Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful
that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either
by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray
for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?
The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really,
I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible,
they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will
do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a
non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't
hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the
types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless.
Let's just bow our heads in prayer. Father, as we look at your Word, we ask that your Holy Spirit
would lead us and guide us into all truth. Father, we know that we need the gospel and your Word to
become more and more real to our hearts and our minds, so that we will have a reformation and
renewing and revitalization of our mind, that we might know the truth, that we might avoid lies,
that we might flee all foolishness and idolatry, and knowing you and knowing the truth,
that we would learn to walk in freedom. Father, we ask that you would continue to do this wonderful
work in our lives, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. I think Victor forgot his
glasses up here, actually. Or somebody did. When I was ordained 100 million years ago,
in the Diocese of Ottawa at the time, I mean, the Diocese of Ottawa still exists, but I'm no longer
obviously in the Diocese of Ottawa. They didn't pay starting clergy very much. We were paid quite
poorly, actually, some of the lowest in the country. And I really felt that I was called to be a minister.
But what I wasn't prepared for, I'd never owned a car before, by the way, actually. We'd just lived
downtown, and we walked or took public transit everywhere. And one of the conditions of my
employment was to get a car, which ended up being a rust bucket that kept breaking down.
And I was prepared to learn all of the different, you know, stresses of being a minister, and how to
be a minister, and how to lead people, and preach, and all of that type of stuff. But what caught me by
surprise was struggling with having no money, with having very little money, and not being able to do
very much about it. Because one of the conditions of my employment was that I had to have a car,
and another condition of my employment was that I wasn't allowed to have another job.
And I remember it was very hard. We weren't living paycheck to paycheck. We were,
we would get into debt, and then, anyway, you don't have to hear all my tales of woe.
But I have such clear memories of looking around. We were just living in a little dinky sub,
little dinky condo subdivision. And, and it sort of felt as if it was impossible that I would ever get
ahead. Like, I actually really remember, with the house that we were renting, has, it was a house that
included a fridge and a stove. And I, I was worried that if I went to my, my next posting, and I had to
buy a fridge and a stove, we couldn't afford to buy them, buy one. I, I remember very clearly how,
how hard that was for us. And there's a lot of people in our, in our society today that would be
very similar. And probably some of you have also lived through times like that. And sometimes the
biblical teaching comes across to people in a way which is very dispiriting. It, it, it, it isn't
hopeful, but it sucks hope out of you. And the story that we're about to look at today is a story
that at first glance is one that would suck hope out of you and could easily dispirit you if you don't
understand it in the right context. So it would be very helpful if you open your Bibles. We're going
to be looking at Acts chapter 8 verses 26 and following. Acts chapter 8 verses 26 and following.
And what's just happened in, in this book, as I said before, Acts is, was originally written as an
eyewitness-based history of the first 30 or so years of the Jesus movement. It was written while many
eyewitnesses were still alive and could comment on it. We have this, this version of it. And, and so in
this story, what's just happened is they've told this remarkable story of this fellow Philip who had
to flee Jerusalem because of a profound persecution that was causing Christians to be thrown into jail or
even killed. And he is one of the people who flees that. And as he flees, he tells people about the
story of Jesus, why this story of Jesus, who he is, what he taught, what he, why he died, his resurrection,
why this is profoundly good news for people. And he comes to this place, as I talked about last week,
the main city in Samaria. And he tells this story. And as he's telling this story, God used him in a very
powerful way. There were many miracles that were done through Philip's prayers. There were demons
that were oppressing people, that people were released from demonization. And the number of
Christians went from just Philip being there, and I'm guessing probably he had a wife and some kids,
but that little family to all of a sudden, there was a very large number of people who all were now
calling themselves Christians and, and really growing in the faith. And this is where the story
takes up. That's sort of the context. And then we come to this very next verse, which is verse 26.
Now an angel of the Lord, an angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise and go toward the south,
to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place. Now just sort of pause here.
Here's where Christianity, how stories in the Bible can be very dispiriting to people.
I mean, like just, just imagine for a second, we sent somebody out to be a church planter,
and they go to a particular city and, and, and there's no, no like church. And then before you
know it, there's like 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000 people. And then all of a sudden, this person
connected to our church calls us up and says, you know, I think God's telling me to go to this place.
