 I pray the name of the Lord. I am delighted and grateful for this opportunity to fellowship with you, dear brothers and sisters. Thank you, pastor, thank you, my colleague pastors, for this opportunity to minister in this great church. And we praise God for this opportunity. I didn't come from very far away, just around here and I am grateful for this opportunity. I invite us to share the word of God from the book of Acts chapter 8 and we are reading from verse 26 to 40. Acts chapter 26 verse 26 to 40. The Bible says now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying arise and go towards the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is desert. So he arose and went. And behold a man of Ethiopia a eunuch of great authority the queen of Ethiopia who had church of her treasury and had come to Jerusalem to worship was returning and sitting in his chariot. He was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the spirit said to Philip go near and overtake this chariot. So Philip ran to him and had him reading the prophet Isaiah and said do you understand what you are reading? And he said how can I unless someone guides me and he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the scripture which he read was this. He was laid as a ship to the slaughter and as a lamp before its shearer is silent so he opened not his mouth in his humiliation his justice was taken away and who will declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth. So the eunuch answered Philip and said I ask you of whom does the prophet say this of himself or of some other man then Philip opened his mouth and began beginning at this scripture preached Jesus to him now as they went down the road they came to some water and the eunuch said see here is water what hindas me from being baptized then Philip said if you believe with all your heart you may and he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God shall we pray loving father in the name of Jesus we thank you for this privilege to be in your house of prayer house of prayer for all nations those of us who are here physically and the many of your children who are also in worship together with us virtually we thank you for the portion of the scripture that is before us for consideration we pray that as we delve into this passage that the Holy Spirit who guided its writing who ensured that his record is put down for the many of us who will come to live later that he will bring us to its understanding speak to us dear Lord in Jesus' name we pray amen the title of our salmon from Jerusalem to Gaza from Jerusalem to Gaza I was sharing with my elder sitting next to me he said that is an interesting topic especially going by the circumstances of the moment because of what is happening in the Middle East yes it is a very interesting topic and I welcome us to consider it together before we come into that word allow me to share with your story from Steve Jay calls dissertation on how to evangelize the world he offers that he tells a story of one man by the name William Curry a poor English shoemaker born in 1761 after his conversion at age 18 he began preaching in some small Baptist chapel supporting himself by his trade while William Curry read Captain Cook's voyage sparkled his interest into foreign missions and he continued to study the Bible and as he continued to study the Bible he became convinced that the central responsibility of the church should be foreign missions that this probably does not sound very radical to you today but in Curry's days it was revolutionary the prevailing hyper Calvinist view of his time was that the Great Commission had been given only to the apostles it had been fulfilled in previous years the heathen had rejected the gospel and so they will have to wait their fate on judgment day but Curry who was a Calvinist dare to ask whether Jesus command to make disciples of all nations was not obligatory on all Christians and all minister accused him of being miserably enthusiastic when he shared this idea at ministers gathering one pastor retorted young man sit down when God pleases to convert the heathen he will do it without your aid and mind when Curry actually proposed going himself to India as a missionary his father exclaimed is William mad but William Curry went to India where he labored for 40 years he supervised and edited translation of the Bible into at least 36 languages he published grammar and dictionaries labored to abolish window burning and anti sites and studied botany to promote agricultural improvement in a someone that he preached before he left England, Curry uttered his new found words expect great things from God attempt great things for God he is often called the father of modern mission at the passage that we consider today is bordering on mission I have given it the title from Jerusalem to Gaza because on that road from Jerusalem to Gaza God was on mission rescue for one man the Ethiopian I think now you are beginning to put the dots together God on mission on the road between Jerusalem and Gaza and probably you will have liked this someone to be entitled God, Philip, Shippen God and the Ethiopian Eunuch but suffice it that we call it today from Jerusalem to Gaza the Bible opens this portion of the scripture that is for our consideration today by saying now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying arise and go towards south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza this is desert there are many ways that God communicates to us he does it personally through himself in the person of the father and sometimes through the person of God the son and through the person of the God head the Holy Spirit and he sometimes uses angels who are celestial beings which right to the book of Hebrews will say they are ministering spirits for those who are to inherit eternal life and sometimes he uses human beings and sense them he uses the word that is printed the printed pages and he does communicate and reach out to us through dreams and visions and even through the book of nature but