Conversion Stories - Acts 8

When Phillip was sent to the Ethiopian Eunuch he found him reading from the prophet Isaiah, began where he was, and taught him Jesus. That method is still as powerful and fruitful today as it was then. Meet people where they are and teach them Jesus!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hello and welcome back to Cultivating Growth. Want to thank everyone for joining us again this week. This is episode number two in our discussion on different conversion stories that we see throughout the pages of Acts. Last week we were in Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost, and today we'll be in Acts chapter 8 as we take a look at the story of the Ethiopian eunuch. So with that, let's get right to it.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Well, John, as we come to Acts chapter 8, uh there's a story that unfolds that has similarities to where we were last week in Acts chapter 2. Most uh specifically, Jesus is at the center. Right. But there really are some glaring differences. And I I think it's really important that God has shown us, you know, these two things pretty early on, you know, here in Acts chapter 8. And it's not just that in Acts chapter 2, it was Peter and the other apostles who are uh presenting the message of Jesus, but and here it's Philip, uh someone not uh associated with the apostles, someone different outside of that circle. And we see him preaching, not just here at the end of the chapter that we're going to talk about, but even the beginning of the chapter, uh Philip is seen preaching to the Samaritans and talking to them about Jesus and who he is. But to me, one of the biggest, most important differences, and and why it's important for us to study a passage like this as well, in Acts chapter 2, the Peter and the Apostles are speaking to uh multitudes of people, thousands of people. We know 3,000 uh obeyed, and I I don't think it was 100% probably. I mean, there were thousands and thousands of people, you know, tens of thousands that would have been in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. But yet here in Acts chapter eight, one person. Right. Yeah. And what's really interesting is this one person, God is really interested in because it isn't necessarily somebody that Philip comes across, it's someone that God sends him to. And it is not thousands of people hearing the gospel at one time, one guy, and God saw it important enough to miraculously send Philip to talk to him.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Yeah, that's a great point to make when we're talking about conversion stories, is God wants you, and he wants me, and he wants every person that's listening to this, he wants you individually to come to him, to believe in him, to become a child of his, to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, to have a home in heaven. He wants each of us individually to do that. And these stories, certainly there are stories of of the masses being taught, and those are wonderful stories like we talked about last week in Acts Chapter 2. But but you're right, here in Acts Chapter 8, uh it it's almost it's almost uh just such a a powerful story because of the fact that it's just these two men talking to one another that have never met each other before. And but yet God saw fit, as you said, to send Philip to him because he wants this Ethiopian eunuch to know him and to become a child of his. And I think that is so uh heartwarming and so comforting because it reminds me that God loves me individually. He knows me, he knows my heart, he knows where I am in my faith, and he wants me to be a child of his and a follower of his. And that that is really what conversion is all about. The masses and those stories are great, but so are these that focus in on an individual. And we see those several times throughout the book of Acts. There are several examples where, you know, one or two people or a household of people or something like that are being taught the gospel and they're becoming Christians. And those stories are just so powerful because they're so applicable to our lives today. You know, even as preachers, you and I don't get chances to preach to thousands of people, but we do get the chance to preach to some, and we do get the chance to talk to many individually, and God is interested in those people, and I should be interested in those people, and this is just a great example of that.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Well, what's really interesting to me is that when Philip comes in contact, and you're right, uh they these guys don't know each other in in any capacity, but yet when they they come in contact now with one another, it it becomes the most important conversation that's ever been had. And you really begin to feel that. Listen, I think Philip understands the seriousness of this conversation. Now, the the Ethiopian eunuch will come to understand, you know, the seriousness of that conversation, but I think Philip understands it, you know, from the get-go. And, you know, what's really interesting, to me, this conversation has really broken up into a lot of important questions that are raised on both sides. I've got them underlined in my Bible, you know, kind of four questions that kind of push this conversation along. But this eunuch, just by way of context, seems to have some understanding of God, and specifically Jehovah, uh, seems to have some desire to follow him through obedience, and he's made trips to, you know, to make this happen. And and so he he has those things. His understanding of the Christ and Jesus is certainly lacking. Uh, but he has a desire. He is found by Philip here in the chariot reading. Um and he has a scripture uh in his lap and he's reading, and Philip comes to him, verse 30, I love Philip ran to him. And so you you see the the urgency of of what this conversation is going to be. And he hears this uh eunuch uh reading from the prophet Isaiah, and here you have question number one Do you understand what you're reading? And then immediately followed by question number two, how can I unless someone guides me? And now here is the door of opportunity that we all get more times than we probably would like to admit. Now an opportunity to talk about Jesus has opened up for Philip. He stops everything else that he has going on, and he's gonna take advantage of this opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Yeah, and I think this is a great example of our our methods of how we approach people might have to change based on their specific situation. Yep, that's right. Right? P uh p Philip has to adjust to wherever this Ethiopian eunuch is in this moment. He has to adjust his method and the way that he's going to approach it. The message, however, doesn't change. And I think that's what's important. And really a great lesson for us as we