Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/callanish/sermons/71494/the-mission-field-the-missionary-the-methodology-the-result/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Psalm 122. Psalm 122. I joyed into the house of God, go up, they said to me.! Jerusalem within thy gates, their feet shall stand in me. [0:13] ! Jerusalem as a city is, compactly built together, and to that place the tribes go up, the tribes of God go further. Psalm 122. The whole psalm to God's praise, I joyed into the house of God. [0:30] I joyed when it is the house of God, go up, they said to me. [0:46] Jerusalem within thy gates, our feet shall stand in me. [1:01] Jerusalem as a city is, compactly built together, and to the sacred tribes go up, the tribes of God go further. [1:32] Jerusalem within thyquequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequequeque God bless you. [2:32] Of still prosperity. There's my right wish. [2:45] A peace in you. Within my walls remain. [2:56] Under your face I promise. Prosperity came. [3:12] Now for my strength and strength. Be free in the heavenly. [3:29] And for the honors. Of God the Lord Are you wicked always Now for hearts. [3:55] Gracious Father we thank you for the house of God. The fact that you have made your dwelling place with men. And we bless you Lord that in this New Testament era the house of God is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. [4:13] God became flesh and dwelt among us. We have no tabernacle because the tabernacle is the Lord Jesus Christ who tabernacled with men. [4:27] We have no temple because our temple is the Lord Jesus Christ who pulled out the temple. And who said that he would rise again on the third day. [4:39] Father we thank you that this morning and this evening as we gather together. That the Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the law. That he is the one of whom the prophets spoke. [4:51] That he is the one of whom the kings foreordained. And he is the one who is the seed of the woman who shall bruise the head of the serpent. [5:03] And this evening as we gather together we thank you that there is a real sense that where you are this is the house of God. And we ask that tonight that this very simple building would be for us. [5:18] A Bethel, a place of the meeting of heaven and earth. That there is a way in which we would see even the very angels of God. These unseen messengers of God among us this evening. [5:33] But we pray that the Holy Spirit would work among us and take a simple feeble word. And apply it to our hearts and to our lives. [5:45] We thank you also that we come to the new Jerusalem. The church of the living God. That it's a place where all the tribes go up. [5:57] The multitudes, the diverse tribes of Israel. And our prayer is for this congregation that it would be a congregation of unity. We read in the Psalms that the city is compactly built together. [6:12] We pray that it would be a place of diversity. That everybody who lives in this community would be drawn to this place to worship God. [6:24] And to exalt in his holiness. And to hear more of the glorious gospel. The good news that brings sinners from a place of condemnation to a place of righteousness. [6:38] That they would be able to hear these words. Now there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Lord God we pray for felicity in the house. [6:51] We pray for peace. That it would be a harmony. And the harmony would be so beautiful. That the people around the world would note it. And be attracted to it. [7:03] We ask your forgiveness for our divisions. And our schisms. And our lack of peace. We ask that we would come in humility. And that we would learn to love our sisters and their brothers. [7:18] Perhaps in different traditions. But who value the word of God. Who preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. Who believe in the infallibility of the word of God. [7:31] The inspired scriptures. Who believe in the resurrection of the dead. Who believe that Jesus Christ is the alone substitute. Who died to save sinners. [7:44] Lord we ask for growth in the church also. That our desire would be that many would come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That they would taste and that they would see that God is good. [7:58] Bless this congregation. In this time of vacancy. We know that you are already preparing the heart of a man to come. And be the pastor teacher of this people. [8:10] A shepherd like the Lord Jesus Christ. Who looks over Calanish. And as a saviour. Looked over Jerusalem. And wept. Saying how often would I have gathered you under my wings. [8:24] And you would not. Lord we thank you for the word. Which has been preached faithfully. From this pulpit here. For the last 50 years. [8:36] And we indeed. In other forms before that. And we pray that even those who. Being dead yet still speak. That sermons we heard. Many years ago. [8:47] Would come alive. And that they would follow us. Father bless every family in this community. Those going through hardships. And difficulties. May they look unto you. [8:59] May they see you. As a strengthener. May they realize. That there is a purpose. Even behind the darkest threads. In