When God Leads the Way - Part 2

Welcome to Right Beside You in the Pulpit with Dr. Stephen Rummage! 

This episode is Part 2 of a recent sermon titled "When God Leads the Way." 

Over a four-week series, we’ll focus on a single sermon—tracing the journey from initial preparation all the way to the closing invitation on Sunday morning. Each month, we’ll also gather around the table with pastors from across our state to hear insights from their unique preaching rhythms, contexts, and experiences. 

As you listen, our prayer is that you’ll find encouragement and practical help to strengthen your weekly preaching of God’s Word. 

This podcast is funded by the generous Cooperative Program giving of Florida Baptist churches.  

If you have any questions about this episode, please email communications@flbaptist.org.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

That's the good news about Jesus. And Jesus will use you where you are to share the gospel with people if you will simply open your mouth.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Welcome to Right Beside You in the Pulpit with Dr. Stephen Rummage. A series geared to help strengthen your preaching of God's Word and encourage us together along the way.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Hi, this is Stephen Rummage, Executive Director of the Florida Baptist Convention. Thank you for listening to Right Beside You in the Pulpit. This month we're walking through an expositional sermon I recently preached from Acts chapter 8, verses 26 through 40. If you haven't listened to part one yet, you might want to go back and start there before diving into this episode. Each month, the first two episodes will focus on the sermon itself. Then in episode three, we'll go behind the scenes into the Bible study that shaped the passage. Finally, in week four, we'll wrap up the month with a panel discussion featuring other pastors and me as we talk through the text together and hear how each of them would have approached preaching it. Pastor, I hope you're doing well as we jump back in and continue the message called When God Leads the Way from Acts chapter 8, verses 26 through 40. Let's open the word together. Number three, I want you to see this. The Bible says, when God leads the way, he will open the scriptures to reveal Jesus. He will open the scripture to reveal Jesus. And so the eunuch said to Philip, how can I understand unless someone guides me? Philip comes up and sits next to him, and then look in verse 32. Now the passage of the scripture that the eunuch was reading was this. And he's reading from Isaiah chapter 53. There in Isaiah chapter 52 and 53, the Bible describes a servant who will come, a servant who will suffer, a servant who will die, and then a servant who will be honored by God. Isaiah was written 700 years before Jesus was born, but it describes his death perfectly and specifically. And that's the passage he was reading. Look again in verse 32. Like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter. And like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. It describes how Jesus, the Messiah, would be led to die on the cross, how he would not open his lips to answer his accusers. And then in verse 33, in his humiliation, justice was denied him. He lived a perfect and sinless life, and yet unjustly he died in our place for our sins on the cross. Justice was denied him. He was humiliated for us. And then the Bible says at the end of verse 33, his life is taken away from the earth. It describes Jesus. The Bible says in verse 34, the eunuch said to Philip, About whom I ask you, does the prophet say this? Is he talking about himself or someone else? Great question. And Philip took that question and used it as an opportunity to share Jesus. Look in the next verse, verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. Frank, can I tell you something? When God brings you to someone who is searching, when he's leading and he's brought you to the right place, to the right person at the right time, he wants you to obey him enough to open your mouth and tell that person about Jesus. I wonder how many times do we keep our mouths shut when Jesus is calling us to open our mouths, to tell someone about Jesus. He opened his mouth and beginning with that scripture that God had already prepared, he preached Jesus to him. He told him that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus came from heaven to earth, that Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life, that Jesus went all the way to the cross of Calvary, where he died and suffered and bled to pay the price for our sin, that Jesus was buried, and on the third day Jesus rose again to give eternal life to everyone who believes. That's the gospel. That's the good news about Jesus. And Jesus will use you where you are to share the gospel with people if you will simply open your mouth. You don't have to be a Bible expert to tell somebody about Jesus. If you know enough gospel to be saved, you know enough gospel to tell somebody else how to be saved. You already know enough Bible to tell somebody how to be saved. If you know John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. If you know John 3.16, you know enough Bible to tell somebody how to be saved. If you know Romans chapter 5, verse 8, God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. If you know that verse, you know enough gospel, you know enough Bible to tell somebody how to be saved. So here's the word for you today: open your mouth. When God puts you somewhere, puts you around somebody who needs Jesus, take that first step. I found it's the hardest step. It's just opening my mouth, moving past that awkwardness into the conversation, opening my mouth and telling people about Jesus. The Bible says that when God leads the way, he'll open the scriptures to reveal Jesus. Number four, I want you to see this. The Bible shows us when God leads the way, he will lead new believers to be baptized. He'll lead new believers to be baptized. Now, here's what happens in this text. There's a movement. Earlier on in the text, the Bible's describing how Philip followed as God led the way. Now at the end of the text, it shows how the Ethiopian eunuch follows as God leads the way. So verse 35 tells us that Philip told the man the good news about Jesus, verse 36. And as they were going along the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, Behold, literally