think about how you know the role we play in helping people along their journey of faith, our method may have to change individual to individual, place to place, culture to culture, but the message stays the same. And so once once there is some uh relationship established, some understanding established of where the eunuch is, then from that point forward, Philip is gonna say, okay, here's where he is. So from this point forward, I'm going to teach Jesus. And that's where the message stays the same. The message is the same one that Peter was preaching on in Acts chapter 2. The message is the same one that Paul preaches later on in Acts, and the same one that that was still being preached today. The message stays the same, but we have to learn where somebody is in their understanding and in their studies, and from that point forward can teach Jesus to them. Because the reality is that the entirety of Scripture points to Jesus. And so we can take someone wherever they are and from that point lead them to Christ. And that that's exactly what Philip demonstrated here with his ability to take where the eunuch was in the prophet Isaiah and lead him straight to Christ.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Yeah, I mean, verse 35 of Acts chapter 8 is exactly what you're talking about. When they have this conversation and Philip hears him reading from the prophet Isaiah, uh the text gives us where he is in Isaiah chapter 53, and the eunuch follows up uh with, you know, how can I, unless I get some help? Basically, who's who's being talked about here? Who is who is this referencing? And then you have, to your point, in verse uh, you know, 35 specifically, Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture, preach Jesus unto him. And so you you're right. He he starts right where he is, and I'm gonna take this spot and I'm gonna talk to you about Jesus because that's that is the gospel, and that's ultimately what he needs. He doesn't need anything else before he needs Jesus. And I think that's something else that's important, you know, for us to, you know, kind of there there's lots of questions that we can have biblically. There's a lot of things that can be talked about, but if who we're talking uh to doesn't know about Jesus, it has to start there. You can't go anywhere else. It has to start there, and I think that's something we get from Philip.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Yeah, I mean I I have a recent example of that very thing. Studying with someone, and they were really interested in learning about some of the Old Testament stories because they weren't very familiar with them. They weren't very familiar with the story of the flood or the story of Jonah or some of these more well-known stories of the Old Testament, they weren't familiar with them. And so they had an interest in going and reading that. And I want to encourage that, but before we do that, we need to talk about Jesus. And that there will be a time and a place to broaden your understanding and make the connections from the Old Testament to the New Testament and all of those things. But if someone is is literally coming to this for the first time, you gotta point him to Jesus every single time. Point him to Jesus, learn about him, learn about who he is, and build from there. That's the foundation. That's the foundation that we need to be preaching. And so the the example that Philip gives here is really one that we need to follow to. Okay, where are you right now in your understanding? Okay, let's talk about Jesus and how that connects to where you are right now. And I think that's how we have to go about it and really build from that point forward. Hopefully, if the Lord gives us time, there will be uh lots of time to study all throughout the Bible, many, many times over. But but at the very outset, at the very beginning, we need to talk about Jesus because he's the one. That he's really the key to this whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Yeah, and the the story, the message, the good news of Jesus is unchanging. Yeah. You know, I do find it interesting. Another difference, certainly, from where we were last week in Acts chapter 2 and where we are here in Acts chapter 8. In Acts chapter 2, we we have a pretty good chunk of Peter's sermon, if you will, the teaching. He talks about Jesus, he talks about his death, his burial, his resurrection, and the importance of his sacrifice, um, the role of baptism and what that does specifically in the conversation that he had there with the people. And we got a big chunk of that in Acts chapter 2. Well, here in Acts chapter 8, we don't we don't really have any of that. I mean, we have a conversation that has begun, but then we have there in verse 35, he preached Jesus to him, but we don't get the exact words. But I I think there's a point to be made. We don't necessarily need them here. He's not going to be talking about anything different than what Peter did in Acts chapter 2, what Stephen does, what Peter does in Acts chapter 3, what other you know, uh folks throughout the book of Acts is talking about, what Paul writes about uh throughout the epistles. It is Jesus, and his story is unchanging. And so all of the things that you read about in Acts chapter 2 that Peter talked to the folks about, that's what Philip is talking to the eunuch about. The importance of Jesus, his the way that he lived, his death, his burial, his resurrection, and now what can I do about that? All of those conversations have been had, and that was a part of what his preaching Jesus is, and we know that because of ultimately that last question that pops up.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Yeah, and isn't it interesting too that we you know, since we just talked about the story in Acts Chapter 2, the group that Peter was preaching to was in a very different place than this Ethiopian eunuch would have been. Different nationalities, different backgrounds, their understandings were in different places. And yet, when Jesus was preached to both of them, they literally got to the exact same point. You know, what what what now? What what do I need to do now? And here's water, what hinders me from being baptized? Acts chapter 2, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins. They get to the exact same point. And that that's the beauty of the gospel is that it can take people from all different walks of life, take people from all different places of understanding, and it brings them to the same point. I need to be baptized into Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins. That's the climax of the gospel message. That's where everybody comes to if we follow the example that the New Testament gives us of what it means to be converted to Christ. It takes us right to the waters of baptism.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

