Latest / Scripture Unscripted / Acts chapter 8

Transcript

Acts chapter 8 · Scripture Unscripted

0:01
Acts chapter 8 let us pray our heavenly Father who reigns on
0:09
high El Elyon the most high God you are else should die.
0:14
I deny we love you, Yahweh, King of the universe, we love you,
0:21
Jesus, Holy Spirit, a spirit to Santo, we love you.
0:27
Enter in God to the space, Lord, increase the Holy Spirit's
0:35
presence in our lives. Fill us today boldly.
0:40
God, I pray, and I pray in the name of Jesus that you will be
0:44
well pleased. Father, I pray God that it'll be
0:49
your words that reign supreme, your words that will outlast and
0:56
outpace all of human thoughts. God, it'll be your word that
1:03
helps us to finish this race well.
1:06
Lord, we hold on to the spoken word.
1:10
God, we meditate upon these holy scriptures.
1:14
God, we believe every syllable. God, we believe every single
1:20
word. Lord Jesus Christ, help us to
1:24
get out of our own way, help us to not be self-centered, help us
1:31
not to be self reliant. But God, we lean in trusting in
1:38
every single scripture that is contained in the 66th Canon of
1:46
Holy Scriptures. God, we meditate upon your words
1:52
today. Lord, we know that they have the
1:55
power to save and the power to heal and the power to search us
2:02
and purge out all of the impurities and the dross.
2:06
God, I pray you'll refine us in the refiners fire.
2:10
God, I pray in the name of Jesus that you'll help us to see you
2:14
high and lifted up. I pray in the name of Jesus,
2:17
you'll help us to see you on every word.
2:20
God, I pray as we get into your word today that we are made one
2:25
with you, that we are made whole by you.
2:29
And God, I pray that you, Lord, will speak to this generation,
2:35
speak to us mightily and boldly. God, hide me.
2:41
Hide my words and my thoughts. God, I pray in the name of Jesus
2:45
that the Holy Spirit will indwell us from on high power
2:51
from on high. God, I pray that as we are
2:55
speaking your words, Lord, that it is falling on fertile soil.
3:00
Lord, I pray for fruitfulness to rise up.
3:05
God, I pray that you strengthen us for the battle.
3:09
God, I pray that you push us into the harvest.
3:14
Father, we come boldly into the throne room of grace.
3:20
We stand and gird up our loins, God, so that we can receive from
3:25
you what it is that you would have us do for this day, for
3:30
such a time as this. God, we are your humble
3:34
servants. God, we are your loving friends.
3:41
And Lord, we just want to please you, ABBA, we just want more of
3:46
you. Father, we love you.
3:50
Heal us, heal our bodies, heal our marriages, bring the
3:54
prodigals home. God, I pray for our neighbors.
3:57
Lord, I pray for those who persecute us.
4:00
Lord, I pray that we can turn the other cheek.
4:06
I pray God, that we can be found loving our neighbors as ourself
4:13
and loving you ultimately, above money and above position and
4:19
above power and above this world and above the pleasures and
4:24
above pleasantries and above status.
4:27
God, we worship you supremely, Adonai, the God of Abraham,
4:34
Isaac and Jacob. You are the only one true living
4:40
God. We are eternally blessed to have
4:44
a relationship with you God, through Jesus Christ.
4:49
Lord, we want to be known by you.
4:51
Help us to fill our lamps up today.
4:54
Help us to trim the Wicks today. Help us not to grow calloused
4:58
God. Help us not to grow despondent
5:02
God. Help us to keep our fire burning
5:06
bright. Lord, fan the flame today, Lord,
5:10
and help us. Lord, help us to love you more.
5:13
Help us to know you more. Help us to see you all around us
5:17
working mightily in our midst. Lord, we know you are here.
5:21
We feel your presence. Thank you, Jesus, for your
5:25
loving, tender mercies that are new today.
5:30
Thank you for forgiving us, for all of our sins that we have
5:34
ever committed, are committing, or will ever commit.
