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I would invite you to open the Bible and turn to Acts chapter eight. We continue our verse-by-verse exposition of this marvelous historical account written by the inspired writer, Doctor Luke, a physician. And before we look at the first eight verses of Acts eight, I would want you to think about a few things with me for a moment. I believe that there exists within the church today, a great apathy. People are apathetic about the lost, those who are dying in their sins. A myriad of more important priorities seem to justify a callous disregard for those who will perish lest they repent, and no doubt there are some of you right now scrambling to pull up on your little computer screen in your mind that list of excuses that justify your apathy. Excuses like, "Well, you know, I'm really too busy with my career. After all, these are hard times. I'm too busy with family. I'm trying to really prepare for retirement. Someday I'll get more involved with evangelism," or and this is a good one, "It's not really my gift. Others are far better at it than me, but I do my part at church," or "You know, it's really not my thing to tell other people about Christ. You know, if they ask, I'm sure I would say something. But, but I believe that what I need to do is really just support the pastor and the missionary. So I'll be glad to do that." You know, we are quite content to pay others to do the work of evangelism and discipleship. But in many cases, if we're really honest, we're unwilling to engage in it ourselves. And if we were really honest, what we would be forced to say is that fundamentally my priorities are out of whack. That I live for myself. That most of my time and most of my money goes to me in the pursuit of my own personal pleasure. If we're really honest, we would say, you know, "I'm really embarrassed to tell others about Christ because my Christian life is such a sham." If we're really honest, we might have to say, you know, "The reason I don't tell others about Christ is I'm spiritually lazy. I'm quite frankly selfish. I'm self-centered. I'm self-absorbed. My life really orbits around me, not the God of glory." And also, many of you would be forced to say that you are a coward. Indeed, "I fear rejection so much. I fear rejection from family and friends. I hate conflict. I'd rather just take the easy road, and I certainly fear persecution. I fear all of these things far more than I fear the living God."

Well, may I challenge you to take personal inventory this morning? Before we look at this text, may I ask you to ask yourself: When was the last time you came to someone and presented the gospel to them? Someone that God had placed in your path. When was the last time you took a stand for truth in a hostile situation? Do you have anybody right now that you have targeted for evangelism and you pray for them constantly and seek every opportunity to somehow share Christ with them. What is your strategy to reach your family members and your friends with the gospel, or do you have one? How often do you invite other people into your home to get to know them, to begin to build relationships, so that hopefully someday, because you care for their eternal destiny and because you love the Lord Jesus Christ, that someday you would be able to present to them the truth that could save them. How many times do you invite your friends and your family members to come to church? When was the last time you did that? When was the last time you asked God to really show you how he could best be served here in this place, a church filled with young families, filled with young children, for example, that need to know Christ, and yet there's a shortage of workers. Why is that? When was the last time you really fell on your face before God, and you prayed for some soul who was lost, and that that lost person was literally breaking your heart? When was the last time you, in tears, assaulted the very gates of heaven and cried out to God for boldness in evangelism and an abundance in harvest? Well, I know for some you would be saying right now, "Sorry, Pastor, you know that's just not me. But but I will be happy to write a check. “Oh, really? Is that what God wants from you, my friend? If what I've just described really describes the character and conduct of your life. I must say something to you that brings no joy to my heart, but it is the truth, and I want you to hear it. If this describes you, your life dishonors the Lord, and quite frankly, because of your spiritual apathy and your disregard to be involved in evangelism, you are forfeiting both temporal and eternal reward. I don't know how I could put it any more clearly. We must admit that we live under the curse here in the United States, the curse of what some have called affluenza-we worship our own comfort more than we worship the Creator. It's for this reason that Christians in third-world countries, countries even where there's great hostility and persecution, those people tend to be far more evangelistic than people in affluent Western cultures. We need to call it for what it is, dear friends. It is sin, and sin needs to be repented of. It's the sin of misplaced priorities, of wasted opportunities, and I want you to hear this. It is a sin that is so utterly deceptive, it is so appealing to the flesh that, despite the stinging exposure that you will hear today from the Word of God, many of you will leave this place and not make one single change in your life. But for those few of you who will feel the intense conviction of the Spirit of God, and I know there will always be a handful, if indeed you repent and get serious about evangelism, there awaits for you a whole world of adventure and joy and blessing, not to mention heavenly reward.