And, and we say, oh, I've never heard of that place. And he said, oh, well that, that's because
it's a wilderness area. There's no people there, but I think God's calling me to go there. What,
what advice would we give him? We'd say, I don't think you're hearing God right.
Just be honest. That's probably what we would say. We'd probably say to him, it makes absolutely no
sense to go from a place where there's, I don't know, a thousand people now who are following Christ,
and you're having this great success. Why would you leave that and go now to a wilderness area,
a desert area where there's no people? All there are people occasionally going down this road.
This, this is the road that would take people from Jerusalem to Egypt and you have to go through
a desert wilderness area. And we would say that that probably is just not hearing God.
And, and part of the reason we think that way, well, you know, obviously you have to, you have to be
careful when you think you're hearing from God. And, but, but we also have to be careful about our
advice. You see, the, the primary cultural story of Canada, not the primary, one of the main cultural
stories of Canada, the stories that we Canadians believe is that we want to get better. We want to
progress. We want to, we want to, you know, we want to manage our time better. We want to get
promotions. We want to have more money. We want to have a nice house. We want to have, you know,
the right number of kids, you know, after we have the married, the right person. And, and so there's
lots of stuff in the newspapers and other types of places. These are the types of degrees you should
get. These are the workshops that you go to. This is how you learn how to network. This is how you
learn how to manage your money. This is how you learn to manage your diet and manage your exercise
and all of these types of things. And so the goal of all of it is, is that you, you will get those
promotions. You will get those advancements. You will get the house. You will get all of these types
of things. In some ways, my unhappiness when I was starting out ministry was because I believed that
cultural story. And where I was right now, it didn't seem as if it would ever lead to it.
And so because we believe this cultural story, when we look at something like this,
God appearing, God telling Philip to leave all of this success to go to a desert place.
Well, you know, we Christians, we go, okay, well, we have to believe this, but it's a very
dispiriting type of thing. Is God calling me to diminish myself? Is God calling me to not take
that promotion, but in fact to ask for a demotion? Like, is God asking me to do things that are going
to diminish me, that are going to hurt me? And there have been lots of people within the church
throughout the years who have in fact said that, right? There's been whole strains of spirituality
that say that, you know, the highest Christian life is the life that you never marry.
For instance, you take a vow of lifelong celibacy and you take vows of poverty. And those are people
who do that are in fact the spiritually elite, and that's what you should strive for. So there have
been voices within the church that have really emphasized this aspect of being profoundly counter-cultural.
But both are in error in different ways. First of all, the Bible does not mean to dispirit you.
It means to give you hope. It's not going to be up on the screen because I didn't think of asking her
to put it up, but there's this very wonderful text in Romans, Romans chapter 15, verse 4 to 6,
that goes like this. It's a very good verse to memorize or to meditate upon.
And it goes like this, Romans 15, verses 4 to 6.
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction,
that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another,
in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. So God doesn't give stories like this to...
He's giving us wisdom.
Here's a couple of things.
First of all,
money and positions of power
are in many ways, from a Christian point of view, neutral.
We Canadians don't really accept that. I mean, we're good Canadians, so we would say that we accept that obviously people who live in a rich area of the city aren't better than people who live in a poor area of the city.
That the single mom trying to deal with her kids and having to be on social assistance isn't somehow lower than the really well put together, polished people who live in a richer part of the city.
As good Canadians, we wouldn't want to say that the poor person is defective in any type of way in a moral sense.
But we're not really being honest when we say that.
It's almost always the case that for those of us who have money, those of us who are healthy,
those of us who have positions of power, that on one level, we and others do tend to think that we are somehow better than others.
We do put moral worth on money.
The Bible puts no moral worth on money.
None.
A rich person is not more moral than a poor person, per se.
Having lots of money isn't making you more morally worthwhile than those who don't have as much money.
In some ways, as well, even things like physical health and having power and prestige are in many ways morally neutral.
As we all know, you can get sick and have all sorts of problems that will lead to your death.
And that doesn't mean that you're somehow inferior to those who make lots of money.
The Bible paints a very, very different type of picture.
One of the things which makes it hard for us to understand the Christian faith is to understand that God is playing the long game with us.
He's not giving you these instructions so that you will be massively successful in the way that Canadians understand success.
