Make Room | Part 1: Make Room for Them | Chris Vaught

Go ahead, give it to him. (upbeat music) ♪ The blazing grace ♪ ♪ Our sweet sound ♪ ♪ That saved the rich like me ♪ ♪ How once was lost ♪ ♪ But now I'm caught ♪ ♪ Was blind but now I see ♪ ♪ Come on, sing it out ♪ ♪ Yes ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ There's no change on day ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪ ♪ You have set me free ♪ ♪ You welcome me in ♪ ♪ You call me by name ♪ ♪ We're stating my sin ♪ ♪ Now I'm dancing on that ring ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ It really ends amazingly ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ There's grace that taught my heart ♪ ♪ To fear ♪ ♪ And raise my peace ♪ ♪ Really ♪ ♪ How precious did ♪ ♪ That grace appear ♪ ♪ The hour I first believed ♪ ♪ I see, yeah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪

♪ There's no change on me ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪ ♪ You have set me free ♪ ♪ Well, from me in ♪ ♪ You call me by name ♪ ♪ We're stating my sin ♪ ♪ Now I'm dancing on that ring ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ There really ends amazingly ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Anybody wanna testify this morning ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪ I'll testify of what he did ♪ ♪ He gave me life ♪ ♪ I'm born again ♪ ♪ My heart is free ♪ ♪ My soul is saved ♪ ♪ It really is amazingly ♪ ♪ I'll testify for the word he did ♪ ♪ Who gave me life ♪ ♪ I'm born again ♪ ♪ My heart is free ♪ ♪ My soul is safe ♪ ♪ It really is amazing great ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is amazing great ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪

♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ There's no change on day ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ You have sent me free ♪ ♪ Welcome to it ♪ ♪ You called me by name ♪ ♪ Wish that it ain't my sin ♪ ♪ Now I'm dancing on that grave ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Here it is amazing great ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is amazing great ♪ ♪ Here it is amazing great ♪ ♪ Yes, come on, give him a shout of praise this morning ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Oh, everything changed ♪ ♪ It's getting harder to recognize ♪ ♪ The person I was ♪ ♪ Before I encountered Christ ♪ ♪ And I don't know what I could use to ♪ ♪ And I don't talk like I used to ♪ ♪ I've been washed from the inside ♪ ♪ I've been washed from the inside out ♪ (upbeat music) Let's sing that again. (upbeat music) Before I encountered Christ, and I don't vote like I used to, and I don't talk like I used to. I've been washed from the inside. I've been washed from the inside out.

I knew, yeah, I knew, yeah. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew, yeah, I knew, yeah. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight. I cannot explain, but nothing's more view than this, in the presence of God. Oh, in my heart experience, when my shame went to wayside, and my sin hit the most high, I was washed from the inside. I was washed from the inside out. I knew, yeah, I knew, yeah. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew, yeah, I knew, yeah. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight. Oh, in my heart, only been a flight. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew it, could have only been a flight, could have only been a flight. Only been a flight, could have only been a flight. I knew it was a flight, could have only been a flight. Hey man, what an incredible start to the morning, hey man? This morning, we are packed. So if there's space in between you, if you could just scoot in and make some room here,

we want to get as many people into the actual services we can, and we want to make some room today. Can you do that for me? If you've got a seat by you and you can get a hold of an usher to just say, hey, there's some seats, let them know. Man, if you're a first-time guest with us today, I just want to say welcome. Thank you for being here, joining with us today. If you would be so kind just to take your phone out and get a picture of that and get the QR code, that'll just let us know you're here. And we wanted to just give you some information on the church and ways to be involved and partner with us here at Connection Point Church. Man, what an incredible morning already. I was reminded this week of something and I want to share with us in this moment. If you're a first-time guest and you get this, I want you to grab this, but I really want you to catch this this morning. This is really cool. So in my study time this week, I was reminded of the woman who reached out and grabbed the hymn of the garment of Jesus. And there's a couple of different times in scripture that this story is told. And I just remember thinking like, how crazy this is. So Jesus is on his way to a 12-year-old girl, her home, to be healed.

He is going to you. And in the same time, this woman who has had this issue of blood for 12 years is fighting the crowd just to be able to touch the hymn of the garment. That she has that much faith that she just says, if I can just get the hymn of his garment. So the whole time that this young girl has been alive, this woman has dealt with this issue. This woman fights the crowd and she touches the hymn of the garment. And Jesus stops and he says, who touched me? How many knows Jesus knew who touched it, right? And when he turned around and he saw her, he said, this, daughter, your faith has restored you. He didn't say, woman, with the issues. He didn't call out what the problem was. He just called it daughter. Being sons and daughters of Christ is an incredible thing. We have an opportunity that we can reach out to the hymn of his garment. And we can be in front of him. We can be in his presence. So today we want to open the altars. And maybe there's an issue that you're dealing with. Maybe there's something that has been bothering you for years. Today, I want you to take the step of faith, just like the woman did, and come to an altar and lay it down. We're going to have our teams up here.

