Philip's Teleportation Mission Trip

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We have to be ready and willing to go whenever and wherever God calls us.

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If you could teleport, where would you go? What would you use it to do?
Philip teleported on a mission trip… well, not really teleported. He was carried by the Spirit. He was in one place, then all the sudden he was in another because God put him there, or may have made him fly there, no way to know really! But that’s not the point tonight, as cool as it is!
The point is Philip was ready to go. He wasn’t a missionary, he was just a guy who loved Jesus and was faithful to Him. Jesus told his people something after He rose from the dead, right before He went back to Heaven...
Acts 1:8 HCSB
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
I’m sorry, but we’re going to do a little geography tonight, we’re going to look at a few maps to better understand what we’re talking about...
Philip’s story is really cool because we get to see this one guy do what Jesus said right here, what Jesus commanded the church to do, the mission that every Christian is supposed to be doing as a part of the church.
We should all be like Philip, understanding that the world needs Jesus. He’s the way, the truth, and the light, no one will see God the Father unless it is through a relationship with Jesus. Philip got it and he was ready to spread the word. And he wasn’t a missionary or a pastor, he was just a Christian who understood. He lived in Jerusalem until something started happening…
read 8:1
So he has to run for his life out of Jerusalem, but that doesn’t make him scared, it doesn’t make him lay low, it doesn’t make him mad a God.
read 8:4-8
He goes on from there to share the Gospel with Harry Potter! There is a sorcerer in Samaria who believes the Gospel after Philip preaches, which is awesome. But we’re going to focus on what I think is the most remarkable part of Philip’s story tonight, at the end of chapter eight.
read 8:26-40
We have to be ready and willing to go whenever and wherever God calls us.

Philip was obedient.

26-30a
We have to be obedient to God’s direction.
If there is anyone who we can trust, it’s God. We should know that any time He tells us to do something, it is ultimately good. So we should have no problem obeying him. Instead, we often act like little kids when their parents tell them to do something. Question, make excuses, show a lack of trust. This is how my kids are a lot. “Why daddy?” Hudson is in a “no” phase. Or most of the time they just aren’t listening and I have to yell before they hear me. Sometimes they don’t listen because they’re scared and they don’t trust me. Our boys are minor thrill seekers, but they aren’t up to the big stuff yet. We had some trouble last week at Six Flags, but we were able to get them on one ride, the log flume… show the video of Hudson or Parker being terrified
Philip doesn’t do any of these things. The Lord told him to walk in a direction and he went. Didn’t know why or where exactly he was headed, just which way to head. “So he got up and went.” This should be us. We should be this obedient.
Let’s look at the map again to see how far this was...
That’s about a 60 mile walk if he goes all the way to Gaza.
But he sees a chariot on the road and the Spirit told Philip to go talk to the guy. Philip walks up and the guy is reading the book of Isaiah and basically asks Philip to explain it to him.
Why is God not sending me to talk to these people?! I’d do it every day! People who want to know who Jesus is and ask me to tell them. I’d start stamping the side of my truck every time I led someone to Christ, like I was a WW2 pilot taking down planes!
But so many times God may actually be leading us to someone who is this ready to know Jesus, but we won’t go when God tells us. What if instead of getting up and going, Philip had said, “Gaza is a really long walk. Why would you want me to go there God? That road probably isn’t real safe either. I’m going to wait for a clear sign.” He never would’ve had this opportunity. This man may never have heard the Gospel. He might be in hell right now instead of Heaven.
We’ve got to be obedient. It says in that God can do more than we can even think about though the power at work in us. But we have to be obedient.
We also have to be prepared.

Philip was prepared.

30b-35
We should know the Gospel well enough to be able to explain it.
Have you ever been totally unprepared for something? take a story
I took American government my senior year of high school. The teacher was a coach. Coaches had a reputation of not really caring about the classes they taught, this guy in particular had a reputation for just giving everyone an A on his exam. Someone asked him one day what he thought everyone would get on the exam. He chuckled and said, “I think everyone will get about a 96.” I believed him and I checked out. I would have had to have gone out of my way to give less effort from that point on. I got the exam and there was a lot that I had no idea about, but I wasn’t worried! I didn’t need to be prepared because he was giving everyone an A! Only he didn’t, he actually graded it! I barely passed!
A lot of Christians are as prepared to share the Gospel as I was for that test. This is not ok.
Philip was ready. He walks up and the guy is reading Isaiah and Philip is able to explain how is talking about Jesus taking the punishment for our sins, so we can be forgiven.
If Philip hadn’t been able to explain the Gospel, this guy may have never heard it and believed it.
I’m not saying you have to know everything. You don’t have to go get a Bible degree. But you need to be able to explain the Gospel.
If you can answer four questions, then you’re ready to have a conversation with anyone about the Gospel.
Where did we come from? Why are we here? What’s wrong? How do we fix it?
Where did we come from? God created everything and everyone.
Why are we here? I love the way the Westminster Shorter Catechism puts this: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
What’s wrong? Sin is our problem. Sin is rebelling against God’s plan.
How do we fix it? God has provided the fix for us. explain the Gospel
This is truly not a lot, and if you are saved then you should know most of it already!
I’m not telling you that you’ll win every person to Christ or that you’ll never hear a question you can’t answer if you know this, but you are prepared enough to talk to anyone God puts in front of you.
I’m also not saying that God can’t use you if you don’t know this, He can. But why wouldn’t you want to be more prepared to share the Gospel?!
We’ve got to be prepared.
2 Timothy 4:2 ESV
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
And if we are obedient and prepared, then we may get to be a part of God bringing someone to life!

Philip got to be a part of God at work.

36-40
This is the ultimate reward for us, to see God’s glory in salvation!
I’ve got to tell y’all, there are times when this job is exhausting! There are moments when I ask myself if I’m still into it. And then I see one of you get it. I see one of you as God is working on your heart, as you are overcome by his goodness and love for you. And then I’m in the back of the room, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. It’s totally worth it, because there is not much better. I promise you want to be there to see God at work, just like Philip was.
This guy was ready! He wanted to go get dunked!
Philip tells him, “if you believe, no reason not to!”
Your Bible may not have v37...
They go down and the Ethiopian is baptized, and then Philip teleports to Azotus, 40 miles away! Then he travels 60 miles up to Caesarea, sharing the Gospel on the way. This guy is the man!
If you’re paying close attention, then you noticed I started by saying he spread the Gospel in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. But you’re thinking, “He hasn’t gotten to the ends of the Earth yet.”
There was an ancient historian named Eusebius. His writings say that this Ethiopian Eunuch went back and started the first church in Ethiopia. Christianity is still the most common religion in Ethiopia today.
We are called to the same mission, but in our context.
To Jerusalem. city map
To Judea. regional map
And Samaria. US map
To the ends of the world. world map
We have to be ready and willing to go whenever and wherever God sends us. If we do that, we’ll get to see God do some awesome things.
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