The Word Made Plain

Female Voice: Welcome to The Word Made Plain with senior pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia.

Tony Clark: Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts.

Female Voice: Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 8, verses 26 through 40.

Tony Clark: I'm hearing stories coming out of the Middle East, how God is revealing himself to Muslims through dreams. I'm amazed at that. Because we know that Islam and the the the extreme group of them is ISIS. You know, you try to go over there trying to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that's your head.

So God, you know, so Satan is like, I'm going to keep all these Christians from ever coming over reaching these people because I'm going to threaten them with their head. So God said, okay. I'm going to reveal myself to them in dreams. And I heard same similar stories out of Russia or the former Soviet Union. God revealing himself to them in dreams. It's amazing to me.

But God is looking for a Philip who is sensitive to the spirit and willing to step out and obey step one. And this is how many people have become, or how many people have become missionaries around the world. God spoke to their hearts and placed Africa, Australia, South America, or some people group on their hearts. And like Philip, they arose and went. I wonder what Ethiopian eunuch is waiting on you to obey the voice of the Lord and to share with them.

This Ethiopian eunuch could be across the street, across the room, at work or across the ocean. The question is, will you obey? Now, I must say, I thought about this as I was going over my notes last night. I must say if you are married, then both of you and your spouse must be in agreement about this. Why? Because the Bible says the two shall become one.

And and and there needs to be an agreement. If both are not in in agreement, watch this, don't miss this. If both are not in agreement, it may be God's will, but it may not be his timing. Give God time to work on that spouse. Give God time. It may still be His will, but it may not be His timing. Because see, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I've been at this thing for a long time now. And I know people, mainly women, will ready to jump out their husband, come on. Oh, I don't since God say, you better come on. God has called us to go to Timbuktu and let's go, you know. Hey, whoa. Slow your roll.

There needs to be an agreement. Give God time to work on that spouse. Give him time. So it may be God's will, but it may not be his timing yet. So the Ethiopian eunuch answered Philip's question in verse 31 with, "How can I?" Because Philip asked, "Do you understand what you're reading?" He said, "How can I unless someone guides me?" And he asked Philip to come up and to sit with him.

Oh, this shows us that we need to be willing to spend time with the Ethiopian eunuchs that God sends our way. We need to be willing to spend time. We are we're in such a rush. We're in such a rush. We're ready to go. We just ready to go. Go, go, go, go. And there's a Ethiopian eunuch that God will send our way. But we may have to sit and and and take some time. We we may have to go to lunch with them. Ooh. And pay for it, you cheapskate, and pay for it. To talk to this Ethiopian eunuch about the things of God. Take the time to do so.

Now I I love this about Philip. When God gave him step two and told him to go and overtake the chariot, verse 20 said that he ran to him. What is that he didn't drag his feet complaining? Man, I wish I was still in Samaria. Man, I'm going to take this guy, this this one dude. Whole city come to know the Lord. Man, let me take my time. Maybe maybe it passes. I'm just thinking. This is just me, I'm just thinking. Philip might have been a fleet of foot. He ran and overtook a chariot? I mean, you know, I I'm sure it wasn't going breakneck speed, but at the same time, Philip probably had some wheels on him, you know. And he overtook this chariot.

So he didn't complain and wishing he was still in Samaria. No, he ran to the man. It's always a joy to see a person full of enthusiasm concerning ministry and service. The word enthusiasm comes from two Greek words, "in", E.N., and "theos", meaning "in" or "full of theos" or "full of God." So an enthusiastic person is a person full of God. And Philip was enthusiastic. Are you enthusiastic about the things of God? Are you enthusiastic about God, period? Or you so hum, oh, well, whatever.

Are you enthusiastic? Do you run? Hurry to get to church? Because you enthusiastic about worshipping him with other believers and hearing about him, or are you dragging your feet wishing you were back at home? Are you enthusiastic about the things of God as enthusiastic as you are about everything else, like sports, working out, losing weight, your job? Oh, we're enthusiastic about all the, oh, I lost another pound and a half. Who cares? So what? Not about the pounds, not the inches. Now if you say I lost another belt loop. Now if you say I lost a belt loop, now I can I'd be like, okay, all right, you're on your way to, okay. So why you lost a pound? Cares. Cares about that.

Are you as enthusiastic about memorizing a scripture as you are about losing a pound, you pound people, you weight watchers, just all into that stuff. Are you as enthusiastic about God? I all I got to do is look at your Facebook stuff. Look at your social media stuff. I can tell what you're enthusiastic about. You show it. You show it.

