"Philip's Home: A Place of Hospitality" (Acts 21:8-10)

"Philip's Home: A Place of Hospitality" from Acts 21:8-10 was preached by Dr. Mark McElreath at the City Baptist Church of Atlanta on June 7, 2026.

Find out more about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta at www.citybaptistchurch.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the City Pulpit. Bible messages from the pulpit ministry of the City Baptist Church in Atlanta. Please take your Bibles with me. Let's go to Acts chapter 21. Acts chapter 21. And we're taking this month of June and all four Sunday mornings in June. I'm going to preach on the Christian home. And we're going to place an emphasis there on what the Lord expects out of a Christian home and examples of a home that the Lord has given us in Scripture. And we want to, you know, one of the pillars of society is the home. And when the home crumbles, society will crumble. And so we've got to start in our own home. We can point fingers at everyone else and what's going on in the world, and this person's putting this up on social media, and this person's saying this. Can you believe they're doing this? But for a moment, that's you and I look to our own home and make sure that what we're doing and how we're living lines up with the Word of God. You may be here today, you may say, Pastor, when I look at my home, I'm the only person in my home. Well, good. Then you just have one person to make sure has a Christian home. So we all have a responsibility in this. Let's begin reading. Acts chapter 28, I'm sorry, 21. Acts chapter 21 and verse number 8. The Bible says, and the next day we that were of Paul's company departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabas. If you'll mark there, just at the beginning of verse number eight, this phrase, we entered into the house of Philip. We entered into the house of Philip. And we'll look this morning at this theme: Philip's house, a place of hospitality. Philip's house, a place of hospitality. Now, when we come to Acts chapter 21 and we find Philip, we have not seen Philip in Scripture since earlier in the book of Acts. Really, it's been about 20 years since Philip's name has come up. He was a part of the early church, laboring. We're going to find out some of those roles that he played. But he has silently, for the last two decades, just been serving in a place not often mentioned in Scripture. It's mentioned a few times. Paul goes there a few times. In this place Caesarea. It's the Caesarea Maritime. It means Caesarea by the sea. It's on the coast, right on the Mediterranean Sea, just northwest of Jerusalem. And here is Philip. And the Lord gives us, just in his word, a little glimpse. We don't spend much time with Philip here, but in essence, the curtain is pulled back, and we just get a little peek into a Christian home. And I think there's some very key things that we're given here that I think we should use. Now, from this passage, we get a glimpse in a place of hospitality. Now, when we think of hospitality, many people have many different ideas. You know, we've got to ask ourselves when we think of hospitality, does hospitality mean I've got to turn my home into a five-star hotel before I can have anyone over? That's not what it means. Hospitality is making our homes a place where people can be refreshed. Now maybe you think, well, Pastor, I don't know that I can have people in my home. Then think of your home as a place where you can make things for people to be refreshed, maybe bake things for people to be refreshed, where I'm going to wield this tool God's given me in an effort to help God's servants and help God's laborers. That's exactly what Philip did. Now we don't know anything about the house where he lived. I do know he at least has four children. He says there's four daughters here. So there's at least a family of six in this place. And is it a small place? I don't know. Is it a simple place? I would imagine it's probably a rather simple home. But he opens it up to God's servants to refresh them along the way. And I think we can all play some role in that. In fact, 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 9 says, Use hospitality one to another without grudging. It's interesting that Peter adds that to the little end there, right? Without grudging. This was a missionary team that Paul is open, or that Paul is on, that Philip opens his home to. This place in Caesarea is a Roman capital of Judea. It's a place of early Christian expansion, and Philip is right there in the middle of it. So let's make note of some of these things. If you're taking notes, would you write this down? Philip's home, a place of hospitality. Number one, his position did not stop him. His position did not stop him. Now we have a couple of things it says about Philip in verse number eight. Mark these, because it says here he's Philip the Evangelist. Now, when we first find Philip, or early on we find Philip, if you want to hold your place here, go back with me to Acts chapter 8. He's called Philip the Evangelist because he is following the Great Commission early on in the New Testament church. The church begins with Christ and his disciples. It's empowered at Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, and for several chapters early on in the book of Acts, it stays right there in Jerusalem. Now, do you remember the account given of the Lord Jesus Christ just as he's ascending up into heaven? He speaks to his disciples and he says, Go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. And he says in Acts chapter 1 and verse number 8, ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, but it doesn't end there. He says, in Judea and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. Well, up to about Acts chapter 8, the church has just gone to Jerusalem. And you know who takes the great commission seriously? It is Philip. He goes down in Acts chapter 8. In verse number 4, the Bible says, Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word, and Philip went down to the city of what? Samaria. There you go. Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. Now Samaria was a neighboring region, but you know what also Samaria was? Samaria was a forgotten region. Samaria was a place where there were Samaritans. And according to culture, the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. There was a cultural, there was an ethnic divide here. And yet, what does Philip say? Well, they need to be reached with the gospel. Somebody's got to go down there. And he's an evangelist. He goes and he starts preaching all through Samaria. In fact, he does such great work there, and revival breaks out that the apostles go down to Samaria just to find out what's going on later in Acts chapter number 8. You keep reading, look at Acts chapter 8, go down to verse number 25. It says, And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. Verse 26 says, And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, go toward the south, and the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is what? A desert. He goes to Samaria, where revival is breaking out, and then God takes him to the back side of the desert in Gaza to reach one man. Do you know who that one man was? He's the Ethiopian eunuch. We find, it says in verse number 27, he arose and went. Behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for to worship. We find this man's reading the book of Isaiah. He's actually reading Isaiah 53. And he sees Philip there. Philip comes up and talked to him and he says, I'm reading this. And is this speaking about the man that wrote it, or is he speaking of someone else? You know what the Bible tells us in Acts 8? He preached unto him Jesus. And he preaches to him about, let me tell you about who Isaiah 53 is talking about. You know why? Because Philip was an evangelist. We also find in Acts chapter 21, it says that Philip was not just the evangelist, it says he was one of the seven. Now that was a very, very important part of the New Testament church. He was one of the first seven deacons that were selected. Go back with me to Acts chapter 6. Acts chapter 6, we find that as the church grows, they have more problems. You know what people bring? People bring problems. I love all of you, but you bring problems. Now that's okay. I'm not complaining about it. I'm just saying people bring problems. You know what happened in the New Testament church? More people, more problems. So you know what they did? They have they called seven men, deacons, that are going to help specifically with caring for the widows and caring for those that need help. We find here, go down with me to Acts chapter six. Let's look at verse number three. Wherefore, brethren, look ye at among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, who we may appoint over this business. Verse 5 says in Acts 6, and the saying, please the whole multitude, they chose Stephen, a man full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost, and who? Philip. Now Stephen is going to be martyred at the end of chapter 7. And presumably it seems Philip second in line here becomes a leader among these first deacons. You say, Pastor, what in the world does that have to do with Acts chapter 21 and Philip opening his house to Paul and his missionary group? Because Philip could have very easily said, now look, you know, I'm Philip the evangelist. I'm going to be mentioned in Acts chapter 8 multiple times. You know, I'm one of the first deacons. I don't have to be hospitable. I have other people that do those things. No, no one ever outgrows because of title or rank or age. No one outgrows hospitality. We all have a place to play in refreshing the saints. The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy chapter 3, it gives some instructions to pastors, and it gives one of the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 as given to hospitality. In Titus chapter 1, it gives another list for pastors. It says in Titus chapter 1, verse 8, there to be a lover of hospitality. Now maybe you say, well, Pastor, that's your responsibility. No, it's not just my responsibility. I'm just to set the example. But there is a place for every believer, no matter where you find yourself, to be able to use your home and to be able to refresh the saints on their journey. There's an interesting story. There's a New York dairy farmer in 1835. He gifted President Andrew Jackson at the time a 1,400-pound block of cheese. In fact, he delivered it from his New York dairy to the White House. And for two years, Andrew Jackson kept the big block of cheese in the White House. Just before his presidency ended in 1837, he actually, for one day, opened the White House up to anyone that wanted to come and they could take a piece of the block of cheese. Now, I have so many questions. First of all, a 1,400-pound block of cheese. Secondly, he kept it for two years? Anyway, I don't know. I guess it aged well. I don't know. But he was a president. You say, of course, the president could open his house and give to people. It's freely been given to him. I don't live in the White House. I don't live in a luxurious house. I don't make a lot of money. I don't have a lot. But whatever God has given to us, he has entrusted to us, we are stewards of it. How are we going to use it to be hospitable and to refresh the saints? Though Philip was well known in the early church and he held a great position of leadership, he did not allow that to keep him from hospitality in his home. So not only did his position not stop him, would you make note of a second thing as we think about Philip's house, this place of hospitality, his position did not stop him. Secondly, his family did not disqualify him. Secondly, his family did not disqualify him. We'll get just a little glimpse of his family here. And I would think if Paul is going to come, and it actually says in verse 10, we tarried there many days. I mean, they stayed a little while. I don't know how long it was, but it was a little while. It wasn't just overnight. And our families will either be a blessing or they will be a burden. We all have a choice in that. I have a choice in that. You have a choice in that. Is my family going to be a blessing? Or