Atlanta Bible Baptist Church

Rev. Toby Monday: Let me go ahead and say a quick word of prayer and we'll get going. Dear Heavenly Father, we indeed say thank you, thank you, thank you for today. Thank you for the reminder of your wonderful name, Jesus. Because there's nobody like you. We wouldn't serve a God like you, oh Lord, because you've done so much for us. Most importantly, you have saved our souls.

Because you've saved our souls, you don't want us to keep the message to ourselves. You want us to be able to share it with other people. So today, Lord, as John the Baptist declared, I do the same. I decrease, you increase. I become less and less, you become more and more because the message that's being shared is from your word, not from me. So I move out of the way. Holy Spirit, I ask you to have your way. Open hearts and minds to receive your word.

We know that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But God, you've come to give life and to give it more abundantly. So speak to your people. Lord, I know that there are some visitors in the room and maybe they may not know who I am or know who Pastor Ray is. But God, I thank you that you placed them here today because you have a word for them just as much as you have a word for our current members here. Have your way in this place. We thank you in Jesus' name. And all hearts said, Amen.

Amen again for those that are new in the building. I am Pastor U. Tobias and the U is Ulysses. That's after my dad. But because everybody mixes up our names a lot of times, you have the country folk that say Ulysses and you have the up north folks that say Ulysses. So I just say, call me simply Tobias. And then those that really know me, if you're real close to me, then you know me as Toby. My last name is Monday. It's like the day of the week. I do have cousins named M-U-N-D-Y, still Monday, but that's just another thing we have to talk about another time.

It's so good that you could come and be with us today. Again, for those of you that have been at this church like I have, my family started coming. My dad started coming in the late 70s. Some of the brothers at the church would plant seeds in his life and he began to come. And then in the early to mid-80s, that's when the whole family came. So I've been at this church for over 40-plus years. I'm 46 now. In my time of being here at the church, one of the things that always intrigued me was that our Pastor Emeritus, Dr. McNeal, would always have various guests to come in. Some of those guests were missionaries.

They would be from all parts of the world. Teresa Character was one of those ones, the Stockmans, Daniel Sapporo. So many would come in and they would share their stories and then we would bless them with a love offering after hearing their testimonies, seeing what they do. Then over the years, the Lord has blessed me to meet people like Sister Annette Smith. Pastor McNeal knows about her. She has a ministry down in Glenville, Georgia. So just here in the states, Sister Busby and Brother Busby, here in the states.

That's what motivated me to say, this is a real awesome opportunity for us because we get a chance to see people ministering not only here across the street but also across the sea. And the Lord also had an opportunity myself to be able to go to Botswana, to go to Ghana, and actually spend time with Brother Sapporo, actually ride in the car that we raised support for over the years. That was such a blessing. Many, some of the people here in the church, had an opportunity to go to Haiti to be with one of our dear brothers, Brother Ja, and spend time with him.

So we are very familiar with the ministry that's happening around the world. And that's due to Dr. McNeal and now Pastor Ray is the same. We want to see the gospel go outside of these four walls. And the only way that's going to be able to continue to happen is it's going to happen with people like you and me. That's why I want to encourage our young people today because just as I was encouraged as a young person growing up in this church, you have a vital part in what makes Mission Sunday all about, which leads to what I want to share with them and with all of you today.

Lessons that I've learned from Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Lessons that I've learned from the Ethiopian eunuch. I blame Pastor Ray because every Sunday, normally, he would share about how many things? Three things. Three things he would share. I've got three lessons and then I'm going to take my seat and sit down. Actually, I've got to get ready for the 2:7 class after this. But I've got three lessons and I'm going to take my seat. Let's go ahead and get into this right now.

Lesson number one: Whatever God says to do, you do it. These are going to be some real simple things if you happen to grab the outline out there in the foyer. Whatever God says to do, do it. Why? Because if you do, you'll receive blessings and/or become a blessing to someone else. And I do want to give a special shout-out to my spouse, my treasure. Because the Bible says, he who finds a wife finds a treasure. Some translations say a good thing. She isn't a good thing; she's a treasure to me. For the last 22 years, that's what it's been. So I want to thank the Lord for my spouse.