the master's tapestry. [9:11] We pray for those who mourn. That you would comfort them. And that they would know your presence. That they would know the peace in their own heart. The hope of the gospel. [9:22] Bless us now. As a people. And as a nation. Although we do not deserve it. But we ask that we would pursue righteousness. Be your guide. This evening. [9:32] In all that we say and do. We ask this in the saviour's name. Amen. Can we sing now. [9:44] Psalm 61. Psalm 61. From the beginning. Psalm 61. O God give ear unto my cry. [9:55] And to my prayer attend. From the utmost corner of the land. My cry to thee. I will sing. Psalm 61. From the beginning to verse 6. [10:06] O God give ear unto my cry. O God give ear unto my cry. [10:20] Unto my prayer attend. From the utmost corner of the land. [10:37] My cry to thee. I will send. One time my heart is overwhelmed. [10:55] And in the mercy. To thy heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly heavenly God, if I pray thy heart, I'm part of this against my Lord, the last beat of power. [11:56] Within thy cover, not a lie, forever with a fight. [12:14] And under the earth of thy wings, where confidence may I. [12:31] For now the earth that I did make, O Lord, my Lord is here. [12:49] Thou mountain near the valley of those I may have feared. [13:08] And I've grown home for many days, thou do not care about him. [13:26] And I've been in the generations, thou do not care about him. [13:47] Can we turn now to the Acts of the Apostles? Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 9. [14:26] Acts chapter 9. [14:56] Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. [15:30] Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. [16:08] Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 10. [16:42] Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. [17:18] Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. who had the charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for him to worship was returning sitting in his chariot reading Esaias the prophet then the spirit said unto Philip go near and join thyself to this chariot and Philip ran further to him and heard him reading the prophet Esaias and said understandest thou what thou readest he said how can I except some man should guide me and he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him the place of the scripture which he read was this he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before his shearer so opened he not his mouth in his humiliation his judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth and the eunuch answered Philip and said I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet thus this of himself or of some other man and then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus and as they went on their way they came unto a certain water and the eunuch said see here is water what does hinder me to be baptized and Philip said if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest and he answered them and said I believe but Jesus Christ is the son of God and he commanded the chariot to stand still and they both went down into the water both Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him and when they were come up out of the water the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip that the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing but Philip was found at Azotus and passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea this is the word of God and we ask his blessing to be upon it we have read God's word let's now sing God's word in Psalm 119 in verse 97 [19:49] Psalm 119 of course is the longest psalm in the Psalter every single verse speaks of the scriptures if you notice every single verse has a reference to the Bible we're looking at verse 97 you see it there in 97 it's called the law you see it there in verse 99 it's called the testimonies in verse 100 it's the commandments verse 101 it's the word verse 102 it's the judgments and verse 103 it's the word see every single verse refers to the Bible in some way or other I love to sing it before preaching Psalm 119 97 to 104 O how have I the law it is my study all the day it makes me wiser than my foes for it doth with me stay O how have I the law O how have I the law it is my journey shall be all the day it makes me wiser than my foes voyque voy voy! [21:35] voy! voy! voy! voy! voy! voy! For understandeth not, because from that is creation, but if there is good voy forbade, in understanding voy forbade, Of the angels voy voy voy voy voy voy My feet from me till we rise big, that I may keep thy worth. [22:53] I know thy children, strength of your sweat, for thou hast not me o'er. [23:11] How sweet unto my King, O Lord, all thy words of truth. [23:28] Yea, I do not cleanse with your heart, for thou hast not me to my love. [23:45] I through thy grief shall not be true, till our winter time began. [24:02] I never let thee with evil's force, with all my heart to thee. [24:26] Well, can we open our Bibles please to the passage we read in Acts chapter 8. Let's read it verse 30 and verse 31. [24:39] Philip ran thither to him and heard him read Esaias