1 00:00:01,151 --> 00:00:04,154 Acts 8:26–40. 2 00:00:05,121 --> 00:00:07,957 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise 3 00:00:07,957 --> 00:00:12,178 and go toward the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. 4 00:00:12,195 --> 00:00:14,431 This is the desert place. 5 00:00:14,431 --> 00:00:15,882 And he rose and went. 6 00:00:15,882 --> 00:00:19,753 And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, 7 00:00:19,753 --> 00:00:23,656 queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. 8 00:00:23,673 --> 00:00:28,561 He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning seated in his chariot. 9 00:00:28,561 --> 00:00:30,597 And he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 10 00:00:30,597 --> 00:00:34,634 And the spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. 11 00:00:34,634 --> 00:00:37,721 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah 12 00:00:37,754 --> 00:00:41,107 the prophet and asked, do you understand what you are reading? 13 00:00:41,391 --> 00:00:46,396 And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? 14 00:00:46,596 --> 00:00:49,349 And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 15 00:00:49,349 --> 00:00:53,787 Now, the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this like a sheep? 16 00:00:53,787 --> 00:00:58,041 He was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its sheer is silent. 17 00:00:58,041 --> 00:01:00,677 So he opens not his mouth. 18 00:01:00,677 --> 00:01:03,480 In his humiliation, justice was denied. 19 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,599 Him who can describe his generation. 20 00:01:06,599 --> 00:01:09,602 For his life is taken away from the earth. 21 00:01:10,153 --> 00:01:14,074 And the eunuch said to Philip, about whom I ask you, 22 00:01:14,107 --> 00:01:17,827 does the prophet say this about himself or about someone else? 23 00:01:18,311 --> 00:01:21,598 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture, 24 00:01:21,598 --> 00:01:24,000 he told him the good news about Jesus. 25 00:01:25,151 --> 00:01:28,521 And as they were going along the road, they came to some water. 26 00:01:28,521 --> 00:01:31,307 And the eunuch said, see, here is water. 27 00:01:31,307 --> 00:01:34,160 What prevents me from being baptized? 28 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:38,398 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water. 29 00:01:38,481 --> 00:01:41,518 Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him. 30 00:01:41,551 --> 00:01:43,636 And when they had came up out of the water, 31 00:01:43,636 --> 00:01:45,789 the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. 32 00:01:45,789 --> 00:01:49,709 And the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way, rejoicing. 33 00:01:49,709 --> 00:01:53,229 But Philip found himself at his Otus, and as he passed through, 34 00:01:53,229 --> 00:01:57,600 he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. 35 00:02:01,121 --> 00:02:01,838 Well, good evening, 36 00:02:01,838 --> 00:02:05,675 and welcome to the weekend gathering of Christ Community Chapel. 37 00:02:05,708 --> 00:02:06,843 My name is Zach. 38 00:02:06,843 --> 00:02:10,830 I'm one of the pastors here, and I'm so glad that we get to be part 39 00:02:10,830 --> 00:02:14,868 of your weekend, which at least for us, starts on Thursday night. 40 00:02:14,918 --> 00:02:17,921 Especially welcome to those of you that are here because a friend 41 00:02:17,921 --> 00:02:19,956 or family member is getting baptized. 42 00:02:19,956 --> 00:02:22,392 We're baptizing across all of our services this weekend. 43 00:02:22,392 --> 00:02:24,277 Thanks for coming and supporting them. 44 00:02:24,277 --> 00:02:25,478 It's really, really kind of you. 45 00:02:25,478 --> 00:02:27,797 We're excited to be part of that with you. 46 00:02:27,797 --> 00:02:32,352 You know, we are in a sermon series right now going through the book of acts. 47 00:02:32,352 --> 00:02:34,721 We're calling it room for more. 48 00:02:34,721 --> 00:02:37,157 We're calling it that for two reasons. 49 00:02:37,157 --> 00:02:41,761 One is when you read the book of acts, you cannot get away from this fact 50 00:02:41,761 --> 00:02:46,749 that the God of the Bible is always looking to make room for more. 51 00:02:46,799 --> 00:02:50,236 In the beginning of the book of acts, there are about 100 Christians. 52 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,122 By about chapter five, there are 5000. 