1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:06,480 Good morning, port City. Our scripture reading will be in 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:10,440 Acts chapter 8, verses 26 to 40. If you're using the copy of 3 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:14,080 Scripture underneath your seat, you can find that on page 862. 4 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,440 Now an Angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise and go toward the 5 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:24,400 South, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. 6 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:28,040 This is a desert place. And he rose and went, and there 7 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:32,840 was an Ethiopian, A eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen 8 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:36,520 of The Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. 9 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:40,600 He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning seated 10 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:45,240 in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 11 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:49,200 And the Spirit said to Philip, Go over and join this chariot. 12 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:53,760 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, 13 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:56,600 and asked, Do you understand what you are reading? 14 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,880 And he said, How can I unless someone guides me? 15 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:02,920 And he invited Philip to come up and sit with them. 16 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,160 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this. 17 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,760 Like a shepherd he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb 18 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:14,920 before its Shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 19 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:18,440 And his humiliation justice was denied him. 20 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:23,200 Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from 21 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:25,920 the earth. And the eunuch said to Philip, 22 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,160 about whom I asked, does the prophet say this about himself 23 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,360 or about someone else? Then Philip opened his mouth, 24 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,480 and beginning with this Scripture, he told him the good 25 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:40,120 news about Jesus. And as they were going along the 26 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:44,680 road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, See, here 27 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:47,840 is water, what prevents me from being baptized? 28 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,480 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down 29 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,520 into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized them. 30 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:59,520 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord 31 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:03,480 carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more and went 32 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,760 on his way, rejoicing. But Philip found himself at 33 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:11,120 Azados, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all 34 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,280 the towns until he came to Caesarea. 35 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:22,850 This is God's word. Good morning Port City family 36 00:02:22,850 --> 00:02:24,930 and friends. How are we doing? 37 00:02:25,930 --> 00:02:26,970 Good. My name is Tanner. 38 00:02:26,970 --> 00:02:28,890 I'm one of the pastors here and at Port City. 39 00:02:28,890 --> 00:02:32,170 We are passionate about training people to live with God in the 40 00:02:32,170 --> 00:02:36,490 miraculous and the mundane. Y'all, if you can't do Jesus in 41 00:02:36,490 --> 00:02:39,600 the mundane, it's no good. You know, it's got to work at 42 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:41,160 the dentist's office. It's got to work when you 43 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:43,680 teaching, it's got to work when you're on the sports team. 44 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:46,120 God wants to walk with you there. 45 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,200 That's the good stuff of life. And he also works the miraculous 46 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:53,640 he he does this stuff is, is popping off like this all over 47 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:55,360 the world. There's there's stories that 48 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,800 that come out all the time of God doing miraculous things. 49 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:00,760 And in today's story, he's doing a little bit of both. 50 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:03,160 It's got some miraculous and it's got some mundane. 51 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:07,200 So that's why we're excited to dive into this story and we pray 52 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,880 that you would come to know Jesus in the miraculous and in 53 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:12,920 the mundane. OK, so I'm gonna pray and then 54 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:16,480 we'll dive into our story. Our Father, we thank you for 55 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:18,440 this moment. God, we thank you that you use 56 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:21,320 the miraculous. We thank you for miracles, 57 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:23,280 healings, dreams. We thank you for all the ways 58 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,560 that you intervened so clearly, God. 59 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,040 And we also thank you for the ways that the connections, the 60 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,920 the intervention is clearer overtime of what you were doing. 61 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:36,880 And God, we can't wait for eternity where we get to hear 62 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:40,440 the the stories for for ages and ages of all the things you've 63 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:44,080 done, God, and, and at the end of the day, you reveal truth to 64 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,480 us and got it it. You use people to do this and 65 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:50,840 you use a book and use your spirit. 66 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:53,760 And so God just help us to think well about these things. 67 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,400 And God, thank you for intervening in my life and and 68 00:03:57,400 --> 00:03:59,240 for many others. And God, we pray you would do it 69 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:00,120 again. We love you. 70 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:01,440 We pray this in your name. Amen. 71 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:04,520 Y'all heard the expression don't sleep on. 72 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,560 Have y'all heard that? So to not sleep on something 73 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:09,720 means don't underestimate it. OK? 74 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:15,080 So don't sleep on just whatever OK, I'll give you 1 don't sleep 75 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:16,640 on. Sometimes spending money can 76 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,519 save you money. OK First year marriage I was 77 00:04:20,519 --> 00:04:23,200 like we're saving money. Buy the vacuum that is $60.00. 78 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:25,480 So it was called like the dust Bunny or something, you know, 79 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:29,680 like it's just just a crazy clear, no name brand. 80 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:31,320 I spent like $60.00 on the vacuum. 81 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:35,800 It lasted about 6 times of using it and it was like a fire hazard 82 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:38,160 in my house. So then we had to go again and I 83 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:41,480 was tempted to do it again. Just one bad dust bun and bummy 84 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:43,800 thing. It probably said dust bummy. 85 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:45,920 I didn't look hard enough. It wasn't even a dust Bunny. 86 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:49,600 But the point was also, don't sleep on your wife who's smart, 87 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:51,240 OK? She's not just trying to spend a 88 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:52,480 bunch of money. And you don't need to go to 89 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:54,000 counseling to argue with each other about money. 90 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:55,880 You just need to listen to your wife, OK. 91 00:04:56,360 --> 00:04:59,440 And I should have listened. Don't sleep on spending money to 92 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:02,640 save money. Something that the church tends 93 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,120 to sleep on is that God knows what he's doing. 94 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:10,440 We just sleep on it. We're like, nothing's changing. 95 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:12,080 We're begging. We're we're, we're, we're like, 96 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:15,040 what are you going to do, God? And we don't see how the 97 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,560 mission's going forward. People still don't care. 98 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:21,280 Their hearts are a rock hard people yawn at the gospel. 99 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:24,880 They care nothing for the Lord or we just don't see other 100 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:27,240 nations coming to trust in Christ or just it feels like 101 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:28,720 we're hitting roadblock after roadblock. 102 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:30,240 Or maybe it's just at a personal level. 103 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,080 Your life is filled with suffering and it's like God 104 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:35,840 don't know what he's doing. It's not going away. 105 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:40,120 I would draw it up and we sleep on them and our faith falters 106 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:42,320 and and we just this is life, right? 107 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:47,720 And then we come to a story like today, a historical moment where 108 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,120 the the church in Ethiopia has its roots right here, you know, 109 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:53,400 and we're like, I think God knows what he's doing, you know, 110 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:54,960 and it's just one of those reminders. 