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[0:00] I invite you to fasten your seatbelt and join with me as we travel a dusty desert road, as we travel the road to faith.

[0:23] ! Firstly, we notice the first character, Philip. There's a witness on this road, on this dusty desert road to faith.

[0:38] A witness. The first point, a witness. Philip was a witness. A witness. A witness in law is someone who testifies. He gives evidence. He attests to a fact. A witness is someone who speaks up and makes a statement and tells what he knows or has seen.

[0:57] As a Christian, we can witness as we give our testimony. In Acts 1 verse 8 it says, The Lord says, You shall be witnesses unto me.

[1:09] Philip was such a one. Philip was a witness, a faithful man, chosen as one of the servants of the church. And revival broke out. In the early part of Acts 8 we see revival broke out.

[1:22] Philip was being used of God, greatly used of God in the city as he preached to crowds of people. And many people came to know the Lord Jesus as their Saviour.

[1:35] Let's read through from Acts 8 verse 26. It says, It was an unexpected place.

[2:38] Share a word of witness to. God can work with each of us too, as witnesses, to reach out to numbers of people. Maybe numbers of people in a city.

[2:50] Or maybe just one. Just one. One solitary soul that we can reach out and touch for Christ. One by one by one. What did Philip do?

[3:02] Arise and go. He was told. What did he do? Verse 27. And he arose and went. He arose and went. When God directs us, like Philip, let's obey him.

[3:17] Immediately. That's what Philip did. Philip did not hesitate. He dropped whatever he was doing. And he got up and he went. Philip went from a revival in Samaria to witness another revival.

[3:34] Another revival. The revival of one. The revival of one. The revival of one man. And God likewise for us, as his witnesses, wants us to reach out to souls around about.

[3:48] The souls of single men and women. And so God sent Philip to this one. One. Yet it was a precious divine appointment. This man, spiritually dead, became alive.

[4:02] That's revival. Revival. When we laid alive unto God. And God works in his way. Through his witnesses.

[4:13] And so Philip meets this unnamed man. God works person by person. One by one. One soul at a time.

[4:24] And every soul. Every single soul is precious to God. That means you. It means you. You are precious to God. So Philip meets this unnamed man.

[4:37] Here is the second character in our story. Verse 27. It goes on. And behold a man of Ethiopia. A eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians.

[4:50] Who had the charge of all her treasure. And had come to Jerusalem for to worship. God had planned for his messenger Philip to have an encounter with this one.

[5:02] This one unnamed man. In the middle of nowhere. Along this dusty desert track. This man in the middle of nowhere. Who needed life and hope.

[5:14] And the message from the messenger. From the witness Philip. Likewise God can use you and me. Brothers and sisters. As children of God.

[5:24] We have a message that should be in our mouths. On our lips. In our hearts. And God can use you. Each one. One by one. Each one of you. To speak to another.

[5:35] That's what being a witness is all about. The eunuch was a noble man. He was a high ranking official. The treasurer of his nation. A wealthy, powerful man.

[5:48] Ethiopia was a wealthy, rich kingdom. Known for its iron smelting. And it's gold mining and trading. And here was this man.

[5:59] The treasurer of Ethiopia. He was a foreigner and a eunuch. And so he would have been excluded from full worship in the temple. Excluded.

[6:11] A foreigner, a eunuch. Some would have considered him an outsider. Perhaps an outcast. And yet God would receive him. And he still receives those today.

[6:23] Who might be considered out of God's capture zone. But God can reach those that others would discount.

[6:33] And so God sent Philip. Philip to this one man. One man. And that's what a witness does. That's what you and I can do as his witnesses. As we follow his leadings.

[6:46] As we rise up and go at God's command. Jesus says to us. Go and witness. Like Philip. If we are willing and obedient.

[6:58] We too can be used of God. To go as agents of his grace. To go to reach out to other people. Even one by one.

[7:08] You can be a witness today. Fellow Christian. You can be a witness. And we ought to be. Let's be a witness like Philip was. What kind of a witness was he?

[7:19] We see Philip. He was responsive. He was sensitive to God's call. God led him. As he listened. As he was obedient. He got up and got going.

