The Scattered Church

Hey! How you doing? Great swag! How are you feeling this morning? Whether you went online or here within the building, let's worship God today. Welcome. Come on, clap your hands. Hey! Come on, let's worship. He shames every idol. He reigns without rival. He goes by the name of Jehovah, Jehovah. He speaks into nothing. And darkness goes running. He goes by the name of Jehovah, Jehovah. Come on, let's call. Call the name, call the name, call the name Jehovah. All our praise, all our praise, all our praise belongs to Him. Come on, clap your hands this morning. His foes will be silent. He's fighting for Zion. There's no other God alive. Jehovah, Jehovah. His arms never tire. His eyes are like fire. There's no other God alive. Jehovah, Jehovah. Let's call. Call the name, call the name, call the name Jehovah. All our praise, all our praise, all our praise belongs to Him. Still call the name, call the name, call the name Jehovah, Jehovah. All our praise, all our praise, all our praise belongs to Him. Come on, clap your hands.

Yeah. Come on, let's declare His name. Let me hear it. Say that. Say it. Say it. Come on. Say it. Say it. Say it. Come on. Say it. Say it. Say it. Say it. Say it. Say it. Say it. Jehovah. Say all our praise. Say all our praise. All our praise. Here we go. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ I am, I will, I will, always worship You I will take an oath, and I will, come on I decide, and I will, I will always worship You Come on and lead me, oh Lord, this day, oh Lord, this day I am, I will, I will, always worship You Here it is, here's my answer, all of my words Let me sing my words of life, here it is, all of my life

Love is torn and it's lifted up, all of my life Oh, and our hands lifted high, all of my life And our hearts open wide, here's my word Here are my words of love, all of my life You, Lord, You are worthy This is your first time, feel free to stop by Guest Central, it's right outside in the lobby When our service is over and greet a few of our leaders If you are new here, I want you to grab that Connect card or the QR code in the seat back in front of you And let us know you're here so we can tell you what's going on here at Graceway And this Friday, y'all, we kick off Easter, or this Saturday, sorry We kick off our Easter season with our Easter Egg Hunt Saturday morning, 10 a.m. I want to make sure that you are inviting people to that And we'd love to have you register for that, it is a free event But it's helpful for us to kind of plan ahead So if you'll go to graceway.app, you have the opportunity to get registered And this is a real easy win, opportunity for you to invite your families and friends, people with kids Hey, just come and check out my church They'll get a great glimpse of what we do in Sky Kids And it's just an easy opportunity for you to say, hey, you came to Easter Egg Hunt Why don't you come with me to Easter services on the 5th? So make sure you get connected to that this coming weekend I'm going to invite our ushers to make their way down As they do, we're going to be receiving communion today as a church family And why do we do that? We do that because it gets easy to forget We get busy, maybe you've had a busy week Maybe you've had a busy month Maybe things have been a little upside down or whatever in your life And this is a great opportunity to pause And to say, Lord, I remember your sacrifice at the cross

And I come to this table grateful I come to this table in gratitude for what you did, for who you are The fact that you thought about me in your master plan That you knew me before I was born And it's our opportunity today to say thank you to God To remember what he did at the cross And so my invitation to you is this We're going to sing in just a moment as we pass the buckets And as we do the first part of this song I would encourage you to just go to God God, I'm thankful I'm grateful for your sacrifice at the cross I'm grateful for what you did I'm grateful for who you are Don't miss this opportunity Don't be too busy to miss this opportunity today to do that And then Rachel will call our communion team and us down during the song Once you've gotten your communion elements back to your seat You can go ahead and take it as we worship God together We're going to be doing our tithes and offerings here in just a moment You can see different ways to give connected to that on our screens Let's go to the Lord in prayer as we do that God, what a privilege it is to stand in this room today to worship you Or to say, receive all my worship, God And what an honor it is to do that the same day that we take communion The same day that we do exactly what you told us to do in your word To remember and to come to this table in gratitude To say, God, we thank you for your sacrifice at the cross. God, we thank you that you defeated sin and death.