5:37
We thank you, Jesus, for the finished work of the cross.
5:40
We thank you, Jesus for the spilled blood.
5:43
Lord, we thank you, Jesus, for the atoning of our minds and
5:48
bodies and spirits and souls unto you, our eternal
5:52
destinations We give to you, God, our lives we give to you.
5:57
Our finances, we give to you, God.
6:00
Our children we give to you. Our families we give to you.
6:04
Our spouses we give to you. Our reputation we give to you,
6:08
God. We just want you and you alone.
6:11
Lead us in heavenly places. Lead us in paths of
6:14
righteousness. Surely goodness, mercy is
6:18
following us everywhere that we go.
6:21
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for all the many blessings that you've
6:25
already given us. We enter into the gates today
6:29
with praise and Thanksgiving, and it's in Jesus Christ, holy
6:35
and precious name that I pray. Amen.
6:41
Well, let's start in verse one. And Saul was consenting unto his
6:50
death. And at that time there was a
6:54
great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem,
6:59
and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of
7:03
Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
7:09
So we can see here, this is the fourth persecution of the early
7:12
church. And here is Saul of Tarsus, and
7:17
he is consenting to the death of Stephen, which I admonish you to
7:22
go back and read the last chapter if you haven't, where
7:27
Stephen gives a fire sermon to all of the religious folk of his
7:34
day, and he shows them how God is in all the world.
7:40
He is not contained in one house or in the temple.
7:45
And he has showed them that they murdered their Messiah who came.
7:51
But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.
7:54
And we know that doesn't excuse those who persecute the Lord
7:59
Jesus. But we know that it pleased God
8:04
to crush Him. And here it was.
8:07
Stephen was giving them the ability to repent and to admit
8:13
that they murdered Jesus out of envy, but they just harden their
8:18
hearts even further. And you'll see that as time goes
8:21
on, people will not come to them honestly.
8:25
And it's because they are delusional and they love evil
8:29
more than they love the truth. They delight themselves in evil
8:33
more than they delight themselves in the truth, and
8:36
Jesus Christ is the truth. 2A devout man carried Stephen to
8:45
his burial and made great lamentation over him.
8:49
Here the Jewish law would have stated that no one was allowed
8:53
to openly mourn for those who had been persecuted, those who
8:59
had been stoned by the high priests.
9:06
And here you can see these devout men, these godly men,
9:11
they did not care for that law. They openly mourned for Stephen
9:16
because he had done nothing wrong except for show them how
9:20
they were acting very deviously, how they had murdered Jesus out
9:27
of no reason. And that they were so wrapped up
9:31
and steeped in their idolatry that they it caused them to not
9:39
only kill Jesus, but here kill Stephen, who was the first
9:43
martyr of the early church. We know that the blood of the
9:46
martyr is the seed of the Gospel.
9:50
And here you can see how that seed went down into the ground
9:54
and it's about to produce fruit as they get scattered abroad
9:58
like seed getting scattered on fertile soil.
10:02
Friends Three. As for Saul, he made havoc of
10:09
the church, entering into every house and hailing men and women,
10:15
committed them to prison. So here Paul in the New
10:20
Testament, who wrote a third of our New Testament, and we will
10:24
be studying much of his epistles very soon.
10:29
Friends, stay tuned. It's going to get juicy.
10:34
It's going to get rich in Paul showing us how these moments in
10:44
the early church shaped his whole theology and shaped his
10:49
whole mindset, how he looks back on these moments.
10:53
And he would take these men and women and cast them into prison,
10:58
and he would actually cause them to blasphemy.
11:03
And he said that he would rather be cut off from eternity, cut
11:08
off from heaven, than for his people to have to go to hell.
11:14
And here you can see how this Saul of Tarsus, he is going to
11:20
be changed radically into the pall that we know, this super
11:26
apostle. For therefore they were
11:35
scattered abroad and went everywhere preaching the Word.
11:40
So these were accidental missionaries, but God
11:44
intentionally scattered them. And you can see that God draws
11:49
many straight lines with crooked sticks.