They're going to be with you. You're not going to pray alone. But we want to give you this time today, together, to reach out and touch the hymn of Jesus. Amen. Let's continue in our worship this year. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] (SINGING) More than it was ever meant to be. And it always been about the same. You, in the center of it all My heart belongs to You My Savior all You're the one I hold on to For the beauty of Your name My soul will live to save Jesus, I love You Jesus did a ceremony For You, sir, and when I sit here, I can feel Because the weight of what's in words Like me, shows the better things Oh, and You be the center of Your love My heart belongs to You My Savior all You're the one I hold on to For the beauty of Your name My soul will live to save Jesus, I love You

Oh, and You are the center of it all My heart belongs to You My Savior all You're the one I hold on to For the beauty of Your name My soul will live to save Jesus, I love You Oh, I love You Oh, I love You Jesus, I love You Oh, I love You Oh, I love You Jesus, I love You And my whole life For Your glory and my whole world For You only everything For the honor of Your name And if my days tell a story Let it be Of You only everything For the honor of Your name And my whole life For Your glory and my whole world For You only everything For the honor of Your name And if my days tell a story Let it be Of You only everything For the honor of Your name Oh, now I love You

Oh, now I love You Jesus, we love You Oh, now I love You Oh, now I love You Jesus, we love You And my whole life For Your glory and my whole world For You only everything For the honor of Your name And if my days tell a story Let it be Of You only everything For the honor of Your name Oh, now I love You Oh, now I love You Let it be Of You Oh, now I love You ♪ It heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ My Savior all ♪ ♪ You are the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to save ♪ ♪ Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ God, that's our hearts cry today ♪ ♪ God, that's our hearts cry today ♪ ♪ We love you ♪ ♪ God, you meet us right where we're at ♪ ♪ Each and every time ♪ ♪ God, we just want more of your presence ♪

♪ We just want more of you ♪ ♪ And God, when you fill our loaves with air ♪ ♪ And we breathe it out and praise to you ♪ ♪ Every word that crosses our lips ♪ ♪ Honor and glorify you ♪ ♪ Take us back to the first time that we encountered you ♪ ♪ Never let us forget them the awe of that moment ♪ (gentle music) ♪ I bring us back again and again ♪ ♪ God, today I pray that your words fall on the ears ♪ ♪ That need to hear God that the heart is open and receptive today ♪ ♪ You are glorified in us ♪ (gentle music) ♪ God, we love you, we praise you ♪ ♪ Sing your name, we pray, amen ♪ (gentle music) - All right, good morning church. My name is Devin and I am the student pastor here at Connection Point. And I just wanna thank you guys all for being here to worship with us and to just be part of everything that God is doing in this church. God is moving in some powerful ways in this church. Is he not? All right, so if you can't tell, man, it is packed in here. One of the things that God is doing in this church is, man, he's bringing a lot of people here and it is starting to get really crowded, especially in this service. And so Pastor Kyle mentioned it earlier about making room. Pastor Chris is about to come out and you're gonna hear more about that. And so what a great problem to have. But I just wanna take advantage of the opportunity

to speak to just like our students and our young adults here, maybe that are in this second service this morning. So my wife and I usually sit the third service. It seems like most of our young adults actually already go to third service. And in the student ministry, we've got a lot of young adult leaders that are with us. And so I just wanna take this opportunity to just invite all of our students to it. We wanna start taking over this middle section during third service. I would love to see this middle section just packed out with students and young adults and leaders just all worshiping together at the 1145. So I just wanna personally invite how many students we got in here this morning. Got a few of them? All right, cool, awesome. All right, well, on the note of students, if you are a student and maybe you're here on Sunday mornings, but you haven't had the opportunity yet, you know, you haven't made it out to CPC students on Wednesday nights. Definitely wanna invite you guys to join us on Wednesday nights. And honestly, it would be a great week to jump in this week. We are launching our first sermon series of the school year called Who Is Jesus? And for the next seven weeks, we're gonna be diving into who Jesus is, why we believe what we believe about him and how it matters to your life. So doors open at six o'clock, worship starts at 6.30, and we're usually out by eight o'clock. And so we would love to see you there. We'd also love to see you in that third service mixed in in this whole middle section with our young adults. Speaking of our young adults, Pastor Jeremy is back. So Pastor Jeremy, our young adult pastor is back from boot camp. So we're so excited to have him back. We guys just give it up for Pastor Jeremy real quick. Awesome, awesome.

All right, so one more thing. Today at four o'clock, we are doing a livestream to just pray over the upcoming school year. We're gonna pray over teachers, students, all the administrators, the coaches, all the families and just everybody as they head into a new school year. And so we're gonna be livestreaming that from our social media pages. It's gonna be on our CPC students page. So if you have not followed that page yet, please go find CPC students, follow that page, and just join us back at four o'clock for that. For our online viewers this morning, that means you too, we would love if you would join us back at four o'clock for just this prayer over the upcoming school year. So here at CPC, we believe everybody has a next step. And if you're wondering maybe what your next step might be, we would really encourage you to join us at starting point. You can register for starting point at your CPC.church/events. And what that opportunity gives us is, that gives us an opportunity for just to just tell you a little bit more about who we are as a church and really just kind of encourage you and push you in the direction of like, what is your next step at this church and what's your next step in following Jesus? And so before I'm gonna pray over our giving here in a second,