111 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,480 And we get to see the levels and layers of it. 112 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:02,320 And it sends us back into the mundane saying, God, I know 113 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:04,840 you're still you. Help me to see this correctly. 114 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:07,200 Help me to understand what you're doing, even when I don't 115 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:10,120 see all the dots connecting. This is who you are. 116 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:14,760 So y'all, the Spirit still sends Phillips to eunuchs to talk to 117 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:16,640 them about Jesus. He's doing that today. 118 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:20,080 The Spirit is still looking for his church to be full of the 119 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,720 Spirit to just ask people, do you understand what you're 120 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:25,280 reading? We're still just telling a basic 121 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:28,160 story about a dude who died on a piece of wood, and their lives 122 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:32,440 can change like that once we understand the story behind it 123 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:34,880 all. God is still doing this in a 124 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:37,640 million different ways in a million different places. 125 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:40,440 So what I want to do is just guide us through the text and 126 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:42,520 just point out some of what God is up to. 127 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,160 Kind of going to walk through it, and that'll be our time. 128 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:47,240 We're just going to walk through it. 129 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,840 OK, I got 4 points. It's kind of just following 130 00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:52,360 through the spirits. Going to send Philip to the 131 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:55,760 eunuch, .2 is that Philip's going to share Jesus with the 132 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:59,480 eunuch, .3 is that the eunuch's going to respond to hearing 133 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:02,200 about Jesus, and .4 is the Spirit is going to carry Philip 134 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:03,960 away. If you are ready, let me hear 135 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:06,720 you say I'm ready. All right, Well, the story 136 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,400 started in verse 26. Now an Angel of the Lord said to 137 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:12,560 Philip, rise and go toward the South to the road that goes down 138 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:15,600 from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place. 139 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:19,160 And he rose and went, and there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a 140 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,720 court official of Kansas, queen of The Ethiopians, who was in 141 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:24,640 charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to 142 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:27,800 worship and was returning seated in his chariot. 143 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:29,360 And he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 144 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:32,880 And the Spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. 145 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:37,040 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. 146 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,000 OK, there's really three players in our story here today, so 147 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,280 let's just look at the text from each angle, if you will. 148 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,320 The 1st is the Spirit. You know this. 149 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:50,760 This story teaches us God is the architect of this encounter. 150 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:52,760 We the reader are Privy to that information. 151 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,360 We see what's going on. We see that this was not 152 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:57,480 Philip's idea. This was not the eunuchs idea. 153 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:00,720 This was God's idea. If you're new to the book of 154 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,680 Acts back in chapter 1 verse 8, it's probably like two or three 155 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:08,280 pages back in your Bible. The theme verse, the thesis 156 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:11,360 verse for this whole book is chapter one, verse 8. 157 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,360 It says this. Jesus tells his disciples, you 158 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,720 will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and 159 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:22,520 you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and 160 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:24,160 Samaria and to the end of the earth. 161 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:27,480 And if we pull up a map of the modern day Middle East, it just 162 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,840 shows in concentric circles. It starts in Jerusalem, Judea, 163 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:32,440 Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 164 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:39,320 And then we read in chapter 8, verse 4, if you weren't with us 165 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:42,559 last week, what we saw is that the gospel for the first time 166 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:45,640 spread from Jerusalem to Samaria. 167 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:49,200 So it's like check on Jesus's plan for it to go from Jerusalem 168 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,240 to Samaria's happen. And now we see the gospel 169 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:54,160 through this eunuch. Where is it going to go? 170 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,760 It's going to go to Ethiopia. The the origins of the Ethiopian 171 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:01,840 church are right in front of us right here. 172 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:06,000 So we're seeing this gospel that primarily the, the, the 173 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,680 Christian movement early on was growing out of the Jewish tree. 174 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:11,760 Christianity is growing out of the roots of, of Judaism and is 175 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:14,040 fulfilling it and taking it to its next level. 176 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:17,320 And so from Jerusalem we go to Samaria, and now it's going off 177 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:21,320 to Africa. So God is not only the architect 178 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:23,920 of this moment with this man, but this whole book and this 179 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:25,960 whole Christian movement worldwide. 180 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:29,520 Like there's a reason it is on the whole globe. 181 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:31,920 Like this thing is spreading like crazy because God is the 182 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:35,960 architect of this encounter. The second player in our story 183 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:38,320 is Phillip. Phillip plays the role of the 184 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:40,880 obedient vessel, the one who is willing to go. 185 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:44,000 If you're like, where did this Phillip guy come from, I'll tell 186 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:45,520 you. Here's where Phillip came from 187 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:49,400 on Acts chapter 6. What happened was the the early 188 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:52,640 movement was being taught by the apostles to be an apostle. 189 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,680 You had to roll with Jesus for those few years. 190 00:09:55,680 --> 00:09:57,800 OK, so the apostles were the dudes with Jesus. 191 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:00,240 They were teaching the word teaching about Jesus. 192 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:03,720 And then the first issue of kind of like some racism and like, I 193 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:05,560 don't like those people and they're coming to Jesus. 194 00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:07,280 And this is a problem. They started having their first 195 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:09,080 problem. So the church was about to have 196 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:14,000 a breakdown already and they were like, whoa, we can't stop 197 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:15,920 teaching about Jesus. But this is important. 198 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:18,520 So why don't y'all, they did not choose seven people. 199 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,480 They said why don't y'all choose seven people with good character 200 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,080 that you trust and they chose 7 people. 201 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:26,440 One of those seven people was a guy named Phillip. 202 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:29,600 So Phillip didn't go to some school and say I want to preach 203 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,960 the word of God. He just was a servant. 204 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,560 He said, oh, I'll help with the racism issue and make sure 205 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:36,840 everybody gets their food and the old people get their food 206 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:38,480 and we're not doing preferential treatment. 207 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:40,880 I got you. So he was serving first. 208 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:42,800 You see that? Don't tell me you want to teach 209 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:44,760 the word if you don't want to serve people, OK. 210 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,400 And so Phillip is serving. He's loving on the people. 211 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:51,680 And then the Spirit says, hey, get out of Jerusalem, let's go 212 00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:54,160 over to Samaria. And it happens through a a 213 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:56,560 stoning event happened like a basically they started killing 214 00:10:56,560 --> 00:10:59,600 Christians for the first time. And he ends up in Samaria. 215 00:10:59,680 --> 00:11:00,680 OK. And then he teaches the 216 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:03,160 Samaritans. And then they're like, go to 217 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:05,360 that chariot with this Ethiopian eunuch and Philip. 