53 00:02:53,122 --> 00:02:54,591 By the end of the book. 54 00:02:54,591 --> 00:02:58,077 The Gospel of Jesus has spread all over the known world. 55 00:02:58,077 --> 00:02:59,429 That's not by accident. 56 00:02:59,429 --> 00:03:02,866 It's because God is always looking to make room for more. 57 00:03:02,882 --> 00:03:06,920 If we want to be a church that is participating in what God is doing, 58 00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:10,506 we're going to be a church that is looking to make room for more. 59 00:03:10,707 --> 00:03:13,993 But the second thing we mean by that is that when you read the book of acts, 60 00:03:13,993 --> 00:03:19,482 you also realize we need to make room for more expectations about what 61 00:03:19,515 --> 00:03:20,667 God wants to do. 62 00:03:20,667 --> 00:03:25,555 The book of acts is full of amazing miracles, full of of healing 63 00:03:25,555 --> 00:03:29,559 and and provision and amazing things that God is doing. 64 00:03:29,559 --> 00:03:31,160 And it's a challenge to us 65 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:36,316 who tend to settle for a regular kind of average experience of church 66 00:03:36,316 --> 00:03:39,519 and of Christianity, the book of acts, as calling us to something greater. 67 00:03:39,519 --> 00:03:42,622 In fact, this whole sermon series will culminate on November 68 00:03:42,622 --> 00:03:45,842 15th with the healing service we'll be doing here at the church. 69 00:03:45,842 --> 00:03:50,079 As we just try to say, hey, what we see God doing in the Bible, we want to see him 70 00:03:50,079 --> 00:03:53,266 doing here at our church room for more. 71 00:03:53,283 --> 00:03:56,869 And this week is going to participate in that by looking at one 72 00:03:56,869 --> 00:03:59,956 particular story that was just read for us in acts chapter eight. 73 00:03:59,956 --> 00:04:02,709 So if you have a Bible, you can open it to acts chapter eight. 74 00:04:02,709 --> 00:04:05,078 We'll be looking at verses 26 through 40. 75 00:04:05,078 --> 00:04:07,080 Of course it'll be on the screen behind me. 76 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,682 I do have an outline I'm going to use to guide our time together. 77 00:04:09,682 --> 00:04:11,434 Three points. Very simple. 78 00:04:11,434 --> 00:04:16,389 I want to show you the man on an island, the god of the island 79 00:04:16,389 --> 00:04:19,592 and the mission to the island, the man on an island, 80 00:04:19,642 --> 00:04:22,629 the god of the island and the mission to the island. 81 00:04:22,629 --> 00:04:22,829 All right. 82 00:04:22,829 --> 00:04:23,796 Let me start with the first one. 83 00:04:23,796 --> 00:04:26,399 The man on an island. 84 00:04:26,399 --> 00:04:31,921 One of the hardest things for people to accept about Christianity, 85 00:04:31,921 --> 00:04:36,509 about what the Bible teaches, is that there is only one way 86 00:04:36,592 --> 00:04:42,081 to have a relationship with God, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. 87 00:04:42,081 --> 00:04:45,201 It's called the exclusivity of Christ, meaning 88 00:04:45,201 --> 00:04:48,838 there is an exclusive path to God, only one path. 89 00:04:48,838 --> 00:04:51,841 That path is available to anyone and everyone, but 90 00:04:51,841 --> 00:04:56,112 there's only one path that is an inescapable truth. 91 00:04:56,112 --> 00:04:58,398 When you read the Bible, it's all over the Bible. 92 00:04:58,398 --> 00:04:59,632 It's all over the book of acts. 93 00:04:59,632 --> 00:05:01,351 Let me just show you one place. 94 00:05:01,351 --> 00:05:05,521 For example, this is the Apostle Peter preaching in acts chapter four, verse 12. 95 00:05:05,555 --> 00:05:07,640 Here's what he says about Jesus. 96 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:12,111 He says this and there is salvation in no one else, 97 00:05:12,879 --> 00:05:15,832 for there is no other name under heaven 98 00:05:15,832 --> 00:05:19,919 given among men by which we must be saved. 99 00:05:20,069 --> 00:05:23,990 You don't have to accept that, but you can't get around it. 100 00:05:24,073 --> 00:05:28,277 If you're going to take seriously that the Bible is teaching us about God, 101 00:05:28,361 --> 00:05:29,362 then here it is. 102 00:05:29,362 --> 00:05:32,482 There's only one way to have a relationship with God, 103 00:05:32,482 --> 00:05:36,119 and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. 