[7:32] And he was available to God's call. He didn't dream up some excuse. He just did it. Just did it. And the Bible says to us in Proverbs 11 verse 13.

[7:43] In part it says. He that winneth souls is wise. It's the wise thing to do. It's the smart thing. It's the right thing to do. Philip was such a one.

[7:54] He was wise. He used his initiative. He asked a question of this man. And sparked a spiritual conversation. We can do that too.

[8:04] Strike up a conversation. And then he took the conversation to Christ. He brought the focus of the conversation. To this one vital important truth.

[8:16] Jesus Christ. He pointed the man there. And Philip was a decisive witness. Philip did not get sidetracked. Going down rabbit warrens.

[8:28] He led the man straight on. Straight on to a definite decision. To trust Jesus Christ for himself. So we see God sent a witness. Firstly God sent a witness.

[8:39] Secondly. The second point we see in Acts 8. I put to you is the word. I'd like to point out the power of the word. Notice the word. Let's pick it up again at verse 28.

[8:52] Verse 28. We read the man was reading. He was returning and sitting in his chariot. Read Isaiah the prophet. This African man.

[9:03] This eunuch. Had travelled 1,000 miles to worship. 1,000 miles from the heart of East Africa to Jerusalem.

[9:14] Seeking truth. It was a long and perilous journey. He was a pious man. A worshipper. A man searching for the truth. And what was he doing?

[9:25] In effect he was reading the Bible. He was reading the Bible. He was searching the Bible. Reading it aloud it says. Reading the prophet Isaiah. You can imagine.

[9:36] Chapter by chapter. Although they didn't have chapters in those scrolls. That's kind of been introduced. But you can imagine. Page by page. It would have been one big page as a scroll.

[9:47] But nevertheless. He was searching as we can. These precious pages. He was reading the Bible. Reading the Bible will do your soul good. Reading the Bible will point you to the author of the Bible.

[9:59] The author of life. The author of salvation. The Lord Jesus. Reading the Bible will do your soul good. Paul told Timothy. Read the Bible.

[10:10] He said. Till I come. Give attendance. To reading. To exaltation. To doctrine. To reading. To the preaching. To the teaching.

[10:21] To the reading. Someone has asked this question. Why read the Bible? Who should read the Bible? And someone put it like this.

[10:33] Who should read the Bible? The young. To learn how to live. The old. To know how to die. The ignorant. For wisdom. The learned.

[10:45] For humility. The rich. For compassion. The poor. For comfort. The weak. For strength. The strong. For direction. The haughty. For warning.

[10:56] The humble. For exaltation. The troubled. For peace. The weary. For rest. The lost. For salvation. There's many good reasons.

[11:07] To read the Bible. Give attention. To reading. The man in this account. Gave attention. To reading. At least he had a portion. Of the book. That we hold today. At least he had a portion.

[11:19] Of the scroll. Of Isaiah. It would have been costly. For him. Costly for him. The Bible. The Bible. As it was written. In scrolls. Would have been very expensive.

[11:30] Laboriously. Hand copied. It was costly. And he wanted these precious pages. He wanted this precious truth. He wanted it for himself. He wanted to hold the scripture. In his own hands.

[11:43] Sometimes we can take for granted. This precious. Precious book. We can take it for granted. That we can hold it in our hands today. In this place.

[11:54] In this time. In our hands. Yours and mine. These precious pages. Hold. The words of life. If we will. But receive the message.

[12:06] Just receive the message. There was a little boy. One day. Sitting on the curb. Reading. A Bible. That someone had given to him. And a Roman Catholic priest.

[12:17] Walked by and saw him. And said. What are you reading? The Bible. The little boy. Replied. The priest. Oh. A little boy like you.

[12:28] Should not read the Bible. It will only confuse you. And put strange ideas in your head. The boy said. I have a search warrant.

[12:38] To read it. A search warrant. To read it. A search warrant. What do you mean? The priest asked. The boy said. Here.

[12:49] In John 5.39. Search the scriptures. For in them. You think you have eternal life. And they are they. Which testify. Of me.

