7:44 Brothers and sisters, good evening. I hope that you are having a blessed time here. It truly is, a wonderful place to be. As I was walking up from the beach this afternoon, my wife and I were just talking about how it is a blessed place, the convergence of so many different things, The Lord's presence here, the prayers that saturate the ground of this place for ninety years. Brothers and sisters like you in the preaching of God's word all converge together in this weekend.
8:17 And so I hope that you are blessed. I hope that you are joyful and continue to rejoice throughout the remainder of our time here. As we think about and as we begin this meeting tonight, I'm reminded of a Christian theologian who once remarked that mankind's problem is not that our desires are too strong, but rather our desires aren't strong enough. He said that we would rather enjoy the temporary pleasures and the pathetic, satisfactions of this life, sex, money, fame, houses, temporary things. We would rather play with mud in the back alley instead of accepting an invitation to a vacation at the beach.
9:17 But for the Christian, for the Christian with our transformed heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can recognize where true joy lies, where true contentment and true peace rest. And may we say throughout this pilgrimage, may we say with the psalmist, in your presence, Lord, there is fullness of joy. At your right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. And throughout the Bible, we are reminded as Christians, put off these old desires, put off these pathetic wants and longings, Put on the new self. Put on Christ.
10:01 Pursue that which is lasting and long to be with him in heaven. And here on earth, long to walk with him and enjoy him forever. And so that's how I'd like to begin our meeting today by reading from Colossians chapter three, the first 17 verses to remind us and to ignite, a deep longing to be with God in heaven. But while we remain on earth, may we have the longing to walk with Christ in joy, in contentment, in victory. So will you please stand with me as we begin our meeting reading God's word?
10:44 The apostle says in Colossians chapter three, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died. And your life is hidden with Christ in God. Where when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you?
11:18 Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness with which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
11:56 Here, there is not Greek or Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful.
12:45 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Let's pray
13:13 Heavenly father, we thank you. Lord, we thank you that our life truly is hidden with Christ. Lord, we thank you that our prayers are heard by you because of Christ. And Father, may we constantly put off the old self and put on the new self. Put on Christ.
13:37 Father, I pray for every heart in this room tonight. Lord, I pray that you quiet our hearts, that you remove distraction, that you fill us with a longing to encounter you tonight. Father, do a miracle in all of our hearts tonight. Transform us. Renew our minds.
13:58 Give our hope. Give us hope in Christ. And may we come away changed. Satisfy us in the morning, the psalmist says. And we repeat that.
14:10 Satisfy us in the noon time. Satisfy us in the evening with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. This service is yours. We are yours. In Jesus' name we pray.
14:27 Amen. Amen. Church, let your songs, hymns, and spiritual songs echo in this building tonight.
22:48 First Peter five eight. Be sober minded. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
23:10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. And it is our prayer, Lord, tonight that we would experience your salvation. That those who've never been saved would taste these living waters and would drink from it for the rest of their lives. And for us who have already that you would remind us just how fulfilling these waters are. That there is no other cistern that we have to run to.
33:42 Everything else is broken, everything else is dirty, everything else is contaminated Lord. We have no need of anything else because we have your son, the Lord Jesus. And we pray that you would remind us of His beauty, of His power, of His word to us. We are your servants and we are listening this evening. And we pray these things in the name of your beloved Son, our master and our savior, Jesus Christ, Amen and amen.
34:08 Well listen, it's our final night. So give a final evening embrace to somebody around you before you take a seat. Well, you heard it right. This is our final our final evening together. This weekend passed by so quickly as it always does.
34:57 And I know that tomorrow we're gonna spend more time just thanking certain people, thanking most of you here, but I want to personally ask if we can show our appreciation to the praise team for helping us sing. Thank you praise team for using your gifts and for leading us in great humility to, to come before the throne of God in song. And I don't know about you, but I love to sing about heaven. Every time there's a verse or a lyric about heaven, the resurrection, reunion with God, our first encounter with the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm ready to be raptured in that moment. But until that time comes, we have a job to do.
35:47 Our commander in chief, our captain, our Lord and our savior has given us as believers a very important task. And at this time in history, that task is something that we need to be reminded of, which is something that I would love for us to consider together in the word of God. In my study of the New Testament, I've discovered that there are four different references to four different Phillips. The first is probably the most known, Philip the Apostle. His name first appears in the list of all the apostles in Matthew chapter 10 verse three.
36:31 And then you read on the Gospels and you discover that the brother of Herod, the tetrarch, tetrarch just means governor or ruler, was also named Philip. And many believe that there is a different Philip who is a political figure associated with the Herodian family and he is located in Luke chapter three. And after you complete the Gospels, you will discover the fourth and final reference to Philip. And he is distinguished by an interesting title. It's a title found in Acts twenty, twenty one verse eight.
37:09 And the Holy Spirit describes this Philip as follows. Philip the evangelist. He's not to be mistaken for Philip the Apostle. He's different. And what amazes me about this Philip is that although the scriptures demonstrate and communicates the urgency and the necessity of evangelism, and even offers different illustrations of what evangelism looks like, there is only one individual who is granted the title evangelist.
37:49 And it is this Philip in Acts chapter 21. But this Philip that we find in the latter portion of the book of Acts is not only mentioned there. In fact, he is mentioned in three different chapters in the book of Acts. You'll find him there in Acts chapter six and then in Acts chapter eight and then finally in Acts chapter 21. And what I would like to do with you this evening is follow Philip through these chapters to see what we can learn from this man of God And how he can inspire us in the area of soul winning and other things as well.
38:30 Because I believe when you look at Philip in these different sections where he is mentioned, you will see different emphasis of his person, of his story. I believe in Acts chapter six you see something of Philip's character. And then in Acts chapter eight, it is his compassion that is highlighted. And lastly, in Acts 21, there's something about his consistency that stands out. Character, compassion, consistency.
39:07 And as I already mentioned, we will learn things about evangelism. We will learn things that hopefully will move your heart to be more bold, more courageous, more willing to speak to somebody about Christ. But there are gonna be other things sprinkled throughout as always when we come to God's word. Philip the evangelist, how is he introduced to us in our Bibles? Well, we have to turn to Acts chapter six.
39:34 Acts chapter six is a very important text that marks a significant turning point in the life of the early church. There is rapid growth. There is explosive salvation. We're seeing the church in Jerusalem increase in number. And whenever there's an increase in number, within the context of ministry, there is also the increase of potential problems.
