The Road Forward

00:01 Would you turn in your copies of the Scripture or stay in your copies of the Scripture in chapter 8? We swear we'll be looking this morning for a message I've entitled "The Road Forward." If you recall, Jesus said that after this you shall receive power. 00:16 After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. And so that was Acts 1:8. And by the time we get to chapter 8, we are seeing the next. 00:36 That's really being forced upon the church to spread out and to go into Samaria in chapter 8 this morning, our text, and to share the Gospel with the Samaritans. And I'm intrigued with this statement in chapter 8:4. 00:54 "Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word." They went everywhere preaching the word. Now we go everywhere. A lot of us do. We'll go to various parts of the world, and we go on cruises. We go on vacations. We go on mission trips. We go on business trips. But when we go, are we spreading the word? 01:15 Well, these folks were spreading the word everywhere. They were preaching the word. In fact, the word was their emphasis. Chapter 8:4, we looked at that. Verse 25 of chapter 8. 01:28 "So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem preaching the Gospel in many villages of the Samaritans." In chapter 8:35, "Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture preached Jesus to him." So we find an emphasis on the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 01:49 Chapter 12:24, it continues that theme through the book of Acts where it says, "And the word of God grew and multiplied." In chapter 13:49, 02:03 "And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region." And then we go to chapter 15:35. And it says, "Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch teaching and preaching the word of the Lord." And then 18:11. Chapter 18:11, 02:23 "And he continued there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them." And then chapter 19:21, "When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit which he had passed through Macedonia and the Cai to go to Jerusalem and said, 02:42 'After I've been there, I will also see Rome.'" And he did there... Oh, verse 20. "So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed." And so on the road forward for carrying out the call that Jesus had given to the church, it was involved the preaching of God's word, 03:01 the proclamation of the Lord Jesus Christ and of salvation through him and by him. So on the road to the frontier here, the Gospel frontier, we find two stops on this road today. We find a stop in Samaria. It's likely the city of Samaria, although Samaria. 03:22 Up then 03:25 with the Ethiopian eunuch on his way back home to serve in Candace's court in Ethiopia. Now what we find here is both of these stops, the Gospel is entering into new territory. This is the first time that. Out into non-Jewish territory. 03:45 Now there were probably others on the day of Pentecost that took it to various places because they were in the city on the day of Pentecost and probably took it of their own experience out into the uttermost parts of the world or at least parts of the world anyway. 04:01 But this is the first recorded that we have where they are actually moving out beyond the Jewish environment. And on these two stops, both believed and were baptized. In verse 12, "Philip preached these things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ. 04:19 Both men and women were baptized." In verse 37, "Then Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may be baptized.'" Because in 36 he says, "What hinders me from being baptized?" Both of these accounts, both of these stops along the road proclaimed the Gospel of Christ. 04:38 In verse 5, "Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them." In verse 35, "Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture preached Jesus to him." So you get an idea of the common ground they had in these two stops. By the. 04:54 Today as we preach Christ and preach the word of God and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And both resulted in great joy. In verse 8, "There was great joy in that city." And in verse 39, "They came up out of the water. The Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away so that the eunuch saw him no more, 05:14 and he went on his way rejoicing." And so we have joy in the camp. Now there's a few contrasts in these two stops. One is an example of mass evangelism, and the other is an example of personal evangelism. How many of you know that God can use both? He can use the Billy Grahams of the age. He can use the Luis Palau's. 05:35 He can use the 05:39 mass evangelism that has taken place in many places around the world. Thank God for those. But then he can also use personal evangelism, one-on-one, just talking with people about what they know about God and sharing Christ with them. 05:54 We have the difference here, contrasted between the commoners, the common Samaritans were probably the target there in the first stop. Second stop, we have a high-ranking government official. This is likely a high-ranking government official in the government of Candace of Ethiopia. 06:16 Candace, there probably not so much being a name as a title, more of a title. But nevertheless, the word eunuch can describe someone that is. And abilities for working in the queen's court would probably have been appropriate in that setting. 