Bible Guys Classics: Acts 8 Part 2

Hey, everybody, we're the Bibble guys, and if you're just tuning in recently, just know that we are showing a little bit of reruns for a few months and then we'll be back bigger and better than ever on August thirty first, because behind the scenes we're taking a hiatus to do some very important things. Yeah, we're building building out a new studio and we've got some new structure. Super excited about it. So August thirty first, brand new content. But in the meantime, enjoy some of our greatest hits. So today we're talking about a deacon an African and exiting like a Star Trek transporter. Wow. So he's Chris, I'm Jeff, and we're the Day of the Bible guys. Okay, Chris, Yes, So I want to know, and I think all of our listeners are very interested in knowing. But we know that you're a very passionate person, that you have long, big opinions. My wife would say, so big big feelings that you that you you know, you experience things in real time and big ways, and so we want to do a segment called. Real Time and Big Ways. Yeah, Yeah, we want to do a segment called what made Chris Mad this week? So what got under your skin this week? How do we love it when you're mad? I don't even think you have to think twice? Okay, so get great at it then. Yeah. So so here's what happens. I'm coming out of Kroger, which is we shot with Kroger near my house, and it's a super Kroger, so it's pretty big. It's one of those marketplaces. Of course, it is everything in your life's big. Yes, bigger than life, that's right. Yeah, it's a super Coroger, bigger than you everything. Yeah. So anyway, I come out and a guy uh is parked two spaces away from where you put your carts, but he decides to go ahead and just put his cart, uh, you know, just leave it on the space right, And I'm sort of like catty corner from him, so like I'm sort of looking at him, right. I know where this is going. So what happens is is he and what's really funny is not only by the way I have I have a I have a slogan in my life, and I think I'm going to add a second slogan. Let me just start off the way, Okay, Number one. A person who's not nice to the waitress is not a nice person. I've always said I've always said that I'm going to add on after this experience. A person who doesn't return his cart is not a good person. If you're listening and you don't return your cart and you're like, well, I just have a bad knee. No, no, you're not a good person. Wow. Yes, I am very passionate about this. So they left the cart. So here's what happens. He leaves it, you know, in between the parking spaces, and he pretends to be considered by like looking around and like making sure, oh is this three inches away from this car in this car, and he sort of like takes his hands off it, like oh like this, and he gets in his car and he leaves, and as soon as he leaves, it starts rolling to the front of my car. It's going to bang my car. So I have to literally like, uh, take my car out of reverse, put it in park, take off my seat out, open the door, and run and guess who wasn't fast enough? Right, right, So it smacks into my car. In retrospect, what I could have done is just like you know, booked out of there and taking a chance of hitting somebody behind me something. But anyway, I put it in park, try to save it, don't get there in time. It smacks my car. Now here's the good news, no damage. But I just thought to myself, man, you turkey. What kind of human if he was there? That guy doesn't even deserve to live that you feel about that? Hey? Your question was? Your question was what made Chris mad? You're making me mad. Listen to me. Did you get his license? Right now? I want the videotape, the security footage. Listen. I'm serious when I say this. I would have pulled him over and stopped him and not starting to fight with him, of course, but I would have just said, bro, it's it's two spaces away from you. It wasn't raining, right, he had two working legs, right, you know, there was no. I'm with you on this one. Yes, yes, so let's go find him. Let's go. Wait. What day was it? So here, here's what I would. Say, what day was it? Was it? Like? Listeners? Listeners, listen, listen, Chris is watching. You always always return your carts. There's no reason why you can't return your carts unless you know you're you're you have a good reason, unless you're you know, handicapped or physically disabled, or maybe it is raining and you want to put it up on the on the curb or something like. You know, it's still not a great move, but still yeah, just returned. Remember remember that eighties sung every move you make? Yeah, every car. Watching you. Yeah, it's actually a pretty creepy song. Oh yeah yeah yeah, well so so our listeners. If you are tempted to leave your cart. You're a bad person in the thing. Well no, not if you're tempted. Oh Chris, doesn are you dude? I didn't realize if you're tempted, tempted just to ask yourself w w CD, what would Chris do? Yeah, that's right. We should make t shirts ww CD. That could also be christ little brace, little braces, Chris, I don't know. Yeah. So anyways, Wow, that was riveting. I'm glad we had that segment. Chris mad this week? Yeah, man, we should do this this segment every day everyone. I'm actually fired up now and we're about to read the scripture. I'm just like, okay, I need to calm down, so we do have something to ask you before we get into the scriptures and that is this. Would you go on Facebook and like us, follow us on Facebook, and