May the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight,
O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.
Well, dear friends, it's a joy and an honor to be back at Church of the Messiah.
And it's always a great joy to have the privilege of opening God's Word,
which is what I would like to do at this time.
The focus of this sermon will be Acts 8, 26-40,
which was the first scripture reading which was read.
This morning.
I know that you in your sermon times have been making your way through the Gospel of Luke.
I'm a big fan of Luke.
He's a good guy.
And I love the Gospel of Luke.
And I love the second edition of Luke, which is the Acts of the Apostles.
The first is what Jesus began to say and to teach and to do,
which he puts in an orderly fashion, which he made sure.
Luke 1, verse 4, he makes it clear the accuracy and the faithfulness of what he conveys to this guy, Theophilus.
But in the Acts of the Apostles, he continues the story.
And in the first chapter, there is the account of those 40-day period between the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension.
Soon we'll be celebrating the ascension of Jesus.
And we are in this period of time right now.
And one of the things which is very clear about the resurrection of Jesus in that period
is that Jesus pounded away with his followers on what we know as the Great Commission.
So, for instance, you have in all four Gospels a very distinct but consistent account of what we call the Great Commission.
Matthew 28, 19-20.
Mark 16, 15.
Luke 24, 45-48.
John 20, 21.
And then Acts 1, 8 is the account of Jesus in a conversation with the apostles
in which they're asking the question,
when are you going to come back?
When are you going to set up your kingdom?
And he, interestingly, kind of deflects the question and says this.
He said to them,
Verse 7,
And it's not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
But here's what we're heading for.
Acts 1, verse 8.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you will be my witness.
Witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
Now, of course, Pentecost is the time when we realize that in fulfillment of the promise of old,
and here in Acts 1, 8,
when Jesus, the Holy Spirit was poured out on all the followers,
that 120 in the upper room.
And why was the Holy Spirit given?
Primarily, it was equipped them to be witnesses to Jesus.
Now, the question is,
what form did that take?
How was it possible for the witnesses of this cluster of 120 people
to begin to take the world for Christ?
How did it work from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
to the uttermost parts of the earth?
Well, you might expect that there would have been the best minds coming together,
coming up with a well-reasoned strategy
in which there are a five-year plan, a 10-year plan,
a 15-year plan,
in which they would have training
and all sorts of things to make sure
that the witness is going out in an orderly fashion
to do exactly what it is that Jesus said.
Well, I'm sorry to say that, in fact,
that's not the picture that Luke gives in the Acts of the Apostles.
Apostles.
It's actually, from our viewpoint, pretty haphazard.
But from the viewpoint of the Holy Spirit,
the trajectory is clear.
Now, what is interesting from my viewpoint,
in terms of this today,
is that, in fact,
more often than not,
things were going badly.
More often than not,
there were afflictions, difficulties,
persecutions,
imprisonments,
all the bad things
that you would think would be a hindrance
to this witness going forward.
Acts 3.
Here they are in Jerusalem.
Peter and John went to pray.
A man is healed,
and there's a great furor.
He was walking and leaping and praising God.
And then Peter,
filled with the Holy Spirit,
unlike before when he denied Jesus,
now he proclaimed,
this is all about Jesus.
Witness to Jesus.
This is all about Jesus.
You know, the Jesus whom you crucified,
but God raised from the dead.
And so, there was a great turning,
it says, by Acts 4,
in terms of the Gospel.
And by Acts 4, verse 4,
there were 5,000 men,
which means there were more likely
around 10,000 people who were believers.
Look at the trajectory from Acts 1, 15, 120,
Acts 2, 23, 3,000,
Acts 4, verse 4, 10,000.
It's incredible.
But so far, all in Jerusalem.
Now what is interesting is that there was a rest,
they were given a hard time,
did Peter, was he cowed by all this?
Not at all.
In fact, he reminded them,
this is all about Jesus whom you crucified,
that God raised from the dead.
As a matter of fact,
there is no other name under heaven
by which men may be saved.
So they didn't know what to do with them.
They kicked them out,
gave them a stern warning
not to ever talk about Jesus.
And did they say,
phew, we got, you know,
we made it.
Let's keep our head down.
This witnessing thing
is getting us in big trouble.
Instead of that,
it says in Acts 4, 29,
And now, Lord,
they prayed,
look upon their threats,
and grant to your servants
to continue to speak your word
with all boldness.
Interestingly,
they didn't pray so much
for their protection.