218 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:08,160 Every time he just keeps going, OK, I got you. 219 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:11,240 Yes. It said in our text that an 220 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:14,600 Angel came and said, go toward the South of the road that goes 221 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:17,040 down from Jerusalem to Gaza. If you pull up the map, 222 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:20,040 Jerusalem's in the Middle East, and then Gaza is like kind of 223 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:24,160 directly in between the path down getting into Africa. 224 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:27,360 He's like, go down there and he goes, not knowing what will be 225 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:30,360 there, right. Then he gets there, OK, now go 226 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:32,640 over to that chariot. He didn't know my man was in 227 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:35,600 there reading Isaiah. He just go to the chariot. 228 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:37,400 OK. And if you know your Bibles a 229 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:40,280 little bit, that's kind of the anti Jonah, if you will remember 230 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:43,320 the story of Jonah where God tells him exactly what to do, 231 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:46,600 where to go and what to say. And Jonah says, no, we got a guy 232 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:48,880 here who says, go there. You don't know what you're going 233 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:49,520 to say. Just go. 234 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:52,480 And he says, OK. So we see kind of the the the 235 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,360 church is filled with the spirit in such a way it makes us want 236 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,480 to do what God wants us to do. That's one of the things the 237 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:02,240 spirit does in your life is what you used to not want to do felt 238 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:03,840 like drudgery to follow the Lord. 239 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:08,560 I gotta do this stuff becomes joyful to put your yes on the 240 00:12:08,560 --> 00:12:10,400 table. Somebody say yes on the table. 241 00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:16,600 That just means I say yes before the terms get dictated or you 242 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:18,360 might have heard the expression of blank check. 243 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:22,320 It's where you you sign it and then you slide it across the 244 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:24,560 table and the person gets to write the dollar amount. 245 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,480 You don't wait for the dollar amount and then you're like, I 246 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:30,320 can't sign this. You ask it too much. 247 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:34,720 So Phillip is a good example of my yes, is there because you're 248 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:38,360 the asker, not because of the terms of the ask Amen church. 249 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:43,080 So we got we got the unit dynamic to talk about here in a 250 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:46,200 minute, But for we the Phillips in the room, the church y'all, 251 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,280 half the ability you need is availability. 252 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,880 What we see in this story is not somebody with a ton of skill. 253 00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:56,400 They just got a yes on the table. 254 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:00,120 They're just willing. I've heard it said God is not a 255 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:02,040 recruiter of those who got skill. 256 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,720 He's a resurrector of people he makes willing to obey his will. 257 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:09,920 OK, that's what he does. He's just looking for people who 258 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:13,520 want to say yes and who by the spirit of like, I'm not even 259 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:15,400 good at what you asked me to do, but I'll do it. 260 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:18,280 If you say do it, I'll do it. Are you sure? 261 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:19,920 I mean, I'm not a good speaker, but I got you. 262 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,800 And there's a long lineage in the Bible of people saying those 263 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:25,440 kinds of things to the Lord. But the point is you go not 264 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:27,760 because of what you're good at, but who told you to go? 265 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:32,120 And then we have the eunuch. The eunuch is the ready 266 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:33,840 recipient. This thing is what you might 267 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:36,720 call on a tee for Phillip, if you are not familiar with that 268 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:38,720 expression. Instead of trying to hit a 90 269 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:41,920 mile an hour fastball, how would you like to try to hit a ball on 270 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:45,240 a tee that just sits there? It's a little easier to hit that 271 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:47,160 ball than the 90 mile an hour fastball. 272 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:50,040 And the Lord didn't make this extremely difficult for Philip. 273 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,640 And how do we know that? Because my man, the eunuch is in 274 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:58,600 an old school car reading Isaiah and he's reading a text that is 275 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:02,160 clearly about Jesus, as we'll see here in a moment. 276 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:05,640 He's just sitting there. He went to Jerusalem at the text 277 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:09,000 said to worship and he did not hear about Jesus. 278 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,120 And we, the the ones who've been reading Acts know the apostles. 279 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,000 We're back in Jerusalem. So you see how the spirit had 280 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,800 him go to Jerusalem, not find the Lord. 281 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:21,840 He's what you might call a, a, a God seeker or a another New 282 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:23,720 Testament term is a person of peace. 283 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,240 He's a, he's warm like he's, he's willing to hear, but he's 284 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,360 not yet a Christ follower. He's not yet a believer in 285 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:33,000 Jesus. So he goes to Jerusalem. 286 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:35,520 And then there's the fact that he's a eunuch. 287 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:38,640 Somebody say eunuch. A eunuch is somebody, if you 288 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:42,480 don't know now you know, who has been given their position in the 289 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:45,080 Royal Court because they've been emasculated. 290 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:47,360 OK. So they were trustworthy because 291 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:50,360 they were not. Yeah. 292 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:52,200 Y'all are smart, OK? They were not. 293 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:56,080 They were not in a position to do things that sometimes people 294 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:59,480 in that position would do. So they were literally put there 295 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:01,520 for that reason. Because you're not a threat in 296 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:03,960 the way that other people who are men might be. 297 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:06,320 OK. But it also makes them sort of 298 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:11,800 like a sexually confused. I mean, he's a black eunuch. 299 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:16,560 Deuteronomy 23 one those who had undergone that procedure were 300 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:18,720 not allowed in the temple. So when he went to Jerusalem, 301 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:20,800 guess what? He didn't go into the temple. 302 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,360 So he went to Jerusalem. He's excluded from the temple. 303 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:26,440 He doesn't get to hear the reading of the law. 304 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:30,840 He just goes hoping some kind of way I will be close to Yahweh, I 305 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:34,720 will know Jehovah. Philip doesn't know any of this 306 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:36,520 is going on. Philip just said yes, but he's 307 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:40,360 about to be connected to a black African man who is a eunuch 308 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,880 who's excluded from the temple. And Philip knows Jesus, which 309 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:45,960 flips the whole temple thing on its head. 310 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:49,560 And there's so much there. And y'all, here's the good news. 311 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:54,200 God is still using Philips to seek after eunuchs for his 312 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:57,360 glory. Y'all In Luke 1910 it says Jesus 313 00:15:57,360 --> 00:15:59,400 came to seek and to save the lost. 314 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:03,760 This is what God does. He puts it on a tee for us. 315 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,160 Think sometimes we get in our head following Jesus or talking 316 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:09,360 about Jesus like hitting a 90 mile fastball. 317 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:12,080 I promise you it's not. The Lord will put it on a tee if 318 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:14,640 you ask Him to. Ask Him for opportunities to 319 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:16,560 share about Jesus. You will get them. 320 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:19,600 You will get them if you stay ready. 321 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:21,800 They say you ain't got to get ready. 322 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:26,960 OK, the idea is, I will say, if you don't have a bat, you still 323 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:28,640 can't hit it off the tee. Are you tracking with me? 324 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,440 There's still an element of like, Philip was full of the 325 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:33,160 Spirit. He knows the prophet Isaiah. 326 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:34,800 He can make the connections to Jesus. 327 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:38,000 So even if the Lord put you in a car with somebody who said tell 328 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:42,240 me about Jesus, he can't put it more on a tee than that. 329 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:44,280 But you still got to know the Scriptures. 