Happy Thanksgiving! I want to welcome all of you again to the Hyde Park Vineyard Church. And if you are joining us for the first time we are really thrilled that you are here today and we would really appreciate if you could take a minute now to fill out the connection card that you will find inside the program and turn it in at the Welcome Table outside of these doors on your way out after the service. The information that we gather from these connection cards will help us to know how we can better serve you. And the nice person at the Welcome Table will give you a free CD of some of our worship music that we sing here at church. I also want to encourage you to check out one of our 10 house groups that meet during the week. We believe that true Christian community happen in the context of these smaller weekly gatherings, where you study the Bible together, pray together, and just do life together. The house groups are listed at the back of the program so please check one out this week.

I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving with your family and friends. Thursday afternoon the church had our annual Thanksgiving dinner. The food was awesome and a lot of people from the community came to eat and celebrate with us. It was a great time. And for all of you who pitched in to make food, thank you so much. And as if that wasn’t enough food, just a few hours after the church Thanksgiving dinner, our family had our special Thanksgiving celebration with Angela’s family who drove in from out of town. And on Friday, we all went to downtown to walk around with about 2 or 3 million other people. It was awesome. Not really. But we still had a great time together and I hope you did, too. And we have so much to be thankful for, don’t we? This is the season where there is really so much pressure from all around us to make it about shopping and eating and spending money, but I hope that you will really be able to pause for a moment and thank God for everything that he’s done for you. And I realize that many of you may be going through a very difficult season in your life right now, but even still, every one of us really have so much to be thankful for. So, even now, as we share these few minutes together this morning, let us really thank God for who he is and what he has done. Amen.

For the past 7 Sundays, we have been going through the book of Acts, chapter by chapter, to study what the Bible has to say about the person of the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, with God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ. Luke writes in chapter one of Acts, that Jesus, after his death and resurrection, he commands his disciples to wait for the Spirit who he will send when he ascends into heaven. And on the day of Pentecost, as the disciples were gathered in the upper room, the Holy Spirit falls upon them in a powerful way. And the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, boldly proclaim the good news of Jesus wherever they go, even through rejection, even through humiliation, even through persecution, even through death. Through the greatest of trials and opposition, those filled and emboldened by the Spirit of God are set on fire to live a life that is marked by selfless love, unending hope, and incredible faith and faithfulness, even to their last breath. And today, as we study chapter 8 of the book of Acts you will see the disciples of Jesus continue in their divine journey empowered by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.

Before we continue, please join me in prayer, and let’s invite the Holy Spirit to come into this room and transform us from the inside out, to fill us anew with his Spirit, so that we too, may live like these disciples that we are reading about in the book of Acts. Let’s pray.

Please turn your Bible to Acts chapter 8. We have a lot of awesome stuff to cover today, so let’s get started right away. We are going to take it section by section, so let’s read verses 1-8 of Acts chapter 8. If you don’t have a Bible, please share one with someone next to you or you can grab a Bible by the back of the auditorium.

VERSES 1-8 (PERSECUTION AND THE RESPONSE OF THE FAITHFUL)
Last week, in chapter 7, the main character of the story was a man named Stephen, who Luke describes as someone who was filled with the Holy Spirit. We saw him courageously and fearlessly proclaim the message of Jesus Christ before the Sanhedrin. But those who heard Stephen’s speech could not receive this message of salvation and so they angrily drag him out of the city and stone him to death. And as they are stoning him, this courageous man of God prays this incredible prayer: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And after he had said this prayer, he breathed his last breath and died. What an incredible story. What an incredible man.

In chapter 7, we were also introduced to a man named Saul for the first time, and we learned that those who were stoning Stephen would put their clothes by the feet of this Saul so that they won’t get dirty from Stephen’s blood. And chapter 8 begins with this very same man and it says Saul was there giving approval to Stephen’s death. You will hear a lot more about Saul next week, but let me just say this for now: Even the greatest enemies of the Gospel are not beyond the grace and mercy of God. Even those who vocally and violently oppose the Gospel are not beyond the grace and mercy of God. And often, these people, like Saul, when they encounter the living God, are the ones who often become the greatest of followers. Do you know someone like Saul? Someone who seems so far away from God? Someone who seems beyond the reach of God? Let me encourage you to pray for him, pray for her. Who knows what can happen simply because you prayed?

