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I want to preach the last of our series of messages from strong faith to stained glass.

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The fulfillment of Jesus' promise in Acts chapter 1 and verse 8 is beginning to have a ripple effect

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in a series of concentric circles moving outward from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

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and the uttermost parts of the earth. The context is foundational to understanding the

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story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. For people in that time as well as in this time thought

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of Ethiopia as the uttermost parts of the earth. And they also thought of people like the Ethiopian

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eunuch as unacceptable from the standpoint of nationality, race, and his denial of entry into

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the temple for worship because he was forbidden according to the Jewish law and Deuteronomy

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concerning male castration. Philip in our text is not the apostle Philip but one of the seven

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deacons chosen in Acts chapter 6 who might well wonder why should he be taken away from

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successful work in a populous city like Samaria and dispatched to the lonely deserted road from

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Jerusalem to Gaza. But the Spirit said arise and go and he arose and went because we walk by

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faith and not by sight and the command to arise and go can be translated from the Greek be going

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which is the durative present imperative verb meaning the action will take some time so keep

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going till I tell you the style. The Holy Ghost sent Philip the deacon the deacon turned evangelist

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to a full-blooded Gentile, a eunuch, a courtier who led who had been down to being led to Israel's

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God and was studying Israel's major prophet Isaiah as he rode in his own chariot. The

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unnamed Ethiopian eunuch is the first Gentile converted to the Christian faith and it is the

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evangelist Philip, Philip the deacon who is distinguished as the man who brought the gospel

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to Africa. The Ethiopia of New Testament times was different from modern-day Ethiopia. It was the

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city of Nubia, the Old Testament city Kush, the kingdom south of Egypt in which dark skinned

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people lived. The Ethiopian eunuch brothers and sisters was a black man. Since Ethiopians in that

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time were considered to be the king was considered to be beneath himself to handle daily administrations

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the Ethiopians considered it unlawful or illegal or even beneath his character for the king to

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involve himself in daily operations. So the queen became the de facto ruler of Ethiopia. Candice

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was not the queen's name. Candice was a title like Pharaoh or Sultan or Tsar or President. This

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woman was the de facto ruler of black Ethiopia and this Ethiopian eunuch was her treasure. He was

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over all of the money in Ethiopia. When Luke adds that the eunuch had come to Jerusalem to worship,

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he informs us that he was a Gentile proselyte at the gate who because of his mutilation,

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because of his being castrated was was barred from entering the inner temple courts. The sincerity

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and the devotion of this proselyte are evident when we note that he undertook a journey of over

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200 miles that was difficult at best and was not without danger in order to visit Jerusalem and

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the temple that he was not even allowed to go in. Let me run that by you one more time. He feared

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God. He was reading the Word of God on the way to worship God in a temple that would not let

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him in. Not only because he was castrated, but they would not let him in because of the color of

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his skin. Much has changed in our world, but still much remains the same. You saw those people in

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Tennessee the other day, those legislators who protested in the well of the legislature against

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gun violence, three of them in all, two black men and one white woman, all of them Democrats,

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all of them participated in the demonstration and all of them were up for expulsion from the

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Tennessee House of Representatives. When the vote went down, the two blacks were expelled and the

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white woman was saved. When they asked the white woman herself what did she think it was, she

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said because of the color of our skin. They have the complexion for the protection and she was

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spared. They were expelled because all three of them participated in the demonstration. Let me see

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if I can help somebody this morning. They kept us out of their churches. They kept us out of their

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schools, but God was with us. Our slave masters made a mistake when they let us go to church and

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then they compounded the mistake when they let us meet Jesus. We had to worship in a brush harbor

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outside because we were not allowed on the inside and they told us one thing, but we heard something

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else. They told us you'll be slaves for the rest of your life, but we heard before I'll be a slave,

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I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free. They told us that we would never

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do anything or never be anything, but we heard. I'm so glad. Trouble don't last always. I don't

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think I ought to tell you this morning, if anybody ought to give God praise this morning, if anybody

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ought to open their mouth in thanksgiving, if anybody ought to shout hallelujah, it's folk that

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God brought that they tried to keep out. They would not allow him in the temple. So he purchased

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the scroll of the prophecy of Isaiah, got in his chariot and was reading it aloud. The Ethiopian

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unit was reading aloud as was the custom in antiquity. It was surely the Lord's providence that had

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placed Isaiah, the evangelist of the Old Testament into the devoted proselytes hand and had led him

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to the very passage of scripture in the book of Isaiah when Philip arrives and hears him reading

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about a sheep being led to the slaughter. Philip asked him, do you understand what you're reading?

