WEBVTT 00:00:09.819 --> 00:00:12.699 Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church 00:00:12.699 --> 00:00:15.279 Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:19.000 podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:20.820 you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll 00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:24.379 change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring 00:00:24.379 --> 00:00:28.500 message from our preaching team. Alright, our 00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:31.359 teaching text for today comes from Acts chapter 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:36.939 8 verses 26 to 40. Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. 00:00:37.380 --> 00:00:39.600 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, get 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:42.140 up and go towards the south to the road that 00:00:42.140 --> 00:00:45.439 goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a wilderness 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:49.100 road. So we got up and went. Now there was an 00:00:49.100 --> 00:00:51.840 Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candice, 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:54.759 the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her 00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:57.740 entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to 00:00:57.740 --> 00:01:00.420 worship and was returning home seated in his 00:01:00.420 --> 00:01:04.030 chariot. He was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then 00:01:04.030 --> 00:01:06.290 the spirit said to Philip, go over to this chariot 00:01:06.290 --> 00:01:08.870 and join it. So Philip ran up to it and heard 00:01:08.870 --> 00:01:12.510 him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, do 00:01:12.510 --> 00:01:15.730 you understand what you are reading? He replied, 00:01:15.829 --> 00:01:19.890 how can I unless someone guides me? And he invited 00:01:19.890 --> 00:01:23.310 Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the 00:01:23.310 --> 00:01:24.989 passage of the scripture that he was reading 00:01:24.989 --> 00:01:27.989 was this, like a sheep he was led to the slaughter 00:01:27.989 --> 00:01:31.329 and like a lamb silent before its shearer. So 00:01:31.329 --> 00:01:34.659 he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation, 00:01:35.079 --> 00:01:38.060 justice was denied him. Who can describe this 00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:41.700 generation? For his life was taken away from 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:45.099 the earth. The eunuch asked Philip, about whom, 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:47.980 may I ask you, does the prophet say this? About 00:01:47.980 --> 00:01:51.219 himself or about someone else? Then Philip began 00:01:51.219 --> 00:01:53.980 to speak. And starting with this scripture, he 00:01:53.980 --> 00:01:56.319 proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:01:59.200 As they were going along the road, they came 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:01.859 to some water. And the eunuch said, look, here 00:02:01.859 --> 00:02:04.989 is water. What is to prevent me from being baptized? 00:02:06.150 --> 00:02:09.030 He commanded the chariot to stop and both of 00:02:09.030 --> 00:02:11.729 them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the 00:02:11.729 --> 00:02:14.930 water and Philip baptized him. When they came 00:02:14.930 --> 00:02:17.590 up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched 00:02:17.590 --> 00:02:21.189 Philip away. The eunuch saw him no more and went 00:02:21.189 --> 00:02:24.129 on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself 00:02:24.129 --> 00:02:26.930 at Azotus and as he was passing through the region, 00:02:27.250 --> 00:02:29.789 he proclaimed the good news to all the towns 00:02:29.789 --> 00:02:32.860 until he came to Caesarea. This is the word of 00:02:32.860 --> 00:02:40.759 the Lord. Have you guys ever been in a conversation 00:02:40.759 --> 00:02:43.580 with a four year old who just wants to ask questions? 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:47.449 It's intense. We saw a little bit of a... during 00:02:47.449 --> 00:02:50.129 communion. It was wonderful. It's fantastic. 00:02:50.770 --> 00:02:53.430 Sometimes it's confusing though, sometimes it's 00:02:53.430 --> 00:02:56.229 slightly exhausting. Sometimes we tend to ask 00:02:56.229 --> 00:02:59.250 a lot of questions, don't we? But we don't listen 00:02:59.250 --> 00:03:02.770 for an answer. So asking a question is kind of 00:03:02.770 --> 00:03:06.939 pointless as we saw with Forky just then. So, 00:03:07.219 --> 00:03:09.599 if I don't know you, my name's Jenny. I'm the 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:11.780 Senior Pastor of Encounter Church, Adelaide. 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:14.979 I normally worship up at Enfield site, but it 00:03:14.979 --> 00:03:17.400 is awesome to be down here with you guys at Henley 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:20.900 today. Down or up? I don't know. a cross? It's 00:03:20.900 --> 00:03:23.580 a cross, whatever. Anyway, I'm here and I'm excited 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:26.360 to be here. Hey, we are, we are doing a series 00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:28.960 called Evangelism for Everyone at the moment. 