39:57 And that's what we find here. You have the Greek speaking Jews who feel overlooked, namely their widows. And so they offer a complaint to the leaders, the apostles themselves. And in order to deal with this, not ignoring the problem, they come up with a plan. They don't want to intentionally cause any division or make anybody feel less than and so they come up with the following approach.
40:24 In verse three of Acts chapter six, let's read it together. Therefore brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And what they said pleased the whole gathering and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Promenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte from Antioch. These they set before the apostles and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
41:04 Now this text is usually used to help the church understand the role and the office of a deacon. Even though the title or word deacon doesn't even appear in this text. So if you want to be more accurate, this is more of a committee that's being selected to deal with a pressing issue in the church of this time. However, it's very likely that this moment birthed the office of the deacon that would later be developed and official as we see in texts like first Timothy three. But that's not the point of coming to this passage together.
41:41 The reason why we're coming here is because Philip, who is called Philip the evangelist later in Acts, is not introduced to us as an evangelist. He is introduced to us as someone who is serving at a food bank in Jerusalem. There's no mention of him here preaching anything. There's no mention of him here handing out any kind of literature. There's no mention of him teaching.
42:07 This is a man who is helping widows fill their bellies and go home content. And there are a few things that we can learn from this. One, it reminds us that not all ministry assignments are permanent. It's very possible that the Lord calls us to something for a season and, and that changes over time. That looks different as time goes on.
42:36 In this case Philip was functioning in the practical leadership role of someone who was overseeing the food ministry of the church in Jerusalem. And then later he would be recognized as somebody who would go from city to city to preach the Gospel. And this is a brief point, but I think it's important for those who, who serve Christ, be open to how the Lord may lead you. Sometimes people are afraid of change. And all that I want to say here is, it's totally possible for the Lord to guide you into a different direction or to be something or someone else in the area of service.
43:18 And all that's required of you is what we see here with Philip. Serve the Lord wherever you are. Do what he asks of you. Take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to you and allow him to lead circumstantially, providentially. And if he really wants to make it clear, he can do so supernaturally.
43:35 And should he do that, what you did prior is never insignificant or wasted. If I may include my own testimony in this, when I first got saved, funny enough, I really believed I was going to be an evangelist. Full time, traveling and speaking, going to those who have never heard the gospel. And here I am finding myself teaching twice a week. And so it's, it's something that we should just be aware of because some people struggle with change or struggle with how God leads.
44:09 It requires much prayer and counsel, but it is possible nonetheless. Moreover, what I want us to see here is that Philip was serving in this way even though I believe one of the reasons why he was called the evangelist is because he was so passionate about evangelism. Think about it. What do we find Philip doing when we come to the text in Acts of persecution breaking out against the saints in Jerusalem because of the raging emergence of Saul of Tarsus and the believers are then scattered? Well, let's peek over there for a moment.
44:50 Go to Acts chapter eight with me. And I want you to see what Philip chooses to do next when he's no longer able to serve in the capacity of one of the seven. Look at verse four of Acts eight. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.
45:16 And this is a pattern that we will see in Philip from this moment on. Whenever he gets the opportunity, he wants to see somebody come to Christ. He wants to present the truth of who Jesus Christ is. And I'm convinced that this burning passion for souls was in Philip even back in Acts chapter six. It didn't just suddenly appear in Acts chapter eight.
45:44 It just, when the door opened, Philip chose to go, of all places, Samaria. Samaria is not an easy place to preach the gospel. So you have to be very much convinced and passionate about the gospel for you to go to a place like Samaria. You're not going to get much amens in a place like Samaria when you preach the gospel, especially if you have a Jewish background. We'll get to that point in a moment.
46:08 But what I do want to say here is that, even though Philip was very much passionate about evangelism and gifted in evangelism, that did not mean that he was excused from serving in other areas. Philip here shows us to serve God how he calls you to serve him even though it may not touch the deepest longing of your heart. I think this is a strong illustration of that because you have some believers who are reserved from investing, volunteering, giving of themselves unless the ministry that is presented to them is one of preference. And that, that is not to say that there is no value in recognizing God's call and God's gifting in us. That being said, Philip is an example that we should faithfully minister wherever we're needed until God opens a door for our heart's deepest longings.
47:08 So perhaps, the prayer for some of us tonight is not, Lord give me an opportunity that I'm desperate for, but rather, Oh God, how can I serve you in this season? The last thing that we learn about Philip is that he is the evangelist. But how we're introduced to him is a guy wearing an apron, running around with food in his hand, helping widows. And he did so faithfully. Now I I hope these are all helpful points, but there is one main thing that I want to draw from this text.
47:42 Here's the most moving observation about Philip here in Acts chapter six. And it is this. We learn that he is the evangelist, but we we discover him as Philip, the man with impeccable character. When the apostles needed seven men, gifting was not emphasized at all. It was conduct.
48:08 It was integrity. It was consistency. And what's amazing is when you go back to Acts six, they said to the church in Jerusalem, Find from among you. So one, you had to be a Christian if you wanted to be one of the seven. Among you.
48:29 But more than that, that, that also indicates that even among Christians not everybody is full of the Spirit. Not everybody is of good repute. Not everybody operates with that kind of grace and humility, though we all can. Find seven from among you. Where are they?
48:50 We're talking about the church in Jerusalem. How big was the church in Jerusalem? It would be what we would consider today a megachurch. We don't know the exact number here in Acts six, but we know from Acts four four that the conversions had reached the number of 5,000 and that was just the men. So let's double it and let's throw in some children.
49:14 We're talking about thousands upon thousands. And even beyond Acts four, as we come to Acts six, we're told that they were added to their number. Why am I bringing this to our attention? Because when the apostles called for seven men to be chosen, out of the thousands, Philip was on that list. It's a similar point to what we heard earlier about Epaphroditus when he was selected to be the representative for the Philippians to minister to Paul's need.
49:51 Philip here is second on the list. So just envision this with me, when the church was given the invitation to go out and survey and investigate and look for somebody to serve in this capacity, Philip was a name that kept coming up. Philip had built that kind of a reputation. And I think it would be a great mistake to sever Philip's character from the fulfillment of his calling as an evangelist later on in Acts. If you bring these truths together, what we learn about effective witness, effective soul winning is that it begins with our character.
50:37 It begins with our lives. Before Philip preached anything, his message was his life. His life was the message. And many people hurt their message because they think that as long as they say the truth, that's all that's required of them. And Philip teaches us otherwise.