[13:00] Search the scriptures. The saviour said. This tells us about him. It points us to Christ. And the little boy was right. And the other fellow. Was woefully wrong.

[13:11] Read the scriptures. That's what this man did. In Acts 8. This African man. A thousand miles from home. He went to Jerusalem. To worship. And he got himself. The word of God. In his own hands.

[13:23] Verse 29. Then the spirit said. Unto Philip. Go near. And join thyself. To this chariot. The Holy Spirit. Urged Philip. To go to the man. So what did Philip do?

[13:36] What are we to do? When the Holy Spirit. Prompts us. Philip ran. Philip ran. Sometimes we can dilly dally.

[13:46] When God prompts us. And we can lose that sense of urgency. About God's work. The sense of urgency.

[13:56] About our soul. The sense of urgency. About the souls of others. That sense of urgency. We can lack the zeal. We can lack that zeal. We can lose that.

[14:08] That importance. Philip ran. Sometimes we can. Not rate highly enough. The importance.

[14:19] The importance. Of never dying souls. Souls are precious. And Philip ran. He ran. He was a man on a mission.

[14:30] Even for this one. Seeking just this one. This one seeking soul. He went and he ran. To this one solitary soul. God brought Philip.

[14:40] Philip. Likewise. God brings people. Into our lives. Could be mums and dads. Like in Michaela's case. It could be. A Christian brother.

[14:51] A Christian sister. Someone we work with. We rub shoulders with. A family member. Or a neighbour. It could be that God. Will bring such a one. Into your life. To be your Philip.

[15:03] I thank God. That I. A dad. And a mum. Who came to know the saviour. And I could see the change. That happened in their lives.

[15:15] It took me. Some months. To get. My head around it. Myself. But God brought. A Philip. Into my life. Amen. And God brings. Phillips along. Thank God for Phillips.

[15:27] Likewise. God brings. People into our lives. Philip would be a missionary. To Africa. Without even going there. Yeah. We're a bit like that.

[15:38] In this church. Aren't we? Amen. But God brings. Wonderful. Lovely. African people. Into our fellowship. So we can embrace them. As our brothers and sisters.

[15:48] And they can teach us. How to be a Christian. And so. Without even going there. God sent Philip. To one man. To Africa. In one man.

[16:00] And so Philip ran. Verse 13. Philip ran. Thither to him. And heard him read. The prophet. Isaiah. And said. Here Philip asks. A pointed question. Understand us.

[16:11] Thou. What thou readest. Philip asked the question. To start the conversation. This man. In his search for truth. This worshipper. Was reading the word of God. Here was this man.

[16:22] From Ethiopia. Such as this man. A man from Ethiopia. Verse 31. And the man said. How can I. Except some man. Should guide me. This eunuch.

[16:34] Was teachable. He was humble. He was receptive. Humble enough. To ask for help. To understand. The word of God. And he desired Philip. That he would come.

[16:44] Up. And sit with him. Here now. We see them sat together. Sitting in the chariot. With the open book. And they read. Verse 32. The place of the scripture.

[16:55] Which he read. Was this. He was led. As a sheep. To the slaughter. And like a lamb. Down before his shearer. So opened he. Not his mouth.

[17:06] Where is the lamb? We see. He was led. Like a sheep. He was led. Like a sheep. He was like a lamb. So opened he.

[17:17] Not his mouth. And in his humiliation. His judgment. Was taken away. And he should declare. His generation. For his life. Is taken. From the earth. Verse 34.

[17:27] And the eunuch answered Philip. And said. I pray thee. Of whom speaketh the prophet this. Of himself. Or of some other man. The eunuch. This African man.

[17:37] He wanted to know. Who was this man talking about? Who was the prophet talking about? Who in the world was Isaiah talking about? The eunuch wanted to know this.

[17:48] Of whom speaketh the prophet this? And Philip told him. Who it was. Jesus. Jesus.

[18:01] Jesus. As the lamb. That was slain. As the lamb he was slain. As the suffering saviour. He was the one. The one who was qualified.

