Sermon Tone Analysis

#105, Alêtheia Christian Fellowship, Acts 8b 1~/15~/06

 

*Acts 8:25-28 ~~ *So, when *they* had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go *south* to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert /road/.)

So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

“*They*,” is correct, but some versions say something like Peter and John, yet did Philip go with them?

Notice that the Angel *asked Philip* to go, not Peter.

*South* is literally mid-day.

Ethiopia is Greek for, “Burn Face.”

But it also may be a derivation of Semitic tracing back to Cush son of Ham.

Upper Kingdom of the Blue Nile - Abyssinia, (ah-bah-sin-ee-ah) & Nubia

Kandakê, Candace – Title, like Caesar.

Eunuch~/official.

Could not fully participate and although somewhat important people did not approve of non-men.

He had an expensive Greek Septuagint version that Philip was very familiar with.

*Acts 8:29-33 ~~** *Then the *Spirit* said to Philip, “Go up and *join* this chariot.”

Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?”

And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “He was led as a sheep to slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He does not open His mouth.

“In humiliation His judgment was taken away; who will relate His generation?

For His life is removed from the earth.”

Now we switch to Spirit… is it Old transitioning into New?

 

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*Join*

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*Deuteronomy 23**:1 ~~* “No one who is emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.

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*Isaiah 53:3 ~~* He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face.*

*He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

 

*Isaiah 53:**7b-8a ~~* *Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.

By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living*

 

*Jeremiah 38 + 39 ~~* *Ev-eth-melech* the Ethiopian eunuch saves Jeremiah and God says, “For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your /own/ life as booty, because you have *trusted* in Me,” declares the LORD.’”

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*Isaiah 56:**3b-5* ~~ Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

For thus says the LORD, “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, to them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off.

This passage is definitely quoted from the *LXX*.

Phillip doesn’t use a *program* per say, he meets the various people where they are at, but of course he does go forth and is *prepared*.

*Acts 8:34-37 ~~** *The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please /tell me/, of whom does the prophet say this?

Of himself or of someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.

As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look!

Water!

What prevents me from being baptized?”

/And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”

And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” /

 

He preached *Jesus* by use of *Scripture* relevant to the *situation*.

*/Italics:/* A, there is no way.

The oldest ms with the verse is in Oxford and dates to the sixth century.

When the verse is present it takes many different forms.

It is completely orthodox and does not change the facts because if anything Phillip would be more careful about whom he would baptize after the, “Simon,” event.

*Acts 8:38-40 ~~** *And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.

When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way *rejoicing*.

But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

*Rejoicing, *unlike Simon, the Eunuch found Jesus, not a man or a miracle.

Some things to consider:

1-   Ready for God’s call

2-   In tune with God

3-   Willing to do what seems foolish or out-of-the-box.

4-   Relate on a personal level

5-   Preach Jesus

6-   Use Scripture

7-   Close the deal