This man, when God gave him step two, he ran to the man. Could it be the man was trying to get away and, you know, Philip was like, I got to I Now, we would have been like, oh, he's getting away. God, hey, maybe it's not your will, you know. I I'll catch the next chariot that's coming. No. He ran and took this guy. He was enthusiastic about him. And so as Philip comes up, he comes up and and sits with the man. This is amazing to me.

Let me just say this because I I know that there are a lot of people, especially for you in the military, you came here to Virginia dragging your feet. You were not enthusiastic. You were not enthusiastic about coming here. You're longing to be at your old duty assignment. Instead of coming here enthusiastic enthusiastic, excited for the new assignment, the new church, the new experience, a new adventure that God has brought you to. You you you just dragging your feet and and I've seen many people who've come here on some kind of military assignment. And all of a sudden, you know, they as soon as they got here and and it's not as cushy as the last one. They on the phone. We used to call it in the Marine Corps, we used to call our monitor. You on the phone with the monitor. Give me out of here. Give me out of here, you know. Give me out of here. And they totally miss out on the adventure that God had for them. Maybe this was the duty station God was going to work some stuff out of you. And they're in such a hurry to get out that they miss out on this step. This step here. Miss out on what God was trying to do in their lives.

And so as Philip comes up to sit with the this very important man, verse 32 says this, "The place in the scripture which he read was this: He was led as a sheep before the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. And in his humiliation his justice was taken away, and who will declare his uh his generation, for his life is taken from the earth." Look what it says there in verse 34. So the eunuch answered Philip and said, "I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or or some other man?" Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture he preached Jesus to him.

Powerful verses. Verse 32 says, "The place in the scripture which he read is what we called Isaiah 53, verses 7 and 8." Oh, they didn't have chapter and verses at that time, not until the 11th and 13th um 13th centuries, century that they uh came up with chapter and verse. They were reading from a scroll. And this is a classic example of how God opens doors for evangelism.

As we can see that it was common in this day to read aloud, and it is obvious that Philip knew the word well enough to know what the man was reading. Oh, he tells Philip, "How can I understand unless someone guides me?" I I believe that there are many Ethiopian eunuchs who are looking to us to guide them in understanding the Bible. We don't want for them to try to get their understanding from the internet or so-called Christian TV. We want them, we want to be like Philip when we hear a verse, we will know from where they are reading because we are that familiar with God's word. But not only familiar with the Bible verses, but also be able to preach Jesus to them like Philip did in verse 35. Be able to explain that Jesus was like a sheep led to the slaughter like verse 32 says, and his life was taken away from the earth on the cross like verse 33 says.

Can you hear a verse from the Bible and be so familiar with it that you can preach Jesus from that verse? Are you that familiar with the word? This is my dream to know the Bible so well that I can hear any verse and not only know where it's found, but to be able to preach Jesus to people. It was said, it was rumored that years ago, this is how people got ordained to ministry. That those old crusty old preachers had those young whippersnappers and they will open up a verse in the Bible and said for your test, your ordination test. Now, tell us what this verse means and preach Jesus to us. Oh, there are many guys today who wouldn't be in the ministry today because all they know is John 3:16 and they read it. They read it and never come back to it.

God's fooling around today. But are you familiar enough with the Bible that you can hear a verse? I remember a time. I remember a time. Some years ago that the best way I can explain this is that each verse and each verse in each book. The best way I can explain it is it has a flavor to it. That I can hear a Bible verse, and I can say that, that tastes like Hebrews. That's that's that's tastes like Ephesians, which is one of my favorite books. That's a Philippian. That's the best way I can explain. It it takes on a flavor. A old friend of mine's we used to test each other. He always wanted me to wake him up, wake him up and because he worked a weird shift and so he had to sleep in the daytime. He always wanted me to call him and wake him up out of sleep and ask him where a verse is found. And whenever we talked, he would always question, you know, and said, you know, where does it say so and so and so and so, and I had to tell him where it was found. That's how I developed that flavor that each book has a flavor. There's a First Corinthians flavor. Second Corinthians. There's a Revelation flavor. The Gospels can get a little funny, but there there's a flavor to the Gospels too.

And only those who are familiar with the scripture, you know what I'm talking about. I just I put it in terms you can understand, a flavor. And you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, when I hear that, that sounds like something Paul said to the Galatians. Are you that familiar with the scriptures? Are you as familiar with the scriptures as your diet books? Are you familiar with the scriptures as your manual to get the next rank? Are you familiar with the scriptures? I mentioned it this morning to our leadership. There are so many people who are familiar with their manuals, but they don't know Emmanuel.

You don't know Jesus, you don't know his word. And here it is. This man running, caught up to it, heard him reading from Isaiah, and preached Jesus to him. That is a dream of mine to be able to do that. No matter where it is in the Bible, because all the Bible is about Jesus. Did you know that? Jesus said in the volume of the book, it is written of me to do your will, oh God. He says, "Search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, these are they that testify of me." So this is why, this is why even in Isaiah, he was able to preach Jesus to him. Because all the scriptures speak of him. They do. So that's a dream of mine.