06:34 Or it can refer to a military person, a military official, a government official. Nevertheless, we have the contrast here between the common and the high rank. We have the miraculous manifestations in the first stop in the city of Samaria. Great manifestations, 06:54 unclean spirits crying with a loud voice coming out of many who were possessed and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed and many miracles were done. And then we have in the second stop with the Ethiopian eunuch, there's no evidence of any miracle there except the miracle of the word of God penetrating the heart of this man. 07:16 We have the public proclamation of the word. We have the private proclamation of the word. So we have those things that are common in any evangelistic endeavor. It must be there. And then we have those things that are, as far as methodology, that are contrasting and that are different. 07:34 But one of the things that we see here that is common is that in this passage of Scripture, as well as chapter 9 and chapter 10, we see that God uses people. He uses people to spread his word. In chapter 8, we have the Ethiopian eunuch studying the Scriptures. 07:55 Now why didn't he just get saved with the Scriptures? Why didn't God just save him? 08:01 Why did God go to the trouble, if you will, trouble for Philip to go down there on this road from Jerusalem to Gaza and then run along the chariot and get up in the chariot and then also to be whisked away at the end and found in Azotus? 08:23 Why did God go to that trouble? Why not just... I mean, you got the Scripture there. Why not just let that do its work through the Holy Spirit? Well, because God rarely... I wouldn't say never, but he rarely does a transaction with man without the involvement of man, 08:43 especially in the church age, especially in the church age. A dream, a vision followed up with a personal contact. Now there are examples of places and times when someone has become saved and has come to know the Lord just with the preaching or the reading of Scripture. But even so, 09:03 they will find another believer somewhere that will help disciple them, that will help cement and solidify this decision because God uses people to spread the Gospel. Now you see this in chapter 9 when Jesus appeared to the Apostle Paul or to Saul, 09:24 and Saul sees this divine revelation of Christ. And you think that'd be enough. But the transaction wasn't completed until Ananias went down there and laid hands on Brother Saul and shared with him the fullness of what had been happening in Saul's life. 09:46 And so then you have it in chapter 10. Again, you have angels showing up in chapter 10 with Cornelius. And we're going ahead here a little bit, but you have angelic revelation. And yet the angels didn't preach the Gospel to Cornelius. 10:00 Cornelius, he said, "Go call Peter." And God was doing a work with Peter in that time and place and the angelic ministration of getting those two parties together. And Peter went down and finished the job. And so what we're saying here is, and we're seeing, 10:19 is that Scripture and biblical interpretation needed a Philip to finalize it. Divine revelation to Paul, to Saul needed an Ananias to complete it. 10:34 And Cornelius and the angelic visitation needed a Peter to come along and complete it. And so it is in. Of drawing. And yet God uses people to draw the net, as it were, and to seal the deal and to make sure that that person, that new convert, 10:53 that new decision is being properly cared for and introduced, mentored, and discipled, also known as the Great Commission. Make disciples, baptize, teach, and teach, and teach to observe whatsoever I've commanded you. 11:08 And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." And so the road forward involved human intervention and human involvement. Now let's look at the road to Samaria. We see here in the Samaritan situation here, we see the changed lives. 11:28 We see the deliverance from demons, and we see physical healings. We see the paralyzed and the lame being healed. I'm sure that was just a few things that were mentioned there that were happening. 11:39 We also see here the issue of the Holy Spirit coming into play here and into fullness of awareness here. And what we have here is a little bit unusual because we have the indwelling Spirit coming in chapter 8, 12:00 verse 14 and following, but in a different way than what he came into their personal belief in verse 9 through 13. So the question has been asked, and we asked this question this morning. Vision, experience, and the filling of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, is that a two-part process or is it a one-part process? 12:23 Well, let's dig into that just a little bit. Does this account validate a one-step process or a two-step process as the normal Christian experience? Or what's actually happening here where they seem to believe in Christ, 12:42 they were baptized, and yet Peter and John come down here and lay hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit? What's happening here? Well, if you're a Catholic, you would say it's a two-part process. Catholicism would have infant baptism, baptism as a child, preferably an infant in their case. 13:04 And then later on, when that child reaches the age of 12, 13, 14, 15, I don't know what age confirmation is, but they would have the ceremony where the priest would lay hands on them, I'm sure, and bless them and confirm them as members of the Catholic Church. And so a two-part process. 