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And he asked that question not as an insult, but as an inquiry because reading does not guarantee

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understanding. You can read the scripture and never grasp it. Philip desires to know through

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the spirit from this unit. Have you arrived at some knowledge? Have you acquired some information?

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Have you grasped the significance of what this passage of scripture means? Because while I'm

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preaching, the devil is trying to distract somebody. While I'm declaring the truth, the devil is

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making you think about what you're going to eat after church. But faith comes by hearing. Have I

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got a witness? And hearing by the word of God and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how

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shall they preach except God sent him? Walk with me around the text. The first thing I want us to

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see this morning, brothers and sisters, as a hurry, is this passage of scripture is designed to teach

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us that you've got to take the gospel everywhere. The passage implies that the church, the early

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church, has taken Jesus's commission seriously in terms of a global perspective. The church took

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Jesus seriously in terms of a global perspective. There are some people who, because they are so

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parochial in their thinking, who thinks that Lily Grove ought to just be on this corner. And what we

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do ought to just involve what we do. I instituted Lily Grove Global, which is Lily Grove going

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all over the world. There are people right now watching us in South Africa. There's a lady who

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writes to this church all the time. She emails us all the time that she and her friends get together

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in London, England, and sit down and listen to me preach. There are people in Jamaica. There are

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people in Honduras. There are people in Haiti. There are people everywhere the worldwide web

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can reach. And that's all over the world. People are listening to the gospel be preached. There's

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a whole lot that's wrong with social media, but there's something good about social media in that

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the gospel would not be in all those places from this church were not for YouTube and Facebook.

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Thank God for these mediums that we are able to reach people with the gospel, but people in this

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church who are small and they thinking say we don't need all of that. We just need us. We need

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a choir. We don't know. No, we don't. Because you can have church without a choir singing. You can

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have church without us just so ensuring people where to sit. But you can't have church unless the

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gospel has been preached. And until the gospel is preached to the whole world, Jesus will not come

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back again. Now, now listen to me. The early church had to deal with many issues simultaneously.

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Missionary outreach and evangelism always was a part of the, not the main part of their church

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program. I'm with everything we do here at the church. We have to pay for this building. I said

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we have to pay for this building and we cannot do it without your tithes and offerings. If our

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projections are correct and we are on course, we are on target, we will be through paying for

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this building over $25 million in six years. We will be through paying for this building. But

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while we are paying for this building, this building is not the most important thing we

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ought to be doing. This building is not the main thing. The main thing is that we ought to be

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telling somebody about Jesus Christ. We ought to be feeding those who are hungry. We ought to be

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clothing those with a naked. We ought to be visiting those who are in prison. Because when

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Jesus comes back, he's not going to ask you, how much did you pay for your building? The question

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is, when I was hungry, did you feed me? When I was outdoors, did you take me in? When I was sick,

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did you come to see me? Well, Lord, we have to pay for this building. I didn't tell you to build,

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no building. I told you to feed the hungry. I told you to close the naked. I told you to save the

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lost. Because we can worship God as Starbucks. We could empty Walmart and put some chairs down

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and have church. No, we built this building to accommodate all these people who come Mother's

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Day, Christmas, Easter. Thank God you're here. I'm glad you're here. Praise God for your presence.

