I want to preach the last of our series of messages from strong faith to stained glass.
The fulfillment of Jesus' promise in Acts chapter 1 and verse 8 is beginning to have a ripple effect
in a series of concentric circles moving outward from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
and the uttermost parts of the earth. The context is foundational to understanding the
story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. For people in that time as well as in this time thought
of Ethiopia as the uttermost parts of the earth. And they also thought of people like the Ethiopian
eunuch as unacceptable from the standpoint of nationality, race, and his denial of entry into
the temple for worship because he was forbidden according to the Jewish law and Deuteronomy
concerning male castration. Philip in our text is not the apostle Philip but one of the seven
deacons chosen in Acts chapter 6 who might well wonder why should he be taken away from
successful work in a populous city like Samaria and dispatched to the lonely deserted road from
Jerusalem to Gaza. But the Spirit said arise and go and he arose and went because we walk by
faith and not by sight and the command to arise and go can be translated from the Greek be going
which is the durative present imperative verb meaning the action will take some time so keep
going till I tell you the style. The Holy Ghost sent Philip the deacon the deacon turned evangelist
to a full-blooded Gentile, a eunuch, a courtier who led who had been down to being led to Israel's
God and was studying Israel's major prophet Isaiah as he rode in his own chariot. The
unnamed Ethiopian eunuch is the first Gentile converted to the Christian faith and it is the
evangelist Philip, Philip the deacon who is distinguished as the man who brought the gospel
to Africa. The Ethiopia of New Testament times was different from modern-day Ethiopia. It was the
city of Nubia, the Old Testament city Kush, the kingdom south of Egypt in which dark skinned
people lived. The Ethiopian eunuch brothers and sisters was a black man. Since Ethiopians in that
time were considered to be the king was considered to be beneath himself to handle daily administrations
the Ethiopians considered it unlawful or illegal or even beneath his character for the king to
involve himself in daily operations. So the queen became the de facto ruler of Ethiopia. Candice
was not the queen's name. Candice was a title like Pharaoh or Sultan or Tsar or President. This
woman was the de facto ruler of black Ethiopia and this Ethiopian eunuch was her treasure. He was
over all of the money in Ethiopia. When Luke adds that the eunuch had come to Jerusalem to worship,
he informs us that he was a Gentile proselyte at the gate who because of his mutilation,
because of his being castrated was was barred from entering the inner temple courts. The sincerity
and the devotion of this proselyte are evident when we note that he undertook a journey of over
200 miles that was difficult at best and was not without danger in order to visit Jerusalem and
the temple that he was not even allowed to go in. Let me run that by you one more time. He feared
God. He was reading the Word of God on the way to worship God in a temple that would not let
him in. Not only because he was castrated, but they would not let him in because of the color of
his skin. Much has changed in our world, but still much remains the same. You saw those people in
Tennessee the other day, those legislators who protested in the well of the legislature against
gun violence, three of them in all, two black men and one white woman, all of them Democrats,
all of them participated in the demonstration and all of them were up for expulsion from the
Tennessee House of Representatives. When the vote went down, the two blacks were expelled and the
white woman was saved. When they asked the white woman herself what did she think it was, she
said because of the color of our skin. They have the complexion for the protection and she was
spared. They were expelled because all three of them participated in the demonstration. Let me see
if I can help somebody this morning. They kept us out of their churches. They kept us out of their
schools, but God was with us. Our slave masters made a mistake when they let us go to church and
then they compounded the mistake when they let us meet Jesus. We had to worship in a brush harbor
outside because we were not allowed on the inside and they told us one thing, but we heard something
else. They told us you'll be slaves for the rest of your life, but we heard before I'll be a slave,
I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free. They told us that we would never
do anything or never be anything, but we heard. I'm so glad. Trouble don't last always. I don't
think I ought to tell you this morning, if anybody ought to give God praise this morning, if anybody
ought to open their mouth in thanksgiving, if anybody ought to shout hallelujah, it's folk that
God brought that they tried to keep out. They would not allow him in the temple. So he purchased
the scroll of the prophecy of Isaiah, got in his chariot and was reading it aloud. The Ethiopian
unit was reading aloud as was the custom in antiquity. It was surely the Lord's providence that had
placed Isaiah, the evangelist of the Old Testament into the devoted proselytes hand and had led him
to the very passage of scripture in the book of Isaiah when Philip arrives and hears him reading
about a sheep being led to the slaughter. Philip asked him, do you understand what you're reading?
