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[0:00] If you take your Bibles and go to the book of Acts, please.

[0:18] Book of Acts chapter 8. If you're visiting with us, if you go to the black Bible in the chair in front of you, and then turn the page, go towards the back of that Bible, and go to page 98.

[0:36] 98. You'll find Acts chapter 8. Big number 8. Little number we're going to start is verse 26. Start in verse 26, and we'll go to the end of that chapter, chapter 8.

[0:55] Acts chapter 8, verses 26 through 40. Again, page 98 in that black Bible. I'm going to read, and then we'll do our study. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Arise and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.

[1:14] This is the desert. And he rose and went. And behold, there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.

[1:25] And he had come to Jerusalem to worship. And he was returning, and sitting in his chariots, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, Go up and join this chariot.

[1:39] And when Philip had run up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, Do you understand what you're reading? And he said, Well, how could I, unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

[1:52] Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this. He was led as a sheep to slaughter, as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth. In humiliation, his judgment was taken away.

[2:06] Who shall relate to his generation? For his life is removed from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip and said, Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this?

[2:18] Of himself or of someone else? And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from the Scripture, he preached Jesus to him. And as they went along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, Look, water, what prevents me from being baptized?

[2:34] Drop down to verse 38. And he ordered the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing.

[2:54] But Philip found himself in Azotus, and as he passed through, he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea. You probably remember it well.

[3:11] There's George Bailey, standing on top of the bridge, that part of the bridge again. Remember that? He was crying out. Help me, Clarence!

[3:23] Help me! Give me back! Please! I want to live again! And then one of his last statements was this. Please, God, let me live again.

[3:39] If you've seen the movie, It's a Wonderful Life, you know that he was saying this, George Bailey was saying this, because he had wished he'd never been born. And Clarence showed him what life would have been like without him.

[3:55] All those men would have died because he never saved his brother. The druggist, he would have been in jail. All these different things. Wow!

[4:08] What a difference one person can make. What a difference one person can make in the life of another person. As we come to this portion of Acts, just do it.

[4:23] Be who you are. Let God use us. Let God use you to fulfill his mission. In our passage today, we see this. What a gospel difference one Christian can make.

[4:38] What a difference, a gospel difference one Christian can make. One Christian can make a major difference, a major gospel difference in the life of someone else.

[4:53] Jesus. And that's what we're going to see here today. That's what we see in our passage with Philip, with the most unlikely person, a Cushite.

[5:11] What a gospel difference one Christian can make. A statement for you. In God's sovereign plan, one Christian can make a gospel difference in the life of another.

[5:24] So, don't underestimate the power of the gospel or how God will use you in someone else's life. Don't underestimate the power of the gospel.

[5:35] Don't underestimate how God's going to use you, a Christian. You never know. Here an angel of the Lord sent Philip to Jerusalem, south of Jerusalem, excuse me, where he came in contact with a eunuch, a servant of the queen of Ethiopia.

[5:51] He's reading Isaiah. Philip was guided to go to him, leads him to understand Jesus, baptized him, and then, he's gone. And we're going to see the next three scenes in the book of Acts.

[6:06] We're starting with this one and then we'll wait three weeks and come to a second one. Individual conversions. This eunuch, Saul, and then Cornelius. Very unlikely candidates to become Christians.

[6:22] Who would have thunk, I use that on purpose because it's not a real word, so I do that on purpose, so you know. I know it's not for real. I do that just because I'm dumb that way. Who would have thunk that an Ethiopian eunuch would come to Christ?

[6:36] But God is sovereign in salvation all the way, isn't he? You see, a personal, individual evangelism is emphasized by one person being faithful.

[6:51] God used Philip to bring an unlikely person into his kingdom. And the eunuch was a God-fearer, a Gentile who embraced Judaism. They could not be proselytes.

[7:02] We'll talk about that more later. But he still, he still embraced Judaism. But here we see the gospel reaches the ends of the earth, even the marginal people.

[7:14] Because first, you see the Samaritans, right? We saw that last week. And then one from the edge of the known world. A Kushite. The black ethnicity.

[7:27] A devout, God-fearing man. Though part of Judaism, still he represents the ends of the earth. We could even say, really, Philip was the father of missions to the Gentiles.

[7:39] We could even say that. Scripture, definitely, we will see, is the door to salvation. And Jesus is the key to unlock the truth because he is the truth.

[7:51] God was active in the death of his servant who was the one promised to come and die for sinners. The very thing that this eunuch was reading about. And then God used Philip to make a huge difference in this eunuch's life.