Well, in our text today, we see the hand of God moving in a very mysterious way among the people of the ancient world. We see him bring the winds of persecution to the early church that was centralized primarily in the city of Jerusalem, and these winds of persecution come along to scatter the seed of the gospel. Let me read the passage to you in Acts chapter eight, beginning with verse one.

"And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death," referring to Stephen,

“And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

“And some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.

“But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women. He would put them in prison.

“Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.

“And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them.

“And the multitudes, with one accord, were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.

“For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.

“And there was much rejoicing in that city.”

I would invite you this morning to join me in focusing upon four amazing works of God that gives us insight into his redemptive purposes, as well as into his plan for every believer. This historical narrative reveals that God used four strategies to reconcile sinners unto himself. Let me give them to you, and then I'll elaborate on them. First of all, we're going to see that he used the winds of persecution. Secondly, he used the willingness of common men. And thirdly, he used the work of previous laborers. And finally, he used the word of Christ and him crucified. And my prayer is that the Holy Spirit will use his Word this morning to arouse this church from the slumber of complacency, and that we might experience a sense of divine urgency, dear friends, to do the work that we've all been called to do. That our hearts might ache with an anguish for those who are perishing, and that by the power of his word he will really fan the embers of our love for Christ into a blaze - a blaze of zeal for evangelism - that sinners might be saved and Christ might be exalted.

First of all, notice the winds of persecution that God used to spread the gospel seed. In verse one says, "And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death." Now, again, remember the story just before this. Stephen has been put to death because of his testimony, and the apostle Paul - Saul later became that apostle - we know was from Tarsus, located in Cilicia, and according to chapter six and verse nine, one of the three synagogues that confronted Stephen and then later schemed to slander him and to kill him was from Cilicia, and so therefore the Saul, who later became Paul, was probably among them, and Stephen was probably a member of one of those synagogues, being a Hellenist from that area. And also, given the fact that Saul, who would later become Paul, was a student of the famous Rabban Gamaliel, there's a high probability that Saul was one of those that debated with Stephen and probably knew him rather well.

Now Saul, unfortunately, was like many who are blinded by some religious deception. They belong to some religious organization, some denomination, and they think because they are a part of that, that somehow they are okay before God. In fact, on the way to church this morning, I saw a bumper sticker, and I've been seeing a lot of these. It said, "Born okay the first time." Have you seen that? And then right next to it, it said, "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You." Well, obviously, these dear people have no understanding of the gospel. As I recall, Jesus said to Nicodemus, "You must be" what? "You must be born again." But Saul was like many, even to this day, that are very religious and think they have the truth, but in reality, they were deceived, and he hated the truth of Christ Jesus, and he hated anyone who proclaimed it. And such is the case even today, as that bumper sticker would indicate.

