WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.339 Please have a seat. 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:13.620 And in just a moment, I'm going to read from Acts chapter 8, and you'll find it on page 1101. 00:00:13.620 --> 00:00:19.039 ! We're going to read from verse 26 to verse number 40. 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:27.920 But before we do that, in Psalm 109 and at verse 10, we're reminded that God's Word 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:35.719 is where we can seek God. So using verse 10 by way of a prayer for us all, 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:45.079 we want to seek you with all of our hearts. Do not let us stray from your commands. Amen. 00:00:46.219 --> 00:00:52.420 So Acts chapter 8 and at verse 26, and let's again hear God's Word together. 00:00:53.020 --> 00:00:55.340 Now, an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 00:00:55.340 --> 00:01:00.540 Philip goes south to the road, the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. 00:01:01.140 --> 00:01:07.320 So he started out, and on his way, he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge 00:01:07.320 --> 00:01:13.520 of all the treasury of the Kandake, which means Queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to 00:01:13.520 --> 00:01:18.620 Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah 00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:25.320 the prophet. The spirit told Philip, go to that chariot and stay near it. Then Philip ran up to 00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:30.659 the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. Do you understand what you're reading? 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:36.719 Philip asked. How can I? He said, unless someone explains it to me. So he invited Philip to come 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:43.579 up and sit with him. This is the passage of scripture the eunuch was reading. He was led like a sheep to 00:01:43.579 --> 00:01:50.280 the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his 00:01:50.280 --> 00:01:56.879 humiliation, he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken 00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:03.560 from the earth. The eunuch asked Philip, tell me please, who's the prophet talking about? Himself or 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:09.819 someone else? Then Philip began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news 00:02:09.819 --> 00:02:15.379 about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, look, 00:02:15.379 --> 00:02:22.579 here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized? And he gave orders to stop the chariot. 00:02:23.079 --> 00:02:29.359 Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up 00:02:29.359 --> 00:02:35.579 out of the water, the spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, 00:02:35.979 --> 00:02:44.379 but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the 00:02:44.379 --> 00:02:53.460 gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea. Amen. So this morning, we're thinking about the good 00:02:53.460 --> 00:03:02.780 news about Jesus, and learning to see our story within God's story. So I'm going to imagine that 00:03:02.780 --> 00:03:09.579 at first glance, as we read this story, it has some aspects that seem really foreign to us, or strange to 00:03:09.580 --> 00:03:18.100 us. There is an Ethiopian man, and he's a eunuch, and they're in a wilderness desert, and there's 00:03:18.100 --> 00:03:25.040 chariots, and they're actually reading from a scroll. You know, so we're in a really ancient story, 00:03:25.760 --> 00:03:33.140 but as we keep looking, it absolutely is going to connect with our stories, and it's going to show us, 00:03:33.139 --> 00:03:39.599 actually, how God often chooses to work, and how God works to make the good news of Jesus known to 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:45.019 people. So think about it in this way as we begin. If you're here today, and as you look back on your 00:03:45.019 --> 00:03:52.000 story, and you think, God brought someone into my life to share Jesus with me, you can relate to this 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:59.819 story. If you're here today, and you're searching for truth, you'll find a point of connection within 00:03:59.819 --> 00:04:08.719 this story. If you have ever felt a strange compulsion to explore Christianity, or if, on the 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:13.500 other hand, you've ever opened your Bible with a friend and said, let me tell you about Jesus, 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:21.100 then this is part of your story. What we're going to see is this is a story of God's providence. 