Big shout-out to my son who just graduated from high school. I want to thank the Lord for that. And the Lord's blessed that I have a senior in my daughter. She'll be graduating in 2027, so praise the Lord. You're going to have an empty nest. No, I won't. But I'm thankful that God is moving us. And even talking about Tyler becoming a senior, that's awesome. So to all the kids, I'm so proud of you. I pray that you have finished well. And again, if you have not, that's where the summer comes in that you build up and you gear up and you get ready for the next year ahead.

Let's look at that passage together. Acts Chapter 8, verse 26. I'm going to be reading this from the New Living Translation, but those that have other translations, definitely follow along. It says these words: As for Philip, who was one of the disciples, one of the apostles, the angel of the Lord said to him, "Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza." And I highlighted this: And so he started out. Whatever God says to do, you do it.

That first half of that scripture in 26 says, go south down the desert road. Now, he didn't tell him what to do or who to stop or see until later on, but just picture this. You're told by God to go down this abandoned, barren road. There is no QuikTrip, no RaceTrac, no 7-Eleven, no Hardee's, no McDonald's. Not even any subdivisions where you can stop and knock on somebody's house, maybe see if you can get a glass of water. All he was told to do was go down the desert road. Many of us probably would have not started out. Many of us would have turned around and went the other way.

But the Bible says he started out. Why? Because as I mentioned earlier, he would either be a blessing or receive a blessing. In this case, he would indeed become a blessing. One of the greatest blessings, the greatest blessing a person can ever receive, is accepting the Lord Jesus as Savior, to receive the gift of salvation. And what a joy it was to read Acts 8 again, to be reminded of what Philip had been doing, which we'll talk about in lesson three. Over this week, I had an opportunity to look at this news segment that was done a few years ago.

It was about this young boy who was at Reedsville High School in North Carolina. This young boy was named Caleb Wren. He was a freshman, but he was small in stature. Because of this, he was bullied and he didn't have any friends. He would sit at lunch by himself. And he shared with his older sister that he felt like a loser. So his older sister took to social media to share her concern and her post got an overwhelming response. Several of the high school seniors there at the high school, several who played on the basketball team and the football team, began to befriend Caleb.

And Caleb was overjoyed and blessed with having new friends. Tyrone, one of the players and a senior there at the school, shared this: that he was raised to help people and he understood what Caleb was going through because he, growing up there at the school, was also new to that area and it was good to be of a help to him. Did you hear what I just said? He was raised. Somebody told him, mother and father probably told him, "I need you to be respectful, help people in need." The assistant coach of the high school basketball team also shared this: He asked his students to be the example not only on the court but off the court, to lead by example.

You see Tyrone's parents, the assistant head coach there at the school, shared with the students, told them, "This is what we need you to do." And in seeing that post, they did it and they helped this young man out. He shared this phrase. Caleb said, "I feel blessed because now I have friends that I can talk to." He was blessed and Tyrone and the others, they became a blessing to this young man. He will never forget what was done for him. And the same goes for us. In giving out the gospel message, you'll never know how much of a blessing that is to that person as much as you will be blessed for doing what God said.

Which leads me to share this with the believers in the room, those of you that are part of the family of God. Obedience is the key. That's what I mean when God says to do it, that's being obedient. Dr. Charles Stanley, many of you that may know him, shared a couple of life principles that I've come to hold dear. He said this: "Obedience will always bring blessing." And another principle that he shared was that God blesses you and me so that we can be a blessing to others. And the most important blessing that we can give to people is the gift of salvation, to give them Jesus.

Now, as mentioned earlier in verse 26, Philip was told to go down a desert road, which led to another point that the Lord laid on my heart. Sometimes what God shares with us to do is weird. It's weird, it's strange. Many of you probably as you've heard me say these words, you can immediately think of what God may have shared with you to do and you did the same thing I did. "No, Lord. No way. Her? Him? That place?" It was weird, it was strange. But if God says to do it, you do it. Why? Because you will be blessed or you will be a blessing to someone else.