but before I do that, I just wanna share a quick, just one of the ways that I have personally experienced the impact of your generosity here at this church. So we had the opportunity to go to Eagle Sky Camp a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month ago, and we were able to bring several students on full scholarship because of the generous giving of people here at this church. And those students got to just spend a week away from the world, a week away from their problems, they got to go and just worship together for a week to build relationships, focus on their lives and their walk with Jesus. And we had an incredible time at Eagle Sky, it was powerful and that was only made possible by the generous giving by people at this church. And so that's one of the things I love about giving is sometimes you never know the impact, you may never meet the person that your giving is going to impact, but it does. And your giving allows us to just continue the mission and the vision that God has for this church here at CPC, locally, regionally, and all around the world. So if you would, please bow your heads and we're just gonna pray over our giving this week. Father, thank you for everything that you're doing here at this church, God, we pray that you would just continue to use this church to reach people, to serve our community and to point people toward Jesus. And God, we just, we continue, as we continue to worship

this morning and we listen to the message that you have put on Pastor Chris's heart, we just pray that you would prepare our hearts for what you wanna speak to us today. We pray that the Holy Spirit would just be in this room, that he would be with Pastor Chris as he brings this message, Lord, and just give us eyes to see and ears to hear what is in your word. We love you and we thank you and it's in Jesus' name, amen. - Amen. Well, how many is glad to be in the house of the Lord today on this beautiful August Sunday morning? Come on, super excited to see all you. Jesus, the center of it all. Amen. Turn to two people right now, just fist bump 'em. I'm glad you squeezed in. Glad you were able to squeeze in. Glad you're in the room. Hey, I wanna give it up for those of you who are in overflow right now, as well as our online campus. Hey, can we let the rock stars know how much we appreciate them out there in overflow and watching online? Come on, love you guys. Thank you. Man, it's a good day to be in the house of the Lord and I'm super excited to get into the word with you. I can tell you this, I was at BOCO last weekend, preaching there, as Pastor Jerry was here,

he did a great job for you, I know. But I'm telling you what, we're rocking it out there in BOCO last weekend. So God is moving at both of our campus in just an amazing way. Somebody shout, thank you, Jesus. And today we're gonna have a lot of fun. We're gonna start a four week initiative. I haven't got to do a series all year because we're preaching through the Bible reading plan. But today we're gonna continue with our Bible reading plan, but we're in the book of Acts, and so it allows me to have a little creativity here with a theme that we're gonna establish with you. We're gonna learn more about here in just a few minutes. If you are new here today, and you're like, what is this Bible reading plan? As a church, we're reading through the New Testament in the book of Psalms together. It's the chapter of day five. that off of our website or go to the next steps and get a copy. Start this week. Join us in that. And if you are new today, I'll be right outside these doors in between services. I'd love you to come by and just say hello. I'd love to meet you and just hear your story and where you're coming from. So come on by and say hello. Today's going to be an incredible day as we're in Acts 8. So grab your Bible, grab your message notes, and turn there with me. And we're going to start this little initiative we're calling make room. And it's going to be a lot of fun. Amen. And then pray with me if you would. Father in Jesus' name, thank you for allowing us to be together here this morning and online, worship in your holy name. And God, I just pray your blessings on those who came out to worship or watching online. I pray your blessings on all those who have served you today through being a part of one of our served teams. I pray you bless everyone who's worshiped you and song,

worshiped you and they're giving and supporting financially what you're doing in the ministry. And God, I pray over the next few moments though that will worship you with having open ears to hear what the Holy Spirit has to say. I pray that God, as we read Scripture, our eyes will be opened, you'll give us the understanding of your wondrous truths. Let our minds comprehend it and our hearts receive it in faith. And God, let us take your word today and apply it to our lives that we may look more like you and less like us. Then we may go out into our world this week as kids go back to school and people are going to work and whatever our roads, wherever they take us, let us go be salt and light in this world. So God, to get there, we pray that you give us minds of truth, minds saturated with your word and transformed, voices of hope. Let us speak your good news and your word of hope. God, let us have hearts full of compassion for those around us. Let us live our lives with hands of service and feet of purpose and we pray all this in the mighty name of Jesus and all, God's people said, come on, let's give Jesus one more praise as we get ready to dive into the Word today. Amen. You got your Bibles open, Acts chapter eight. Got your journals, you ready? Here we go. In November of 2025, in fact, it was November 22nd, Heather Schubert, a nurse in New Orleans got married. That was her day. She was getting married to the man of her dreams. They had their ceremony. They went to the reception. They had incredible reception, wonderful celebration. And when the night was finally over, they climbed into the car together and they're on their way to their house to begin their brand new life together. And on their way, as they're traveling down Interstate 10, there was a horrendous traffic crash and right in front of their vehicle lay a man with severe injuries on the road. Now she's a nurse, but when she woke up that day, this wasn't on her assignment list. This was her day to get married. This is her moment. She's on her way home with her husband for the first night of their wedding. And in this moment, there's a decision that Heather and her new husband make. They see a man in need and they stop the car. She's still in her wedding dress. She gets out of the car, runs to the middle of the interstate and begins to do assessment and medical care on this individual. And she stays with him until the emergency response team shows up. What I love about this story is this wasn't on her assignment list for the day. It wasn't even a normal day for her. This moment was an interruption. And she chose to recognize it as an opportunity instead of an interruption. This moment was an inconvenience. This moment was messing up what her plans were for the evening. And here's what I want you to understand. I want you to grab a hold of this. I want you to lean into this for a