God wants to form you to live with him for all eternity in the new heaven and the new earth.
That's how God wants to form you.
That's what he does.
That's his long-term plan.
I mean, we live in such an immediate time that to have our needs frustrated or to not be able to accomplish some of these things can be very discouraging.
Like, it's very interesting.
Like, in those times when I was very, very heavy-hearted about this, I didn't think of the fact that when I came to the church, there was no youth group.
And by that point in time, this was about, like, I remember thinking about this a lot between my second and third year because I was thinking about the fact that I was going to have to move.
But by the time I left that church, I had two youth groups, junior high and a high school group, centered around the Bible.
It's funny.
I didn't sort of think to myself, well, God's actually using me in this profound way to make a difference in these teenagers.
All I was thinking about was that I couldn't afford a fridge because I couldn't afford a fridge or a new car.
There was somehow something fundamentally bad with me, not that God was using me with having very little money to make a difference in the kids and whatever else I might have done, you know, with my sermons and other types of counseling.
The point of all of this is that we're based on an understanding of human life that says that sometimes to get higher up, you've got to go down.
Not sometimes.
To go higher, you've got to go lower.
It's teaching us that if I want to truly be tall, I will never be truly tall unless I bow to Jesus.
That when I get on my knees before Jesus, I am taller than when I stand upright, ignoring Christ or even defying him or pursuing some type of idol.
And that's because we understand that this profound story that is in fact the good news that makes us right with God is this.
That God, the Son of God, in complete and utter harmony with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, in a union of profound love, that God, the Son of God, seeing this profound need of human beings made in God's image,
and that we could not save ourselves, that God, that God, the Son of God set aside his appearance as God, his prerogatives, the worship that he was due, the honor that he was due.
He set all of those things aside, but remaining fully God, he went down.
He came down from heaven, so to speak.
And he humbled himself to the point of taking into himself not just our human nature in an abstract sense, but that he came down so low that the one who created the entire universe,
actually the flesh that he took into himself began not with a mighty warrior, not with the wisest, most powerful human being on the planet,
not the strongest, but as I got, a fertilized cell in the womb of Mary.
How low could God go?
But the story continues.
This wonderful story continues as God can go even lower than that.
In fact, he will do lower than that to pursue you because he loves you.
He will live a fully human life, but not as a rich person or a powerful person or a person with lots of prestige,
but as a lower working class person.
In an obscure part of the Roman Empire as a people who are conquered.
And he will live that life until his public ministry begins when he is 30-ish.
And then he will have this three or so year ministry where he performs miracles.
He teaches wonderful things.
He makes profound differences in people's lives.
But it all culminates with while he's doing all of those things,
not only are some people enamored with him and drawn to him,
but many people, very powerful people, come to hate him.
And so he comes to die upon the cross.
And so we see that God, the Son of God, as he descends lower and lower to the point of being a zygote
and then a human being, because all human beings begin as a zygote.
That's how every human being is.
We begin as a zygote and we go until we die.
That's what it means to be a human being.
And Jesus dies on the cross.
He actually experiences death.
And part of this profound good news is that we understand that when Jesus dies this death,
that he himself had never rebelled against God.
He had never done anything wrong in his entire life.
There was no person who could say to him validly and fairly that he had ever hurt them.
He had only done good.
He had only told the truth.
He had been, in a sense, pure.
And so when he dies on the cross, this profound mystery is that he's dying as a sacrifice for you and me,
who are far from perfect and who are all going to die and have done things that should not have been done
and have failed to do things that should really be done.
And understand shame and wrongdoing and being wronged and reproof and confusion and foolishness and idolatry
and all of those things.
And Jesus dies for us.
He dies for you and me.
And when he dies for you and me, it means that, in a very real sense,
all of that comes on him and the punishment that you and I deserve is laid on him.
And so he dies the death of a wrongdoer, even though himself, he has never done anything wrong.
And he dies.
And how much low can he go?
He can go even lower than that because he goes and he dies and he tastes everything there is to taste of death.
But at the end of tasting everything there is to taste of death, he rises from the dead.
There have been many people who have died, clinically died, and come back to life.
It's called near-death experiences.
There's lots of medical literature around that that really happens.