00:03:29.099 --> 00:03:32.000 And last year, last week, Tex talks about hospitality. 00:03:32.139 --> 00:03:33.159 It feels like last year because we've been at 00:03:33.159 --> 00:03:35.740 a conference already this week. And he talked 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:37.719 about hospitality and if you, that's going to 00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:39.219 be up on the podcast really soon. I encourage 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:41.120 you if you haven't, listen to that because it's 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:44.259 a great place to start. But today I'm talking 00:03:44.259 --> 00:03:48.740 about asking great Do you know that kids ask 00:03:48.740 --> 00:03:51.860 about 300 questions a day? Every mum's like, 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:54.680 yes, I know that. I absolutely do. Well, everybody 00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:58.139 else let me tell you, 300 questions a day. But 00:03:58.139 --> 00:04:00.879 adults, we actually only ask about between 25 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:05.020 and 30 questions. That's a huge drop from 300 00:04:05.020 --> 00:04:09.719 as a child down to just 25 to 30 questions. Maybe 00:04:09.719 --> 00:04:11.360 if you're Tim, you ask a couple more, but for 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:14.969 most of us. I was wondering this week about why 00:04:14.969 --> 00:04:18.149 that is. Why do we go from asking so many questions 00:04:18.149 --> 00:04:20.769 to asking very few questions? And I think there's 00:04:20.769 --> 00:04:23.509 a few reasons. But two of the things that I think 00:04:23.509 --> 00:04:26.350 it really is, is I think for many of us, as we 00:04:26.350 --> 00:04:28.029 get older, we start to think that we have all 00:04:28.029 --> 00:04:30.709 the answers, right? Particularly in that young 00:04:30.709 --> 00:04:33.750 adult kind of age. But even as we get a bit older, 00:04:33.790 --> 00:04:35.129 we feel like we've got a lot of answers. And 00:04:35.129 --> 00:04:37.949 probably we do have a lot of answers to questions. 00:04:38.430 --> 00:04:40.389 But I think the other reason that we don't ask 00:04:40.389 --> 00:04:41.850 a lot of questions is because we don't want to 00:04:41.850 --> 00:04:45.449 look silly. We don't want to look like that person 00:04:45.449 --> 00:04:47.209 that doesn't know what they're talking about. 00:04:47.410 --> 00:04:50.050 So we'd rather spend hours trying to work it 00:04:50.050 --> 00:04:52.430 out ourselves rather than just learning that 00:04:52.430 --> 00:04:56.350 it is okay to ask questions. And when it comes 00:04:56.350 --> 00:04:59.649 to faith questions, I think we're a little scared 00:04:59.649 --> 00:05:02.550 to ask them because we worry, what if they ask 00:05:02.550 --> 00:05:05.829 us a question back and we don't have the right 00:05:05.829 --> 00:05:09.949 answer? Well our goal in this series is to equip 00:05:09.949 --> 00:05:12.529 you to share the good news of Jesus and we're 00:05:12.529 --> 00:05:15.610 going to give you a framework around how to do 00:05:15.610 --> 00:05:18.350 that and today I want to encourage you that you 00:05:18.350 --> 00:05:22.649 do have it in you to ask the good questions, 00:05:23.529 --> 00:05:27.110 the great questions. And so today our teaching 00:05:27.110 --> 00:05:31.069 text in here we see some really great questions 00:05:31.069 --> 00:05:35.300 asked by Philip and the eunuch. And we see the 00:05:35.300 --> 00:05:38.579 importance of really seeing people where they're 00:05:38.579 --> 00:05:40.819 at and what they're going through. So I'm gonna 00:05:40.819 --> 00:05:42.560 give you a bit of a framework. For those who 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:45.420 are taking notes or who like, you know, very 00:05:45.420 --> 00:05:46.819 things, very structured, I'm gonna give you a 00:05:46.819 --> 00:05:49.100 bit of a framework. And it's pretty simple. I've 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:52.079 got four ways that I think will help you ask 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:54.560 really great questions in when you're telling 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:57.560 people about Jesus in your evangelism. But I'm 00:05:57.560 --> 00:05:59.500 not gonna give you all the dot points in between. 00:05:59.540 --> 00:06:01.759 And there's a reason for that today. It's very 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:04.490 deliberate. When you ask questions to people, 00:06:04.769 --> 00:06:06.589 your context is going to be really different 00:06:06.589 --> 00:06:09.189 to mine. And when you evangelize to your neighbor 00:06:09.189 --> 00:06:11.009 or your friend, your context is going to be really 00:06:11.009 --> 00:06:14.550 different to mine. So I want you to fill in the 00:06:14.550 --> 00:06:16.670 gaps later. I encourage you to write these four 00:06:16.670 --> 00:06:18.649 questions down as they come up, or those four 00:06:18.649 --> 00:06:20.689 bits down as they come up, but then fill it in 00:06:20.689 --> 00:06:23.610 for yourself later. So the first one I want us 00:06:23.610 --> 00:06:26.490 to look at this afternoon is look at where God 00:06:26.490 --> 00:06:31.089 is at work already. So if we jump into the scripture, 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:34.959 We can see that it starts off by Philip being 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:39.160 sent by an angel To meet somebody on a road. 