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:29.639 God is bringing a person seeking answers together with Philip, who has those answers, because he knows 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:36.699 Jesus. We're going to see that this is a story that teaches us about personal evangelism, where one 00:04:36.699 --> 00:04:43.419 man is not preaching this time, but he's answering questions and explaining what the Bible teaches. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:52.379 And it's also a story of the prompting of God's Spirit, because the Spirit of God wants to make sure 00:04:52.379 --> 00:04:57.300 that Jesus' mission is a success, so that people get to know the good news of Jesus. 00:04:57.300 --> 00:05:04.120 This week, I came across a story by a chap called Leighton Ford. He was telling the story of a 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:11.080 prisoner who was converted in jail, and he was sitting there with a pastor. He'd just become a 00:05:11.080 --> 00:05:18.199 follower of Jesus, and he turned to that pastor and said, remember, don't get a big head. You are just 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:25.759 the 25th man. An interesting phrase. And what he meant was that God had patiently and deliberately been 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:35.180 working through multiple people, links in the chain, because God wanted that prisoner to meet Jesus 00:05:35.180 --> 00:05:42.120 and be saved by him. And I hope that this story encourages us when we see that God the Father, 00:05:42.599 --> 00:05:47.360 God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, they are working together. They're working in one man, 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:55.240 Philip, for one man, this guy we meet from Ethiopia. And the story is showing us God's pattern of 00:05:55.240 --> 00:06:03.480 Christians placed in other people's lives, so that people can see and hear the good news about Jesus. 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:08.240 So let's get into our story. We're going to think about the search, we're going to think about the 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:12.879 servant, and we're going to think about the Spirit together. But let's begin with the search, 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:20.120 which is also telling us this is a story of God's providence. Just to read verse 26 again, 00:06:20.300 --> 00:06:25.659 now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, go south to the road, the desert road that goes down from 00:06:25.659 --> 00:06:33.319 Jerusalem. So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch. Okay, in 1865, a little bit of 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:40.500 history for you, the famous Scottish missionary and adventurer David Livingston disappeared. He was on a 00:06:40.500 --> 00:06:47.139 mission to find the source of the Nile, and he disappeared without trace for six years, until 00:06:47.139 --> 00:06:54.600 eventually a chap called Henry Stanley, a journalist, led a search party. And after six years of Livingston 00:06:54.600 --> 00:07:01.399 being missing, and after eight months of Stanley and his team searching, David Livingston was found 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:08.079 in a small town in western Tanzania, and that led to that famous greeting. We've all heard it maybe in 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:16.699 history, Dr. Livingston, I presume. That story is a story of two searching people brought together in 00:07:16.699 --> 00:07:24.719 one dramatic moment. That's a scene that's played out before. It's a scene that plays out in Acts chapter 00:07:24.719 --> 00:07:30.519 eight. Let me show you the two people who are seeking. On the one hand, there is an Ethiopian who is 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:38.899 seeking God. So who is he? Well, he's a chap from not actually the country of Ethiopia. It's a region of 00:07:38.899 --> 00:07:46.699 northern Sudan and South Egypt, which was known as Ethiopia back then. He was a chancellor or the 00:07:46.699 --> 00:07:54.099 treasurer to the queen mother, the Kandake. And at some point in his life, he has become a convert to 00:07:54.100 --> 00:08:02.460 Judaism. And that has led him to go to Jerusalem in order to worship. So we're going Africa, North 00:08:02.460 --> 00:08:08.180 Africa to Jerusalem. That's a long journey. And when he's in Jerusalem, he buys himself a scroll. 