then would you share us with your friends? So just look up the is it the Daily Bible guys. So if you search the Daily Bible Guys on Facebook. We have a new Facebook page and we just want to be able to use that to get the word out. So would you like us, follow us, you know, and then tell all your friends how amazing Chris is the Daily Bible guys, and share that and help us get the word out. So we're trying to build all the platforms. Just's a brand new thing that we're doing and we'd love to have you help us out on that. So if you just take await minutes, it's just written as the Bible guys, the Bible guys. Yeah, just the Bible guys. Yeah, so I'm following. I didn't even followed theund page yet. I didn't even follow your own page yet. So there it is. Do that. Well, look at this. We have one hundred and fifty seven likes, one hundred ninety eight followers already. But that's pretty good considering it's only a few days old. Well, yes, it was, matter of fact, it is the first time we've ever mentioned it. Yeah, wow, wow, I didn't even know that it was a thing. So great job. People keep it up. So today, share it. I didn't even know it was a thing to you said it. Yeah, and you have the ability to share each day's podcast notification, I think, so send it out. Just blast it. Let's let's let everybody know that this is there, and maybe we can help a few people. And if not, it's at least entertaining enough to listen to Chris talk about what he's mad about today. So okay. So we are continuing in the Book of Acts, and this is such an exciting time. The church is just explode. Persecution has begun, but so has the spread of the Gospel outside of Jerusalem. Finally, so one of the first servants in the church, Stephen, he has lost his life. He was stoned to death. Many of the other servants continue to serve. It begins to spread, and one of those guys is named Philip. And here's what it says. In Acts, chapter eight, verse twenty six. It says, as for Philip, an angel, the Lord said to him, go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza, so he started out, and he met the Treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Candiate, the Queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the Prophet Isaiah, and the Holy Spirit said to Philip, go over and walk along beside the carriage. So Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the Prophet Isaiah. Philip asked him, do you understand what you're reading? And the man replied, how can I unless someone instructs me, And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him. The passage of scripture he'd been reading was this. He was reading from Isaiah. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before the shears, he did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants, for his life was taken from the earth. The eunuch asked Philip, tell me was a private talking about himself or someone else? And so, beginning with this same scripture, Peter told him the good news about Jesus. As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, look, there's some water, Why can't I be baptized? And he ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Meanwhile, Philip found himself further north in the town of Azotus, and he preached the good news there and in every town along the way until he came to cesarea. Yeah, man, it is so what an incredible story. Philip is this dynamic guy. He's not a professional Christian, he wasn't one of the apostles. He was a guy that was highly esteemed among the early Christians, and they chose him to be a deacon, a servant in the church. And he's traveling around not only helping serve in the food pantry the hungry widows, but he's also preaching the Gospel and doing great works. And he runs across this very influential, powerful Ethiopian who represents the Queen in her treasury. Yeah, and the New Living Translational Life Application Study Bible says the strength and the accomplishments of Philip. He's one of the seven organizers of the food distribution of the Early Church. He's one of the first traveling missionaries, one of the first who obeyed Jesus' command to take the Gospel to all people, and a careful student of the Bible who could explain its meeting clearly. And I would add to that, someone who got beamed out like star trek by God. Wow. Yeah, that's a good thing to put on a resume. That's kind of what happened here, isn't it. Yeah, what it says he got caught up by the spirit. Nobody he knows what it really means. But then it just snatched away. He snatched away, and then he found himself north of the town. And if you look at that stuff on a map, I remember a sermon one time. Even though we're not I can't find the stats and all these notes here, but sure, but it's but it's ridiculous to assume that he got there any other way other than some miraculous thing that God did, which is pretty cool. So the road from Jerusalem down to Ethiopia, kind of runs through the center portion of Israel. Now is Jerusalem is in the southern portion of Israel, and it's it's a road heading towards Gaza as a Zotus is north of Gaza, right on the on the Mediterranean Sea, so it's a long ways. He got picked up in this one place and he shows up in another place. Oh yeah, he didn't head there. God just picked him up moving in there. I think this is one of the only times there was Enoch. The Bible says he walked with God and then he was not. Yes, there was Elijah. He goes goes up in the chariot of Fire. And then there is this one where