Earlier, Jesus had predicted this kind of bigotry and this kind of rage. In John 16:2, Jesus said to his disciples, "They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God." And that's what was going on with Saul. And notice again in verse one, it goes on to say, "And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." Now here we have an important observation, do we not? We look at this, and we can see that it was the members of the church that were sent in the scattering, not the apostles. The apostles, according to God's providence, would stay there in Jerusalem to continue to strengthen that church. Now, please hear me, dear friends, everyone who names the name of Christ is in active duty in this great battle for the truth. Everyone, not just a few professional soldiers, so to speak, like pastors, evangelists, missionaries, or whatever, and we must all know our orders. We must all know what station we have been called to man in this great battle for the truth, and we must all hold our position. And unfortunately, many times our army is greatly fractured and splintered, and many are wandering off somewhere, and they're not even involved. They don't even know that there's a war going on, let me ask you: If the King, the Lord Jesus, were to come to you and approach you and say, "Soldier, let me ask you: What are your orders? Where is your station? How goes the battle?" How would you answer? Would you say to him, "My King, my specialty is this, and my station is over here, and I will not yield an inch to the enemy? Yea, I will gladly wield the sword of the Spirit for your glory. I will even advance in the charge." Or will you say, "Sorry, my king, I have other more pressing duties to attend to in my life.  Frankly, my career and my family and all of the things I'm involved with really occupy much more of my time, but certainly I'm willing to kind of you know write a check every now and then for those people who are on the front lines. But frankly, I have to also say I really have no stomach for conflict. I have no stomach for the battle. In fact, I believe that my gifts lie elsewhere." And the King would then say to you, "You lazy coward! I have given you all things pertaining to life and godliness. You have no shortage of anything. I have given you the armor, the whole armor of God, for your protection, I have given you the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, for you to wield in the battle. Frankly, you are just merely absent without leave."

Now imagine if this happened to us. Notice again in verse one, "And on that day a great persecution arose against the church..." in Middle Tennessee. Okay, let's make it real practical here. "And they were all scattered throughout the regions of...." Kentucky and Illinois. Imagine now the authorities come and they arrest you. They torture some of your family members. They kill some of us. There's no one to protect you. The law is on their side. That's what was going on here, and so you run for your life. You see, friends, if that happens suddenly, your priorities would change. You would run with basically, as these people did, with the clothes on your back and a small bag. You'd give up everything, and you would seek refuge someplace. Now, what would be your purpose for living? There would be only one purpose, and that would be to serve the living Christ and him alone. And that's what happened with these people, and that's what happens to everyone around the world who has endured such persecution. And what would bring comfort to the souls of those people fleeing from their homes? What would bring comfort to you? The only thing that would bring comfort is to know that your suffering is for Christ, and to know that you are now exclusively dedicated to his business, knowing that you probably aren't going to live very much longer.

Notice in verses three and four, Paul began or, "Saul began ravaging the church." The idea here of ripping it apart like a ferocious beast, "entering house after house and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. Therefore, those who had been scattered..." catch this, "went about..." seeking a place where they could blend in with the rest of the world and distance themselves from Christianity. Is that what it says? Not at all. Those who had been scattered went about preaching the word." Now, friends, this ravaging of the church happens again and again around the world, and it is coming to the United States. You've heard me speak on this many times, and many others are warning of this. It is coming. It is a tsunami of persecution that is coming, and much of it is already here. Some of our precious missionaries in Siberia and in Sudan and of Africa that I interact with on a regular basis experience this routinely, but God is not shocked with such oppression. In fact, Jesus said in John 15:20, "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." This doesn't surprise God. In fact, he has ordained persecution in order to glorify himself. As we look at his Word, we see that persecution gives him an opportunity to manifest to us his power in our perseverance, to give us great comfort in great calamity, as well as to scatter the gospel seed, so that he can reconcile sinners to himself. You know, I love to speak to Christians who have persevered in great persecution, because when I hear their testimonies of God's faithfulness, I find that there's just an overwhelming sense of awe that fills my heart. Their testimonies are exhilarating, and I'm hoping that some of our dear missionaries, especially those from Sudan, can come here someday and just share with you many of the things that they shared with me, especially when I taught them in Kenya. You'll see a smile from ear to ear, and their witness is bold, and it is clear.

