Divine Detours

Welcome to Verse by Verse. Thank you so much for joining us as we take a look at the book of Acts. We take things nice and slowly as we look and see what God is doing in the big picture of expanding the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. My name is David Humphrey, and I'm the pastoral care and missions pastor here at United City Church in Humboldt, Texas. We're excited to be your church family while you're incarcerated, but we're gonna be even more excited when you get out and you can come and be a part of our church in person. We love you very much. Please grab your Bible and a journal, perhaps a pen, and be ready to take some notes and let's learn together through the book of Acts. All right, thank you so much for joining us with Verse by Verse. Super excited to get into this story tonight. Of course, we know as we start into Acts chapter eight, we're gonna be in verse 26 and following. Just to get us up to speed in the big picture, we've already had a lot of stories in the book of Acts, but it's unfolding just the way that God said that it would. They've been his witnesses in Jerusalem. They've been his witnesses in Judea and Samaria, and we're actually tonight crossing another corner

because we're gonna see the ends of the earth actually come to Jerusalem to take the gospel back. So it's a super interesting story tonight with a lot to learn, and it's gonna be more than tonight, I can just tell you already. So of course, last week, the conversation about Simon the magician, and was he a believer, was he not? It remains, will this have to let heaven sort all that out? We know that that's a good and a valid question to be asked, but what we do know is he wanted spiritual power and he wanted popularity and he wanted a name for himself. And we know as believers, we're wanting to make a name for Jesus in this world. So, but what we did begin to see a little bit more, and we will continue to see throughout the book of Acts is that the gospel is beginning to bring unity between Jews and Gentiles. It's just starting, there's a lot more to go, but we're gonna see that was always Yahweh's desire, always did he want Jews and Gentiles. So tonight, if you happen to be someone like me who grew up in the church, you might've heard this story 150 times or more. But I promise you, as I studied this week, there's new insights that I had never even seen, because I feel like sometimes in the stories that we think we know, there's, we just sort of overlooked them sometimes,

because we think, oh yeah, I know what happens. He's gonna catch that chariot and then he's gonna get saved and he's gonna get watered to baptize. You know, we know what's gonna happen, but there's a lot of details in there that we're gonna take some time to look at. So tonight we are going to be in Acts chapter eight, verses 26 through 40, and I'm gonna read that story for us and then we'll begin to unpack it verse by verse. Now, an angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise and go toward the South to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning seated in his chariot and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, do you understand what you are reading? And he said, how can I? Unless someone guides me. So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

And the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this. Like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter. And like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation for his life is taken away from the earth. And the eunuch said to Philip, well, about whom I ask you, does the prophet say this? About himself or about someone else? And then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, see, here's water. What prevents me from being baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stop. And they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. And the eunuch saw him. no more, and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. I think there's about ten sermons in there, y'all. I'm telling you what, there is so much goodness in this story. And I'll tell you what we need to learn primarily as I see this from this story, is how to see

what God is doing, how to enter into what God is doing, how to partner with God in his work. You see, God was already working in the eunuch's heart before Philip ever came along. Philip then partnered with God, and then God used Philip to see an amazing miracle there. So we're going to unpack this just step by step, but I want us to just sort of remember the context as we talked about some last week. Philip has been in Samaria preaching and performing miracles. And so that's, of course, where we see the encounter with Simon the Magician. But now God has a next step for Philip. So what does he do to get Philip to his next step? Yeah, he sent some, he sent who? An angel. So angels are messengers, OK? God sent an angel to say, hey, Philip, here's your next step. Do you ever wish God would just send you an angel to tell you what your next step is? Yeah, I know. Sometimes we're like, I'm a little bit slow, Lord. But Philip said, OK, what's the next step? And what was the next step? Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place. Well, let's just think about this. Number one, the angel of the Lord, we don't know how he appeared to him. He doesn't say anything about, you know, I mean, was it a big scary appearance or what? It just says the angel of the Lord said to him, get up and go. And interesting that the Lord is asking Philip to leave a very busy, bustling place full of people who are very receptive to the gospel. Remember that's what we were experiencing, right? We got openness to the gospel and we're doing miracles. And God's like, OK, now I want you to go to a deserted place.