51:06 He shows us that the most effective soul winners are those who are first and foremost holy. Not perfect but blameless, serious about their walk with Christ. And if we desire to be entrusted with more in the church and if we desire to make an impact beyond these walls, then Philip reminds us that it all begins with a close walk with Jesus, one that we can all have. This is what we see about Philip's character. It's the foundation to him as the evangelist.
51:43 But then we go to Acts chapter eight and we consider his compassion. As I mentioned earlier, this is the second time Philip appears in this book. And let's turn there now because I want you to see something about his heart. This is another significant transition in the early church. Persecution up to this point was mainly targeted at the leaders of the church.
52:05 But when we come to Acts chapter eight, it is now shared among the people, the saints. And it all was triggered by the brutal martyrdom of Stephen. The Saul of Tarsus came out with fangs. Came out salivating, willing to hunt down anybody. You read his story carefully, he did not discriminate with his persecution.
52:27 He didn't just come after the men. We, we are told that he came after the women. Merciless, terrifying. He was the early church's nightmare. And so, in Acts eight, we we read of this tragic death, but we also realize because we're carefully studying Acts, I'm sure if you've ever read it you might have noticed this already, that God's sovereignty is supervising all of this.
52:59 Because the dispersion of the believers from that point on is actually how God moved the people to fulfill Christ's initial command back in chapter one. What did Jesus tell the disciples before he ascended to heaven? You know this well, but let me read it to you in Acts one eight. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. So that's Acts chapter one.
53:29 And what do we read? Preaching, miracles, salvation, discipleship. Overcoming these threats and these dangers and internal conflicts. But all of that good stuff was taking place solely in Jerusalem. They hadn't gone out yet to cover the, the surrounding regions.
53:51 So what does the Lord do? He shakes things up. He shakes things up until Acts one:eight turns into Acts eight:one. And what is Acts eight:one? Well, look at it again with me.
54:05 Acts eight:one, And Saul approved of his execution and there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. You see that? You got too comfortable in Jerusalem, my people. And so I'm going to use Saul of Tarsus to get you where I need you to be. This is exciting that even persecution is under God's providential control.
54:37 But it gets even more exciting because now Luke, who's pending all of this, zooms in. He zooms into one individual who is also in Jerusalem and focuses on him. And what he does as the believers now are removed from Jerusalem. And it's what we read here in verses four and five of Acts eight. And those who were scattered went about preaching the word Philip.
55:04 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. Philip didn't have a choice to stay in Jerusalem unless he really wanted to be targeted. But I wonder if he had a choice where to go from Jerusalem. And in his mind, he at least decides and submits to the leading of going to Samaria. Now that may not be significant to you unless you know the history of the Samaritans.
55:38 And I won't get into it now, most of us are already familiar. The Samaritans were half breeds. They were Jews, but they were Jews who adopted idolatry because of the exile back in Kings. And the animosity between the Samaritans and the pure breed of Jews really begins in the story of Ezra. And it only grows more and more where you feel the tension in the Gospels.
56:08 There was such hostility, there was such hatred between these two groups. And so for Philip here to leave Jerusalem and go to Samaria, one with a Jewish background, says something about this man. Why would you go? It's very simple, it's not mysterious. He loved Christ and he loved those whom Christ loved.
56:35 And he really believed that the gospel was so powerful that it could even change a Samaritan. This man had a large heart for souls. Paul did not discriminate who he would persecute. Philip did not discriminate who he would seek with the gospel. This man had a throbbing love.
57:04 So much so that he is drawn to the Samaritans when the door flings open. If you're a Christian and you have bitterness or prejudice or hatred towards a certain people group or race or someone who comes from a certain country or comes from a different religious background. So much so that you would have zero interaction with them. So much so that when you even hear about them because of your own personal history or even your ethnic history. Brother, sister, if you possess such anger, if you carry that kind of resentment for those who are creating God's image, you will never be the soul winner God wants you to be.
58:02 Never. Never. Philip went to Samaria and he goes where Jesus told his disciples to go. And God rewarded him for it. You read later on that revival breaks out.
58:27 That the message of the Gospels are accompanied by miracles and power over demons. There's great joy that is unleashed in the Samaritan region. But there's even more reward waiting for Philip. We don't have time to see what happens in Samaria, but we want to look at now what happens after these souls are saved and after the apostles leave Jerusalem, at least a couple of them to confirm and complete Philip's missionary work in Samaria. What does the Lord do or tell Philip next?
59:00 Go to verse 26 of Acts chapter eight. 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. 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 and was returning seated in his chariot and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
59:35 So here is an unprecedented move of God in Samaria. Philip pioneered this. Philip in a sense is continuing the work of Jesus who went to the Samaritan region, namely with the woman at the well and preached to her and she went and won many to Christ. And all of a sudden, the Lord speaks to Philip and says, I need you to leave. And many come to this example to show how Philip was willing to leave a crowd to go and preach to one, which is all true.
1:00:12 And really it, it, it encourages us because if Philip is the evangelist, then it, it reminds us that being an evangelist is not being one who preaches to crowds merely. It's somebody who cares about the individual soul. But there's something deeper happening here. Why did God ask Philip to go down to this road from Jerusalem to Gaza? Why him?
1:00:44 We can't say conclusively. But here's what I see as I'm reading this text. You have a man who is willing to, yes, forcibly leave Jerusalem but go to Samaria. Thus fulfilling part of Christ's commission to go from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria. And then here after faithfully fulfilling that part, grants him an opportunity to fulfill the very last part of that commission.
1:01:09 What was the last part of the commission in Acts one:eight? And to the end of the earth. And how is Philip honoring that part? Not knowing, but he would encounter an African man who was hungry to know the truth. Who was ripe.
1:01:31 Who was so eager to worship the true God, the God of Israel that he, he would ride hundreds of miles. And he was a eunuch. You know the bible in the Old Testament says that there are some things that a eunuch does not have access to. And that didn't bother him, if he was a eunuch in that sense. But he was so longing for the truth that he even, he even paid for a scroll of Isaiah's prophecies.
1:02:02 You have to understand, you and I download our Bibles within seconds. Back then, a scroll like this was very expensive. Extremely. The material was expensive. To write down these prophecies carefully and in a manner that is sacred and careful, that added to the price.