I'm sure they were calling out
for God's protection.
But they were confident
in the sovereign purposes of God
that that was not the critical issue.
The real issue
was whether they would be bold
in their witness
in fulfillment of Acts 1, 8.
And so what they prayed
was that even in the midst
of setbacks
and threats
and difficulties,
Lord,
make us bold.
Acts 5,
there's kind of the amusing situation
by verse 17
where the leaders
are jealous
of what's going on,
so they arrest them again.
They throw them in prison,
but an angel opens the door,
and instead of them
scuttling home
and keeping their head down
so that this will never happen again,
the angel says,
go into the temple courts
and preach.
So that's what they did.
And there's this,
in my view,
amusing picture
of this great Sanhedrin court
waiting for these folk
who are in such big trouble
to be dragged in before them,
and they waited for them
to be dragged in,
and those who were the authority
went to get them,
and there was nobody in prison.
They ended up going to the courts,
and they found them there,
and then they brought them in.
But by then,
the damage was being done.
Finally,
they beat these men,
though there was nothing wrong
other than them naming
the name of Jesus.
And when they were released,
verse 41 and 42 of Acts 5 says,
then they left the presence
of the council rejoicing,
and they were counted worthy
to suffer dishonor for the name.
And every day in the temple,
and from house to house,
they did not cease teaching
and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
Power to be witnesses,
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria.
So far, we're still in Jerusalem,
but this is bold witnessing
in the midst of many setbacks.
Acts 6 gives the account of conflict
within the fellowship.
The Hellenist widows
are not being looked after
as well as the Jerusalem widows,
and so as a result of that,
there's a problem.
The apostles make the conclusion
they're to turn their attention
to prayer and to preaching,
and therefore they assign seven
who were Hellenists,
who were filled with the Holy Spirit
and wisdom,
who had gifts of administration
to take over.
Two of them, you know,
they're named Stephen and Philip.
And Stephen, by the end of Acts 7,
is martyred,
this mighty man of God,
simply for witnessing.
Bold witness can get you to trouble,
but the gospel goes forward.
And so it is in Acts 8, verse 1,
and this is all by way of background
to getting to Acts 28, verse 26,
so I hope you're staying with me.
What we're trying to think about
is the sovereign purposes of God.
When you want to be a bold witness for Jesus,
you're on a path with those
that we're reading about
in the Acts of the Apostles.
You're in good company,
and you are in line
with the mighty arm of God at work.
What you don't have
is a guarantee
that there will never be difficulties
in your life.
You don't have that promise.
So it is that Acts 8, verse 1 says,
And Saul approved of his execution,
that's Stephen's,
and there arose on that day
a great persecution
against the church in Jerusalem.
That was a dark day.
And they were all scattered
throughout the regions
of Judea and Samaria.
Does this sound familiar?
Judea, Samaria,
to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Judea and Samaria,
except the apostles.
Devout men buried Stephen
and made great lamentation over him.
But Saul,
this is Saul of Tarsus,
was ravaging the church
and entering house after house.
He dragged off men and women
and committed them to prison.
Now those who were scattered,
verse 4 of Acts 8,
went about preaching the word.
Instead of furtively running
from bush to bush,
making sure that nobody's following them,
instead of that,
these guys, yes,
they're leaving Jerusalem
because that was the wise thing to do.
The apostles made it clear
that that's what they should do.
But as they're going,
they're gossiping the gospel.
And now they're in Samaria.
And the crowds,
with one accord,
paid attention
to what was being said by Philip
when they heard him
and saw the signs that he did.
For unclean spirits,
crying out with a loud voice,
came out of many who had them.
And many who were paralyzed
or lame were healed.
So there was much joy in that city.
You may or may not know
that one of the churches in Annick,
the Annick Network in Canada,
named its name based on this verse.
It's Celebration Church in Barrie, Ontario.
And they are praying,
and when they had what they called
their hard launch,
looking out over the lake
in this great, you know,
medium-sized city north of Toronto,
with all the pastors around them.
They commissioned Brian McVitie,
who is our Annick priest,
and they prayed
that there would be joy in the city
because of the gospel being received.
They were praying for bold witness,
and that's what we pray.
Well, there was a great turning in Samaria,
and this is so exciting.
Do you remember the Good Samaritan?
Do you remember what happened in 77,
22 BC, and so on?
The North Kingdom and the South Kingdom.
Largely, the North Kingdom was lost
and dark and in trouble
as you follow the trail of the Old Testament.
