The sermon 'Strategic Evangelism' by Peter Allison focuses on the biblical account from Acts 8, where Philip is led by the Holy Spirit to preach to the Ethiopian eunuch. Despite Philip's successful ministry in Samaria, he obeys God's call to travel to a desert road, demonstrating the importance of obedience and the strategic nature of evangelism. The encounter highlights the removal of barriers to salvation, as the eunuch, a foreigner and a high official in Ethiopia, accepts the Gospel and is baptized. This story illustrates the power of God to reach anyone, regardless of their background, and emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding believers to take steps of faith. Philip's interaction with the eunuch serves as a model of evangelism that combines divine guidance with human initiative, resulting in the spread of the Gospel to new regions.

Acts chapter 8 is our Scripture reading. We have a message this morning. Philip has been preaching in Samaria. He's gone down to bring the Gospel to a people that were historically great enemies of the Jews. People they didn't ordinarily associate with.

People that they went to great lengths to avoid. And yet God brings a great harvest. And we pick up this account in Acts 8 at verse 26. Hear God's word. Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

This is a desert. So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candice, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. And then the Spirit said to Philip, Go near and overtake this chariot.

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, do you understand what you are reading? And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. And the place in the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

In his humiliation, his justice was taken away, and who will declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth." So the eunuch answered Philip and said, "'I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of some other man?' Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this Scripture preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?

Then Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuchs saw him no more.

And he went on his way rejoicing, but Philip was found at Azodas. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea." May we rejoice that this is word as one who finds great treasure. Heavenly Father, we ask now that You would open this passage to us by the work of Your Holy Spirit within us. May You give to us understanding. May You instruct us.

May You give to us a new obedience, an obedience that is brought through the work of Your Holy Spirit as we hear Your Word. May You bring light, Lord, that we might not read without understanding. May You ask that you would sanctify My sinful lips, that they may proclaim the riches of Your grace through Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

Well, why is this story, this account here in Acts? Why did Luke include this account in this kind of detail? There are a number of... Philip was doing a lot of preaching, he presumably met many people and preached Christ to many people. It says that he preached in all the cities until he came to Caesarea, where we pick him up later on in the book of Acts when Paul comes back and some of his traveling companions and partners stay with in the house of Philip, the evangelist.

But why does Luke include this story here? It could be that this is an account of how the Gospel was carried to Ethiopia. That would be a significant account. This would make the Ethiopian eunuch here the first fruits in Africa. And that's worthy of it being included.

This is also an example of a faithful evangelist following the leading of the Holy Spirit. It's an example. This is also an account that testifies to the power of God to save anyone in any situation. He's an Ethiopian from a distant country, a eunuch, a leader. And the Bible says that not many great.

God has not chosen many great people and wise, but He's chosen the foolish. But here's an example of somebody who was great. This may have also been God's instruction to Philip that no one was unclean, just like He gave a similar instruction to Peter a little bit later regarding Cornelius, a Gentile. But it's also instructive in strategic evangelism. And given that's the title of our message today, I think that this is a key message or at least one of the key messages of this passage.

Strategic evangelism. What does that mean? Well, Philip has a very successful ministry in Samaria preaching to multitudes who are hungry for the truth. The Lord is working. People are being converted.

His ministry, Philip's ministry in Samaria was reaping a rich harvest. Men and women were being baptized as they heard the Gospel and they were turning away from the magic of people like Simon the Magician. Even Simon, we saw last week, comes to believe and to be baptized, maybe because he wanted to continue as part of the in-crowd. He was a big leader. And when massive numbers of people are being converted, in order to retain his prominence and position, he thought maybe he needed to follow them.

Philip's ministry in Samaria is so successful that when the Jerusalem church heard what the Lord was doing, they sent Peter and John down to check it out and to preach. And these apostles, they preached in many, many cities. This wasn't just one city like Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at the well. This was many cities were hearing the Gospel and God was working and people were being saved. And in the middle of this very successful evangelistic campaign, Philip is directed by the Holy Spirit to go to a desert.

There's no detailed explanation like Moses got when he was called to go somewhere. And yet, Philip doesn't respond with any questions like, why? Why, Lord, why should I leave this prospering ministry and go to a desert? God said to go to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza, and then Luke very significantly says, this is a desert. Deserts are not where you expect to find great crowds of people hungry for the Gospel.