1:02:20 And yet this man was willing to put his own expense, his own cost to knowing prophecy. And, and I love this story about the eunuch because he was so hungry that he didn't wait to get home to read the scroll. He was reading it on the way. What is this, what is, what is this saying? And God found a man who was willing to go where?
1:02:42 To Samaria. And he said, Okay. I'm now going to use you to plant the seed in the heart of a man from a different continent. And he's going to take the gospel that you give him and bring it to his nation. Thus fulfilling Acts one:eight.
1:03:00 Just be faithful in little. The Lord sees it all. And the Lord honors it all. And what happened here shows us that Philip had unreserved compassion for all people. God can trust him, could trust him because of that heart posture.
1:03:21 No hesitation with a Samaritan. No hesitation with an Ethiopian. Everybody needs Christ. And I'm willing to give Christ to everybody. This is the kind of man that the Lord found in Philip.
1:03:34 But as I meditated more on him here in Acts eight, I recognized that as central as compassion was, there are other factors that made him an effective servant, a useful instrument in the hands of a mighty God. So let's look at these things briefly. I want us to now focus on, we've been talking about it briefly, but what it takes for God to use a man or a woman to to reach people with the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And the first thing that I want to highlight in Acts chapter eight is that he had an eagerness to obey. Look at Acts eight twenty nine.
1:04:09 The Lord called them already. We saw that. But look here what happens in Acts eight twenty nine. And the Spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, do you understand what you're reading?
1:04:27 How did Philip respond to the Holy Spirit's voice? Did he walk? Did he jog? He ran. When the Lord spoke, Philip took off running.
1:04:45 But you also have to understand that he ran from something. He ran away from that revival in Samaria. Be honest now. Just imagine in this setting here, sermon goes out and something unusual takes place. Everybody hits the floor on their knees.
1:05:02 God's conviction has visited us and it's so powerful. The people go back to their homes, they tell their families, their families recognize something is different. And tomorrow's meeting, no seat is empty. All these garage doors have to open. And then revival happens here for weeks.
1:05:24 Not planned. But a visitation of God has come. And pretend I'm not in the picture, whoever the speaker is, on night eight, news is picking up on this. There are interviews. People are reporting of miracles that have happened in their bodies, in their homes, in their marriages.
1:05:45 And the main person who's preaching is woken up in the middle of the night, and the Lord as clear as they says, I need you to go very, very far away from this place. And I love how the spirit of God emphasizes that where he was called to go was a desert place. Barren. Nobody there. You would question, what's what is this all about?
1:06:11 I'm not sure as a preacher if I would run when hearing that. I think it might take a couple days to fast and pray. No. Philip doesn't hesitate to go initially. And when the Holy Spirit speaks to him again, he runs.
1:06:31 The Lord can trust Philip because when he speaks, Philip runs. And here's what's amazing. In the natural, this looks like a demotion. But when you're on the path of obedience, there's no such thing as a demotion. It may look like a smaller platform.
1:06:47 It may look like less people. It may look like less whatever. But what Philip would later realize is that this one man because of his position and influence would touch a nation. And God didn't have to tell him all of that. He just knew, Whatever I say, he will do.
1:07:07 He had an eagerness to obey. He was willing to leave a crowd and sit with a man in a chariot one on one. But the second thing that I see here is that he had a patience with unbelievers. You wanna be used by God to witness the people and see them come to Christ? You and I need patience.
1:07:29 How is this patience modeled? And the question here of verse 30, So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, Do you understand what you are reading? I love what Philip is doing here. He's trying to meet this man where he's at. You know, he doesn't just show up to the chariot and says, you know, start blasting away with the gospel.
1:07:53 He comes and he inquires. And he wants to know what kind of light am I working with? What kind of knowledge does this man have? How can I lead him? Lead him from where?
1:08:06 And so he asked this question. And he exhibits a very important characteristic for an effective evangelist and that is patience. He listened, he, he thought, and he worked with whatever his audience had to offer. And he would eventually lead that person to the truth of the gospel, carefully. That takes time.
1:08:33 That takes work. That takes humility. It's amazing how the Lord uses the picture of fishing for evangelism. Have you ever fished before? Do you catch a fish every time you throw the line out?
1:08:46 No, of course not. And so in this case, we see it exemplified. And the question we have to ask ourselves is, Am I patient? Am I willing to meet with somebody more than once over coffee to unpack truth with them? Am I willing to answer their questions even though those questions you've answered a 100 times?
1:09:10 Even though those questions you're wondering, if you just read, if you just read it, it's right there. You don't need to ask me. It's there. Right? Have you ever had those kind of conversations?
1:09:18 It's right there. Right? And get phone calls in the middle of the night because somebody's struggling with doubt and dealing with somebody who's vacillating. Are you are you and I willing to do that? Because Philip shows us here in this one moment that patience is necessary if we are to be recruited for this wonderful thing called evangelism.
1:09:43 Every person is different. And in this case, this man was very ready. I mean, you can't get any better than this. You have a man by himself with a Bible open reading it out loud. It's not always like that.
1:09:58 But even with somebody like that, Philip didn't run to conclusions. There's a third thing that stands out to me about Philip. And that is how he possessed the knowledge of the word of God. Let's read from verse 31 down through verse 35. And he being the eunuch said, how can I unless someone guides me?' I love how he didn't pretend to know what he was reading?
1:10:30 This man is about to get saved. You know what this shows? You wanna you wanna be you need to be humble. Proud people can't get saved. How can I unless someone guides me?
1:10:42 And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Look how hungry this man is. Here's this person who appears out of nowhere. He asked him, Do you understand what you're reading? He assumes you have the answers.
1:10:52 Come on in. Come on in. Verse 32, now the passage of 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. In his humiliation, justice was denied him.
1:11:09 Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth. And the eunuch said to Philip, about whom I ask you, does the prophet say this? About himself or about someone else? Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with this scripture, he told them the good news about Jesus.
1:11:29 We know that this is about Jesus. This is from Isaiah 53 to be exact. Can you think of a better Old Testament text to start with? But what I love here is how Philip was given the text. Philip the evangelist was given a text by surprise.
1:11:51 This is not Philip who on his way to this desert place wondering why God is leading him there to begin with. But he's not like a lot of evangelists. You know, a lot of evangelists they have like five messages ready to go. Locked and loaded. Just a little insight into how some evangelists work and traveling speakers work.
1:12:10 He he he he must have, I'm sure, had messages prepared a way to present the gospel, but in this case, he didn't have a choice. The man said, This is what I'm reading. Can you help me? Philip was ready. Do you know why he was ready?