Three people came to mind as the Lord laid that on my heart. Noah. You remember him? God tells him in Chapter 6 of Genesis to build an ark, to build this big old boat. Now, mind you, the scriptures don't indicate that there was a body of water near Noah. And no doubt in my mind, if he had neighbors, they probably might have been like, "What's going on over here? Why are you building this?" But God commanded him to build a boat. Why? Because of the fact that God was going to bring judgment on the earth and he looked at Noah's family and he found favor with them. But he also wanted the species of our world to be made sure that they were covered and the boat was built.

Now, again, it was strange because there is no body of water, there is no mobile connection or truck to be able to take that ark to somewhere else. That thing was huge. And those of you that went to the Ark Encounter with us, you saw how big it was. That was towering. Could you picture having to build that and neighbors coming from miles around, "What is this fool doing?" It was weird. It was strange. But who told him to do it? God told him to do it. And if God told him to do it, understand something here. There's always a purpose behind what God does. And what was His purpose? To save Noah and his family and to save the species of the earth because He made a covenant with Noah.

Moses. Those of you that have the outline, put down Exodus 14:16 and then verses 20 through 21. You remember the story. Now, God brings the children of Israel out of bondage, heading towards the promised land. And they get to this huge body of water, the Red Sea. Mind you, there is a ferocious angry army coming after them. And the people began to complain. "Moses, you brought us here. We're about to die. You should have just left us. We were good." They were not good. They were under oppression. They cried out to the Lord. The Lord saves them. They pretty much came to Moses. "Something's got to be done."

And Moses goes to the Lord. And the Lord says, "Why are you standing there? Stretch out your rod. Take your rod, stretch out your hand towards the water." Again, that's weird. That's strange. Now, those of you that watched *The Prince of Egypt*, you remember that scene. Moses takes the rod... No, that wasn't how it went. God told Moses, "Take the rod, stretch out your hand towards the water." It's weird, it's strange. Nothing else, no razzmatazz, abracadabra, just stretch your hand with the rod. And the Bible says and the waters began to open up and the people began to walk on dry ground.

Again, whatever the Lord says, you do it because there's a purpose behind it. What did He want the children of Israel to see? That He was their God, that He was the one that would deliver them. And not only did He want to speak to the children of Israel, but He wanted to speak to Egypt to remind them that, yeah, you might be a powerful nation, but I'm more powerful than you.

Captain Naaman. He was dealing with this illness of leprosy. And those of you that have gone through the journey of looking at the Levitical law, having leprosy is not the best thing to ever have happen to you. Because first of all, you're outcast, you're thrown... You have to be separated from the camp, you've got to tell people you're unclean. But there is no medicine to take, there's no ointment to put on, no special surgery or procedure to do to get rid of it.

And Naaman dealt with this for a minute and you could tell because his wife went through it with him. And one of their slave girls made mention to Mrs. Naaman that if only the captain could just get with the man of God, and that was Elisha at that time, the Prophet Elisha. And he would be healed. And long story short, he goes to Elisha's house. Elisha doesn't come out. His assistant comes out because Elisha isn't the person that's going to heal this man. God is the one that's going to do it.

And so God gives him the word. "I just need you to do this. I need you to go to the Jordan River and just dip in there seven times. I just need you to take a swim." Now, those of you that have read it, Naaman went away hot. "I am Captain Naaman of one of the greatest armies of the world and you want me to go into this nasty, muddy, filthy Jordan when I could have easily taken a swim back in one of the Syrian lakes? They're more beautiful, they're more clear, they're more reflecting." But his servant said, "Captain Naaman, if God told you to do even more, you would have done it, wouldn't you? Just do it. It's real simple. Just go take a swim."

And he did. Because again, whatever God says to do, do it. Because there's a purpose behind it. Not only did God heal him, but now here's a man who's not Jewish, who has an encounter with this almighty God and now becomes a believer himself because of what God did for him. Whatever God says to do, it might seem weird, it might seem strange, but whatever He says to do, you do it because you will be blessed and/or you will be a blessing to someone else. Every last one of these stories has been a blessing to me in my life because it showed me the power of God. But it also showed me when a person followed what God instructed, God would do more than you could ever ask or think in following through. He brought salvation, deliverance, healing, and that was all because of obedience.