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:13.480 So he knows he's wealthy. We know he's wealthy. And he's sitting in his chariot, and somebody else is 00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:19.680 driving it for him, we presume. And so he is reading it on this desert road on the way home. 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:28.340 One other thing that we know about this Ethiopian, he is a eunuch. It's a very uncomfortable 00:08:28.340 --> 00:08:34.299 thing to talk about. He has had his private parts removed, which according to the Old Testament, 00:08:34.759 --> 00:08:40.519 banned him from worshiping in the temple. But part of the good news of the Bible is there was a promise 00:08:40.519 --> 00:08:47.120 in Isaiah 56. So we read in Isaiah 53. Three chapters later, Isaiah 56, there is a promise given 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:53.299 to eunuchs, there is a day coming when they'll be given a place and an everlasting name in God's 00:08:53.299 --> 00:08:58.080 temple in the kingdom of God. And that for this Ethiopian is about to come true. But here is this 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:03.560 man, and he's clearly, isn't he, he's seeking God. And I wonder if that basic level, can you relate to 00:09:03.560 --> 00:09:10.779 that this morning? It's why you're here in church. Maybe it's why you picked up a Bible. It's why maybe 00:09:10.779 --> 00:09:17.399 you've been asking some questions. Maybe even it's because you've journeyed to a new country. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:24.100 It's given you the chance and the reason to explore questions of faith. So that's one side of the story. 00:09:24.179 --> 00:09:30.699 We've got an Ethiopian who's seeking God, but there is another search, another searcher here. God is 00:09:30.699 --> 00:09:37.759 seeking the Ethiopian. So it begins in verse 26 with the angel directing Philip, go south to the desert road. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:44.740 So he gets his direction. So he's maybe got to go 50 or 60 miles into the desert. And then in verse 29, 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:50.759 we have the spirit working. The spirit told Philip, go to that chariot and stay near it. 00:09:51.860 --> 00:09:59.299 So God is working to direct Philip so that this desert road encounter, which we could easily read 00:09:59.299 --> 00:10:05.960 as random, is actually directed entirely by God. He is in control and he's in control for a particular 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:13.180 purpose because he wants this man to hear the good news about Jesus. And again, think about that in 00:10:13.180 --> 00:10:18.160 your own story. I was thinking about it in my own story. I became a Christian because a preacher from 00:10:18.160 --> 00:10:25.259 Northern Ireland came to visit the Isle of Skye. And it was at that point as he preached the gospel, 00:10:25.379 --> 00:10:31.540 I heard and I believe. Then I thought about going to university for the first time. And there was in my 00:10:31.539 --> 00:10:37.639 small local church, a guy who just recently started working and he was like super kind and hospitable to me 00:10:37.639 --> 00:10:41.779 and helped me to plug in as a student. And that was so important to my spiritual growth. 00:10:42.839 --> 00:10:47.740 Then I was thinking about my church ministries. I've been here for a number of years, been in Glasgow for a number 00:10:47.740 --> 00:10:52.579 of years. And I was thinking about people from Spain and people from China and people from Malaysia 00:10:52.580 --> 00:11:01.440 brought across our paths so that they could discover Jesus and be saved. Because that's how God works. 00:11:02.440 --> 00:11:08.920 So this is the story of God's providence, controlling and directing the movements of people, 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:15.000 directing conversations, directing the reading of a Bible for the sake of his mission. 00:11:16.300 --> 00:11:20.920 And you know, that means that I can say today that not one of us is here by accident. You might not 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:28.259 know why you're here, but God knows. For some of us, this may become a day of salvation. This may be 00:11:28.259 --> 00:11:34.240 the day that you trust in Jesus for the very first time, or it may become a day of mobilization. You 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:39.240 might sense the spirit directing you in this building or from this building into a conversation, 00:11:39.620 --> 00:11:45.860 into a friendship so that someone else can learn about Jesus. One thing I'd love for us to take away 00:11:45.860 --> 00:11:50.899 from this as Christians is that we would celebrate God's providence. I was sharing this with our 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:55.539 community group, Kevin DeYoung, had a great little phrase. He said, the people who love God's 00:11:55.539 --> 00:12:02.620 sovereignty should be the happiest people on earth because we understand that whatever comes to us 00:12:02.620 --> 00:12:10.819 comes from our Father's hand. We sang about it. No gift is an accident. No good thing comes by chance. 