Deserts are where you expect to find a few geckos running around. Lizards. Maybe some thieves. But Philip obeys this command without any hesitation despite His very limited information. He just goes.

He arose and went. And it's only after He obeys this first command that the Holy Spirit gives him further direction. And this isn't the way the Lord leads us so many times. I know this is how He's led me so many times. He leads us to take a step.

When all around us is fog, and we can't see very far, but He leads us to take a step, not really knowing where that road that we're stepping onto is going. Sometimes maybe not even seeing much farther than the place that we're standing. But as we take that first step as the Lord directs us, then the next step is revealed. Then we see a little bit farther down the road. So when Philip gets to this desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza, which would be one of the routes back to Africa and Ethiopia, then he encounters this Ethiopian in his chariot.

And the Holy Spirit then directs him to run up and overtake the chariot. And when he does, he hears this Ethiopian reading the Bible from the prophet Isaiah. And he goes up and asks him, do you understand what you are reading? Notice here how Philip is following the leading of the Holy Spirit. He is being directed by the Holy Spirit to take very specific steps.

Go to this road. Go to this desert road. See that chariot? Go overtake that chariot. But that doesn't stop Philip from using his own mind to also act.

He doesn't sit passively waiting for the Holy Spirit to tell him what to do next. That would be a denial of the Scriptures which He had, which do tell us, do give us direction from the Lord. See, He's using His mind, He uses His mind as it has been instructed by the Scriptures to carry out what the Holy Spirit is telling him to do. The Holy Spirit told him to go overtake the chariot, but when he overtook the chariot, then he heard this man reading from the prophet Isaiah, and then he says, ask them this question to engage them in conversation. You see, this is true obedience.

You little children, when your parents tell you to do something, Do you do exactly what they say and nothing more? Or do you use your mind and the understanding that you've given from living in that home to be able to carry out that direction in the way that you think they would want it to be carried out? In other words, do you bring your mind to fill out the things that you've been directed to do so that you do a job that is fully pleasing? You see, this is how Philip is obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit. He didn't just run up to the chariot, overtake and say, okay Lord, now what do I do?

And wait there for the Lord to tell him the next thing. No. He overtook the chariot. Here's this person reading the Scriptures. And then he begins, without any further instruction, he begins a conversation with the Ethiopian.

Now Luke tells us that this Ethiopian is a eunuch. It makes a point of saying that this man is a eunuch. In the ancient world, the best and the brightest boys and young men from kingdoms that were conquered were made eunuchs, which means that they were castrated, like when you castrate a bull or when you castrate a stallion. These eunuchs, these castrated men, These eunuchs, these castrated men, were trusted by ancient pagan kings to serve as high officials in their court. It's interesting that the Hebrew word for eunuch is also a word for an official of a court.

Same word. They were often used as officials because as eunuchs, they don't have children, they can't have children, and they were less likely to plan or think of the next generation. Being castrated, they lacked many of the aspects that make a man a man. Many of the secondary features that make a man a man. But also it changes their mindset as well.

The same way that a steer, which is a castrated bull, has a very different personality and disposition than a bull. And so they were less likely to have ambitions for the next generation. And so they were perceived as being less likely to lead revolts and so on against kings. Now that doesn't mean that eunuchs were less prone to sin or that they didn't rebel or revolt against their king. Many did kill their masters.

Like in Esther 6, you remember, where two eunuchs had plotted to kill King Ahasuerus and Mordecai. They thwarted their plan by disclosing it to the king. Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were most likely, almost certainly eunuchs. Isaiah, remember, had told King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20 that Babylon would come and take away some of his sons who will descend from him whom you will beget, and they will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." Daniel, you remember, became a very high ranking official in the Babylonian kingdom, trained initially by the chief of the eunuchs in Babylon. And Nebuchadnezzar made him a ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon.