Lesson number two: Whatever God has given you to share, share it. Look at what the scripture says: So he started out and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Candace, the Queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship and he was now returning, sitting in his carriage. He was reading aloud from the book of the Prophet Isaiah. The Holy Spirit said to Philip, that's God, the third person of the Godhead, "Go over and walk along beside the carriage." Now, he could have said, "I don't know those people." No, but look at what the Bible says. And Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the Prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, "Do you understand what you're reading?" And then the man replied, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?" And he urged Philip to come onto the carriage and sit with him.

The passage of scripture that he had been reading from was this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb is silent before shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?" So beginning with the same scripture, Philip told him the good news about Jesus.

Couple of things that I learned from Philip. What Philip was going to do, he was going to share the gospel. This is what he had been doing pretty much in Chapter 8. If you go back to the beginning of it, he was doing that very thing with other people, and these were other people outside of the Jews. And he would be able to share the gospel talking about Jesus. In other words, he was sharing His story. He was going to share His story. Second, the eunuch needed someone to give clarity of what he was reading from the Prophet Isaiah, the Nebi'im, that's from the prophet, the Hebrew word. Because again, they didn't have the New Testament. They had what for us today is the equivalent of the Old Testament and he was reading from the prophetic books, in this major prophet of Isaiah. And what he was reading from was Isaiah 53:7 and 8.

What I want to be able to share with you guys is this: that you don't have a good story without His story. You see, your story and my story was this: We were lost, blind, condemned, judged, eternally dead. Do you hear me? That doesn't sound like a good story. I wouldn't pick that book up. I don't want that. Lost, blind, condemned, judged, eternally dead. But who came to share His story? Philip did. And as you all know, Philip, as he began to hear the scriptures again, the Bible says he took the scriptures and began to share with him Jesus.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, Isaiah said. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he didn't open up his mouth. You've got to understand something. Basically, in a nutshell, this is what he was trying to share with him. He was sharing with him the suffering that Jesus would end up going through. But the main thing that I want you to grab out of this thing that I learned from Philip is that Philip began to share about Jesus. And what better person to share about Jesus' story than an eyewitness? And I believe in my heart that if you're not a believer in Jesus, you can't be a witness. You can't share His story. And there are a lot of people today, they are religious so the impact of the story doesn't make a difference. But what I wanted to share with you is that His story made an impact on your story and your story is now a part of His story.

The only way that His story is going to make a difference in someone else's life, it has to make a difference in yours. And for many people today, this is just a Sunday ritual. This is just a Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday night get-together. But you must understand His story is what will make the difference. And if He shared it, I think he would share it like this. Many of you know about this through 2:7. You have to understand something here: God's purpose for man was that He wanted man to have an abundant life. And most importantly, He wanted man to have an eternal life. Yeah, I know some of us are like, "Tobias, you always keep doing that." Again, I'm going through 2:7 right now with the kids and I'm just trying to prepare them. And many of you know what I'm talking about because again, this is not something that the pastors and the deacons are the only ones to share. Every one of us has to share this message. We have to share His story.

But there was a problem. And many of you know what that problem was. It was sin. And sin is anything that you think, that you say, that you do that displeases God. And according to Romans 3:23, all of us have sinned. Even mama and them. Yeah, she sinned. And she might make the best pound cake, best strawberry cake, best sweet potato pie. She still sinned just like you. All of us sinned. And according to Romans 6:23, according to Hebrews, we're all going to die and after death, there's a judgment. So remember I told you, we're judged. And because of the wages of our sin, that penalty is death according to Romans 6:23. We deserve to die not only physically, but then we're judged, we're placed in hell, then we're taken out of hell, judged for our sins, and then tossed into a lake of fire, which is the second death. We are eternally dead. Told you: lost, blind, condemned, judged, eternally dead.

And many people think if I can just work my way to doing those good things, helping the homeless, giving to charities, helping in food pantries, doing all these things, doing my best work on my job, that hopefully... and coming to church, especially on Mother's Day, Christmas, and Easter, and let me sprinkle in Father's Day too. That will get me a stamp in? No. According to Ephesians 2:8, it's not of works that you've done. It's by grace that you've been saved. Titus said, "Hey, your works are filthy." Nothing you could do to save yourself.