moment and think about this. Sometimes what may seem like an interruption to us might just be a God-ordained appointment for someone else. And what I want us to lean into today is when you open your Bible to Acts 8, that's exactly what you're going to find. This whole chapter is about two men, a Jewish follower of Jesus from Jerusalem named Philip, and a Ethiopian eunuch, a Gentile from another country who had been to Jerusalem. And God is gonna interrupt both of these men's plans that day. He's gonna bring in an interruption that is actually a divine appointment. And what God is gonna show Philip is that God had made room in his family for Philip to become a part of the family of God. And what he's gonna show Philip is, is that there also has to be room for someone else to be brought in into the family of God. And the way God does this at times is through interruptions that are actually divine appointments. In fact, while we're preaching about this today, I pray there are moments you think back over what you thought was a coincidence. Now, if you think about it in hindsight, it was probably a divine appointment. And there's a reason why you came to know Christ or why you're here in this building or watching online, even at this moment. I want you to lean into this because these two men should have never met. They're from two different worlds, two different countries, two different languages, two different lifestyles, two different backgrounds and cultures.

And yet when God puts all the pieces together, he knows exactly how to make the story come together. Does anybody learn that about God yet? He knows exactly what he's up to. And you can see the sovereign thread of God's grace running through both of these men's stories. And I pray today before we're done, you'll see it running in your life and how he wants to run it through your life to someone else. Here's what I want you to capture. Random acts aren't always random. Sometimes they're divine appointments. Look at Acts chapter eight with me. An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip. By the way, let's just stop right there for a moment. How many know those of us are Christ followers? It is very imperative that we become sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. One of the reasons we have this plan in our church, of reading through the Bible together, we have these little huddles, men to men, women, women, and you just simply share from your journal, which is called a here journal. And the reason for that is we want you through the word and through prayer to be able to hear the Holy Spirit speaking. And in fact, there's an interest meeting for those of you in the next hour, 1145 in the cafe. If you're interested in knowing how to launch your own huddle,

you can go there today and we'll equip you for that. But I want you to know how imperative it is that we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. Notice this first line, and the spirit of the Lord, the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip. So Philip heard the voice of the Lord. He said, get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is, and I love that Luke put this little detail here. How many know doctors are very detail oriented? Or at least they need to be. Dr. Luke says, this is the desert road. Just so you know, it's a desert road. It's dusty, it's barren. Here we go. So he got up and went. Read that line with me in-house in the line. I don't want you to miss it. He got up and what did Philip do? He got up and he went when he heard the spirit speak. Watch this. What did he find when he got to the desert road? There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch, and a high official of Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians. By the way, Candace was not her name. That is the title, like Pharaoh. It's the title of the queen of the king of Ethiopia. He's the queen of the Ethiopians. He was in charge of her entire treasure. That means he was a slave who had been physically mutilated.

He felt less than a man. He's been forced into this and now he is working under the queen. The king doesn't have to worry about his lineage being defiled by the male workers who work for his wife because they've been made a unit. And if you need more description from that, Google it on your way home or have a talk with your parents. This man feels less than a man. He's in a tough position. He is working for the queen of the Ethiopians who was in charge of the entire treasury. He had come, watch this though, he had come to worship in Jerusalem. We don't even know how he knew to go worship in Jerusalem. Some believe you go back a thousand years and the queen of Ethiopia went one time and met Solomon, king of Israel. And she was enamored by him and come back with great stories about the king of Israel and the God of Israel. And perhaps that was the foundation that brought about curiosity of the God of Israel to this Ethiopian unit. We don't know, but for some reason he wants to know God. He is hungry for the God of Israel. He's hungry for God. to Jerusalem to worship God. And he's sitting in his chair. We know he's so sincere about this

that he's got a copy of one of the Old Testament scrolls, the prophet Jeremiah, or Isaiah, rather. He is on his way in the chair going home, reading the prophets, Isaiah, and how is he reading it? Out loud. I mean, no, you're serious when you're reading out loud. He is reading out loud and he's diving into the word of God, and here's what I want you to capture this morning. God orchestrates this entire moment when Philip is to go meet the Ethiopian, even down to the moment of what the Ethiopian is reading when Philip shows up. There are no coincidences in this whole story. God is behind this, he's orchestrating it, and here's what I believe for Philip. If you're a follower of Jesus, I want you to lean in close for a moment 'cause this is where it speaks to us. I believe he wanted to teach Philip and remind him that I made room for you and my family. Now I want you to make room in your heart for someone else to meet Jesus. And he's gonna say something to the Ethiopian, the one who feels they's too far gone. He, that he's not worthy to even be considered one of God's children. I've made room for you and my house as well. That's what we're gonna see today as we look at two insights that impacts Peter or Philip,