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I'm glad you're here. I ain't hating on you. Come back next Sunday. But I'm saying this is not

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what the church building is about. The building of the kingdom is about preaching the gospel so

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that people who are lost and on that way to hell will hear about a man named Jesus. I can't wait to

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get to the end of my sermon. I'm going to say it right now. He died. Didn't he die? Take the gospel

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everywhere. Our Little Grove global team is somewhere in this church answering the phone and

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answering YouTube and answering Facebook for people who have questions about being saved or

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questions about joining our church. There are people who are not even in Houston who are members

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of Leningrhoge Missionary Baptist Church because our church is no longer on this corner. Our church

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is around the world and thank God for people who have dedicated their time and their gifts and their

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energy freely to make our church have an impact around the world. Take the gospel everywhere.

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But then secondly, if you're going to take the gospel everywhere, it's got to be directed by the

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Holy Ghost. As important and as helpful as strategy and methodology and planning are in the task of

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missionary proclamation and evangelistic outreach, Christians must not miss the prompting of God's

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spirit to initiate spontaneous conversations in unforeseen circumstances that some people might

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deem inappropriate. Sometimes the Holy Ghost moves at the line at the bank. Sometimes the Holy

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Ghost moves while you're eating lunch at Lubish. Somebody will just come alongside you looking

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despondent and the spirit of God will move in your spirit to say to that person, have you heard?

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I don't know what you're going through. I don't know what you're up against. I don't know what

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life has thrown at you. But let me tell you my story. I know a man named Jesus who can fix whatever

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is wrong in your life. He can straighten out whatever is crooked in your life. He can put

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back together whatever is broken in your life. There will ever be a shame to tell your story.

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Everybody here who is saved got a story to tell. The shout this morning is that every Christian

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has a past and every sinner has a future. Can I say it one more time? Everybody here who's Christian

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has a past but everybody here who's a sinner got a future. I once was lost but now I'm fine. I was

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blind but now I see. Don't be ashamed to tell your story. Let people know the reason I'm in this

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church this morning is because you should have seen me when the Lord got his hands on me. The

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reason I shout so much you want to know why I carry on so much. You want to know why I make so

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much noise. You want to know why I give God so much praise because I spent so much time doing

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wrong. I spent so much time in the streets. I spent so much time smoking weed. I spent so much

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time doing bad stuff and God let me live through that. And you think I'm gonna let you stop me

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from girl plea. I got so much. I got so much to be grateful for and if you don't want to praise him

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go sit somewhere else. Because if you sit over here it's gonna be noisy. If you get on this

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pew it's gonna be some racket because the Lord brought me from a mighty long way and if you

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don't want to praise him get out of my way. Hallelujah. I need a witness here. I need a

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believer here who's got a story to tell. What God did for you. Spirit is in this place and

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somebody might have walked in with a bow down head but you can walk out with your

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shoulders back with your head thrown in there. Testifying. I don't know how I'm gonna pay them

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bills but that preacher said God is able. I don't know how I'm gonna take care of all these

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children but that preacher said if you trust him never die. He was sure. I don't know how

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I'm gonna make it in court when I gotta go before the judge but I trust in God because that

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pastor said he'll make a way and then there's some folks sitting around me that I don't even know

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that name but I see them raising their hands. I see him clapping for joy. It must mean that

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God did something for them. This joy that I had. The world didn't give it and the world

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can't take it away. Take the gospel everywhere. Let the Holy Ghost direct you but then the Holy

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Spirit does not just direct to groups of people. Sometimes he wants to speak just to an individual

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of the many thousands of people in this church this morning. This sermon might just be for one person

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because if you had been the only person on earth God would have sent Jesus to die just for you.

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Evangelism before larger groups of people involves preaching but evangelism of individuals is

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never preaching in the formal sense of the word but involves a conversation with questions and

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comments by the person who is willing to hear the gospel. Brethren and sisters if Christians can

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talk about the weather. If we can talk about sports. If we can talk about our children. If we can

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talk about our dog. I'm trying to get through this little sermon but my family kicked me off

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of our monthly prayer calls. Can you imagine that? They kicked the pastor off the prayer

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call because one of my cousins had a dog that had to go in the hospital and she was asking us to

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pray for a dog and I just went smooth off. And so Johnny and Wanky called me off the line and said

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get your stupid. I can't tell you what they said and they're supposed to be Christians. Get off

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of this call. You can't be talking to people like that but if you can pray for your dog you

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should be able to find the words to talk about what you claim is your first love. If you can talk

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about the Astros and you ain't getting none of that money. If you can talk about the Rockets and

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they ain't about to win no game. If you can talk about University of Houston who almost made it to

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the final four. Then look like to me a God who woke you up this morning. Who put food on your

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table. Who brought joy to your dark life. Who dried your tears. Who's been a mother and a father

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and a sister and a brother. Look like to me every time you get a chance you ought to talk about that.