But I have good news today. This is what Philip was talking about. 1 Peter 3 lets us know that Christ suffered for His sins. No, did you understand that Christ suffered for His sins, people? No, He didn't have none. Christ was virgin born, fully God, fully man. He committed no sin for 33 years. And one night He was betrayed by one of His friends. Matter of fact, He told His friends He was going to be betrayed by one of them. He was tried by the Jewish religious leaders that night by a few of them. Side note, if government officials are meeting at night and only a few of them are there, you know some crooked stuff going on. Trumped-up charges. Jesus did nothing wrong. They asked him one question, "Are you the Messiah?" And Jesus said, "Hey, y'all said it." And the Bible says that they began to assault Him, to beat Him down. They should have executed Him, but if they did it, they would have had a riot on their hands.

So they brought Him before the Roman government, Pontius Pilate. Pilate examined Him. Pilate didn't see anything wrong with Him. "You know what I'll do, just to appease, I'm going to flog Him, send Him on His way." The religious leaders didn't want that. So at that time, they had the Passover and they said, "Well, we'll have a part." Here on one side, here's an insurrectionist. We know he's probably killed a couple of Roman soldiers. He's guilty. He, I know he deserves to be executed. The other side, you have a man he didn't do anything wrong in my book. Not a threat to Rome. He's done nothing wrong. He's innocent in my book. People said, "We don't want the innocent man. We want the criminal. We want Barabbas." And with Jesus, what do you want me to do? They all cried out, "Crucify Him." Hence the cross you see on the screen.

Christ is the remedy for our sins. He died for them. Why? Because of love. Romans 5:8 says God commended His love towards us that while we were still in our sin-sick state, still sinning, Christ died. Not for good people, not for perfect people. Christ died for the ungodly. That was me. That was you. He suffered for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, with one purpose in mind: to bring us back to God. That's what Jesus did. And that's what Philip was sharing with the Ethiopian eunuch. He wanted him to understand that yes, He went there, He didn't say many words because He recognized His assignment and that was to save those which were lost. Who was lost? You were lost. I was lost. Blind and dead, condemned and judged.

And Christ came and He did it for us. Without the shedding of His blood, there can be no forgiveness of sin. He paid it all, and it's all to Him that we owe. And by Christ coming to do this now, since He has done the work, the only thing that we need to do now is give a response. John 1 tells us in verse 12, "To as many as received him, to them he gave the power to be called the children of God, even to those who have believed on his name." Paul said that if we believe in our hearts the Lord Jesus and confess with our mouths that God has raised Him from the dead, we will be saved because it's with the heart man believes, it's with the mouth that we confess. Do you believe this? If you believe this, you will have eternal life. I love what John 5:24 says, this is one of the verses that you're going to be learning. "I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me has eternal life. They will never be condemned. Now you will never be condemned because they have already passed from death, eternal death, now to eternal life." No judgment, no condemnation. You have now passed from death to life.

This is what Philip took the time to share, His story. He didn't say it exactly like this, but what I'm trying to get us to see is that these are the methods that are available to us to be able to share His story. And you know what? His story made the impact in his life.

Lesson number three: His story will make the impact. As they were riding along, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, there's some water. Why can't I be baptized?" And he ordered the chariot to stop and they went down into the water and Philip baptized him. I love what was shared in the New King James Version in verse 37. Philip had asked him, "Do you believe with all your heart?" then you can be baptized. And the eunuch answered, "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God." And the question on the floor to anyone of you that don't know the Lord as Savior, do you believe this? If you believe this, then what we're trying to bring out is this.

There's a couple of things that the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip had taught me here. The gospel impacts us personally. It impacted the eunuch so much that he wanted to identify with Jesus. See, baptism is not for salvation; it's for identification. He wanted to identify with Jesus. Can I tell you something? So many people want to identify with everything else than Jesus. And some people think because they identify with that other worldly thing that that will get them closer to Jesus. That's why even now in this election cycle, many people are like, "Hey, if you vote Republican, you're closer to Jesus." I'm just trying to keep this real with you. And then there's other people on the other side. "Hey, you vote Democrat, you're closer to Jesus." No. It's the gospel that makes you closer to Jesus. It's the impact on your life that makes you closer to Him.