and I pray, grabs a hold of us. And here's the first one. Here's what I believe God was trying to teach Philip. Write it down, two insights today. Making room for them begins with God making room in us. Philip, who is this Philip? Philip is not a preacher, he's not an apostle, he's not a pastor, he's just a man in the church of Jerusalem. He is a man who loves Jesus. He's a man that loves his community. He's a man who serves the Lord. He is one of the seven deacons that was appointed by the congregation in Acts chapter six. And their whole responsibility was the benevolent needs of the community, of the family. They were called to be servants. In fact, by the way, if you don't know this, the word deacon literally means a servant. These are official servants of the church. And his whole responsibility was to make sure that the food program of the church was operating correctly and the right people were being fed who were hungry in the community. This man loves Jesus, this man loves his community, and he's involved. And about that time, one of the other seven deacons, a guy named Stephen who will not stop telling people about Jesus is brought out into the street and he is stoned to death

and he's the first Christian martyr after the birth of the New Testament church. When that moment happened, persecution spreads throughout the city of Jerusalem. So much so that many of the Christians leave the city. Some went north, some went south, some went east, some went west. Philip goes to Samaria. And Philip, when he gets there, his road changes. He's no longer needing to worry about the food pantry. Now he's out there sharing the gospel in the streets and praying for the sick. And God sends revival to Samaria. God is on the move and people are coming to faith. And what's amazing about this is those of you who've been in church for any length of time, you do know, don't you, how Jews thought about Samaritans? And yet what we're seeing here is Jesus fulfilled, his fulfillment of Acts one eight. When Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit come upon them and then they would go to Jerusalem and Judea, Galilee and to Samaria. Oh, we don't like those folks, I don't know, but you're going anyway. Samaria and then to the ends of the earth and connection point church, can I just say this really bluntly this morning? You and I ought to thank God for the early disciples

who ran from persecution and took the gospel with them when they went to these other areas because of their faith and conviction. There's a church called connection point in Jackson, Missouri and in Bolinger County. This morning, we are the beneficiaries of their faith being real. And they took this seriously. And so here's Philip, he goes out to Samaria and God is doing a revival, great move of God is happening. And how many, how many's ever been in a service where it's like the spirit of God is so thick and you're like, I don't ever want to leave. And so right in the middle of that, the Holy Spirit speaks to Philip. Philip's listening, catch this. And the Lord says, it's time for you to leave big boy. You're going to leave the crowd and I'm going to send you down to a dirty road south of town. How many believe Philip looked at the Lord and thought, you got to be kidding. God never gave you the why. He's asking him to leave revival and go to a road without ever knowing why. Listen to me, how many of you have been living for Jesus long enough to know this? God's assignments don't always make sense at the moment. And sometimes they come at inconvenient times. Anybody been living for Jesus more than two weeks. They don't always make sense, and sometimes God seems very inconvenient. But let me tell you something, here's a, here's a truth I want you to take home with you. Obedience opens the door for God-divined opportunities.

In fact, never forget this. Never underestimate what God can do on the other side of obedience. You don't always have to know why, you don't always have to have all the answers, you don't have to understand what God is up to. God doesn't ask you, sometimes God will put you in places so that you don't know the answer because the blessing is on the other side of obedience. And here's what I want you to capture. God takes him from the revival and the crowd and puts him on a dirty street, and the only person he sees is a Ethiopian unit. He takes him from the crowds for the one. He's the one lost lamb important to God, enough to send you away from the crowds to find one person, you better believe it. And not just any person, a eunuch from a Gentile country. And here's something that God's going to teach Philip, and if you're listening to Shout, I'm listening. How about you online? Just put it down in the comments. I'm listening. Here's why. Sometimes God knows he's got to do in me and you exactly what he's going to do right here in Philip. And for Philip, what he's going to do is he's got to confront Philip's own biases in order to make room in his heart for someone that he would be naturally biased against to come to faith in Jesus. And I want to say this to you and me this morning, there may be times God intentionally will place in front of us someone he wants us to invite to Jesus and share the gospel with that in our natural self because of our past, our traditions, or wherever we've been, we may be biased against ever sharing the gospel and God will put you in that moment on purpose. Here is Philip and the only one he sees on the road is an Ethiopian eunuch and you say,

why is it that he has a bias against a eunuch? Here's what you need to understand from Jewish culture. They had a law that said unix and the disabled are not allowed in the temple of God. So the one person that Philip sees that God had sent him to tell about Jesus is the one person his culture and his traditions say they don't get in. I wonder in this room and watch online how many of you have ever felt like others thought you didn't deserve to be invited in? Maybe that's why you're here this morning or watching online because God's got a different message for you to hear. And for us who are followers of Jesus, maybe there's some folks you have yet to invite, that God is going to break that in your heart today and tell you biases aren't allowed here. The one who calls upon the name of the Lord, the same shall be saved and welcome. Amen? Watch this. So here is the Philip looking at a Samaritan who isn't allowed into the temple and yet God is the one who brings him from the revival and says, here's the one man I want you to meet. Here's the one man I want you to see. Now put yourself in the eunuch's position. He had heard about the God of Israel. He's read the book of Isaiah. He's reading it. He goes all the way, hundreds of miles to Jerusalem and when he arrives in Jerusalem, he gets to the temple and finds a sign on the door that says, you can come this far and no further. Think about it personally for us. How many of you would have thought it a little strange if you traveled a long distance to come to CPC this morning and we had a sign on the door, just as you're walking up this head, you're not welcome in here. How many of you would have walked out, got in your car, drove home praising Jesus all