And he asked that question not as an insult, but as an inquiry because reading does not guarantee
understanding. You can read the scripture and never grasp it. Philip desires to know through
the spirit from this unit. Have you arrived at some knowledge? Have you acquired some information?
Have you grasped the significance of what this passage of scripture means? Because while I'm
preaching, the devil is trying to distract somebody. While I'm declaring the truth, the devil is
making you think about what you're going to eat after church. But faith comes by hearing. Have I
got a witness? And hearing by the word of God and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how
shall they preach except God sent him? Walk with me around the text. The first thing I want us to
see this morning, brothers and sisters, as a hurry, is this passage of scripture is designed to teach
us that you've got to take the gospel everywhere. The passage implies that the church, the early
church, has taken Jesus's commission seriously in terms of a global perspective. The church took
Jesus seriously in terms of a global perspective. There are some people who, because they are so
parochial in their thinking, who thinks that Lily Grove ought to just be on this corner. And what we
do ought to just involve what we do. I instituted Lily Grove Global, which is Lily Grove going
all over the world. There are people right now watching us in South Africa. There's a lady who
writes to this church all the time. She emails us all the time that she and her friends get together
in London, England, and sit down and listen to me preach. There are people in Jamaica. There are
people in Honduras. There are people in Haiti. There are people everywhere the worldwide web
can reach. And that's all over the world. People are listening to the gospel be preached. There's
a whole lot that's wrong with social media, but there's something good about social media in that
the gospel would not be in all those places from this church were not for YouTube and Facebook.
Thank God for these mediums that we are able to reach people with the gospel, but people in this
church who are small and they thinking say we don't need all of that. We just need us. We need
a choir. We don't know. No, we don't. Because you can have church without a choir singing. You can
have church without us just so ensuring people where to sit. But you can't have church unless the
gospel has been preached. And until the gospel is preached to the whole world, Jesus will not come
back again. Now, now listen to me. The early church had to deal with many issues simultaneously.
Missionary outreach and evangelism always was a part of the, not the main part of their church
program. I'm with everything we do here at the church. We have to pay for this building. I said
we have to pay for this building and we cannot do it without your tithes and offerings. If our
projections are correct and we are on course, we are on target, we will be through paying for
this building over $25 million in six years. We will be through paying for this building. But
while we are paying for this building, this building is not the most important thing we
ought to be doing. This building is not the main thing. The main thing is that we ought to be
telling somebody about Jesus Christ. We ought to be feeding those who are hungry. We ought to be
clothing those with a naked. We ought to be visiting those who are in prison. Because when
Jesus comes back, he's not going to ask you, how much did you pay for your building? The question
is, when I was hungry, did you feed me? When I was outdoors, did you take me in? When I was sick,
did you come to see me? Well, Lord, we have to pay for this building. I didn't tell you to build,
no building. I told you to feed the hungry. I told you to close the naked. I told you to save the
lost. Because we can worship God as Starbucks. We could empty Walmart and put some chairs down
and have church. No, we built this building to accommodate all these people who come Mother's
Day, Christmas, Easter. Thank God you're here. I'm glad you're here. Praise God for your presence.