In fact, if you're curious about it, the latest Sean McDowell video is of a doctor who thought that those things didn't happen but studied it and now has come to the conclusion that people really do die.
And have this, and then are in a period of time with death and then come back to this side of life and talk about it in ways that can't be explained scientifically.
It must be something that happens.
But Jesus is very different.
He dies and experiences everything there is to experience of death.
But then he emerges on the far side of death, alive.
He does not die again.
And now, so it is that even now, 2,000 years later, when you hear the story of Jesus and you know that he is alive, he's ascended into heaven, he's going to come again.
You can call out to him and you can ask him that he will be your savior and your lord.
That his death will stand for your, that I can call out to him and say, Jesus, may your death, your life and death and resurrection, may you take me for yourself.
May it stand for me.
May I be yours.
May I believe that this is the plan of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and the action of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit so that human beings like me who are far from God can be made right with you.
May it help me to, Father, I believe it.
I want that.
You've led me to want it.
I give myself to you.
And Jesus does.
But notice, then, you come to have this understanding of that what reconciles you with God is this profound story of dissent, of dissent, of dissent, of dissent.
But the result of all of that dissent is this offer that lifts you high.
That it doesn't matter if you're a Down syndrome believer.
It doesn't matter if you're on the edge of dementia.
It doesn't matter if you're very rich.
It doesn't matter if you're brilliant.
It doesn't matter if you're poor.
It doesn't matter if you're physically broken or physically excellent.
Every single one of us, we were really made to know our creator and to be with him forever.
And there is no other way of being made right with our creator other than putting our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when we put our faith and trust in him, the final word about you or I will not be physically broken, physically incapable, poor, broken, Down syndrome, dementia.
The final word about us when we die is that Jesus will look at you and he will look at me and he will say,
Welcome, daughter. Welcome, son. I am so glad that you are now here and you will be with me face to face forever.
As the father smiles at us. That's the final word about us in Christ.
So we're taught this very profound story of...
See, in a sense, what happens is in our Canadian cultural story, we want to progress, we want to progress, and we want to progress.
But unless that's tempered by some just very, very basic virtues, unless it's tempered by us being willing to die to things, die to our anger, die to our greed, die to wanting to despise others, die to seeing people as rivals.
Unless we're willing to die to those things, even our possessing more money or getting more power will often come at the expense of just becoming more alone.
And living a more empty life.
And so what we see here in this particular story, the very heart of the story, there's another heart that we're going to get to in a moment.
The whole story begins
because God
tells Philip to do something
that in his flesh would not seem right.
But the Lord asked Philip
to die to himself and say yes.
And that's how the story begins.
This act of him
being willing to say yes
to the Father's command.
You know,
the whole Christian life is that God...
It isn't that God wants to diminish you.
The whole Christian life is that
we don't realize
the way to real health.
Every single person in Canada wants to be
generous.
But nobody wants to give away their money.
And we all want to have
power, but we also want to have power
and have people like us.
We want to have our own way,
but we'd like to be married and have a love relationship.
You know, you go on and on and on and on.
There's all these things that
require us
to have a type of death
if we're to actually succeed
in getting what we really want.
And the gospel gives a context for that.
It gives a story.
And not just a story,
but a presence.
Christ is with us.
See, here it's a very, very different thing
if Christ says to me,
George, just remember who I am.
How much I love you.
Like, I love you so much, George,
that I left heaven for you.
I became a human being for you.
I took my human nature,
your human nature.
I suffered for you.
I died on the cross for you.
I tasted all of death for you.
I did all of that for you
because I love you.
And I am the God,
the Son of God.
I, with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
I'm the one who created all things
and saw human beings when they fell
and brought ruin into their own life.
And I pursued you because I love you.
So will you trust me
with my teaching on money?
Will you trust me
that you have to give
some of your money away
for the local church
and for the furtherance of the gospel
and for the relief of the poor?
Will you trust me?
Will you trust me
in the area of your sexuality?
Will you trust me?
Will you trust me
in how you spend your time
that your life will be not
more unfulfilled
because you give up time on Sunday
and for spiritual friendships?
Will you trust me?
Remember how much I love you.
You see, that's the context for it.
You see, human beings
in their flesh
understand on one level
that there's this riddle
or enigma in existence
that you can get all the promotions
and make all the money
and end up with a terribly alone
and meaningless life
and die with no friends.