Going back to our story, even as the Christians were being kicked out of their communities, beaten up, thrown into prisons, and even killed, we read in verse 4 that these believers preached the word of God wherever they went because they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And this is the story of Acts. This is the story of the birth of the church, a story of a group of ordinary people who are filled with the Holy Spirit, and suddenly they are emboldened and inspired to preach the word of God wherever they go. Even through the trials and tribulations, and even through persecution and death, these Christians never stopped preaching the word of God. Ordinary people living extraordinary lives through the Holy Spirit so for the glory of God. This is the story of Acts. And this is our story. Church, this is our legacy. We are ordinary people who are called to live extraordinary lives through the Holy Spirit for the glory of God.

INTRODUCTION TO PHILIP
And in Acts 8 we read about one such ordinary person, and his name is Philip. He was introduced a few chapters earlier as one of the seven people who were chosen by the apostles for the great task of caring for and ministering to the widows in the church. Philip was an evangelist, meaning that he was someone who had great love for people who have not yet come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, people who were not yet followers of Jesus. Philip also performed many miracles, cast out demons and healed the sick. And he would do this in every town he would go to. He would preach the Gospel of Christ, and his message would be confirmed through the miracles that he would perform through the power of the Holy Spirit. And we read in verse 8 that cities would rejoice because of the extraordinary things that this ordinary person did through the Holy Spirit. And like Philip, you and I, ordinary people who are devoted to Jesus Christ, are called to live extraordinary lives through the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. And like Philip, God calls us to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people whom he so desperately loves. And like Philip, we are to cast out demons and heal the sick. And Philip was doing only what Jesus told him and all of us to do, which we read in Mark 16:15-18:

Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.

This is a command that Jesus gives to every one of his followers. Not just the leaders. Not just the pastors. Not just those who are gifted in evangelism and healing. But everyone, ordinary people like you and me, who claim to be a followers of Jesus, have a mandate from him to live extraordinary lives through the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. We have been given a message that we must share with the world. We have been given the power to cast out demons and heal the sick. And we can only do these extraordinary things because of the Holy Spirit.

And anytime someone steps out to live this way, he or she will face great opposition because Satan doesn’t really like what happens when we do. It may not be to the point of persecution like these first Christians experienced, but there will always be opposition. It may be verbal opposition. It may be opposition of our own fears. It may be oppositions of the lies that we’ve bought into. Whatever it may be, there will be opposition. We see in chapter 8 that even Philip experiences opposition when he steps out to live an extraordinary life empowered by the Holy Spirit for the glory of God.

Let’s read verses 9-25:

Acts 8:9-25
Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, "This man is the divine power known as the Great Power." 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. 14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money 19 and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 20 Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin." 24 Then Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me." 25 When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

VERSES 9-25 (PHILIP AND SIMON THE SORCERER)
In verse 9, we are introduced to a man named Simon who is a sorcerer. And this is not the last time that the disciples are confronted by those who practice sorcery. In chapter 13, we see someone named Bar-Jesus who is a sorcerer. In chapter 16, we see a group of sorcerers file complaint against Paul and Barnabas. The society in which Philip finds himself in is one steeped in occult magic and sorcery. And many of these sorcerers had followers because they performed seemingly miraculous things that can not be explained in human terms. And in this society, a man named Simon was doing quite well for himself. His fame has spread throughout the whole region because of his ability to perform incredible magic. And it wasn’t enough that others thought of him as someone great, but the Bible tells us that he himself was proclaiming how great he was. He just couldn’t get over himself. And all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and basically worshiped him as if he were God.

But then Philip enters the story. An ordinary man living an extraordinary life through the Holy Spirit, and he does what he usually does. He proclaims the good news of Jesus and then begins to perform miracles to confirm the message that he is preaching. And many people put their faith in Jesus because of Philip. Even Simon, this sorcerer, believes the message and even gets baptized. The response to the message of Jesus is so great in this town that the leaders of the church send in the big shots, Peter and John, who are placing hands on people and immediately they are filled with the Holy Spirit. And when Simon sees this, he is so moved by what he sees that he offers them money so that he, too, can do what they are doing. But Peter scorns him saying, “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.”

This interaction between Peter and Simon is a little difficult for me to understand because I can see how one can desire the gifts of the spirit so much, that they would even offer money for it. You know what, I don’t know if I would have acted any differently than Philip if I were in his shoes, well except for the fact that I have no money to offer. The Bible itself teaches that we should eagerly desire spiritual gifts. So was what Simon doing really all that bad?