Just get out there on the dirt road somewhere out and out in the back skirts of Huffman over there, you know, somewhere there's nobody living out there. But that's where I want you to go. What do you think Philip thought about that? There ain't no stores out there in Huffman. There ain't no stores out there in Huffman, right? Yeah. Do you question? I have a feeling Philip probably wrestled with it a little bit. It doesn't give us that specifically in here. Maybe he just, OK, Lord, yes, sir. And got up and went. But maybe he was a little bit like us, right? Why not? Oh, OK. You know, I think at least I would have been like, well, you hadn't led me wrong yet. But it could. So I'm just going to go. But I think this needs to be a reminder to us. Often the spirit will lead you to a very unexpected place. It doesn't have to be far off place. Maybe it's to that neighbor, or maybe it is to speak to that person, right? And to go get five dollars out of your account and give it to that person. God can. God has his ways and he's always ordering our steps. But usually it's not what you would normally do. Yes, Susan, I'm just to talk to somebody who's real different from you. Oh, yes. Sometimes it's to talk to somebody really different from you. That's exactly right.

We just need to be sensitive to where God wants us. And I think it's very important the way that this is laid out. You get the instruction from the angel, then you get the description because we don't know much about the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. But you know, we do know it was just deserted. That's when it says a desert place. That's not just meaning it was a desert with cacti around. It's meaning probably some of yours may even say it was a deserted place, right? It was just a just a solitary spot out there. And then what you see, whether he questioned or not, we don't know. But we see in verse 27, he just got up and went. The Lord says, I need you to get up and go. And his get up and go. Got up and went. You'll ever hear somebody say that before. He's like, OK, he got up and he went. And then when he got there. This was really interesting because. he found somebody and who he found i have a feeling was not who he thought he was going to find i can't imagine in a million years he would have predicted i'm going to run into an ethiopian eunuch does anybody know how far it is from ethiopia to jerusalem no you could look it up on your phones because you're all real smart but i already did that for you it's 1500 miles right right now he did not get on an airplane to go from ethiopia he was in his chariot let's just let's just back this thing up guys think for a minute was he going to jerusalem or was he coming back from jerusalem time to happen research okay so he's not on his way to jerusalem he's already been there okay and he's already went to jerusalem to worship and he knows who they worship in jerusalem because he's reading about him but he doesn't understand what he's reading anybody wondering how did this ethiopian guy by the way if you want to look at geography just to kind of keep it interesting you find ethiopia then egypt

then israel up here so he traveled all the way from ethiopia through the southern tip of egypt all the way through egypt to get to jerusalem with a chariot and he's a we we see this right this guy is is he's a he's a wealthy guy right he's a person of influence we'll talk a little bit more than a minute but he's got a whole entourage this is interesting in itself god sent an angel to tell philip go down there to this desert road because there's somebody you need to talk to and he didn't even say that just says go action required god is moving and when he gets there it just so happens that there's this gentleman from ethiopia ethiopia of course as i've said is north africa is where ethiopians jews or gentiles they're gentiles guys you know we're spreading out to the gentiles and this is like the biggest leap we've made yet but actually it's not even the gospel going all the way to ethiopia from the apostles it's a seeker coming all the way from ethiopia to jerusalem to worship and evidently he was worshiping the god of abraham isaac and jacob why else would he be reading the scroll of isaiah on his way back so let's talk a little bit about this this person this this eunuch okay we've talked about where ethiopia is of course that's north africa gentile region a eunuch i think we probably know what a eunuch is that's someone who sacrificed himself to serve another right so he was not going to be a married man he just lived in the service of the queen oh wait did you notice that he's not just some random ethiopian this guy is with is like the kind of the right hand of the queen of ethiopia in charge of all her treasures this is not the person you think would be seeking the god of abraham isaac and jacob so is anybody else asking the question how did this guy know about the god of abraham isaac and jacob and yeah anybody know the answer when the sheba came to solomon because the queen of sheba came to solomon and where's the queen of sheba from here's what we know the remnant of god's people just spreads out sometimes one by one you can trace things from the old testament right where daniel and his people remember how we talked about babylon was connected to the tower of babel and all of these little stories god is always moving things around so that is a very good potential answer to the question we don't know in this period of time if you just look at world history of any large and growing ethiopian church in the region at this time by the fourth century we do see a growing ethiopian christian church okay so what we don't know is specifically how did the gospel or not even necessarily