104 00:05:36,319 --> 00:05:40,123 One little thing that maybe will help you understand that, 105 00:05:40,123 --> 00:05:44,711 or at least begin to be open to that, is that most of spirituality, 106 00:05:44,761 --> 00:05:47,480 most of religion is guessing about God. 107 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:51,117 That is kind of our cultural view, is that we can't really be sure. 108 00:05:51,117 --> 00:05:52,118 And maybe you are 109 00:05:52,118 --> 00:05:55,588 guessing this and I'm guessing that, and that makes a lot of sense. 110 00:05:55,955 --> 00:05:57,507 How could we really know? 111 00:05:57,507 --> 00:06:02,311 Except for this if God speaks, it would be a little bit like this. 112 00:06:02,311 --> 00:06:05,348 If I asked you to guess what my favorite color is, 113 00:06:05,631 --> 00:06:08,634 you would all have different guesses, and some of them would seem like 114 00:06:08,634 --> 00:06:12,472 really good guesses, and no one guess would be better than another. 115 00:06:12,522 --> 00:06:17,110 Until I said actually, my favorite color is blue. 116 00:06:17,427 --> 00:06:21,314 And then if you guessed red, it doesn't matter how sincere you are, 117 00:06:21,347 --> 00:06:24,667 you're wrong because I've told you so. 118 00:06:24,667 --> 00:06:27,787 What the Bible is telling us is that God has spoken. 119 00:06:27,787 --> 00:06:29,639 The time for guessing is over. 120 00:06:29,639 --> 00:06:33,276 And because of that, God is telling us there's one way 121 00:06:33,276 --> 00:06:37,196 he'll accept people, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. 122 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:41,601 One of the reasons that's hard for people is because they ask this question, 123 00:06:41,918 --> 00:06:46,072 what happens to those who have never heard about Jesus? 124 00:06:46,472 --> 00:06:49,792 I mean, if Jesus is the only way to have a relationship with God, then then 125 00:06:49,842 --> 00:06:54,113 what does that mean for people who grow up in Yemen or Saudi Arabia 126 00:06:54,113 --> 00:06:59,152 or Sri Lanka or in, you know, Ohio, but just not in a family 127 00:06:59,202 --> 00:07:02,672 that takes them to church, not in a family that is religious. 128 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:04,157 What does that mean for them? 129 00:07:04,157 --> 00:07:10,363 It's often called the man on an island question, because the thinking is, 130 00:07:10,363 --> 00:07:13,549 if Jesus is the only way to have a relationship with God, 131 00:07:13,599 --> 00:07:18,237 then what happens to the man on an island who's never heard of Jesus? 132 00:07:18,237 --> 00:07:22,041 It's a great question, and it's not a question I'm going to fully 133 00:07:22,041 --> 00:07:25,027 exhaust here, except for to say this. 134 00:07:25,027 --> 00:07:28,481 This story is about one of those men. 135 00:07:28,881 --> 00:07:32,435 This story is about a man on an island. 136 00:07:32,718 --> 00:07:35,521 The Bible calls him the Ethiopian eunuch. 137 00:07:35,521 --> 00:07:39,992 Here's what the writer Luke writes about him in verses 27 and 28. 138 00:07:39,992 --> 00:07:40,960 Here's what it says. 139 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:47,116 And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, 140 00:07:47,150 --> 00:07:52,121 queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all of her treasure. 141 00:07:52,271 --> 00:07:56,108 He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning 142 00:07:56,108 --> 00:08:00,279 seated in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 143 00:08:00,313 --> 00:08:05,234 Now what I want to show you is how mathematically improbable 144 00:08:05,234 --> 00:08:09,322 it is that this man would ever actually become a Christian. 145 00:08:09,639 --> 00:08:12,758 For all intents and purposes, he is the man on the island. 146 00:08:12,758 --> 00:08:16,562 Let me give you five reasons this man should never become a Christian. 147 00:08:16,562 --> 00:08:19,232 Five reasons it's incredibly unlikely. 148 00:08:19,232 --> 00:08:22,235 The first is geography. 149 00:08:22,401 --> 00:08:25,121 We're told he's Ethiopia, and most scholars 150 00:08:25,121 --> 00:08:29,675 believe that he came from what we would call modern day Sudan, 151 00:08:30,042 --> 00:08:34,197 meaning he's a long way away from Jerusalem. 152 00:08:34,947 --> 00:08:38,317 It's most likely that he's going to live and die 153 00:08:38,467 --> 00:08:42,722 his life, his entire life without ever hearing about Jesus. 154 00:08:42,722 --> 00:08:43,789 He's not Jewish. 155 00:08:43,789 --> 00:08:45,241 He's not going to synagogue. 