11:52
Don't forget it. You can see how God here doesn't
11:57
work like we would. We would say God spares Stephen,
12:01
but God would say watch what I'm about to do.
12:04
And to God, no one ever really dies.
12:07
Don't ever forget that. Death to us is the greatest
12:11
betrayal. It is the thing that we fear the
12:16
most. It is the number one fear in the
12:18
world is death. And of course, we have instincts
12:24
that cause us to try to save our skin.
12:28
However, I would have you to know that every single person
12:35
who has ever been born is being born today or will be born until
12:43
the end of times. No one is dead.
12:48
Every single person is alive right now somewhere.
12:53
And there are only two options. There's heaven and there's hell.
12:58
And so we need to know that the ways of God are not our ways.
13:04
And He gives us time after time after time, opportunity after
13:10
opportunity after opportunity to give our lives over to Him.
13:17
And if we will not do it within the 100 years or so that we get,
13:22
we would never do it in 10 lifetimes.
13:24
And so we need to know that God is long-suffering.
13:30
But you have limited chances. It is not an infinite chance.
13:36
You're not going to be able to make that decision once you
13:40
breathe your last breath. And here this death of Stephen
13:46
is causing the early church to be scattered like seed in a
13:50
fertile garden. And that is the way of God.
13:53
And we cannot try to figure God out.
13:56
All we need to do is say yes and Amen to the revealed will of God
14:01
that He shows us in His Holy Scriptures.
14:04
Then as time goes on and you are able to deal with the sin in
14:09
your life, the outward sin that is going to destroy you, God is
14:13
well pleased to start working on all the little nuances, on all
14:17
the little hidden secret sins that you don't think anybody
14:20
knows about, and even sins that you don't you aren't even able
14:25
to realize just yet. God's going to start working on
14:29
those things, and that is the way of God.
14:33
He's going to bring us home from glory to glory and sanctify us.
14:37
But we must consecrate the temple.
14:39
We must get rid of all the evil and all the malice that's in our
14:43
lives, all the yeast that we've allowed in friends, and walk in
14:49
purity and walk in truth. Walk in love, friends, and we
14:56
will see greater things. Five.
15:02
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached
15:09
Christ unto them. This Philip is one of the
15:13
deacons. It is.
15:15
This is not the apostle Philip. Don't get it twisted.
15:20
We must realize that this Philip was chosen to be one of the
15:25
ministers there after the Hellenists were complaining
15:31
about the Hebrews. You'll see his name in that
15:35
lineup. And here he is.
15:37
He's gone out to preach the word.
15:42
He's full of the Holy Ghost. Five.
15:47
Then Philip went down to Samaria.
15:49
So here's Samaria is mentioned and these were half breeds, half
15:55
Assyrian from the Assyrian invasion where Assyria came in
16:01
after just after taking out the northern kingdoms, Assyria came
16:05
in and actually put a bunch of their garbage worship in that
16:12
land. And then the Jews were
16:15
intermingled and mixed in with them and the pure Jews were
16:21
hateful and spiteful towards these Samaritans.
16:25
And you can see how God's heart is for the whole world.
16:29
You can see how God's heart is to spread the good news of Jesus
16:34
Christ to all people, groups, all nations, and all tongues.
16:39
And you can see here that it started with Philip and his
16:44
ministry to the Samaritans. We know that Jesus revealed his
16:49
deity to the Samaritan woman at the well.
16:53
And you can see here that this would have been a hard lesson
16:56
for these devout Jews. Six.
17:02
And the people with 1 accord gave heed unto those things
17:05
which Philip spoke, hearing and seeing the miracles which he
17:09
did. So God gave him the ability to
17:11
perform miracles in their midst. And these would have been no
17:15
different than the miracles that Jesus Christ had done, driving
17:19
out the unclean impure spirits, healing the sick and giving
17:23
sight to the blind, allowing the mute to talk and the deaf to
17:29
hear, preaching the good news to the poor.