God, we understand salvation isn't just about being free from hell, Lord, it's a relationship with you. It's an opportunity, God, to lay on your shoulders our burdens and to know, Lord, who you are. And so, God, today we remember you and we say thank you, Lord, for your sacrifice. As we prepare to give, God, we again are grateful. We seek first the kingdom of God by giving, by saying, Lord, this isn't our stuff, so, God, would you take it and use it to be a blessing, Lord? God, thank you that we have the opportunity to do these things today, Lord, to worship you in this house and to proclaim your name on high. And it's in your name we pray, in the precious and powerful name of Jesus, and all God's people said, amen. Let's keep singing. ♪♪♪ ♪ In the darkness we were waiting ♪ ♪ Without hope, without light ♪ ♪ Till from heaven you came running ♪ ♪ There was mercy in your eyes ♪ ♪ To fulfill the law and promise ♪ ♪ To a virgin came the Word ♪ ♪ From a throne of endless glory ♪ ♪ To a cradle in the dirt ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son ♪

♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ To reveal the kingdom coming ♪ ♪ And to reconcile the lost ♪ ♪ To redeem the whole creation ♪ ♪ You did not despise the cross ♪ ♪ For even in your suffering ♪ ♪ You sought to the other side ♪ ♪ Knowing this was our salvation ♪ ♪ Jesus, for our sake you died ♪ Come on, sing it out. ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪♪♪ Church family, come on down. We've got community tables up front. There's also a table in the balcony. It says, Christ's body broken for you. It's Christ's blood shed for you. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ And the morning that you rose ♪ ♪ All of heaven held its breath ♪ ♪ Till that stone was moved for good ♪ ♪ For the Lamb had conquered death ♪ ♪ And the dead rose from their tombs ♪

♪ And the angels stood in awe ♪ ♪ For the souls of all who'd come ♪ ♪ To the Father are restored ♪ ♪ Then the Church of Christ was born ♪ ♪ Then the Spirit lit the flame ♪ ♪ Now this gospel truth of old ♪ ♪ Shall not kneel and shall not faint ♪ ♪ By His blood and in His name ♪ ♪ In His freedom I am free ♪ ♪ For the love of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Who has resurrected me ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Praise the Father ♪ ♪ Praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit ♪ ♪ Praise the Father ♪ ♪ Three in one, God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ Raise forever to the King a pleasing praise ♪ ♪ Praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty, raise forever to the King ♪ Sing it again! ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty, raise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty, raise forever to the King of kings ♪ Come on, give God some praise this morning. So good to see you. Are you happy to be here, church? Yes! All right, come on, why don't you just,

for just a couple seconds, just tell God that you love Him right now. Tell God that you're thankful. Tell God that He's everything that you hoped He would be. Come on, somebody, let's pray. Lord, we come to you right now and we do just that. We praise you. We praise you, Lord, as we take communion because we know, Lord, who we were before you saved us. We know who we would have been. We know what we would have been doing. We even know who we would have been doing it with. And yet you have made us something entirely new. We thank you, Lord, that our past does not have the final say. I thank you, Lord, that right now, in the present, I don't have to be afraid that you're working everything together for my good. I thank you, Lord, that in the future, I praise you because one day, hopefully very soon, the king's gonna come and he's gonna lay foot on this, his creation, and he's going to restore and redeem and renew everything that we have broken, Lord. And we praise you today in faith and in expectancy, Lord. We trust you. We know what you've done in our lives. We trust you that what you say will come to pass. We trust you that you keep your word. We trust you that you're bigger than everything that we face.

And so we praise you, Lord. And Lord, we admit that our praise, that our song, it isn't enough, but we only got one hallelujah, Lord. And so we give it to you. Thank you, Lord, for the cross. Thank you, Lord, that three days later, our king stood up, made his bed, and walked out. Thank you, Lord, that he defeated sin and death. We thank you, Lord, that we serve the king, that he's victorious. We thank you, Lord, that he makes his family. And we love you. We love you because you loved us first. We love you because you love us best. And we love you because you love us unconditionally. And we love you because when we stand before you in eternity, it won't be because we earned it. It'll be because you love us. And so we praise you. Speak to us now, Lord, through your Holy Spirit and your word, bless us now. Be present with us, protect us from the plans of the enemy. We rebuke him in the name of Jesus in every way we know how. Move now, build your church for your glory and our good. In Jesus' name, all God's people said amen and amen. Hey, welcome to church. It's so good to see you. Why don't you say hello to some folks around you?