and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? [24:50] And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit. [25:02] With him. Well, how did the gospel come to the island of Lewis? There was, of course, one day that somebody came with the gospel and told the people on the island here about the Lord Jesus Christ. [25:20] It was probably a very long time ago. It was probably one of the early Celtic monks he got in his coracle from Iona and sailed up here and preached and proclaimed the Lord Jesus Christ. [25:33] Before that, the people had no clue. They had never heard about the Lord Jesus Christ. As you know, they were worshipping the sun, the moon and the stars and everything else. [25:45] So there was a time in history, of course, when the gospel was brought here to Lewis. Someone told the people for the very first time about the Lord Jesus Christ. [25:57] And, of course, the history goes on and you have the stories of the rise and the fall of the Christian faith in these islands. And, I suppose, the more modern era, Alexander MacLeod. [26:09] I found the key there. He proclaimed the gospel. And, once again, the light burned very, very brightly. But, remember, there was a time, a long time before that, when somebody told the restless natives about the Lord Jesus Christ. [26:25] What we have here in this particular passage in Acts chapter 8 is how the gospel came to the continent of Africa for the very first time. [26:37] There was nobody in Africa, because this is an Ethiopian unit, no one before this time in Africa had ever heard about the Lord Jesus Christ. And, it's significant now that Africa is now the home of approximately 631 million believers. [26:57] There are more Presbyterians in Malawi than there are in Scotland. And, there are more robust Presbyterians in Malawi than there are in Scotland. [27:08] There are more Anglicans in Nigeria than there are in England. The gospel is strong and is powerfully moving throughout the continent of Africa. [27:20] And, it all started with one conversation, with one man in the middle of a desert, talking to this Ethiopian eunuch. [27:31] Now, before we start, before we go into the passage, once again, I want to notice a couple of things as we zoom into the passage. [27:44] If you look at, the first thing that I want to mention is that difficulties do not hinder church growth. Difficulties do not hinder church growth. [27:55] In fact, the very opposite is true. Look at verse 1. At that time, there was a great persecution against the church. The church was challenged. [28:07] The people were literally fed to the lions. The people were going to their death because of the Christian faith. And yet, we read that there was a revival in Samaria. And then, this Ethiopian eunuch was touched by the gospel at a time of great persecution. [28:21] And the point is that difficult times are no hindrance to the power of the gospel. Indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ and the whole power of the Holy Spirit seems to, and I pick my words carefully here, seem to thrive when outward conditions are more difficult. [28:38] Because the darker the background, the greater the illumination of the gospel. The more perilous society is, and the more patently immoral society is, the more the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ is seen, and the more the magnificent torch of the gospel is able to be displayed. [28:59] That's why beauty is displayed against a dark background. Because dark backgrounds show the glinting value of the gem. [29:12] And then, again, we find here that the mission is vague. In verse 4 to verse 8, you've got the big city. The city crowds. There's a revival. There's a top preacher, Philip. [29:24] So you've got this celebrity preacher who's very gifted. He's preaching in the city, and there are thousands of people coming, and there is a movement of the Holy Spirit. [29:37] Even the local charlatan, Simon, was challenged with the gospel, although it did not end very well for him. And so you've got this city movement, this city-to-city movement of the gospel, and then suddenly the main player, or perhaps even one of his lesser people, Philip, is called to the desert. [30:02] The soundtrack goes silent, and the noise of the city gives way to the silent tumbleweed of the lonely desert. Now there's a point there right away. [30:15] There's a leading Christian thinker called Francis Schaeffer, and he's got this expression, he says, no little people, no little places. No little people, no little places. [30:32] If I scanned the literature on world evangelism and mission today, we would hear of movements in New York, we would hear, I was talking to someone just a few minutes ago, of how churches in London are actually booming. [30:48] New York, London, there are churches I know in the cities of Manchester, booming, churches in Edinburgh where I live, booming. What about Cavanagh, Brees, are these big places in world mission? [31:10] Without any disrespect, I imagine the world's leading missiologists have never heard of Brees, but God has. [31:21] No little places. No little people. Just because we live in a small place, doesn't matter that we are small people. [31:34] Is someone of less importance