So for now,
for little old Philip,
the administrator guy
who had a gift
by the Holy Spirit also preaching,
who makes his way fleeing
from the authorities in Jerusalem
and speaks about Christ,
isn't it exciting
that in the purposes of God,
the gospel came to Samaria,
and there was a great turning,
and there was joy in the city.
Do you remember in Genesis 50,
when Joseph was with his brothers
after their father had died,
and his brothers,
who had tried to kill Joseph before,
sell him to slavery,
they were now worried,
and they said,
tell, you know,
you should know that our father said,
be nice to us.
That's my paraphrase.
That's not actually what it says
exactly in the scriptures.
You look up Genesis 50.
But Joseph was very clear.
He was gracious,
but he was clear,
and he said,
as for you, brothers,
you meant evil against me,
but God meant it for good,
to preserve many people alive.
See, that's the amazing thing
of the sovereign God we serve.
He has many means
of bringing about his purposes.
He can even use the sin of man
as the means of bringing about his purposes.
Exhibit A, the cross.
Satan and all mankind
thought they were dealing with
the Son of God,
the one good man,
the sinless one.
Get rid of him,
and he'll be gone.
And so they nailed him to a cross.
They got their way.
But what they didn't know
was that, in fact,
that's the means
through which salvation comes
to the whole world.
This is the God whom we serve.
And this is the God that Philip served.
And this is the God that you serve.
And so it is
that they were in Samaria
on this great turning,
but by verse 26,
amazingly,
Philip is yanked
out of the revival of Samaria
to go to one man
in the desert.
Is that not crazy?
This is the Lord we serve.
He worries about the individual,
and he sees through the one
nations being raised.
So it is
that it says in verse 26,
Now an angel of the Lord
said to Philip,
Rise and go toward the south
to the road that goes
from Jerusalem to Gaza.
This is a desert place.
And he rose and went.
I'm amazed at this guy.
I would have thought,
bad decision,
maybe sometime,
but right now
I'm kind of busy
with the revival,
you know,
and so there's a lot of things
going on here, Lord.
Lord,
that might have been
the lines of my prayer.
And maybe Philip
prayed that prayer too.
But at the end of the day,
he heard the angel of the Lord.
And what that is,
the angel of the Lord,
as opposed to verse 29,
which is the spirit of the Lord,
I'm not sure.
I think it's the same.
It's God speaking to him
by a means which he knew
it was God.
So what we're thinking about,
friends,
is what does
the witnessing
of the Holy Spirit
as in Acts 1-8
look like
in a person?
When you see
bold witnessing
personified,
what are some of the qualities
or characteristics?
That's what we're looking at
when we look at Acts 26-40.
We're seeing a man
who is a bold witness.
Number one,
now the angel of the Lord
said to Philip,
rise and go.
And verse 27,
he rose and went.
Verse 29,
and the spirit of the Lord
said to Philip,
go over and join this chariot.
So Philip ran to him.
Remember,
we're in the desert.
It's hot out there.
What we see here
is a man
who's a witness,
which means he's in contact
with the living God
and he's learned to obey.
If you want to be
a bold witness,
you need to
be connected
to the vine
and then allow
the message
of the Holy Spirit
to come to you.
You're listening carefully
and you've learned
to bend your will
even though
all your instincts
say,
bad idea.
That person's not
going to want to hear
from me.
They're going to laugh
me out of the room,
etc.
And yet,
the Spirit of God
says,
go over there,
talk to that person.
They need to hear
about Jesus.
Philip,
number one,
was in contact
with God
and learned to obey.
Secondly,
he was a servant.
That's the posture
of the Christian.
For even the Son of Man
came not to be served,
but to serve
and to give his life
as a ransom for many.
When we're connected
to Jesus the vine,
we find ourselves
automatically
in that relationship
to everything around us
and everyone around us.
We're here only
as a servant,
as he is the servant
of the world.
And so it is
that Philip was available
and enthusiastic.
And so it is,
he ran up.
And what did he do?
He said,
he listened,
says,
so Philip ran up to him
and heard him reading
Isaiah the prophet
and asked,
do you understand
what you're reading?
And he said,
how can I
unless someone guides me?
This is a servant.
It wasn't,
I just happened
to have a talk,
Ethiopian eunuch,
which I'd like to drop
on you at this time
because I've gone
to all this trouble
to come into the desert
and you're going to listen.