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:43.079 He's not told who he's just told to go Right. 00:06:43.079 --> 00:06:45.459 We see that throughout scripture actually that 00:06:45.459 --> 00:06:48.100 Jesus and and the disciples They're told to go 00:06:48.100 --> 00:06:50.860 that Jesus tells them to go and we see it happen 00:06:50.860 --> 00:06:54.019 all the time And so he's sent to this random 00:06:54.019 --> 00:06:57.360 place right except it's not random They give 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:00.259 you the name the name is called the wilderness 00:07:00.259 --> 00:07:04.329 road Now, if the Bible ever gives you a name 00:07:04.329 --> 00:07:07.310 or a description, it's because they want you 00:07:07.310 --> 00:07:10.209 to understand something about that place or the 00:07:10.209 --> 00:07:14.050 meaning behind that place. And so it also lets 00:07:14.050 --> 00:07:15.769 us know that not only was he on the wilderness 00:07:15.769 --> 00:07:18.990 road, that he was a eunuch. So they told him 00:07:18.990 --> 00:07:21.269 something about that. And you can Google more 00:07:21.269 --> 00:07:24.170 information about a eunuch, but essentially a 00:07:24.170 --> 00:07:25.550 eunuch had to go through some pretty traumatic 00:07:25.550 --> 00:07:28.740 things to become a eunuch. And they were... They 00:07:28.740 --> 00:07:31.439 were pretty important in their roles looking 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:36.300 after the Queen's courts in this case. And so 00:07:36.300 --> 00:07:38.519 the Bible tells us about who he was, that he 00:07:38.519 --> 00:07:42.040 was an Ethiopian eunuch on a wilderness road. 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:45.439 So that helps us understand that because he was 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:48.040 a eunuch, he was actually a bit of a foreigner. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:50.660 He was a bit of an outsider. So it says that 00:07:50.660 --> 00:07:53.000 he was in Jerusalem and worshipping at the temple, 00:07:53.019 --> 00:07:56.040 but he would not have been allowed in the temple. 00:07:56.189 --> 00:07:58.730 So as a eunuch he would have been out in the 00:07:58.730 --> 00:08:00.769 courts. So he was allowed to worship but out 00:08:00.769 --> 00:08:03.230 in the courts because he was not a Jew. And so 00:08:03.230 --> 00:08:04.670 he wouldn't have been welcome there. So already 00:08:04.670 --> 00:08:08.129 he's in a wilderness place in his life. He's 00:08:08.129 --> 00:08:11.110 outside the boundaries of what they would call 00:08:11.110 --> 00:08:15.189 the people that were most holy and the people 00:08:15.189 --> 00:08:17.290 that were most important, the Israelites, the 00:08:17.290 --> 00:08:20.829 Jewish people. And he was just there to do a 00:08:20.829 --> 00:08:23.850 job. And this is where we find the Ethiopian 00:08:23.850 --> 00:08:27.800 when Philip meets him. One of the things that 00:08:27.800 --> 00:08:30.160 we need to be aware of is that we need to know 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:33.700 where God's at work already. So the Ethiopian 00:08:33.700 --> 00:08:36.500 was already reading the Word of God. He had already 00:08:36.500 --> 00:08:41.220 been in worship. God was already at work in his 00:08:41.220 --> 00:08:46.240 life. So we need to go friends where God is at 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:48.779 work. The first thing I want to say to us before 00:08:48.779 --> 00:08:52.259 we even ask any good question is to look around 00:08:52.259 --> 00:08:55.320 and ask, where is God already at work? Where 00:08:55.320 --> 00:08:58.419 do you see God at work in your friends, in your 00:08:58.419 --> 00:09:02.379 neighbours, in your family? And start there. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:06.440 I want you just for a second to picture that 00:09:06.440 --> 00:09:10.200 person. Somebody who maybe they're like the Ethiopian, 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:12.980 they're seeking God, they might not know God, 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:14.679 maybe they've come into church for maybe they 00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:18.120 never have, but you can see that God's at work. 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:19.879 There's just some strange things that have been 00:09:19.879 --> 00:09:22.039 happening, some polls that are pulling them towards 00:09:22.039 --> 00:09:25.320 asking you questions or just wanting to know 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:27.179 more about what's going on in your life. Think 00:09:27.179 --> 00:09:28.620 about that person for a moment, because you're 00:09:28.620 --> 00:09:31.200 going to need that person in your mind as we 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:35.539 talk about this message today. I think one of 00:09:35.539 --> 00:09:39.919 the reasons that we struggle with evangelism 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:43.299 is because of our fear of rejection. I don't 00:09:43.299 --> 00:09:45.480 know about you, but when I think about evangelizing, 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:48.759 like as a concept, I'm super excited, right? 