the way? No, no, no, you've been saying some really bad things about us on social media. Can I get a witness from somebody in the house? You know it's true, just say amen. All right? But watch this, watch this, watch this. Here's what I love about this unit. God so saw he wanted a walk, a relationship with God. He's not fussing, He's not cussing. He's reading the book of Isaiah out loud. And God is ordaining this moment, and God is gonna touch Philip's heart and break the biases. Here's what I want you to capture. When religion keeps you at distance, Jesus brings you near. And there may be some of you in this room today, or some of you watching online. Either you have had a bias against someone and didn't share the gospel with them, and I'm here to tell you, religion may keep you at a distance from them, but Jesus wants to bring you near them. But then there may be some of you in the room, from your religious backgrounds, from things that people said to you, or done to you in the past, or maybe you're watching online, and you thought, "Man, church, the ceiling will fall in. "If I walk in, no one wants me. "Everybody will talk bad about me.

"If I were to walk in at church, look at me. "Let me hear you. "Let me tell you something this morning. "Religion says, "Stay out." Jesus says, "You're welcome to come in this place." Jesus wants you to know His love, and when He died on the cross, He died for you. When He rose again, He rose for you. (congregation applauding) So God's doing something for Philip, and I pray He does it for a second insight. And that is, God will send us out so that those who feel left out will know that they've actually been invited in. God wants those who feel left out to know they've actually been brought in, and look at how the passage happens in verse 29. The spirit told Philip, I love this. I love this. Philip gets out. All right, I've left the crowd. I'm out here, I see a eunuch there. He's still standing on the sidewalk, and the Holy Spirit has to say to him, "Bro, "go join yourself to that chariot." When Philip ran up to it, he heard him read in the prophet Isaiah, and here's the one question Philip asked him, "Do you understand what you are reading?" Here's what I want you to capture,

and lean in close for this. I want you to get a hold of this. The Holy Spirit made sure Philip knew as a follower of Jesus, when you see people far from God, you don't have permission to stand on the sidelines. It is our responsibility to get in the game and let the gospel of Jesus be brought out. And when the Holy Spirit, listen to me church, when the Holy Spirit prompts you to speak up. It is time to get in the game and speak up, amen? And here's what I love. Here's what I love watching. Look at the passage. Look at the passage. When Philip heard the spirit say, "Go join yourself to this chariot." How does Philip respond? He doesn't walk over. He doesn't just kind of wander into it. How many of you've ever had the Lord tell you something? He just kind of wandered into it. Hi. You got plans for this weekend? Like Sunday, like Sunday morning. You do anything? Oh, you're not? No, no, no. Philip doesn't meander into the moment, Philip ran.

It's like the moment the Holy Spirit spoke, he knew this is my moment. I've got to go. And here's something I want you to capture. He runs up to the chariot. He hears him reading from Isaiah 53. Here's what the passage says. He heard the scripture pastors that he was reading was this. And it's a direct quote on Isaiah 53. He's like a sheep led to the slaughter, a lamb that is solid before its shear. So he doesn't open his mouth in his humiliation. Justice was denied him. Who will describe his generation for his life is taken from him? Who is Isaiah writing about 700 years before his birth? Jesus. This is all about Jesus. It's about Jesus being despised and going to the cross and rising from the dead. Read Isaiah 53. It details Jesus perfectly 700 years before Christmas. And here's the beautiful thing about it. Philip hears this. And the eunuch said to Philip, I ask you, who's the prophet saying this about himself or someone else? In the room and online, everyone begin reading with me, ready to go. Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus

beginning with that scripture. And I want you to miss this. Philip did not go to the eunuch with a mesmerized, evangelistic approach. He didn't have a script. He started a conversation. He listened and he picked up where the man died. When you're prompted by the Holy Spirit to have a gospel conversation with someone, start where they are, listen, and then pick up from there and point them to Jesus. Here's one thing I know about God. He will open the door for gospel conversations. We just need to be willing and ready to walk through them. God will create these moments. This is what God does. And look at me, look at me, look at me. Then let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Listen to me congregation. You can't convert anyone to Jesus. You can only share the gospel and the truth and be led by the Holy Spirit. Tell them about Jesus. Let the Holy Spirit do the converting part. It's not on you. It is on you to speak to Him. And as Philip is sharing the gospel with this man, what happens to the unit? He becomes convinced of God's love, convicted of His sin, and He receives the grace of God. And then the unit, it's not even Philip that tells him about this. The unit, as they're going down that old dusty road, the unit sees a pool of water off the side and he stops the chariot