17:34
Praise God. These miracles that God was well
17:38
pleased to give to the early church, and he gives them to us,
17:42
friends. And we should always assume that
17:45
God desires to heal, and we should not try to change our
17:49
theology. When we pray the paint off the
17:51
wall and nothing happens, we keep assuming those healings for
17:57
people and you will see greater things and God will show you and
18:04
manifest His presence in your presence.
18:08
Friends, you will see it. If you have the faith of a
18:12
mustard seed, you could say that this mountain move and it'll
18:15
move and it's not about the size of your faith, it's about who
18:19
your faith is placed in. And the prayers of a righteous
18:23
man availeth much. You must consecrate your temple
18:27
friends. You must go in and seek out and
18:32
allow the Holy Spirit to put His finger on anything that you are
18:35
harboring inside your mind and body and spirit that does not
18:39
belong, that is worldly and cultural, and allow God to purge
18:45
those things out of you. Take them out in the streets and
18:51
burn them. 74 Unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came
19:02
out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with
19:06
palsies and were lame that were healed. 8 And there was great
19:11
joy in that city. That's what happens when God's
19:13
presence rests and abides in a camp.
19:18
It's great joy friends, revival brings about great joy and
19:25
you're going to see that as God is well pleased to come in and
19:29
to heal people that there is great joy and we should strive
19:37
to be the men and the women that are conduits for God's healing
19:42
power from on high. He is the great Physician. 9 But
19:51
there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the
19:56
same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria,
20:02
giving out that himself was some great 1 So he sure did think a
20:07
lot of himself. And the Bible tells us not to be
20:10
wise in our own eyes, and always think of others as better than
20:15
ourselves. And here.
20:19
This Simon would have been considered one of the Magi who
20:22
used astrology and witchcraft and you can see here he has
20:28
bewitched them into thinking that he is connected somehow to
20:33
God and the magic tricks that he was doing was connected to God.
20:40
And these people were weak in their convictions and weak in
20:44
their faith, and they let this man and all of his trickery dupe
20:49
them into false worship. And here you would have seen
20:56
Simon as thinking himself as great.
20:59
So that's pride, friends. That's pride at its core. 10 to
21:05
whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest saying.
21:10
This man is, is the great power of God.
21:13
So there it is. You can see how Simon was so
21:18
prideful, and this is the pride of Satan, how Satan wanted to
21:23
elevate himself to a place higher than God.
21:26
And here Simon is steeped in idolatry and witchcraft.
21:32
And that is the new age garbage that's trying to rear its ugly
21:35
head in our time, in our day. And it's not new.
21:38
It's old and it's washed up, and it's limited, and we are
21:45
attached to a limitless, powerful, Almighty God that can
21:50
crush the head of the serpents made from the Staffs thrown on
21:55
the ground. 11 And to him they had regard, because that of a
22:05
long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
22:09
Beware, beware of all those who try to perform any kind of
22:18
miracle outside of the name of Jesus Christ.
22:24
We know there will be some who stand before God, stand before
22:30
the Lord Jesus Christ one day. And they will say we cast out
22:36
demons in your name. And they will say we perform
22:40
miracles in your name. And they will say we prophesied
22:46
in your name. And he will say, depart from me,
22:49
for I never knew you. It is not enough to know Jesus.
22:55
We have to be known by Him, friends, and I pray that you are
23:01
known by Him. And it is by getting into this
23:05
good book, it is by trusting in Him and Him alone.
23:09
He is the only way to the Father, and there is only
23:14
limited power outside of Jesus Christ.
23:18
And God designed it and created it that way to lead those who
23:24
refuse to believe in Him off into bondage and captivity.
23:30
And that's a hard saying. But you will find that the ways
23:35
of God are not our ways. He could thump Satan off the map
23:41
today, but he allows him to do what he's doing to reveal the
23:46
evil intent that's inside of mankind.
23:50
That is a hard saying and it calls for wisdom. 12:00 But when
23:58
they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the
24:02
Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were
24:05
baptized, both men and women. So you can see here that as
24:09
Philip goes down into this area, he starts proclaiming the good
24:14
news of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he had done.