00:12:10.899 --> 00:12:15.599 The family you've been given, the friends that are around you, the good food that we share, the place 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:22.060 that we live, the chance to hear about Jesus, they all come to us from God. He's always wrapping up 00:12:22.060 --> 00:12:29.659 fresh gifts of his mercy for us to enjoy, like he did with the Ethiopian. And so when we read our stories, 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:36.060 we need to read our stories in light of God's story, God's mission, God's providence. 00:12:36.059 --> 00:12:43.619 So we have the search. But let's move on now to the middle of the story to think about the servant. 00:12:44.479 --> 00:12:49.059 And at the same time, we're going to think about personal evangelism. So, so far in the story, 00:12:49.500 --> 00:12:55.959 God in his providence has brought together two men. Perfect timing. Just as the Ethiopian eunuch is 00:12:55.959 --> 00:13:01.779 reading his Bible, he's asking questions for understanding. And the bit that he is on, 00:13:01.779 --> 00:13:09.740 what comes from Isaiah 53. So look with me at the question that Philip asks in verse 30. Do you 00:13:09.740 --> 00:13:16.539 understand what you're reading? How can I, unless someone explains it to me? So he invited Philip 00:13:16.539 --> 00:13:21.759 to come up and sit with him. And this is the passage. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:26.199 and as a lamb before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 00:13:26.200 --> 00:13:33.460 He is reading at that precise moment what I think is the clearest Old Testament prediction 00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:40.200 of the work of Jesus, of his death and of his resurrection as God's suffering servant. 00:13:41.560 --> 00:13:46.420 And again, just stop and think, how encouraging is this? How encouraging is it? There was Philip. So 00:13:46.420 --> 00:13:50.440 last time we met Philip, he was in Samaria and he was preaching to whole towns and cities. 00:13:50.440 --> 00:13:59.360 But God so loves to save people that he redirects Philip into the middle of nowhere so that he can 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:06.040 share good news, not with a whole community, but with one African man. Because God knows us and cares 00:14:06.040 --> 00:14:12.480 for us individually. It's something that I've had the privilege of in ministry. I remember, 00:14:12.760 --> 00:14:17.100 maybe it's just because it's been Freshers Week. So I worked with international students in Glasgow, 00:14:17.100 --> 00:14:23.460 and I vividly remember maybe my second year working in Glasgow, walking into the hub building in Glasgow 00:14:23.460 --> 00:14:30.899 Uni, and seeing this young Chinese man by himself, and he was reading a book. And as it got closer, 00:14:31.659 --> 00:14:37.399 it turns out he was reading the Bible. And this conversation ended up being very like Philip's 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:41.960 conversation with the Ethiopian unit, because he was really interested, but he didn't know anything. 00:14:41.960 --> 00:14:47.580 He'd never read a Bible before, and he didn't know anything about Jesus. And so patiently over weeks 00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:51.700 and months, we would meet and we'd read through the Gospel of Luke, and he began coming to church and 00:14:51.700 --> 00:14:58.660 coming to Bible studies. And eventually, God brought him to saving faith. It's what God does. 00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:05.759 As people get to discover who Jesus is for themselves. And so on the desert road for this Ethiopian, 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:12.139 he's reading about the suffering servant of God. He's reading about this figure who faces humiliation. 00:15:13.779 --> 00:15:24.600 And he suffers injustice. And he is killed. It's as if he is a lamb led silently to the slaughter. 