because they live in a croft and caraway as a penthouse in New York? There is no difference. [31:46] And here we see God moves in the city, but God also moves in the unexpected, solitary place, in the middle of a desert, in where? [31:57] Gaza. Gaza. You recognise the name. Always been a place that folk never really flocked to. Some of the more ambitious politicians may want to build a holiday resort there one day, but we find that that was never the case in the times of the Bible. [32:18] It was a place that seemed to be forsaken in many ways. So what is important? What is strategic? [32:31] Let me tell you a story of Mary. Mary was from Bears Den in Glasgow. She was an only child and she went to a very expensive, posh Glasgow private school. [32:43] Her mum and dad were ordinary people. They were not believers. But they had invested a lot in Mary and Mary was very, very sharp. She went to Glasgow University, studied medicine, became top of her class, went on to become a leading surgeon. [33:02] And then, one day, she fell called to a missionary hospital in the back of beyond in India. Do you know what her parents said? [33:14] What a waste. Is it? Was it? Who says that's a waste? [33:25] God had called her to that place. The people in Samaria, where's Philip gone? Oh, he's gone off to Gaza. Is he going to live in a congregation there? [33:36] Well, I've heard he had a congregation of one. What a waste. It's not the way God thinks. [33:47] God's strategy and God's way of thinking is totally different. You've got the crowds here and you've got the hoi po' hoi, the ordinary people. But then he is called to speak to this unique human being, the Ethiopian unit. [34:02] Isn't there encouragement for us there? The fact that God uses all sorts of places and all sorts of people and that God can work through even the toughest church situation. [34:15] Well, this evening I just want to look at this passage and I want to notice a few things. Again, I suppose, by way of introduction, again, all of our mission is God-driven. [34:32] It's God that does it. Paul may plant, a Paul may water, but God gives the increase. In other words, we don't just sit back and let God do it. [34:47] God says, no, no, no, no. I want you to plant and water. And then we see what happens here. God is in it. The angel speaks to him in verse 26. Philip is known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. [35:01] And Philip is involved in a supernatural encounter. Folks, a miracle happened in the Gaza desert. A miracle could happen tonight. A miracle could happen in this congregation in the next few weeks. [35:15] What do miracles look like? Miracles don't look like people jumping out of wheelchairs and walking down the aisle. Miracles are bigger than that. [35:26] Miracles are when God makes someone a new creation. And I was a student in Glasgow a hundred years ago. [35:40] I attended Partey Highland Free Church and there was an elder there, Norman Morrison, and he used to tell this story. He says, you've heard of the miracle of God turning water into wine. [35:53] He said, well, I've seen furniture being turned into wine. What do you mean, Norman? And he told the story that when he used to drink, he was so low that he pawned his furniture for drink. [36:10] God changed that man. It's a miracle. There are miracles here tonight. And we pray there are many more miracles to come. [36:23] Let's look at this passage this evening. I want to look at the mission field. I want to look at the missionary. I want to look at the methodology. [36:34] And I want to look at the result. Very, very briefly. What do we notice, first of all, the mission field? Well, we notice the mission field in verse 27 there. [36:49] And he arose and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under canvas. Well, we've had some strange mission fields in our day, haven't we? [37:03] We've seen cannibals in the South Sea Island. We've seen drug addicts in New York. We've seen lots of crazy mission fields. But this is unique, isn't it? This is weird. One man, mission field. [37:17] And he is an Ethiopian eunuch. He's an official. He's a government civil service. He's educated. He's wealthy. He's influential. But again, he's a little bit odd here. [37:30] He's a eunuch. He won't go into details there, but you get the picture. He's been emasculated. We talk about gender issues today. It's not new. [37:41] This man was in a gender complex situation. But the wonderful thing is this is the most unlikely person you would ever expect to be touched with the gospel. [37:57] And that's the point. The gospel and the Holy Spirit can touch every single conceivable type of person. [38:10] There are no barriers. The barriers of ethnicity, the barriers of his complex situation here, his previous background. He was rich. [38:21] He was posh. He was a black guy. But he was someone who all his life, in spite of how well he had done, in terms of religion, he couldn't enter because he was an emasculated man. [38:34] Deuteronomy 23 1 said, keep him out of the assembly. You're unclean. You're not allowed into the assembly of God's people. So all through his life, the religious people said, stay out. [38:47] And now he meets