Capitalizing on Divine Appointments

In 2019 Lifeway published a report regarding evangelism practices in the local church. Reports show that churchgoers are eager to talk to others about Jesus and even pray for opportunities, but most have not had an evangelistic conversation in the last six months. The report showed that 55% of professing believers have had no gospel conversations in the last six months. It goes down to 24% for those who had one or two, 12% for those who had 3-5, and 5% for those who had 6-10. In spite of one’s desire to have gospel conversations, very few have them on a regular basis. Now, this is not to guilt trip anyone, but statistics like these bring awareness to the current realities facing the church. If we expect to see more people in the church, or see the baptismal waters stir, evangelism, the sharing of one’s faith, must take place.

Last week we saw a man named Stephen pay the ultimate price for sharing the truth about Jesus. We talked about the reality that we will face hostility toward the gospel, we always have to be ready to share our hope, and we have to share our hope regardless of personal cost. Today we are introduced to Philip, one of the deacons elected to oversee distribution to the poor in Acts 6, and the work the Holy Spirit did through him. From the day Stephen died, Saul, a member of the Pharisees, began persecuting the church in Jerusalem. Everyone scattered except the apostles and Philip went to Samaria. The work of sharing the faith continued and they saw many come to faith in Jesus. When the apostles heard what was taking place in Samaria, Peter and John went to go check it out. After some time there, they made their way back and that is where we pick up in verse 25.

Acts 8:25–40 NASB95

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. 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.) 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, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 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. “In humiliation His judgment was taken away; Who will relate His generation? For His life is removed from the earth.” The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 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.” 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. 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. 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.

In this story we see some things that are quite intriguing. Ultimately, we see how God, through His Holy Spirit moves a man into the right place at the right time to bring someone to faith in Jesus. When this happens, we call that a divine appointment. We have to get good at capitalizing on divine appointments. I believe that God has ordained our steps in such a way that there are always divine appointments lined up for us. The question is whether we will see them. But if we are going to capitalize on divine appointments and truly share Jesus to the world, we need to do two things.

We must be attentive to the Holy Spirit.

Philip had left Jerusalem as Saul began persecuting the church. He made his way to Samaria and continued to share the good news. An angel of the Lord comes to him and tells him to go to this road that goes between Jerusalem and Gaza. Luke describes this road as a desert road. There is nothing there. Philip was in a good spot. He was working and God was blessing it. But then God calls him from that place to a desert road. How attractive would it be to move from a place that’s booming to a place where there is nothing? Yet, this is what the Lord wants.

Verse 27 says, “So he got up and went.” Now when Philip got up and went, he did not yet know what awaited him. We read in the same verse that there was an Ethiopian eunuch traveling along that road, but the angel did not tell Philip that. He just told him to go, kind of like the way God called Abraham to leave Haran and go to the land that He will show him. Philip has enough trust in the Lord to follow Him even though he does not have the details. The mission has not been outlined. It is only when he gets there and the chariot is in view that the Holy Spirit tells him to go up and join the chariot. Philip gets to the chariot to discover that the Ethiopian eunuch, who had gone to Jerusalem to worship, was reading the book of Isaiah. This was the moment of opportunity.

Philip asked if the eunuch knew what he was reading. He said how could he unless someone guide him. So Philip started with the Suffering Servant passage from Isaiah 53 and preached Jesus to him.

This scene in the narrative of Acts would not have occured if Philip was not attentive to the Holy Spirit in his life. Imagine for a moment if Philip was not listening or he simply said no. The eunuch from Ethiopia would have never heard the gospel that day. Philip would have missed his divine appointment. The gospel would not have gotten to the eunuch and the eunuch would not carry the message back to Ethiopia. We don’t know what the eunuch did with the gospel message when he got back home, but what we do know is that the gospel was going to Ethiopia because a man from there just came to faith in Jesus. We don’t have a record of what this man did when he got back home, but I bet you he told at least one person, “I gotta tell you about what happened to me on the way back from Jerusalem!”

Philip’s attentiveness to the Holy Spirit moved him to the right place at the right time, but it also required him to speak.

We must speak up when given the opportunity.

It was not enough for Philip to just show up and have a cup of tea and a conversation with this man. A divine appointment can only be capitalized if we speak up when we see opportunity. The first clue Philip had that suggested there was a job God wanted him to do was calling him to leave Samaria in the first place. The second thing was seeing a man from Ethiopia reading the book of Isaiah. Signal flares should be going off all over the place! This was the moment! This was the reason he was brought here! Philip knew he had a message to share and he knew that he had to share it.

What would have happened if Philip did not say anything? What if he thought, “Oh, check it out. The book of Isaiah. The guy must be super spiritual, maybe even Jewish.” But there’s one thing he didn’t know: the message of hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was not enough for Philip to show up. Nothing would have been accomplished if he merely had a friendly conversation with him. What that man needed was the gospel. He needed to know the truth about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. God was already calling him to Himself through the book of Isaiah. He just wanted to use Philip to fill in the missing pieces.

Listen. If we assume people know what we know, we will have less of a burden to share it. If we assume that anybody wearing a cross, has a Jesus fish bumper sticker, or a verse tattooed on their arm knows what in means to walk with Jesus, we will miss a divine appointment. God has ordained our steps that we will have these opportunities all the time. The question is are we paying attention?

Let’s talk about the Ethiopian eunuch for a second. In case you don’t know what a eunuch is, it is a male servant to a royal house who has been castrated. One of the ideas behind this practice was that the eunuch would be a more loyal and efficient servant since he would not be distracted by lust or sexual pleasures. It is also interesting to note that eunuchs were considered unclean and were prohibited from entering the temple. So imagine this man who is seeking the truth goes to Jerusalem to worship God but cannot enter the temple where the gathered come for worship. He is an outcast, which is a very lonely place to be.

So God sends Philip to the eunuch to show him that God has come to him and that he too can enter in through Christ, who has paid for and redeems him from his sins. Imagine getting so close to what you long for only to miss it by so little. All of a sudden, you learn that God has made a way even for you. This is the message the eunuch heard that day. And as soon as the opportunity to be baptized presented itself, he took it. And after that Philip vanished, found himself in Azotus, and continued preaching.

Listen, the gospel is for those who feel far off. It is for those who have a hunger for the Lord but for one reason or another feel like they are unaccepted or cast out. We need to reassure them that God loves them too and sent His Son for them too so they could also draw near.

What is God saying to you this morning? Are you here hoping and wanting to draw near to God but feel like there is something in your life that keeps you from doing so? Know that God is bigger than your greatest flaws. Is God impressing on you the importance of sharing Jesus to the world? There are divine appointments God has for you. You just have to see them and capitalize when they come.