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:51.059 I'm like, yes, I want people to know the name 00:09:51.059 --> 00:09:53.799 of Jesus and the powerful, His powerful love. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:55.740 I want them to know that. But I'm scared that 00:09:55.740 --> 00:09:59.159 what if I say something and I get rejected? Like 00:09:59.159 --> 00:10:01.340 that's a real thing. Yes, even extroverts feel 00:10:01.340 --> 00:10:04.759 that way as well. We worry about that. I know, 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:08.440 it's true. Sorry to burst your bubble. But I 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:11.740 think if we were to understand where and see 00:10:11.740 --> 00:10:13.960 where God is already at work, we would actually 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:17.399 find we have less rejection and less worry about 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:19.899 rejection because we've already seen God going 00:10:19.899 --> 00:10:24.039 before us. And we are simply meeting them where 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:26.259 they're at. Which brings me to my second point. 00:10:26.779 --> 00:10:32.629 See where they are at. In the scripture. We see 00:10:32.629 --> 00:10:36.690 that the Ethiopian was reading the Old Testament. 00:10:36.690 --> 00:10:40.429 He's reading Isaiah 53. Now in the Bible when 00:10:40.429 --> 00:10:42.789 it says reading the scriptures, it means we're 00:10:42.789 --> 00:10:45.850 reading out loud. So he was reading this out 00:10:45.850 --> 00:10:48.049 loud. And Philip's walking along, I guess pretty 00:10:48.049 --> 00:10:50.929 fast, because this guy's in a like, in a horse 00:10:50.929 --> 00:10:52.730 and carriage or whatever. Yeah, they would have 00:10:52.730 --> 00:10:55.330 had a horse and carriage? Chariot? But that's 00:10:55.330 --> 00:10:57.610 like done by horses, right? Anyway, possibly. 00:10:57.870 --> 00:10:59.490 Or maybe men carrying. I don't know. Anyway. 00:11:00.029 --> 00:11:01.769 He would have been walking pretty fast and he's 00:11:01.769 --> 00:11:04.049 walking along and he hears him, he hears the 00:11:04.049 --> 00:11:05.870 Ethiopian reading the scriptures out loud and 00:11:05.870 --> 00:11:09.429 he recognises it. I think that was a word when 00:11:09.429 --> 00:11:12.509 I read this, he recognises the scripture. We've 00:11:12.509 --> 00:11:14.509 got to be in the Word of God if we're going to 00:11:14.509 --> 00:11:17.049 evangelise to other people and know what it is 00:11:17.049 --> 00:11:20.090 that we are getting to share about. So he recognises 00:11:20.090 --> 00:11:21.970 that and he doesn't lie and say, hey what are 00:11:21.970 --> 00:11:24.129 you reading? Right? Because some of us we want 00:11:24.129 --> 00:11:26.879 to ask like, We don't want to ask the exact question 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:29.340 we meant to ask. We want to ask like a leading 00:11:29.340 --> 00:11:31.419 kind of question, which is not a bad thing. But 00:11:31.419 --> 00:11:33.340 if you know something about someone, you can't 00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:36.100 just kind of like lie your way into a conversation. 00:11:36.460 --> 00:11:39.360 Not a good idea. Please don't do that. He doesn't 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:41.080 lie. He says one of the most famous questions 00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:44.059 in the Bible. Do you know what you are reading? 00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:46.559 And we'll get back to this question in a moment. 00:11:47.639 --> 00:11:51.399 In this case, the Ethiopian was searching. God 00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:55.139 was already at work in him and he was searching 00:11:55.139 --> 00:11:58.899 for someone to tell him what on earth he was 00:11:58.899 --> 00:12:03.360 reading. So Philip sees him and he sees his need. 00:12:03.379 --> 00:12:06.519 He doesn't just walk past, he cares for him. 00:12:06.779 --> 00:12:08.679 I think part of our problem with stopping and 00:12:08.679 --> 00:12:10.639 asking great questions to people is we've gotten 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:13.440 so busy about what we have to do rather than 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:17.080 stopping and caring about where they're at and 00:12:17.080 --> 00:12:21.809 where God wants to take them. And because he 00:12:21.809 --> 00:12:24.730 cares for him, he's invited into his chariot. 00:12:25.370 --> 00:12:27.610 And in many cases, in this case in particular, 00:12:27.649 --> 00:12:33.850 into his world. Watch for the invitation into 00:12:33.850 --> 00:12:37.490 someone's life. Watch out for that carefully. 