24:17
And many believed in Jesus Christ, not in Philip, but they
24:22
believed in Jesus Christ, and he was baptizing them, and they saw
24:28
all the miracles that Philip was able to do in the name of Jesus
24:32
Christ. 13 Then Simon himself believed also, and when he was
24:37
baptized he continued with Philip, and wondering, and
24:41
wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
24:45
So here Philip makes a profession of faith, here Simon
24:52
makes a profession of faith to Philip.
24:54
And here you can see that outwardly he looked the part,
25:01
but inwardly he was trying to figure the angle out.
25:07
And we can surmise that Simon only said and did enough to look
25:19
as if he was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
25:22
And there are many in our camps right now.
25:25
There are many Judases in our camps right now, and they sure
25:30
look the part. And they're very unsuspecting.
25:34
They're very Incognito and you would never know it, but they
25:40
have no faith. They are only there for the
25:46
money. They're only there for the power
25:49
that they have over the sheeple. And you can see here that it's
25:56
not enough to just listen to somebody, but we'll know them by
26:00
the fruits, and we'll know them by the love that they have for
26:06
each other. 14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem
26:14
heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto
26:19
them Peter and John. Here comes Jesus's special
26:24
forces, here comes his elite group, O Peter the Rock and John
26:30
the Beloved. Here they come, and they are
26:34
wanting to see this rise of believers in this Samaritan
26:40
town. 15 who when they were come down, prayed for them that they
26:53
might receive the Holy Ghost. 16 For as yet he was falling upon
26:59
none of them. Only they were baptized in the
27:03
name of the Lord Jesus. So this is a controversial
27:07
little couple passages and we can debate on it and that is
27:16
beneficial and it is pleasing to the Lord for us to wrestle with
27:21
Scripture. We do not need to divide over
27:25
it. However, it is of my opinion
27:30
that they had received the Holy Ghost upon baptism, just like
27:33
you and I. But this greater manifestation,
27:37
this greater power, this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, a
27:41
revival like outpouring, had not yet happened until these
27:49
apostles came and laid hands upon them.
27:52
And there are many mysteries and many wanderings of the power of
27:59
laying on of hands. And we can be filled with the
28:02
Holy Ghost. We can have the Holy Spirit as a
28:05
down payment once we come to him and we are baptized in the name
28:10
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, We receive the the
28:15
baptism, we receive the Holy Ghost.
28:18
But it is even during our lives, after we've received that down
28:23
payment, that the Holy Ghost will come upon us in mighty ways
28:29
and fill us mightily and have us and to give us the power to be
28:36
able to heal and to drive out demons and give U.S. special
28:42
gifts of the laying on of hands. And we do not need to get away
28:48
from the ministry of laying on of hands for the healing.
28:52
And James is going to talk about that. 17 Then laid they their
29:02
hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. 18 And when
29:08
Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles hands the Holy
29:13
Ghost was given, he offered them money.
29:17
Think about that for a second. How evil is Simon to think that
29:22
he can buy the Holy Ghost? And the Holy Ghost is given to
29:26
us as a down payment, but as we consecrate our temples is given
29:31
to us in greater measure, and then also we can sear our
29:36
consciences and grieve the Holy Spirit into silence.
29:41
So you can see here that even though you have received the
29:44
Holy Ghost, you can see this fluctuation of His presence.
29:51
And it's all dependent upon how empty self is.
29:57
When you're emptied of self, the Holy Spirit can fill you, but
30:01
when you are full of self, you will grieve Him into silence.
30:08
And here he's trying to buy the Holy Spirit with money. 19
30:16
saying, Give me also this power, that on whoever I lay hands on
30:22
he may receive the Holy Ghost. 20 But Peter said unto him, Cure
30:28
money, perish with you, because you have thought that the gift
30:32
of God may be purchased with money.
30:34
He says To hell with your money, and you he's not interested in
30:40
money. God doesn't need your money.
30:44
He wants your heart, friends. And we cannot think that
30:51
Christianity is all about the selfish gain.