the gospel but how did the truths about the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob get to Ethiopia that's that's a good potential option what we just know is God wants to reach people more than any of us will ever want to reach people and so God can come and speak to people in a dream if he wants to maybe that's what happened with this guy we don't know but I just want you to understand this man of tremendous influence wealth and power has traveled 1,500 miles one way to worship and still on his way back and doesn't even understand the book of Isaiah that he's reading is that um is that interesting to anybody that's just to me I'm just like he doesn't even fully grasp but he wants to understand how can you tell that he wants to understand let's read step because he's studying right he's end up in I see it but because the Lord I guess the Holy Spirit of God drew him there right so guys if you can imagine in a chariot with this entourage it would have taken somewhere around a month to get there okay this is not a quick little trip so he's on his month trip back when Philip comes along so we like I said we don't really know how he heard we know that Philip is sensitive to the move of the Holy Spirit and now we have seen the Holy Spirit drawing someone from 1,500 miles south here and I think this is something that we can see that will help us if you think about what have you seen as some evidence that God is working in someone's heart already okay I'm talking somebody's doesn't go to your gun not from our church but what do you say how do you all how do you know when God is working in someone's heart they're curious they're seeking that's right if you ever know anybody who is reading scripture but they're maybe not a believer like my friend Josh that I was telling you about right that from the from the Buddhist background he was not a believer in Jesus but guys he was hungry for the word and he was in the word and he would come to the Bible study that I co-lead on Thursday mornings and he was always wanted to talk about it he was hungry and he was ready for the gospel kind of like this Ethiopian what would you say it can anybody have another thing that you kind of gives you evidence that God is working in someone's heart anybody out of anything else you've seen how do you

know there you go conviction of sin if they're starting to feel like oh something's not right about you on me about the way that I'm living conviction of sin is the work of the Holy Spirit so why am I sharing all this with you because guys we don't want to just get smart about the Ethiopian guy and walk out here so excited that we know it's 1500 miles away I mean that's just you know that's the interesting piece of trivia but don't we want to be more sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and to see where is God working Steve what were you gonna say over there you had your hand up each she said it feeling convicted about their lives yeah that's exactly right yeah that that is a surefire sign that God is working in their lives so if you look at this let's let's let's look on down at verse 29 and see sort of what happens here so go back to 28 so the Ethiopian unit is coming along we've talked about who he was he had come to worship he was returning seated in his chariot reading the prophet Isaiah again get the picture of a big fancy chariot large entourage and there he is inside the chair probably on some real cushion seating or something and he's got the scroll remember he doesn't have a bound copy of the Old Testament he's got the scroll of the prophet Isaiah out there and he's reading it and don't you imagine he's reading it again what does it say about how he was reading it he was seated look it out what yeah he was reading it out loud thank you and see the little detail Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet so he's not just quietly reading he's reading it out loud and and so let's let's let's back it just a little bit to verse 29 I want you to think about this the spirit said to Philip go over and join this chariot so let's back it up a little bit and think about now who got Philip here to this desert road in the first place go all the way back Jesus Commission said go make disciples of all people's right so he's out there getting busy about the business he's he's in Samaria then he gets the angel of the Lord's direction did you notice now we get a second direction but who's this from they said anything from the Holy Spirit like it wasn't enough for him to just get the angels direction now he's got