in our case of our consideration this morning the Bible says that it was through an angel there are several portions in the scripture where God used angels to reach out to humanity to communicate to humanity the Bible says one day in the book of Genesis chapter 18 while Abraham was seated outside his tent he saw three men passing and he reached out to them and asked them my Lord if you don't mind allow me to have you come into my tent that I may bring water and that you may wash your feet and I lay a table before you then the story changes into that these men were not just men you begin to hear and the Lord spoke to Abraham they were three men and one of them was the Lord as you continue down in the story and get to chapter 19 one of the three men remains talking with Abraham and the two proceed on to come to Sodom and Gomera and when they reach Sodom and Gomera they cease to be men and they become angels so they were angels we find accounts like these ones in the Bible about angels visiting with men in the book of Judges chapter 6 verse 12 we find an angel visiting one man by the name Gideon and asking him to be instrumental in the salvation of the children of Israel from the oppression of the Midianites in the book of Matthew chapter 1 and verse 20 an angel came to Joseph when he was about to dump Mary on understanding that Mary was expectant when he was planning to marry her but an angel came to him and told him that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit Matthew chapter 1 and verse 20 you can go on and on and on you will see how angels operate in human lives one day Peter and some of the disciples are arrested and they are put behind bars in the book of Acts chapter 5 and verse 19 an angel of the Lord came into that prison and freed them the leaders of the church the priests the scribes the Pharisees who had put them in prison on coming to look for them in the prison they couldn't find him couldn't find them because they had been freed by angels now the Bible in this portion tells us that an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying arise and go in short angels are celestial beings that communicate a use of God to bring information to humanity it was therefore heaven itself reaching out to Philip and asking Philip to go on a mission assignment and this is what the angel said arise and go towards the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza this is desert really my reason for choosing this topic from Jerusalem to Gaza was because I am aware that whereas you and me who love to read the Bible and who esteem the Bible very highly do it so and believe in the Bible is not everybody in the world who believes in the Bible and who takes the Bible as being an authentic book sometimes those who do not believe in the Bible consider it to be fictitious they consume consider it to be symbol of febos stories that are told but allow me to observe that the Bible going by what we find in this vast vast vast vast vast of our portion of consideration that the angels spoke to Philip saying to him go towards south along the road which goes from Jerusalem to Gaza allow me to observe that the Bible is a book that talks about real places and the real people if there was any doubt about the authenticity of the Bible and whether the Bible is not just fiction please rest assured that the Bible is a true book that talks about true people and also talks about true places as we speak right now we know that there is a place called Jerusalem and there is a place called Gaza the Bible should be taken as a true book that it is not fictitious it is not about stories to make people happy but it is a real book talking about real things that really happened and real people involved and real places involved so he tells Philip go towards south along the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza you will be happy to know that Philip was in Samaria Chapter 8 begins by saying that Philip was in Samaria following the persecution that had come to the church the believers the disciples scattered and went various places in one of those places they went was Samaria for Jesus had told the disciples just before he left that you will receive the promise of the father so the father comes upon you you will become my witnesses and please begin in Jerusalem then you proceed on to Judea then you go to Samaria and then you go to the rest of the world the gospel had done so far so well in Jerusalem and in Judea and went further now to Samaria and in Samaria success was attending Philip's mission the bible says allow me to read together with us chapter 8 and beginning from verse 14 the bible says now when the apostles who were in Jerusalem had that Samaria had received the word they said to Peter and John to go to them who when they had come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit John and Peter Peter and John ascended to Samaria following a successful mission of Philip in this particular place verse 4 in particular to give us the perspective says therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them and the multitude with one accord he did the things spoken by Philip hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed there was great joy in the city Philip was so successful that many people he did the word preached by him and there were miracles that attended his ministry in Samaria so much that even those who practiced sorcery became believers verse 9 says but there was a certain man called Simon who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria charming that he was someone great to whom they gave it the least to the greatest saying this man is great power of God and they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorcery but when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ both men and women were baptized Simon himself also believed and when he was baptized he continued with Philip and was amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were done by Philip so Philip whom God is telling arise and go is a successful evangelist