156 00:08:45,241 --> 00:08:47,760 He's not hearing the Old Testament be read. 157 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:50,279 It's unlikely that he would even know. 158 00:08:50,279 --> 00:08:55,751 There was a guy named Jesus who lived and died and rose from the dead. 159 00:08:55,868 --> 00:08:57,119 He is from Sudan. 160 00:08:57,119 --> 00:09:00,323 Sudan is a long way from Jerusalem. 161 00:09:00,323 --> 00:09:03,192 So the first problem is geography. 162 00:09:03,192 --> 00:09:05,111 The second problem is culture. 163 00:09:05,111 --> 00:09:10,950 It's also extremely unlikely that he was from a monotheistic culture. 164 00:09:11,267 --> 00:09:14,754 Most likely he's from a place where there's a god of the river 165 00:09:14,754 --> 00:09:18,074 and a god of the mountains and a god of the hills, meaning he's 166 00:09:18,074 --> 00:09:21,911 not even thinking about meeting the one true God, 167 00:09:21,911 --> 00:09:25,431 or that that one true God would send a messiah. 168 00:09:25,631 --> 00:09:27,633 He isn't growing up in synagogue. 169 00:09:27,633 --> 00:09:28,951 He's not going to church. 170 00:09:28,951 --> 00:09:32,989 He he has no no awareness of the Jewish faith 171 00:09:32,989 --> 00:09:35,841 or how that would give way to Christianity. 172 00:09:35,841 --> 00:09:37,076 He's from the wrong place. 173 00:09:37,076 --> 00:09:39,228 He's from the wrong culture. 174 00:09:39,228 --> 00:09:43,883 The third problem for this man is one of access. 175 00:09:44,867 --> 00:09:45,801 It will be. 176 00:09:45,801 --> 00:09:49,322 Most scholars will say it will be three centuries before. 177 00:09:49,322 --> 00:09:54,910 Where he's from has a single Christian church, three centuries from this story. 178 00:09:54,910 --> 00:09:58,798 So it'll be 300 years before there's a church or 179 00:09:58,798 --> 00:10:03,069 the Bible, or anyone who knows Jesus living in his town. 180 00:10:03,069 --> 00:10:06,639 There's no one to tell him about Jesus. 181 00:10:07,039 --> 00:10:11,994 The fourth problem is that he is busy at work. 182 00:10:12,561 --> 00:10:15,431 The text says he is a royal official 183 00:10:15,431 --> 00:10:18,401 for Candace, the the queen of the Ethiopians. 184 00:10:18,401 --> 00:10:22,471 He handles the money, which means once he gets back to where 185 00:10:22,471 --> 00:10:24,357 he's from, he's got a pretty important job. 186 00:10:24,357 --> 00:10:27,476 Right now he's thinking about what he's seeing in Jerusalem. 187 00:10:27,476 --> 00:10:30,630 But if nothing happens on the road back home, once he gets home, 188 00:10:30,630 --> 00:10:32,281 he's got a full outlook calendar. 189 00:10:32,281 --> 00:10:33,883 He's going to be busy. 190 00:10:33,883 --> 00:10:37,236 And the fifth thing is that even if somehow he stumbles 191 00:10:37,269 --> 00:10:39,238 across the message of Jesus. 192 00:10:39,238 --> 00:10:41,557 How would he understand it? That's what he says. 193 00:10:41,557 --> 00:10:44,360 Look at verses 30 and 31. 194 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:48,881 It says so Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah 195 00:10:48,914 --> 00:10:53,152 the prophet and asked, do you understand what you are reading? 196 00:10:53,152 --> 00:10:54,153 Listen to what he says. 197 00:10:54,153 --> 00:10:58,441 And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? 198 00:10:58,441 --> 00:11:01,394 In other words, he's saying, have you read the book of Isaiah? 199 00:11:01,394 --> 00:11:04,597 Pretty confusing. I have no shot. 200 00:11:04,830 --> 00:11:08,601 All I'm saying is, I want you to see, when you read this story, 201 00:11:08,601 --> 00:11:12,521 that there is almost no chance this guy will become a Christian. 202 00:11:12,788 --> 00:11:15,591 He's from a far off place, a different culture. 203 00:11:15,591 --> 00:11:16,959 He has no understanding. 204 00:11:16,959 --> 00:11:19,028 He's a busy guy at work. 205 00:11:19,028 --> 00:11:23,599 He has no context for the idea of one God or a messiah. 206 00:11:23,599 --> 00:11:25,868 It is mathematically improbable. 207 00:11:25,868 --> 00:11:29,755 He is the man on an island. 208 00:11:29,755 --> 00:11:33,642 And the reason I say that is because I want you to understand 209 00:11:33,676 --> 00:11:36,996 that this story is going to give us a window into 210 00:11:37,029 --> 00:11:40,399 how God feels about those kinds of people, 211 00:11:40,399 --> 00:11:45,071 but also this forget the man on an island as a philosophical question. 