I'm glad you're here. I ain't hating on you. Come back next Sunday. But I'm saying this is not
what the church building is about. The building of the kingdom is about preaching the gospel so
that people who are lost and on that way to hell will hear about a man named Jesus. I can't wait to
get to the end of my sermon. I'm going to say it right now. He died. Didn't he die? Take the gospel
everywhere. Our Little Grove global team is somewhere in this church answering the phone and
answering YouTube and answering Facebook for people who have questions about being saved or
questions about joining our church. There are people who are not even in Houston who are members
of Leningrhoge Missionary Baptist Church because our church is no longer on this corner. Our church
is around the world and thank God for people who have dedicated their time and their gifts and their
energy freely to make our church have an impact around the world. Take the gospel everywhere.
But then secondly, if you're going to take the gospel everywhere, it's got to be directed by the
Holy Ghost. As important and as helpful as strategy and methodology and planning are in the task of
missionary proclamation and evangelistic outreach, Christians must not miss the prompting of God's
spirit to initiate spontaneous conversations in unforeseen circumstances that some people might
deem inappropriate. Sometimes the Holy Ghost moves at the line at the bank. Sometimes the Holy
Ghost moves while you're eating lunch at Lubish. Somebody will just come alongside you looking
despondent and the spirit of God will move in your spirit to say to that person, have you heard?
I don't know what you're going through. I don't know what you're up against. I don't know what
life has thrown at you. But let me tell you my story. I know a man named Jesus who can fix whatever
is wrong in your life. He can straighten out whatever is crooked in your life. He can put
back together whatever is broken in your life. There will ever be a shame to tell your story.
Everybody here who is saved got a story to tell. The shout this morning is that every Christian
has a past and every sinner has a future. Can I say it one more time? Everybody here who's Christian
has a past but everybody here who's a sinner got a future. I once was lost but now I'm fine. I was
blind but now I see. Don't be ashamed to tell your story. Let people know the reason I'm in this
church this morning is because you should have seen me when the Lord got his hands on me. The
reason I shout so much you want to know why I carry on so much. You want to know why I make so
much noise. You want to know why I give God so much praise because I spent so much time doing
wrong. I spent so much time in the streets. I spent so much time smoking weed. I spent so much
time doing bad stuff and God let me live through that. And you think I'm gonna let you stop me
from girl plea. I got so much. I got so much to be grateful for and if you don't want to praise him
go sit somewhere else. Because if you sit over here it's gonna be noisy. If you get on this
pew it's gonna be some racket because the Lord brought me from a mighty long way and if you
don't want to praise him get out of my way. Hallelujah. I need a witness here. I need a
believer here who's got a story to tell. What God did for you. Spirit is in this place and
somebody might have walked in with a bow down head but you can walk out with your
shoulders back with your head thrown in there. Testifying. I don't know how I'm gonna pay them
bills but that preacher said God is able. I don't know how I'm gonna take care of all these
children but that preacher said if you trust him never die. He was sure. I don't know how
I'm gonna make it in court when I gotta go before the judge but I trust in God because that
pastor said he'll make a way and then there's some folks sitting around me that I don't even know
that name but I see them raising their hands. I see him clapping for joy. It must mean that
God did something for them. This joy that I had. The world didn't give it and the world
can't take it away. Take the gospel everywhere. Let the Holy Ghost direct you but then the Holy
Spirit does not just direct to groups of people. Sometimes he wants to speak just to an individual
of the many thousands of people in this church this morning. This sermon might just be for one person
because if you had been the only person on earth God would have sent Jesus to die just for you.
Evangelism before larger groups of people involves preaching but evangelism of individuals is
never preaching in the formal sense of the word but involves a conversation with questions and
comments by the person who is willing to hear the gospel. Brethren and sisters if Christians can
talk about the weather. If we can talk about sports. If we can talk about our children. If we can
talk about our dog. I'm trying to get through this little sermon but my family kicked me off
of our monthly prayer calls. Can you imagine that? They kicked the pastor off the prayer
call because one of my cousins had a dog that had to go in the hospital and she was asking us to
pray for a dog and I just went smooth off. And so Johnny and Wanky called me off the line and said
get your stupid. I can't tell you what they said and they're supposed to be Christians. Get off
of this call. You can't be talking to people like that but if you can pray for your dog you
should be able to find the words to talk about what you claim is your first love. If you can talk
about the Astros and you ain't getting none of that money. If you can talk about the Rockets and
they ain't about to win no game. If you can talk about University of Houston who almost made it to
the final four. Then look like to me a God who woke you up this morning. Who put food on your
table. Who brought joy to your dark life. Who dried your tears. Who's been a mother and a father
and a sister and a brother. Look like to me every time you get a chance you ought to talk about that.