his mission in Samaria is flourishing and suddenly God interrupts his successful mission in Samaria and ask him to leave and go for an assignment on the road towards it arise and go towards south and get to the road that moves from get to the road that moves from Jerusalem to Gaza the Lord will have us know that whereas Philip would have wanted to settle in Samaria because of the success that his mission assignment was receiving God will have him know that it is not settling time yet as long as there is still one soul that is still outside the fall of safety of God it is time to proceed on on mission and so he says this mission is well completed now in Samaria it is time to move a success of mission is simply an introduction to mission in another place we must keep on moving God is telling Philip that keep on moving keep on moving on mission mission must keep on going on and on and on as long as there are people who have not been saved yet we have to keep on moving on mission going on mission rescue people from the bondage bringing them to the safety that is found in Jesus Christ so Philip's mission is interrupted and he has to leave and go to meet this person to go to this assignment that he does not know anything about the fact that we were successful yesterday in mission in another place in a particular place is simply reason enough to have us move to the next mission assignment to move and so Philip moved and the Bible says in the next verse that follows so heroes and went and behold a man of Ethiopia Unak of great authority under kindness the queen of Ethiopia and who was in church of all heart treasury the description here is not for nothing God is calling upon Philip to go and as Philip arrives on this road shortly as he gets on this road that is from Jerusalem to Gaza he meets a man he notices there is a man and he realizes that this man is but an Ethiopian the description is telling us that he was a Unak this description is to give what you will consider to be impediments if Philip was honest with what the Jews what the Israelites had been perpetuating for a long time he will not want to be engaged in this assignment why? because whereas God had picked on Israel to be the people he will use to reach the world they had struggled with this request and desire of God upon them they had struggled a lot with it when Jesus himself is sending out his disciples in the book of Matthew chapter 10 probably Philip knowing that reality Jesus had said go to the lost sheep of Israel make sure that you don't go to the Samaritan read it with me the book of Matthew chapter Matthew chapter 10 and verse number 5 this 12 Jesus sent out and commanded them saying do not go into the way of the generals and do not enter the city of Samaria but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel this was the initial time Jesus sent out the disciples and it could be that it was informed by their understanding which still had struggles with reaching out to people who were non-Jews and Jesus therefore touched them on this path just start with the Israelites first all of us know that the Jews struggled a lot to reach out one day Jesus is visited with a woman of Tyre and Sidon who had her daughter suffering from demonic obsession and she requested that Jesus would come to assistance and Jesus saying something that was consistent with the understanding of the Jews at that time he says it is not proper that I should give food for the children meaning that his coming was not for the people who are non-Jews in fact he says I was sent to the lost sheep of Israel meaning that this lady did not deserve to receive attention from Jesus Christ but the woman said but even the puppies helped themselves from the cramps that fall from Master's table probably Philip with this kind of mindset in him he would have been reluctant to move in and minister to the Ethiopian Unak but Philip has since overcome this problem and he knows that the gospel dispensation the requirement to reach out to people the need to bring people to the fold of God of safety is to be taken to everybody in the world no wonder he had already gone to Samaria and he now God having seen him having been in Samaria and succeeded successfully he can confidently bring Philip to this assignment sometimes brothers and sisters as human beings we have our own limitations of putting ourselves into groups and practicing partisan sim and practicing exclusivity we are not the first ones to do this it happened with the Jews but God will want to let us know in this story that we consider today that he has no he does not entertain exclusivity as far as matters mission is concerned mission is to go to everyone and so he encourages Philip to get to minister to this Ethiopian Unak Jesus himself in the book of acts while giving his disciples marching orders and the great commission he tells them when you receive the promise of the father you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem in Judea Samaria and to the rest of the world look who is the author of the book of acts in this portion he begins to let us know that now what Jesus had said in acts chapter 1 verse 8 is coming fulfillment no wonder Philip is now moving from Samaria to the rest of the world I hear God speaking to all of us and saying that it is the gospel is to be preached to everyone and no one is to be excluded no one is to be left out no one is to be discriminated against it should reach everyone as long as there is one who hasn't believed we have to keep on moving and reaching out to those who are still outside the safety of the fold of God Philip moves and he gets an unak Ethiopia wa despicable people according to the Jews alia and you can read that from the book of deutronomy and this particular Ethiopia would even be more despicable in the book of deutronomy chapter 7 and verse 6 you will say somebody who was even a unak should not be discriminated closer to the sanctuary they should be kept out but this is the person Philip is being sent to simply God means that everybody is to be brought closer in