212 00:11:45,071 --> 00:11:48,758 The truth is, each one of us, if you're here and you're a Christian, 213 00:11:48,758 --> 00:11:53,362 probably have has someone in your life that you think of as a man on an island, 214 00:11:54,513 --> 00:11:55,481 a family member, 215 00:11:55,481 --> 00:11:56,749 a friend, a neighbor, 216 00:11:56,749 --> 00:12:01,036 a colleague that you just cannot imagine would ever become a Christian, 217 00:12:01,036 --> 00:12:05,107 would ever be open to the message of Jesus, would ever be willing 218 00:12:05,157 --> 00:12:09,078 to consider whether or not they would put their faith in Jesus. 219 00:12:09,078 --> 00:12:13,632 It feels mathematically improbable that the person you're 220 00:12:13,632 --> 00:12:14,867 thinking of would ever come. 221 00:12:14,867 --> 00:12:17,987 Well, this is a story about that kind of person. 222 00:12:18,270 --> 00:12:19,989 So what happens? 223 00:12:19,989 --> 00:12:22,675 Well, the first point is the man on an island. 224 00:12:22,675 --> 00:12:23,709 Here's the second point. 225 00:12:23,709 --> 00:12:25,961 The god of the island. 226 00:12:25,961 --> 00:12:26,679 Of course, you know, 227 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:31,267 because the story was just read to us that this man is going to become a Christian. 228 00:12:31,317 --> 00:12:33,235 The story will end with him being baptized, 229 00:12:33,235 --> 00:12:36,956 just like we're baptizing across all of our services this weekend. 230 00:12:36,956 --> 00:12:39,074 He will respond in faith to Jesus. 231 00:12:39,074 --> 00:12:42,077 But what I don't want you to miss is why? 232 00:12:42,361 --> 00:12:43,879 And here's what I want you to see. 233 00:12:43,879 --> 00:12:47,600 There's a guy named Philip in this story who tells this guy about Jesus, 234 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:51,871 but it is not Philip who's driving the action of this story. 235 00:12:51,871 --> 00:12:53,322 It's God. 236 00:12:53,322 --> 00:12:55,474 Let me show you that time and time again in the story. 237 00:12:55,474 --> 00:12:58,477 If you don't mind, just get a machine gun it it'll be on the screen behind me. 238 00:12:58,511 --> 00:12:59,795 Look at verse 26. 239 00:12:59,795 --> 00:13:01,831 It's God who sends Philip. 240 00:13:01,831 --> 00:13:02,832 Here's what it says. 241 00:13:02,832 --> 00:13:06,952 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise and go toward 242 00:13:06,952 --> 00:13:11,390 the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. 243 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:13,309 This is a desert place. 244 00:13:13,309 --> 00:13:14,426 In other words, God says to Philip, 245 00:13:14,426 --> 00:13:17,997 I want you to go to this place, that nothing is happening. 246 00:13:17,997 --> 00:13:19,315 You have no reason to go 247 00:13:19,315 --> 00:13:23,619 except for I know there's a guy there that I'm going to reach. 248 00:13:23,636 --> 00:13:29,642 Verse 29 and the spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. 249 00:13:29,675 --> 00:13:33,195 And God might not have had a lot of confidence in Philip's intelligence. 250 00:13:33,195 --> 00:13:34,880 So he sends Philip to this place. 251 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:35,881 And just so he's not confused, 252 00:13:35,881 --> 00:13:39,552 he goes, that guy, that guy, that chariot, go talk to him. 253 00:13:39,668 --> 00:13:43,989 Verse 35, when Philip does talk, then Philip open his mouth. 254 00:13:43,989 --> 00:13:47,960 And beginning with this scripture, he told them the good news about Jesus, 255 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:52,882 meaning he tells them the story of what God has done in Jesus. 256 00:13:52,882 --> 00:13:57,636 And in verses 39 and 40, it's God who takes Philip away. 257 00:13:57,753 --> 00:13:59,955 Here's all I'm saying to you. 258 00:13:59,955 --> 00:14:03,709 This is not just the story of a man on an island, 259 00:14:03,759 --> 00:14:07,713 a man mathematically unlikely to become a Christian. 260 00:14:07,763 --> 00:14:12,518 This is the story of a God who pursues the man on an island. 261 00:14:13,469 --> 00:14:14,069 This is a 262 00:14:14,069 --> 00:14:17,990 story of God whose passionate about reaching far off 263 00:14:17,990 --> 00:14:21,760 people, unlikely people, resistant people. 