13:24 They have the baptism of the child and then the laying on of hands in confirmation. Well, Pentecostal congregations, Pentecostal belief, charismatic belief has the same kind of thing. They would have conversion and water baptism, 13:43 but then sometime later, probably or possibly with the laying on of hands of someone in authority, they would have Holy Spirit baptism where then the fullness of the Holy Spirit is received. 13:57 It's a two-part interaction, a two-part contract there. The problem is this doesn't seem to match the entire New Testament teaching on obedient faith. For instance, Paul said in Acts 16:31, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 14:17 and thou shalt be saved." And he was there to lay hands on them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. But what happens when the apostles are gone? And they were gone, and they are gone. We don't believe in the apostles as they were in the New Testament. And so what do we do with that? 14:34 John 3:16, "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." There's no mention there about another experience after believing. And so when we see this here, some people make a big thing about this, that this is conversion and water baptism. 14:53 And then the apostles came down and evaluated the situation, laid hands upon the people, and they received the Holy Spirit. Is this a two-part process that is the norm for the Christian church and the Christian life? Or is it one-step process of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ followed with water baptism, 15:14 which Peter said, "Repent. Shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," as a one-step process that in this case was a variation from the norm for possibly another reason. So what could that other reason be? 15:30 What could that other reason be that God would separate a one-step process and make it a two-step process? Or is the two-step process normative for the Christian life? Well, some would say that one of the reasons God did this was because, I think G. Campbell Morgan takes this position, 15:49 that they needed or that their first baptism wasn't valid because they weren't really saved. I find that a rare, very weak argument without biblical implications here. But nevertheless, that would be one way of looking at it. 16:09 Another would be that they needed the second impartation of spiritual gifts or maybe even entire sanctification. There are those in the holiness movement that will say, "You are baptized. You're saved. You're baptized." And some other time then, they would be a little bit different than charismatics, whereas you say, "Then you need the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 16:31 After that, the water baptised. And then sometime other, you get sanctified, wholly and completely sanctified. You pray through," is the terminology that they often use. 16:42 And then God moves upon you to sanctify you and to give you entire sanctification, which is a state of perfection in your Christian life where you can no longer sin. You're just above sin. So is that what's happening here? 16:59 Or was there a need for power for service and ministry similar to what Jesus experienced on the day of his baptism? Interestingly, that that happened on the day of his baptism, that he received the Spirit in that way of power for public ministry and service. 17:19 Or is it because that Paul... not Paul, but Peter and the church was opening a new territory to the Gospel? 17:32 In other words, because it had been a Jewish thing, now they're reaching out in the next step on the road to a Gentile audience or at least a half-Jew kind of thing with the Samaritans. Of course, we know the Samaritans were not friends of the Jews. 17:51 The one who had apostasized and who had not maintained the pure Judaism. And there was something to be said for that. 18:00 But the idea being, if this Gospel is going out to the home, will the home brothers, the Jewish brothers, recognize this as a work of God just like God worked in their situation? God is now working in the Samaritan situation in such a way that it cannot be argued with, 18:20 just like will happen in chapter 10 with Cornelius and the Gentiles. When you go back home and give an account of what happened out on the frontier, you better have a good evidence that this is God at work and not some magic trick like we see later on in the chapter. And so I think that's probably what's going on here. 18:40 We have the Gospel being introduced into a different dynamic. This is another step in this worldwide proclamation. And it required Peter to come and use the keys that he had been given to open the Gospel to the Samaritans. 19:02 So a lot of that could be said about that. I think we'll move on from that this morning because we do have then an obstacle that rises up in this proclamation, a man who was a slick dude. I mean, he was a powerful influence in their culture there. 