specifically the Holy Spirit is directing him and it says the Holy Spirit might just spoke to him what did the Holy Spirit say no talking enjoyment go over and join this chariot well I know that I've mentioned this before but do you think he heard a voice why does it say he said go over and join this chair you think he heard an audible voice you think he heard it in his head what do you think we don't know so specifically so you're not gonna give necessarily a wrong answer what do you think think it was in his heart yeah yeah I think it's not it wouldn't be wrong if if it was an audible voice because I God can speak through that but more times than not do you hear him in your heart yeah yeah I do too guys John 1027 will somebody read that for us turn back the Gospel of John chapter 10 in verse 27 and when you get there just share it with us my sheep hear my voice and I tell them and then father yeah my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me I think hearing the voice of God sometimes has gotten a bad rap and we think that feels kind of like mystical or or like that feels a little bit scary didn't they only hear it in the Bible times but not now I sort of grew up with this idea that like the people in the Bible heard the voice of God but that I couldn't hear the voice of God I hear the voice of the preacher but guys I truly believe when John 1027 says my sheep hear my voice that means God wants to speak individually to Jackie sometimes and to give her direction now that the problem is not okay can I hear from God it's like how do I know that I actually heard it got it right you know if you ever feel like a little nervous like how would I know that it was the right thing to do well we always would know that the Holy Spirit of God will never speak and direct you to do anything that is in contrary to this that's why we have to know this okay we have the voice of God right here in these sacred pages but the Holy Spirit of God sometimes may want to just nudge you a little bit and say hey Paula give that friend a call or hey Michael all the time right yeah and guys when we and that's I think that's when it says that he heard the voice you know like the Holy Spirit said I don't know for sure but I think probably what

this was he had this impression in his heart what do you think Paul if I've been sure personal experience plates you sell time before I'm when I think back about four and a half years ago now when you asked me if I wanted to go on Good Friday to see some prisoners baptized yeah and I told you no there's a job too busy I have no thought to do that and then Friday morning I'll wake up and I thought you know what I'm gonna go I'm gonna go to prison with David and seeing this guy at that time never have no idea what to expect or anything when I stepped out of the vehicle onto the church parking lot looked at the front door the first thing I thought is you know was how are these new Christians going to get taught God's Word that was a voice of God speaking to me telling me this is what you need to do there yet your next task is to establish a Bible study these prison walls you know and that it was a thought that was as clear as day did I hear a voice absolutely not but but I I will swear to the time God takes me home yes if that was him speaking to me yeah I think that's how it's typically I believe Susan I have a personal experience too it's not a voice sometimes it's just a really strong feeling that you just can't shake yeah I had a feeling that I should write to my friend and I wrote her and the day that letter arrived was a day she felt like she had no friends and she was just like gonna get up going to church and it was just it was awesome oh and God that's right it's not a voice it's just a strong yeah and look anything that we think we are hearing like that like we're never gonna equate that to scripture okay that does not carry the same weight of the Bible because guess what sometimes we might miss it you know what I mean like we might misunderstand and I think that's where people get so afraid of hearing the voice of God but guys I really believe God would want us to ask him Lord will you will you direct my paths and then want us you know what even if we might maybe we'll miss it by a little bit I think he just wants us to get out there and try doing the things that we feel he is impressing on our hearts to do the things that are that are consistent with the scripture so I don't want us to

be afraid of the voice of God or feel like that's only for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob no it's it's for us it's for the people of God and that is the Holy Spirit who is right who is speaking to us because the Holy Spirit for a believer dwells within us so why would he not speak to us in our hearts to impress on us what we should do so I wanted to stop right there because I felt like not we're gonna keep going tonight but what I'm saying is I felt like that was important to stop right there and for us to remember we can and we should be listening for the Holy Spirit we should be expecting like we don't need to think that that's strange no we need to think it's strange if I haven't felt led by the Holy Spirit to go here or go there yes yes we need to remember that is when we ask the Lord to give us divine yes be prepared uh-huh because he wants to give them yes he wants to give them more than you want to take them what yeah he is he's gonna come and that's exactly what happened here you know I think this asked when the Holy Spirit said here to him go over and join this chariot I think that was a pretty intimidating ask mm-hmm this is just average old Philip and here is this golden fancy you know Queen style chariot coming along intimidating with a bunch of God I think yeah yeah there had to have been guards and all those things and he just says and here's what I don't understand the logistics of it so go over and join this chariot so now verse 30 Philip ran to him and heard him reading the Prophet Isaiah and said do you understand what you're reading I'm getting a picture of the chariot is going and Philip is running alongside listening to Isaiah and said hey yeah do you understand what you're reading I don't know if that's how it went but I could sort of see that maybe that's how it was it doesn't clarify the specifics of it but you know I like to get a little bit imaginative there so it could be that the chariot you know pulled to a stop but guys this was an intimidating situation I know that some of you like me have been nudged by the Holy Spirit to step into a very intimidating situation like you want me to talk to them right maybe it's somebody very different than me you know maybe it's somebody that looks kind of scary you know maybe it's in a jail you know or