God cares for the individual and one sheep that can be reclaimed is precious enough in God's estimation
to send the Holy Ghost to move Philip to stop what he's doing. Go to the country and get on a
chariot of a black man who wasn't even allowed in the temple because he was castrated and black
but he was reading the scripture. Which leads me finally to the study of the scripture and the
proclamation of Jesus Christ because brothers and sisters the question that Philip asked that
unique is the question I want to raise in this house this morning. Do you understand what you're
reading? Do you understand what you're reading is the most fundamental question of biblical
hermeneutics because now that the pandemic has struck and we have disappeared from prayer
meeting because of the communicative spread of the virus. We are not in prayer meeting anymore.
We are not in Bible study opportunities as we once were. It's online but we are not in Bible
study opportunities as we were where we could ask questions and get answers and in prayer meeting
and while I'm on that many of y'all didn't come to prayer meeting before the pandemic
and many of you didn't come to Bible study before the pandemic. So let me give you an excuse that
you were not there because of the communicative spread of COVID-19 but because of all of that we
were not able to gather together as we once did but worse than that that is an emphasis now on
church becoming entertainment and we have depreciated scriptural content. People are coming to church
with an entertainment philosophy and a nightclub mentality as if we are supposed to entertain
you but Leningroth church is not an entertainment venue. I'm funny from time to time but I'm not
a comedian. I joke and carry on with the best of them but I'm not a comedian. If you want that you
got to go see Cedric the entertainer or somebody like that. I can croon pretty good but if you
want some singing you got to go hear Beyonce or Jay-Z or somebody like that because this is not
what this is about. If you got an entertainment philosophy and a nightclub mentality you're
going to be disappointed when you come here on Sunday morning because I got the same thing
I've been saying for the last 32 years. He died. Didn't he die? You've been hearing me say that
ever since you've been hearing me preach and if the Lord lets me live and you keep on hearing
me preach you're going to hear the same thing because he died is the reason I live. He went to
the cross in my place. He died a vicarious substitutionary death on the cross that we
might have access to the tree of life and we are in here this morning not because we want to be
entertained but we are here this morning because we want to be inspired by the story we've heard
over and over and over and over again he died. I wish I had somebody to help me close right here.
I wish I had something more sophisticated than that. I wish I had something more popular than
that. I wish I had something more enlightening than that but I don't have anything more powerful
than that. Somebody ought to help me preach here. On February 7, 1973 my grandmother who I love in
her grave died but that didn't make me happy. December 10th, 1985 my daddy died but that didn't
make me happy. August the 12th, 20 years ago my mama died but that didn't make me happy.
I was standing at the bedside in Hawaii at the at the VA hospital when my oldest brother died,
took his last breaths but that didn't make me happy. I went to visit my brother Carl and came
back to Houston and I was sitting down on the Monday morning when Johnny called and told me that
Carl had just died but that didn't make me happy. I was standing at the bedside when when my brother
Lee was in the room dying. I held his hand prayed for him held his hand he looked in my eyes with
the most tenderest expression and Lee closed his eyes and died but that didn't make me happy.
Gwynne ran to my house and brought me the news that my brother Bobby died of a heart attack
in Costa Rica but that didn't make me happy. All of us were together on Lewis Street down in
Eunice in 1973 the same year my grandmother died we got the word in April that my brother Steve was
killed shot in the back with a sawed-off shotgun on the campus of Grambling College in Grambling,
Louisiana. I heard about his death but that didn't make me happy. I've had some good friends of mine
who've gone to be with the Lord. I've had some church members to die I held their hand when
they went to the valley of the shadow of death but that didn't make me happy. But one Friday
I heard an old story about a man named Jesus who went to the cross
and said father, enter your hands. I commend my spirit and Jesus died. My mother's death didn't
make me happy. My grandmother's death didn't make me happy. My daddy's death didn't make me happy.
