Series: Till the Ends of the Earth

 

Title: Go After One     

 

Perhaps the term evangelism makes you nervous or gives you feelings of inadequacies as you may feel like you do not have the words to say.  This is especially the case when we compare ourselves to the greats of the faith. Take Peter for example, who boldly declared the gospel on the day of Pentecost and three thousand people were saved. Or consider Paul who was converted and then immediately went to various places declaring the good news to both Jews and Gentiles and establishing churches along the way.  Let us not forget the greatest Evangelist of them all, Jesus.  Who had multitudes following Him as He proclaimed the good news accompanied with powerful signs and wonders. 

 

But one thing we must understand is that Jesus’ instructions to the church right before He was taken up is called “The Great Commission” not “The Great Suggestion” 

We read it last week but let’s look at it once more.

Matthew 28:18

¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 

We should read this passage regularly to remind us of our purpose in life. 

First it is worth mentioning that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth.  From that position of authority, He commands His disciples to “Go” just as a general would command his soldiers to a accomplish a certain mission.

 

Teachers will often delegate a level of authority to certain students.  For instance, a teacher may say to a student, Bobby, read this chapter out loud for the class, or Susy hand out these test results to your peers.  That student can then act on the authority that has been given to him/her.  They have been authorized by a person of higher authorityto perform the task at hand. 

 

Jesus, The Son of God, has all authority in heaven and on earth and he authorizes his disciples to go and make more disciples, to baptize and to teach them the ways of God.  They are to do so till the end of the age (The return of Christ) Which has not taken place just yet.

 

So therefore, if the work that was assigned to original disciples was to continue to the end of the age and being the end of the age has not yet occurred, then that means the commission to evangelize “to the end of the age” applies to us today as the original disciples have gone on to be with the Lord.   

 

Gamaliel - senior position in the highest court in Jerusalem. Gamaliel holds a reputation for being one of the greatest teachers in Judaism: Gamaliel was Paul’s teacher.  This gave Paul a unique background which allowed him to effectively minister Christ to his fellow Jews.  Paul after being converted to Christianity had mentored Timothywho aided Paul and Silas on many missions.

Timothy would then become the first Bishop in Ephesus.  During these early years the church at Ephesus had been growing, expanding and doing the will of God. Jews and Gentiles, from several ethnicities and nationalities, had come together to form one body. They were multiethnic as well as diverse in their socioeconomic make-up.

 

This is a perfect model of how the church was to fulfill great commission “to the end of the age.”  The way that the gospel continues from one generation to the next is by “going therefore and making disciples.” 

 

Furthermore, one of the prerequisites for the end of the age to come is that the gospel will be proclaimed throughout all the world.

 

Matthew 24:14

¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Which again brings us to our personal responsibility in “Going therefore.”

This may seem overwhelming to you this morning.  You may be wondering “Am I to be like Paul and travel to different countries preaching the gospel?  Or am I to speak in front of multitudes like Peter and boldly proclaim the good news?  If the Lord calls you to such a ministry be willing to obey. 

But today I would like to highlight a story that is often overlooked when talking about evangelism.  This story is about a man named Phillip (not the one who was part of the original twelve but Philip the evangelist) and it is about his obedience to the Lord to go after one.

 

Just a little backstory about Philip: He was one of the seven men who was chosen to wait tables which in doing so allowed the disciples to continue to preach the word.  (In the local church, everyone has a part to play) Part of his duty was to care for the neglected widows and the general poor.  This position required a certain type of person. 

 

Acts 6:3

³ Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 

 

Philip is hand-picked by the apostles for this duty.  Let me just say be faithful in the small things and God will make you a ruler over much.  As he remained faithful to serving tables, God trusted him with even greater responsibilities.

Acts 8:26-40

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place.

It is interesting to me that the Lord continued to use angels as messengers even after the dispensation of the Holy Spirit.  Who by the way, the Holy Spirit is the voice of God in our lives.  Nonetheless God sends His angel to Philip and tells him to go to a desert.    (Picture of Gaza Desert)

An effective Key to evangelism is to be willing to listen to the voice of the Lord.

This might have seemed insignificant to Philip after reading about some of his prior outreaches.

Acts 8:6-8

⁶ And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. ⁷ For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. ⁸ So there was much joy in that city.

Philip was reaching multitudes, unclean spirits were being cast out, paralyzed and lame people were being healed. Now the Lord was calling him to a desert.  This may not make a lot of sense to our carnal minds especially for those of us who make it their life goal to climb the ladder of success.  This does not seem to fit in with that agenda. 

After all, who would Philip encounter in such a place? The road from Jerusalem to Gaza is 50 miles long, and leads to the main coastal trade route going to Egypt.  He is likely to encounter travelers from Egypt or Ethiopia.  Were Ethiopians and Egyptians fit to hear the gospel or was the gospel for the Jews only?

Philip was one of the first heroic evangelist to admit non-Jewish believers into the fellowship of the Church. It was Philip (not the apostles) who took the first step in overcoming Jewish prejudice, and the interracial expansion of the Church in accordance with the Lord’s command.

This appears to be the very opposite of climbing the ladder of success maybe even a very humbling thing which the Lord has called Philip to.  Sometimes God opens a door of opportunity to his ministers in very unlikely places.  But what we find is that Philip obeys immediately without objecting, or asking, “What business have I there?” He went out, not knowing why or whom he was to meet.