Look at verses 36 to 40. "Says now, as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, 'See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?' Then Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' And so he commanded the chariot to stand still, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found in the Azotus, and uh passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea."

Now, in these verses we can see that the Ethiopian eunuch was ready to receive the Gospel message because God has stirred his heart. He asked Philip in verse 36, "See, here's some water. What hinders me from being baptized?" Philip tells him in verse 37, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." See, Christianity is not about a half-hearted belief in Jesus. Jesus said in in Matthew 22, verse 37 that the greatest commandment is you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, all of your strength. Not just some of it, but all. This is what Philip told the eunuch. Then the eunuch said, uh at the end of verse 37, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."

This is a classic example of Romans 10, and verses 9 and 10. It says, "If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. With the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." And the Ethiopian eunuch did this. He had last found what he was looking for, not a ritualistic religion, but a living and loving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Maybe this eunuch describes you. You have been going from church to church looking for something and leaving empty. It's not religion. It's a relationship with Jesus Christ. And if you will confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved like this eunuch. And so the eunuch commanded the chariot to stand still in verse 38, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now, when they came up when uh out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went his way rejoicing. He came to Jerusalem hungry, he left confused, and went home rejoicing. This is how we pray that you will leave here today rejoicing over a new relationship with Jesus Christ like this eunuch did.

There's a church in Ethiopia today that dates back to this eunuch here that is still around today as a result of this eunuch taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ back to Ethiopia. Now, according to verse 40, Philip was found in Azotus, which was the ancient uh uh ancient city of Ashdod, which is the city of the Philistines, which was 20 miles north of Gaza. Now, the real question is, now, in the beginning, we saw that Saul wreaked havoc on the church and started persecuting, dragging folks off and going to homes and and dragging people off, putting them in prison because of their faith in Jesus Christ, then all of a sudden we shift to Philip. What happened to Saul? Well, you got to wait till next week. Because Saul as we use the term today, Saul is going to meet his maker. And we're going to see that God's will next week.

Let me conclude with this. "Arise and go." What Ethiopian eunuch is waiting on you to obey the Lord and come to them? Remember the Lord will not give us step two until we have obeyed step one. The Lord didn't tell Philip, okay, look here. I need you to leave this revival. I need you to go to the desert. And when you go to the desert, you're going to see a chariot going by. And after you see the chariot going by, there's a eunuch in there that's going to be reading the Bible. I need you to run and take over, you got to get your running shoes on. So I need you to run and overtake this this this chariot, he's going to be reading Isaiah and then Lord didn't tell him that. He told him just arise and go and go to the desert. That's all he told him.

I wonder what Ethiopian eunuch is waiting on us just to obey step one. You will not get step two until you have obeyed step one. Finally, are you like the eunuch going from church to church and leaving empty? The joy you're searching for and the peace you're longing for is not in religion. It's not in religion, but in a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you repent of your sins and believe with all your heart that Jesus is Lord, do you know what that means? Jesus is Lord. That means he's Lord of your life. You don't get to do anything without checking with your Lord. You don't buy anything, you don't go anywhere, you don't move anywhere, you don't make these decisions without checking with your Lord. He's the Lord of your life. He's not just your buddy. He's your Lord. And you make him the Lord of your life. If you do that, you too can leave here rejoicing, knowing that you can pray place your precious life and your eternal soul in the one who paid the price for you. Who died for you on Calvary's cross. That you can place your faith and trust in him. He'll see you through. He'll see you through this life that's filled with all kind of craziness. If you make him your Lord, you'll leave it rejoicing like the eunuch did.

The question is, will you come? The great thing is that God has given us a choice. You can stand up, walk out that door, and walk out the same way you came in. Or you can come. And there's going to be some people to pray with you. And you can come and surrender your life to the one who paid the price for you. And you can leave here rejoicing. Some of you need to come home. You've drifted. And you need to come back to right relationship with him. There's people here that will love to pray with you about this. And the great thing about it, I feel so set free. The great thing about it, choice is yours. Choice is yours. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for this word you have given us. Lord, we pray that your Spirit will teach us. Write this word upon our hearts that we might not sin against you. And dear Lord, we're just praying, move in our hearts, Lord. Move in our lives. Draw your people to you. These are your people, God. We've already prayed for them. And so, Lord, I pray now that you would draw them to you. Draw them to Jesus. Draw them to the foot of the cross. Draw them to the throne of grace, that they may obtain mercy and find grace to help them in their time of need. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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