1:12:25 He knew his Bible. Can you imagine what it would have been like if this was read in Philip's presence and the man says, Who who is the prophet speaking about? And Philip goes, I didn't even know that was in the Bible to be honest. Now I'm not saying that if God is going to use you and me that we need to know how to explain every part of our Bibles, but we should strive. We should strive to at least be familiar with the Scriptures enough so that if a question arises, if a type of contradiction is presented to us to make us trip or stumble or doubt, we know where to go from that scripture.
1:13:13 That at the least if a scripture that we may know about but may not know how to explain, we can say, but it is also written. When God wanted to find a man to preach and evangelize this eunuch, he found a man who was immersed in the bible. And how is Philip introduced to us back in Acts chapter six? As a scholar? As a PhD?
1:13:38 As a server of tables? What does that tell you? Philip, remember was selected so that the apostles could have time to pray and preach the word. So if there's anybody who had an excuse not to know the Bible, it was a man like Philip. You know, my calling is to help the guy who preaches.
1:13:58 So that he can study and proclaim God's word. I just do the practical stuff. Practical things are important, but just because you are practical in your ministry doesn't mean that you are ignorant of the Bible. You shouldn't at least. You shouldn't.
1:14:12 This is one of the seven. He's not one of the 12. This is a man who served tables, but oh, between those different time clocks or time stamps of the different times when the people would be served. I'm sure that he got, he got alone with the scriptures. I'm sure that he sat at the feet of the apostles and says, Tell me again how you explain this prophecy.
1:14:32 I'm sure that he inhaled the bible. So much so that when the Lord needed a man, he could call on Philip. I know that the gospel is simple. And I know that the Lord can use even a freshly saved individual to preach to others. But Philip shows us that if we really, really want to see more testimonies, more effectiveness, more fruit, know your Bible.
1:15:09 But we see even more here. It's not just that. We come here and we realize that this same Philip was also a person who loved the person of Jesus Christ. What do I mean by that? Look here at verse 35 again.
1:15:24 Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with this Scripture. Again, he began with this Scripture and then he went to other parts of Scripture in Isaiah to confirm and to clarify where they started. It's an it's an amazing thought. But notice what it says here. He told them the good news about Jesus.
1:15:46 I realized that Philip the evangelist had a favorite subject. Do you remember what we're told about Philip when he preached in the revival at Samaria? Go back to verse five of Acts chapter eight. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. Whenever Philip had the chance, whenever Philip had the opportunity, he wanted to speak about Jesus.
1:16:16 You know what Philip's evangelism was not about? Trying to reach people with the message of prosperity. Philip's main message was not even about community. Are you lonely? There's a bunch of nice Christians that you can meet with.
1:16:37 That's a beautiful aspect of the Christian faith, but that wasn't Philip's main message. Philip's main message in reaching people was not psychology, Christ. He gave them Christ. And the only way that you can speak about Christ so effectively is if you know Christ intimately. That was this man.
1:16:59 He gave people what they need the most, the person of Jesus. So that tells him that Philip knew the character of Christ, the teachings of Christ, the power of Christ, the salvation of Christ, the judgment that Christ will bring, the nature of Christ, The loveliness of Christ. The holiness of Christ. The purity of Christ. He knew Christ through and through.
1:17:23 And he firmly believed if I stand before a crowd or if I sit with one person at the bus stop, if I give them Christ, that is the message that is sufficient. That is the message that can break any hardened heart. Give people Christ. If you're ashamed of Christ as a person, as God, as a Savior of the world, and the exclusivity of His message, say goodbye to any opportunity to real evangelism. But Christ can find Philip, a man who is not ashamed of Christ.
1:17:57 Christ found a man in Philip who loved to talk about Christ. So Christ put Philip before people who needed Christ. People use the bible for different things and a lot of churches in America have different tactics of getting the lost in. I only know one strategy, give them Christ and Christ alone. This next one is one of my favorites.
1:18:33 Philip, I believe, shows us that he was the evangelist and God can use him as a soul winner, whether for a crowd or for one, because he was willing to get out of the way. These opportunities for outreach for Philip in Acts eight are very different. I mean, Samaria and the eunuch, different atmosphere, different opportunity, different setting, different approach. But in both of these occasions, something similar takes place. We already heard it.
1:19:09 When Philip was there in the city of Samaria, the Lord surprises him and says, I need you to go. Without hesitation Philip goes. Do you remember what happens with Philip after he preaches, explains Christ, and the eunuch wants to get baptized? Look here, at the end, verse 39. In Acts eight thirty nine we read, And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away.
1:19:41 And the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. Philip supernaturally disappears. This is one of the rare miracles of the Bible, teleportation. But I think there's a message in it. Philip was willing to leave Samaria and Philip didn't really have much of a choice here.
1:20:11 But after his job was done, the Lord removed him from the scene. There are some people who want to preach Jesus and use Jesus's name but really for their name. There are some people who only do work of evangelism or reach the lost if it's recorded and posted as a YouTube short. Or if they have an Instagram page that shows them all that they do for the name of Jesus Christ. Can God use those platforms?
1:20:42 Absolutely. We're using it here because we want to get the the word of God out. But I'm talking about the heart. I'm talking about the heart. I'm talking about the heart.
1:20:53 I believe that this is an illustration of how God can trust Philip because Philip didn't make it about Philip. And so he gave the gospel and his his greatest desire was for people to love Christ. Not to gain a following, not to be applauded, not to be worshiped, God forbid, but to just give people Christ and to disappear. And unfortunately, some people want more than that. And I love this part here at the end of verse 39.
1:21:37 And the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. How? So, Philip is gone. This man who led him to Christ, who helped him understand scripture, who baptized him. I mean, and then he's gone, never to be seen again.
1:21:55 And he went on rejoicing. Do you know why? Because the eunuch had Christ. That's why. And this is an important thing for ministers.
1:22:05 Your duty and mine, servants of God, is not for people to be attached to us. Don't get your identity and your satisfaction in that. Give them Christ and get out of the way. Just give them the Lord. And if they never call you again, never text you again, never thank you again.
1:22:23 As long as they have Christ and they're rejoicing in Christ, your job is done. Are you willing to get out of the way? If nobody ever knows your name and you're willing to tell people about Christ until your dying day, is that enough? It should be. I think we're going to be, I have a strong feeling, we're going to be shocked at the people who are going to be rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ.