When I was in Kenya, along with some of the others, we asked some of the African pastors that were in my class why they were so happy. And before I give you their answer let me describe to you a couple of them, and you know them by the name of Elijah and William that we support. Elijah and William had been run out of their homes as Christians in Sudan, fleeing from the Muslims. Many of their friends and their family members had been killed, and you can see bullet wounds in their bodies. When the enemy came in, they burned their houses, they burned all of their crops, all of their fruit trees, confiscated all of their animals, and they took the remaining people, including many of Elijah's and William's family members, and they stripped them all naked, so they had absolutely no clothing, and then they banished them into the desert. And for many, many months, groups of these dear people that loved the Lord fled from the enemy, trying to survive. They went across the deserts, and every now and then they would come to kind of oasis areas where there would might possibly be some water. And some of them, once they got into the area where the water would be, there would be so much pestilence, so many mosquitoes that, as you would breathe, it would choke them, and many of them would die. They endured disease and pestilence, wild animals, and perhaps the most frightening thing of all is they endured many bizarre attacks by demons that would enter people as well as animals. And now these men are in my classroom in Kenya, and them, along with many others, were men that had a great smile on their face, and oh, to hear them sing, Jack, you remember it well. And I remember someone asking them one time, "Why are you all so happy? Because you really have gone through so much." And the answer that one of them gave was this, and I quote: "We are so happy because we have nothing, yet in Christ we have everything." You get the point. And now those people in Sudan, who were scattered by persecution, have been able to lead many 1000s to a saving knowledge of Christ. The church in Sudan is growing, and it's growing on the borders of Kenya, and Ethiopia, and the refugee colonies. Christ is at work, and he used the winds of divine persecution to scatter the seed. And what is another fascinating reality here is that the more you persecute the Church of Jesus Christ, the more it grows in depth and in breadth. Isn't that an amazing thing? We see that here.

Notice in verse two, "And some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him." Here's what you must understand: such loud lamentation was completely forbidden by law when the deceased was a criminal. Therefore, their loud and public lament was a very bold protest of their disapproval of what had happened. Indeed, now they are emboldened by the death of their brother, and obviously suffering did not silence these early saints; it emboldened them. And as I was thinking about this, I was thinking of James' words in James one, beginning in verse two, where we are admonished to "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." Endurance, in the original language, is the idea of having a patient confidence in the God who has ordained your afflictions for your good and his glory. And that text goes on to say, "and let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." And I was thinking about all that Saul would have learned from witnessing all that was going on. This great persecutor of the church that became this great apostle. Paul learned well what suffering would do. In fact, later on, he would write that God's grace is sufficient for me, and that power is perfected in weakness.

You know, we must all admit that we grow far more in the fire than we do in the frolic. We must admit that we mature more in times of pain than in times of pleasure. Indeed, it is the fires of adversity that temper the steel of our faith far more than the cool breezes of comfort in our life. Indeed, the branches of the great oak are strengthened far more by the storm than by the sun. So God gives Satan free reign here to ravage the saints of Jerusalem with persecution, and in so doing, now the gospel seed is scattered beyond Jerusalem, now into the surrounding areas, especially Samaria, and so Jerusalem's grief now becomes Samaria's joy. But notice he uses something else here. Secondly, he uses the willingness of common men, especially here a common man by the name of Philip, who was really the first Christian missionary. Notice verse five. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. Now I want you to remember, back in Acts six when we studied it, the apostles had instructed the congregation to select from among them seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom. Verse three. To select these men to become full-time administrators to help care for the needy and for the widows, and Philip was one of them. Just an ordinary man, but a man who was willing to be used in an obscure and yet vital ministry within the church, helping the needy, providing funds and food and so on, shelter for the widows. And his only claim to fame was that he was a sinner saved by grace. No celebrity status here. He was not some well-known person. He had no ministry headquarters, no multi-million-dollar salary, no extravagant estate, no Rolls-Royce, no flamboyant television ministry. He was just a humble, willing servant, willing to care for needy widows, and again I think of what Saul learned from all of this, because later on Saul, as Paul, would write in First Corinthians 126. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh. Not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised. God has chosen the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God, dear friends. Please understand, God does not need another converted rock star. Even though I would pray that they would all come to Christ, God does not need some converted actor or great famous athlete or some politician. He does not need those kind of people to build his church. Even though, again, we pray for their salvation, he merely needs men and women like Stephen and like Philip and like the apostles-ordinary men and women with extraordinary Spirit wrought humility and love for Christ. It's fascinating. Philip became the only man in Scripture to be specifically identified as an evangelist, and we read that in Acts 21 eight. An evangelist is a public proclaimer of the gospel of Christ. So Philip, a converted Jew, probably a Hellenist, now thrilled with the gift of grace, he flees from the persecution in Jerusalem and boldly goes to the Samaritans, the despised enemies of the Jews. Now let me give you a bit of context here. The city of Samaria was about 40 miles north of Jerusalem, and it was once the capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and that Northern Kingdom had become an apostate, wicked people, because for 150 years they violated God's law and mixed pagan idol worship along with the worship of Yahweh, and finally the patience of God was exhausted. And in 722 B.C. God used another wicked people, the Assyrians, to judge His own people. And Shalmaneser the fifth led his bloodthirsty horde down upon the Jews of the northern kingdom and utterly destroyed them. Some of the people, some of the Jews, did stay. Many others were exiled into the Assyrian lands, and other Assyrian people that had been conquered from all over everywhere also came to that region of Samaria. So, by this time in the first century, this area of Samaria north of Jerusalem was really a melting pot of all kinds of pagan false religions, and there was a fierce animosity between the Jews and the Sumerians. Now, even though that was true, that was no big deal to Philip.