in the text, behold, that same word. Wow, surprise, look, see, here is water. What prevents me from being baptized? Great question. He had heard the gospel. He had believed with all of his heart that Jesus is the Son of God. He saw water there. He says, What is there to prevent me from being baptized? In other words, what stands in the way from me being obedient to what God wants me to do? And so the Bible says in verse 38, He commanded the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When God leads the way, he will lead new believers to be baptized. There's some people in this room today who need to be baptized. There's some in this room who need to first be saved, to trust Jesus as your Savior, and then to be baptized. There's some in this room you've already been saved, but you've never followed Jesus in believers' baptism. In the New Testament, believers' baptism always follows salvation. It's never something you do or that somebody does on your behalf, apart from trusting Christ as Savior. It's not something that happens before you get saved, it happens after you get saved. It always follows salvation. It's always symbolic, and it's always by immersion. It always follows salvation. Baptism is always symbolic, and it is always by immersion. In fact, that word baptize itself shows us what it means. The word baptize means literally to plunge, to dip, or to dunk. When they took an anchor and dropped it in the ocean, they were said to have baptized that anchor. Or when a woman was washing dishes and she took the dishes and plunged them into the dishwater, she was said to baptize those dishes. It's always by immersion. You say why? Because unless there's immersion, there's not the picture of what baptism is all about. Baptism is a picture of our death to our old life and our resurrection to a new life in Jesus Christ. We say it every time someone's baptized. Usually the pastor will say it. They'll say, You are buried with Christ in baptism. We're placed under the water to show that we've died to our old life. But you'll notice when we baptize somebody and put them under the water, we don't lead them under the water. Now, some of them we might want to leave under the water a little longer than others, but we don't lead them under the water. We put them under the water to show that they've died to their old life. And then they come up, we bring them up to show that they've risen to live a new life, a resurrected life in Jesus. It always follows salvation, it's always by immersion, and it's always symbolic. Baptism does not save you. Only faith in Jesus Christ saves you. But baptism is a symbol that God has commanded for every person who has been saved. Sometimes people say to me, Well, Stephen, now, if baptism is just a symbol, then it must not be that big a deal. Well, let me let me go back. It's a symbol, but it's not just a symbol. Let me say that again. Baptism is a symbol, but it's not just a symbol. Let me illustrate it for you. This this helped me to understand it. On my on my left hand, on my ring finger, I wear a gold band, a wedding band. My wife gave it to me nearly 35 years ago when we got married. This golden band is a symbol. It's not what makes me married to Michelle. I can take it off and we'll still be married. I'm not going to take it off. But if I if I took it off, we'd still be married. But imagine this. Imagine a bride and groom are standing at the front of the church, and it comes time for the bride to put the wedding band on the groom's hand. And when that time comes at the exchange of rings, he makes a fist and he says, I'm sorry. I'm not comfortable with this. I don't know if I want to put this on in front of all these people. May I ask you this question? Would there be a problem? The answer is yes, there would be a problem. Or here's another illustration. A man who's been married has his wedding ring on, he's getting ready to go away on a trip, and he tells his wife, Listen, while I'm away, just for safekeeping, I'm gonna take off this wedding band and put it on my nightstand when I'm gone. Would there be a problem? The answer is yes, there would be a problem. Okay. So this wedding band is a symbol, but it's not just a symbol, it's an outward sign of the relationship between the husband and wife. A wedding band is a man-made symbol. Baptism is a God-given symbol. It doesn't come from man, it comes from God. And baptism is a symbol that God has established for every person who's been saved and follows Jesus Christ. If you've been saved, then you will follow Jesus Christ in believers' baptism. And there are people here today who need to say yes to Jesus in that. You've been saved, but you've never been baptized. And today you need to say yes to Jesus. I will follow you by being baptized. When God leads the way, he'll take you to the right place at the right time. When God leads the way, he'll bring you to people who are searching for him. When God leads the way, he will open up the scriptures to reveal Jesus. When God leads the way, he will lead new believers to follow Jesus by being baptized. Look what happens after the Ethiopian man is baptized. Look in verse 39. When they come up, came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. All of a sudden he's not there. And the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself in another place, a place called Azotus, and he just kept on preaching the gospel, and that he just carried on. I want you to think about this. These two people were together maybe 30 minutes to an hour. Maybe 30 minutes to an hour. They never saw one another again. But that moment in time made an eternal difference. God can use you in your workplace, in your family, in your school, in your neighborhood, with people that you may never even see again. God can use you in just a moment to make an eternal difference when you let Him lead the way. Michelle and I were on a mission journey to Nicaragua several years ago. We were leading a team there and we had a plan put together. Every day in the morning we would go into schools and share the gospel. Every evening we would do uh block parties and invite people. We were just sharing the gospel in all kinds of ways. So it was one morning, and our plan that day was to lead the group into the school, and we're going to share the gospel with students in that school. That was our plan. But God interrupted our plans. He did something