WHERE IS YOUR HEART?
But the thrust of this story is not in so much about the miracles and the spiritual gifts that are manifested when the Holy Spirit comes upon people. But it goes much deeper than that. The question being brought to light in this section is this, “where is your heart?” God isn’t concerned so much about how smart you are or how famous you are or how much you accomplish or how many people you healed or demons you cast out, or any of that. He is not impressed with any of that. Where is your heart? Another way to ask the same thing is this: “Who are you when no one is looking?” You can be a banker. You can be a lawyer. You can be a doctor. You can be a student. You can be a husband. You can be a wife. You can be all of that and more. But who are you really, when you are by yourself, when there is no reason to pretend to be this or that, when no one is looking? And if the veil of your private life was lifted, would we see two very different people? This is the radical transformation that Jesus is ushering in his Kingdom. Not outward expressions of redemption and salvation, but inward, in your very heart of hearts. God doesn’t merely want to change what you do, but he wants to change who you are.

Simon was chastised not because what he wanted was wrong but because the state of his heart was wrong. And we only know this because God seems to reveal this to Peter in a supernatural way. It was almost as if God allowed Peter to see through the veil, into his private life, into his heart, to who he really was. His heart was not right before God.

Church, we are to eagerly desire the spiritual gifts. Every one of us should be pursuing spiritual gifts because that is part of what it means to live extraordinary lives through the Holy Spirit. But let me ask all of you this today, “Is your heart right before God?” Who are you when no one is looking? What part of your life are you hiding from God and others? And if the veil of your private life was lifted, would we see two very different people? Maybe you have been a Christian for a long time but have been hiding a secret sin for many, many years. Or maybe you are not a Christian at all, but you recognize that you are powerless to change by yourself, that you recognize a need for a Savior who can transform you from the inside out. And if that is you, I want to give you and opportunity at the end of our service to get right with God and let him begin the deep work of transforming our hearts. The Bible says in 1 John 9, “If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Please let God come and minister to you this morning only as he can.

Let’s continue reading through the rest of the chapter, verses 26-40:

Acts 8:26-40
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." 30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. 31 "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." 34 The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

VERSES 26-40 (PHILIP AND THE ETHIOPIAN)
We now come to my favorite part of this chapter, the story of Philip and the Ethiopian. At the heart of this story is the idea of divine appointments, situations and circumstances that are somehow orchestrated by the very hand of God. It is the idea that God, the creator of the universe, would set in motion specific events to save, to rescue, to redeem his people back to himself. He creates circumstances in our lives so that we can know and understand that there is more to life than our jobs, our careers, our money, our homes, our family, our story. That there is a greater story unfolding right before our eyes, and God, in his great mercy, sets up divine appointments so that we can see how our story fits into the greatest story of all, the story of God.

We see in the story of Philip and the Ethiopian that an angel sent from the Lord speaks to Philip and directs him to a certain road. And then the Spirit of God, having gotten Philip on the right road, directs Philip to the right chariot. And as he is standing by this chariot Philip hears the Ethiopian reading from the word of God a prophecy written hundreds of years before the time of Jesus. The man has been drawn to ask questions by the Holy Spirit. He is being drawn to God. God brings the Ethiopian man someone who could explain the Bible to him.

Do you see the hand of God at work? In this passage, we are given a behind the scenes peak into the story. We not only see what is happening, but we see why they are happening as well. A set of events and circumstances that seems merely incidental to the naked eye, proved to be anything but. And as we peak behind the scene, we realize that there was another character in the story who was not merely in the story but is at the same time, writing it. Divine appointments.

DIVINE APPOINTMENTS
Have you had a divine appointment lately? Can you remember the last time when you saw the divine hand of God at work in your life? Actually, I would say that, if you are a Christian here this morning, your coming to faith in Jesus Christ happened through a series of divine appointments. You did not become a Christian by yourself. You did not desire to become a Christian by yourself. You did not pray the sinner’s prayer by yourself? Your faith in Christ is a direct result of divine appointments.