And later under the Medo-Persian empire, he was one of three governors who was set over 120 sat traps that ruled over the entire Medo-Persian kingdom. And then you remember under Belt-Shazar, when he had deciphered the writing on the wall, Belt-Shazar made him third in the kingdom, meaning he was comparable to himself in reigning. Now, God had, you remember, forbidden any castrated person from entering the temple. In Deuteronomy 23, verses 1 and 2, He who is emasculated by crushing or by mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. One of illegitimate birth shall not enter.

That means somebody who is born to a mother who wasn't married to the father. One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord." No castrated descendant of Aaron was able to serve as a high priest. It was a disqualification. This practice of castrating men to serve as high officials and servants in the court even reached into Israel under the pagan kings.

Remember, it was Eunuchs in the palace who threw Jezebel out the window. Jezebel, that wicked wife of King Ahab, it was Eunuchs that threw Jezebel out the window at Jehu's command. Remember, he said, who is on the Lord's side? These eunuchs spoke up and he said, throw her out the window. Jeremiah also mentions eunuchs in Jeremiah 38.

She mentions a eunuch in the court of Zedekiah who interceded for Jeremiah when he had been thrown into that dungeon by the other princes. It was the eunuch that interceded for him. So there's another example of eunuchs in courts and in positions of influence and power. Jesus spoke about eunuchs in the New Testament on one occasion after when He had affirmed that Old Testament teaching on divorce, that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except for an occasion and he marries another would be guilty of adultery. And you remember the disciples' response to that.

Well, Lord, then it's better that we don't even be married. And Jesus' answer was this. He said, All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born this way from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it." I think he's speaking about those who refrain from marriage in that latter case.

The first two are actual cases, or physical eunuchs. But Paul speaks of this in 1st Corinthians 7 when he speaks of a man who is married has to care for his wife or a woman who is married has to care for her husband and so that takes away from their ability to serve the Lord. So this is the case then with this eunuch. He is, like all these other examples, he's a high official in the Ethiopian court. He is a man of importance and great influence in Queen Candice's court.

In Candice, there is more of a throne name like Pharaoh or Caesar. It's a Latinized version of a Merootic term. And Mero was the capital city of this region. It was called Ethiopia today. It would be in what's modern day Sudan.

And there was a period of time when a number of Queens ruled this country that went by the name of Candice. And it literally, in that language, meant like a queen region or a queen mother. And this city of Mero in Ethiopia became a very wealthy city because of its position at the crossroads of trade through Africa. And so this man, this eunuch, is a high official in the court of a very wealthy queen in a very wealthy city. He's a highly trusted man because he has charge of the treasury of this wealthy country.

He is the treasurer of it. He controls the finances. So he is in a position of high trust. And also significant influence. The people that have the checkbook are the ones that people come to when they need something.

And we know that he was also wealthy because he possesses this scroll. That's a sign of wealth. We think about a book as something easy to buy, and that day it would have taken a scribe maybe several days to write out a copy of a book like Isaiah. You just add up the wages of a skilled person for several days, and you're into the thousands of dollars that a book like this would cost. I don't know exactly, but several thousand dollars.

So you had to be wealthy to be able to afford something like this. He's also riding a chariot. Kings and generals are those who ride in chariots. It's kind of like riding in a black SUV with an escort today. You see that occasionally on the road.

And it's usually high officials that are in those kinds of vehicles. So he's an important man. And he is hungry for the Gospel. He's come to Jerusalem for one of the feasts. Some suppose he may have been a Jewish proselytite.

Others suppose that there may have been some remnant of knowledge from Queen Sheba that was passed down. Because that's where she was from. But whatever the source, it could have been the Lord simply sovereignly working in Him. We don't know, but it doesn't say. But whatever, He was hungry.

And He is searching. And on this long ride home, He's reading the Scriptures. That's a good thing to do. You have a long ride home and you have somebody to drive you. As he probably had, he may have even had a train.

It would have been rare for somebody of his stature to travel all by himself. It may have been quite a train going with this. But he certainly has somebody driving his chariot because he's able to read. And you can't read and drive a chariot at the same time. So he's searching.

He's reading Isaiah. Maybe somebody had recommended that he read Isaiah in Jerusalem. And so Philip sees this chariot, and the Holy Spirit directs him to overtake that chariot, which Philip does, And he asks this question, do you understand what you are reading? Isn't this a wonderful line to open up a conversation about the Gospel? It could be asked of anyone reading something.

