I preached again!
I was honored to once again be with the brethren in Paulden Christian Fellowship.
As usual, these are my rough notes, so not necessarily everything I said while preaching.

The Message for All – Acts 8:25-40

Intro

Thank you who live in the wilderness of Paulden, AZ, for welcoming me.

I was challenged by some friends to continue in the book of Acts but also to include Palm Sunday and birthdays.

Easy.

Jesus began His ministry by being sent into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. He went to a place of wandering and seclusion to show He was ready to best Satan and evil and also fulfill the promises to Israel and others.

Jesus ended His ministry making His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, being praised by people who would later call for His death. Yet, He came to overcome death.

Likewise, today happens to be my wife’s birthday, and I can promise you, she is excited that she can spend her birthday hearing the Word of God with the gathered saints of God.

And I promise, that as we get into Acts 8, these will be relevant. (Not so much that it’s her birthday.

In fact, ask her and many who have known me for a long time (or relatively short time), I prefer to celebrate a day other than my own birthday, October 26.

I celebrate January 9 over October 26, because that is the day I finally said “Yes” to Jesus coming into my life. I call it my Re-Birthday, the day I was born again.

Maybe you don’t remember the day you became a believer in Jesus Christ as your Savior, and that’s okay. You can celebrate your birthday, then, as the day God brought you into this world. You can celebrate the day you were baptized.

Maybe you don’t know Jesus this way, yet. It’s my prayer that after this message you may know that the message of Jesus, the gospel, is for you, and that you can believe this truth.

And for you who believe – now or later – may you be encouraged to share the truth of this message that’s for all people.

Now, join me in Acts 8, starting in verse 25.

Body

[Read Acts 8:25-40]

There are three important things to know from this passage:

1. We must be ready with the gospel at all times.
2. The gospel goes out to all people.
3. The gospel is for all kinds of people.

Let’s take these one at a time:

1. We must be ready with the gospel at all times.
   1. Philip went to the Samaritans and then found himself in a desolate place and later in more Gentile cities.
   1. For a Jewish believer, he kept finding himself surrounded by people who are unclean and unwelcome, and the wilderness was understood as the place of wandering and judgment.
      1. We’ll get to the unclean and unwelcome in a few moments.
      1. Remember, Adam and Eve were pushed into the wilderness after the Fall, and Israel spent 40 years wandering the wilderness after their unfaithfulness.
      1. This would be uncomfortable for him on many levels.
   1. Philip encounters a man reading from our Old Testament.
      1. Do you know the Old Testament at all? At least a little?
      1. Do you know the gospel well enough to connect it with Old Testament truths?
      1. Do you know the gospel well enough to connect it with situations people are in?
   1. Philip is able to share the gospel because he spent the last 4-6 years learning from Jesus
      1. He was an Apostle, following Jesus in ministry, and it’s believed Stephen was killed 1-3 years after Christ’s resurrection.
      1. If you believe in Christ, you should have a desire to learn about him and from Him.
      1. Daily study should be important. (Yes, it’s okay to miss a day reading. It’s about desire and focus.)
      1. Knowledge comes from exposure and experience. We must be studying the Word so that the Spirit can remind us of it.
         1. John 14:26 says the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and remind us of Jesus words, which is to say that He teaches us through the inspired Word, the Bible, and reminds us of what it says.
   1. As to the gospel, explaining that will cover the last two points simultaneously
2. The gospel goes to all people.
3. The gospel is for all kinds of people.
   1. God promised redemption, restoration, and salvation.
      1. In Genesis 3:15, God promises that a male descendent of Eve will destroy the tyranny of deception and separation.
      1. In Genesis 12:1-3, God promises Abraham that through his descendants will come one who will bless all the nations.
      1. In the Law (Genesis-Deuteronomy), specifically in Deuteronomy 18, God promises a great Prophet will arise who will teach people and show them God.
      1. In 1 Chronicles 17, God promises David that he will have a descendant who will be King forever.
      1. In the Prophets, especially Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, God promises a savior who will be God and a Man, who will take away sins and welcome all people into God’s family.
   1. The excluded will be included.
      1. Especially in Leviticus (21-23), God explains that Gentiles (non-Israelites), murderers, anyone with deformities, and people who practice abominable practices are at best not allowed in the Temple to approach God or at worst should be killed.
         1. It specifically mentions those whose genitals are crushed or removed … as in a eunuch. They were excluded from entering the Temple at all, while there was even a place Gentiles could gather.
   1. Now consider Jesus’ words and what we see specifically through Philip.
      1. Jesus said in Matthew 11:5 and Mark 2:17 that He came to heal the sick and call sinners to repentance and righteousness.
      1. In John 4:23-24, Jesus says the time had arrived when people could worship God anywhere in Spirit and Truth.
      1. In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells the Apostles that they will be His witnesses “in Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
         1. Remember that the Northern tribes were removed from prominence, their descendants having become the nation of Samaria. (They’re called Jews due to Judah being the main faithful tribe, and Judea is the area they live.)
         1. The Samaritans were “mixed-bloods,” having Gentile relations, so they were considered unclean and abominable.
            1. Where did Philip and the other Apostles go first? (8:4,25) Samaria!
         1. The understanding of the Jews is that the Queen of Sheba came from “the ends of the earth”: that was Ethiopia.
            1. Philip encounters an Ethiopian!
            1. The gospel is shown as already reaching the ends of the earth!
         1. Philip then “found himself” suddenly in mostly Gentile cities!
         1. In Jerusalem, we see Greek Jews hearing the message, then Samaritans, even a magician (sorcerer) is able to receive the message (though Simon denied it through his greed), and now we see a eunuch, someone with a deformity that keeps him from the Temple, can worship God and be included in the assembly of believers!
4. What is the gospel?
   1. As Romans reminds us again and again, as stated in 3:9-23, all of us are sinners. Since the Fall of Adam and Eve through today, all people rebel against God and live contrary to His ways. We all think we can do something to earn salvation, earn God’s favor, that we’re good enough or because we do more good than bad that we’re okay. We can never do enough good, and in fact none of what we do is truly good (apart from Christ.)
   1. Sin is disobedience, separation, and denial of God in every area of our lives. It is not loving God as we should, people as we should, and things of this world (including people and our own ideas about God) too much.
   1. Yet, God promised a way, a Prophet King who would reveal God, restore relationship, and remove sin from our lives.
   1. Jesus is that promised Prophet King, the One who is truly God and truly Man, the only one who could perfectly obey God and make the payment only a man could make.
   1. He told us in John 3 that one must be born again, born of the Holy Spirit in faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. With faith comes a New Birth, a Re-Birthday.
   1. And we know that He reigns now in heaven, at the right hand of God as ruler and Judge.
   1. Now, not all will be believe and be saved, but He has shown us that no one is excluded from this offer of salvation and relationship: the one who hates, the one who kills, the one who is addicted to substances and money, the one who loves sex, the one who commits adultery, the prisoner, the slave, the rich, the poor, black and white and everything in between, “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). There are examples throughout Scripture.
   1. Just as Jesus came into Jerusalem being praised and asked to save us (“Hosannah!”), when we believe He can save us He comes into our lives by the Holy Spirit living in us.
   1. And when we believe this about Christ saving us, we know Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 6:11: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
   1. We find we have a new birth, for we are a new Creation in Christ Jesus our Lord (2 Corinthians 5:17) … and His ambassadors of the faith calling all to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20).
5. But, as James 2:17 reminds us, “faith without works is dead.”
   1. If we say we believe, but we never share it with others, do we really believe?
   1. Do we believe we are truly saved?
   1. Do we believe this message is for all people?
      1. Or do we think some are not worthy of salvation?
   1. If God can save a murdering adulterer (David), prostitutes (Rahab and Mary), vulgar fishermen (most of the Apostles), and even someone who killed Christians (Paul), people who came from God’s chosen people as well as different colors and nations, then He can save anyone.
   1. May we show we have faith by sharing that faith with others.
      1. Romans 10:8-17
6. Jesus Himself has sent us: Matthew 28:18-20