That you can get to that point
where you're not even sure
if you can marry somebody
if they want to marry you
because of your money
or if they might want to marry you
because they actually love you.
And you can get in positions of power
and you wonder
if people ever tell you the truth
or are they just trying to flatter you?
And so they understand
there has to be some types of deaths
that go on
where you don't get your own will all the time,
where you listen,
where you're kind
and where you're generous.
And one of the things
which the gospel sets forth
is that we have this person, Jesus.
We have his teaching
and his example
and his presence
to help us navigate those things
and to set really helpful limits on them.
So the story continues
and it continues
in addressing another very important fear
and need that we have.
So you look at it again,
God asks us,
God asks Philip
to do something that makes,
well, it just doesn't seem right.
But Philip trusts the Lord
that the Lord Jesus Christ loves him
and that the Lord Jesus Christ
is preparing Philip
to spend eternity with him.
And so in verse 27,
Philip rises and goes.
And there was 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
and was returning
seated in his chariot
and he was reading
the prophet Isaiah.
And the Holy Spirit
said to Philip,
go over and join this chariot.
So Philip ran to him
and heard him reading
Isaiah the prophet
and asked him,
do you understand
what you're reading?
Just as a bit of an aside,
I'm not up to date
on all my scholarship,
but I understand
that in the Confessions
of Augustine
written in the,
I think,
late 300s,
there's a famous scene
in there
where he observes
somebody reading silently.
And it,
I believe,
unless it's been changed,
it's one of the first times
in literature
that people observed
somebody reading silently.
They hadn't figured that out.
Everybody read out loud.
Nobody would have just sat
in the living room
reading quietly.
They would have read out loud.
That's just how you read.
That's how he knew.
He didn't have a word
of knowledge in this case.
He just knew,
he knew the Ethiopian eunuch
was reading Isaiah
because he could hear
him reading it
and he knew the Bible.
He knew the quote.
So Philip,
verse 30 again,
heard him reading Isaiah
and the prophet
and asked,
do you understand
what you're reading?
And the eunuch said,
how can I,
unless someone guides me?
And the eunuch
invited Philip
to come up
and sit with him.
Now the passage
of the scripture
that he was reading
was this,
like a sheep
he was led
to the slaughter
and like a lamb
before its shearer
is silent,
so he opens
not his mouth.
In his humiliation,
justice was denied him.
Who can describe
his generation
for his life
is taken away
from the earth?
And the eunuch
said to Philip,
about whom,
I ask,
does the prophet
say this
about himself
or about someone else?
Now just sort of
pause here
for a second.
See,
one of the things
which is very profound
about this story,
which we desperately
need to hear,
see,
people can be
in very,
very large churches
and they can hear
about all these
successful Christians
and all these other
things that are going,
but they themselves
might feel,
does God actually
really care about me?
See,
one of the things
which is so important
about this story
is that Philip
leaves the nameless
crowds to go
to one man
because this one man
matters to God.
Right?
You matter to God.
You and your uniqueness,
your particularity,
your struggles,
your sins,
your hopes,
your dreams,
your fears.
You matter to God.
Christ comes
not to pursue
humanity in general.
He doesn't come
to pursue a crowd.
He came
to pursue
Louise,
to pursue
Josiah,
to pursue
Diane,
to pursue
George,
to pursue
Victor.
He comes
to pursue
you.
And we see
this very powerfully
formed just in
that the story
structures us
to understand
that he comes
and seeks
particular people.
but he also
comes to
pursue
those people
who,
through their
own actions
or just
through the way
that life
has beaten
them up,
now feel
very far
from God.
And that was
this Ethiopian
eunuch.
You have to know
a few other things
in background
to understand
this.
This Ethiopian
eunuch
was obviously,
even though he
was from
Ethiopia,
he was part
of the Jewish
world.
He might have
been born
Jewish or
whatever it is,
he was part
of the Jewish
world.
And a eunuch
means that he's
been castrated.
And in the
religious practices
of the day,
it means that he
could never
become a full
Jew.
He could never
worship at the
heart of worship
in the Jewish
faith.
He couldn't.