Pass some peace. Graceway930, how we doing? Yes, yes, it's good to see you. If I haven't had the chance to meet you, my name's Tim, lead pastor here. Man, thanks for being here. In fact, church, why don't you say hello, show some love to our first time guests. We appreciate you. Appreciate you so much. Thanks for being here. If you're watching us online, man, we are grateful to have you join us. God bless you wherever you are. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

If you're here at your backyard, maybe you need to join us. God bless you wherever you are in the world and church. Say hello to the men at Crossroads and at Ozarks. We love you men. We love you. We're excited. Hey, if you have a Bible, get over to Acts chapter eight. That's where we're gonna be today, Acts chapter eight. If you don't have a Bible, we would love to give you one. Father, we're here for you. We've been out, we've been out. We're here for you. We're here for you. We're here for you. We're here for you, God. on stop at the Next Steps desk right as you go out those doors, just say, hey, I need We're here for you. We're here for you. a Bible and we will hook you up. Hey, a couple really fun things happening at the top of that list is we're just a couple weeks away from Easter. And, man, what an incredible opportunity for us to be able to come in here and be reminded of the victory that we have in Jesus. What an incredible opportunity for us to invite people that we know who need Jesus, who need hope, who need resurrection in their life. It's a wonderful blessing, it's a wonderful opportunity, and it's also a problem because we only have the seats that we have. OK? So here's what I need from you. Let's have a real quick meeting here. A lot of you are 930, you are regulars at 930, but I just want to remind you that when we went to three services, I told you that this wasn't about creating space for you, church member, this was about creating space for who wasn't here yet. And as much as I love you and as much as I want you to have space to spread out, all right,

that's not what this is about. This is about us making space for what God wants to do. And so my request of you, I ain't going to make you, you're an adult, you do what you want, all right? But here's what I want you to think about. If you are a 930 regular and you have a guest and they want to come at 930, come on, bring yourself up in here with your guest at 930. However, if for whatever reason you do not have a guest, we could talk about the reasons in another sermon at another time. I need you to not come to the 930, OK? You say, well, where should I go? I want you, you can pick, but I would love to have you go to the 8 a.m., all right? Our 930 and our 1115 are going to be problematic. We have two, not one, two overflow rooms. We just are trying to facilitate what God is doing, but I need your help in that. So here's what I need you to do. I need you to be selfless in the way you think about Easter. I need you to be missional in the way that you think about Easter. If you have a guest, whatever service they want to go to, congratulations, that's your service. If you don't have a guest, I need you to make space. I love you. You're awesome. I'm thrilled you're here. I also need your seat, OK? And so please don't hit me with, this is my church and my seat and my tithes pay for, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I know all that's true. And still, and still, be selfless. Get your eyes on to something bigger. Come at 8 a.m. Come on, you can go to brunch before the rest of us, all right? But the big thing here is, come on, heaven and hell are real. And Kansas City needs Jesus, and we're trying to make it hard to go to hell in Kansas City. And a real easy way is for you to just stop in the lobby, stop at a team member. We got team members out there who have invite cards, and just get a stack of them, all right? Come on. Gangster, fill the inside of your coat with invite cards. Come on. Hey, you want to come to a service? I got three service options for you, all right? And I want you to invite people who need Jesus to Easter, because I promise you we're going to do everything we can, both in the spiritual and in the physical, to get them to Jesus, OK? So let's not miss this opportunity. Let's do it together. Let's see what God might do. Amen? All right. Let's pray quickly. Lord, we love you. Speak to us now through your word for your glory and for our good. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. In Ecclesiastes chapter 4, the wisest man who ever lived, his name is Solomon, talks to us about work. And in talking to us about work, he says this, hey, two are better than one, because you're going to get more done

together than you are by yourself. And he says, woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. This is true in so many facets of life. It's the reason that one of our values for you, biblical values, is that you find friends. You shouldn't face your life by yourself. You shouldn't face your marriage by yourself. You shouldn't face your finances by yourself. Come on, you need somebody to face it with you. We all need somebody to borrow faith, borrow hope, borrow strength from. And what does Solomon say? Hey, woe to you if when you need it most, you're by yourself. This also shows up in different principles. In Mark chapter 6 and verse 7, Jesus calls the 12 together and he says this, he began to send them out two by two, not by yourself, not you've got gifts, go on out there and get your thing done. No, two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. Two by two, not one by one. And so it makes sense then in Acts chapter 8 that Luke is going to take the same principle last week. We talked about Stephen, one of the seven, one of the deacons, not a pastor. Did I say that last week? I feel like I said that last week. This week, we're going to be introduced to his counterpart. His name is Philip, also one of the seven, also not a pastor. And these two men had been connected to the church at Jerusalem. They came to faith. At some point, we don't know how they are chosen because they are spirit-filled and because of their testimony in the church, and they are chosen to the illustrious job of serving tables. In the church, it's service before platform. It's institution before platform. It's ours before mine in the church.