So God gives Satan free reign here to ravage the saints of Jerusalem with persecution, and in so doing, now the gospel seed is scattered beyond Jerusalem, now into the surrounding areas, especially Samaria, and so Jerusalem's grief now becomes Samaria's joy. But notice he uses something else here. Secondly, he uses the willingness of common men, especially here a common man by the name of Philip, who was really the first Christian missionary. Notice verse five. "And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them." Now I want you to remember, back in Acts six when we studied it, the apostles had instructed the congregation to select from among them seven "men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom (verse 3). To select these men to become full-time administrators to help care for the needy and for the widows, and Philip was one of them. Just an ordinary man, but a man who was willing to be used in an obscure and yet vital ministry within the church, helping the needy, providing funds and food and so on, shelter for the widows. And his only claim to fame was that he was a sinner saved by grace. No celebrity status here. He was not some well-known person. He had no ministry headquarters, no multi-million-dollar salary, no extravagant estate, no Rolls-Royce, no flamboyant television ministry. He was just a humble, willing servant, willing to care for needy widows. And again, I think of what Saul learned from all of this, because later on Saul, as Paul, would write in First Corinthians 1:26, "For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh. Not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen. The things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God." Dear friends, please understand, God does not need another converted rock star. Even though I would pray that they would all come to Christ, God does not need some converted actor or great famous athlete or some politician. He does not need those kind of people to build his church. Even though, again, we pray for their salvation, he merely needs men and women like Stephen and like Philip and like the apostles-ordinary men and women with extraordinary Spirit wrought humility and love for Christ. It's fascinating. Philip became the only man in Scripture to be specifically identified as an evangelist, and we read that in Acts 21:8, an evangelist is a public proclaimer of the gospel of Christ.

So Philip, a converted Jew, probably a Hellenist, now thrilled with the gift of grace, he flees from the persecution in Jerusalem and boldly goes to the Samaritans, the despised enemies of the Jews. Now let me give you a bit of context here. The city of Samaria was about 40 miles north of Jerusalem, and it was once the capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and that Northern Kingdom had become an apostate, wicked people, because for 150 years they violated God's law and mixed pagan idol worship along with the worship of Yahweh, and finally the patience of God was exhausted. And in 722 B.C. God used another wicked people, the Assyrians, to judge his own people. And Shalmaneser the Fifth led his bloodthirsty horde down upon the Jews of the northern kingdom and utterly destroyed them. Some of the people, some of the Jews, did stay. Many others were exiled into the Assyrian lands, and other Assyrian people that had been conquered from all over everywhere also came to that region of Samaria. So, by this time in the first century, this area of Samaria north of Jerusalem was really a melting pot of all kinds of pagan false religions, and there was a fierce animosity between the Jews and the Sumerians.