And in fact,
whether he
had originally
made this
decision,
he could never
make decisions
all the time,
you know,
I could pursue
the promotions
and pursue all
of those things
and it might
damage my
marriage,
but at the
end of the
day,
I'd much
rather have
these promotions
than my
marriage.
People don't
normally consciously
say that,
but they
unconsciously act
that way.
Sometimes they
consciously say
it.
And they end
up making
choices and
choices,
which leaves
them alone.
And in that
particular world,
today you
could be the
head of the
Privy Council
or the head
of Apple and
you don't have
to be castrated.
But in those
days you had
to be.
And he
would have
just said,
you know,
it's worth
it.
It's worth
it.
The food,
the cultural
experiences,
the allure of
power,
the clothing,
the house,
the servants,
it's worth
it.
And so maybe
sometime after
that he now
has a bit of
a serious
reflection upon
all of that.
Those of you
of a certain
age remember
Paul Henderson
and Paul Henderson
became very famous
in Canada in the
70s.
He was already
a good hockey
player,
but he got
the tie-breaking
goals to help
Canada come
back and beat
the Soviet Union
in the first
ever contest
between Canada
and the Soviet
Union in hockey.
He got the
three goals
that won the
last three games
that they needed
to win the
series.
He won all
of them.
He got all
of those goals.
In fact,
Wilfrid Laurier
University used
to be called
Waterloo Lutheran
University,
and this was
all just after
Paul Henderson
did these things.
They did a poll
of the university
students about
how they wanted
to rename
the university,
and the clear
winner was that
it should be
called Paul
Henderson
University.
But the
Board of
Governors
nixed it and
said it had
to keep the
same letters,
so they made
it Wilfrid
Laurier
University.
But Paul
Henderson
became a
Christian because
he'd reached
the pinnacle
of hockey and
fame, and
he said,
is that all
there is?
Is that all
there is?
Is that all
there is?
And so this
man who's
willingly probably
pursued castration
so he could have
this senior level
of government
comes later on
to this tragic
state of affairs
where he
now wants
meaning, but
he actually,
when he goes
to Jerusalem
to worship,
and he's
rich enough
that he can
afford a
scroll of
Isaiah,
which means
he's become
very wealthy
to be able
to afford
his own
scroll of
the book
of Isaiah,
but when he
went there
he couldn't
be fully in
the temple,
he had to
be in the
outskirts
in the
temple of
the Gentiles.
He longed
to be close
to God
but could
not be
close to
God.
And so
this part
that he read,
and he
probably was
reading it
over and
over again
because when
it says
in verse
33,
in his
humiliation
justice was
denied him,
who can
describe his
generation for
his life is
taken away
from the
earth?
What that
is actually
saying is
this man
died before
he could
have any
children,
no progeny,
nobody to
follow him.
That's what
that means.
He died so
it means he
will have no
children or
grandchildren or
great-grandchildren.
He dies in a
sense childless.
And this is
obviously,
that's partially
why he's
probably saying,
who's he
talking about?
Is the prophet
talking about
himself or
someone else?
Because in
some ways he
understands he's
talking about
himself.
You see,
this is the
other thing why
this story is
so profound
about how
in fact there's a
God who wants
to bring the
losers of the
world, the
ones who've been
defeated and
crushed by the
Canadian cultural
story, and
been created by,
that have been
devastated by the
idols that we
have followed.
followed.
And now at
some point in
time we feel
like our life
is over and
we're a failure
and we're far
from God and
far from our
hopes and far
from our
dreams and
God comes and
says there can
be new life
for you.
There are many
people in this
connected to our
church who would
love to have
children and
can't.
Either because
they can't find
someone to marry
or because they
married and
discovered that
they were
childless.
they just
can't have
children.
And if that
children are a
great good but
if children become
an idol to you
and the Canadian
cultural story
becomes an idol to
you, it deepens
your disappointment
and that feeling
like you just are
second or third
or fourth or
fifth class.
And it can be
very, very hard.
I speak as a
man who felt
that how could I
ever afford a
fridge?
And we also
live at a
cultural moment
where many
people in
pursuit of
what they think
is the good
life are
turning themselves
into eunuchs.
And all of the
smart people of
Canada say that
if you as a
young man want
to cut off
your penis,
that's a good
thing and will
support you.