Both of these men were preaching evangelists, and both of these men were known to perform public signs and wonders. Did I tell you not a pastor? This is an important thing. Both of these men served in the church and were powerful in the spiritual. Both of these men were known for signs and wonders. What would it be in this church if it wasn't the pastors who were known for spiritual power? It was the dream teamers who are known for spiritual power. What would it be in this church if just a normal grace-way attender was still the godliest person in the office, was still the most spirit-filled, was still the kind of person that who knows what God's going to do? Not a pastor, just a person. Not a pastor, just a dream teamer. Not a professional Christian, just someone who loves Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit and loves the church and just wherever they go, man, miraculous things happen. That's who this dude was. And Luke saw the ministry of both men as helping pave the way for the mission for the Gentiles. And so we come to Acts chapter eight, 40 verses. I'm gonna have you read the whole thing, but I'm gonna tell you the story of what's happening in Acts chapter eight,

and I want you to go back and proof text me, all right? So Acts eight and verse one, we have just seen the martyrdom, the stoning of Stephen. Acts eight and verse one, the first six words are, and Saul approved of his execution. We get this cameo appearance by this guy named Saul, who in the next verse we're going, or next chapter we're gonna learn about. He shows up later very, very differently than he does here, but when we're introduced to him, he is celebrating a man having his face caved in by stones because he loves Jesus. This man was executed by being stoned to death. Not a pretty picture. Not because he was a criminal, because he was a Christian. Not because he believed anything crazy. Well, not any crazier than you. And he was stoned to death, and chapter eight starts with, and Saul, I approve this message. The Bible says that he went on to, and this is the word the Bible uses, to ravage the church. The Bible says that he goes into a development that he knew Christians were living in, and he goes house to house, and he knocks on doors. Hey, you got any Christians in there? Any of y'all go to grace? Anyone in there complete a growth track in a small group? Finish D1.

Anyone in there fully surrendered to Jesus? Yes, I am, and he would drag people out into the yard and throw them in the paddy wagon, or he would just pursue execution. Not because they're criminals, because they're Christians. The Bible says he ravaged the church. This is a religious assassin. This is a Judaic hitman. He's a Pharisee who is killing people in the name of religion. Not the first time it has happened, not the last time it's gonna happen, but I do also want you to see that the killing in the name of religion and the church are not the same thing. Come on, somebody, all right? We'll talk about that another time. Some of y'all missed it. There's this explosion of persecution, and the word that shows up in the original language is that it is brutal and sadistic cruelty. This is people going out of their way to make a mockery of Jesus. This is people going out of their way to be vicious. This is people going out of their way to step on the neck, so to speak, of people who believe what you and I believe. And so martyrdom, Stevens, leads to persecution, and persecution leads to dispersion. We gotta get up out of here.

And dispersion leads to, don't miss this, the evangelism of the entire region. As the church scatters, the gospel goes with the church, and this is an important principle, because I wonder if at some point in the future we aren't free to meet here. I wonder if at some point our faith comes under pressure, if not persecution, and I wonder. If we weren't able to come freely worshiping under the rights that we have as American, I wonder if those went away and this church had to scatter, I wonder if the gospel would go with it. But in the early church, wherever the church was, the gospel was, and wherever the gospel was, the gospel was proclaimed, and whenever the proclamation of the gospel shows up, people come to faith. It's as simple as that. The emphasis is moving away from the apostles in Jerusalem and moving to dream teamers. Moving away from apostles and pastors and people who hold the office and moving toward normal folk, not weirdos like me, normal folk becoming missionaries in the region. These aren't folks who go and raise money and get sent out by the mission agency. These aren't folks who say, you know what, I think I want to be a missionary. These are plumbers and accountants and stay-at-home moms. These are CEOs and attorneys, these are just normal people with normal jobs getting pushed out of their house for their faith, and as they go out, they aren't shrinking from mission, they're growing in mission. Not pastors, dream teamers, you with me? And Philip is one of these leaders, and so Philip goes to Samaria, and when he gets to Samaria he does four things. He proclaims Jesus. He does miraculous signs and wonders. He heals people, and he does exorcisms.