264 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,797 This is a story of a God who is passionate about reaching them 265 00:14:24,797 --> 00:14:28,517 and is leveraging his power to do it. 266 00:14:28,517 --> 00:14:32,354 And that shouldn't surprise us, because actually, that happens 267 00:14:32,388 --> 00:14:35,908 time and time again in the Bible, in the book of Genesis, 268 00:14:35,958 --> 00:14:40,679 it is God who goes looking for a pagan moon worshiper named Abram 269 00:14:40,679 --> 00:14:44,867 and not only reveals himself to Abraham, but tells Abraham, I'm now going to 270 00:14:44,917 --> 00:14:50,155 use you to take the message of who I am to the nations in the book of Exodus. 271 00:14:50,189 --> 00:14:53,509 It's it's God who pursues a fugitive from justice 272 00:14:53,509 --> 00:14:57,947 named Moses and reveals himself to Moses and says to Moses, I'm going 273 00:14:57,947 --> 00:15:02,551 to send you to my people in Egypt so that they would know who I am. 274 00:15:02,551 --> 00:15:06,872 It's God who goes looking for an ethnocentric, racist bigot 275 00:15:06,922 --> 00:15:11,510 named Jonah and tells him, I want you to go to your enemies and 276 00:15:11,510 --> 00:15:16,632 preach to them the message of salvation in Nineveh before it is too late. 277 00:15:16,632 --> 00:15:20,953 It's the God of the Bible who writes Psalm 67 about his desire 278 00:15:20,953 --> 00:15:23,522 to gather people from all over the world, 279 00:15:23,522 --> 00:15:27,359 that they might worship him at his holy mountain. 280 00:15:27,359 --> 00:15:30,829 It's the it's the God of the Bible who sends his Son 281 00:15:30,829 --> 00:15:34,199 Jesus to come looking for the loss is the God of the Bible, 282 00:15:34,233 --> 00:15:38,470 who tells us to go into all the nations with the message of Jesus. 283 00:15:38,470 --> 00:15:42,441 It's the God of the Bible and Revelation five who says that in heaven 284 00:15:42,474 --> 00:15:46,428 there will be someone from every tribe and every tongue in every nation. 285 00:15:46,428 --> 00:15:47,830 Here's my point. 286 00:15:47,830 --> 00:15:49,798 Although it is fair to ask 287 00:15:49,798 --> 00:15:53,402 if Jesus is the only way to have a relationship with God, 288 00:15:53,402 --> 00:15:55,237 what happens to those who have never heard? 289 00:15:55,237 --> 00:15:58,440 What happens to those mathematically unlikely? 290 00:15:58,474 --> 00:16:04,029 What that question misses is the passion and power of God to reach those people. 291 00:16:05,914 --> 00:16:08,067 God has always been on a mission 292 00:16:08,067 --> 00:16:12,037 to reach far off people and to bring them into his story. 293 00:16:12,071 --> 00:16:16,308 Your hope for your friend, for your family member, for your neighbor is not 294 00:16:16,358 --> 00:16:19,395 how likely it is that they would come to faith. 295 00:16:19,395 --> 00:16:24,283 It is that God is more passionate about reaching them than you could ever be. 296 00:16:24,550 --> 00:16:25,951 And I say this in part 297 00:16:25,951 --> 00:16:30,122 because some of us here this weekend will feel like a man on an island. 298 00:16:30,356 --> 00:16:33,108 We'll feel like if anyone was going to know God, it is. 299 00:16:33,108 --> 00:16:35,194 It is unlikely to be us. 300 00:16:35,194 --> 00:16:36,912 If anyone was going to begin 301 00:16:36,912 --> 00:16:40,716 a relationship with God, to be forgiven by God, to be included by God 302 00:16:40,716 --> 00:16:43,802 and His kingdom through Jesus, it is unlikely to be us. 303 00:16:43,802 --> 00:16:47,473 But this story and the whole story of the Bible is 304 00:16:47,473 --> 00:16:52,995 the story of the God who comes looking for the mathematically unlikely people. 305 00:16:54,313 --> 00:16:56,715 He comes looking for you. 306 00:16:56,715 --> 00:16:58,467 That's who he is. 307 00:16:58,467 --> 00:17:01,470 In a sermon series we're calling room for more. 308 00:17:01,470 --> 00:17:02,721 I don't want you to miss that. 309 00:17:02,721 --> 00:17:03,756 It isn't just that God 310 00:17:03,756 --> 00:17:08,510 wants us to make room for more, it's that he's the one who's doing the looking. 311 00:17:08,827 --> 00:17:11,680 He's the one who's doing the pursuing. 312 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:13,716 He's the one who's winning. 313 00:17:13,716 --> 00:17:17,002 People like the Ethiopian eunuch to himself. 314 00:17:17,036 --> 00:17:20,039 Every person who'll be baptized this weekend has a different story. 315 00:17:20,122 --> 00:17:24,276 And in that story, there will be different people that they will appreciate 316 00:17:24,276 --> 00:17:29,198 and celebrate and say, this person was a big part of me coming to know God. 317 00:17:29,231 --> 00:17:32,835 But behind every single story is really not a person. 