Leaving home for Mobile, Alabama gave me visions of an ocean’s worth of possibilities, the endless freedom of setting my sails to the wind and plotting my own course.
Instead what I was greeted with was a long dusty desert road of poor choices, failures, and an abandonment of all things spiritual.
Yet, it was on this path that I was found.
In Acts 8, an Ethiopian eunuch is found by an evangelist named Philip.
Like the eunuch I was found also. Not by one person but two.
They were named Russ and Paul. I was lonely and lost in my freshman dorm without a roommate. I was isolated but not too isolated for God to send some people to me.
I was thirsty for the water of God and didn’t even know it, but God knew it.
I was disobedient to the ways of God. I was a sinner. But not even my disobedience and sin would prevent God from offering his grace and forgiveness.
I was not loving God or loving my neighbor as myself. But not even my lack of love and apathy could prevent God from loving me.
I was reckless and I was desperate for guidance. Yet, not even my lack of self-control and my misguided direction for my life could prevent God from finding me.
That may describe you in some way. You’re thirsty and just starting to know it.
God wants to give you the water of life.
You’re disobedient to God. You’re a sinner. God offers you grace, and mercy and forgiveness.
You’re not loving God and your neighbor. Yet, God offers you his love.
You’re reckless. God makes peace out of your mess. He finds you in the chaos and sets your paths straight.
Nothing can stand in the way of you following Jesus.
When I discover that. It wrecked me. Jesus loves me and went to the cross for my sins? Jesus suffered for me? Jesus will forgive me?
I can stack my sin and shame at the cross. The cross stands for me and the empty grave stands for the new me.
I will put my trust in that! And I did. I confessed Jesus as my savior.
I asked for his forgiveness and was baptized into Christ one evening at a small church near the university I was attending.
How did all that come to be. Someone helped to guide me.
Philip and the Ethiopian
In Acts 8, Philip is instructed by an angel of the Lord to travel a desert road between Jerusalem and Gaza.
While traveling he encounters an Ethiopian eunuch who was reading aloud from the prophet Isaiah (chapter 53:7-8).
Through the Spirit’s guidance Philip teaches the eunuch about Jesus, the suffering servant in whom Isaiah prophesies.
This Ethiopian man had already been to Jerusalem to worship God.
We’ve all come here to meet with God and be changed. The Ethiopian’s pilgrimage path had now led him to Jesus.
Jesus is calling you. He has invited you to come. There is divine appointment scheduled between you and God.
The eunuch believed in Jesus the Son of God with all his heart and upon coming to water he requested to be baptized.
If you haven’t done so you can do the same.
Philip obliged the eunuch’s request and baptized him into Christ.
Through faith, Jesus can break every chain of sin in your life. He will rescue you from that lonely desert road.
Obedience to God
We see two people obeying the will of God for their lives, Philip and the Ethiopian man.
Philip went out of his way to witness Jesus to a stranger. As the people of God, we go out of our way to give people the opportunity to meet Jesus.
The church knows no stranger.
When we follow Jesus, we will follow him into the waters of baptism.
The Ethiopian man gave his life to Jesus who had gone out of his way to save his people from their sins, offering forgiveness to all who believe.
He became a new person with a new story. History tells us that the Ethiopian became an evangelist to his home country. CLOSE
What had God called you to do?
You can put your trust in Jesus. Believing he is the one who can save you.
A lot of things have stood in your way preventing you from following Jesus, but nothing can stand in the way of you being baptized.
Maybe you’ve been baptized but you need God’s guidance. You’ve been reckless, your life is a mess and you need Jesus to straighten things out.
You need the peace of God in your life. You’re going through a faith crisis and you need his strength.
You believe in Jesus but you haven’t been on mission like Philip to help share the good news of Jesus with others.
That all can change right now.
Nothing can stand in the way of you following Jesus.
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Jovan preaches for the Littleton Church of Christ near Denver, Colorado. Visit here to listen to sermons preached at the Littleton Church.