FINDING WATER IN THE DESERT

Text: Acts 8:26-40

Introduction: The story of the eunuch’s conversion in Acts 8 is not just a story for Paul’s generation. This passage teaches us many important truths for our ministries today.

Why Is This Passage Important?

1.    Acts 8 is important because it shows that persecution (led by Saul), which was intended to destroy the church, had just the opposite effect: The church expanded. John Stott writes in the Message of Acts about “what happened in 1949 in China when the National Government was defeated by the Communists. Six hundred and thirty-seven China Inland Mission missionaries were obliged to leave. It seemed a total disaster. Yet within four years 286 of them had been redeployed in Southeast Asia and Japan, while the national Christians in China, even under severe persecution, began to multiply and now total thirty or forty times the number they were when the missionaries left” (p.146).

2.    Acts 8 shows how God can use church leaders. Two of the seven deacons appointed to serve the church began their ministry by delivering meals to the widows of the church. A very important task! But God had additional work for them to do.

• Stephen became the first martyr in church history (Acts 7).
• Philip became the first evangelist in church history (8:5-40).

3.    This chapter not only records a city-wide crusade in Samaria but also the personal witness of Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch. The day of city-wide crusades may be diminishing, but personal witnessing by church members is the key to church growth in the 21st century! And deacons led the way.

4.    The need to overcome racial prejudice is found in these stories:

• Samaritans were half Gentile and half Jewish. John 4 says they had no dealings with one another. But Philip followed in Jesus’ steps and shared the gospel with them.
• Philip also led an African to Christ. His story provides an excellent example for the church today.

The Story: Acts 8:26-40

In the middle of a successful crusade in Samaria, Philip was called to go south into desert country. He left the city for the country, the crowds for one person, Samaritans for an African. But this was no “wild goose chase.” It never is with God. The call came from an angel and guidance came from the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:26,29).

The man Philip was to meet was an Ethiopia who worked under Candace, the queen mother. He was secretary of the treasury, and he was spiritually thirsty. In fact, he traveled 800 miles to Jerusalem to get some answers for his seeking heart. He left Jerusalem with a copy of the scroll of Isaiah. Miraculously, these two connected on the Gaza road—the eunuch in his royal chariot and Philip, perhaps, on a camel.

As Philip approached the chariot, he heard the Ethiopian reading Isaiah. Philip asked a great question, which is the key to the story: “Do you understand what you are reading?” (8:30). And the man’s response was, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (v.31). Seekers need a guide. The Greek word for guide, hodegos, is interesting. When Peter appealed to the believers in Jerusalem to replace Judas, he identified Judas as the one who was guide to those who arrested Jesus. He guided with a kiss and a torch that illuminated the face of Jesus. But Philip was a different kind of hodegos for the eunuch as he used Isaiah to light up the face of Jesus and said, “Believe!”

Philip evangelized the Ethiopian from Isaiah 53. And the rest of the story is one of belief, baptism, and rejoicing. The eunuch returned to his homeland with his spiritual thirst quenched as he drank of the water of life (John 7:37-38).

Insights:

1.    The Providence of God: We sense the providential hand of God as we read the story of Joseph and find the key verse (Gen. 50:20), “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good . . . to save many people alive.” In the book of Esther, we again see God at work providentially prompting a king to read the “congressional records” to cure his insomnia (6:1). Israel’s preservation was assured on that night.

This story in Acts also can be added as evidence of God’s providence. The directions given to Philip were quite general: Go south on the Gaza road. Anyone who has travelled in the desert south of Israel realizes how desolate this area is. And back then there were no mileage markers to help Philip or handy service stations with maps. And yet, providentially, the two men connected. They not only connected, but the seeker was reading Isaiah 53. Of all the 66 chapters in Isaiah, this is the one most would select to prepare the heart of the seeker. God arranged it all. When we are on a God-ordained mission, God’s providential hand is at work.

2. Sitting in the Chariot Today: As I reread the story in Acts 8 and pictured the two sitting side by side in the chariot, I again realized that this is still effective today.
Recently I read and was blessed by the book Walking with Arthur by James O’Donnell. It is a modern-day “chariot story.” The back cover copy reads, “1984 was a big year for James O’Donnell. It was the year his delinquent father died. It was the year his salary was cut after achieving some heroic successes for his firm. It was the year his 9-year-old son talked about killing himself. And it was the year he decided to divorce his wife.
“It was in 1984 that O’Donnell discovered he believed in nothing. He held nothing sacred. He trusted no one. And no one he knew was worth trusting. That was, until he met Arthur.”

In the book, after telling about his turbulent childhood and other events that led up to 1984, James told about how he met Arthur: “I found myself running into Arthur during the few minutes it took me to get to the Pelham train station.” James then relayed how their acquaintance blossomed into friendship as Arthur, in his gentle, kind manner, asked questions and shared about his own life. “When we talked, he looked at me deeply, and he listened. . . . I was taken aback, because I’d never met a man before who shared important, personal details of his life to help a younger friend” (pp. 42-44). Then Arthur told him about his own struggles and how he met Jesus.

The chapters that follow tell the story of James’ conversion. It wasn’t in a chariot, but in a train. It wasn’t in the desert, but in New York City.

No matter where we are today, I am convinced that the most effective way to reach people for Jesus is to sit in the “chariot” with them and share your story and how you met Jesus!