Philip who opens up the scripture and he says, come in. Does that explain verse 37? What does prevent me from being baptized? The point is, there are no exclusions. [39:04] I don't know this community. I've only driven through it a few times. I don't know many of you. I don't know, more importantly, the folk who are not in here tonight. [39:19] I don't know who lives in this community, where they have come from, what sort of people they are. But the exciting thing is, and for anyone who comes to be minister of this congregation, they're not just going to be a minister of this congregation, they're going to be a minister located in this community with a burden for the whole community. [39:45] whatever people's background is, whatever their religious persuasion is. Do you know, one of the interesting things about the highlands and islands is, many people come to an area like this and they are seeking after something. [40:06] And many of them will even talk about the spirituality of the islands. Now, what they think of spirituality is not what we think of spirituality, but they are seeking and maybe what they are seeking is hidden in plain sight. [40:23] Maybe it is the message that is proclaimed from this pulpit and is in the hearts of the men and women. Maybe they have come to one of the last places on the earth where there are people who really believe this book and who want the message of this book to go to all sorts of people, irrespective of where they have been born and where they have been bred. [40:44] If the gospel is big enough for an Ethiopian Uruk, it's big enough for anybody in this community. And so this is an Ethiopian Uruk. [40:57] The unusual thing is he had gone up to Jerusalem to worship. We see that in verse 27. He's gone up to Jerusalem to worship. He was returning and he was sitting in his chariot. [41:11] So he is a pagan. He worships another god and yet he is drawn towards Judaism. He is drawn towards Jerusalem. [41:22] He is drawn towards the Jewish faith and he is really interested. He's a Gentile looking for God. And he's been at whatever he's at in Jerusalem. [41:33] I don't know. You go to these conventions today, there's a bookstall. Maybe there was a bookstall there. Maybe he bought a copy of Isaiah the prophet, a scroll there. [41:44] I'll have that. And he buys Isaiah the prophet. He buys a scroll. He gets in his chariot and he is going along. Now, people in those days, chariots were bumpy. [41:58] We're not talking suspension here. He's going along his chariot, probably other people driving his chariot. Folk in those days read aloud. So he's reading aloud from Isaiah the prophet. [42:12] Now, when we have conversations with people about Jesus, remember this, it's not something which is accidental. [42:26] There is a purpose. And whenever we talk about Jesus with people, and even tonight there is, we're not soul players in a drama, God is at work. [42:41] God is at work. It would not surprise me if there was someone even in this community who was beginning to read the Bible, someone who was beginning to engage with biblical material on YouTube, someone who was really interested in the story of Jesus. [43:01] That would not surprise me. What do they need? They need somebody to explain what the Bible is saying. This passage is very similar in some ways to the passage we had this morning. [43:16] Someone with a Bible and someone explaining the Bible to them. God is at work. You chose to be a believer. [43:31] Of course you did. God also chose you before you ever chose him. God is in the church of Scotland. [43:45] The minister there was called Fergus Robertson. I remember Fergus telling one of the local characters come in and he said, Fergus, I am looking for Jesus. Fergus said, no, you're not. [43:59] Jesus is looking for you. that may be true of someone here. It may be true of someone in the community who's not even in this building. [44:11] See, my interest is with you. But my own interest is also in people out there who are not here. Our job as a church is to make disciples of all people. [44:28] our job is that we are a disciple making unit. It's what we do. Reminded of the story that C.S. [44:43] Lewis tells. He had a student called Sheldon Vonneken and Sheldon Vonneken was from Virginia in the USA. [44:55] He had come over to Oxford and again he liked what I mentioned this morning what we call the cultural Christianity of Oxford. He loved the cathedrals. [45:07] He loved the bells and the smells. He loved the choirs. He loved the trappings of Christianity. He really loved that tradition. But there was something that he had that pushed him on to something more. [45:23] So he wrote C.S. Lewis and the phrase he used is can you please give me a hint of how it is to be done. In other words how can I be a Christian? And the two men exchanged letters and eventually became friends. [45:40] And then one of the letters C.S. Lewis wrote to Sheldon Vonneken he said this I think you are already in the meshes of the net. [45:52] The Holy Spirit is after you I doubt if you'll get away that's the way it works. [46:05] Even especially people who reject Jesus and say I will not have this man to rule over me. The Holy Spirit comes