maybe it's you know any number of places the Holy Spirit will lead you to very out places that are outside of your little box okay so just know that's what happens here he says go over and join the chariot so Philip's like I'm impressed with Philip I don't know if you guys like I mean the Holy Spirit says it and he does it Holy Spirit says it he does it so he gets over there and he's hearing him reading Isaiah the prophet and I love it because Philip just meets him where he is he started his first question is how I'm Philip nice to meet you what you know how you doing what you're doing out here he's like do you understand what you're reading he's maybe could have been a little bit insulting I don't know but I think it was I've certainly motivated out of love he's like let's meet him where he is like Philip could have walked up and said you know Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins that would have been preaching the gospel but that's not the approach that he took he met him where she was spiritually because everybody's spiritually somewhere you know they may be I can't stand God or you know I mean I knew about God when I was a kid and you know one of the ladies I baptized Sunday morning from the Oaks she said oh no I've known about Jesus all my life she said I just straight away we don't know where we're going to meet somebody on their journey and so here you know you've got Philip listening he asked the really really great question which frankly I would also say in evangelism it's really important to ask them questions not just or if you died today would you would you go to heaven or hell but how about just meet them where they are just a good conversation just sort of starting because he's very honest in his response to it how can you get this where to get the scripture oh that's a great question they get bring it with him I mean they didn't have him on every corn so that's a great question maybe you picked it up in Jerusalem at the Lifeway Chris store up there so that's a great question you wonder maybe he never had a scroll and maybe he did get it in Jerusalem you have to you know with no history of the Christian movement in Ethiopia at this time maybe that's he showed so many first he did he got one so he's like hey

I'm gonna get one of these I'm sure he had plenty of money with which to buy it because they weren't on every street corner you know what I mean a scroll that would have been a extravagant thing to have your average you know believer did not have a copy of the scripture in their home or a scroll and end up with like yes of all of all prophets Isaiah you know we've talked about Isaiah in here a lot friends there's so much prophecy of the Messiah in Isaiah I'm literally just finished Isaiah this morning in my in my Bible reading and I just I'm amazed every single time I mean there's there's chapters of Isaiah it feels like it's written from the foot of the cross and it was a thousand years before the cross you know or almost or 53 so he didn't just start reading this yeah you're probably right yeah so he just so happens to be in Isaiah 53 this amazing prophecy of the Messiah at the exact moment that Philip just so happened to be on the Jerusalem the road from Jerusalem to Gaza right do you understand that God set this up yeah he set it up for Ethiopian he set it up for Philip it's like it's almost like you heard like a layup you know what I mean it just kind of gave him a layup it's just like Philip just just seal the deal this guy is ready for the gospel and so what he did was he asked him the question what are you do you understand what you're reading he said well how can I unless someone guides me and then he invited Philip to come up and sit with him okay so he's asking those things and then he invites Philip to come up and they begin to they begin to talk a little bit more now I do want to I want to mention this is going to be the last thing I mentioned because I wanted this to start up some conversation as we wrap up tonight I know I've mentioned this before but I want to do a little bit more explicitly tonight this reminded me so much of a study that I've done many times probably the first time it was that was in college so that was in probably 1991 first time I did this study and it's dr. Henry Blackaby study experiencing God can how many of you in the room have done that or at least familiar with it okay great I want to I want to read slowly to you the seven basic realities that he uses in that study that are all biblical truth I just

want you to hear this and I want you to hear this in light of this what we've read tonight so far number one God is always at work around you immediately yep you don't have to go create something new that God is doing God is always at work never stops working God was working in that unit who knows for years before Philip ever got to him so God is always at work around you number two God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal guys God is pursuing you not just until you get saved but until you go to heaven God is pursued he's like oh I want it I want to get close I want Brenda to feel closer to me I want Tom to hear my voice a little bit better I want I want Steve to listen to me God is pursuing a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal you don't think Philip was having a personal experience with God right here God was speaking in his voice speaking in his ear and then he was going and experiencing oh I'm listening and look what is happening like things are unfolding look at number three God invites you to become involved with him in his work anybody believe that in the room yeah it's his work God was doing the work we just get invited through our personal relationship with him we get invited to join in what he's already doing okay we don't have to generate work for God he's doing plenty we just have to look for where he's working and go there why do we as a church choose to partner with church plants because we see God is working okay God's working over there in Las Vegas like there's move on there is a movement of God out there let's go throw some gas on that fire right you know let's go where God is working and and see see what's happening so God is always at work around you God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal God invites you to become involved with him in his work number four God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible prayer circumstances in the church God speaks through the Holy Spirit through the Bible every time we open this up got this the Holy Spirit speaking God speaks by the Holy Spirit through prayer God speaks by the Holy Spirit through circumstances right God it's like showing us oh well that door closed I think God was closing that door