Now, even though that was true, that was no big deal to Philip. He had the good news of sins forgiven, burning in his bones, he was excited about what God was doing, and God led him to these Samarians to set them on fire with the truth. And so here we see a common, humble servant of no extraordinary reputation to the world, willingly taking the gospel into hostile territory. Let me pause for a moment. I can only pray that we would all be so willing and so bold. Some of you wives need to be bold in proclaiming the gospel to your husband. Some of you husbands to your wives, maybe some of you children even to your parents or grandparents, moms and dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, doesn't matter. We all are called to take the battle to the enemy. The enemy is error, it is darkness, and sometimes it's the people that we love that believe these things. So wherever you have an opportunity, we need to go, even as Philip did.

Well, such was the character and conduct of Philip, an ordinary man willing to serve, but this leads us yet to another observation of God's strategies to save sinners, and that is thirdly that he uses the work of previous laborers. Now let me explain this. Here I'm referring to none other than the Lord Jesus himself. Who, you will recall, earlier met with a woman at a well in Samaria, a woman from the city of Sychar. He violated all Jewish tradition. He transcended the prejudice of the Jews, and the Savior came to this woman and presented himself as the long-awaited Messiah, as the Living Water. You remember the story. In fact, in John four, we read that he stayed there two days, and that many Samaritans believed in Him, saying, "We have heard for ourselves and know that this one is indeed the Savior of the world." And here's the point I want you to see with this: the Lord's previous laborer sowed many seeds, and he even saw some come to harvest immediately. And now Philip is returning to the same region to sow even more seeds and even to reap more of the harvest from the seeds planted by the Lord Himself.

Now, there's a great truth here that I hope will give us all comfort, and that truth is simply this, dear friends: there is no labor for the Lord that is ever wasted. There is never a time when we do something for the Lord and it goes unnoticed. There is never a time when we do something that is not productive. Now that doesn't mean that every time we present the gospel somebody's going to come to Christ, but it does mean that God is going to use his Word. Remember now, whenever the gospel seed is scattered, it is going to take root in some soils and not in others. For some, it will cause them to become new creatures in Christ, and for others, they will reject it, and he will seal them further in their unbelief. You will recall in Isaiah 55:11, God says through the prophet, "My word, which goes forth from My mouth, it shall not return to Me without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding to the matter for which I sent it." In other words, when God's word is sent forth, it will always do one of two things: it will either number one soften a heart and cause it to respond in repentant faith, or number two it will harden and seal that person in their unbelief. And you will recall too that as we study Scripture, we know that God's judicial blinding is an act of mercy, in that it prevents a person from being exposed to even more light-the light of the truth, the light of the gospel. It prevents them from seeing even more of it and thus increase their condemnation in the day of judgment, but we must also understand that often we will plant, we will scatter the seed - we will plant it - but somebody else may water it, somebody else may harvest that seed. You know, we're planting many seeds here at Calvary Bible Church. I think, for example, the seeds that we plant in Sunday school every Sunday with our children-it may be years before those seeds become a living plant that would glorify the Lord, but in many cases, it will. and so we see here that Jesus planted. Philip's now going to plant more. He's also going to reap some of the harvest. So, my friends, my point with all of this is to say: never become disheartened. Know that when you're doing God's work, he will accomplish something in it, even though you may not see the results.