330 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:45,720 You still got to know who the Lord is. 331 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:46,920 You still got to love the gospel. 332 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:48,760 You can't be like, well, just start going to church and read 333 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:50,520 your Bible. It's like, whoa, you are blowing 334 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:51,720 it. It was on the tee. 335 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:53,880 You're blowing it. Talk to him about Jesus, please. 336 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:59,000 OK, point #2 Philip shares Jesus with the eunuch. 337 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,680 We see in verses 30 through 35 kind of the exchange. 338 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:08,720 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet 339 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,440 and asked, do you understand what you are reading? 340 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:16,400 And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? 341 00:17:16,599 --> 00:17:19,160 And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 342 00:17:19,599 --> 00:17:21,960 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this. 343 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:25,520 Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb 344 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:29,080 before, its Shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth in its 345 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:31,240 humiliation. Justice was denied him. 346 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:33,360 Who could describe his generation? 347 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:35,200 For his life is taken away from the earth. 348 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:37,640 And the eunuch said to Philip, about whom I ask you, does the 349 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:39,920 prophet say this about himself or about someone else? 350 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:42,560 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with the 351 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:45,160 Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. 352 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:48,720 Again, three players. Let's start with the Spirit. 353 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:53,600 Did you notice that after verse 29, it says the Spirit says go 354 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:56,200 join him in the chariot. He gets to the chariot and then 355 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,080 the Spirit is not mentioned again until he carries Philip 356 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:01,760 away in the last verse. So it wasn't like he was like, 357 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:04,280 OK, now let me break down for you what to say next. 358 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,000 And then say this and then about Isaiah say this and then say 359 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:08,640 this. He kind of orchestrated the 360 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:13,480 situation and then he directly removes his involvement. 361 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:15,360 But does that mean the Spirit wasn't involved? 362 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:18,240 No. He just put you in a car with 363 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:20,800 the man reading the Bible and you are full of the Spirit. 364 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:22,160 Now tell him what about what he's reading. 365 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:25,240 Do you see how this is both miraculous and mundane? 366 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,080 Like if I'm Philip, I know I'm supposed to be in the chariot 367 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,680 because the the Spirit prompted me to be here and now I'm here. 368 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:35,480 Do you think he was insecure as he shared about Christ from this 369 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:37,240 passage? Do you think he just used his 370 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,120 natural ability? He just asked a question. 371 00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:40,920 It's mundane. Do you understand what you're 372 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:42,000 reading? No. 373 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:44,560 Will you come sit and tell me? Oh, yes, I will. 374 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:47,400 And then he tells them. So it's a good mixture of 375 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:50,000 something miraculous is happening here, but the 376 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:54,000 ingredients are pretty mundane and simple, but they're what 377 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,480 might have been referred to as the means of grace. 378 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:00,960 You've got Bible, you've got a reader, you've got a teacher to 379 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:03,600 respond to the gospel. You have to hear it, you have to 380 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:05,880 understand it, and then you can respond. 381 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:09,160 So what God does is he puts those ingredients in a blender. 382 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:13,960 Notice what he did not have him go to that chariot and do is 383 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:16,160 like, hey, this is a eunuch who's been unfairly treated his 384 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:18,280 whole life. I'm going to restore his body. 385 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,960 Just watch what I'm about to do. The way that he loved the eunuch 386 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:24,160 was by revealing truth to him about Jesus. 387 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:28,080 Do you see that? I think sometimes we're like the 388 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,720 the does God love me rhetoric. Yes, God loves you. 389 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:34,680 How? How does God love humanity? 390 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:40,240 By telling them the truth. People want to verify God's 391 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:42,040 love. They want some sort of proof. 392 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:45,080 Listen closely, my friend. God loves you by telling you the 393 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,200 truth. So he put him in that car to 394 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:51,600 tell him about Jesus. That's how he sought out the 395 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,280 eunuch is by revealing the truth to him. 396 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:58,600 God does not love you primarily by being your cheerleader as you 397 00:19:58,600 --> 00:19:59,880 do you. OK? 398 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,440 He loves you by lifting your eyes onto his Son. 399 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:05,160 And then everything kind of changes. 400 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:07,000 Does that make sense? We. 401 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:09,120 Definitely need miracles of healing. 402 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:13,280 The unit could have used one. But more than we need miracles 403 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:15,720 of healing, we need miracles of revealing. 404 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:18,320 Like help us see things as they are God. 405 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:20,600 And that's what's happening in our text. 406 00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:24,680 And then the eunuch is so humble here, right? 407 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:28,400 Our second player in the in the story, his response is when 408 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:29,760 asked, do you understand what you're reading? 409 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:32,840 Just think about how you would respond or people in our culture 410 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:35,000 would respond. Are we really humble when we're 411 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:36,240 asked? Like in a moment like that, 412 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:37,560 we're like, of course I know what I'm reading. 413 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,320 I have Google and ChatGPT, get away from me. 414 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:43,440 Why are you in my car? Get up out of here, man. 415 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:47,320 He's so humble. He's like, how can I let 416 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:51,560 somebody guides me, guide me? And then the text says he's not 417 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:54,560 so humble as to say, how can I unless someone guides me? 418 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:56,560 It says he invites him to come sit with him. 419 00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:59,360 So it wasn't like an awkward dot, dot, dot, like, how can I 420 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:03,680 unless someone guides me? He was like, how can I, unless 421 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:05,520 somebody guides me, get up here and guide me. 422 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:08,280 So I just love the humility in that. 423 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:11,640 Y'all, to understand the gospel you need a guide. 424 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:14,840 Y'all the gospel, the truth about Jesus. 425 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:16,320 It's facts that make a lot of sense. 426 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:18,640 He was born in a certain area at a certain time to the Virgin 427 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,840 Mary under Pontius Pilate. He suffered an unjust death like 428 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:23,800 there. There's facts to it, but the 429 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:28,760 guide is part of how the Spirit reveals it to you so that it 430 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,400 stops being stupid to you, stops being fairy tale to you, or stop 431 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:34,160 speaking something you get but don't want. 432 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:39,040 The guide is from the Spirit to help illuminate what was already 433 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,880 there and you didn't see in church, I'll say this, OK, what 434 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:44,760 starts with guidance continues with guidance. 435 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:48,200 How many of us we we get in with Christ, we start following the 436 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:49,320 Lord. Now we don't want no guide. 437 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:52,080 I got it. I listen to my pastor, I listen 438 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:54,320 to Elevation Worship on 38 volume and I'm good. 439 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,880 I got it. Y'all, we need guidance. 