oh God just opened up this what this person just called me haven't talked to in 20 years God is speaking through circumstances and God is speaking through the church so you want to get to in tune with the voice of God you get with God's people right because you start you know you come to church and you hear a good message from God and you and you and you get connected so get these last three God's invitation for you to work with him leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action Philip had a crisis of belief when he heard that when he heard the angel of the Lord said yeah I need you to go down there that deserted road well Philip had to go do I believe that that's God speaking to me if I believe it is then I've got to have faith and get up and go requires faith and action number six you must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what he is doing it takes adjustment we can't just keep going the way we're going and think that's how God's gonna lead us no God doesn't lead you just the way you're going God leads you another way and another way and maybe he leads you to this and not to the thing that you thought so you have to make adjustments and then the last one which I love you come to know God by experience as you obey him and he works through you that's the best way to get to know God is to put yourself out there and say God I want to be used by you I want you to use me to touch somebody and then he leads you right through the Holy Spirit through prayer through circumstances all those things and then you actually use faith and you do you do what God said and then you're like oh my gosh I'm so much closer to God like God's real I can I can't I can't tell you how many times Carol Sheldon has come to me she's like he's so real and she's just got tears in her eyes and it's because she's been living this out she hears the voice of God right she see okay God's doing something over here I get to partner with God and what he's doing and that's what Philip was doing here guys so there's a there's a wonderful book experiencing God there's a Bible study there's a whole lot you can just read the book anything if you're interested in doing it but those are the main principles and you can see every one of them at work in this story

God was already working in the unit before Philip came along God was pursuing Philip God wanted Philip to have a shared adventure with him hey we got some work to do down here on the desert road come on over here with me you're not gonna believe it yes the book who wrote the book Henry Black Dr. Henry Blackaby is a Canadian you're like what Blackaby BLACKABY you'll find it all over the internet because I promise it has been a very big seller for over 30 years God has used it Peter's listen God was pursuing Philip God was pursuing the eunuch the whole time right God invited Philip to join him and what he was already doing he's like hey Philip just come join me jump in here you'd be my you'd be my my mouthpiece I'm already speaking to him but he's not fully understanding you be my mouthpiece and explain it God spoke to Philip Bible prayer circumstances the church you can see I guarantee you Philip had been studying his scripture and he was getting tuned in with the voice of God God was speaking to the eunuch we know he was speaking through the Bible through the circumstances all of this God's invitation invited him into a crisis of belief Philip maybe he had this thought is God really drawing this eunuch to himself because he was when he walked up you just don't know what was going through Philip's mind when he saw that chariot what's he thinking I guess this is why God sent me all the way out here I wonder what God's gonna do with this guy how is it gonna go and God was already working and then he came to know God by experience so I can only imagine of course we're gonna see the rest of the rest of the way it plays out next week that Philip's relationship with God is exploding through this experience why did Philip why do you think Philip probably trusted God more after after this experience than when he started and he obeyed everything that he was told to do and learn new experiences that's right because it just all played out right God he said okay God just says okay go here and he's like okay and then God has just got it all prepared even took a stray that God orchestrated it all yes realize that God Almighty set the whole thing he sure did because I'm faith in the eunuch had a cherry yeah probably are strong probably and the Holy Spirit brought Philip there to meet up with him I know it had to catch up with I know you just can't make this stuff up y'all you could not make up a story that would be any more amazing than this one and guys this