[18:12] The one who was qualified to save guilty men. As the willing sacrifice. For them. And for their sin. And so the pages of the word were opened. And the witness.

[18:23] Philip. Opened. His mouth. The pages were opened. And Philip. Opened his mouth. Verse 35. Then Philip. Opened his mouth.

[18:34] And began at the same scripture. And preached unto him. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

[18:45] Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. He pointed Jesus out. Philip's message was Jesus. Simply Jesus. Simply Jesus. This is the message.

[18:56] For a lost and dying world. This is the one we need to proclaim. The one we need to shout about. And tell the world about. This is the man. We need to know. Behold the man.

[19:07] Behold him. This was the gospel. The gospel. According to Isaiah. Written 700 years before Jesus. Perhaps Philip could have pointed this man.

[19:19] Pointed in the pages. Pointed in that scroll. To the promise of his coming. As a baby in arms. Born of a virgin. Yet the mighty God. Isaiah 9 verse 6.

[19:30] For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called. Wonderful. Counselor. The mighty God. The everlasting Father.

[19:42] The Prince of Peace. Perhaps Philip would have shown the man. Of man's sin. Of our great need. Of the fact that even the very best that we can do.

[19:53] Is never enough. Never enough. The very best that we can offer him. Is just like dirty rags. Isaiah 64 verse 6. But we are all as an unclean thing.

[20:05] And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we all do fade as a leaf. And our iniquities like the wind.

[20:16] Have taken us away. We are just like a fading leaf. We are just like a filthy rag. As it were. The righteousness that we have. Perhaps Philip would have shown him.

[20:28] How all have sinned. And fallen short of the glory of God. And how there is only one. Only one. Only one lamb. Only one who can save us from sin.

[20:39] Isaiah 53 verse 6. It says. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him.

[20:50] On him. The iniquity of us all. He's laid it on him. The witness used the word. And faith comes by hearing the word of God.

[21:00] Faith comes. That's what happened to this man. On this dry dusty desert road. Faith came. By hearing the word of God. The eunuch wanted to know.

[21:11] Of whom? Speaketh the prophet this. And Philip said. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. That's what he said. Philip the preacher preached Jesus.

[21:23] Unto the man from the scriptures. He pointed the eunuch to the Lord Jesus. He told him how Jesus had died. On the cross for our sins. He pointed out how Jesus had carried our sins.

[21:34] And paid the full penalty there. For our sin. At the cross. For us. For us. For us all. Likewise he would have recounted and explained.

[21:47] The prophecy of Isaiah. Written some 700 years before Christ. Isaiah 53. He was despised and rejected of man. A man of sorrows.

[21:58] Unacquainted with grief. And we hear as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

[22:09] Yet we did esteem him stricken. Smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him.

[22:23] And with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him. On him. On him. The iniquity of us all.

[22:35] Of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep before her shearers is done.

[22:46] So he openeth not his mouth. What an amazing encounter it was. On that dry dusty desert road. What an amazing encounter. Of whom speaketh the prophet this.

[22:58] Then Philip opened his mouth and began. At the same scripture and preached unto him. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus was the one. As gentle as a sheep.

[23:09] As innocent as a lamb. As the spotless lamb that we needed. As the perfect one. The perfect sacrifice. The perfect man. God manifest in the flesh.

[23:19] Jesus had to come. And Jesus had. To have poured out upon him. Our sin. And laid upon him. Our punishment. He was the one. Who had been unjustly.

[23:31] Humiliated. And slaughtered. Of whom speaketh the prophet this. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus was the one. Jesus was the one. Whom Isaiah had prophesied.

[23:43] Of whom Isaiah had said. He gave his back to the smiters. He gave his back to the smiters for you. For me. It was raw. It was brutal.

[23:54] It was graphic. He did it for you. He gave his back to the smiters. As they lashed him. As they smote him. As they cursed him.

[24:05] As they struck him. As they spat upon him. He did it for you. For you. For you. His face. It says. Was more marred than any man. It was ugly.

[24:18] Scarred. And he is the one. Who can save. He is the one. The perfect lamb. He is the one. Of whom the prophet spoke. He is the one. Of whom we must witness.