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:34.960 He's a very humble guy. This eunuch, verse 34. He expresses his lack of knowledge. Tell me, 00:15:35.060 --> 00:15:40.860 please, who is the prophet talking about? Himself or someone else? And notice this. Then Philip began 00:15:40.860 --> 00:15:47.139 with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. The whole Bible is good 00:15:47.139 --> 00:15:54.480 news about Jesus. What does Isaiah 53 tell us about Jesus? Why is it good news? Well, it's good news when 00:15:54.480 --> 00:16:01.279 we discover that this servant who is suffering and who is dying. He is doing so as a substitute. 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:10.360 He is taking the place and bearing the guilt of others. And this is a willing exchange. 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:19.420 This is the bodyguard gladly diving in front of a bullet to save a king or a president. This is a 00:16:19.419 --> 00:16:25.059 mother sacrificing herself to save her child. This is a willing substitution. 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:34.419 And this servant that we read of, this sacrifice that is being made, it makes atonement. It makes to 00:16:34.419 --> 00:16:43.459 one. It means that we as sinful people and God who is holy, we can be at peace because of the work of the 00:16:43.460 --> 00:16:52.180 servant. Because he has come to deal with the sin that separates, the sin that would condemn us. 00:16:53.340 --> 00:17:01.160 He has made peace by his own blood shed on the cross. So that when faith turns to this servant, 00:17:01.160 --> 00:17:09.900 who we know is Jesus, the Son of God, the record of debt that is rightfully ours, it passes to Jesus. 00:17:09.900 --> 00:17:20.680 He pays the price in full. So he's a substitute who makes atonement. And as we read, Isaiah 53 continues 00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:28.759 that yes, the servant dies and it was the Lord's will to crush him. God the Father gladly, willingly, 00:17:29.019 --> 00:17:35.440 lovingly gave his Son to be our substitute and our sacrifice. But that servant who dies, he rises again. 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:45.019 He is vindicated and victorious. And Isaiah 53 tells us of the effect of this. It says that this servant, 00:17:45.160 --> 00:17:52.279 this Jesus, he is satisfied. It's as if Jesus can look back on the cross and then the empty tomb 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:59.559 and he can say, that's my life's work accomplished. I have accomplished salvation. And he's satisfied. 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:08.179 Isaiah says, this servant, he justifies many. It is through Jesus that we can have a right standing 00:18:08.179 --> 00:18:14.319 before God. By ourselves, we cannot come near to God. By ourselves, we deserve nothing but judgment. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:22.899 But when we're trusting in Jesus, we're justified, right standing. Isaiah 53 reminds us that he bore 00:18:22.900 --> 00:18:34.400 sin and made intercession. It is Jesus who grants forgiveness and life and eternal reward to all 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:40.820 those he came to save. And we know this is about Jesus because Jesus tells us as much. He identified 00:18:40.820 --> 00:18:47.040 himself as the suffering servant. So he'll use the language that Isaiah 53 uses. In Mark 10 45, 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:54.579 for example, Jesus will say that he came to give his life as a ransom for many. His own life is the 00:18:54.579 --> 00:19:02.259 payment price for our freedom and our forgiveness. And then in Luke 22, Jesus will say shortly before 00:19:02.259 --> 00:19:09.299 his arrest, it is written, he was numbered with the transgressors. That's the text from Isaiah 53. 00:19:09.299 --> 00:19:19.319 And I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. So Philip in that chariot can turn to the Ethiopian and 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:26.599 say, I have good news. Isaiah wasn't talking about himself. He was talking about Jesus. He's the son of 00:19:26.599 --> 00:19:33.980 God and God's appointed savior. And what we have from Philip is a wonderful example of what we call 00:19:33.980 --> 00:19:41.000 personal evangelism, personally sharing good news. So think about some lessons that we can draw 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:48.319 together. The first really important thing is to recognize that this is a normal way that God builds 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:54.180 his church. When Christians like us, if you're a Christian, when you share Jesus with the