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God cares for the individual and one sheep that can be reclaimed is precious enough in God's estimation

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to send the Holy Ghost to move Philip to stop what he's doing. Go to the country and get on a

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chariot of a black man who wasn't even allowed in the temple because he was castrated and black

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but he was reading the scripture. Which leads me finally to the study of the scripture and the

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proclamation of Jesus Christ because brothers and sisters the question that Philip asked that

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unique is the question I want to raise in this house this morning. Do you understand what you're

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reading? Do you understand what you're reading is the most fundamental question of biblical

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hermeneutics because now that the pandemic has struck and we have disappeared from prayer

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meeting because of the communicative spread of the virus. We are not in prayer meeting anymore.

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We are not in Bible study opportunities as we once were. It's online but we are not in Bible

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study opportunities as we were where we could ask questions and get answers and in prayer meeting

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and while I'm on that many of y'all didn't come to prayer meeting before the pandemic

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and many of you didn't come to Bible study before the pandemic. So let me give you an excuse that

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you were not there because of the communicative spread of COVID-19 but because of all of that we

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were not able to gather together as we once did but worse than that that is an emphasis now on

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church becoming entertainment and we have depreciated scriptural content. People are coming to church

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with an entertainment philosophy and a nightclub mentality as if we are supposed to entertain

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you but Leningroth church is not an entertainment venue. I'm funny from time to time but I'm not

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a comedian. I joke and carry on with the best of them but I'm not a comedian. If you want that you

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got to go see Cedric the entertainer or somebody like that. I can croon pretty good but if you

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want some singing you got to go hear Beyonce or Jay-Z or somebody like that because this is not

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what this is about. If you got an entertainment philosophy and a nightclub mentality you're

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going to be disappointed when you come here on Sunday morning because I got the same thing

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I've been saying for the last 32 years. He died. Didn't he die? You've been hearing me say that

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ever since you've been hearing me preach and if the Lord lets me live and you keep on hearing

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me preach you're going to hear the same thing because he died is the reason I live. He went to

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the cross in my place. He died a vicarious substitutionary death on the cross that we

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might have access to the tree of life and we are in here this morning not because we want to be

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entertained but we are here this morning because we want to be inspired by the story we've heard

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over and over and over and over again he died. I wish I had somebody to help me close right here.

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I wish I had something more sophisticated than that. I wish I had something more popular than

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that. I wish I had something more enlightening than that but I don't have anything more powerful

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than that. Somebody ought to help me preach here. On February 7, 1973 my grandmother who I love in

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her grave died but that didn't make me happy. December 10th, 1985 my daddy died but that didn't

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make me happy. August the 12th, 20 years ago my mama died but that didn't make me happy.

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I was standing at the bedside in Hawaii at the at the VA hospital when my oldest brother died,

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took his last breaths but that didn't make me happy. I went to visit my brother Carl and came

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back to Houston and I was sitting down on the Monday morning when Johnny called and told me that

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Carl had just died but that didn't make me happy. I was standing at the bedside when when my brother

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Lee was in the room dying. I held his hand prayed for him held his hand he looked in my eyes with

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the most tenderest expression and Lee closed his eyes and died but that didn't make me happy.

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Gwynne ran to my house and brought me the news that my brother Bobby died of a heart attack

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in Costa Rica but that didn't make me happy. All of us were together on Lewis Street down in

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Eunice in 1973 the same year my grandmother died we got the word in April that my brother Steve was

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killed shot in the back with a sawed-off shotgun on the campus of Grambling College in Grambling,

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Louisiana. I heard about his death but that didn't make me happy. I've had some good friends of mine

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who've gone to be with the Lord. I've had some church members to die I held their hand when

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they went to the valley of the shadow of death but that didn't make me happy. But one Friday

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I heard an old story about a man named Jesus who went to the cross

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and said father, enter your hands. I commend my spirit and Jesus died. My mother's death didn't

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make me happy. My grandmother's death didn't make me happy. My daddy's death didn't make me happy.