[8:06] Don't underestimate, don't underestimate the power of the gospel. Don't underestimate how God's going to use you in someone else's life, Christian. So, do you want to make a difference in people's lives?

[8:20] And here's three points we can gather from the text. Number one, trust in God's plan. If you want to make a difference in someone's life, first, trust in God's plan for you.

[8:35] Verses 26-31. Notice how it begins, an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, a rise goes south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza, a desert road. Leave the Samaritans, head south to the road that goes to Gaza, that goes to nowhere, really.

[8:55] Trust in God's plan. Notice, God was sovereignly directing this event, as He does all events, but especially events for the proclamation of Jesus. He's directing this.

[9:06] He's orchestrating this. And there's major contrasts here. Because here, He's with the Samaritans in the north part, now He's going south.

[9:19] There's mass conversions with the Samaritans. There's going to be one conversion. A people who only believed in the Torah, in a different form for that matter, and a man who was reading the prophets.

[9:34] There's the contrast. And yet, they both were kind of outsiders of Judaism, so to speak. Go to Gaza. Gaza, possibly the old city, destroyed by the Greeks 98 to 96 BC.

[9:48] It's the part of the road that was near the old city. Possibly the area that is around what's known today as Tel El Hesi, which is due east of the Gaza Strip, and due west of Hebron, kind of south, if you're looking at a map southwest of Jerusalem.

[10:07] About in the middle of nowhere. No distractions. It's a desert, and notice what happens in verse 27. He arose and went. With no hesitation, He arose and went.

[10:20] Quite a long journey, not to mention the fact, which is what we said earlier, He was part of a large, growing ministry in Samaria. I mean, all of these people were becoming Christians.

[10:32] God wants you to keep me there. No. God took Philip from successful evangelism to the middle of nowhere.

[10:45] Friends, God directs us where He wants us to go. God directs you where He wants you to go. Notice the next part, verse 27.

[10:57] And look! An Ethiopian 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.

[11:10] Now, when we think of Ethiopia, we think of the country of Ethiopia. Not exactly in the first century, okay? It was an area south of Egypt, known as Kush in the Old Testament.

[11:25] Known today, actually, as Sudan. It was part of the Nubian kingdom. And when it says Candace, Candace is a hereditary dynastic title like Caesar.

[11:39] She was queen of the Ethiopians. And he was a court official. And usually court officials were castrated. So these men, they often serve as keepers of harems.

[11:51] quite often they were treasurers. Definitely he had a high position. Because notice, he had a copy of the scroll. It's not every day, you know, something, I want that scroll over there.

[12:04] Okay, that'll be 20 bucks. You know, he didn't do that. He was a high official. So I mean, he had a little bit of bling bling, you know what I'm saying? He had some money. And because he was castrated, he was not allowed to fully participate in Jewish worship.

[12:21] But he was a God-fearer. So he was a black man, dark skin of a whole different ethnic group who worshipped the Jewish God.

[12:36] And as he traveled, so he was traveling, he worshipped the Lord there at the end of verse 27. He'd come to Jerusalem to worship, now 28. And he was returning and sitting in his chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

[12:47] So he's traveling home which probably took about five months. He sat in his chariot. Now, it was a traveling carriage.

[12:58] Did he have an entourage? Did he have like 50 people with him? We don't know. Luke doesn't give us those details. But he probably had some guys with him. He probably didn't travel alone. because he was an important guy.

[13:12] And there he is reading the prophet Isaiah. Interesting. Isaiah chapter 11, verse 11, it speaks about the land of Cush. There be a remnant of God's people from the Cushites.

[13:27] Interesting. But we see here that the God of Israel was so important to this eunuch that he would A, travel a long distance to worship at the temple and B, possess his own copy of a biblical book.

[13:43] And it wasn't like a Jonah book. I don't want the short one. You know, I'll take that one. No, he got Isaiah. I mean, who knows how big that scroll was. He had a hunger to know the scriptures better so as he's traveling back, he's actually reading the scriptures but he needed a guide.

[14:05] 29. And the Spirit said to Philip, okay, let's stop there. How did the Spirit do that? Did he just talk to him?

[14:20] I don't want you to know. Okay, you know, I don't know. I just want to touch on this for a moment because people today, they say, you know, God told me.

[14:32] Maybe you heard somebody say, you know, God told me. That's what I can believe can be really dangerous. I mean, do they actually, they don't actually think or believe that, well, some people probably do but I don't think most people when they say that they don't actually believe God actually came in an audible voice and told me, go do this, Lord, go do this.