people 00:19:54.180 --> 00:20:00.400 around you, that's God's normal way. That's why he places us where we live in our families, in our jobs, 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:06.420 in our schools and universities, that we might live for Jesus and make him known. That's a normal part 00:20:06.420 --> 00:20:13.120 of Christian lifestyle, talking with others about Jesus. I also recognize that with personal evangelism, 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:19.820 it allows our witness to take place across cultures. Back in Acts chapter one, Jesus said to his disciples, 00:20:19.980 --> 00:20:26.460 you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, we've got there so far, and to the ends of the 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:34.180 earth. And do you know that for a first century Jewish person, Africa, Ethiopian region represented 00:20:34.180 --> 00:20:39.960 the ends of the earth. So in God's providence, Philip is brought to share the good news to the ends 00:20:39.960 --> 00:20:45.480 of the earth. Witness takes place across cultures. And it's one of the great things about where we are 00:20:45.480 --> 00:20:52.120 as a church that we get to see the nations come to us. And so we have lots of opportunities 00:20:52.119 --> 00:20:58.759 to share the good news of Jesus with people from very many different nations. We have an English 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:05.739 conversation class that meets on a Monday. There is a CU International Cafe that meets here on a Thursday. 00:21:06.639 --> 00:21:13.679 And so there are chances for people from here to tell people from all over the place about the God who 00:21:13.679 --> 00:21:18.839 loves them and sent Jesus to save them. So let's pray for those ministries as we think about the truth 00:21:18.839 --> 00:21:23.759 that witness takes place across cultures. Here's another thing that's true when it comes to personal 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:33.199 evangelism. God is already preparing hearts. So on the one side of that, God creates openness and longing 00:21:33.199 --> 00:21:39.059 and curiosity. And maybe again, as you're thinking of your own story, you can sense some of those. 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:45.319 And we need to know that is not natural. Naturally, we are blind to spiritual reality. 00:21:45.319 --> 00:21:50.839 Naturally, we want nothing to do with God. Actually, we deliberately walk away from God and His truth. 00:21:51.960 --> 00:21:58.419 So openness and longing is a God-given thing. But on the other side, it's God who creates willingness 00:21:58.419 --> 00:22:05.399 in the hearts of His people and gives words to His people, the words of good news, so that we might 00:22:05.399 --> 00:22:12.319 become a link in the chain, that we might become somebody who would share the good news about Jesus with 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:20.879 others. When we used to live in north of Inverness in Dingwall, there was a Spanish friend who moved 00:22:20.879 --> 00:22:27.099 to Dingwall to work. No Christian background whatsoever. It saw a Christianity Explored advert 00:22:27.099 --> 00:22:32.179 on the front of the church. And she came from week one. And I think before the course finished, 00:22:32.179 --> 00:22:38.779 she had committed her life to Jesus and still walks with Jesus. And God was at work in that. 00:22:38.779 --> 00:22:47.399 And it's always amazing to see that God prepares hearts. And He's still at work because He wants 00:22:47.399 --> 00:22:53.539 people to know the good news about Jesus. Some other things about personal evangelism. It's a witness 00:22:53.539 --> 00:23:00.660 that's based on Scripture. What people need to hear, what we need to share, is the good news of salvation 00:23:00.660 --> 00:23:06.899 that we find in the pages of the Bible. They need to hear the good news of Jesus. That's what Philip does 00:23:06.900 --> 00:23:14.080 beginning in Isaiah 53. I wonder if there is somebody, a friend perhaps, or a family member, 00:23:14.680 --> 00:23:20.720 we could say to him, would you like to read the Bible with me? It doesn't have to be with a Bible 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:28.320 open perhaps. We might share the stories that we find in the Bible with somebody. Bring the truths of 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:35.899 God's Word into our conversations. Or even we trust that God's Word does its work. Have you ever read 00:23:35.899 --> 00:23:40.960 the Bible before? No. Why don't you take a gospel and read it? And then we can talk about it later. God 