30:55
This prosperity gospel is garbage, and we do not need to
31:01
be steeped in the poverty gospel either.
31:04
But we say God just give us enough, just enough for today.
31:08
I'm not worried about tomorrow, just today.
31:12
And I think that that is one of the greatest ailments of the
31:17
current state of our church is that we are so steeped in the
31:23
world and we think that monetary blessings means that God is in
31:29
it. And it could not be further from
31:31
the truth. Friends, we don't need to worry
31:34
about tomorrow. We need to live like Christ.
31:37
We need to be sanctified and become more like Christ every
31:40
day, and we need to know that our next meal comes from Him,
31:44
our next breath comes from Him. And if He has given you much,
31:48
then you need to steward it well.
31:50
And it is easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a
31:53
needle than it is for the rich to get into heaven.
31:56
And we must have faith like a little child.
31:58
And we cannot rely on money more than we rely on the presence of
32:03
the Holy Ghost in our lives. And here Simon erred grievously,
32:10
thinking that the things of God can be bought by money.
32:17
We can preach the good news in a dirt Hut with sandals on.
32:23
We do not need the limousine, the private jet, and these
32:27
elaborate castles that get built.
32:31
All we need is the Word of God, the pure religion, friends of
32:37
Jesus Christ, and watch how God floods you with spiritual
32:43
blessings that monetary blessings could never compare
32:47
to. To hell with your money.
32:55
Simon 21. You have no part nor lot in this
33:01
matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.
33:06
There are many pastors who are in this situation today because
33:11
they made it more about the paycheck, they made it more
33:14
about seats, the numbers that are in seats and the tithes and
33:19
offerings than they have about ministering unto the poor who
33:25
have nothing to offer to take care of widows and orphans in
33:30
their time of distress. 22 Repent therefore of this your
33:44
wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of your
33:48
heart may be forgiven you. That is our call for this day.
33:53
For such a time as this we've got to repent of the wickedness
33:58
of falling in love and serving Mammon.
34:03
You cannot serve 2 Masters, you will love 1.
34:07
You will hate the other. It is plain as the nose on your
34:12
face. There is no trying to twist the
34:15
scriptures to meet your needs of how you think that this life
34:19
should go. Are you truly 100% dependent
34:25
upon God and dependent upon your next breath from God?
34:31
Or do you have it all together? You have no need for God, but
34:36
you like to tip your hat to Him. You like to give Him lip
34:39
service. But the fruit in your life
34:42
doesn't add up and you know it. Repent, and perhaps God will be
34:49
well pleased to show you the true religion, to show you what
34:54
it is that pleases His heart. We've got to get out of this
34:58
cultural insanity. That money is our God, we are
35:05
the rich young rulers, and we've got to get away from it. 23 For
35:15
I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the
35:23
bond of iniquity. So you can see here the reality
35:28
of when we turn our hearts from God and over to Mammon, this is
35:33
what it is. It's bitterness, it's gall.
35:38
You can see here that it is bondage and it is iniquity. 24
35:48
Then Simon answered and said, Pray you to the Lord for me,
35:54
that none of these things which you've spoken come upon me.
35:59
So here Simon is trying to get Peter to pray for him, because
36:07
Simon's not truly connected with God and he knows that Peter is
36:13
because he spoke a bold rebuke here, because Simon's heart was
36:18
all about money and power and pride. 25 And they, when they
36:28
had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned
36:34
to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages of the
36:38
Samaritans. So here we can see that John and
36:42
Peter come into Samaria and here they see and they sign off on
36:48
Philips ministry. And then as they're going back,
36:54
they're preaching the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ to the
36:58
Samaritans, and we can see that God's word is for the whole
37:01
world. 26 And the Angel of the Lord spoke unto Philip, saying,
37:08
Arise and go towards the South, unto the way that goes down from
37:14
Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
37:18
So here there were two roads leading out of this area that he
37:26
found himself in, and one of them was a desert road and it
37:32
was least traveled and he had a fruitful ministry there in
37:37
Samaria and God's calling him away from it.
