m here then!”

Acts 8:31–35 ESV

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.

The Ethiopian says, “Is this about Isaiah or someone else?”

Sheep being slaughtered?

Jesus on the cross!

Lamb before the shearer is silent?

Jesus didn’t say anything before Ciaphas

Jesus was humiliated

He was denied justice

His life was taken

Philip says, “Yeah man, this is about someone named JESUS!”

The Ethiopian then gets saved

That’s why this is Philip the Evangelist

It’s not Philip the Apostle...

Remember when I talked about the gift of service?

I mentioned how deacons were started?

Distributing money and goods to widows...

This Philip was one of the first deacons who were appointed...

NOT one of the disciples who was in charge

And yet, he evangelizes to the Ethiopian

Acts 8:36–39 ESV

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. 39 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.

Notice anything missing?

If you have an ESV, there is no verse 37!

The oldest copies don’t have it, so the ESV doesn’t include it

But we do have very old versions with it...

It says this:

Acts 8:37 NKJV

37 Then 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.”

I LOVE this!

Baptism is a natural part of what Philip says!

Today, it’s more like, “Hey, say a prayer! You’re saved!”

Then, baptism flowed as part of being saved

It’s true, baptism doesn’t save you...

But it is an expected part of our faith!

We often want to do the bare minimum to what gets us into heaven

Our faith is WAY more than that!

We are expected to pray, read the word, serve others, and BE BAPTIZED

And the eunuch wastes no time!

He’s like baptism? There’s water! Let’s do it!

Do you believe with your whole heart? Yep!

Then let’s do this!

And so, Philip dunks him, and the Ethiopian’s life is changed!

It says he goes off rejoicing...

More than that, he traditionally returns to start the church in Ethiopia

One of the oldest//biggest parts of the Oriental Orthodox Church

Talk about a changed life!

Lessons for Today

There are 3 things I want us to take from this passage

1. Legacy is important

It wasn’t the “Good NEWS” that got the Ethiopians attention...

It was OLD news! The book of Isaiah! 700 years old!

Jesus is more than the NT, He is whole Bible! The whole legacy!

Patti Davis: “That is your legacy on this Earth when you leave this Earth: how many hearts you touched.”

What is the legacy of our church?

Ours begins on November 21, 1920

20/21 - look at the Sundays!

This area was known as Gardena

A Mennonite school teacher noticed a spiritual need around here

His name was John Roth, and he wanted to start a Sunday school

He received permission from a local one room school to teach

33 people came the first Sunday

Started canvassing the neighborhood to invite

Added speakers when available

Auxiliary preaching events were held

For 10 years this thing grew (About 70 in picture) - it became a community staple

Everyone knew about the Sunday school

And many people were going

It couldn’t stay an independent thing anymore

Illinois Missions Board became the overseers

Lem Stoeker decided to donate this land to the missions board

There was a stipulation - there had to be a church on it!

There was talk about maybe selling part to build houses and build...

Can’t happen! I believe the land would be returned to the Stoekers

Open land isn’t much good, but the missions board just recieved a church building

It was a church built during the Civil War called “Harmony”

H. James Smith: “It is interesting to think that a title such as Harmony would be given at a time when so much division and strife permeated the country. Perhaps this title was in sense a reflection of the hope by God’s people that understanding in those troubled times would soon come.”

There was a problem though… the church was in Metamora!

The board put together a team from 8 cities

The deconstructed the building

Loaded it onto horse drawn wagons

And transported it to this land!

Took 78 days and cost $3,000!

About $37,000 today

When the building was complete on December 28, 1930...

...John Roth’s Sunday school became Pleasant Hill Mennonite Church

You can see a painting and pictures of the old building in the lobby

Pleasant Hill got its first pastor in 1933, a man names J.N. Kauffman

He pastored 12 years until 1945, and returned in 1955 to pastor again for a year

A 5th pastor came in 1958 named Wayne King

Since the building was almost 100 years old, they decided to build a new one

In 1961 they broke ground on this church building

The golden shovel is in the lobby

They finished the basement first for $14,000

About $94,000 today

They kept meeting in the church, but used the basement sometimes

The kitchen hasn’t changed much!