318 00:17:33,602 --> 00:17:38,040 It's a God who is passionate about reaching people. 319 00:17:38,791 --> 00:17:42,428 It's a God who is passionate about reaching you. 320 00:17:43,195 --> 00:17:46,632 So the question then is where do we fit in? 321 00:17:46,682 --> 00:17:48,517 And that's my third point. 322 00:17:48,517 --> 00:17:52,471 Not just not just the man on an island and the god of the island, 323 00:17:52,471 --> 00:17:55,841 but the mission to the island. 324 00:17:56,191 --> 00:17:59,278 Philip is a really interesting character in the Bible. 325 00:17:59,278 --> 00:18:01,597 He does a lot of different things. 326 00:18:01,597 --> 00:18:05,751 In acts chapter seven, the apostles are too busy 327 00:18:05,751 --> 00:18:09,872 praying and preaching and preparing to preach, to meet all the needs 328 00:18:09,872 --> 00:18:11,673 of the people who are struggling. 329 00:18:11,673 --> 00:18:13,509 So they pick seven guys to 330 00:18:13,509 --> 00:18:17,880 basically wait on people, to serve people so that they can keep doing ministry. 331 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:19,548 Philip is one of those guys. 332 00:18:19,548 --> 00:18:24,203 He is, in the original language, a table waiter, not a glorified position. 333 00:18:24,203 --> 00:18:28,107 He will also, at the beginning of chapter eight, preach to a crowd. 334 00:18:28,157 --> 00:18:32,027 Here at the end of chapter eight, he shares Jesus with one guy. 335 00:18:32,111 --> 00:18:35,631 Later on in the book of acts, he'll host the Apostle Paul in his home, 336 00:18:35,631 --> 00:18:39,551 and we're told that he has four unmarried daughters that he has discipled, 337 00:18:39,551 --> 00:18:42,921 who are prophesying about God themselves. 338 00:18:42,921 --> 00:18:47,042 In other words, Philip is a little bit like the junk drawer of the book of acts. 339 00:18:47,843 --> 00:18:52,197 He does a little bit his master Jack of all trades, master of none. 340 00:18:52,881 --> 00:18:55,951 Philip is not the hero of this story. 341 00:18:56,118 --> 00:18:58,837 His first job is just to serve people. 342 00:18:58,837 --> 00:19:02,191 They didn't pick him because he was the most eloquent or the most talented. 343 00:19:02,241 --> 00:19:07,513 Philip simply is looking to join God in what he's doing and why. 344 00:19:07,996 --> 00:19:09,832 Well, because here's what Philip knows. 345 00:19:09,832 --> 00:19:12,918 Here's what every Christian who joins God in his mission knows. 346 00:19:12,918 --> 00:19:16,271 Here's what every church that joins God in his mission knows. 347 00:19:16,271 --> 00:19:20,075 We were all once the man on an island. 348 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:22,110 It is 349 00:19:22,110 --> 00:19:27,282 mathematically improbable that any of us would place our faith in Jesus, 350 00:19:27,432 --> 00:19:30,602 that any of us would turn away from our sin. 351 00:19:30,636 --> 00:19:33,438 You say, well, not me. Pastor Zach, I grew up in the church. Yeah. 352 00:19:33,438 --> 00:19:36,842 Do you know anyone else who grew up in the church and has walked away? 353 00:19:38,110 --> 00:19:41,029 Why? Isn't that your story? 354 00:19:41,029 --> 00:19:44,349 Well, the answer is because God pursued you. 355 00:19:44,349 --> 00:19:47,352 This is what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter two. 356 00:19:47,352 --> 00:19:50,239 Listen to how he describes the story of every Christian. 357 00:19:50,239 --> 00:19:51,874 Here's what he says. 358 00:19:51,874 --> 00:19:55,711 And you are dead in the trespasses and sins, 359 00:19:55,711 --> 00:19:59,481 and which you once walked, following the course of this world, 360 00:19:59,481 --> 00:20:04,203 following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, 361 00:20:04,203 --> 00:20:08,907 and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions 362 00:20:08,907 --> 00:20:13,278 of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and of the mind, 363 00:20:13,278 --> 00:20:17,633 and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. 364 00:20:17,633 --> 00:20:19,001 Let me translate that for you. 365 00:20:19,001 --> 00:20:21,987 You and I, we were the men or the women on the island. 366 00:20:22,354 --> 00:20:25,307 We were dead set against God, rebellious against God, 367 00:20:25,307 --> 00:20:29,311 seeking in every way we could to do our own thing, to ignore God. 368 00:20:29,311 --> 00:20:34,549 It was mathematically improbable that we would ever know him except for this. 369 00:20:34,549 --> 00:20:36,752 Here's how Paul continues. Verse four. 370 00:20:36,752 --> 00:20:42,157 But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, 371 00:20:42,190 --> 00:20:47,796 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. 