37:41
Imagine that. How many of us, when we find
37:44
ourselves in a fruitful ministry, are so in tune with
37:48
God that if He said wrap it up, we could?
37:52
Or would we be so prideful and think that the devil was trying
37:56
to get us to shut down our ministry?
37:59
And this calls for wisdom. We need to know when the voice
38:02
of God is speaking to us. Test the spirits to make sure
38:07
that they are not the spirit of the Antichrist that is trying to
38:11
get you to stay or trying to get you to go.
38:15
This calls for wisdom. 27 And he arose, and he went, and beheld a
38:24
man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace,
38:32
queen of The Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure,
38:37
and had come to Jerusalem for the worship.
38:40
So when the Queen of Sheba had come to Solomon, she had come
38:46
from this area of Ethiopia. And Ethiopia, at the time that
38:51
this passage was written in Acts, was a much larger area of
38:57
landmass than the modern day Ethiopia that we see today.
39:01
And this man was powerful and he was a eunuch and he was devoted.
39:06
And we can see that the Queen of Sheba took back some of the
39:12
Hebrew theology back to Ethiopia.
39:17
And this man would have been knowledgeable, and he had gone
39:22
up to Jerusalem to learn more about Yahweh.
39:28
And he had, through the treasury that was available to him, he
39:33
had purchased a very expensive scroll of Isaiah, and he was
39:38
reading it. And he just so happened to be on
39:40
the passage of the Suffering Servant only months after
39:46
Jesus's death and burial. Ascension to the right hand of
39:50
God is resurrection. You can see here that it is all
39:54
God. And God is orchestrating all of
39:59
these events. And we can see that the
40:02
missionary movement is just one man preaching to one man, and
40:08
he's using the Word of God. And that is the formula 28.
40:14
Was returning and sitting in his chariot.
40:19
He was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said
40:23
unto Philip, Go near and join yourself to this chariot, see
40:29
how he is in tune. He just was praying for open
40:32
doors, and God led him into this moment.
40:35
And that should be the call that is placed upon our lives,
40:40
Friends, we do not need a building.
40:42
We do not need any kind of financial backing.
40:46
We just need the word of God. And we need to be in tune with
40:50
the voice of God, the still small voice.
40:53
And we need to ask God for open doors.
40:56
And he'll lead you on mission. And it'll be the greatest
41:01
adventure that you've ever embarked on in your entire life.
41:07
29 The Spirit tells Philip to go and join himself to the chariot.
41:15
30 And Philip ran there to him and heard him reading the
41:20
prophet Isaiah. And he asked, do you understand
41:24
what you read? What a bold question he's
41:30
asking. Do you understand these words
41:32
that you're reading? 31 And he said, How can I,
41:42
except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip, that he
41:47
would come up and sit with him. Isn't this a an amazing scene?
41:54
Let it, let it play out in the theater of your mind as you see
41:58
Philip run up to the chariot, hearing him reading about the
42:02
suffering servant out of Isaiah, him asking him, do you know what
42:08
you read and hear? The Ethiopian is honest and says
42:14
that he needs someone to teach and this is the way of God.
42:18
And yes, we can have divine counsel and divine knowledge
42:24
given to us by God Almighty. And you do not need a teacher,
42:29
but God's ways are that we have the teachers for those who have
42:33
not yet received this divine understanding from God Almighty,
42:39
power from on high, a gift of faith and a gift of
42:42
understanding, friends, and a gift of knowledge friends, that
42:46
is only from God. There are many who are entering
42:49
in these lambs that are entering in that need for us to expound
42:56
upon the Scriptures, and that is the way of God.
42:59
And he shows us here in the book of Acts that he uses other men
43:05
to help iron sharpen iron. 32 The place of the scripture which
43:14
he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
43:19
slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shear, so opened he
43:23
not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation his judgment was
43:28
taken away. And who shall declare his
43:31
generation? For his life is taken from the
43:34
earth. So we can see here that this
43:42
eunuch is miraculously studying the very Scripture that Philip
43:48
would have been very knowledgeable about Jesus.