different. We got there and found out that there were not enough classrooms for everybody in our group. And so Michelle and I said, Well, listen, the rest of the groups can go on in and do what they plan to do in this school. We'll stay out here and uh we're on the sidewalk in front of the school. We'll just stay out here and share the gospel with people who are walking down this sidewalk. We didn't know if anybody would be walking down that sidewalk. We thought, we'll just share the gospel with people walking down this sidewalk. It was an interruption, it was a change in plan, but we said, we're gonna do it. So we were sharing the gospel. And people were walking down that sidewalk. They were walking from work on their way to the bus stop, and they passed right in front of us. And so in about an hour and a half, we saw about a dozen people who we interrupted on their way to the bus stop. About a dozen people pray to receive Jesus Christ as Savior. It was awesome. Just person after person after person, trusting Christ. And they we'd we pray with them, we give them a track that we were using, and then they go on their way to their bus stop and go home. And as we were doing this, we we had a translator, her name's Anna. Anna was there with us. And as we were doing this, we had a break, and and I just here's what I said. I said, you know, we're on this sidewalk, we're interrupting them, they're getting on the bus, we'll never see them again. We have no way of following up. I said, Is this really making a difference? I asked her, is this really making a difference? And Anna said, Oh yes, it's making a difference. And then she told me her story. I'm gonna tell it to you. Anna and her fiance, Coke, were finishing up dental school in El Salvador. And as part of her program, one of the things she had to do was to go into schools and to do dental hygiene programs. So she had gone to a high school, she had she and Cokey had taken a bus across the city into an area that that was far away from their home they had never been to before. She went into a high school and she did a dental hygiene class for those students and then came back. When she came back, Coke was in the principal's office, and she was he was sitting there. The principal was on the other side of her desk. She invited Anna in. She said, Anna, I just shared the good news of Jesus with Coke, and he'd like me to share it with you. And Anna said, Well, okay, but I've got to catch our bus. It's the last bus of the day. We can't make it home. We've got to catch our bus in about 20 minutes. And the principal said, Well, it won't take me 20 minutes. Just let me talk to you. So she began to share the gospel with Anna, told her about Jesus, how Jesus died on the cross for her sins, how he rose from the grave to give her eternal life, and how she could be saved by turning from her sin and calling on Jesus to save her. And Anna heard that and she wasn't really interested. She wanted to make it to her bus. But the principal said, Would you like to pray to receive Jesus as your Savior? And Anna thought, Well, now this principal is going to be evaluating me for how I did at her school. So I better tell her yes. And she said, Okay, yes, I'll I will pray to receive Jesus as my Savior. She said, I didn't mean it. I just said it. I'll I'll pray to receive Jesus as my Savior. And they were getting ready to pray, and the principal said to her, You have to believe it with all your heart when you pray. And Anna said, Okay, I'll believe it with all my heart when I pray. She said, She didn't, she didn't mean it. But she said, I'll believe it with all my heart. She said, I bowed my head and she said, I started praying. And somewhere in that prayer, I began to mean it and believe it with all of my heart. She said, I said, I'm a sinner. She said, Jesus, I believe you died on the cross. I I I ask you to give me your gift of eternal life, and I'll follow you all the days of my life. She said, I meant it in my heart. She said, I looked up through tears at this principal. She said, Did you just pray that meeting? She said, Yes, I did. And she said, Coke and I need to go. We need to catch our bus. She said, We left the principal's office, we ran to our bus stop, we got on that bus. She said, We never saw that principal again. We didn't know her before. We never saw her again. She said, But it changed my life forever. And so she said, Stephen, while we're standing on this sidewalk today, this moment as we share the gospel is making a difference for eternity. I want to tell you, a moment, a moment that you take to be obedient to God and to share the gospel can make an eternal difference in someone's life, even if you never see them again. And you may never see me again. But God brought me here today to tell you that if you never trusted Jesus as your Savior, if you call on his name and ask him to save you, he will. Wow, it is such an encouragement to me to realize that when God leads the way, he'll take us to the right place at the right time. He'll bring us to people who are searching, he'll open up the scriptures to reveal his son Jesus, and then he'll lead new believers to take their next step in obedience through baptism. Well, we've covered a lot of ground in these two weeks, and I'm grateful that you've walked through this sermon with me. Over the next two episodes, we'll move into some of my favorite conversations. Next week we'll step behind the scenes and I'm going to talk about the sermon preparation process that shaped this message, the study, the structure, and the decisions that help bring everything together. Then the following week, I'll be joined by pastors from around our state as we discuss this text and share our approaches to preaching it. If this episode sparked a question or stirred something in your heart, I'd love to hear from you. Don't hesitate to reach out. You can contact us at info at flbaptist.org. That's info at flbaptist.org. Also, please subscribe to this podcast so that you'll automatically get new weekly episodes. Thanks again for listening, and remember, we're right beside you.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Thank you for listening to today's episode of Right Beside You in the Pulpit with Dr. Stephen Rummage. This podcast is made possible through your faithful cooperative program giving. For more resources, ministries, and upcoming events in Florida Baptist life, visit fblbaptist.org.