I think of another common man. He lived in the 1700s, the late 1700s. In fact, in 1793, a cobbler with a basic elementary education, a man by the name of William Carey left England for Bengal, India, as a missionary to the heathen. And in that day, his choice to become a foreign missionary was completely contrary to the religious spirit of that day. Believe it or not, the Christian Church in that day was opposed to foreign missions. Someone even told Carey, "If God wants to convert the heathen, He can do it without you." That was the spirit of that day. In fact, they even had anti-missionary hymns. One of them went like: "This go therefore into the world is what the apostles of old did say; Here is where God has put you, and here is where He wants you to stay." How would you like to sing that one? Well, Carey defied the spirit of his day, and he left for India. And shortly after he arrived, his five-year-old son died. That plunged his wife into a deep depression and ultimate mental illness, and she eventually died. He buried her in 1808. He remarried, and his second wife died In 1821, in fact, he labored seven long years before God was pleased to reconcile the very first sinner unto Himself. It was seven years before he first saw a Hindu converted to Christ. His ministry, if you read the history, his ministry in India was besieged with every imaginable setback and heartbreak. Very, very few converts. He spent years translating the Bible into numerous languages, learning the languages, and then translating them into Scripture. And yet, in 1812, fire utterly destroyed all of the manuscripts and burned his printing press. God works in mysterious ways, doesn't he? And yet he persevered. In fact, that man labored in India 41 years, never leaving the shores, and he died in 1834. And yet, the legacy of Carey's life is absolutely astounding. Because of his perseverance, because of his willingness to serve the Lord in such a way and sow so many seeds, many, many 1000s of people eventually came to Christ because of is work. His life's motto was this, and I quote, “Expect great things, attempt great things." He wanted his gravestone to bear only his dates and a couplet from one of his favorite hymns written by Isaac Watts. And here's what it says, and I quote, "A wretched, poor, and helpless worm, on Thy kind arms I fall."

Beloved, many of you have sown the seeds of saving grace on the fields of your family, and you've seen no results. May I encourage you to press on? Don't be disheartened. God is at work. Keep scattering the seed wherever and whenever you can. Water that seed with the tears of your prayers, and cultivate those seeds with your godly character, that others might see Christ in you, and if indeed that loved one has been chosen by God in eternity past, that seed will germinate someday and bear fruit for the glory of the One who gave him life. And yet, that harvest may come many, many years later. It may come after you're dead and gone. It may be like those in Acts 13:48. Remember the ministry of Paul and Barnabas? The Gentiles understood now that there was the opportunity to be saved by God's grace, and that Christ had come and died for even them. The gospel was available to them, and they began to rejoice. And it says, "And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed." We can rest in that great truth.

So we read the infallible record here concerning Philip's life and ministry, and we see these astounding strategies of action. God uses the winds of persecution, the willingness of common men, the work of previous laborers, and finally he uses the word of Christ and him crucified. Notice verse five, "And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them." In fact, you could look at verse four, it said, "...those who had been scattered went about preaching the word." Friends, this is so important to understand. This is the theme of what we preach. It is Christ. It is the word of God. Philip preached Christ, not some seeker-sensitive fluff, not some cotton candy stuff to make people feel good, not some phony prosperity gospel where you plant some seed faith and now God's going to make you wealthy. It's not the message of the power of positive thinking; it's not some psychologized gospel of self-esteem. It's not some message of how to become more successful or how to discover the purpose for your life. He preached Christ, the gospel in all of its purity, in all of its simplicity, in all of its power. The world has gone mad in what they preach today.

Notice even in verse 35, beyond where we're at here, Philip goes to the Ethiopian nobleman, and it says, "And Philip opened his mouth and beginning from this Scripture," referring to Isaiah 53, "he preached Jesus to him." Indeed, dear friends, all of Scripture points to Christ and him crucified. And notice the way God empowered and confirmed Philip's message in verse six,

"And the multitudes with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.

"For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them, shouting with a loud voice, and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed, and there was much rejoicing in that city."