43:55
And here God orchestrated these events for us and for our
44:02
example for today. 34 And the eunuch answered
44:17
Philip and said, I pray you, of whom speaks the prophet this of
44:22
himself or some other man. So that is how elementary this
44:29
eunuch was. It is not enough for us just to
44:33
own bibles that sit on shelves. We must dive deep in them.
44:39
And the way that we start to crave the Word of God is by
44:43
getting into the Word of God. And the way that you eat an
44:47
elephant is 1 bite at a time. And we must get in the Word of
44:52
God. Stay rooted in the Word of God.
44:54
Own the Word of God and you will be able to see things and
44:58
nuances and facets that you've never seen before.
45:02
It's unsearchable. It is Infinity and limitless.
45:07
This word of God that you hold in your hands.
45:10
You could live 10 lifetimes and never know all of it.
45:14
And you have to be OK with that. God shows you the things that
45:19
are the most edifying as you read through the Word of God for
45:25
your life and the gifts that He's given you and the purposes
45:28
and plans that he has for you. Those are the things that he is
45:32
well pleased to reveal to you as you read through the Word of
45:35
God. And here this eunuch was so babe
45:38
in the faith that he was interested in God and he had the
45:44
Scripture, but he had not yet placed his faith in the Lord
45:47
Jesus Christ. And this was a divine
45:49
appointment and a divine encounter, and God is going to
45:54
reveal Jesus Christ to this unit. 35 Then Philip opened his
46:06
mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him
46:10
Jesus. 36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a
46:15
certain water. And the eunuch said, See, here
46:18
is water what hinders me from being baptized?
46:23
37 And Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you
46:30
may. And he answered and said, I
46:32
believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God.
46:35
Can you say that today? Do you believe with all of your
46:39
heart? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
46:42
is the Son of God? 38 And he commanded the chariot
46:48
to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both
46:53
Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
46:57
This is immersion, friends, not the sprinkling. 39 And when they
47:02
were come up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught
47:06
away. Philip and the eunuch saw him no
47:09
more, and he went on his way rejoicing.
47:13
Just think about that. That is the power of the
47:16
rapture. That is the power to be taken
47:19
away in a moment's notice. This is miracle after miracle
47:24
after miracle, and God is unsearchable in His ways.
47:31
God can do anything, and I pray you have that faith.
47:34
I pray that you understand that God is not limited in how He can
47:40
work in our lives. Yes, He will model things after
47:48
previous experiences, but we cannot just rest and bank on
47:53
those previous experiences and describe him a way of any other
47:58
workings that he is pleased to do.
48:02
And this calls for wisdom. God cannot be put in a box.
48:06
He's the great I am. He is the only uncreated.
48:10
And you can see here that this eunuch was so excited about his
48:20
conversion that he could not be quiet, and he went on rejoicing.
48:25
We'll end on 40. But Philip was found as at
48:31
Azitis, and passing through, he preached in all the cities until
48:36
he came to Caesarea. We could see that the gospel of
48:39
the Lord Jesus Christ is not only for the Jews, but for the
48:43
Gentiles of light. For God so loved the world that
48:49
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever will believe in
48:54
him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
48:59
I hope you've been blessed by this chapter.
49:00
I know I sure have. I'm praying for you.
49:09
God loves you, Holy Spirit loves you, Jesus loves you, I love
49:18
you. Let's be found spreading the
49:23
seed today. Share your testimony with
49:26
somebody you meet. Stay prayed up, armored up,
49:32
steeped in the Word of God today.
49:35
Every time your mind tries to wander off somewhere, bring it
49:39
back. Every time your mind wants to
49:42
take you on a journey through somewhere, bring it back to the
49:46
truth and the reality of God's Word and watch how you abide in
49:51
Christ. And he and you and you will be
49:54
at one with Him, praying for you.
49:58
And we'll see you back here tomorrow.
50:02
God bless you.