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:44.079 wants to speak and He speaks through His Word. 00:23:46.679 --> 00:23:50.899 And as God speaks through His Word, here's another thing about personal evangelism. Jesus 00:23:50.900 --> 00:23:58.420 is and always is our theme. It's the old story of Charles Spurgeon, the famous preacher. He said that 00:23:58.420 --> 00:24:05.400 just as every road in England eventually leads to London, so every story of the Bible will lead in 00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:12.800 one way or another to Jesus. And I want to take people there. So we share the message of the gospel, 00:24:13.540 --> 00:24:20.300 this history-shaping, life-transforming message that God sent His Son. And His Son became one of us 00:24:20.299 --> 00:24:26.899 in order to suffer and die for us, to then rise again for us, so that if we repent, if we turn away 00:24:26.899 --> 00:24:33.559 from our sin, and if we believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, we will be saved. We will be restored 00:24:33.559 --> 00:24:41.819 to the life with God that we were made for. So we've seen the search, and we've seen the servant, 00:24:42.180 --> 00:24:49.720 and now briefly we need to talk about the Spirit and the Spirit's prompting, which we find in verses 36 to 00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:56.000 40. But before we get there, just to take you back for a moment to the story of Henry Stanley finding 00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:03.100 Dr. Livingston. And that was an adventure story all of its own. So Stanley was age 28. He really wanted 00:25:03.100 --> 00:25:07.059 to be somebody in the world. He was a journalist, but he wanted fame. He wanted his place in history. 00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:14.220 So he decided in 1870 that he would lead this search. And so he gathered 2,000 men with him. 00:25:14.220 --> 00:25:21.059 And in this eight-month search through the interior of Africa, he got a whole range of illnesses. There 00:25:21.059 --> 00:25:27.420 was dysentery and smallpox and malaria. He covered, they don't know how many thousands of miles until 00:25:27.420 --> 00:25:34.799 he arrived in the town and saw a slightly taller man with a gray beard, leading him to say, 00:25:34.900 --> 00:25:41.799 Dr. Livingston, I presume. Now in that story of search and discovery, what prompted Stanley was 00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:50.079 absolutely fame, fortune, and adventure? Dr. Luke, who's writing the book of Acts, 00:25:51.079 --> 00:25:59.579 is asking us to consider what is it that's prompting this story? And what's prompting 00:25:59.579 --> 00:26:06.440 over and over again throughout the book of Acts, the one who prompts the ongoing mission of Jesus 00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:14.160 is none other than God, the Holy Spirit. So we saw it in verse 29. Then Philip ran up to the chariot. 00:26:14.340 --> 00:26:21.019 Oh, sorry, verse 28. The Spirit told Philip, go to that chariot and stay near it. So the Spirit 00:26:21.019 --> 00:26:28.340 causes Philip to draw near so that he can explain the truths of Isaiah 53. And as he begins to explain 00:26:28.340 --> 00:26:34.860 clearly, God does his saving work in the Ethiopian man's life. So we get to verse 36. 00:26:34.859 --> 00:26:40.339 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, look, here is water. 00:26:40.979 --> 00:26:47.619 What can stand in the way of my being baptized? And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both 00:26:47.619 --> 00:26:54.599 Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. So there's this great scene in 00:26:54.599 --> 00:27:01.059 the middle of the desert where there's a pool of water. This Ethiopian, he now believes that God has 00:27:01.059 --> 00:27:08.240 sent his Messiah King, God's promised Savior, is the suffering servant. And he is Jesus, the Son of God. 00:27:08.779 --> 00:27:14.799 And because he believes he wants to be baptized, it's a sign that his sins have been washed away 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:22.179 by Jesus. And it's a sign that he has received the Spirit. It's a sign that he has a new heart 00:27:22.180 --> 00:27:31.779 and he has a new identity. He has a new loyalty to Jesus. And now he also has a new joy. Did you notice 00:27:31.779 --> 00:27:40.900 that in verse 39? The eunuch went on his way rejoicing. Joy in Jesus is what God wants to produce 00:27:40.900 --> 00:27:47.120 in us by his Spirit. And meanwhile, the Spirit is also prompting Philip. So verse 39, the Spirit of the 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:52.719 