Now understand, while the unique sign gifts that Philip was empowered to perform in those days of the early church prior to the completion of the New Testament canon - while those sign gifts are no longer in effect today - nevertheless, we have enormous spiritual power through prayer and through the word, and we see its effect all the time. We see sinners being transformed. We see bodies being healed. We see Satan and his minions being defeated as we wear the whole armor of God and as we wield the sword of the Spirit. And we may not always be able to outwardly see the effects, for example, of men and women indwelt by demons - though certainly in third world countries and some here in the United States, you will see that from time to time; you'll see a lot more in third world countries - I believe very strongly that if you go to a lot of these rock concerts and so on, you will see people that are absolutely indwelt by demons. But you don't have to go there. You can go to much of religious broadcasting and see the same thing. Because wherever there is a false teacher, there is a demon; a demonic spirit somewhere that is empowering that person. They may be witting recipients of that or unwitting, but nevertheless, Satan is there. And dear friends, again, the truth, the power of the gospel, will cause that person, even though they may be demonically possessed, they will cause that person to be freed from that power and come to a saving knowledge of Christ.

And again, dear friends, what I want you to think of here is that men and women are perishing in spiritual darkness, and why would we give them anything else other than the light? You see, the theme of our message must be the majesty and the excellency of Christ. People need to hear the truth. There is no greater subject in all the world. Philip began proclaiming Christ to them. In other words, he told them that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Messiah. He told them that God is holy, and that man is sinful. That man is so sinful that all that he does and all that he is is fundamentally offensive to a holy God. That man is utterly unable to save himself. The only thing that could possibly save him is a work of God, whereby God would provide a way to reconcile that sinner unto himself, and that God made that provision. He provided a substitute in the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who is fully God and fully man, the God-Man Jesus, he had to be fully God to be perfectly holy and able to drink the full cup of divine wrath. But he also had to be fully man to be able to live that holy life for a man to die for man. He told them these things that indeed Jesus was the Lamb of God that comes to take away the sins of the world. That He was the Son of God. That he set aside his glory. He took upon Himself the likeness of a man. That He willingly died on the cross as a substitute for all who will believe. This is the message of the cross. We don't want to water it down. We want to unleash it in all of its power to tell people that this Jesus rose again from the dead the third day, and that his resurrection guarantees ours. To tell them that he is the propitiation for our sins, that he is the one that satisfied divine wrath, we could not do that on our own, and that this Jesus reconciles sinners unto himself, that he imputes his righteousness to us, because our wickedness and unrighteousness was imputed to him on the cross. He told them that he made atonement for sin, so that all who would believe in him would come to eternal life and shall never come into condemnation. He told them that now Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, and he intercedes on our behalf. He told them that because of Jesus, he is preparing a place for us, and that someday we have an inheritance, joint heirs with Jesus, adopted into that family, and that inheritance that we have is preserved and protected by the very power of God. And this Jesus is coming again to take us unto himself into glory. Now, why on earth would we substitute those glorious truths for some meaningless cotton candy dribble? Philip preached Christ unto them. This is the good news, dear friends. This is the message that Philip proclaimed to the Samaritans, and the message that we too must proclaim.

Dear friends, please hear this as we close this morning. Never ever substitute such a glorious, life-changing truth for some inferior topic that is eternally inconsequential. Never be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the what? It is "the power of God unto salvation." Unleash it on your children, unleash it on your husbands and your wives, your grandparents and your friends, and watch what God will do. And it's my prayer that God will stir us all to these truths and arouse us from this slumber of apathy and slothful neglect. It is my prayer that somehow, he will ignite within us all a holy zeal and cause us to blaze red hot with evangelistic fervor. Let's pray today.

Father, I pray that indeed you will cause us to be like Stephen and to be like Philip. Lord, I pray that you will cause us to join the ranks of Christian warriors of days gone by and even of this day. Lord, may we be willing to engage the enemies of darkness, Lord, may we be willing to rally behind the banner of the cross, and even charge into the kingdom of darkness and conquer it with the glorious light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, may you be pleased to work in our hearts to these great ends, for it is your glory that we seek, and not our own. I ask all of this in Jesus’ name, and for his sake. Amen.