00:12:37.649 --> 00:12:43.269 It's such an important part in evangelism. The 00:12:43.269 --> 00:12:47.190 question back can be an invite into their world 00:12:47.190 --> 00:12:51.279 if you're looking for it. And I think one of 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:53.179 the things that Philip does is he shows that 00:12:53.179 --> 00:12:57.039 he actually cares about this Ethiopian. By getting 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:59.639 into his chariot, by going wherever he's going, 00:12:59.960 --> 00:13:02.279 he puts aside where he thinks he should go and 00:13:02.279 --> 00:13:05.480 he goes with them. He cares about him enough 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:08.799 to spend time in his world speaking to him about 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:13.320 his things. And He listens to where the Ethiopian 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:16.200 is at. One of the most important things I can 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:17.840 teach you before I teach you how to ask great 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:22.600 questions is to listen where people are at. I 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:26.799 think people listen to answer. I don't think 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:29.960 they listen to hear. Let me say that again so 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:32.620 you can understand that. I think people listen 00:13:32.620 --> 00:13:35.899 to answer, not listen to hear. And this is a 00:13:35.899 --> 00:13:39.440 crucial part in evangelism, in doing this well. 00:13:39.789 --> 00:13:43.350 When we get really good at asking good questions, 00:13:43.610 --> 00:13:47.549 it's amazing. But I think first we've got to 00:13:47.549 --> 00:13:50.889 ask ourselves the question, are we ready to really 00:13:50.889 --> 00:13:54.190 listen to where people are at? The questions 00:13:54.190 --> 00:13:56.929 that they're asking, the things that they're 00:13:56.929 --> 00:14:00.750 thinking, what they're going through. And let's 00:14:00.750 --> 00:14:03.149 say we listen to them and they invite us into 00:14:03.149 --> 00:14:07.950 their world, then we get to part three, ask a 00:14:07.950 --> 00:14:13.929 nudging question. There's a great book. There's 00:14:13.929 --> 00:14:16.789 a great book by Sam Chan and it's called How 00:14:16.789 --> 00:14:19.470 to Talk About Jesus Without Being That Guy. It's 00:14:19.470 --> 00:14:22.090 got a bright yellow cover. I want to, if you'll 00:14:22.090 --> 00:14:23.649 write that down because I want to encourage you 00:14:23.649 --> 00:14:25.629 to all of you go out and buy that book. It is 00:14:25.629 --> 00:14:28.029 worth reading. It's super easy. I'm not a reader. 00:14:28.169 --> 00:14:30.190 I have read it twice now. It is a brilliant, 00:14:30.230 --> 00:14:31.669 brilliant, well, most of it twice. The second 00:14:31.669 --> 00:14:33.009 time I skimmed through it a little bit to be 00:14:33.009 --> 00:14:36.370 honest, but just don't want to lie from up here. 00:14:36.470 --> 00:14:38.330 All right. I don't want to lie in general, not 00:14:38.330 --> 00:14:41.600 just up here. Clarify that. So and in this book 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:44.820 he talks about nudging questions and nudging 00:14:44.820 --> 00:14:48.639 questions are questions that nudge the conversation 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:53.019 towards the next layer. A question like how are 00:14:53.019 --> 00:14:56.100 you is fine but it's not a nudging question. 00:14:56.419 --> 00:14:59.879 It's a direct question that needs a direct response 00:14:59.879 --> 00:15:02.960 that you might get just a okay or good but you're 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:05.700 probably not going to get much more than that. 00:15:06.190 --> 00:15:09.389 A nudging question nudges the conversation to 00:15:09.389 --> 00:15:13.549 the next level, the next layer. From interest 00:15:13.549 --> 00:15:17.509 to values, from values to worldviews, from secular 00:15:17.509 --> 00:15:21.570 conversation to sacred conversation. So a nudging 00:15:21.570 --> 00:15:24.129 question might be something like, what are you 00:15:24.129 --> 00:15:28.769 hoping for in life? Why is it important to you? 00:15:29.169 --> 00:15:31.850 What is the one thing you must absolutely have 00:15:31.850 --> 00:15:35.269 in this life? And what do you think it all means? 00:15:35.939 --> 00:15:38.919 Philip asked the Ethiopian a nudging question. 00:15:39.259 --> 00:15:43.320 He says, do you know what you are reading? Right? 00:15:43.340 --> 00:15:46.580 He wants to know something about this guy, where 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:49.340 he's at in his faith, what he understands, what 00:15:49.340 --> 00:15:52.500 he doesn't understand. And not only does the 00:15:52.500 --> 00:15:56.879 Ethiopian answer him, he invites him into his 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:00.779 world with this question. How can I unless someone 00:16:00.779 --> 00:16:04.659 guides me? In that moment, he gave him permission 00:16:04.659 --> 00:16:08.559 to keep the conversation going. The Ethiopian 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:11.860 doesn't tell, say, tell me the answer. We read 00:16:11.860 --> 00:16:14.659 from the NRSV version, and Ash talked to our 00:16:14.659 --> 00:16:18.179 