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I didn't shout when either of my brothers died but I shout every time I think about

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a man named Jesus died on the cross. You gonna help me talk about him won't you? Didn't he die?

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Thank God he died. He died until the sun refused to shine. He died until rocks split wide open.

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He died until graves started vomiting up at their dead and the dead in Christ

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started walking down the streets of Jerusalem. I tried to talk about that a little bit at

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Wheeler the other Friday. What did those dead people talk about and who were they talking to?

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I imagine one of those dead people was a man named Simeon who held Jesus in his hands

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when Jesus was dedicated in the temple. I imagine Simeon got out of the grave

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and went to Caiaphas house and told Caiaphas I told you that baby that was born would die

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to save the whole world. I imagine David got up from the grave and went down the streets of

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Jerusalem. I imagine Isaiah was one of those who got out of the grave and went and talked about a

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stone that the builders had rejected who has become the chief corner stone. I imagine one of the

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other old prophets got up out of their grave. Moses said I told you that when I saw him when I was

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up on the mountain of transfiguration talking to him with Elijah another prophet from the old

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testament. We knew that this Jesus was born to die and his death would not be like any ordinary

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death because his death saved the whole world. You ought to hear me right here brothers and sisters.

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Two other men died on the same hill Jesus died on but when they died nothing happened.

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One a thief on the right hand and a thief on the left hand. Both of them died around the same time

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Jesus died but when they died nothing happened but when Jesus died salvation was born. When Jesus

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died the church was born. When Jesus died you and I were born brand new. I need somebody who

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know you've been born again. I need somebody who knows that his death has made a difference.

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I need somebody who don't care who's looking at you. You don't care what they think about you.

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If the Lord saved your soul you ought to let the world know I've been born again.

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If the Lord forgave your sins you ought to shout like you've been born again.

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If the Lord answered your prayers dried your tears put food on your table

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put clothes on your back put money in your pocket gave you a car to drive gave you a house to live in

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gave you a job in the moment gave you peace of mind you ought to shout like you mean it

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you ought to praise him like you know it tell him thank you thank you thank you for all you've done

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for thank you for Easter Sunday morning I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. I know

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that he is living whatever men may say. I see his hand of mercy. I hear his voice of cheer

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and just the time I need him he's always near. He lives.

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He lives. Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me. He talks with me all along.

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He lives. He lives.

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Salvation to impart. You asked me how I know he lived. You asked me

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how I know he lives. He lives in my heart. If he's in your heart why don't you tell somebody.

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He lives. He lives. He's alive. He's alive. I know he's alive.

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He lives.

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He lives. Hallelujah. Christ lives. Hallelujah. Christ is alive.

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He lives. Hallelujah. Christ is alive. Hallelujah. Christ is alive.

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Christ is alive.

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He is alive.

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He's alive.

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He's alive, he's alive, he's alive, he's alive, he's alive, he's alive, because he's alive.

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I can face tomorrow because he's alive.

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All my fear is gone because he's alive.

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He's alive, I can love my enemies.

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Because he's alive, I can pray for those who despisefully use me.

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Because he's alive, I can do good to them that try to hurt me.

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Because he's alive, I'm going to heaven one of these days.

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And because Philip joined himself to that chariot and asked that eunuch, do you understand what you're reading?

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He said, how can I, except somebody guide me?

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And Philip led him to Christ.

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And the gospel went to Africa.

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And listen to this, the fastest growing explosion of Christianity is in Africa.

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Not North America, not Europe.

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The biggest explosion of the expansion of Christianity is on the continent of Africa.

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Because Philip listened to the Holy Ghost.

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Africans are not savages.

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While Europeans were crawling on the floor, Africans were building pyramids.

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And the gospel went to Africa because Philip, a deacon, did what God told him to do.

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And who knows who will come in the kingdom if you just do what God tells you to do.