440 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:00,680 Y'all we should be the people saying guide me. 441 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:04,080 The the church should be the people saying guide me. 442 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:07,800 But oftentimes the church are the people saying I don't need 443 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:09,240 no guide. I got my Bible. 444 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:15,320 Do you see the irony in that? Like God died to make the church 445 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:19,200 a people of interdependence who are humbly seeking guidance from 446 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:22,200 one another. Far be it from us that the non 447 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,320 church art is better sometimes at asking for guidance than we 448 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:27,520 are. If you want to be counter 449 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,720 cultural in today's ChatGPT age, ask for guidance. 450 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:33,200 Before you seek out independence. 451 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,600 Think about interdependence. Does that make sense? 452 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:42,320 OK, then we got Philip is intentional and clear about 453 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:45,560 Jesus. You know what guides do? 454 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,200 Guides guide. Guides don't create. 455 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:52,320 They guide. Guides be guiding. 456 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,880 That's what they do. I just want to reiterate, Philip 457 00:22:54,880 --> 00:23:00,240 created nothing church. We don't create the gospel. 458 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:02,560 We guide people through the gospel. 459 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,080 We just guide them. Like I, I love going to the zoo 460 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,160 and I sat at this one little exhibit the other day and 461 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,440 listened to little like teenagers who are volunteers say 462 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:13,760 the like 2 facts they know to every crowd that passed by. 463 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:14,920 And I was like, I need to keep moving. 464 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:16,440 He has said that fact like 5 times. 465 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:18,400 But here's the point, he's just guiding people. 466 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,200 He's just saying what he knows and it's 2 facts more than me. 467 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,840 But I'm like I could guide him. Now you go on man, you go on, 468 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:29,040 you go on. That was literally all he knew. 469 00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:31,280 I'm like, can you, can you rotate him something? 470 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:33,320 So guides guide. They don't create. 471 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:36,280 It takes the, the pressure off. I've heard it said like when the 472 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:38,200 way we try to teach the word here is we're not trying to 473 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,560 create a masterpiece. We're just trying to guide you 474 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,280 through the master's piece. We're just trying to guide you 475 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,080 through what's already there. We're not, we're not making 476 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:47,760 anything. We're we're guiding through 477 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:52,480 what's already there. So if you don't get the Jesus 478 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:56,600 stuff here, it is as basic as we can make it from these verses. 479 00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:00,520 OK, I'll, I'll connect the dots. It's all about what's coming to 480 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,720 us from the prophet Isaiah that he then interprets for him. 481 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:08,320 OK, so it says in verse 32, like a sheep, he was led to the 482 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:12,200 slaughter. So there's some person who 483 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:14,320 allowed themselves to be led to be slaughtered. 484 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:18,280 OK, And like a lamb before it's Shearer is silent, so he opens 485 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:21,560 out his mouth. There's some person who before 486 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:24,400 the the vehicle, the vessel of them being slaughtered, chose 487 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:29,600 not to respond, chose to allow the process to unfold how it was 488 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:33,000 going to unfold. In his humiliation, justice was 489 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,400 denied him who could describe his generation for his life is 490 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,160 taken away from the earth. Some person was removed from the 491 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:43,280 earth unjustly. What is the what Jesus like I I 492 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:44,840 get somehow that connects to Jesus. 493 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:46,640 What is going on y'all? This is the story of the Bible 494 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,720 that God made us in his image to be in relationship with him, 495 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:55,800 ourselves, the earth, others. OK, focused on others y'all and 496 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:59,520 when our first parents when they sin, what happened is is all 497 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,760 that was supposed to be about others building creation, 498 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,880 stewardship, loving others focus on others turned in on 499 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,120 ourselves. OK, the easy way to remember 500 00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:11,920 what is sin I is in the middle. It just makes it all about us. 501 00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:15,320 The earth was fractured, we were fractured, one another was 502 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:17,360 fractured. We hid, we covered, and we 503 00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:19,160 didn't want God. Now we wanted to be God. 504 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,880 OK, That's what sin is. I don't want no God. 505 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,120 I want to be God. I'll even be spiritual. 506 00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:27,640 I'll create a world where I'm spiritual, but I'm still God. 507 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:33,480 I'm in charge. And so in our sin, we actually 508 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:35,440 here's the problem, we don't want God. 509 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:36,720 That's part of the problem with sin. 510 00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:41,520 We don't just need help, we need like to be changed. 511 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,520 Does that make sense? Like the core of who we are is 512 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:46,800 fractured in sin. That's the problem with it. 513 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,600 So God sees us in and turn from Him. 514 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:52,840 We're destroying ourselves, we're destroying one another. 515 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,560 And so He created a plan to bring us back. 516 00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:59,800 He created a plan not just to wipe away what the cross is. 517 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:03,160 We'll talk around it a lot. It's not just a wiping away the 518 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:05,720 bad things. It's actually also the means by 519 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:08,800 which God makes us new. He's making us who we were 520 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:12,000 designed to be but failed to be. Yo, what is happening in the 521 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:15,720 person of Jesus is He is living the life humanity was intended 522 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:18,360 to live. He is quite literally the new 523 00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:20,080 Adam. He's the new humanity. 524 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,040 It's what we were supposed to be but failed to be. 525 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:24,760 We were supposed to love God and others. 526 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:27,800 We're supposed to live unto others and live with others at 527 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,320 the center and God at the center and not ourselves. 528 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,840 That's what Jesus did. He lived a perfect life, 529 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:40,120 sinless, but then at the end of his life he died in unjust death 530 00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:44,560 that he did not fight back against, he allowed to happen. 531 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,400 He silently submitted to an unjust process at the hands of 532 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:52,720 the Romans and the hands of the Jewish leadership because what 533 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,480 he was doing was not just dying an arbitrary heroic death. 534 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,640 Here's the problem y'all, a lot of us think Jesus dying is like 535 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,000 a hero, like a good dad or something dying for kids they 536 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:04,840 love or like a heroic moment. Y'all. 537 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:08,840 That's not it. What was happening is actually 538 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:15,400 his death was buying something. It was there was an efficacy to 539 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:17,600 what he was doing. It means it was doing something. 540 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:21,080 It's not just an arbitrary like picture on the wall to to 541 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,640 inspire. It was a transformative moment 542 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:29,240 in history, not just a heroic moment to inspire people. 543 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,840 It's a moment that is actually purchasing something. 544 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:37,560 What was happening on the cross is all that our sin deserves, 545 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,400 all our turning back on God, all of our our lust, our gossip, our 546 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,800 just yawning at others. Sometimes sin isn't just wicked 547 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:46,880 awful things, just we're not what we should be. 548 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:48,960 It's the bad things you do and it's the good things you don't 549 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:50,760 do. Even on my best day, I don't 550 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:52,480 care about you as much as I should. 