19:23 And he was claiming that he was someone great. Now, if anybody claims to be someone great, you better put a question mark beside their name and underline and highlight and watch out. 19:40 Because this guy claimed to be someone great and whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is the great power of God." And now what we do notice is that the power that he was operating on as a magician, as a false teacher, a false prophet, 19:58 a false manifestation from the evil one was far and away outshone by the power of God. And so much that he realizes that what he has and the people realize that what he has is not even close to the power of the Gospel, the power in the name of Jesus. 20:20 It's like as we hear today stories in the African frontier from years past about the witch doctors and the witch doctor coming to Christ because the power of the Gospel, 20:32 the power of the name of Jesus has power that the witch doctor does not have with his demonic incantations or his magic sleight of hand and trickery or whatever goes on with witch doctors. So we have Simon here. He. He believed, was baptized, 20:51 and he continued with Philip and was amazed among seeing the miracles and signs that were done. Well, this lasted a little while, but it appears that he cared more about the power than the person of Christ. And that's. 21:08 The power that could be his instead of the power of Christ, the person of Christ. And this evidences itself when Peter and John come down and they are doing their ministry and the Holy Spirit is coming upon people. And Simon steps up. 21:28 He said, "Boy," he said, "I'd really like to have this power. How about I pay you and I give you some money so that you will give me this power?" And so what we have is what is now called in modern days Simony. It's interesting that Simony named just exactly for Simon right here. 21:49 Simony is the purchase of spiritual power or ecclesiastical or church positions with money. And Peter just nukes this right up front. He says, "Your money perished with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. 22:09 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right with God. Repent, for you are in a bond of iniquity and the gall of bitterness, poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." And Peter just lays him out because he knew the motives of this man's heart was not pure. 22:31 So what about that? Does that happen today where people think that their money can buy them special favors? Well, it may happen, but it should not happen in the church of Jesus Christ. He was guilty of trying to purchase spiritual power and spiritual position, 22:51 positions of influence and positions of leadership because of his money that he had, very similar to what could be seen in the prosperity Gospel. "I will serve God for what it does for me. I will serve God, 23:10 and I'll give to God so that I can get from Him, so that I can get a place of position of power, and so I can get authority. And that's why I'll serve God. 23:21 And if that goes away, well, I'm not sure I want to serve God." That's the idea here that must be guarded against, that we serve Christ for Christ and for Christ's sake. You might remember the illustration I've used in the time past. I don't know of anyone better that a man was in... 23:42 I think it was in Thailand or maybe Burma. It was Burma. And he was a boatman ferrying people back and forth across the river to get. And he became a believer in Christ. And one day, the missionary asked this Burmese boatman if he would serve Christ. 24:03 He said, "I can only pay you a little bit, but would you serve Christ for 16 shillings?" And the guy kept after him and said, "Would you serve Christ for 16 shillings?" He said, "No, I won't serve Christ for 16 shillings. But I will serve Christ for Christ." See the difference? The difference. "I will serve Him not for what I get out of it, 24:25 but I will serve Him for who He is, for who He is. I will serve Thee," the songwriter says, "because I love Thee. You have given life to me. I was nothing when Jesus found me. You have given life to me." Heartaches, broken pieces, 24:44 ruined lives are why you died on Calvary. And that's why we would serve Christ, not for what we can monetarily receive or monetarily invest, but so that we can lay up treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not corrupt and thieves cannot break through nor steal. So what do we do with his... 25:06 Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me that none of these things which you have spoken may come upon me." Wow. Bible commentators don't quite know what to do with that verse, and I don't know what to do with it quite. 25:20 Was he saying, "Will you pray for me so that I can get out of this?" A genuine prayer of repentance that he is seeking from agreement from Peter. 25:35 I suspect that this is not a genuine prayer of repentance. And the reason for that suspicion is because it was more concerned about getting out from the consequences than it was of repenting for the sin. The consequences here was, 25:55 "Pray to the Lord for me that none of these things which you have spoken may come upon me. I don't like what you're saying, so pray that I'll be able to escape this judgment that you're laying on me rather than saying, 'I have sinned. 