[24:29] And what matters. Is the word. The soul saving message. Right here. It's powerful. It's powerful. It has the power. To convert the soul. If you will be.

[24:40] As that African man. Sitting in that chariot. And. Searching. He says. Search for me. With all your love. And you will find me.

[24:51] He says that. It says. The law of the Lord. Is perfect. Converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord. Is sure. Making wise the simple. This book has power.

[25:02] Power to convert the soul. Power to set us free. Power to bring. Eternal life. It will trust its message. As this witness came. He used the word. And thirdly.

[25:13] We notice a third. Item. God sent a witness. He used his word. And thirdly. We notice. Water. The third point. I'd like you to notice.

[25:24] Is the water. Now Philip. Was talking with the eunuch. About salvation. And he had told him. About baptism. And now we see.

[25:34] This man. Came to a dramatic decision. A dramatic decision. Verse 36. As they went on their way. Down this dry. Dusty. Desert road. They came unto.

[25:44] A certain water. A certain water. And the eunuch said. See. Here is water. What does hinder me. To be baptized. He says.

[25:55] Look. Here's water. What does hinder me. To be baptized. The man expressed. His desire. To be baptized. This man from Africa.

[26:08] Wanted. To be baptized. He had traveled down. That dusty. Desert road. And he now comes. To that place. Of decision. The place. Of decision. The water.

[26:18] Was not so much. The important point. Here. But what was important. Was the decision. The decision. Baptism. Marks. A milestone. A marker. It's a gravestone.

[26:30] As it were. Baptism. Pictures. The death. Burial. And resurrection. Of Jesus Christ. And in baptism. We identify. With that. Baptism.

[26:40] Is a conscious. Willful. Personal. Decision. It's a public. Expression. Of your decision. To follow. The Lord Jesus. Amen. And Philip.

[26:50] Told the eunuch. The one. Qualification. One. Qualification. Verse 37. And this is an important. Verse. And it should be. In your Bibles. I believe God has put it.

[27:01] In the Bible. Verse 37. And Philip said. If thou believest. If thou believest. With all thine heart. Thou mayest. Philip said.

[27:12] If you believe. If thou believest. With all thine heart. Thou mayest. I believe. That Jesus Christ is. The Son of God. One condition.

[27:23] One condition. There is really. Only one condition. Before we are baptized. We must be saved. We must be saved. The baptism. Doesn't save. Christ saves.

[27:35] Amen. His blood. Washes away. Our sin. His. Redeeming. Act. Of. Dying in our place. On the cross. Pays for our sin. Baptism.

[27:46] Is a picture. A symbol. Of that. Spiritual work. And so. To be baptized. We must be saved. We believe. In believers. Baptism. Some people might think. Well.

[27:56] Well I was baptized. When I was a baby. No. You were christened. If it happened. I was christened. By well-meaning parents. At the time. They sprinkled some water.

[28:07] Over me. And everybody said. Oh he's been baptized. No. I wasn't baptized then. I was sprinkled. Right. But you can be baptized. As a believer.

[28:18] Amen. You believe. Believers. Baptism. When you believe. You can be baptized. That was the one qualification. You must be saved. Here was this man from Africa. On that dusty. Dry.

[28:29] Desert road. On the road to faith. And he came to the crossroads. He came to the crossroads. On that dry. Dusty. Desert road. It was a turning point. In his life.

[28:40] Faith. Came. To this man. Faith. In Jesus Christ. When we believe. Everything changes. It's a conversion. A conversion. That's it.

[28:52] It's a U-turn. It's a new direction. It's a new way of living. It's a detour from the wide broad road to the narrow road.

[29:03] And baptism is a way of proclaiming that decision. Making that decision public. This man confessed his faith in Christ. And the baptism was a picture of what had happened on the inside of him.

[29:15] In verse 38 it says. And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they went down both into the water. Both Philip and the eunuch. And he baptized him. Now the word baptized.

[29:27] It means to dunk. To dip. It means to submerge. And that's what we do in our church. We submerge. We bury.

[29:38] A man or woman. Into the water. As a picture of that death. Burial. And then. When they come out of the water. It's a picture of life. Of the resurrection life.