551 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:55,200 That's also sin. It's not just when we kill 552 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:57,760 people or whatever it is. It's that we're not who we ought 553 00:27:57,760 --> 00:27:59,800 be. And what's happening on the 554 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:04,600 cross is God the Father sent the Son full of the Holy Spirit to 555 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:08,120 absorb the wrath that our sin justly deserves. 556 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:12,600 Yo, what's happening on the cross is actually, if that 557 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:17,440 doesn't happen, justice is not possible because the Son of God 558 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,240 suffered an injustice. We could trust one day justice 559 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:22,360 will happen. Nobody will get away with 560 00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:26,160 anything because the Son of God absorbed the pain. 561 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:28,760 Don't you want, like if God forbid something awful should 562 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,320 happen to your family, would you want a judge who just says no 563 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:33,800 big deal, we're letting them off go for it? 564 00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:37,680 It would, it would, it would make you just want to scream. 565 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:40,040 Will somebody pay attention to my case? 566 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:41,840 My brother? This happened. 567 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:45,840 Look at what happened to them. The point is, y'all, if Jesus 568 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:48,800 didn't die, y'all. The thing that makes most sense 569 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,480 to me is vengeance. When people don't know Jesus, 570 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:53,440 vengeance makes sense. Blood for blood. 571 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,840 Let's throw down right now because if they're not going to, 572 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:00,640 if it's not going to be made right, I have to make it right. 573 00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:03,480 The reason Christians should be on the front lines of justice 574 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:06,760 and all these different things in our society, not vengeance, 575 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:10,840 is because the cross is real. And if not, we're a bunch of 576 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:14,280 idiots and we should just join. We should grab the guns. 577 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:16,600 We should be front lines. We should be so angry and 578 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:20,120 hostile. But because Christ offers to 579 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:23,480 absorb the wrath of God, to absorb all of the pain our sin 580 00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:27,240 deserves, it's a real efficacy. Y'all with me? 581 00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:31,040 It's doing something. It's not just heroism. 582 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,080 Does that make sense? I think the average person in a 583 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:37,160 church in our country thinks it's just a heroic thing to make 584 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:39,360 you be a good person. That's not what the Bible 585 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:43,520 teaches, y'all. It is a transformative moment of 586 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:47,960 substitution where God Himself takes the place of those who 587 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,400 want nothing to do with Him so that he might woo and win them 588 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:55,240 back to Himself and pay for the right for them to be in his 589 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:58,200 presence once again, pay for the right for them to be made holy. 590 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,880 When God looks at you believer, he does not see your sin, He 591 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:06,040 sees his Son. When we trust Christ, when we 592 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:08,800 repent and believe, as we'll talk about in a moment, what's 593 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:12,400 happening is Jesus has taken our place and we get his. 594 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:15,240 That's the good news of the Bible. 595 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:17,560 That's the good news of Isaiah 53. 596 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:22,560 We need to substitute the story of the Bible is not motivating 597 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:26,400 you to become a moral winner In the Scriptures we see God 598 00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:28,920 offering to trade places with the center. 599 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:35,840 That's what the Bible teaches. OK, third thing, the eunuch 600 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:39,480 responds to this message. The eunuch hears this in 601 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:42,280 response verse 36. And as they were going along the 602 00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:45,240 road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, see here is 603 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:47,120 water. What prevents me from being 604 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:49,920 baptized? And he commanded the chariot to 605 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:51,560 stop, and they both went down into the water. 606 00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:54,280 Philip in the eunuch, and he baptized him. 607 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:57,240 Y'all, he gets it. This this eunuch. 608 00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:00,680 And again, remember, he was excluded his whole life from the 609 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:03,600 temple, not allowed to be in God's presence. 610 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,840 The temple represented God's manifest presence on earth as he 611 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:09,080 wanted to be everywhere. So he was in the temple. 612 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:13,000 That was the logic of it. OK, so the eunuch was excluded. 613 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,800 So to use that word prevents he's asking the man who used to 614 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:19,520 be prevented is now asking what prevents me from being made 615 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,000 right with God. And the answer is nothing. 616 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:24,880 Y'all what Jesus did, the eunuch gets it. 617 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,600 It's not just some cool information, some cool story. 618 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:31,480 That story, that truth about Jesus can be mine by faith. 619 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:35,320 He, he offers to take my place and I receive that. 620 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:39,280 I repent, I grab that his work is sufficient for me to be in 621 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:43,240 God's presence. Nothing prevents me from coming 622 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:46,120 all the way in. Nothing can stop me from knowing 623 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:49,760 God now. I love in the text, He doesn't 624 00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,440 go back to Jerusalem. He doesn't go back to get 625 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:53,920 somebody to say you're good with God now. 626 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,440 He keeps going because he's been made right. 627 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:00,240 All is well. Nothing can stop us from being 628 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:02,880 made right with God through Christ when we trust him by 629 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:05,520 faith. So just to be clear, the eunuch 630 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:07,760 did not get baptized because he learned something cool about 631 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,880 Jesus. The eunuch did not get baptized 632 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:13,440 because he liked the story about Jesus. 633 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:18,880 What baptism is, is an outward response of the inward agreement 634 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:22,040 with God about reality. God is saying you're a Sinner. 635 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:26,840 God is saying you have not lived life as you should prior to 636 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:29,680 trusting in Christ. The harsh news of the gospel is 637 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,640 you're not right with God eunuch, and you're not not right 638 00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:33,840 with God because you're a eunuch. 639 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,440 You're not right with God because you're a Sinner and you 640 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,800 are separated from God. That's why Jesus had to come. 641 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:41,960 The good news of the gospel is on the other side of the bad 642 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:43,880 news. The bad news is if Jesus did not 643 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:47,760 die in our place, we're still in our sin and we can't be before a 644 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:51,760 holy God. Jesus make it offers to make us 645 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:55,640 well and he is agreeing with that that I need to be made well 646 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:58,360 y'all many times. And if you go read the the 647 00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:01,720 gospels about Jesus, the people who cling to him are the 648 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:04,360 prostitutes. It's the bombs, it's the tax 649 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:06,760 collectors because when you tell them you're a Sinner, they go. 650 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:08,160 I know. You know what? 651 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:09,960 You tell a bunch of people who think they're pretty good 652 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:11,920 people, You're a Sinner. Shut up. 653 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:16,360 Yeah, that's what I thought in my head, no, I'm not better than 654 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:17,560 that guy. Better than that guy, better 655 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:20,160 than that guy. And again, that you can be rich 656 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:21,840 and have that posture in your heart or poor. 657 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:24,720 So it's not that all people on the bottom are just humble. 