If you're a
woman and you
want to remove
your breasts
and remove
your vagina,
that that's a
good thing for
you.
And those
things, the
statistics show
they're still
depressed afterwards.
And you end up
feeling far from
God.
And you end up
feeling far from
God.
And you end up
feeling far from
God.
And you end up
feeling far from
God.
And you end up
feeling far from
God.
This part that he
is reading is from
one of the most,
maybe the most
profound part.
You should go
back and read
it later.
Isaiah 52,
verse 13 to
chapter 53,
verse 12.
It's maybe that
nobody reading that
can understand that
it refers to
anybody other than
Jesus.
And it describes
this good story
that I began the
whole sermon with
about how Jesus
comes and
pursues you.
And he doesn't
look at you and
say, I'm not
interested in you
because you're
childless.
I'm not interested
in you because you
haven't been able to
marry.
I'm not interested
in you because
you've made
yourself into a
eunuch.
I'm not interested
in you because
you've ruined your
life with alcohol.
I'm not interested
in you because
you've ruined your
life by pursuing
power and prestige.
Jesus doesn't
come and say that.
He comes and
says, dear one, I
love you.
I died for you.
And if you put
your faith and
trust in me, you
will not be far
off.
I will bring you
to the Father's
heart.
the Holy Spirit
will indwell you.
And in me, you
will be part of my
people and you
will be part of the
new heaven and the
new earth that goes
on for all eternity.
And that's my
heart for you.
That's my heart
for you.
Verse 35,
then Philip opened
his mouth and
beginning with the
scripture, he told
the eunuch the good
news about Jesus.
And as they were
going along the
road, obviously
there's some time
that's passed, an
hour, two hours,
three hours.
They come to some
water and the eunuch
said, see here is
water.
What prevents me
from being baptized?
He's given his life
to Christ.
And the eunuch commands
the chariot to stop
and they both went
down into the water,
Philip and eunuch.
And Philip baptized the
eunuch.
He was not far from
God.
He belonged to Christ.
He was close to the
Father's heart.
He knew the Father's
profound love for him.
You see, in Christ,
the final word about
you will not be
failure.
It's hard when God
asks us to do things
in his word that goes
against our
inclinations.
And a lot of times
we don't do it.
And hopefully over time
we learn to do it
more and more.
but he, and he
hasn't given us
stories like this so
we will feel like
failures, but to
encourage us to
remember Jesus, to
remember that in
Christ we can come
together on a Sunday
morning saying
together, Father, you
are our refuge and
our strength.
I haven't had a good
week and I give you
thanks and praise that
in Christ you will
never let me go.
And I give you
thanks and praise that
my final destiny is to
be yours.
Thank you that
Jesus will be with me
this week and let's
live this week.
I thank you.
Make your hope of
glory more real to my
life.
That's the Christian
life.
That's the power of
this story.
Invite you to stand.
Just whether here or
online, just want to
encourage you.
Jesus, I want to
give you a prayer of
this.
And I want to say to
you, Jesus, I've heard
this about you.
Be my Savior and my
Lord.
Help me to lay my
whole life, give me my
whole life to you.
Be my Savior and Lord.
And Jesus takes you.
And in some ways the
rest of the Christian
life is also just saying
that.
Not that we become his.
Once he takes us, he
never lets us go.
But, you know, that's
in a sense what we do
on a Sunday.
Jesus, I want you to,
you know, this week I
often live by my own
desires and my own
plans.
And I would have been
way wiser if I just
trusted you as my
Savior and Lord.
So, Father, forgive me.
Help me to walk this
week trusting you as my
Savior and my Lord.
You begin and you walk
the same way.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you so
much for Jesus.
Thank you that he
doesn't just care for us
as a church or because
we're all from Canada,
we're all from Africa,
we're all from Europe or
wherever, Father, that you
love each of us particular
and in an individual way
that you know us not in
general, but you know us.
You see our lives, you
see our past, you see
our present, you see
our future and you love
us and you are for us.
You are for us in your
Son.
And we ask, Father, that
this story of who Jesus
is and what he did for
us, that that might
become more and more
real to our hearts and
form how we view money
and how we view sexuality
and how we view family
life and careers and
time.
Father, may that form us.