1:22:46 They never preached at a conference, never had their face plastered on a screen, never wrote a book, but they were somewhere faithfully serving Christ, telling people about Christ. And Christ saw it all. Now, we look at all these things and hopefully we're stirred by them and inspired by them. But as much as there are preparations that we can make and principles that we should develop and mature in our own person, our own being, I want to leave you with this thought here. That ultimately, whom the Lord chooses to reach and the extent of that reach is up to Him.
1:23:27 There is a strong note of God's sovereignty in Philip's story here. You already saw it. Go there, I'm gonna go. You're done, I'm taking you away. But it's even deeper than that.
1:23:40 Where does the Lord take Philip after he translates him supernaturally? Well, look here again with me in verse 40. Acts eight verse 40. But Philip found himself at Azotus. And as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
1:24:04 So here's what's amazing. The next time we're gonna read about Philip in Acts 21, we're gonna see him in Caesarea. So it seems that Philip when he comes to this area, comes to this city, he plants his roots there. He establishes a home, he raises a family. Caesarea becomes home for him.
1:24:23 But Caesarea should stop us in our tracks as we read it here. Think about it. Does anything significant happen in terms of salvation at Caesarea shortly after Acts chapter eight? Anybody know? If you don't, it's gonna click once we read this verse in Acts chapter 10.
1:24:44 Look at Acts 10 verse one. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius. There it is. A centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort. So here's me thinking, right?
1:25:06 Okay. Philip goes to Caesarea. Later on, Acts 21, he's still in Caesarea. Between that, here is another Gentile who is desperate to to know the true God and he wants to worship the true God and the Lord visits him by an angel and says, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have somebody send for you to give you the gospel. And, hey, I have a recommendation.
1:25:32 There's a guy named Philip. He's a great evangelist. He's actually in town. Why don't you get Caesarea? Get this man who lives there by the name of Philip.
1:25:44 Is that what we read? Look at verse five of Acts 10. The angel says, And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. Why? Philip is just down the street.
1:26:02 Well, let me ask you another question. When Philip was in Samaria and was called to go down to Gaza, which was south, is Jerusalem closer to Gaza or Samaria? Jerusalem is closer to Gaza, much closer. Remember when we read in Acts chapter eight that when the persecution broke out, everybody was scattered except who? The Apostle stayed in Jerusalem.
1:26:27 So again, this is me thinking. Wouldn't it be more efficient for the Lord to send somebody in Jerusalem, maybe even while the eunuch was in Jerusalem? He wasn't less hungry in Jerusalem than he was here in Acts chapter eight for the things of God. Wouldn't it be more convenient to maybe send one of the apostles? I'm sure there are great options to preach the gospel and explain prophecy.
1:26:50 But no, the Lord says, I want Philip all the way from Samaria to go all the way down to the road heading towards Gaza. So So Saria, Philip's living there. Why don't I use him? No, actually I want Peter to go and preach to Cornelius. You're thinking, how does this make sense?
1:27:09 Well, sometimes it doesn't. And God is sovereign. So you and I, if we want to be soul winners, have to rest in that sovereignty. We have to take the opportunities that He gives us. And He might cause somebody to have crowds to preach before and you may only preach to one people, one person at a time for the rest of your life.
1:27:37 Are you okay with that? I don't have all the answers to why the Lord makes these movements. Maybe part of it is that Philip had no hesitation preaching to Gentiles. Peter was a little bit more hesitant based on how he deals with this whole Cornelius situation. The Lord needs to teach something to Peter even though Peter's preaching to Cornelius.
1:27:55 I think that makes a little sense. But we don't have all the answers, and that's okay. You do what you need to do to be prepared and let God do what he alone can do to use you for his glory. We considered Philip's character. We looked at his compassion and other features connected to that wonderful heart that he had.
1:28:18 But now we come to his consistency. The last place Philip is mentioned is in Acts 21 And we have to turn there as we come to a close. Acts 21 verse eight. This is Luke writing of the journey that Paul would take to go down to Jerusalem before he would be arrested and led to Rome. And they make a stop.
1:28:46 Where do they stop? Acts 20 one:eight, On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea. And we entered the house of Philip, the evangelist. You know what I love about that? It's not Philip calling himself the evangelist.
1:29:00 You know, there are people who do that. This is the Holy Spirit calling him the evangelist. This is Luke writing about Philip and the Holy Spirit moves Luke to say, Make sure that you write Philip the evangelist. Who is one of the seven. So there's also confirmation that this is the same Philip from Acts chapter six, and stayed with him.
1:29:26 He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. So Luke records this and it makes it more meaningful when we know that it is believed that twenty years has passed from Acts eight to this chapter. Twenty years. Twenty years go by and the Holy Spirit calls Philip the evangelist. Twenty years go by and this man still has a heart for lost people.
1:29:56 Two decades go by and this man, I'm sure, was still enamored with the scriptures. Diving in and using that knowledge to help people come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. His heart was still beating the way it was back in Acts chapter eight. In fact, look here at verse 15 of Acts 21. After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem and some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us the house of Nason of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom we should lodge.
1:30:30 Notice that? And some of the disciples from Caesarea. When I read that I thought, I wonder how many of those disciples were led to Christ because of Philip. The evangelist. He's stationed now, he's domesticated, right?
1:30:44 He's not moving around so much, but he's still Philip the evangelist. Wherever the Lord brought him, no matter the season of life, he was still the evangelist. And studying Philip made me pray, Lord, I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. But what I ask of you is, no matter where you take me, no matter how long I live, I never want to lose sight of the power of the gospel. And I never want to lose sight of the beauty of Christ.
1:31:20 I never want to just accumulate knowledge that makes my head heavy while my heart is shrinking. I still want to look at my neighbors, in the neighborhood that I just moved in, and wonder, are they saved? I still wanna be sensitive to your Holy Spirit, even though I'm raising daughters to care enough about other souls, to see disciples in my neighbor, to see disciples in my city. But whatever you did in Philip for him, twenty years later, to still be crowned in such a manner, do in my life. Do in my life.
1:32:03 And if if you're here tonight and you can remember a time where no one can stop you from telling others about Jesus, do you remember what it was like when you first got saved? You look for any opportunity. You look for any open door At the grocery store, at the restaurant. You had tracts stuffed everywhere. Different kinds for different kind of people that you think would need this one and that one.