26:11 I am ashamed that I have fought that the Lord Jesus Christ can be bought and purchased and that He would fall on His face and repent for His sin.' So it troubles me. It troubles me." And that's the work of a pastor sometimes. 26:33 People will come, and you have to ask the question, "Are they sorry they got caught? Or do they genuinely repent?" And sometimes we don't always know. Sometimes we don't always know. So you look, you watch. I remember dealing with a brother, 26:52 a fallen brother many years ago that I just kept being concerned about his genuineness because he wanted to get his wife back. "If I could just get my wife back. If I could just get my wife back. If I could just get my wife back." My prayer for him and my burden with him is, 27:13 "Brother, you need to walk this road of repentance and restoration whether or not you ever get your wife back because it's the right thing to do because you need to restore a relationship with Jesus Christ." And then we pray for your marriage. We pray for your wife that she'll come back. 27:32 But he never caught that. He never caught that. So we now come to the stop on the road to Ethiopia, the road to Ethiopia where Philip is now joining himself to this Ethiopian eunuch who is reading Isaiah 53. 27:54 What a beautiful, beautiful passage of Scripture in Isaiah 53. And he has questions. This high-ranking government or military authority, he was likely dark-skinned from Ethiopia. 28:09 He was likely a Jewish proselyte who had either had some Jewish blood and heritage or was 28:21 a proselyte where he was being converted into Judaism. For some reason, he had a copy of the Word of God, of the book of Isaiah, of the scroll of Isaiah. And if he were not a proselyte or somehow Jewish-connected, it would probably be very difficult for him to get such a treasure, such a possession. 28:42 And so Philip comes along and preached Jesus to him. "Am I about this prophet? Is he speaking of himself or is he speaking of someone else?" And what a wonderful question to be able to lead into a conversation. I mean, the Holy Spirit had this set up. I mean, it was just like coming and picking fruit off a tree. 29:03 "Philip, I'm going to send you down there and pick fruit off the tree for the kingdom of God." I mean, you didn't have to hardly labor for this other than testify of the goodness of Jesus Christ and of the Word of God pointing to Christ in the Old Testament. He preached Christ to him. Oh, if it were only that easy. 29:21 Missiologists tell us that those who study missions tell us that the average exposure of a person who comes from initially hearing about Christ to average about seven contacts, seven meaningful interactions with the Gospel before. Say that in his evangelistic training. 29:42 So here it was. God just opened the door, and here he was ready. He was ripe for the picking. And God had a mission for this man to go down to Ethiopia and spread the Gospel to his people. The knowledge of the Bible gave a head start. That head start had to be culminated with the decision to follow Christ. 30:03 And we have to remember this, parents, as we labor with our children to teach and to proclaim and to instruct and to homeschool or Christian school or however we're going to school them and however we're going to teach them and however we're going to instruct them, we have to remember that that has to be followed up with a decision. 30:25 There must be a decision by that child somewhere along the line, lest we be guilty of just raising moral sinners. You know, there's a difference between a moral sinner and a converted child of God. His enthusiastic response is stunning. 30:47 He was familiar with baptism because in order to get into the Jewish religion, you would need to be baptized. This was not a foreign concept to them. And so as he's riding along, and they must have been riding along, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water out in this desert." I don't know where that came from, but here's a body of water. 31:06 "What hinders me from being baptized?" And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." So they had a baptism service right there in the desert. This is, again, an unusual experience because their lives crossed for a short period of time. 31:28 And then it was back to ministry for Philip and back to Ethiopia for the eunuch. And it's opportunity. So they took him down to the water. 31:39 And likely, this is according to some of the early Christian art that is depicted of this scene in the catacombs and in early Christian 31:54 artistic work reproduction, they show Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in way steep water and Philip pouring water on him. Now, you can do with that whatever you want to. It just does lend credibility to the fact that pouring was also recognized by the early church as was dunking. 32:16 Now, what about this thing of baptizing upon confession of faith? I mean, one minute, you're an unbeliever. You're on the way. You make a decision. The next minute or hour or two hours or wherever you're at on your journey, you're baptized. 32:35 There are those today that would think that we are in error by not doing something similar. And I would not say that we do it the right way or even the best way or even the right way. We do it a way. 32:49 And that is to give enough instruction that the individual knows what they're committing to. There are times when I think it may be appropriate for immediate baptisms. 