and he moves among us and once that drawing power of the expulsive power of a new affection as Thomas Chalmers says hits us we are drawn towards him. [46:31] People are more eager to talk than we believe. The mission field is anybody. The mission field in this community the person who is perhaps going to be the next convert in this area of Kalanish is someone who tonight is looking at crystals and screaming at the moon. [46:56] Someone who is as far away from God as anything. And yet that moon screaming oddity may be someone who in the depths of their heart really want their sins forgiven. [47:20] And they're at the beginning of that journey. The mission field. Secondly, what about the missionary? Who was the missionary here? [47:31] Well, he was Philip the evangelist and he was really also known as Philip the deacon. Acts chapter 6, he was the guy who ran the food bank. Evangelism wasn't really his thing. [47:45] he would have maybe said, I administer the distribution of food. That's what kind of deacons do. They do the government side of the church. [48:00] We do the woodwork. We do the money. We do the buildings. That's kind of what a deacon does. It does the care work of the church. [48:12] We're not the evangelists. But yet it's Philip the deacon that God called because Philip was willing and available. [48:24] Look at verse 4 it says, Therefore they that were scattered abroad when everywhere preaching the word all of them were involved in gossiping the gospel. Mission isn't like train spotter just for a few geeky people inside. [48:40] Mission is not for people who are kind of odd and strange for every single one of us. There's no need for a call. [48:54] The word strikes you about Philip is he had a very small eagle. One minute he's in Samaria he's in the city he's in the middle of a revival and he is involved in a really significant ministry and God calls him to the desert. [49:17] Now I'm not saying that carol is like the desert and at this night like this I can think of very few non desert like places but maybe your next minister is just now in the city in the middle of a big thrilling ministry and you would never come here God says that's not the way I work I take what would fill up from Samaria from the buzz and if I direct them they will go to the desert to the obscure place to the place on the very edge you see Phil had a very small ego it didn't worry him where he was a friend of mine in Northern Ireland he was in a large congregation [50:19] Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church in Belfast Northern Ireland he's now in a tiny little church plant in the Republic of Ireland from the big to the small he was happy in the food bank in Acts 6 he's happy explaining Isaiah here to the chariot there was a well known theologian and he said this I read this was a letter published on his 80th birthday he said a donkey is mentioned in the Bible it was permitted to carry Jesus to Jerusalem if I have done anything in this life a man he said I have done it with the donkey that went its way carrying on an important burden the Lord the disciples said to the owner the Lord has needed it and so it seems to please God to have used me at this time just as [51:21] I was in spite of all the things the disagreeable things that quite rightly are and will be said to me thus I was used I was prepared to be a donkey the Lord is needed you the mission field the missionary thirdly I use a posh word methodology how did they go about it what was his strategy it's a big word what I do strategy what is his strategy very simple there are lots of questions here Philip asks one question the unit asks three questions questions are more important than answers don't take people who ask questions to be antagonistic the Bible raises lots of questions I was preaching recently in [52:23] Joshua and Joshua marks around the walls to Jericho didn't he seven times and what happened the walls came tumbling down and what did God say destroy all the men women and children the guy had a question why did God destroy the men women and children it's not an antagonistic question it's a legitimate question questions are not bad things if you're an open mind there's an answer of course see questions find out about what people really think not about what we think they think the question is you're reading Isaiah 53 do you understand what you're reading how can [53:24] I unless somebody tells me what this means now what is evangelism well verse 35 I think I've described it perfectly then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus evangelism is teaching people not Christians what the Bible says about Jesus he didn't speak about himself he spoke about Jesus that's what we want to talk about here this is our obsessive theme in this church church when folk come into this church they will go and say these folk are obsessed with Jesus what's the result what happened he wanted to be baptized 36 they went in their way they came to a certain water and the eunuch said see here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized remember what I said that he was stopped from going into the temple because he was a eunuch he was emasculated he was seen as unclean