1:32:33 And then over time, you know, you didn't deny Christ. It just it doesn't really come to mind anymore. There's all these responsibilities that's running around and I get it. That is life. And And it's so easy to guilt people into, You're not preaching enough.
1:32:47 You're not telling people about Christ enough. I don't want to go there at all. I don't want to go there at all. I'm preaching this to myself as well. Philip convicts me.
1:33:02 And he shows me it's possible to be a dad with four daughters and still be an evangelist. It's possible to be an evangelist and win people to Christ and not lose your family. If you've lost sight of the excitement, of the joy, of the privilege of telling people about Christ, Look no further than this final occasion of Philip's story. This snapshot of who he is. Let me explain.
1:33:35 Who was it that visits Paul or Philip's home when they come through Caesarea? I already said his name. Paul and his missionary team. And there's almost like a nudge in this verse, in these verses that we read. Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven.
1:33:52 So it's almost like we have to go back. Oh wait, one of the seven. So here's my next question. Did Philip know of Paul before Paul was saved? Answer, he must have.
1:34:07 Do you know why? Because Paul approved of the execution of his fellow minister and friend, Stephen. He was the first of the seven listed. Philip was second. Don't tell me they didn't know each other.
1:34:22 This is, this is staggering stuff. You're having the man who approved of the death of Stephen, who probably Philip learned from. Have you heard or read Stephen's sermon in Acts seven? It is amazing. And you have the man who killed your friend come and stay over?
1:34:54 And it wasn't just for lunch. Look at verse 10 of Acts 21. While we were staying for many days, speaking about Philip's home. Many days. That's fellowship.
1:35:09 That's Paul sleeping and Philip maybe having his daughters with him in the kitchen making breakfast for him and his missionary team. Helping them clean their clothes. Having long conversations into the night. How? How?
1:35:24 How? This man killed Stephen. And you're having him over your house Philip. Yes. Why?
1:35:33 Because that's the power of the gospel. That's why. Because the gospel can transform anybody. The gospel can take a murderer, make him friends with an evangelist because of Christ. That's what this truth can do in a person's heart.
1:36:02 That's the kind of testimonies that await if we really believe that if I give Christ, He can change anybody. He can change anybody. And you and I are worried about our neighbor that may be very expressive about religion or a coworker who blasphemes the name of Christ. Who's more hard, harder than Paul? You know there's a text there where Paul admits that he caused people to blaspheme when he was a persecutor of the church.
1:36:45 But this gospel reached that man, and we find him in the home of Philip breaking bread together. I look at that and I say that that is the beauty of the gospel. So Lord, forgive me for ever doubting the power of it. And I know it's not realistic to think that we have to give the gospel to every single person on the earth. That's why there are many of us.
1:37:17 But Lord, let me never miss an opportunity when it is so clear. Let Philip's story reinforce in You the simplicity of our mission as the church to do the work of an evangelist. Here's what's so interesting. Usually with sessions like this, you have an evangelist who's standing on the platform pleading with people to come to Christ. And I'm gonna do that in a moment here, but the main point is actually a fellow brother pleading with you to be fellow evangelist.
1:37:55 So I have two calls tonight. I want to follow in the steps of this man Philip for a moment here and I want to preach the gospel. Oh, what would Philip do if he had the microphone right now? How would he present Christ? What kind of passion would he have?
1:38:10 What did it look like when he preached in Samaria? How did he, I mean, and he had competition. He had Simon the sorcerer who was doing all his little magic tricks. And everybody's like, forget Simon. This guy has something.
1:38:20 He has real power. He must have been something. Philip must have been something. And what did it look like to, to be a fly in that chariot to hear the conversation between the eunuch and Philip when he's, this is, you know this, you can find it here in Isaiah. Look at this part of the scroll, you missed that.
1:38:36 So, my first call is for the person here who might be like the eunuch. You're here, you might even have a Bible in your hand, but you don't know what to do with it. You don't know what to do with the person of Christ. Your heart is just hungry for more. You know that your life is bigger and more meaningful than just going to work and just having a wife and having children.
1:38:53 You know that one day you're gonna die. In fact, you're maybe having an existential crisis. You're, you've been thinking over and over again. I'm, I'm just one of billions of people and I've just realized that I'm not going to live forever. Maybe that's you.
1:39:05 Maybe, maybe it is you. Maybe you're not interested at all and this is still relevant to you because you found yourself in a place where we're talking about evangelism, you can't escape. You're going to hear the gospel. So no matter where you're at today, if you don't know that you're a follower of Jesus Christ, here's what I want to present to you. The gospel.
1:39:26 The bible tells us that we are all sinners. That we have all fallen short of the glory of God. That according to His righteousness and His holiness none of us, none of us can stand innocent before Him. We all are condemned in His sight. We have all turned away.
1:39:45 We have all like sheep gone astray. We have all betrayed him when he gave us the choice to remain in fellowship with him. We instead chose to be our own gods. It was true with Adam and Eve and we have replicated the rebellion since then. And this holy God who created all things by the word of his power including you and I, the crown of His creation reflecting His image, desiring though not in need of relationship with us, could have with total justice and right destroyed us once and for all and started all over.
1:40:27 But instead, the same Holy God is a God unlike any other God in that He is love. He is love. He doesn't love, He is love. And the Bible tells us that God has shown His love to the world by giving His only begotten Son to die. To pay the price for our sin.
1:40:48 Because God likens our sin as death. And the wages of sin is death. The reason why humans die is because of sin. There's no other explanation. And nobody's offered any kind of explanation that makes sense.
1:41:03 The one that makes the most sense is what the Bible says. We all die because we are all infected with sin. So in God's wisdom, in longing for us to be reconciled to him, comes as the person of Jesus Christ. He takes on flesh and He dies in order to defeat death. He satisfies God's righteousness and holiness by absorbing His wrath and making that payment.
1:41:36 And the way we know that God in heaven approves of the death of the son of God is that when he was placed in that tomb, three days later he rose from the grave. And he ascended on high. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the ascension of Jesus Christ is the amen of God. It is the approval of God. It is the declaration to our world and to every generation that the death of Christ satisfies God and those who have put their faith and trust in that finished work will also know a resurrection.
1:42:12 Will also know forgiveness. Astoundingly, will be recognized and seen and treated as God the father treats the son, Jesus Christ. So the message of the gospel, the message of Christianity is you have sinned, I have sinned. We're all doomed if we're left to ourselves. None of us can perform any kind of righteousness to please God, but God in his great love does something in order to satisfy his demands.