[14:52] You know, probably didn't do that. Now, Luke doesn't tell us how this happened. Luke doesn't really tell us the how, he just tells us the what. The book of Acts is descriptive.

[15:03] It's not prescriptive. It just describes to you what happened. Does it tell you, okay, you're supposed to do things like this and like this and like this and that's the way Luke is. However, the Spirit did this, we need to be very careful when we go around saying, God told me this, God told me that.

[15:20] Now, having said that, there have been specific times where I believe God directed me to go talk to so and so about the gospel.

[15:32] And I would do it and have a wonderful opportunity. Now, God didn't speak to me, Jim, go do it. Okay, you know, that didn't happen. But I do believe He directed me.

[15:45] Whatever happened, however this took place, the Spirit told Philip, notice, 29, go up and join the chariot.

[15:55] and when Philip strolled over, notice, he ran up, notice the text, he ran up, he heard him reading, Isaiah the prophet heard him reading because they would read things out loud, people didn't read to themselves, if they read something, they'd read it out loud.

[16:18] Isaiah the prophet, he says, do you understand what you're reading? And then the humble admission by the eunuch that he can't unless someone guided him, how can I?

[16:32] How could I unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Humbly invited Philip to come and sit with him. He realized he needed guidance like a blind person.

[16:47] Philip was God's sovereign instrument to guide this one to the truth of Jesus. Plus, Philip was no social equal to this important official from Ethiopia.

[17:00] I mean, who's this guy Philip? Who is this guy? I mean, he's a court official, I mean, he was, he had some status, this eunuch. So it shows this man's humility and his openness to the truth, something only God can do in a person's heart.

[17:20] So now, let's bring it together. Praise God. He sets up situations and circumstances for us so we can proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ.

[17:37] Now, the person you're talking to, you would be talking to, they might not be reading the book of Isaiah. Now, that would be really cool. That would kind of make it easier. Hey, Isaiah 53, well, speaking of that, you know, that kind of makes it nice.

[17:53] But it's orchestrated nonetheless. Look, God has you exactly where he wants you.

[18:04] If he wanted to move you on, don't worry, Christian, he would move you on. Christian, do you really believe in God's plan? Do you really trust he has you where he has you at work, at school, recreation, your place to live, family, your health?

[18:20] Do you really believe that? Do you really trust in God's plan? If you want to make a difference in a person's life, Christian, you must trust in God's plan for you.

[18:36] He has you exactly where he wants you and he'll put you where he wants you. Trust him. Believe him. Oh, Christian, he loves you so much in Jesus Christ.

[18:51] He loves you so much in the Lord Jesus Christ. He will direct you and guide you. Do you trust that? Do you trust that's what he's doing?

[19:05] You want to make a difference in someone else's life? First, you must begin here. Trust in God's plan. Number two, speak the good news.

[19:19] Speak the good news. You trust God and His plan and you speak the good news, 32 to 35. The passage of Scripture which he was reading was this.

[19:32] He was led as a sheep to slaughter as a lamb before its shearer is silent and does not open his mouth and humiliation and his judgment was taken away. Who shall relate to his generation? For his life is removed from the earth.

[19:45] This portion was Isaiah 53, 7 through 8. And he was most likely reading the whole section. Isaiah, in Isaiah 53, was comparing the innocent suffering servant to a lamb's sacrifice.

[20:04] Unjustly slain. Judgment taken away. Life was removed or sacrificed. This one that Isaiah spoke about.

[20:15] This one submitted himself like a lamb not opening his mouth. He was unjustly treated by having his life taken from him. The unjust death of one who was innocent took place.

[20:28] He was submissive and silent before those who oppressed him. So then verse 34, and the youth answered Philip and said, tell me, of whom does the prophet say this?

[20:42] Of himself or of someone else? Are you kidding me? What a better opportunity for gospel proclaiming. Well, I'm glad you asked.

[20:54] 35, Philip opened his mouth and beginning from the scripture, it says he preached Jesus.

[21:07] He gospeled Jesus to him. The actual word is euangelion. Which is where you get the word good news. So he gospeled Jesus to him.

[21:18] This text points to the Lord Jesus Christ because the Lord Jesus was the righteous one who suffered in this text and he suffered on behalf of sinners for their salvation and redemption.

[21:38] Which is why we read that this morning. Surely our grief he himself bore. Verse 4. Our sorrows he carried. He was pierced through for our transgressions.