I didn't shout when either of my brothers died but I shout every time I think about
a man named Jesus died on the cross. You gonna help me talk about him won't you? Didn't he die?
Thank God he died. He died until the sun refused to shine. He died until rocks split wide open.
He died until graves started vomiting up at their dead and the dead in Christ
started walking down the streets of Jerusalem. I tried to talk about that a little bit at
Wheeler the other Friday. What did those dead people talk about and who were they talking to?
I imagine one of those dead people was a man named Simeon who held Jesus in his hands
when Jesus was dedicated in the temple. I imagine Simeon got out of the grave
and went to Caiaphas house and told Caiaphas I told you that baby that was born would die
to save the whole world. I imagine David got up from the grave and went down the streets of
Jerusalem. I imagine Isaiah was one of those who got out of the grave and went and talked about a
stone that the builders had rejected who has become the chief corner stone. I imagine one of the
other old prophets got up out of their grave. Moses said I told you that when I saw him when I was
up on the mountain of transfiguration talking to him with Elijah another prophet from the old
testament. We knew that this Jesus was born to die and his death would not be like any ordinary
death because his death saved the whole world. You ought to hear me right here brothers and sisters.
Two other men died on the same hill Jesus died on but when they died nothing happened.
One a thief on the right hand and a thief on the left hand. Both of them died around the same time
Jesus died but when they died nothing happened but when Jesus died salvation was born. When Jesus
died the church was born. When Jesus died you and I were born brand new. I need somebody who
know you've been born again. I need somebody who knows that his death has made a difference.
I need somebody who don't care who's looking at you. You don't care what they think about you.
If the Lord saved your soul you ought to let the world know I've been born again.
If the Lord forgave your sins you ought to shout like you've been born again.
If the Lord answered your prayers dried your tears put food on your table
put clothes on your back put money in your pocket gave you a car to drive gave you a house to live in
gave you a job in the moment gave you peace of mind you ought to shout like you mean it
you ought to praise him like you know it tell him thank you thank you thank you for all you've done
for thank you for Easter Sunday morning I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. I know
that he is living whatever men may say. I see his hand of mercy. I hear his voice of cheer
and just the time I need him he's always near. He lives.
He lives. Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me. He talks with me all along.
He lives. He lives.
Salvation to impart. You asked me how I know he lived. You asked me
how I know he lives. He lives in my heart. If he's in your heart why don't you tell somebody.
He lives. He lives. He's alive. He's alive. I know he's alive.
He lives.
He lives. Hallelujah. Christ lives. Hallelujah. Christ is alive.
He lives. Hallelujah. Christ is alive. Hallelujah. Christ is alive.
Christ is alive.
He is alive.
He's alive.
He's alive, he's alive, he's alive, he's alive, he's alive, he's alive, because he's alive.
I can face tomorrow because he's alive.
All my fear is gone because he's alive.
He's alive, I can love my enemies.
Because he's alive, I can pray for those who despisefully use me.
Because he's alive, I can do good to them that try to hurt me.
Because he's alive, I'm going to heaven one of these days.
And because Philip joined himself to that chariot and asked that eunuch, do you understand what you're reading?
He said, how can I, except somebody guide me?
And Philip led him to Christ.
And the gospel went to Africa.
And listen to this, the fastest growing explosion of Christianity is in Africa.
Not North America, not Europe.
The biggest explosion of the expansion of Christianity is on the continent of Africa.
Because Philip listened to the Holy Ghost.
Africans are not savages.
While Europeans were crawling on the floor, Africans were building pyramids.
And the gospel went to Africa because Philip, a deacon, did what God told him to do.
And who knows who will come in the kingdom if you just do what God tells you to do.