[29:49] And so when they would come up. Out of the water. The spirit of the Lord caught away Philip. His job was done. Caught away Philip. That the eunuch saw him no more.

[30:00] And he went on his way rejoicing. Philip went where God wanted him to go next. And so should we. The eunuch went on his way. Back home to Africa.

[30:11] That long journey back to Africa. And he had a new joy. An abundant joy. It's been said today that 65% of Ethiopia is Christian today.

[30:23] I'm not sure whether that means rock solid safe Christian. But certainly there was many in Ethiopia today. Who profess to believe in Jesus Christ.

[30:34] And we could reckon that many of those today. Could potentially record way back in history.

[30:47] That maybe it was this eunuch that got saved. That took the message to that continent. So there are many like the eunuch all around us here today. In this community.

[30:58] In this city of Adelaide. This mission field of single souls. Of one by one by one. Who know not the Saviour. Precious souls. Never dying souls.

[31:09] Where are the Philips? Where are the Philips? Will you be willing to go where God sends you? Will you be willing? This man from Africa went on his way rejoicing.

[31:23] Why was he rejoicing? He found the joy of his salvation. And God grants it to those who will believe. And the angels join in the chorus. There's a rejoicing when we trust him.

[31:34] When we turn to him and trust him. And baptism is a public identification of our new identity in Christ. As we see pictured here.

[31:45] That identity of death, burial and resurrection. It pictures our identification with his body, the church. When you're baptised you're saying I belong.

[31:56] I belong to the church. I'm in Christ. I want to identify with his death, burial and resurrection. It's a death burial of your old life.

[32:08] Your old way of life before conversion. And it's expressing your allegiance to your new life in Christ. What a powerful symbol it is. A powerful symbol of conversion.

[32:19] And what matters most though is what Philip questioned the eunuch about. You know we can go through all kinds of religious trappings and religious processes.

[32:33] We can even be baptised without knowing Jesus. That's possible. It can happen. What matters most is this.

[32:43] What Philip questioned the eunuch about. If you believe. If you believe with all your heart. This is what matters.

[32:55] What matters. The confession of our faith. Amen. You know we know the Bible says the demons believe and tremble. But we know that this belief is not a kind of vague airy fairy thing.

[33:08] It's a solid, certain, assured trust in him. It's trusting your weight entirely upon him. And trusting his entire work of entirely saving you.

[33:24] Not of anything of your own. Not faith plus baptism. Faith plus good works. Faith plus whatever. But faith in Christ. Faith in Christ.

[33:36] Soul saving faith. And so perhaps like the eunuch you're asking about the water today. Maybe you're not. Maybe you're a Christian and you haven't been baptised.

[33:47] We don't have to wait for a special day. There's water there all the time. At my folks place down the corner there. And we don't have to wait till there's a number of people who want to be baptised.

[33:57] And you know how to go through some lengthy catechism. And for me to examine you and scrutinise you. And ask you question after question.

[34:07] And oh you got that one wrong. No back to the class. You've got another few weeks, months maybe before you're ready. Now there's a little one here. A young man who's quite young.

[34:20] And he says, I want to show the world that I am God's son. That's a good enough reason to be baptised. And as we heard darling Michaela say.

[34:31] Her testimony today. And there's others here. Maybe haven't put it into words. But they're standing. And saying, I want to follow Jesus. I want to follow Jesus. And they're standing and they're stating that they believe.

[34:44] And that's what matters most. Is the confession of our faith. That baptism demonstrates what God's already done. In the heart. And so maybe like the eunuch you're asking today.

[34:55] About the water. Maybe you're saying, look there's some water here. Look, here's some water. What hinders me from being baptised? What matters is whether you believe.

[35:07] Whether you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And verse 37 Philip said. If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest. And he answered and said.

[35:18] I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now that's pretty simple isn't it? Can you say that? I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

[35:30] Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen. And so what we've seen as we've travelled along this dusty desert road. Three points we've come to note. A witness.

[35:40] The word. And the water. Just to recap briefly. Philip was a witness. And so should we be. So should you be. He was responsive. He was obedient.