and he looks at Philip and he says, "Is there anything that would keep me from being baptized right now?" And Philip says, "Bro, if you're trusting in Jesus, there's all that it takes. There is nothing else you've got to do. You ain't got to go to class. You ain't got to go talk to the preacher. You ain't got to do it. It's time for you to get baptized and he get out of the chariot and he was baptized as he declared his faith in Christ. Amen? Some of you in this room today. You have recently placed your faith in Jesus. Can I tell you what's next for you? It's time for you to step up unashamedly and go for it in baptism. We're going to have baptism Sunday on September the 13th. We're going to have baptized all morning. It's time to go ahead and sign up and say like the unit. I'm not ashamed of the one who loved me and gave Himself for me. Amen? I don't have to go to class. Nope. You have to follow Jesus. Don't add anything to the gospel. Some of you this morning came in here wondering if God had a place for you. And I'm telling you just like Philip told the eunuch. The one who thought he was too far gone. That he was mutilated from the presence of God. Look at me. God has a space for you and his family. In this room and online, listen to me.

God has a place for you and his family. There's no bias here in this church. You're welcome here and we love you and we want you to know Jesus. We're never going to compromise the gospel. But where our heart burns for people to know about the Lord. Here's the big takeaway. God made room for us and all God's people. Those of you who know that you know that you've been saved by the grace of Jesus. I'm talking to you. God made room for us. I remember the person who told you about Jesus who invited you to church for the first time. God made room for us. Now it's our turn to make room for others. It's our turn now to make sure that others know that God has a place for them. That's what he does for this unit. When Philip ran up to the chair he's reading Isaiah 53. What do you think the unit did after he got back into the chair? And Philip was gone after he was baptized. Do you think he picked the scroll back up and started reading again? How many of you have ever gotten so fired up at church you couldn't wait to read the Bible when you got home? Nobody? Man, there's just something about being in the presence of the Lord. You want more of him? I believe the unit picked the scroll back up and started reading again. And do you know what he would have read about ten minutes after he got back into the chariot? About ten minutes later he would have got from Isaiah 53 to Isaiah 56, which was written 700 years before this moment ever happened. And do you know what his eyes would have seen? Here's what the Bible says in Isaiah 56 for the Lord says this. Are you ready church? You better read it out loud with me. For the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath and choose what pleases me and hold firmly to my covenant.

I will give them in my house and within my walls, a memorial and a name. cut off. I don't know about you, but I got to believe that unit had a back to costal fit going down the dirty road when he realized God had made a place for him in the family of God. We had a name better than any name of those who thought they were already sons and daughters, too good to be saved. He said, "I got a name. I got a place for you in my house. The temple may have kept you out." God said, "But I'm welcoming you in." Religion says, "Stay out." I say, "Come on in." Maybe you're in this room today and religion has kept you out for a long time. I'm telling you, there's a place that will give you a name today better than sons and daughters, Jesus will give you a place in his family. In saints of God, we've got to be convicted that this is what God wants to do with people. The people you work with, the people you're going to go to school with this week. This is what God wants to do. You see, making room for others to meet Jesus is an option or it's a gospel mandate. God knows what he's doing. And by the way, I want you to see the sovereignty of God here. It's going to blow you away. How many believe it wasn't a coincidence that he happened to be reading Isaiah 53 just at the moment Philip showed up and heard what he was reading? How many know God knew exactly what was coming three chapters later? How many believe God just might have when Isaiah was writing it down in 700 beats? God may just have been thinking about an Ethiopian eunuch who was coming down the road in the future. And that man would go back to Ethiopia and share the gospel. And today, Christianity is still in Ethiopia and many attribute to this man's testimony.

I just wonder in this remnant line, how many of you realize you coming to faith wasn't by coincidence? It was the right moment and the right place and someone invited you to church. Didn't even know that they were in the hand of God's plan in the moment. But when you're led by the Holy Spirit, when you become sensitive to what the Spirit has to say, he knows what he's doing. Amen? That's why over the next four weeks, we're going to have some fun with this. I pray our hearts will be convicted to make room and our hearts for people to meet Jesus. Now, here's the thing, you can do that by sharing the gospel this week. But why don't you want to invite them to connection point church? Where are you going to put them? So we're going to have some fun with this. I want you to get your phone out real quickly. Scan this QR code. No, wait a minute. Let me tell you what you're doing first. Tell me you're going to put your phone back away. We're going to do an initiative called Make Room. We're going to make room in our hearts because look at me, look at me, look at me. I'm serious about this for a moment. What I don't want to see happen in our church when a room is full like this week after week and it becomes the temptation is I don't want us to lose our invite culture. I want us to be known as people who worship God, study His Word, listen for the Spirit, and we share the gospel. We'll stop sharing the gospel and invite people if we know there's no place for them to sit. And I don't want you to ever stop inviting people. Right now you're going back to school, vacations are in the nut. We're about to start being in packed arenas, in sports. It's a great time for you to invite people to come to church with you.