Lord suddenly took Philip away. And Philip, we discover, was traveling around preaching the gospel 00:27:52.719 --> 00:27:58.859 in all the towns until he reached Caesarea. So the Spirit decides it's time to move Philip on. There are 00:27:58.859 --> 00:28:06.359 more people to share Jesus with in more places. And so he is doing his mission prompted by the work of 00:28:06.359 --> 00:28:14.899 the Spirit. So the Holy Spirit is prompting and it leads to God's church moving into the continent of 00:28:14.900 --> 00:28:22.540 Africa. It leads to one man finding Jesus as the answer to the questions that he had. And it led Philip 00:28:22.540 --> 00:28:32.500 to keep spreading the message of Jesus. What is it that God the Holy Spirit does in a person's life? 00:28:33.560 --> 00:28:39.480 Think about this image of baptism that we have here. You know, like water that is poured on us, 00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:48.980 God the Spirit is poured out on us. And when the Spirit comes, we have this personal experience of the 00:28:48.980 --> 00:28:56.319 love of God. And we receive from the Spirit a felt awareness that we share life with God. 00:28:58.019 --> 00:29:03.579 There's a preacher called John Piper in the States. He puts it like this. Speaking of our need for the 00:29:03.579 --> 00:29:16.519 Spirit, we need an outpouring of his Christ-revealing, heart-awakening, sin-defeating, boldness-producing 00:29:16.519 --> 00:29:26.639 power. As you're sitting here today, have you had that experience? Do you want that experience? Do you want 00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:35.660 it again? Then let the Spirit prompt you and ask the Spirit to do this for you? That you would ask 00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:41.640 to know God and to know his love or to know more of God and to know more of his love because the Spirit 00:29:41.640 --> 00:29:51.180 loves to do that. The Spirit loves to bring glory to the Lord Jesus. And so as we think about this text, 00:29:51.180 --> 00:29:56.600 this is as if Luke, as he writes the book of Acts, he wants to highlight and put it in bold and then 00:29:56.600 --> 00:30:05.380 underline it, God wants people to be saved. God wants people from all places to hear and to accept 00:30:05.380 --> 00:30:13.200 the good news about Jesus. And so he tells us about God the Father, who's directing providence, 00:30:13.720 --> 00:30:20.279 who's moving people around to serve his mission of salvation. And he writes about God the Son, 00:30:21.180 --> 00:30:27.880 who in love gives his life as a ransom to set people free from sin and death to enjoy forgiveness 00:30:27.880 --> 00:30:34.759 and new life with God. And he writes to highlight God the Spirit who prompts people's hearts, 00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:41.080 who gives the gift of a new heart, a new birth, as people turn to receive Jesus as Lord. 00:30:42.779 --> 00:30:46.940 And as that ongoing story of the mission of God continues, 00:30:46.940 --> 00:30:54.700 And as we close this morning, where are you in this story today? Let me invite you again to reflect 00:30:54.700 --> 00:31:02.580 personally. As Jesus calls from his word, from his good news, will you accept him today? 00:31:02.579 --> 00:31:15.839 As God wants to direct us, will you follow his lead today? And as the Spirit prompts, 00:31:16.579 --> 00:31:22.500 will you respond in faith and obedience today? Let's pray together briefly. 00:31:22.500 --> 00:31:33.259 Lord, our God, thank you for this wonderful story, reminding us of your love to save people by helping 00:31:33.259 --> 00:31:41.799 them to see and to believe that Jesus is your Son, and he is our Savior, and he became the suffering 00:31:41.799 --> 00:31:49.579 servant on the cross to deal with our sin and to bring us back to life with God. We thank you that 00:31:49.579 --> 00:31:55.639 this good news is for people from all nations. Thank you that even in this gathering, there are people 00:31:55.639 --> 00:32:02.379 from many nations here, and we thank you for that. And Lord, we pray that you would be pleased to 00:32:02.379 --> 00:32:09.639 show each and every one of us the glory and the goodness of Jesus so that we would trust him today. 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:15.119 And we pray that for those who are your people, you would send us from this place 00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:23.000 full of joy in Jesus, and ready to share that joy with others as you would lead and direct us. 00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:26.479 And so we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.