[35:51] He was sensitive. He was available. And he pointed people to Christ. He was a witness. And so should we be. We see that Africa got the word. One man.

[36:01] One man. One soul. One precious soul. One unit from Africa got the word. He was reading it. He was hearing it. And faith came by hearing.

[36:12] It was powerful. It was converting us all. It was the message we need to hear today. Jesus saves. Jesus saves. He's your only saviour. He's your only hope.

[36:24] If you will but trust him today. I urge you. I urge you. Trust him today. You might be here. Not. Personally knowing him. We've all been there.

[36:37] All of us here have been there at one point. But we came to those crossroads. We came to the crossroads. Peter came in his own home.

[36:47] After much dwelling and thinking about it. After lots of learning and religious experiences. He came to that point. Michaela came to that point.

[36:58] Hearing the Sunday school teacher. Hearing the gospel. There's others here that could say. Their journey has been different. But they've all come to the crossroads. And we need the word today.

[37:08] We need to take that message today. And so we see the witness. The word. And they both ended up in the water. They went down into the water.

[37:19] They came up out of the water. But what matters is the confession of our faith. Romans 10. It says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. And shalt believe in thine heart.

[37:30] That God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. There's a promise there. And it goes on. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

[37:42] Philip questioned the man. He said. Do you believe? He answered. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. What will your answer be today?

[37:53] Are you at the crossroads? On that dusty dry desert road? Are you ready to follow Jesus? What's stopping you from trusting him today? It's not the point. It's not so much the baptism.

[38:04] It's at the. Have you come to that decision? Have you come to the crossroads today? And if you are a Christian. If you believe that Jesus Christ is your saviour and Lord. And you are not baptised.

[38:17] If not. Why not? Amen. If not. Why not? We can make it as. As easy as we can make it. You know. We can have.

[38:29] A quiet. Service. Where you've not got big crowds watching. Where it's just. Taking that step. Of simple faith. But we can make it possible.

[38:39] You might be unprepared this morning. You might say. Well I'm thinking about. I think I should be baptised too. I think I should join these six. That came out the front this morning. And I'm going to be number seven.

[38:51] Maybe number eight. Maybe number nine. Number ten. Have you not been baptised today? You might say. I haven't brought the clothes that I need. We can help you. I'm sure we can find some clothes. We can find some dry clothes for you to put on.

[39:03] Amen. You might say. Preacher. I want to be baptised. I want to be baptised. I want to follow Jesus. I want to proclaim to the world. Yes. I am God's son too.

[39:13] I am God's daughter. Amen. People today. You might say. Wow. This is all news to me. It's simply believe. Simply believe. Please. I urge you.

[39:24] Don't be embarrassed. Don't feel embarrassed to come up to me later and say. I want to be number seven. You might have to be number eight. But don't be afraid to come up to me right after the close and we'll walk over together.

[39:39] As a group we're going to walk over. It's just two minutes walk if that from this place where we go to the corner. Second corner house number four where the baptism service will be held.

[39:50] So we're going to follow some people to the water today. They're already saved. What matters is not the water. The decision. It's about trusting Jesus as your saviour. It's about that lamb that was slain.

[40:02] That was pictured with Abraham. And was pictured in Isaiah. Of the lamb. What matters is that you trust him to save you. When Jesus died on the cross.

[40:13] He rose again. He offers you life. Ever living eternal life. The water matters not today. The H2O is just that. It's pleasant.

[40:25] It's warm. But it's just H2O. There's nothing special about it. It's not holy water. There's no such thing. If nothing happened on the inside of these people. Who are going to be baptised just now.

[40:37] They're just going to get wet. What matters is that they personally believe. And they've confessed Christ before men. If you have not been baptised.

[40:49] I ask you why not. Why not today. If you believe you may be baptised. Philip said. If thou believe us with all thine heart thou mayest. This is the bottom line.

[41:00] The all important truth. If you believe. If you believe. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Then you qualify. Where do you stand today?

[41:11] Do you believe? Do you believe? Let us pray. Let us pray.

[41:23]