It does. And for me, one of the last kind of big picture points to be made here from Acts chapter 8 in this story is that when they he comes to this understanding and this realization, it's something that has to happen right now. It's a very visual picture that's given to us here. He commands the chariot to stand still. I mean, he commands, and he's like, Here, here is some water right here. What is in the and and Philip, of course, is like there's nothing, and both him and the unit go down into the water. And so you have that urgency that is here in Acts chapter 8 of we need to do this right now. Let's not wait till we get to where we're going, or let's not come to a fuller understanding of all things Isaiah. It is this is what Jesus has done, this is where I am, this is what baptism does, washes my sins away, and I need that right now. And that is the punch and the understanding of Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

And it really highlights the conversion that we're talking about. That's the beginning of someone's walk. And you know, we made that point last week because we were kind of talking about the new beginnings that a new year brings, and and that's what conversion is. It's the beginning. This Ethiopian eunuch still was very, very young in his understanding, but he recognized who Jesus was, what he had done, and his response to that was baptism. And that is the beginning of someone. It's not the end, it's not the finish line, it's the beginning of someone's walk with Christ. And that's really what conversion at the end of the day represents to us.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

It is the outset of that journey in relationship with God. Well, let's go ahead and stop right there. We had made mention in Acts chapter 8 that uh the eunuch was reading from the prophet Isaiah, and it's made mention specifically there from Isaiah chapter 53, verses 7 and 8 is given to us there in Acts chapter 8. And so I thought I'd back up just a little bit as we close, staying in Isaiah chapter 53 and closing with verses five and six. Isaiah says this about Jesus: He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. We, like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

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