Conclusion & Application

If you have decided today that you believe this message, awesome! Happy Re-Birthday! Welcome to the family of God! Please, let me or someone else know! You are now born again into new, everlasting life with Jesus.

If you still have questions, awesome! Please, talk with me or someone else!

For all of us who believe, may we know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the message of our salvation, and not only for us but for the whole world.

May we grow in this faith and the understanding of who Christ is, seeking God and His growing, righteous Kingdom through the reading of the Bible, listening to sermons and teachings, and encouraging each other to grow in Christ.

May we desire to share the truth of Christ with everyone we know and everyone we meet.
Yes, it’s scary at times, but it’s also so important.

And, like the Ethiopian, if you have yet to be baptized, what is stopping you? This man saw water available and asked to be baptized immediately, to show that he accepts his new Family, the Church, and that Christ is Lord.
If you desire to be baptized, tell us!

For all of us, may we see that Jesus is ALREADY marching across this world with His gospel through us, the Church. His next Triumphal Entry will be His return, when He comes to dwell with His people on earth for eternity. When He returns (or we die), it is too late to choose His Life, but we will be there celebrating our God who has saved us.

Let this encourage us to share the message for all urgently, but lovingly and compassionately.

He has sent us into the world before He comes back to the world. May we share this message with all.

Prayer

Our Lord, we thank You that you have saved us. We thank You that, even though we denied You, Your ways, and Your love, You have cleansed us, redeemed us, and called us Your own.

By Your Holy Spirit whom You sent to us, we ask that You now send us out boldly into our world to proclaim Your message. Empower us to learn this message. Embolden us to share this message. Fill us with hope, wonder, and anticipation that You are working in and through us to change this world, to prepare people for Your next Triumphal Entry, to show them that You have called us all to Yourself.

Our great God, we thank You for your Word, for Your love and grace, for Your strength and faithfulness, and for Your promise to always be with us and to go before us.

Guide us in all truth. Grow us in grace. Help us to love you by loving all with the message You have sent to us all.

Thank You for calling us friends, sons and daughters through Your Son, Your redeemed and loved ones. Thank You for new birth and new love for all, especially for You, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Father.