33:06 But this was an unusual circumstance where they were crossing paths for a brief period of time. It was not long into the early church, if you study history as I understand it, it was not long in the early church because of mass defections from the faith in the persecution that followed in the Roman Empire. 33:26 There was mass defection from the faith, people falling away from Christ, that they began to put more emphasis on discipleship and on teaching before baptism so that we could minimize some of the damages, they, not we, so that they could minimize some of the damages by having baptism without a good foundation. 33:48 So however we choose to do it, there is, I think, sometimes we should do it sooner. We have also had experiences where we've done it, and then the person still. When we're baptized. I mean, if you understand all the implication of baptism at 13 like you would at 50, 34:10 you are an unusual person. And so we're always growing. But I think we need to have enough information that it is a. 34:19 Parents or from peers in the church, but it is based on a real understanding that I want to follow Jesus. This is a lifetime pursuit that I understand that this is drawing a line of separation between the old life and the new life. Now, what about the subject of rebaptism? 34:40 Is it ever appropriate to rebaptize? I don't know that we see a precedent for it in the New Testament, but we do see emphasis on believers' baptism. And so one of the questions if someone would approach us and say, 34:58 "Should I be rebaptized because I was not a Christian? I was not born again. I was not serving Christ. I was going through motions, and I didn't get saved. I got wet." You know? Is good reason to consider rebaptism because we do believe in believers' baptism. 35:19 Amen? A fully cognizant, rational, well-thought-through decision to follow Christ in life. I don't believe we should be rebaptized because we didn't like the mode or because it's cool. 35:38 So we're taking a trip to Israel again in March of 2027, and we come to the Jordan River. There's a place for people to be baptized. "Boy, it's cool to be baptized in the Jordan River like Jesus. I think I'll get baptized again." Well, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't encourage that. 35:56 I wouldn't be a part of that because we don't get baptized based on a mode or how cool it is. We get baptized as a believer, and that baptism is real. 36:13 I would also have difficulty joining a church where I had to be rebaptized because they didn't like the fact that I was poured on. For me to join a church and be rebaptized would be like, and this is my heart, this is my conviction for me personally. I'm not telling others what they should or should not do if that were to present itself. 36:32 But for me, 36:32 that would be like looking and being sacrilegious toward my baptism of my youth, which I know was real. And then to come along and say, "I should be rebaptized because I didn't do it the right way," or maybe because I didn't have the right thing said over me. 36:54 Because there are those who make a big deal about whether you're baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins or if you're baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you weren't baptized right. You have to be baptized in the name of Jesus. Well, to me, it's all the same. 37:14 So yeah, there are times when rebaptism is appropriate, but not because we just don't like the mode or because it's a cool thing to do or because everybody else is doing it, but to really say, "This is what God wants me to do because I was not saved or my baptism, I may not even remember it. 37:34 I may not have had it may have had no value to me whatsoever at that time," then we would certainly work with someone like that. Is that fair enough? I think that's a biblical response to the question. I want to close this morning by asking this question: Who led you to Christ? 37:55 Who led you to Christ? In this case, it was the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip. In the first case, it was Philip and Peter and John and whoever else. I. Took. But how many people influenced that person for Christ? 38:17 So when I was thinking about this yesterday as I was wrapping up my study, I asked myself the question: Who really led me to Christ? Who really led me to Christ? Was it my parents? They weren't the ones I prayed with to receive Christ, but they certainly had a great impact. 38:38 A dad who helped me work through my assurance of salvation, a mom who prayed, a dad who tried the best he knew how to raise his family for the Lord. They certainly were part of bringing me to Christ, leading me to Christ. A grandma who sang the Gospel. You'd be at her house. 38:56 She'd be taking care of us young children sometimes. She'd be singing. She whistled the Gospel, too. She'd whistle the Gospel, sing the Gospel, pray the Gospel. 39:05 She would teach the Gospel to children, and she was always ready to give a word for Jesus, told stories to the grandchildren of people who had been who had gone before us, who trusted in Christ as Savior and Lord. Tremendous grandma. Was it Mrs. Falk, Mrs. 39:25 Falk who came to school weekly for release time Bible class in that little two-room public schoolhouse? Was it Shirley Bosehart who ran the Bible memory program at our church? Did she lead me to Christ? Well, she certainly had part of it. She certainly had part of it. That Bible memory program was a tremendous program. 