[21:51] He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon him by his scourging where healed all of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned his own way but the Lord caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

[22:05] The Lord was pleased to crush him putting him to grief. Later, as a result of his anguish of his soul he will see to be satisfied by his knowledge the righteous one my servant he will justify the many.

[22:18] Because he will bear their iniquities. He poured out himself to death. He was numbered with transgressors. Yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.

[22:31] This is all pointing to Jesus. This is all pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. This depicts the very sacrificial suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus died unjustly because he was God's chosen one, Israel's very Messiah.

[22:47] yet God vindicated his chosen one brought him back to life and as tragic as it was for all this to happen when it looked like everything was totally lost actually all was gain.

[22:58] Jesus himself saw himself as fulfilling this role in Luke chapter 22 verse 37.

[23:09] He quoted from Isaiah 53 then. Isaiah pointed to the person and work of the Lord Jesus. Jesus. These words of Isaiah's prophecy, they apply to no one else but Jesus Christ.

[23:25] They can't apply to anybody else. And in the new community, it's interesting, in the new community, in God's new community already they were looking back to the Old Testament saying, look at this point to Jesus.

[23:36] They were already understanding that. His punishment was on behalf of others so that he can bring them peace, he can bring them healing because he's their substitutionary death.

[23:48] He was their substitute. Friend, are you here today? You're not a Christian, you're not a follower of Jesus. Jesus. This is for you. You should face God's wrath, you should face all of God's judgment, you should face all of God's anger on sin, you should because you are a lawbreaker and so am I.

[24:10] And yet God's gracious and kind and merciful, his arms are open wide to sinners come, repent, turn away from your sin and put your trust in Jesus. You have forgiveness, you have grace, you have compassion, you have mercy.

[24:24] He'll overflow upon you. God is righteous, we are sinners, Jesus the perfect God-man lived, died and rose in our behalf, your response, repent and trust in Jesus.

[24:40] So this is evangelism, this is good evangelism, this is what Philip did. So what's good evangelism? Good evangelism is a faithful obedience, you're ready to proclaim to anyone and everyone, you cross cultural lines, you use the scripture, you focus upon the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[25:00] That's good evangelism. It's not you have persons, people pray the prayer, come on pray the prayer with me, heads bowed, eyes closed, raise your hand if you're going to accept Jesus Christ, alright we got five people there, alright great, that doesn't mean you're a good evangelist.

[25:18] It's when you're faithfully obedient, you proclaim to anyone and everyone, you use the scripture and you focus upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That's good evangelism. That's what Philip did.

[25:30] So I'm just putting it together. We trust in God's plan, second, we speak the good news. We need to speak the good news of Jesus Christ to others.

[25:44] I mean God has been so gracious to us, God has been so compassionate to us, God has been so merciful to us, which is the very motivation for us to speak to others, right? The gospel will make a huge difference in a person's life.

[25:59] You have no idea. When you speak the gospel, you're planting a seed in that person's heart and life. You may not see it now, but remember the first point?

[26:11] You trust in God's plan, and you speak the good news. Yet, this is not just speaking the good news to the unsaved. You speak the good news to the saved.

[26:27] How refreshing it is to remind other church members, to remind other Christians of the truth of the gospel. Remind each other of the gospel.

[26:38] Remind each other of the fact that God loves you so much in Jesus Christ. He's so gracious, He's so compassionate with you. I mean, do you realize the difference that you can make in another church member's life, the difference you can make in another Christian's life?

[26:56] Maybe a Christian who just feels so guilty. Maybe a Christian who's just struggling so much with sin, struggling so much with pornography, and they need the assurance of grace.

[27:12] Maybe a person who's just in so much pain. Maybe a person just feels so defeated. And Christian, you speak the good news to them. You speak to them the good news of Jesus, and it gives them such refreshment.

[27:25] Oh, they have such victory. Instead of hopelessness, there's hope. So let's not just relegate this to just a non-Christian that the person doesn't follow Jesus.

[27:37] We speak the gospel to everybody. Maybe even you speak the gospel to yourself. And you remind yourself of how gracious and kind God has been to you in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[27:50] And He will only be kind to you in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why He's kind to you, is because of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? It's like Paul says in Colossians 3.16, Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

[28:20] So you're speaking the gospel, the word of Christ to each other. And then when we're singing, I hope you're encouraged. You're encouraged as you're reading the words, you read the words of the gospel.

[28:31] When I have gospel songs, you're reading the words of the gospel, and then you're hearing each other sing it. So you're encouraging each other because we're hearing each other sing it. God has been so gracious to us.