he was seen as a little bit weird as he said what stops me now what stops you from believing and the wonderful thing is the answer in Acts is nothing he went to the water and he got baptized he had not been circumcised before he had never been baptized and he said [55:10] I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God what a difference what a change many people in this community recognize that and then we read that isn't 39 wonderful and when they come up out of the water spirit of the Lord caught away filled filled went you see there's a point a point there right away it wasn't about Philip one of the things I observed in life is that a lot of churches a lot of congregations are essentially built around people the minister brings a falling he goes it falls away because it's really personality driven it's all about that particular celebrity minister the Lord took Philip away because [56:11] Philip wasn't the guy it wasn't really down to Philip and so even in your choice of minister don't think you want a celebrity minister someone who will be a bit of a crowd puller at the end of the day God's angel took Philip and took him away the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip and the eunuch saw him no more but the eunuch went on his way rejoicing rejoicing don't we need joy in the world today don't we need joy I again flipped through BBC news and in my phone earlier on I want to know what's happened in the world has been that people in Canada have been killed with a car driving into the crowds there's Gaza which is in a terrible state there's the war in [57:22] Ukraine and it's just going on and on there's political instability everywhere there's not a lot of joy around but there was joy here when he realised that Jesus had died for him when he realised that Jesus Christ is the son of God in Edinburgh Jehovah's witnesses are trying a new tactic now of course they don't just go around doors they kind of write you a nice letter now in the cities they sit they stand in street corners and I really enjoy talking to Jehovah's witnesses I enjoy it in one hand but there's another thing that makes me sad because they don't make much of Jesus he's not the son of God I was talking to a Muslim in the [58:24] Preacher of the car park last week he wanted to park his car there we started talking about faith you can talk to Muslims far easier than you can talk to a scholar about faith they're immediately straight into it you take an Uber and within seconds you talk to Muhammad the driver of Jesus oh the greatest of all the prophets no no it's more than that he's the son of God joy George Quigfield said quote I was delivered from a burden that so heavily suppressed me the spirit of mourning was taken from me and I knew what it was to truly rejoice in God my saviour the sermon could have been given many titles one great title could have been without hindrance you see it there in verse 37 you see it again in chapter 10 verse 47 and it's the very last word in the book of Acts the last verse in Acts says preaching the kingdom of God and teaching these things which concern the Lord [59:51] Jesus Christ with all confidence no man forbidden him in Kalanish April 2025 we can preach the word of God this without hindrance nobody is stopping us people are called to be disciples and follow Jesus without hindrance you can't prepare for it indeed if you prepare for it you've not understood it some years ago friends bought us myself and my wife a couple of nights in the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh and we chilled out at time our car was a mess we drove up to the hotel and the concierge says would you like me to park your car and my wife said step on it and we flew off we went to a filling station and we cleaned the car up we spent half an hour cleaning the car before we took it back to the hotel and the valley parking guy took it away many of us think that that's how you come to [61:34] Christ you've got to clean yourself up first before he'll accept you come just as we are he will do the cleaning Lord we bow in your presence we thank you for your word and your love and your kindness for this passage tonight and for the conversion of the Ethiopian Europe entrance of the word of God into Africa speak to us this evening forgive our sins amen psalm 103 at verse 8 the Lord our [62:36] God is merciful and he is gracious long suffering and slow to wrath and mercy plenteous psalm 103 verse 8 to verse 15 the Lord our God is merciful! [62:52] Savior God is merciful and he is gracious songs of the ring bands flow to wrath and mercy plenty of he will not try continually nor keep the land of jail with the sea and no just we in nor good we like the hill for us to have in his sight he and! [64:14] land is far so gave his love to him hand and his heart! [64:38] and and our and our and his! all and our voy voy! [65:10] voy! voy! voy! voy! voy! voy! voy! voy! voy! voy Father, I find to worship in the earth. [65:31] And I pray Jesus that all to such us worship Him in the earth. [65:49] For He will never be our God. And He will never be our God. [66:06] For He will never be our God. For He will never be our God. [66:23] For He will never be our God.