So here's my challenge and I'm not talking to you new folks. I'm talking to my CPC family, my partners right now. I'm asking for 150 of you and I'm going to do this for two Sundays. You only got two Sundays this week and next week. I'm going to ask for 150 of you to scan that QR code to register to go to 1145. Two reasons. One, new people are still going to show up at this service. I need a seat for them. Secondly, I want you to still invite people to come to church and you can't bring them here because you can't put them in, but you can bring them to 1145 and they'll have a seat with you. We're about 50% capacity in that service. I want you to invite them. Listen, the first 150 who do this, just for fun, I'm going to give you a bundle, a gift. It's a make room t-shirt. You'll never be able to buy it in our store. You can only get it here. And you're going to get a make room bracelet to remind you of why you did what you did. you made room so someone else could buying the big motors property across the street from the roundabout for a next-gen building for students and our young adult ministry and it could also be a potential place for us on Sunday mornings. Well, we purchased it two weeks ago. No debt, pay cord and cash by your generosity. Renovations have already started. The goal is it'll be done by Christmas and we'll have a 300-seat auditorium with a cafe and a cool-ob and an outdoor hangout space for our high school and our young adults ministry. But here's a beautiful thing. We're going to be able to open that up at the first of the year for an additional space on Sunday mornings without adding a Ford service. We add options and it'll have live worship, hospitality team, cafe, just like you have here, but it'll be family-style worship. Instead of having kismas through, that'll all still happen here. And then a screen just like this one will be on that stage and when I come up to preach on this stage, I'll come on that screen and I'll preach in there so it'll feel like they're in the same room with us all at

the same time. That's happening and will be done hopefully by the end of the year. To God be the glory, we can keep inviting people to church. Amen? And listen, maybe God, the Holy Spirit's going to challenge some of you to change services so that you can invite more people to meet Jesus. For others of you this week, the Holy Spirit's going to challenge you to walk across the street and talk to your neighbor and share the gospel or go to a co-worker or invite one of your classmates to come to youth with you on Wednesday or are you going to college and invite them to the young adult ministry. For some of you, he's going to challenge you to start a huddle and go get five other men that you work with or classmates or five other women and sit down and just read the Bible and feed into each other every week. For some of you, he's going to challenge you to become a partner of this church. Start supporting it with your time, your talent, and your treasures. To come on side of us go to starting point and become a partner and help us reach more people with the gospel. Here's what I know about Philip. This event transformed not only his life, but it shaped the legacy that came behind him. In Acts chapter 6, he's a servant. In Acts chapter 8, he's an evangelist. In Acts chapter 21, he's a father whose children are preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at Acts 21. Paul went to visit him later in years and said the next day we left and came to Caesarea. When we enter the house of Philip, the evangelist who was one of the seven, we stayed with him. Everyone read the last line. This man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. Don't skip over that. Four daughters in an age where women were silenced and they're so fired up like they're daddy because their daddy had made room for people to meet Jesus that these four girls in a culture that didn't say they could, they're prophesying and preaching the name of Jesus. I don't know about you, but that's kind of legacy. I want to see behind me in my family. Amen? And I pray that's what you want. Well, I'm eight minutes over. Do you still love me? My voice is gone. I only took these eight minutes because Jared let you out too early last week. Ha ha ha. Here's what I want us to do. I want us to put our heads together for just a moment. And as we wrap up and we get ready to close, here's what I want you to do. I want you to stop and just think for a moment about who invited you to meet Jesus. Who invited you to church? Who influenced you with the gospel? And I just want you to thank God for them having room in their heart for you. Would you do that for a moment? Just thank God. Thank God for the ones who shared Jesus with you. And then I want you to ask God who he may be sending you to share Jesus with. And finally, would you tell the Lord

like you did Philip. So Father in Jesus' name help us to be your servants, to love you, to follow you, to do your will. Let us have a heart for people. And Lord, we pray You send us out that others may come in to know You and to be saved. Give us opportunities to have gospel conversations, to share our faith, to let people know how much You love them. We pray that in Jesus' name. Heads are still bowed. Maybe you're in this room or online. You hear me talking about this, talking a lot to the saints today, but while I've been doing that, the Holy Spirit's been speaking to You. You may feel like the eunuch, and I want you to know today that God's got a place for you. Maybe in this room or online today you're like, "Man, I need Jesus. I want Jesus in my heart, and I want you to know He loves you. He died for you. Rose, again, to give you eternal life. And by faith you can have that eternal life right now if you will turn your heart to Jesus. And I'd love to lead you in that prayer. Would you pray this prayer with me right here, right now? Heads are bowed. Lord Jesus, I believe in You. I trust You, and I follow You. I receive You now as my Savior. Thank You for loving me. Thank You for making room for me. I receive Your salvation in Jesus' name. Heads stay bowed. If You pray that prayer with me, just so I can pray over You, would You just lift Your hand? No, it's just me and You.

Would You just lift Your hand so I can pray over You? Thank You. Thank You. Come on, lift Your hand. Thank You. God bless You. God bless You. God bless You. Yeah, lift it up. Don't be ashamed. Thank You. God bless You. God bless You. God bless You, God bless You, God bless You, God bless You, God bless You. Father in Jesus' name, You see everyone who just lifted their hand and said, "I'm praying. I want to receive Jesus." God, I pray You bless them. I pray You the joy the Lord feels their heart. I pray that God, You let this truth settle in their hearts today that they've been born again in Jesus' name in all God's people. God said, "Come on, let's give God our best praise of the morning." (Applause.) Thank You. (Applause.) (audience applauds)