is my family going to be a burden? Would Paul be refreshed by staying at the home of Philip? Now that'd be one thing if Paul showed up and he said, Hey Philip, want to drop by for a cup of coffee. I'm not staying there, though. I'm not going to be refreshed being in that place. Lord help us to make our homes a place where we want to be, and Lord help us to make our homes a place where others want to be. This was a home that Paul said, I could be on a missionary journey and I can stop and I can bring those with me, and they can be helped by being here. We've got to think about our children. We actually get a little picture of the children in verse number nine. It says, the same had, speaking of Philip, he had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. So there's four daughters here. And apparently he is training his children to be a help and to be a blessing in the home. We're finally getting to the stage where our children can carry on some chores and responsibilities, which is absolutely amazing. If you have young children, hold on. It's coming, okay? It's coming. But you know what that takes? That takes some work and that takes some effort. Children don't automatically know how to load a dishwasher and do laundry and help with dishes and help with setting table. You know what all that takes? It's going to take a few broken glasses. It's going to take a few chipped plates. It's going to take a little frustration, but we, that's the role that God has given us as the parents in the home. It's going to take just a little work to make a home a place where people can be refreshed. And we find there's four daughters here. And they're in a place. Caesarea was not a holy righteous place. In fact, it says here, there are four daughters, and there's such a holiness about this home that Paul or or Luke, who's writing here, gives us account that they're virgins. These are holy chaste daughters. Now, I heard what my wife was speaking on in Sunday school. I didn't know that's what she was speaking on, but it goes right hand in hand with what she taught in Sunday school. There was a holiness about this home. Now, they were being raised in a city that would have objectified women and would have exploited women in Caesarea Maritime by the sea, this export city, this port city. And yet Philip said, We're going to have a home that is not affected by culture, and we're going to have a home that's not affected by what they're teaching here in Caesarea Maritime. We're going to have a home that's characterized by the Word of God and holiness. These are four daughters, and we find here they're virgins. And by the way, it is still right to keep yourself pure sexually till marriage. That's God's design, that's God's intent, and that's exactly what he expects of every child of God. And we find here, he gives this account, the four daughters, their virgins, and then he says, which did prophesy. Now there's a lot on social media today about whether women can be pastors and preachers, and this does not mean these women are preachers and these women are not pastors, all right? I just want to make sure that's clear. But here's what I do believe it means. If they are prophesying, you know what that means? They have the word of God in their heart and they're ready to speak it when God gives opportunity. These are four young ladies, and they did not say, Well, I'm just a young woman, I don't have to be a ready witness. They didn't say, Well, I'm just a young lady, we'll let them in do that. No. I think if you spoke with these girls, they permeated the word of God. If you spoke with these girls, they're ready to give a word of testimony. If you met them out on the streets of Caesarea Maritime, you'd say, There's something different about those ladies. By the way, they would have dressed different. If they're prophesying, that means they would have talked different, right? There was something different about them. By the way, we can live godly holy lives today. We don't have to tell anybody about it. If we're living for the Lord, it's going to stand out. It's going, we're going to be different. We don't have to try very hard. And we find here that his family did not disqualify him. We find from just this one verse, I think, more commentary about the home of Philip than we find in the rest of the Bible. And you know what's interesting? I think what stands out in this home is not that Philip was a great preacher, I think he probably was a great preacher. Philip was an evangelist, he could win souls to the Lord, I think he could. But the thing that stands out is he had a home that was characterized by godly living. And I think it's a home that is characterized by peace. In fact, Isaiah 54, 13 says, And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. And great shall be the peace of thy children. Isaiah is saying here, if we teach our children what is right, and we teach our children of the Lord, then great shall be the peace of thy children. And maybe you say, Well, Pastor, I got, you know, my kids are crazy. Look, I know, I know some children, some children, we've got to work with them a little more, okay? I've got some of my children, they need a little more work than the others, okay? But you know what it tells us? If we're diligent at it and we stay at it and we work at it, then peace is going to be the product. Peace isn't always quietness, all right? There should be fun. Man, we have a good time. I just have a good time with my kids. Yeah, I had a blast. I was at camp with Max this week, and I just had a blast being with him. Now I had to let him go, off do his thing, play with his cousin was there and had a great time. But you know we can't have, we can have peace. We find here that Philip had prepared his children to be hospitable. You know what I think that family probably looked like? I'm conjecturing here. I think they probably ate their meals together. That's a very important thing we should be doing. That's something that is lost today. You ever walked into a home and realized there's no kitchen table in this home? That's because food is cooked at some point and