He was listening
to what the Spirit of God
was obviously doing
and he was making
himself available.
To be a bold witness
is to be a servant
who's enthusiastically
available to the people
that God leads you to.
Thirdly,
he knew the word.
It says,
and he said,
how can I
unless someone guides me?
And he invited Philip
to come up
and sit with him.
Now the passage
of scripture
that he was reading
was this,
like a shepherd
he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb
before its shears
is silent
so he opens
not his mouth.
In his humiliation
justice was denied him.
Who can describe
that his generation
for his life
is taken away
from the earth?
And maybe
we would think,
gulp,
where in the world
is that?
Yikes,
we're in trouble now Lord.
I don't know where that is.
It seems pretty obscure
to me.
Because the eunuch
went on,
verse 34,
and said,
about whom I ask you
does the prophet
say this?
About himself
or about someone else?
Philip didn't miss a beat
because he knew
the word of God.
He knew the word of God.
Of course it was Isaiah 53.
There's no more
important passage
in understanding
the cross of Christ.
What it was for him
to be the shepherd,
to be the victim,
the sheep that was slain,
the lamb of God.
What it was for the father
righteously
to judge sin
who is the propitiation
for sin.
And then to be satisfied
satisfied
that in fact
it's enough.
All of that
is in Isaiah 53.
So clearly
the spirit of God
was at work here.
But what I want you
to know
is that to be
a bold witness
requires of you
to live in the Bible.
It's interesting
that Paul said
to his young
protege Timothy
in verse 15
of 2 Timothy 3
he says,
start verse 14,
but as for you
continue in what
you have learned
and have firmly believed
knowing from whom
you've learned it
and how from childhood
you have been acquainted
with the sacred writings
the Bible
which are able
to make you
wise for salvation
through faith
in Christ Jesus.
It's the spirit
who gives life
the flesh profits
nothing Jesus said.
The words that I have
spoken to you
are spirit
and life.
For people to come
to saving knowledge
of Jesus
there has to be
a work
of the word
of God
in their lives.
And if you're
to be a witness
that's effective
you have to be
involved in the Bible
so that you can
be used
with the scriptures
to open them up
to the would-be person.
I have a theory
which is not
original to me
but I like it.
Whoever thought of it
I think it's a good idea
that when Philip
approached this
Ethiopian
great court official
but a eunuch
who was a God-fearer
but would have been
excluded from the
inner court of the temple
because he was a eunuch
he I think
would have been thinking
also about Isaiah 56
about a promise
that says this
verse 3
let not the foreigner
who has joined himself
to the Lord say
the Lord will surely
separate me
from his people
and let not the eunuch
say
behold
I am a dry tree
for thus says the Lord
to the eunuchs
who keep my Sabbath
who choose the things
that please me
and hold fast
my covenant
I will give
in my house
and within my walls
a monument
and a name
better than
sons and daughters
this is exciting stuff
you see
in a very real way
Philip had before him
not only an Ethiopian
so the whole world
is before him
but a person
who by rights
was in every way
disqualified
and yet in the gospel
there was everything
there for him
he knew the word
fourthly
and this is the biggie
are you ready
drum roll please
then Philip
opened his mouth
and beginning
with this scripture
he told him
the good news
about Jesus
dear friends
Philip
nailed it
because
he taught him
about Jesus
there would have been
so many things
he could have digressed
and talked about
there could have been
so many things
that he might have found
as sort of preliminary
to it
but what is consistent
about the witness
that you find
in the book of Acts
is that whether it be
Peter
or anyone else
that in fact
they get to Jesus
quickly
and directly
and unabashedly
see
Philip understood
the truth
that there's only
one name
by which a person
could be saved
he understood
the truth
that God loved
the world
so much
that he gave
his son
that whoever
believes in him
should not perish
for God
did not send
the son
into the world
to judge
the world
but that the world
might be saved
through him
and then verse 18
says this
whoever believes
in him
is not condemned
but whoever
does not believe
is condemned already
it's that simple
it's reduced
to one thing
what have you done
with Jesus
and so if he cares
in any way
for this man
he's going to
teach him
the good news
about Jesus
if you're a bold
witness
and I remember
it was actually
I was in a group
where there was
a new person
who was hired
in our diocese
in a time before
to be the evangelism
person for the diocese