What would it be? What would it be if you're out there in liberty? The far reaches of civilization. What would it be if you came in on a horse and buggy from Peculiar, Missouri? That's so condescending, that's so condescending. I'm sorry Lord, that wasn't right. What would it be if your bearing of witness was miraculous in your time and place? Not a pastor. You hear what I'm saying? This dude didn't go to seminary. This is just a dude who loves Jesus, and filled with the Holy Spirit, and loves and serves his church, and my guy's out here proclaiming Jesus, healing people, and casting out devils and demons. Not a pastor. Did I say that? And these actions parallel the ministries of both Jesus and the apostles, and this is why I've said to you, the book of Acts is a continuation of what Jesus began to do and teach. And the church is supposed to be a continuation of what Jesus began to do and teach. You're supposed to be able to go to the church and go, hey, I'd like to know about Jesus, and let's go, here it is. The problem is that many of us don't know or enjoy God. And so somebody comes in and goes, I'd like to know about Jesus, and we go, we got a stage, we got good kids stuff. No, no, the church is supposed to be a continuation. Why is Philip doing it this way? Well, because that's what Jesus did. I mean, why else would he be doing it? It's a continuation of what Jesus began to do and teach, and as Philip is doing this, he starts to get some momentum, and he has two interactions.

The first is with a guy by the name of Simon Magus, and Simon practiced magic. He was a sorcerer, not like Harry Potter, like somebody messing with demons. And he is called the power of God that is called great. That's my guy's nickname. It's a little long for me. The power of God that is called great. And even in that, it doesn't say God is great, it says it's the power of God that's called great. We call that guy great. But he's messing with demons, and he sees what Philip is doing, and he goes, I mess with these spirits, you're messing with a different spirit, I want that. And so the other apostles come in, and they're kind of trying to figure out what God is up to in Samaria, and this dude pops up and says, I want to become a Christian. And so he appears to repent of his sins, and then he says, cool, now I want those powers, and he says, I'll pay for them. And Philip says, and acts in verse 20, hey, may your silver perish with you. My dude Peter is not a subtle cat, you know what I'm saying? He says faith can't be bought. Spiritual power can't be bought. What God is doing can't be bought. In fact, this guy, Simon, derives a theological term, simony, which refers to buying and selling of spiritual authority. It happened then, and it still happens in 2026, I promise you. There are many people monetizing the church. There are many people monetizing the power of God. God to benefit themselves. And they go back to this story. Simonists. Individuals say, yeah, yeah, I want Jesus, but what I really want is influence. What I really want is power. What I really want is money. And Peter rightly says, you can't have both. You can have your silver and you'll die with it. As the church spread out, they run into false worship. They run into worldly affections. They did then and they do now. It's a good thing for the

church to have to be operating in. That's not true. That's not biblical. That's heretical. We don't serve that God. We don't do it that way. In fact, if the church isn't doing that, it's likely that there's no lost people coming to the church. And so the church stands on the authority of God's word. And then secondly, we see the Ethiopian eunuch. And this is a fascinating story. The spirit of God, the angel of the Lord, Jesus, supernaturally directs Philip and says, Phil, you're doing a good job in Samaria, but I want you to go 60 miles south to Gaza. Yes, that Gaza. And there, you're going to bump into a guy. I want you to go to the corner of Gaza Avenue and Muhammad Luther King Jr. Boulevard. And I want you to wait. I want you to wait. Some of y'all, I need you. Come on, wake up. All right? And I need you to wait there. And so as he's waiting there, a armored Cadillac Escalade comes by. And in the back is this guy. And the Bible tells us that it is a man who is serving the queen of Ethiopia. Her name is Candace. Now, a couple things that Luke tells us just to verify the historicity of what he's saying. Candace isn't a name, it's a title. It's a dynastic title, sort of like Pharaoh, Caesar, Herod. And so this is an individual who is stepping in as the queen, the dynastic line of queens in Ethiopia. This is not Ethiopia as it is today. This is the kingdom of Nubia or the kingdom of Kush. This is modern-day Sudan. And this is probably where Moses' wife was from. Remember, she was a Kushite. And so this area, which is today modern-day Sudan. You want to know, by the way, why Sudan is as crazy as it is? Because God's been at work there for a long time. And any time God is at work, the enemy is at work. So this, at the time, was a dynamic empire. Educated, wealthy, influential. And my guy is a representative, probably like the secretary of treasury for the queen. And so God comes to Phil and says, Phil, go to Gaza Avenue and Mohammed Luther King Jr. Drive and wait for the Escalade to come back. And he's standing there after walking 60 miles and here comes the Escalade. And he looks into the back and my guy is reading his Bible. And so Phil runs up to the Escalade and yells, probably not the smartest thing to do, hey man, what are you doing? And the guy kind of looks up and says, I'm reading this old Jewish document. And Philip says, do you understand what it says? And he says, how can I understand? I don't have anyone to teach me. And Phil says, you want me to get in the back seat with you and tell you about it? And my guy says, sure, get in. And so Philip, not a pastor, begins to teach him the gospel from the book of Isaiah. Not a