He wanted to identify with Jesus. Even today, people think that, "Hey, if I get baptized, then I must be saved." No. That's a part of the identification. And by making that choice, I want to share something, not to hinder anyone here. Because you're making that identification choice, there will be a big target on your back. Jesus let His fellas know that because they were going to be riding with Him, that suffering would be along the road. I'm here to remind you of that. The gospel makes the impact, but it will be worth it because again, blessing or being a blessing will be connected to it. But you understand: Jesus was rejected, you'll be rejected. Jesus was ridiculed, you'll be ridiculed. But Jesus said, "Hey, they don't do that to me, they do that to you, they do that because you're connected to me." It will make the impact personally.

The gospel impacts us nationally. The eunuch had to share his story with others, including the Queen of Ethiopia. I look at it like this: He had no choice but to be able to share this story. It almost takes me back to the woman that was at the well, the Samaritan woman. You remember once she found out that Jesus was the Messiah, she dropped her pot and she went back into the town and told everybody, "Come see a man that knew everything about me." No doubt in my mind, the Ethiopian eunuch had to share this with not only the queen but with anyone that wanted to hear it. And this is where I believe this is why this is not the white man's religion right here, in just this text alone. Because here you have a man from Ethiopia, that's in the continent of Africa, taking that message back to his people, taking his story because His story made an impact on the eunuch's story.

And lastly, the gospel impacts us globally. After the encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch, Philip was transported to another area to preach the gospel and then on to other cities until he got to Caesarea in verses 39 and 40. It will make the impact globally because again, God wants us to not only take the gospel across the street, but He also wants us to take the gospel across the sea. And you and I have a part in that process.

But first, let it start in our Jerusalem. And for us here at the church, this is our Jerusalem. Why are you constantly hearing about praying go? Why are you hearing about, "Hey, have you passed out five tracts for the month?" The whole point is because His story made an impact on your story. And since it's made an impact on your story, your story has a part in His story. I'm going to say it one more time for those in the back. Because His story has made an impact on your life, your story is a part of His story. There is no story without His story. Your story is a part of history. I don't know about you, but I want to take the time more and more to be able to live out and share that story.

And if you feel like, "Tobias, I don't know how to be able to do that," well, I'm glad you asked that question. This is why we have Sunday school. This is why we have Wednesday night. This is why we're encouraging people to be connected to the Colossians 2:7 series. Because there will be tools and resources to help you to be able to know the story, to know His story so it can make the impact on you personally and then you can be able to make an impact nationally and globally. Yes, us as the leadership, definitely we're going to do our part in helping you, but ultimately God wants the whole body to be able to make sure that this message, His story, gets outside of these four walls.

The question is, do you know His story? Has His story made an impact on you? If it hasn't, I'm here to tell you right now you're dealing with religion, but that can change if you can do just like what the Ethiopian eunuch said in verse 37. He believed that Jesus was the Son of God. He believed in the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the burial and resurrection of Christ. And to add what Brother Door would always tell me, Tobias, don't forget to add this: Christ is coming back again.

Invitation is given to you, my brother, my sister. If you don't know His story, we're telling you you can be impacted today because He wants your story to be a part of His. And to those of you that are believers in Jesus Christ, what has God told you to do? Go. What has God told you to do? Make disciples. What has God told you to do? Be a witness. Amen.

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we're so grateful for this time today. And now, Lord Jesus, we ask that you would indeed help those of us that don't know His story to get clarity like the Ethiopian eunuch did so they can be impacted by your story so that their story can be a part of your story. And so Lord, we pray for that one that doesn't know you as Savior. May they come to know you today so that their story can be a part of history. And for those believers that may have been teetering on being able to share their story, Lord, I pray that they will make the commitment today that they would totally strive to want to share their story because it's connected to you. Have your will and way in the remainder of our time. We thank you so much in Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen. Amen.