interns this week actually about the NRSV version 00:16:18.179 --> 00:16:20.539 being one that's really accurate to the translation 00:16:20.539 --> 00:16:24.120 of the Greek and Hebrew. And in this translation, 00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:28.639 it says, guide me. Now guide doesn't mean to 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:32.919 pull or to convince it means to provide direction 00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:37.139 Provide direction not to pull not to try and 00:16:37.139 --> 00:16:39.940 convince them but just to provide direction and 00:16:39.940 --> 00:16:43.500 that's what Philip does here When you ask a question 00:16:43.500 --> 00:16:47.700 it gets people thinking it moves them in a conversation 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:51.960 to another level And when you just ask someone, 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:54.820 you know, how you going or isn't that just a 00:16:54.820 --> 00:16:57.649 lovely day? You know, they're lovely questions, 00:16:57.730 --> 00:16:59.850 they're not bad questions. I don't want to knock 00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:02.230 you if that's what you do, and I'm pretty sure 00:17:02.230 --> 00:17:04.750 I do sometimes. But it's not something that's 00:17:04.750 --> 00:17:06.230 going to make them push to think. And what we 00:17:06.230 --> 00:17:09.009 want to do when we're talking with people and 00:17:09.009 --> 00:17:10.670 caring with people is we want to hear their story, 00:17:10.950 --> 00:17:12.849 right? So the nudging question allows you to 00:17:12.849 --> 00:17:16.210 hear their story. And you need to start where 00:17:16.210 --> 00:17:20.509 they're at. So for me to share, to ask a question 00:17:20.509 --> 00:17:22.750 to my school friend who I've been friends with 00:17:22.750 --> 00:17:24.720 for... I don't want to say how old I am, but 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:27.640 let's go 20 years or perhaps a little bit more. 00:17:28.839 --> 00:17:30.880 I might be able to ask questions like, where 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:34.099 are you going in life right now? Right? I can 00:17:34.099 --> 00:17:37.880 go deep. I can ask them questions. But if I've 00:17:37.880 --> 00:17:41.539 only met someone over coffee, it may not be quite 00:17:41.539 --> 00:17:43.940 appropriate for me the first time I meet somebody 00:17:43.940 --> 00:17:45.619 to ask them a question. Where are you going in 00:17:45.619 --> 00:17:47.539 life right now? Like, I feel like they're probably 00:17:47.539 --> 00:17:49.640 going to look at me and like, see you. Maybe 00:17:49.640 --> 00:17:51.400 something like, have you ever had any church 00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:53.539 experience? Or even, what do you just, simple, 00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:56.900 what do you enjoy most in life? Allow them to 00:17:56.900 --> 00:18:00.200 share a little bit about who they are. And when 00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:04.019 you ask these questions, don't go into thinking 00:18:04.019 --> 00:18:06.539 mode. Now, I know most of you are thinking like, 00:18:06.539 --> 00:18:08.859 yeah, I know, right? But let me tell you, how 00:18:08.859 --> 00:18:11.059 many times have you asked the question, what's 00:18:11.059 --> 00:18:15.700 your name? And they've said, Tom. But you have 00:18:15.700 --> 00:18:17.220 gone on to the next question, so you can't remember 00:18:17.220 --> 00:18:20.519 what his name is. Right? It's happened so many 00:18:20.519 --> 00:18:22.779 times. It happens to me all the time. I was actually 00:18:22.779 --> 00:18:24.059 really impressed. I'll say to Bob here, I met 00:18:24.059 --> 00:18:26.660 him just before the service and I came to sit 00:18:26.660 --> 00:18:28.140 down and he said my name and I was like, you 00:18:28.140 --> 00:18:30.440 remembered my name. This is fantastic. I'm actually 00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:33.119 going to preach on that. That's so good. But 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:35.299 we do don't ask. Most of us go into, so thank 00:18:35.299 --> 00:18:37.819 you Bob for remembering my name. Most of us go 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:39.859 into thinking mode once we ask a question. We 00:18:39.859 --> 00:18:42.319 ask a question and then we think about either 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:44.319 something going on in our life or what the next 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:47.160 kind of question is rather than actually listening 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:51.640 to people. So make sure when you go into a conversation 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:54.720 with someone you actually listen to what they're 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:58.339 going through. There's a little bit of a trick 00:18:58.339 --> 00:19:00.640 that Sam says, and I don't have my water up here 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:02.819 so I can't do it, but he says when you're talking 00:19:02.819 --> 00:19:04.579 with someone and you ask them a question and 00:19:04.579 --> 00:19:07.119 they start sharing, when the pause comes, there's 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:08.819 always a pause, right? Take a drink of water. 