the book of Isaiah chapter 56 Isaiah chapter 56 verse 3 Philip is working in the interest of that verse of that portion of the scripture that tells of how the gospel is to be moved to the rest of the world Isaiah 56 Isaiah 56 and beginning from verse number 1 it says keep justice and do righteousness for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness be revealed blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who lays hold on it who keeps from calling the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing an evil do not let the son of a foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord speak saying the Lord has utterly separated me from his people nor let the Unak say here I am a dry tree for that says the Lord no these statements mean everything let not the Unak say that I am a dry tree they are all invited to the the family of God thus says the Lord to the Unak who keeps my Sabbath and who chooses what pleases me and holds fast my covenant even to them I will give my house I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off Philip being status of the word of God as we will see in the next verse must have understood this and was comfortable to reach out to the Ethiopian Unak even when he realized that he was an Ethiopian and a Unak as he will describe he was comfortable to go being moved therefore as he reaches the Ethiopian Unak the Bible says the spirit in verse 19 say Philip go near and overtake this chariot so Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said do you understand what you are reading the spirit now it's not the angel anymore in verse 26 it says the spirit say to Philip move closer to this person and Philip did not just move closer the Bible says he ran to the man and as he got to the chariot he heard the man reading aloud probably he was reading in the hearing of the people who are traveling together with him and he asked the man do you understand what you are reading and the man says how can I unless someone gets me the Bible in this portion of the scripture will let us know that it is not enough we read the word of God it is necessary that we understand the word of God and so Philip asked him are you understanding probably you may not appreciate the need to understand but if we do not understand the word will not be helpful and it is in this word this word that is the agent of God for salvation the word of God his agent for salvation so it is by hearing the word and reading of the word of God that faith is developed but to develop that faith one requires to understand Jesus in the book of Matthew chapter 13 and verse 19 did say this one day when he was giving a parable about a saw a saw went to saw and some seed fell along the road and they were picked by the birds of the air others fell among thorns they sprouted and they were chocked by the thorns they were not fruitful others fell along at rock and they sprouted but they didn't have a place to take the roots so they withered it's only one type of seed that fell in good ground then in the explanation verse 9 verse 19 of chapter 13 he says the one that fell along the road and that was picked by the birds of the air represents those people who hear the word of God but don't get to understand it it is significant that we understand the word of God because the word of God is the God's agent for our salvation and when it is not understood then we lose out we don't develop faith in the book of Mati chapter 25 raining or giving embassy to the need to understand Mati chapter 25 and verse 29 you can read together with me Mati chapter 25 Jesus Mati chapter 25 and verse 29 Jesus is telling a parable and in this parable he makes an expression that learns understanding and helps us to appreciate the need to understand verse 29 says for everyone who has more will be given and he will have abundant but from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away Jesus was giving a parable of course of talents and he says the one who had one talent but did not put it to use lost it and it was given to the one who had much Jesus saying that when we have but it is not appreciated when we give the word and we don't understand we don't put more effort to understand then it is even taken away from us as he will say that the seed was taken away by the bad representing the people who hear the word and do not understand it or probably to be put in a better way the parable in the book of acts chapter 17 and verse 11 verse 11 to 12 the apostle Luke writing about the church that was was in Berea I say is this people were keen to follow the word of God they did not just hear but they took time to be able to follow with it to understand whether the things that they had were actually the real one friends it is significant that we understand the word of God I am delighted and happy to see many of you coming to the house of God to be blessed by the word of God and the word of God will let us know that it is important that this word that we hear we get to understand it because it is in the understanding that it will be helpful to us Jesus in Matu chapter in Matu in Matu Jesus in Matu chapter 15 and verse 10 will say the same thing the need to understand in the book of Luke chapter 25 and verse 44 it says do you understand it is important to understand so Philip asks the man understand because it is important that it is the word is understood the man says how can I he is a humble man he is admitting that he can understand without help and he even goes ahead to invite Philip to come into his chariot to explain to him and Philip joyfully comes into the chariot and the bible says verse 35 that opening his mouth and beginning at the scripture preached Jesus to him Philip listen to me children of God the bible says opening his mouth Philip starting from this scripture giving us an impression that Philip went through several portions of the scripture to preach Jesus to the Ethiopian Unak a similar expression will be seen also Jesus using this style of making people to understand the word of God come with me in the