isn't a story this is real guys we know this like we're we're reading an account of history yes he's a servant well I guess she's back in back in there I don't know if it is currently the capital of Ethiopia I don't know if it was back then but that's a very old nation yeah yeah so yeah he was a servant of the Queen and I guess she just said well yeah sure you going up to Jerusalem I'll see in a couple of months and you know so yeah maybe she did we just don't know right we don't know but one thing that is isn't is that very interesting if you look at Christian history again we can't say with absolute certainty that the eunuch is the first Christian in Ethiopia but the evidence for me and for many who have looked at this is that the eunuch was like the first pioneer missionary who went back like it's like he went to Jerusalem with some information you know I mean like he knew some things about God but now he's understanding about the Messiah and Jesus Christ and the one whom God sent because Philip you know he had a lot more to say than just what was recorded in this it's just like one of 99 yes it is the shepherd went to look for the one absolutely yes talks it about he must have explained to him that Jesus Christ said believe there's no doubt that yeah there's no doubt that he did yes God is Lee because yeah yeah why would he say well there's what exactly and we'll talk about it next week but you can see where we see where that would have happened it says Philip opened his mouth verse 35 and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news about Jesus you see what he did he started where that guy was and pulled out the message of the Messiah that's what we all have to do guys we start where they are and then just get them to Jesus right get them to the good news of Jesus because that's what they need the most maybe they're curious about some aspect of whatever but that's where we've got to get them so this is a great passage which is why we're going to take two weeks on it on how to be a witness it's a great passage on how to share the good news it's a great passage on seeing God at work and joining God where he is at work listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit I mean guys this is so practical this passage and so I hope that we will take this out of here and and that we will we will have like practical next steps listen ask God Holy Spirit Spirit, speak to me, what do you have for me today? If you've got a day in which you don't have a lot going on, say, Holy Spirit, is there something that is on your heart today?

Where do you want me to go? And there's no telling what he might say. He might say, I need you at the Whataburger in Itasca seat at five o'clock. And you might think, well, what in the world for? And you said, that's not up to you to decide, just go. And you know what he might want you to do? He might just want you to sit in there and pray down heaven. Or he might send some, some young athlete from Itasca seat of high school walking in there that needs somebody to tell him about Jesus. You just don't know. But guys, we miss opportunities if we're not, if we don't open ourselves up to say, Lord, what do you have? What do you want? I don't want to miss anything you've got. So guys, this is it. This is exciting stuff here, guys. This is not, it's not just information here. We're trying to, we want transformation of our lives and our relationship with Jesus. So I'm going to pray for us. But after I do, I want to invite you to spend just about four or five more minutes with people at the table and just talk to them about something that God spoke to you about tonight or something that you're kind of working through on this. And cause there's nobody coming in here at 630. So I just want you to know that we're not in any hurry. You sit here as long as you want to, okay.

But I want to pray for us, especially to wrap things up for our friends that are online. And then we'll, then I want you to just have some good conversations about this. Father, thank you so much for your powerful word. God, it is just really spoken to our hearts tonight. And God, I really don't want to miss what you have for me. God, I don't want to miss a divine appointment cause I'm just moving too fast. Or cause I'm just got my calendar so booked like I normally do. God, just one thing to the next. And I just miss a moment. Holy spirit of God, would you just speak to us? I pray that we'll come back next week and we have had some direction and we have gone to some unexpected places. And God, we've even had some unexpected conversations that have gotten people to Jesus. God, we love you. And we pray this in your son's name, Jesus Christ. Amen. Talk a few minutes at your tables, please. Thanks again for joining us verse by verse through the book of Acts. I hope that you have learned a lot. More importantly, I hope that you'll apply these things to your life this week. Share it with a friend. Great thing for you to just have some discussion

with the other people around you. Share the things that God is doing in your life. Again, remember the Bible is a book about God far more than it is a book about us. So let's learn about him. Let's grow to love him more and more. Here at United City, this is not the only thing that we have on the Pando app. We would love for you to follow some of our other content, watch some of our worship services, along with the music and the messages, as well as podcasts. We've got a lot of great content and we would love for you to follow that. Also, if you would like to be in touch with us here at United City, the best way to do that is by writing us a letter. You can address that to Prison Ministry at United City Church, 19901 Townsend Boulevard, Humble, Texas, 77338. We'll read that, we'll pray for you, and somebody will write you back. God bless you, and we'll see you in the word.