But here is the thing that we get stuck on. We can readily acknowledge that God brought us to faith, but when we start talking about evangelism, sharing our Christian faith with our family, friends, and neighbors, we somehow think that their salvation rests squarely on our shoulders, as if we can save anybody, as if we can raise the dead, as if we can heal the sick and the blind, as if we can change hearts and minds. We can’t. We can’t. We can’t argue someone into becoming a Christian! We can’t. We can’t convince someone into becoming a Christian. We can’t. We can’t force anyone into becoming a Christian. That is a realm that mankind simply can not engage. That’s because it is divine. And that’s why I believe that salvation is the greatest miracle of all. I believe in divine healing. I believe in speaking in tongues. I believe in prophecy. But the greatest miracle of all is when a person believes in his heart of hearts that there is a God and that his name is Jesus, and his heart resonates with the words of Paul in Philippians 3 which says, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

But as we think about sharing our faith, we become so full of fear and doubt because we really think it is up to us. We’ve misunderstood our role in evangelism. We’ve misunderstood the part that we are to play in helping someone come into faith. And so many of us, most of us, will never move forward in sharing our faith with others, as Jesus commands us to do so. We burn out. We get tired. We’re so worried about exactly what we should say, or how we should say it, and this and that, and we forget that God is the miracle worker.

Take even my sermon this morning for example. I spent a lot of time these last two weeks to study and prepare for what I am sharing with you right now. But here is the thing that I must come back to over and over again every time I preach. No matter how much time I spend in preparation, no matter how good my sermons may be, ultimately only God can change hearts. Only God can cause anything I say to birth something new in your life. And that gives me tremendous freedom in my preparation. It doesn’t mean that I get to goof off all week. No, I have a God-given responsibility to study and prepare and do the best job that I can to teach and preach. But I find peace and rest knowing that ultimately it is God who will do the extraordinary things through my ordinary life for his glory.

Divine appointments. God is the miracle worker. Not us. It is by the divine hand of God that you came into faith. And that is also how your family, friends, and neighbors will come into faith. And it is the desire of God that all should come to faith, that none should perish, not even one. And this loving heart of God is so evident in this passage. God seeks out this Ethiopian. He pursues him. He sends in one of his servants through a set of miraculous circumstances so that this man, too, would know how much he is loved by God.

Philip hears the voice of God and simply obeys. Even though he may not have understood it all, even though he may have doubted that this truly was the voice of God, he still steps out in faith and simply obeys. Philip is an ordinary man living an extraordinary life through the Holy Spirit. And it all started because Philip was a man who made himself available to God. Ordinary people living extraordinary lives begins as you make yourself available to the Holy Spirit.

The Hyde Park Vineyard Church is full of very gifted and talented people, people with great skills and abilities. Our church is really blessed in this way. But fundamentally, the only ability that God is really looking for is availability. People who go before God and say, “Yes, Lord, I am here to do your will.” The available Christian is a person who at the front end of the day says, “God, I give you the liberty to interrupt me. I yield control over to you.” So how do you do this? Well, I believe that it starts with prayer. One of my favorite pastors, Rich Nathan, teaches it this way. You start every morning with four prayers, four simple prayers. Please write this down somewhere and try putting them into this into practice this week.

FOUR PRAYERS BY RICH NATHAN
The first prayer is “God kill me.” Kill me. Because the obstacle to being available to God is our own wills and our own agendas. God kill me. I yield to you.

Then the second prayer is “God use me.” Today, God I want to be an instrument in your Kingdom in loving the people around me. I want to be useful to you wherever you want me to be. God, use me.

The third prayer is “God fill me.” Because, frankly, we have no effectiveness unless we are full of God, the Holy Spirit. We can't do anything unless we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. God fill me.

And fourth, “God lead me.” God, do in me what you did in Philip. Lead me.

The available Christian says to God, God kill me. Use me God. Fill me God and lead me, God.

And as you step out in faith to obey the voice of God, the question that many of us get hung upon is this, “How do you really know it is God?” Well, there really isn’t an easy way to know. And unless we are willing to take risks in this business of following the leading of God, we will never know. All of us our going to make mistakes hearing from God. All of us. But the more we step out in faith to take risks, the better we will become at discerning the voice of God. So will you give it a try? Will you step out and listen to the voice of God? Will you pray the four prayers as you begin your day?

If you could remember just one thing from today, please take this with you: “We are ordinary people who are called to live extraordinary lives through the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. And it all starts as we make ourselves available to him.” The ordinary becomes the extraordinary when God enters the story. Let’s all stand and pray together.