658 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:26,840 That's not what I'm saying. But when you've got nothing and 659 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,640 you know you're a Sinner, you're more likely to agree with that. 660 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:32,760 The ingredients are a little easier to wrap your mind around. 661 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,960 It's really hard for a bunch of people who think they're pretty 662 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,800 good to be told you need a savior. 663 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:45,120 Like 100% you're so busted that God himself had to die a 664 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:47,320 violent, unjust death on a cross for you to be made. 665 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:51,480 Well. They're like I'll take the 666 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:53,280 picture version. I just want to be inspired by 667 00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:55,680 them. I like them, let them inspire 668 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:57,840 me. I'll do better, yo. 669 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:00,160 That's not the Bible. That's not what the gospel is. 670 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:02,920 That's not what maybe that that's what our flesh wants to 671 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:04,800 hear. But what the the Scriptures 672 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:08,040 offer is substitution. What it offers is salvation, not 673 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:11,080 coaching, not motivation. You don't need a coach. 674 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:15,360 You need to be resurrected. You need to like somebody dead 675 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:17,120 needs resuscitation. That's what you need. 676 00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:20,600 That's what the Bible says. Your situation is before God. 677 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:24,080 So the the eunuch is getting baptized not because he wants a 678 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:28,600 new hero to be inspired by, but because by faith, by grace, by 679 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,280 trust in what Jesus had done, not what he did. 680 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,679 I agree with you, God. I need that much help and you 681 00:34:34,679 --> 00:34:37,280 offer to give it to me. I receive it by faith. 682 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:41,280 I repent and to be clear, the baptism does not save him 683 00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:42,600 because then guess what that would mean? 684 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:44,159 You save yourself by getting baptized. 685 00:34:44,159 --> 00:34:46,320 You see how that works? What saves you is the blood of 686 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:48,280 Jesus. What saves you is faith and what 687 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:51,440 Christ has done saved people get baptized. 688 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:55,120 Baptism doesn't save you. Are you with me and I love in 689 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:58,640 the text says that he went down into the water and the word 690 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:01,920 baptism baptizo. It implies immersion like going 691 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:05,640 under. It's a picture that you are it's 692 00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:08,320 as if Jesus's death applies to you. 693 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:10,520 You are now dead and then made alive like when I was first 694 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:13,720 coming to faith in Jesus, all the hip hop songs were like RIP 695 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:17,720 I was alive. I've born again in 2018. 696 00:35:17,720 --> 00:35:19,200 I got 2 birth dates. I died. 697 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:20,520 I'm like what are they talking about? 698 00:35:20,720 --> 00:35:23,280 The point they were trying to make is the old me is gone, new 699 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:25,760 me is come. It's like I I came alive in 700 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,000 2011. That's the way I I use that 701 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:31,200 language because prior to that I did not know God. 702 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:33,120 I was dead in my sin. I've been made alive. 703 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:35,640 His death counts for me. I get his life. 704 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,760 That's the picture of baptism. There's much more I could say 705 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,680 about baptism. Some of you have believed the 706 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:44,280 gospel and have never been baptized. 707 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:50,280 You need to get baptized. People who have trusted Christ 708 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:54,040 and believe that message, like the unit, go under the water and 709 00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:58,880 get baptized to agree and align themselves with Christ and his 710 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:00,680 finished work on their behalf. Some of you need to get 711 00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:02,360 baptized. We'll talk about that a little 712 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:05,160 bit more later, but some of you are still in the guidance phase. 713 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:08,440 If you still don't get the gospel, but there's any part of 714 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:10,600 you that wants to get the gospel, here's your homework. 715 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:13,400 Grab somebody and say, can we go to Bojangles today? 716 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,560 We're not leaving Bojangles till we eat all this chicken or I get 717 00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:19,960 the gospel. Let's start talking about the 718 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:21,200 gospel. If you're like, I still like, 719 00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:24,400 help me understand the gospel, this substitution versus like 720 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:26,920 information hero stuff. Like what does that mean? 721 00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:30,280 Tell me the gospel. Do not go to sleep until you get 722 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:32,440 it. The Bible is not about you, it's 723 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:34,640 about Jesus. It's about what he's done to 724 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:37,840 make you well, not what you do to impress yourself before God. 725 00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:40,760 OK. And then respond to it once you 726 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:43,520 believe it. Point #4 the Spirit carries 727 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:47,440 Philip away, the same spirit who brought him there took him away. 728 00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:50,840 So Phillip leaves. What's interesting, you could 729 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:52,560 go, you could write down Acts 21, eight. 730 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:55,120 That's the next time we see Phillip Phillips gone from Acts 731 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:59,280 pretty much OK. And Acts 21/8, scholars tell us, 732 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:03,720 is 20 years later, OK, it's after like Paul is deep in his 733 00:37:03,720 --> 00:37:07,960 ministry at this point. So what I love about that and it 734 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:11,080 tells us in Acts 21/8 that he has four daughters who are like 735 00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:13,480 full of the spirit and beasts in the church and all this stuff is 736 00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:15,760 incredible. What I love about that is Philip 737 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:18,440 goes from like the miraculous life of like, go over there, do 738 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:21,040 this, do this. And then for 20 years. 739 00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:24,440 Because if you look at verse 40, it tells us Philip found himself 740 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:26,440 at Azitus. And as he passed through, he 741 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:29,160 preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. 742 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:32,360 Guess where he is in Acts 21, verse 8, Caesarea. 743 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,200 So as best we could tell, once he got there, he stayed. 744 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:37,640 Does that make sense? And he raised his family, four 745 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:40,280 daughters. What I love about Philip is he 746 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:42,920 will do it when it's, hey, serve some tables, help some widows, 747 00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:44,680 got it. Hey, preach the gospel 748 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:47,400 miraculously to the Samaritans and go over to that chariot over 749 00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:48,960 there and help that guy. You're taking the gospel to 750 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:49,960 Africa and you don't even know it. 751 00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:53,120 Got it. And then go over there and stay 752 00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:54,560 there for 20 years and raise some kids. 753 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:58,440 Got it. You know, I love this picture of 754 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:02,360 miraculous and mundane raising his family full of the spirit 755 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:04,320 and he's not like, Oh no, God doesn't love me now because he's 756 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:06,120 not asking me to do miraculous stuff y'all. 757 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:08,400 God loves you and the miraculous and the mundane. 758 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:10,280 Be full of the spirit. Know your word. 759 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:11,880 Ask people if they understand the Bible. 760 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:13,720 Ask people if they want to hear about Jesus. 761 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:17,840 Talk to people, love God and the miraculous and the mundane and 762 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:21,200 let's all pray. We got 4 kids as awesome as 763 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:22,800 Phillips kids. They miss somebody. 764 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:25,320 Seemed like the Lord was all over it. 765 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:28,240 So, church, are you all in the miraculous and in the mundane? 766 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:30,720 Are you all in when nobody's around? 767 00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:31,680 Are you fooled? The Spirit? 