book of Luke chapter 24 quickly the book of Luke chapter 24 and verse number 44 Jesus had just resurrected and he was gathered in the upper room with the disciples who had been struggling to understand the word of God and Jesus touched them out to help them to understand the word of God then he said to them these are the words which I spoke unto you while I was still with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms in other words Jesus let us know that to help the disciples to understand the things about him he had to take them through the word of God as it was written in the law of moses in the prophets and in the Psalms to bring them to understanding and so Philip is not the only one who will take this route of getting a systematic study that will run from the law from the old testament pender took to the prophets to the Psalms and to the prophets Jesus also did the same we appreciate also come with me to the book of acts we see Paul taking the same route I say this because there are many of us who have an opportunity to study the word of God with people but they do not know how to go about it in the portions of the scripture that we read here how Philip did it and how Jesus did it and how Paul will do it we lend a methodology on how to go about with me the book of acts chapter number 28 the book of acts chapter number 28 and Paul is arrested he is in Rome he is arrested in a house arrest and Paul is about there are people who come to hear him they want to understand and verse 23 says so when they had appointed him a day he came to him at his loji to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God persuading them and concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets and from morning till evening Paul's style Jesus style and Philip's style they are the same that in matters helping people to understand the will of God and God's rescue mission we will need to prash through the Old Testament the Psalms, the prophets and now we have the New Testament to be able to bring them to understanding and I hear therefore as Philip is beginning to explain to Theophenia he says look the place where Theophenia was reading was in the book of acts chapter 53 verse 7 to 8 talking about the sheep and the lamb like a sheep is escorted to the slaughter and as a lamb is dumb before its share so it's about sheep and lamb and Philip gathers that it's about the sacrificial plan of God of salvation in the sacrificing of sheep and lamb so he says look when man fell in sin God has been on mission all this while mission to rescue humanity he came to Adam in the garden and he told look you have already sinned and your way out of this predicament is you will slaughter a lamb and so Adam begins slaughtering a lamb a symbol of the lamb of God that will come many years to die for the sins of humanity a symbol of the lamb that you will find talked about in the book of Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8 that says a lamb that was lain from the foundation so Philip starts him on this sign on this study of the lamb this lamb Adam will tell his children Cain and Abel and they begin also to make sacrifices Abel will accept this plan and offer lamb Cain will refuse the plan of salvation through sacrificing a lamb and he will come and he talk about Abraham who called to demonstrate this the plan of salvation he says he told Abraham look there is a lamb in the ticket don't kill your son so humanity is not to be killed there is a lamb that will die in place of humanity that lamb is Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew chapter 1 and verse 19 John the Baptist will say behold the lamb of God that take it away the sins of the world and Philip and say whoever believes in this lamb is saved whoever believes in this lamb is saved friends is not everybody who accept the plan of God of salvation humanity when humanity is seen in the Garden of Eden all of us fail and sin and we only have a way to salvation through believing in the lamb of God that take it away the sins of the world and the theopan yunak said probably Philip had told him that Jesus had told them go preach and whoever believes shall be baptized and so he asked Philip I can see water what hinders me from being baptized and Philip says if you believe in your heart if you believe with all your heart why should I not baptize you the theopan yunak believed people are taking position from Adam to the end of this world to believe in the lamb or not to believe in the lamb the theopan yunak believed in the lamb and he was baptized the opportunity is given to you I like Philip he did not push the theopan yunak he simply delivered the word he left theopan yunak to decide the theopan yunak says I believe who will say together with me that the plan of God of salvation that is made possible for you and me in the lamb of God you also believe in that plan and you accept Jesus as your lord and saviour let me see by a show of hand those who also believe like Philip believed in the lamb let me see you by a show of hand God has been on mission rescue from the day Adam and Eve fell in sin he is on that mission to rescue you and me and his plan is simple to believe in the lamb a lamb was slain plan of salvation was put in place even before man fell in sin because God in his omniscience already so man falling in sin and God put in place that plan to be saved through the lamb Jesus Christ and the theopan yunak believed together with me together with the theopan yunak I believe in the lamb of God I believe in Jesus Christ my lord and my saviour if this is your your conviction will you stand up as we pray together loving father in the name of Jesus we thank you because you do not leave us alone you started out on mission and you are intentional we thank you for the plan of salvation of being saved through the lamb like the theopan yunak believed in the lamb believed in Jesus Christ we also stand on our feet to declare that we believe in Jesus Christ as our lord and our saviour keep us in this conviction the rest of our life in Jesus name we pray