children take it somewhere and parents go somewhere. We should come together at least one time a day and eat a meal together. And sit together and pray over that meal and thank the Lord for the food. How else are our children going to learn to say a blessing over a meal? How else are our children going to learn what it means to sit and to put a table place out and how it looks to eat food respectably with others? And we're going to sit until we're all done. That's going to happen in the home. I was recently, I was door knocking in a certain area and I went by, there's a nonprofit that's right down here off Andrew J. Harrison. And I went and I was, I just went inside. I'd seen it before. I met the leadership, was talking to them, told them I was a pastor and what we do, and gave him some Sunday school material. And we were talking, and they said, Well, one of the things we do here is we have a sit-down meal for all of the students that are that come to this nonprofit during the week. We have summer programs and things, and and I was speaking with this lady, and she said, the children that come don't know what it looks like to sit down at a table and eat together. And I thought, good, good for them to teach these children. That's wonderful. But I thought, Lord, help us in our homes to be teaching our children what it looks like to eat together and what a functioning home looks like together. I think these children ate together. I think they were taught how to speak to adults. I've got to work with my children on that. We all have to work with them on it. But they knew what it was to carry out a conversation with someone older than them. I'm thankful we have a very intergenerational church. We should be like that. That's what the church should look like, by the way. And children should learn to talk to people that are a little further down the road than they are. I think these children had learned to greet adults and have a conversation with adults. They learned how to work chores and prepare a home for guests. But all of that had to go into the place if it was going to become a place of hospitality. We find Philip's position didn't stop him, and Philip's family did not disqualify him. Well, there's a third thing. Would you make note of this as we think about Philip's home, this place of hospitality? Number three, the timing did not matter to him. The timing did not matter to him. Look at this phrase in verse number eight. It says, At the end, this was the house of Philip the Evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him. Now, bear in mind, this is a missionary team, and this is Paul the Apostle. These are servants of the Lord. Now, Philip didn't, I don't think Philip just opened up his home to anybody. And Philip did not just let anyone come and go as they pleased. I think there is some discretion that must be used in this. But we find Philip didn't ask Paul, now, how long are you going to stay? It actually says in verse 10, we tarried there many days. I mean, Paul is going, going, going, going, going. I don't know, he may have spent a week with Philip. But he gave himself to it. Philip had a home where they wanted to stay. Philip had a home that refreshed the servants of the Lord. I was looking at these this last night as I was studying, and I was reminded we we previously served in Ethiopia as missionaries, and there was a time we were serving out in a village distant from Addis Ababa where we were. We spent a couple days out there. And we went into a place, it was, I mean, if you went to the middle of nowhere, you'd still be about 50 miles from this place, probably. It was out there. No electricity, no running water. You know, it was a place where we had a, we uh went to the meeting place in the morning, and they had two goats tied up outside the church. Well, when we came out for lunch, there was only one goat tied up. And then we had another set of meetings. When we came out in the evening to have supper, there were no goats tied up outside the church. That gives you an idea, okay? Well, we went to the the pastor invited us, and we were with some of the national pastors there from Ethiopia. He invited us to come to his home. And it was stick and mud. I mean, that was the house. I sat down on a little three-legged stool. I think I sat down on the only stool in the whole house. Other people sat on the floor. They were being very gracious toward me and honoring toward me, which was very humbling. Well, as I'm sitting there, I realized I looked over, and half of the house was also a barn. There were cows in the house. I mean, I'm sitting here and there's one piece of wood, and there's a cow doing everything a cow does right there. You know what this man? You you would you you wouldn't believe what he lived in. In fact, they got there was a handful of us here. He went and got each of us a bottle of Coca-Cola. I don't know what it cost him. I don't even drink Coca-Cola, but I certainly wasn't turning that away. I mean, that was an offering, that was a sacrifice. And I thought, this man can open his house to refresh us as servants of the Lord. I couldn't even, I could not talk to this man. I had to speak to him through a translator. But there's just something in the spirit when you're with another believer, you may not be able to communicate fully. But your spirit connects with one another, and your spirit bears witness with that other, and he opened his home, a place of hospitality. What can we do with the home God's given us, the place God's given us? We find here Philip opened his home. This was though a man of great position in the early church, that didn't stop him. Though a man, he had children he was trying to raise in an evil city, his family didn't disqualify him. And for him, the timing didn't matter to him. He made his home a place of peace, a place of hospitality, and a place where the saints could be refreshed. And may the Lord help us to make our homes the same kind of place. Thank you for listening to the City Pulpit. For more information about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta, please visit www.mycitybaptist.com.