39:44 Was it Weldon Burkholder who led the who directed the Bible memory camp every year so we could go to camp because of the verses that we had memorized? Was it Bill Glass, the evangelist, the unknown person at the tent when I went forward to give my life to the Lord? Was it Bob Nice who discipled me for a series of weeks after that? 40:05 Was it our pastors, local pastors who week after week preached the Gospel? They didn't necessarily set the hook, but they led me to Christ. Pray Bill, Delvin King, Greg Hersberger. Was it the evangelist who came to our church? Harold Fly, Alvin Fry, Willard Mayer, William Millard, Martin Weber, Richard Ross, Mel Shetler, all those men. 40:25 I remember them coming to our church when I was a boy. Was it my uncle Elden who told stories, one of the greatest soul winners that I have ever met? Elden was an Assemblies of God minister, and he won souls like you cannot imagine. That was his gift. He had the gift of an evangelist. Was it Mark Miller, our youth Sunday school teacher? 40:45 Who was it that led me to Christ? I think it was all of them, all of them. Some plant, some water. God gives the increase. I close with this illustration. There's a man by the name of Cody Huff. 41:03 He became a member of a church in Las Vegas after he was sleeping in an open. Making loads of money as a famous bass pro fisherman who had been featured on ESPN for his fisherman abilities. Yet he couldn't overcome his problem with drugs. 41:20 He became a crack addict that led to smoking up to 600,000 worth of his savings, his house, his Harley, his new boat. He smoked away everything he had and ended up homeless. A man who had eaten at fine restaurants and interacted with celebrities had bottomed out and was now homeless himself until that day. 41:41 The church had been going there for homeless ministries, taking food and praying with people and loving people. And there was a young lady or a person that invited him to come to the church. "Why don't you come to church?" And his response was, "That's the last place you'd want me to be. I haven't had a shower in three months." So I mean, 42:03 he was desperate in his condition. But for some reason, God moved him. And the next Sunday, he went to church. He walked into the church, and this lady was named Michelle, who knew him from the homeless ministry. She said, "Good morning." She's the greeter. 42:22 "Good morning, Cody. How are you?" Then she looked at me. This is Cody's testimony. She said, "Cody, you need a hug." And he said, "Honey, you don't want to touch someone like me because I haven't had a shower in three months." If Michelle heard me, he said, she didn't seem to care. She walked up, she looked in my eyes, 42:41 gave me a big hug, and told me that Jesus loved me. And in that split second, I was somebody. She even remembered my name. That was the point where I knew that God was alive in the world. Cody, as a result of that greeter in church, gave his life to Christ, started attending Bible study in the park for other homeless people. 43:02 After three years, his testimony was he's now married. He has a wife serving faithfully in their homeless ministry every weekend. He has his own business. God changed his life. Who led him to Christ? All the contacts that he had. Now, my next question is: Who are we leading to Christ? 43:23 Who are we leading to Christ? When you stand there at the door, brothers and sisters, and greet people, you might just be leading somebody to Christ and they don't know it. When you go to the barber, you might just be leading somebody to Christ. 43:39 Yesterday, I was sitting in the chair, in the chair, and this lady was cutting my hair. 43:47 And all of a sudden, she was kind of a looked kind of sad. Times. 43:57 "Don't talk to me when I'm in a barber chair. I really don't want to strike up a conversation. Just get the job done." She did that. But then as I was sitting there, the Lord just laid on my heart. And I'm not good at doing this, folks. I don't do this. To say to her at the end. 44:12 So when she took my money, I gave her a good tip so she wouldn't just cast off what I had to say as just being some cheap preacher. She did give me the senior discount. I told her I wasn't that old yet, but she said, "Don't tell anybody." I said, "I don't know what you're going through, 44:32 but I'm supposed to tell you today that God loves you." She looked like she was stunned. "Never said anything." I said, "And have a good day," and walked out the door, and she went back along her business. Was I leading her to Christ? I wasn't setting the hook, but I was influencing, 44:54 saying a word that God had laid on my heart. I don't do that often enough. It's so simple and yet so hard to do. Amen? Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your goodness. Us that we might tell others, those who came to the Ethiopian eunuch, those who came to the Samaritans. 45:15 Lord, thank You. Thank You. Thank You for that sharing of the Gospel, that preaching. And in powerful terms. May You be glorified and give us many opportunities to do the same. In Christ's name. Amen.