And Father, we give you
thanks and praise that
it's not just a story that
informs us, but that the
Holy Spirit is present in
our lives and we believe
in Christ and that Christ
walks with us.
And Father, we ask that you
help us to keep in step
with the Spirit and to
trust that our loving
Savior, Jesus, is with us
as we do each day and we
do each moment in each
day.
So Father, we ask that you
help us to die to ourself
and obey you, learning to
live for your glory,
knowing that as we bow to
Jesus, you make us tall.
And we ask all these things
in the name of Jesus, your
Son and our Savior.
Amen.
Please be seated.
We don't have any formal
intercessions, but we should
spend some time in prayer.
So if you would just take a
posture of prayer, let's just,
what I'm going to say is,
Lord, in your mercy.
And when I say, Lord, in your
mercy, if you would respond,
hear our prayer.
Let's pray.
Father, we give you thanks
and praise for the country
of Canada.
We know, Father, that there
are things in Canada which
are very sinful.
But Father, we give you
thanks so we can be part of
this country.
We commend into your hands
our Prime Minister, the
Premiers of Ontario and
Quebec, the Mayors of
Ottawa and Gatineau.
We commend into your hands
all who work on Parliament
Hill and all who work in the
civil service.
Father, we commend them
into your hands.
We commend into your hands
the business leaders and the
leaders of the arts and
education and all that make
Canada Canada.
Father, we commend them into
your hands.
We ask that your Holy Spirit,
Father, would help them to
pursue that which leads to
true peace and prosperity and
justice and mercy in our
country.
And that our prosperity would
be used, Father, to help those
around the world who are in
great need.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our
prayer.
Father, we know that there are
many Christians who are
suffering persecution.
We know that today in places
like India and Pakistan, in
North Korea and in Iran and
China, that there is much
persecution of our brothers and
sisters in Christ.
Father, we commend these, our
brothers and sisters, into your
hands.
We ask that you would protect
them, that you would sucker
them, that you would give them
courage.
Father, we are humbled by their
courage.
And we ask that you would turn
their persecutors away from
persecution and turn their
hearts to Jesus.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our
prayer.
Father, we give you thanks and
praise for our church.
We thank you, Father, that we are
not the only church in the city.
We ask that you would grow the
bonds of affection between our
church and all gospel-shaped,
gospel-sharing churches in this
city.
And we ask, Father, for
ourselves, that you would grant
us reformation and renewal and
revival.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our
prayer.
Father, we thank and praise you
for churches around the world.
We thank you for our unity with
churches all over, Father, through
the Global Anglican Futures
Movement.
We thank you, Father, that we are
part of a diocese.
But most of all, Father, we thank
you for missionaries.
And we ask your blessing upon
those in our congregation that
have gone out to be missionaries and
those whom we support as
missionaries.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our
prayer.
Father, you have put us in
positions where we have
obligations to pray for people,
for our neighbors, our family
members, our friends, our
co-workers.
Father, we ask that you teach
us and help us to pray for
them.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our
prayer.
Father, we pray for those who do
not yet know Jesus as Savior and
Lord.
We ask that you would lead us to
pray for certain people and give
us opportunities to share the
good news of Christ, not trusting
in our own power or wisdom, but
trusting in your word and the
moving of your Holy Spirit.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our
prayer.
Father, we come before you with
our own needs, needs for
direction, needs to help to deal
with alcohol or addiction, needs
to do, Father, around our personal
lives and decisions about jobs and
futures, particular sins that are
really oppressing us.
Father, we commend ourselves into
your hands at this time.
We bring our own needs before
you.
We ask that your Holy Spirit
would move and work in our
lives so that we might live free
lives for your glory.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our
prayer.
We ask all of these things in the
name of Jesus, your Son and our
Savior, our only mediator and
advocate.
We ask all of these things in the
name of Jesus.
Amen.
We ask all of us for the next
Lord, our welcome.
We ask all this things in the
frente e every time that we
pray for our people, our
Lord, our mercy with us through
our God, the Father, our
Lord, the Lord with theеци師, your
쪽, your heart, the God, our
God is the continuit of the
kingdom to the kingdom of desire and
the soul, our trust.
It's so sweet.
We ask all the people that they
read to do today.
Remember, call on faith,
the Lord, what we are
going to happen to be
крепcity in the guild.