00:19:09.710 --> 00:19:14.950 And that's a sign for the other person to continue 00:19:14.950 --> 00:19:16.890 on talking, right? Because we want to allow people 00:19:16.890 --> 00:19:19.029 to actually share where they're at. I tried it 00:19:19.029 --> 00:19:22.150 this week. It works. It does. I thought I'd better 00:19:22.150 --> 00:19:24.470 try this. It absolutely works. So ask a great 00:19:24.470 --> 00:19:27.250 question and you will get a great answer. If 00:19:27.250 --> 00:19:28.750 you ask a dumb question, you're going to get 00:19:28.750 --> 00:19:30.970 a dumb answer. Sorry. But if you ask a yes or 00:19:30.970 --> 00:19:32.730 no question, you're going to get a yes or no 00:19:32.730 --> 00:19:34.490 answer. And it's not going to lead to actually 00:19:34.490 --> 00:19:36.990 being able to have intentional conversations 00:19:36.990 --> 00:19:40.569 that go to the next level. And what we want to 00:19:40.569 --> 00:19:41.930 do is make sure that when we ask that question, 00:19:42.009 --> 00:19:46.549 we're really caring about them. So maybe after 00:19:46.549 --> 00:19:48.230 tonight, you need to go home and you need to 00:19:48.230 --> 00:19:50.750 think about some questions in your context that 00:19:50.750 --> 00:19:53.150 could be nudging questions that could help people 00:19:53.150 --> 00:19:55.910 go to the next level in the conversations that 00:19:55.910 --> 00:19:58.970 you're having with them. And I do want to really 00:19:58.970 --> 00:20:00.609 encourage you and just to hone down a little 00:20:00.609 --> 00:20:03.490 bit on that listening thing. Don't come prepared 00:20:03.490 --> 00:20:06.150 with like five questions, right? Come prepared 00:20:06.150 --> 00:20:08.859 with one. Right, because what you should be doing 00:20:08.859 --> 00:20:10.859 is listening to what they're saying and then 00:20:10.859 --> 00:20:14.380 your next question should come out of what they're 00:20:14.380 --> 00:20:16.680 already talking about. The question, Philip asked 00:20:16.680 --> 00:20:19.900 a question and then because he is invited in, 00:20:19.900 --> 00:20:22.980 he's able to speak. But he lets the Ethiopian 00:20:22.980 --> 00:20:25.920 speak first. He lets the Ethiopian ask the question 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:28.359 to him. He doesn't come with five different questions 00:20:28.359 --> 00:20:30.740 for the Ethiopian. He just sees where he's at 00:20:30.740 --> 00:20:35.349 and then he leads them on. And I hope that by 00:20:35.349 --> 00:20:37.710 seeing and just listening that might take a little 00:20:37.710 --> 00:20:39.990 bit of the pressure off you because I think with 00:20:39.990 --> 00:20:42.109 evangelism we feel pressure right even when we 00:20:42.109 --> 00:20:44.890 hear that first word evangelism some of us if 00:20:44.890 --> 00:20:46.789 we're not a capital E evangelist in our in our 00:20:46.789 --> 00:20:48.730 name which like Cheryl is talk to Cheryl about 00:20:48.730 --> 00:20:51.230 evangelism later but if you're not you might 00:20:51.230 --> 00:20:53.130 feel a little bit uncomfortable so my number 00:20:53.130 --> 00:20:58.450 four point is that asking good questions takes 00:20:58.450 --> 00:21:01.990 the pressure off at you and it lets the good 00:21:01.990 --> 00:21:06.720 news speak for itself. The cool thing about God 00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:10.519 is he doesn't need only you to bring someone 00:21:10.519 --> 00:21:13.660 to faith. The Ethiopian had already been reading 00:21:13.660 --> 00:21:16.220 the Word. He had already come from worship. There 00:21:16.220 --> 00:21:18.980 were many other people that had spoken into his 00:21:18.980 --> 00:21:22.420 life as he went along. Philip just had the joy, 00:21:22.500 --> 00:21:24.819 and my friends it is a joy, to bring someone 00:21:24.819 --> 00:21:28.960 into a relationship with Jesus. And so he's already 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:31.420 on his way into this relationship with Jesus. 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:36.099 And as in verse 35, Philip began to speak and 00:21:36.099 --> 00:21:39.059 starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to 00:21:39.059 --> 00:21:43.819 him the good news about Jesus. Philip opens up 00:21:43.819 --> 00:21:46.579 a conversation with a nudging question and after 00:21:46.579 --> 00:21:50.539 being asked to guide him, Philip doesn't just 00:21:50.539 --> 00:21:54.440 tell him stories about himself. He opens up the 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:58.119 very thing that he has been talking about. This 00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:00.779 is really important. It starts with the thing 00:22:00.779 --> 00:22:04.119 the person is interested in. Do we start what 00:22:04.119 --> 00:22:05.819 other people are interested in or do we have 00:22:05.819 --> 00:22:08.019 exactly what we feel like they need to hear in 00:22:08.019 --> 00:22:13.200 this moment? He starts unpacking Isaiah 53. Isaiah 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:16.640 53 is all about Jesus. It's a prophecy about 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:22.900 what is to come for all believers. Now