1:42:42 He performs his righteousness on our behalf. And then he extends his holiness to us as a gift and he says, you need my forgiveness. You need my payment. You need the blood, the holy blood that was shed on that tree. And what God asks of us, I come to you with good news tonight, is for you to recognize I indeed am a sinner.
1:43:06 And I do believe that Jesus is the son of God. He's more than a teacher. He's more than a philosopher. He's more than a miracle worker. He is God in the flesh who has come to this world in order to pay for my sin.
1:43:20 And I recognize that it is only his work on the cross that will save me from the wrath of God. And so then by faith, you recognize that what your sin did is in fact your sin. And yet, you also recognize that He considered your sin and died for you in order to save you. And then you embrace that gift, and you turn from that sin that nailed Him initially. And from that moment on, when you stand in that place of admitting your need for a savior, God in heaven in his great wonderful faithfulness will see you and then deem you as justified.
1:44:03 He will forgive you in that moment. And more than just forgive you, he will seal your heart with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee until the day of redemption. The message of Christ is you can be forgiven by grace through faith. Have you been forgiven? Have you made a conscious decision, I am indeed a sinner.
1:44:29 I am indeed in need of a savior and I recognize that it's only Christ. There's no other way to the Father. Have you bowed your knee to that truth? And if you haven't, why not? I wanna make an invitation to you today sitting where you're sitting to make Jesus Christ your Lord and your Savior.
1:44:48 And in a moment, I'm going to sing, if you need somebody to, like Philip, answer some questions, I'm gonna be there and I wanna answer your questions. And listen, if you're ashamed to come up to a preacher and ask questions, Jesus said, Whoever is ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of them before my Father and his holy angels. Your soul is at stake. Don't play around with this. He has done all that He can in great humiliation to save you.
1:45:18 And you're afraid to come up and ask questions and get some prayer? He is too worthy for such a thought. Call number two, my dear brother and sister in Christ, I'm joining you in responding to this call in that I want to take time to meditate and seek the Lord and say, Oh God, brand me again. To really love the lost. Brand me in such a way that when I study the word of God, not only am I excited to share it with believers, I want to tell the unbelievers about it.
1:45:51 Let me carry your fragrance in such a way that when people look at me and see me, they would recognize something that they saw in Philip. A man who saw Samaritans with love. A man who saw Ethiopians and without hesitation would jump in their car and say, let me tell you about Christ. Lord, brand me in that way. And listen, Christian, you know this.
1:46:11 One of the most exciting things that you ever did in your walk with the Lord is tell somebody about Christ and they gave you ten minutes. Oh, you you would leave that conversation, you text two, three people, Oh, you won't believe what just happened. And you think about it for the next few days. Maybe, maybe one of the reasons why you lost so much joy, I mean, there could be different answers and different reasons, but maybe one of them is because you can't remember the last time you told somebody about Jesus. Well, ask the Lord to work in your heart because it starts in the heart anyway.
1:46:44 You're not gonna set yourself up for more joy if you go out of here dragging your feet thinking, alright, the preacher said I better do this. Let me go and do this. And you go and find somebody that may be a Christian already and tell them about Jesus just to clear your conscience. That's, that's pathetic. I'm talking about something real.
1:47:01 I'm talking about something that's lasting. I'm talking about if the Lord should bring you to a road to Gaza or to Caesarea or wherever you're gonna be like Philip. Just somebody somebody's gonna hear about Christ. So if I can ask the praise team to come, let's bow our hearts and let's seek the Lord together. Which call do you need to answer tonight?
1:47:41 Are you the unsaved man, unsaved woman? Are you the the young person that grew up in church but you don't know if you're saved? I was there, so I know what that's like. Well, today, Christ is calling you. And brother and sister, don't you dare let your heart become heavy with guilt.
1:48:05 Let your heart rejoice in seeing what is possible with the right character and a Christ infused compassion and a consistency by his grace. Oh, how God can use us and at the same time rest in his sovereignty. To just let him use you the way he orchestrates for you. Lord, we thank you for this evening. Thank you for allowing us to to feast on your word again.
1:48:31 And Lord, we ask tonight that as we meditate and pray and respond to this truth that we would leave here with rejoicing. That's our simple prayer. Amen and Amen. If you want to stand and sing, you can do that. If you want to stay seated and pray.
1:48:49 If you want to pray with one another, you do that. Let's just turn this into a prayer meeting. And if you need somebody to help you, like that eunuch needed help, I would love it would be an honor of mine to be able to stand and sit with you and help you the best way I can. Let's respond to the Lord this evening. I know we have a program for tonight, but this is more important than programs.
1:57:41 So if that clock is right, looks like it's getting close to 09:30, I'm gonna ask if we can, if we can adjust here and maybe start things in thirty minutes. If you wanna stay in this room and pray, if you wanna see God, if you wanna get on your knees here even at the front or by your seat, if you wanna just take time to seek the Lord, do that. I I don't wanna abort this meeting. I wanna take the time to pray with people and to seek God together. And so if if if you feel like, you know, you were blessed and you wanna go somewhere else, just please do so quietly.
1:58:12 You can return here in about thirty minutes. But if you just wanna stay, meditate, and just continue to fellowship with the Lord or pray for one another, you can do that. So I'm gonna pray. And when I say amen, if if the praise team, you can help me and just stay here and play lovely music. And, pastor Marcus here, you heard him open the service.
1:58:29 If you wanna go up to him and receive prayer or any kind of counsel or clarity, he's there to serve you as well. Whoever you came with can offer that same kind of assistance. And I'm gonna stay in the front here. I'm gonna stay here as long as I need to to to pray with you and to help. So let's pray.
1:58:43 Let's ask the Lord to just continue to bless this time and we'll continue with this evening. Lord, we do look to you. We thank you. We thank you Lord that you've penetrated our hearts. We thank you that, you're beginning to do something new in people's lives.
1:58:58 And we wanna be sensitive to your leading, Lord. And so be with us for the remainder of this time. For those who are full and comforted, continue to go before them this evening. For those who are searching and, are on the threshold of a decision, Lord. We pray that you rebuke Satan, rebuke the enemy who would try to, try to steal the seed that's been planted.
1:59:25 And Lord, we we're praying for wonderful testimonies for the glory of your name. We love you and we trust you in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. God bless you. We'll see you soon.
1:59:33 Again, you're free to stay if you'd like to. And please, if you're gonna leave, just do so quietly and respectfully. Take care now.