Philip is preaching and God just goes, Okay, you're done there, I need to move you over here. How bizarre would that be? Yeah, so bizarre. So now we've got those out of the way. Yeah, and so when the eunuch says, what must I do? You know, why can't I be baptized? Some manuscripts include another verse that wasn't in here, where it says just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you can be baptized. So verse thirty seven would say, you can be baptized. Philip answered, if you believe with all your heart, and Unich replied, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That verse is in many, if not most, of the transcripts or manuscripts of this Book of Acts, but a couple of the earlier manuscripts did not include it. So some early manuscripts do, some don't. So the New Living did not include it, but they have the little asterisk. There says but either way it says in verse number thirty five. So beginning with the same scripture, Philip told him about the good news of Jesus. So think about this. So Philip basically explained all the way from Isaiah, which was written seven hundred years before Jesus was born, and he starts with the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah and then tells him the good of Jesus, which basically included, you know, pretty much his life, journey through the gospels, the events of his death, beryl, and resurrection. So all of that was, you know, assumed talked about, because otherwise how can you connect that scripture to Jesus without the crucifixion, right, you have to have it because that's what that scripture means. That's right. So the good news of Jesus was clearly explained, and then in order for the unit to be baptized, he had to believe in that or else why would he even ask the question? And then another thing about that scripture is is that it wasn't a special body of water. Right, So Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. Yeah. By the way, have you ever been to the Jordan River? I have not, so one of things I've never been to Israel. Yeah, so we need to change that. I know, we need to rectify that. Like immediately, let's let's take a daily Bible guys trip to Israel. Well, oh, wait a minute. If you're going to toss it out there, I think it'd be fun. Oh you know, hey, let's bring up that info at info at at the Bible guys. Can we do that? So we have a little right here right here, Email us at info at the Bible Guys dot com. I'm doing this off the top of my head. If you're interested in going on a trip to Israel with us, which would cost an individual. Five thousand, four thousand, dollars. Four thousand dollars, which means if you're going as a couple, you're you're really spending the money, right, But you can raise it. You can raise it. You can send out letters and things like that, so you don't have to, you know, spend all of that. But if you're interested in going there, email us over here. Let's see if we have a group of people. It's literally spur of the moment. We hadn't planned that, but then we didn't plan that will be fantastic. But let me tell you real quick. So Jesus is baptizing in the Jordan River. I went down to get baptized, or excuse me, to baptize in the Jordan River. And and there's so many people that want to get baptized in the Jordan River. You sure have to wait your turn, like this group of people, this church, this church, but they give you white robes. And so I was baptizing two women and actually I I have, like, you know, decently hairy legs, and all the fish were picking on the hairs on my legs. And so something's happening underneath the water where fish are just constantly nibbling at me. So I was just shaking like this, and nobody really knew what was happening, like why is he shaking? You know, and all the women are like what's going on? They weren't bothering the women. The women shaved their legs that day. Right, So anyway, I got to baptized. But my point is this is that Jesus get baptized in a normal body of water. They're in Africa, just passing by this random body of water. Well this is an African but they're still in Israel. Oh yeah, of course, yeah, yeah, I'm sorry the African. Yes, they're between Jerusalem and Gaza. Yeah, Jerusalem and Gaza. Yes, And so they're going by this random body of water. And so, in other words, you can get baptized anywhere. It doesn't matter if it's in a baptistry or in a swimming pool, or if it's in a river or a pond. It doesn't require a designation for holy water. Right. What's happening makes it holy. Right, because it's all about the symbolism. That's right, because that's what it symbolizes, which is why Jesus asked John the Baptist to baptize him in just a river. Yeah, yep. So there's some a little bit of history here. So the Ethiopian has gone to Jerusalem to worship, yes, and then he's coming home, and that's kind of a surprise because here's an African coming and worshiping in the Jewish Temple. And so the Jews had had some contact with the Ethiopians for a long period of time. They're mentioned in Psalm sixty eight, mentioned Jeremiah thirty eight. We know Solomon engaged with the Queen of Sheba. Depends on where you think Sheba is at that time, but it certainly appears that what you had was and the Ethiopian Church today and the Ethiopian Jewish people today would all point to it was an Old Testament thing that for generations upon generations there were Ethiopians that were worshiping the God of Israel. And so then he's there, and it's in that context that it would just