372 00:20:47,796 --> 00:20:51,433 By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him, 373 00:20:51,433 --> 00:20:55,270 and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 374 00:20:55,270 --> 00:20:59,107 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches 375 00:20:59,107 --> 00:21:02,878 of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. 376 00:21:02,878 --> 00:21:07,199 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. 377 00:21:07,199 --> 00:21:11,203 It is the gift of God, not as a result of work, so that no 1st 378 00:21:11,203 --> 00:21:13,071 May boast and why? 379 00:21:13,071 --> 00:21:18,877 Here's what he tells us in verse ten, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ 380 00:21:18,877 --> 00:21:23,598 Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk. 381 00:21:23,632 --> 00:21:23,949 And them. 382 00:21:23,949 --> 00:21:27,753 You see, what Philip understood is that if God could reach him, 383 00:21:28,437 --> 00:21:31,239 God could reach anyone. 384 00:21:31,239 --> 00:21:32,107 Friends, listen to me. 385 00:21:32,107 --> 00:21:34,309 I don't know who your man on an island is. 386 00:21:34,309 --> 00:21:36,395 I don't know who the family member or friend 387 00:21:36,395 --> 00:21:40,232 or neighbor or colleague that you want so badly to come to faith in 388 00:21:40,232 --> 00:21:44,519 Jesus, to be forgiven, to know how it is to have a relationship with God. 389 00:21:44,519 --> 00:21:46,321 And you think it'll never happen. 390 00:21:46,321 --> 00:21:48,957 Where do you find the optimism to believe? 391 00:21:48,957 --> 00:21:52,194 Where do you find the encouragement to invite them to church 392 00:21:52,194 --> 00:21:53,428 to tell them about Jesus? 393 00:21:53,428 --> 00:21:59,318 It is simply this If God can save you, if God can save me, 394 00:21:59,551 --> 00:22:02,554 if God can save the Ethiopian eunuch, 395 00:22:02,554 --> 00:22:05,674 then there is no one outside of his reach. 396 00:22:05,674 --> 00:22:11,997 There is no island so far away, no person so far away that he can't reach them. 397 00:22:11,997 --> 00:22:13,515 And I'll just end with this. 398 00:22:13,515 --> 00:22:15,951 If you hear this weekend and you do not have a relationship 399 00:22:15,951 --> 00:22:17,235 with Jesus and you're you're thinking, 400 00:22:17,235 --> 00:22:19,755 I just don't know if I could believe that God could forgive me. 401 00:22:19,755 --> 00:22:26,111 Every person who's baptized this weekend is saying to you, if he can forgive me, 402 00:22:27,112 --> 00:22:28,196 if he can come 403 00:22:28,196 --> 00:22:31,283 looking for me, then he can find you. 404 00:22:31,316 --> 00:22:32,067 Church. 405 00:22:32,067 --> 00:22:35,387 If we are going to be a church that makes room for more, 406 00:22:35,587 --> 00:22:38,507 the first step is to be reacquainted 407 00:22:38,507 --> 00:22:41,510 with the miracle of our own salvation 408 00:22:41,827 --> 00:22:46,598 and to find in that story and in this one, a reason to believe 409 00:22:46,882 --> 00:22:50,552 God isn't done writing those kinds of stories. 410 00:22:50,635 --> 00:22:54,039 Let me pray for you, father God, thank you so much for this story. 411 00:22:54,556 --> 00:22:57,192 Thank you so much for the message it gives to all of us, 412 00:22:57,192 --> 00:22:59,678 that there is no one beyond your reach. 413 00:22:59,678 --> 00:23:05,117 No dad, no mom, no uncle, no aunt, no cousin, brother, sister, friend. 414 00:23:05,117 --> 00:23:06,952 That is too far for you to reach. 415 00:23:06,952 --> 00:23:10,238 No one sitting here right now under the sound of my voice, 416 00:23:10,238 --> 00:23:14,960 who is too far gone that they cannot be forgiven in Jesus? 417 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:19,147 My prayer is that through your Holy Spirit you might be pursuing them right 418 00:23:19,147 --> 00:23:22,317 this moment, just like you were pursuing this Ethiopian eunuch. 419 00:23:22,317 --> 00:23:24,870 That you would use me like you used Philip. 420 00:23:24,870 --> 00:23:26,638 I'm not the hero of the story. 421 00:23:26,638 --> 00:23:28,473 Philip wasn't the hero of the story. 422 00:23:28,473 --> 00:23:31,710 You are the God who saves. 423 00:23:32,194 --> 00:23:34,813 In Jesus name we pray. Amen.