[28:42] So you want to make a difference in someone's life. Trust in God's plan. Speak the good news. Number three, watch it make a difference.

[28:57] Watch it make a difference. 36 to 40, you trust God, you speak the good news, and watch God use you to make a difference in the lives of people. Like Philip with the eunuch. As he went along, verse 36, went along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, look water, what prevents me from being baptized?

[29:18] They're traveling together, discussions taking place, they came across water, probably Philip had spoken to him about the meaning of baptism, we'll talk about that in a moment, why a person gets baptized. It's amazing that the eunuch took the initiative here.

[29:33] You see a change of heart in the eunuch. What prevents me? Look, there's water. Okay, well, where were they? I don't know. We can kind of figure out maybe, oh, maybe they were here, maybe there was some spring, blah, blah, blah.

[29:50] We don't know exactly where they were, but what we do know is that the eunuch's willingness to be baptized, it shows his humble response to the gospel. The barrier has been broken down, this black, black, skinned, Ethiopian, God-fearing eunuch responded to Jesus.

[30:09] Isn't this exciting? What an amazing way God used Philip in this eunuch's life. He just sat back and watched it happen.

[30:23] Now, what I want to do is take a few moments and just speak a little bit about baptism, why it's important. Talk about baptism. baptism, it displays on the outside what has happened on the inside.

[30:37] When one truly trusts in Jesus, one publicly displays that trust through baptism. Now, this act is so closely connected to the bestowal of the Spirit because it's an outward picture of what Jesus does on the inside.

[30:51] By means of the Spirit. He baptizes people with the Spirit to become part of the body of Christ. Baptizes them with the Spirit to become part of the body of Christ, the new community. It signifies a cleansing which allows the person to be indwelt by the Spirit.

[31:08] And I'm not talking about the act itself, but what's behind the act, what happens, it's a picture. Picture is what repentance is asking God to do, God please forgive me of all my sins, because I'm dead, now I'm alive again.

[31:25] So a person goes in the water, they're dead, I'm dying, buried, and now I'm a whole new person, I'm changed. That's what baptism depicts, it's why it's like, well I'll put it up on the screen, one publicly affirms, publicly affirms what has privately ensued, what has happened on the inside.

[31:47] It represents the cleansing that happens in salvation. And it is this washing that signifies forgiveness of sins that only Jesus can bring, plus a new life in the believing community.

[32:00] it's a way to show that one truly identifies with this group. Which even today you go to different countries, and it's a big deal in different countries for someone to be baptized.

[32:13] Why? Because to them it equals belief in Christ, on the basis of Jesus, that you have forgiveness of sins, they understand that, it's what it means you're going to follow Jesus.

[32:23] baptism, we as Baptists don't believe in infant baptism, because an infant cannot repent.

[32:34] An infant doesn't die and become a new person. They can't do that, that's why we don't baptize infants. God does not cleanse a baby through baptism, what's called baptismal regeneration, nor is it the sign of a new covenant.

[32:48] Baptism is not the sign of a new covenant, so now we have to baptize our babies. No, we don't believe that either. It's a way that somebody identifies with Jesus Christ, with his community, with the new community, with the body of Christ.

[33:00] So, how does one respond to the gospel? They repent and believe. So how do you know someone repented and believed? They pray a prayer? No. They walk an aisle? No. How does this one show their response to the gospel?

[33:14] Baptism. Through this thing. Or in modern translation, you get dunked. Well, that's what happens. So this eunuch, he says, look there's water, what prevents you from being baptized?

[33:30] He had responded to the gospel. Now I want to take a short little parenthesis here. In your Bibles you probably have either in the margin, verse 37, or some of your Bibles don't have it in brackets.

[33:46] And Philip said, if you believe with all your heart you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That's probably, most likely, not in the original text. It's added later by scribes.

[34:00] It's not found in early manuscripts Papyrus 45 and 74, Sinaticus, Vaticanus, Rescriptus, even a few Byzantine manuscripts. Much later manuscripts from the 10th, 12th century, they're in there.

[34:15] So we're not going to include that in the text. We'll take the view that it's not, was not in the original. But notice, dropping to verse 38 now, he ordered the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as a eunuch, and he baptized him.

[34:32] This suggests it was immersion, especially with the next phrase, verse 39, when they came up out of the water. So this eunuch professed Christ, he baptized him, they came up out of the water, and the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away.