Pleasant Hill school (which later built our ed building) used the basement

In 1965, Pastor Wayne King’s son (I believe) Paul King was serving

They finalized the sanctuary you are in now for $24,000

About $150,000 today

August 22 was an exciting day

Pastor Paul started service in the old church, and led a procession into new building

For the next 30 years, 6 more pastors came and went

Ultimately, George Hines came in to serve a shrinking congregation in 200

With only a few people left, things looked a little bleak...

But that wasn’t the end of our story!

The prayed for a congregation of 100-150 people merge and bring vibrancy

Around that time, the school next door went up for sale

Pastor Ed Gray was leading a new church called East Gate

They had been meeting in an old theater space, but their lease was running out

So they looked at the old school next door, and came in contact with George Hines

For 4 months the leaders of both churches prayed about what God might be doing…

Finally, January of 2003, CrossPoint Church was born!

2 months later, the school next store went up for auction

CrossPoint couldn’t compare with the deep pockets of local investors..

There was even another church interested

That wouldn’t be good… 2 churches right next door to each other!

Ultimately CrossPoint won the auction and purchased the ed building for $100,000

The congregation faithfully paid it off quickly, and we still don’t have any debt!

That is our legacy… sorta

Our legacy is so much more than that

The history of buildings and land is cool, but what’s more important are the lives that have been touched

Forget the doors, think of all of the feet who have walked through those doors!

Stand Up!

G. Dan Johnston (2019–Present)

Josh Gutteridge (2011–2019)

Robert McKeehan (2007–2010)

Ed Gray (2003-2007)

George Hines (Interim: 2000-2002)

Terry Rogers (1992-1999)

Robert Coon (1988-1992)

Terry Rediger (1981-1988)

James Detweiler (1980-1981)

Lester Zook (1975-1979)

Stanlee Kaufman (1970-1976)

Paul King (1962-1970)

Wayne King (1958-1962)

D. Richard Miller (1956-1958)

J.N. Kauffman (1933–1945, 1955–1956)

Roy Bucher (1951-1955)

Roy D. Roth (1945–1951)

I am extremely humbled to think I am the 17th pastor to serve here!

How many people have been saved in 100 years?

How many of those saved have gone to help others get saved?

How many times has Communion been taken?

How many prayers prayed

How many baptisms have been done

How many times have people found hope when everything seemed dark

THAT church, is our legacy...

2. Baptism comes after believing

Once the Ethiopian realized who Jesus was

AND that he was a sinful man

AND what had been done for him...

That’s when he was baptized

Leads us to point 3

3. What prevents you from being baptized?

Well, not knowing Jesus!

THAT’S IT!

I love the Ethiopian’s excitement

Hey, I want to be baptized — let’s do it now!

Today, we make a big deal about it!

Special service, invite our families, take classes...

Those aren’t bad things at all!

We should be celebrating!

But that doesn’t mean jumping up with excitement and diving in is bad either!

That’s why I leave the baptismal open to anyone at the end

If you haven’t been baptized and want to today, the water will be open!

So long as you know you are a sinner, you have repented and confessed Jesus as Lord!

4. We have reason to rejoice!

The Ethiopian left this scene rejoicing!

Baptism is an outward sign of an inward change

Jesus was the person to live, die, be buried and be resurrected!

The act of baptism identifies with that

Going under the water represents you death and burial

And coming up represents your resurrection

A new body that has been made clean by the blood of Jesus!

That’s why we celebrate baptisms!

And that’s why we chose to commemorate our first 100 years with baptisms

Closing

Notice I said our FIRST 100 years...

See, we’re not done here church!

WE’RE JUST GETTING STARTED!

I hope 100 years from now, people land their self-driving flying cars...

...fly in here on their hoverboards...

…worship to their techno worship music...

…put on their masks cuz I’m afraid those will never go away...

And hear the very same gospel preached to them, baptized the same way...

And told about how we used to be

And when they speak about our legacy, I hope it points straight to God

That legacy, is what we get to start building right now

Communion

Let’s begin by remembering what God has done for us

Baptism

Let’s celebrate what the Lord has done!