²⁷ And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 

 Philip soon realized that the Lord had called him to the desert for this one Ethiopian man.  Isn’t that just like the Lord, who leaves the 99 and goes after the one. 

What if evangelism includes going after the one?  The one co-worker, the one family member, the one friend, the one neighbor, the one prodigal, the one shopper, etc.… One does not seem like much, but if everyone in this place would go after the one, then this place would double. 

²⁸ and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” ³⁰ So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”

A few things about this fellow.

• He was an Ethiopian, a foreigner
• He was a Eunuch (A male officer of the court or household of a ruler, and often one who had been castrated) (still considered male; his pronoun is he)
• He was a court official of the queen of Ethiopia.
• He had traveled to Jerusalem to worship God. However, it is unlikely that this man was a Jew because eunuchs were forbidden to enter the congregation of Israel
• He had access to a copy of the book of Isaiah
• He is desiring to understand what he is reading
• He needed someone to help him understand
• He was a stranger to Philip
• He would become one of the first converts to Christianity from the continent of Africa

The Ethiopian replies How can I understand unless someone guides me.  Sounds familiar?

Romans 10:14-15

 ¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 

Here we find that he had a desire to know God but needed someone to show him the way.  The only way this Ethiopian would come to salvation was through hearing the word of God.  Thus, Philip was sent by God to reveal to him the way of salvation.  God had orchestrated all the details of this story to bring this man to faith in Christ Jesus.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 

People are longing to find meaning and value in their life, they are longing for the hope of eternity of a place that will be free from all the miseries that are in the earth.  The good news is that we as Christians have the answer that they are looking for.  For the answer is Christ.  He is the hope that we long for. Perhaps the Lord is calling you to the one, to share with them the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. 

And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.  ³³ In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

³⁴ And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶ And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” ³⁸ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.³⁹ And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Open Your Mouth and He Will Fill It

 

Vs 35 says “Then Philip opened his mouth.” 

 

What if the Lord is just wanting you to open your mouth so that He will fill it with what needs to be said.  You don’t have to know everything there is to know about the Bible to be an effective witness.  In fact it is ok to acknowledgewhen you do not know the answer to their question.  But the Lord can do a lot with very little.  He is looking for our obedience and as we open our mouth He will fill it. 

Psalms 81:10

¹⁰ I am the Lord your God,
           who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
            Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

Luke 12:11-12

¹¹ do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, ¹² for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Share God’s Word

To help this Ethiopian understand the mysteries of the Kingdom, Philip used scriptures that he was familiar with to connect the prophecies from Isaiah to the fulfilment of those prophecies by Jesus. 

 

You don’t need a master’s in divinity to share the word of God with someone else.  You simply need the Word of God in your heart.  Jesus used uneducated fishermen such as Peter to preach his good news and establish His church.  Obviously the more you read the more you will understand. 

 

Use scriptures that demonstrate how we are saved. Here is one that every believer should know:

John 3:16-17

 ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

 

This scripture really depicts salvation and shows God to be a loving God who made a way for us sinners to be reconciled back into a right relationship with our heavenly Father by sending His Son Jesus on the cross to die for our sins.  Through faith in Jesus, we are saved.  (Romans 10:9, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23)

 

Talk About Jesus

 

For salvation to take place, the individual must be introduced to Jesus.  He alone has the power to save.  He is the only mediator between God and man, there is no other way.

 

John 14:6

⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

Jesus once tested His disciples by asking them this question:

Matthew 16:15

¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”¹⁶ Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 

 

This is the question that every person must answer.  In fact, all the religions of this world can be either proven or discredited by answering this one question “But who do you say that I am?”

 

Some will say he is a good person, or a good teacher, but if He isn’t the Messiah, or the Son of the Living God to them, then we are not family.  If He didn’t die and rise again on the third day, then you have no part in eternal life.

 

If Jesus is not one of the three persons of the triune God, then you are not one with God.

 

Philip was sure to point this Ethiopian to His Savior Jesus.   Only Jesus can save and deliver.

Be a Part of the Miracle

Salvation is truly a miracle brought about by God alone

• It is He who sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins.
• It is He who has predestined us to receive salvation.
• it is He that convicts us of sin
• it is He who calls us to repentance by His Holy spirit
• It is He who is committed to sanctifying us and making us whole

 Yet He grants us the opportunity to be involved in the miracle of salvation in other people’s lives.  Philip was not only instructed to go to the desert, but he was given the opportunity to teach this Ethiopian about Jesus and to participate in his miracle by baptizing him.  For this Ethiopian, confession and baptism was the next step and Philip played a part in both.

 

Evangelism is not always in front of big crowds.  Sometimes the Lord will call you to the one lost sheep. 

 

1. Who would be that one person you would want to see come to Christ?

 

2. Are you willing to pray for that person and for the opportunity to share your faith with that person?

 

3. Do you need God to grant you the boldness to open your mouth?

 

4. Do you have key scriptures regarding salvation stored up in your heart?

 

5. What are some creative ways to turn your conversations toward Jesus?

If you do not intentionally plan for evangelism, evangelism will not happen.

Open Your Mouth and He Will Fill It              

Share God’s Word

Talk About Jesus                                   

Be a Part of the Miracle