and there was a
two hour
presentation
where Jesus' name
was never mentioned
even once
well that's
unthinkable
how can you speak
about the good news
and communicating
the good news
if it's not
all about
Jesus
because he's
the only thing
that saves
Philip got it
right
Jesus said
I am the way
the truth
and the life
no one comes
to father
but by me
John said
he who has
the son
has life
he who has
not the son
of God
has not life
so it is
when
when they
it says
so
as
as they
were going
along
the road
they came
to some
water
and the eunuch
said
see here's
water
what prevents
me from being
baptized
and he
commanded him
to stop
and they both
went down
into the water
Philip and the eunuch
and he baptized
him
and when they
came up
out of the water
the spirit of the
Lord carried
Philip away
and the eunuch
saw him
no more
and went
on his way
rejoicing
recently
just
the
predecessor
to the present
bishop of the
arctic
his name
was Bishop
Andrew
the story
of his
conversion
is an
extraordinary
one
I heard
him
give it
once
and
he was
as a young
man of about
20
because he
spoke English
was used
as a translator
for Marnie
Patterson
Marnie Patterson
was preaching
and he would
say a phrase
and Bishop
Andrew
then just
Andrew
would say
a phrase
and so on
this was the
second night
and Marnie
was doing
his thing
and Andrew
was doing
his thing
and then
suddenly Marnie
said a phrase
and nothing
happened
he said the
phrase again
and nothing
happened
and they
looked over
and there
was the
prayer desk
where people
would come
to pray
and receive
and there
was Andrew
kneeling
at the
prayer desk
and what
Andrew
said was
that he
suddenly
realized
this message
was for
him
and though
it was
embarrassing
he was
afraid
if he
didn't go
there
right now
he might
never feel
this way
again
and he
was not
prepared
to risk
salvation
even
although
it was
tremendously
humbling
to break
up a
pretty good
sermon
by kneeling
there
and so
Marnie
went over
and actually
Andrew's
wife
Mary
they were
a young
couple
she slipped
in beside
him
and the
two received
the Lord
then they
came back
and Andrew
continued in
his translation
dear friends
this is
what's
exciting
about this
story
is that in
fact the
man understood
now is the
time
now is the
day of
salvation
and Philip
understood that
as well
he didn't
defer
didn't hold
him up
he knew
the spirit
of God
had brought
new life
and they
sealed the
deal by
baptism
that day
in the
water
in the
desert
I made
a commitment
to the
Lord
early on
when I
became a
bishop
knowing that
I would be
doing lots
of traveling
and lots
of preaching
in different
situations
which is to
take the
opportunity
though I
would know
that the
vast majority
of people
that were
before me
and maybe
all in
some cases
already know
the Savior
of whom
I speak
to always
give an
invitation
to acknowledge
the fact
that it's
possible to
have the
grace of
God dangling
before you
and to
leave it
there
Paul said
in 2nd
Corinthians 6
don't
receive the
God
allow the
grace to
be of
God to
be in
vain
behold now
is the
acceptable
time
now is
the day
of salvation
and so
dear friends
I throw
out the
invitation
once again
here at
Church of
the Messiah
as I
did
at the
early
service
as well
but I
also want
to say
to you
who do
know
the
Lord
have
you
heard
the
call
that
the
reason
you've
been
given
the
Holy
Spirit
is
to
equip
you
to
be
a
witness
do
you
understand
that
you've
been
given
a
tongue
a
tongue
to
bring
glory
to
God
and
to
witness
to
the
saving
power
of
Jesus
are
you
in
active
contact
with him
and
obedience
have you
learned to be a servant
in the environment
and the people around you
are you involved in the word of God
so that it can be used even through you
to bring people to
the wisdom that leads to salvation
and when you have opportunity
do you go to the goods
do you preach Jesus
anything less than that
is to miss the mark
would you stand
and let's pray
Lord Jesus Christ
I thank you for this
wonderful church
family
and I thank you for
everything you're doing here
and through this
congregation
I pray that
no one
that you bring
within the circle
of influence
of this church
would miss out
that no one
would receive
the grace of God
in vain
but would
appropriate it
by repentance
and faith
and even today
Lord
if there's anyone here
who needs to respond
would you hear our prayer
Lord Jesus
I know I'm a sinner
I repent of my sin
would you come
into my life
right now
I want to be yours
forever
and would you begin
the process
of change
and then one day
I look forward
to being with you
and to be changed
to be like Jesus
and Lord
for this company
of mighty men
and women
boys and girls
who know you
would you enable us
to be bold witnesses
to this needy dark world
that you love so much
hear my Lord
send me
Amen