[34:48] The word snatched here, it's the same word that's used in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, about Christians being snatched away, or raptured.

[35:00] Before you get the word rapture, it's here, snatched, raptured. His mission was complete, he's gone.

[35:12] Disappeared? Some guys thought that he kind of walked away. I think that's kind of weird. Why would he just walk away? Baptized him. He just walked away.

[35:24] The eunuch would be like, hey, what are you doing? I thought we were going to talk and everything. But he just walked away. I believe it's what it says, he disappeared.

[35:36] The Spirit just took him. Gone. And though the eunuch could not develop a connection with Philip, notice, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing.

[35:50] He was pumped. He was excited. I mean, he had, the eunuch had a new glorious relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And speaking of Isaiah, Isaiah 56, verse 4, For thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and choose what pleases me and hold fast my covenant, to them I will give them my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than that of sons and daughters.

[36:30] I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off. Here you see this passage coming to pass with this eunuch. Verse 40, Philip found himself at Azotus, the Old Testament site for Ashtod, north of Gaza.

[36:50] And as he passed through the cities, going north, he gospeled, the same word as used, he kept preaching the gospel, actually he gospeled in all the cities until he came to Caesarea. Caesarea, named after Augustus Caesar, 55 miles up the shore, so ministry just opened up on the coast.

[37:10] So watch it happen, watch, observe what's taking place, making a difference, it's happening, it's taking place, it kept going all the way up the coast.

[37:23] As Philip continued to speak the gospel, he was making a huge difference in the lives of hundreds of people, all the way up to Caesarea. It's amazing that this is happening. So let's bring it together again.

[37:38] Trust God, speak the good news, and watch God use you to make a difference. And we don't say, I'm so awesome, but wow God, praise you for using me, thank you for using me.

[37:52] But it's not about the results that you achieved necessarily. Maybe it's just finding evidences of grace in the lives of other people.

[38:04] Maybe it's that. Maybe it's seeing how God is using you in so-and-so's life for his glory. Maybe it's not seeing the results that you expected.

[38:19] But notice how God led and directed Philip through the Spirit. So, God leads and directs through his Spirit for his mission. To accomplish his mission. To bring about the fulfillment of his mission.

[38:35] Philip was faithful to obey, faithful to follow and obey. He was ready to gospel people wherever he went and to whoever he needed to hear the gospel. He gospeled them. The message of salvation.

[38:48] God was at work. God was at work to bring the fulfillment of his mission to a vast array of people, even this Ethiopian eunuch, whose heart was soft, whose heart was ripe to hear the gospel.

[39:03] And he responded to Jesus. Christian, do you trust God's plan for your life and where he's placed you?

[39:16] Are we speaking the gospel to others, to the unsaved, other Christians, even ourselves? Are we reminding each other of God's grace and mercy towards us?

[39:30] And are we watching God make the difference, looking for those evidences of grace? In God's sovereign plan, one Christian can make a gospel difference in the life of another.

[39:46] So don't underestimate the power of the gospel or how God will use you in someone else's life. Trust, speak, and watch it happen.

[39:58] Don't underestimate the gospel. Don't underestimate how God's going to use you in someone else's life. Let me end with this.

[40:12] You know, sometimes you learn something, right? And you know it, but then you really end up knowing something, you really actually end up embracing something even more.

[40:26] This kind of happened with me. With this passage, I really came to understand that when I'm speaking, there's something that I really need to take away from what God's telling us.

[40:47] Me. And I always look for those opportunities. Understand, when I'm preaching the message that I'm going to preach to you, I'm always looking to see how that's going to affect me, and how does it speak to me?

[40:58] How does God want to speak to me? Does that make sense? this was good for me.

[41:14] I've been in such despair in Jerome. It feels pointless. I feel like I'm not getting anywhere.

[41:32] And it just so happens, you know, before we leave for vacation, here's the message that I speak, right? You can make a gospel difference in another person's life.

[41:46] So this was encouraging to me. And maybe you didn't care what I was saying today. Maybe you don't ever care what I say. Maybe this was nice for you, but quite honestly, this was a great message for me.

[42:04] I needed to hear this. So instead of me being hopeless, there's hope. Instead of me being such despair, there's grace.

[42:21] Take a few moments. Take a few moments of silence to let the Scripture penetrate your heart. You can ponder what God has said to us in His Word today.

[42:35] And then we'll have our time of giving and do our last two songs and our closing prayer. Let's sit, let's think, let's ponder what God has said to us in His Word.

[42:46] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[42:56] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[43:14]  Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.