be natural. This is a very powerful man, right, he's the head of the treasure for the entire nation, and he's reading the Book of Isaiah. The importance of the words of God. You and I will rarely ever argue somebody into heaven. We're not going to argue them into faith in Christ. It's the words of God that convince people and convict people. But what he does use is he uses people like you and me to explain what it is that they're doing. So Philip did not come in with his own agenda. He began where this guy, this guy just happened to be in Isaiah. And he's like, oh, I know how Isaiah connects to Jesus. Let me tell you. And he showed him that way. He wasn't giving some kind of polemic. He wasn't giving an apologetic. He was just explaining Jesus from that place in the Bible on two things. So you don't have to be a super apologist. You don't have to know every argument from the Bible. You just need to know where is Jesus in the Bible, and how do you get your friend or your family member to Jesus from that place. God's words are what changes hearts. The Holy Spirit uses the words of God and the testimony of his people. Those are the two bullets that defeat Satan. Right, and so we do those two things. Your testimony and God's words transform lives. So this Ethiopian goes, I get it. I want to put my faith in trust in Jesus, and so he steps up he gets baptized. So this is all God asks for any of us as we share the gospel. You know, you have the gift of evangelism. At the gift of evangelism, but you don't have to be gifted. I don't know that the Bible says Philip was gifted, right, So you don't have to be gifted. We're all commanded right, right. And so in this instance, it wasn't hey, Philip, you're gifted, why don't you go talk to the ethiopen. It was just that God says, you go. Go next to the chariot. That was it. And by the way, that's what I was going to say next to If you think about this, the Holy Spirit gave him a nudge that says, I think you need to go next to this chariot, and then that's it. We don't hear like a further instruction from God. So God just nudged him in the right direction. So it's interesting because sometimes we'll get a nudge to reach out to a friend and we won't know why. You know, they'll say pray for somebody, reach out to somebody. Make this phone call, you know, send, send somebody a text or a letter or you know, or maybe an approach a stranger, you know, whatever it is. But we'll get a nudge to do something and we will never know why. And then what we'll do is we'll just sort of wait and see, Okay, well, God, what are you up to? And that's what happens here because all he did was get the nudge to walk up next to the cheer, and then Philip just took over himself. He thought, Oh, this guy's actually reading scripture, you know. And then I would say this too, it's really great to tell your story and how you met Jesus. To be able to tell that one or two minutes, it is really a good thing to know because if God ever did nudge you to share, you know, the story of Jesus with somebody. Just like Jeff said, you don't have to know Isaiah here. You don't have to know all the verses. Although that's that's. If you're going to spend a bunch of time studying, spend your time studying scripture. You don't. Don't just spend your time only studying arguments for Christianity. Yes, ryes R. Yes, what I was what I was going to say is I was going to say, to memorize key scriptures in your story, right, So in other words, like you don't have to know a ton of Isaiah and all. That was what I go to say. But just I mean, just to use John three sixteen. You know, hey, I don't know much. I don't know much about the I'm a new Christian, but I do know one thing. John three sixteen says, for God's soil of the world, but he gave his one and only son, whoever believes it should not perish but have everlasting life. And let me tell you how that translated in my life. And then you tell your quick story, and then you know, here's where I was before Jesus. I once was lost, but now I'm found. And when you do that, you know you can connect the dots, uh, you know, with people in a lot of ways. So this event to wrap things up, this event, remember Jesus says said, the Holy Spirit is going to come on you. You're going to have power. You're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem. They were witnesses in Jerusalem. They started getting harassed in Jerusalem. And then he says in Judea and Samaria, and that begins to happen after the stoning of Stephen. Then they begin to spread out and they start they go into Samaria. As a matter of fact, the Bible says Philip was the first one to take the Gospel into Samaria. And the disciples were going in different directions and they were spreading the gospel. And now they lead this Ethiopian guy. He's from a whole other and this is the beginning of the Gospel spreading to the uttermost parts of the earth. And from that point on, that's what's been happening, generation after generation after generation for two thousand years. The Gospel is just spreading around the world, and it's the most unlikely people sharing the Gospel with the most unlikely people, and it just keeps going. Yeah, and so the Gospel always finds its way to us, on its way to someone else, that's right. And so tomorrow we're going to be looking at how one young guy named Saul decided to try to squash it in a city that had spread to called Damascus. And that's what we're looking at next time on the Bible. Guys, that's right,