the Ethiopian 00:22:22.900 --> 00:22:26.349 was not a Jew. Right. So he was not welcomed 00:22:26.349 --> 00:22:29.069 into the rest of the people that would follow 00:22:29.069 --> 00:22:31.950 Jesus into the temple. He knew that he was missing 00:22:31.950 --> 00:22:36.029 something. But in Isaiah 53, this was the climax 00:22:36.029 --> 00:22:39.130 of Israel's story. And the fact that Jesus was 00:22:39.130 --> 00:22:42.450 the destination, the fact that he was included 00:22:42.450 --> 00:22:45.470 in that meant that this was the most exciting 00:22:45.470 --> 00:22:48.910 news that the Ethiopian had ever heard. For the 00:22:48.910 --> 00:22:51.230 first time, he understood what Romans 10 is, 00:22:51.230 --> 00:22:53.529 even if it wasn't written down then. For there 00:22:53.529 --> 00:22:56.210 is no difference between Jews and Gentiles. The 00:22:56.210 --> 00:22:59.650 same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all 00:22:59.650 --> 00:23:02.609 who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the 00:23:02.609 --> 00:23:07.490 name of the Lord will be saved. Hallelujah. And 00:23:07.490 --> 00:23:11.190 in this moment that becomes his personal story. 00:23:11.970 --> 00:23:15.710 He ended up finding everything he needed in the 00:23:15.710 --> 00:23:20.990 truth of Jesus. When we fully understand that 00:23:20.990 --> 00:23:24.799 God is in control. and that He can lead someone 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:27.779 towards Himself, then surely we have to understand 00:23:27.779 --> 00:23:30.420 that we are not the hero of the story, friends. 00:23:30.980 --> 00:23:34.599 We're not the hero. God is the hero of every 00:23:34.599 --> 00:23:41.759 story, every single person that you meet. God 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:48.940 is what they need. Sometimes when we meet somebody, 00:23:50.019 --> 00:23:53.109 we have the opportunity to share our story. And 00:23:53.109 --> 00:23:55.269 we're going to talk about testimony in a couple 00:23:55.269 --> 00:23:59.470 of weeks. So hang around for that. But sometimes 00:23:59.470 --> 00:24:02.750 what we need to do is simply point them to the 00:24:02.750 --> 00:24:06.109 good news of Jesus. We need to remind them of 00:24:06.109 --> 00:24:08.829 that thing that they're missing. It's Jesus. 00:24:09.609 --> 00:24:11.930 We need to understand that if they are seeking 00:24:11.930 --> 00:24:14.630 the good news, if they are open to the things 00:24:14.630 --> 00:24:18.009 of the gospel, give them the gospel. Share about 00:24:18.009 --> 00:24:19.890 the truth of Jesus. You don't have to have all 00:24:19.890 --> 00:24:22.430 the right answers. You don't have to get it perfectly. 00:24:22.750 --> 00:24:27.230 If you know Jesus at all, start there. Start 00:24:27.230 --> 00:24:29.809 with it. Listen to what they're saying and start 00:24:29.809 --> 00:24:34.529 by sharing the good news exactly where they're 00:24:34.529 --> 00:24:42.450 at. Jesus is the answer, my friends, but I want 00:24:42.450 --> 00:24:46.019 to ask us the question today. Do we know? that 00:24:46.019 --> 00:24:49.900 Jesus is the answer. Do you truly know without 00:24:49.900 --> 00:24:53.740 a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the answer? 00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:57.359 Because if you don't know that, they will see 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:01.819 right through you. People outside of these walls 00:25:01.819 --> 00:25:05.259 who don't know Jesus, if you go there and you 00:25:05.259 --> 00:25:07.099 say, let me tell you about somebody that I don't 00:25:07.099 --> 00:25:09.640 even know, they're not gonna listen. They're 00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:13.799 not gonna be interested. So my question to you 00:25:13.799 --> 00:25:17.670 today. is do you know that Jesus is the only 00:25:17.670 --> 00:25:21.829 way? Maybe today, before you even go out of these 00:25:21.829 --> 00:25:23.670 walls and you start to tell people about Jesus, 00:25:23.710 --> 00:25:25.529 you start asking those nudging questions or you 00:25:25.529 --> 00:25:27.789 start seeing where God's at work, maybe you have 00:25:27.789 --> 00:25:32.289 to ask the question, Jesus, who are you to me? 00:25:32.890 --> 00:25:35.569 Remind me of your great love. Maybe you need 00:25:35.569 --> 00:25:42.190 to go back to that first love. Remember why you 00:25:42.190 --> 00:25:45.410 fell in love with Jesus. Because then and only 00:25:45.410 --> 00:25:47.529 then, He will lead you to share about the good 00:25:47.529 --> 00:25:51.049 news of Him. Jesus asked great questions throughout 00:25:51.049 --> 00:25:54.849 scripture. But all His questions were helping 00:25:54.849 --> 00:25:57.650 people understand that He is the way, the truth 00:25:57.650 --> 00:25:59.849 and the life and nobody comes to the Father except 00:25:59.849 --> 00:26:04.089 through Him. Everyone who is searching needs 00:26:04.089 --> 00:26:07.890 to meet Jesus. He is the Saviour. He is the one 00:26:07.890 --> 00:26:10.630 that loves you. He is the one that knows you. 00:26:10.730 --> 00:26:15.809 He is the one that has plans for your life. And 00:26:15.809 --> 00:26:18.069 we cannot ask great questions and guide people, 00:26:18.210 --> 00:26:43.890 but it is Jesus who transforms. God bless you.