pastor. How many of you dream teamers could get somebody to Jesus from the book of Isaiah? Just a question. And so Philip walks into Jesus and the Ethiopian eunuch says, in our language, I want to give my life to Jesus. And Philip says, come on baby, let's do it. It's a loose translation, but you get what I'm saying. And so the man gives his life to Jesus and then he goes, so I've heard about this baptism thing. When can I get baptized? And Philip says, well, I mean, obviously you're going to have to go to a class before you can get baptized. And you're going to have to repent of the side chick that you have and all the craziness that you're doing out on these. And we're going to have to teach you a little bit of theology. I mean, we really need to get you kind of worked up on all the words that we use in the church. So let's kind of see how all that...no. He says, hey, I will dunk you in the first body of water we go past. Right? And so they go by a body of water and my dude says, stop the escalate. And he gets out of his tinted armored vehicle Here comes Philip behind him and they get in this water and Philip, he doesn't sprinkle him because that's not what the word means. And that's not what we're doing, okay? Baptism is burying somebody. And I said in the first, I'm gonna say it again, let the record reflect. If when I die, you sprinkle me, I'm gonna haunt you. Bury me, I'm dead, right? I ain't there, get rid of me. Why do we baptize people? Here's how it works. Hey, do you know today that God has saved you from your sin, Ethiopian eunuch? Yes, yes, I do. Then I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Why?

Because all three persons in the Trinity are necessary for God to save you. You don't just get saved in the name of Jesus. Come on, somebody. It's the will of the Father, the work of Jesus, and then you're sealed by the Holy Spirit. And anybody who tells you different, listen to me, doesn't understand the Trinity or how God saves somebody. Then I baptize you, my brother or sister, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Buried in the likeness of his death, raised to walk in newness of life. And if his small group had been there, they'd have been like, yeah, this is amazing. I can't believe it. My guy, the Ethiopian eunuch, you did it. We're so proud of you. We affirm what God is doing in your life. And as soon as the eunuch comes out of the water, Philip disappears. The lengths that God will go. To save somebody. And the lengths that God expects his people to go. To get the gospel to somebody. This eunuch represents multiple marginalized identities in the same person. This guy is not a Jew, he's a Gentile. This guy is not Middle Eastern, he is African. This guy is a eunuch. And what that means in terms of worship, Deuteronomy 23,

eunuchs were not allowed in the church. They weren't allowed in the temple. And so watch, the spirit of God directs Philip to a person who to this point had been seen as being outside of the plans of God. Philip didn't stand in front of a whiteboard and go, who are we going to reach with the gospel? No, the spirit of God said, you get your rear end to the corner of Gaza Avenue and Muhammad Luther King Jr. Boulevard. And there I'm gonna save somebody. I'm gonna save somebody. And the eunuch responds to the gospel with no supernatural event, no vision. He responds by reading the book of Isaiah. Some of y'all are Christians and you've never read the book of Isaiah. My guy gets saved reading the book of Isaiah and he's immediately baptized. Two things that I want you to see. Number one, if the church is on mission, you will have to discern the times and the spirits by the Holy Spirit. And you will have to be able to take God's word and apply it to reality. You have to. That you look at Simon and Simon says, I wanna be a Christian. And a lot of us will go, this is great. And Peter goes, not today.

You're gonna have to stand up for the truth in this culture. You're gonna have to stand up and call a spade a spade. And in order to call a spade a spade, you better get the definition of a spade. But then as you're getting discipled and as you're understanding who God is, and as you're looking at your Bible and looking at the culture, you go, yeah, I know they say they're a Christian, but that's not how a Christian acts. That's not how a Christian believes. That's not how a Christian talks. No, that's not God. And can I tell you, by the way, doing that is gonna be lonely because the enemy will put gas on anything other than Jesus.