768 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:33,280 Are you reading your word? Are you asking for 769 00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:36,240 opportunities? We don't leverage our mundane 770 00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:38,440 lives to say God hasn't done anything miraculous for me. 771 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:40,360 Don't do that. He saved you. 772 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:42,920 He bought you, He filled you with the Spirit. 773 00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:44,480 He gave you His word. He gave you the church. 774 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,360 Let's get after it and then ask Him for opportunities. 775 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:49,440 He will bring them to your doorstep. 776 00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:51,440 He will put it on the tee. You with me? 777 00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,240 OK, The eunuch goes on rejoicing. 778 00:38:55,240 --> 00:39:00,120 I love this image takes Philip away and the eunuch's not like, 779 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:03,400 Oh no, I don't have a what am I going to do now? 780 00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:06,000 He's just, he trusts the spirit who just brought this guy to him 781 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:07,640 to share this message with him about Jesus. 782 00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:11,200 And he goes on rejoicing. He goes all the way to Ethiopia 783 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:14,680 and history tells us he goes on to, I mean, the church starts 784 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:15,800 through. He's just sharing the good news. 785 00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:19,160 It's pretty incredible. I love that his impulse was not 786 00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:21,720 to go back to Jerusalem. Don't you love that He didn't 787 00:39:21,720 --> 00:39:24,520 need to go back there, Y'all? You don't need a new life. 788 00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:27,640 If you're following Jesus. You go back into your old life, 789 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:29,600 full of the Spirit. It is difficult. 790 00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:31,880 One of the hardest places to go back is your hometown. 791 00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:34,240 OK, Amen. Somebody you come to Christ. 792 00:39:34,240 --> 00:39:38,560 You're like, can I just move, please? 793 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:43,240 These people, all my friends, they know me, yo. 794 00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:46,400 The Philip, the eunuch goes back and he's confident. 795 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:48,800 He ain't looking for nobody to tell him what he needs to be 796 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:50,680 made right with God. He's been made right with God. 797 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:52,440 He's been united to God by faith. 798 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,800 The Spirit indwells him and now he is bearing fruit. 799 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:57,880 Y'all. The great irony with a eunuch is 800 00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:00,400 they can't bear fruit in the physical sense. 801 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:03,840 But the Old Testament is full of promises to guys like this 802 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:05,240 eunuch. Isaiah 56. 803 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:08,280 Go read that. The idea is that you were once 804 00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:11,360 barren, but now in the Lord you will bear more fruit than if you 805 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:13,440 were never barren physically. Does that make sense? 806 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:16,720 So he didn't need a new body as a sign that the Lord loved him. 807 00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:19,680 And he'll get that one day he's going to bear all kinds of 808 00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:21,880 fruit. Going back to Ethiopia, you can 809 00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:24,320 make the argument we wouldn't be here today without this man. 810 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:29,640 So pretty incredible how the Lord used him to bear fruit in 811 00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:33,320 his church for God's glory. And lastly, y'all, the Spirit, 812 00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:37,200 the Spirit is still carrying. He's still putting Phillips in 813 00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:41,800 places and moving the eunuchs. The same Spirit who brought him, 814 00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:46,040 sent him out. Y'all, God's got this. 815 00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:49,200 He does. He can do it. 816 00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:53,000 He's orchestrating at a big level, in a little level, all 817 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:56,280 kinds of ways. He's he's, he knows what he's 818 00:40:56,280 --> 00:41:00,880 doing. In 2011, I y'all, I was y'all 819 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,440 would not have loved the version of Tanner I was in January of 820 00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:05,960 2011. I was playing basketball in a 821 00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:07,920 three on three tournament, camping out for some tickets. 822 00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:13,400 I exit the gym making a miraculous, extravagant show of 823 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:16,040 my anger, throwing the ball around the gym, looking silly 824 00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:19,400 because we lost. I walk out and a guy's coming 825 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:22,080 out of a tent frustrated because he's been sharing the gospel for 826 00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:25,160 18 months with a young man and this man wanted nothing to do 827 00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:26,440 with him. He's frustrated like, Lord, what 828 00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:27,680 am I doing? He comes out, one of my 829 00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:31,000 teammates says, hey, John, you want to go to Jimmy John's with 830 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:32,360 us? It was like 11:00 at night. 831 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:35,840 We go to Jimmy John's. John is just disappointed in his 832 00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:38,680 mind about this relationship he's been in for 18 months, but 833 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:40,760 he's also following God in the mundane. 834 00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:44,000 Now we know it's a little miraculous, but he has a 835 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:46,520 connection with this short punk who says he likes basketball, 836 00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:47,920 and he invites him to start reading the Bible. 837 00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:49,520 That punk is me. OK. 838 00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:53,160 And John just starts sharing the the gospel with me, read the 839 00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:54,880 Bible with me for like 3-4 months. 840 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:58,480 Now I know that every single night he was going back to his 841 00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:01,440 friend's dorm and praying for up to an hour each time afterwards 842 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:03,000 that I would understand the gospel. 843 00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:06,320 That's such a good story. There's so many stories in 844 00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:09,320 church history like that, just thousands of them, y'all. 845 00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:13,600 There are stories right now of people having dreams in 846 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:16,640 countries that are closed where it's illegal to be Christian. 847 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:19,280 They're having dreams of somebody with the book and they 848 00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:22,120 go and talk to the one person that they know knows that book, 849 00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:24,400 or maybe they get connected to the person who knows that book 850 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:28,520 later the next week and God shares has that person share the 851 00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:30,720 gospel with them. God uses the miraculous. 852 00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:34,520 He uses the mundane, but you have to hear the news of what 853 00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:37,200 Christ has done for you, agree with God, and then live with 854 00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:40,360 God. It's all so that not just so 855 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:42,600 something bad don't happen to you one day and you get to go to 856 00:42:42,600 --> 00:42:44,920 some good place. He wants to live with people. 857 00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:46,840 He wanted to live with the eunuch. 858 00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:50,840 Through the eunuch, you see that He wants to live with Philip in 859 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,000 Caesarea. God wants to live life with you. 860 00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:55,160 He made you to live with you, friend. 861 00:42:56,760 --> 00:42:59,160 I pray that we would see that the Lord is after us. 862 00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:01,160 He's after us. He loves us. 863 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:07,600 Let's pray our Father, thank you for the good news about Jesus. 864 00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:10,320 God. I pray, Lord, that you would 865 00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:12,600 spread this news in our great city, that more people would 866 00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:14,360 hear the good news. God, we pray the miraculous. 867 00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:17,560 We pray for dreams. We pray people would just wake 868 00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:20,440 up with the sobriety about themselves that they are made. 869 00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:21,720 They're not just a random accident. 870 00:43:21,720 --> 00:43:23,480 God, they would go searching for truth. 871 00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:25,960 God, they would arrive at your scriptures and then God, I pray 872 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:27,520 for your church. God, give us boldness. 873 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:31,600 Just give us more willingness to ask, willingness to put 874 00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:33,840 ourselves in positions. Help us to be full to spirit. 875 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:37,440 And God, we trust you get the gospel to all peoples everywhere 876 00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:40,560 because it's the good news that you want to live with us, God 877 00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:44,160 and apart from you. We're just not whole, we're not 878 00:43:44,160 --> 00:43:46,120 well. God, we need you, we love you. 879 00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:47,880 We pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.