Do you understand what you are reading? There are no gimmicks, there are no pseudo-surveys about things that are misleading. It's just a straightforward question and a readiness to help. This is a question that we can ask today when people make references to God. Do you know the God whom you refer to?

When people use Jesus' name in vain and they say Jesus Christ, You can ask them, do you know the Jesus Christ of whom you speak? Or we see somebody reading something or making reference. Do you understand what you are reading? This is a wonderful, wonderful line to remember, to open up a conversation and to turn it to the Gospel, to the Bible. We're never given this man's name.

He's just described as the eunuch everywhere, The eunuch this and the eunuch that. He presumably had a name, but Luke is emphasizing who this man was, his position, his stature as an official, as a high official in the Ethiopian court. But when he's asked this question by Philip, the eunuch responds very humbly. And he exhibits a willingness to learn. And his answer is really an indirect invitation to Philip to explain to him.

He says, how can I understand unless someone explains it to me? And so then the Bible says that Philip opens his mouth, Philip opens his mouth, and beginning at this scripture that he was reading, begins to preach Christ to him. And that word for preach there is eun galizo, which means to simply proclaim good news. Now this place that he's reading is very interesting for a couple of reasons. He's reading from Isaiah 53 about Christ.

And so he wants to know whether this passage in Isaiah 53 is speaking about Isaiah, whether Isaiah is speaking about himself or whether he's speaking about someone else. And so Philip takes this chance to proclaim Christ to him. But immediately following this section that deals with Christ and His suffering and His taking our sins upon Him, there is a very wonderful message to Eunuchs in Isaiah 56. I'd like to just read that section, that passage, Isaiah 56, so you have the full context. Because I would guess that Philip got to this passage as he is proclaiming Christ to this eunuch.

And This is what God says in Isaiah 56. Thus says the Lord, Keep justice and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who lays hold on it, who keeps from the following the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord speak, saying, The Lord has utterly separated me from His people. Nor let the eunuch say, Here I am, a dry tree." A eunuch is a dry tree in the sense he can't have any children.

He can't procreate. He's barren. He's a tree that cannot produce fruit. Isaiah says, don't let the eunuch say, here I am, a dry tree. For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath and choose what pleases me and hold fast my covenant even to them, I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters.

And I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Also, the sons of foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to serve Him and to love the name of the Lord to be His servants, everyone who keeps from the filing, the Sabbath and holds fast My covenant, even them I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar. For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet I will gather to Him others besides those who are gathered to Him." The Gospel that Philip preached to this eunuch is that in Christ, the stigma of Deuteronomy 23 is removed.

That no one could come into the presence of the Lord who had been castrated. Christ removes this. And this passage in Acts here is demonstrating the fulfillment of this promise, this Gospel promise, that this source of disqualification, This source of uncleanness and not being accepted in the sight of God is removed in Jesus Christ. Just like we are unacceptable as sinners, but Christ removes our sin. He takes the guilt of our sin and He removes it.

And He removes the shame of our sin. And that is the Gospel message that Philip preaches. The second point in this is that the Gospel goes to foreigners. In that passage that we read, do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord has utterly separated Me from His people." See, the Gospel going to the Gentiles was taught in the Old Testament. And here's one example.

And this is the Gospel that Philip preached to this foreigner that don't say that God has separated you from His people. Because to the foreigner who joins themselves to the Lord to serve Him, to love Him, and to love the name of the Lord, Everyone who keeps from defiling His Sabbath, them God says He will bring to His holy mountain and make them joyful in His house of prayer." And so God is demonstrating here to Philip through this eunuch the very promise, the glory, and the blessing of the Gospel that even eunuchs who were dry trees, and foreigners who were separated from the covenants, and aliens to the promises, are brought near in Jesus Christ. See, this is a strategic evangelism. Philip was called away from an important and successful ministry for a desert, where you wouldn't have expected to meet anyone. But it set up an encounter of strategic importance because this eunuch is a man of influence.

He's a man of wealth, and he can make a significant impact in the country that he's going back to. He has a wonderful message now, a message from God, that those who are aliens from the Gospel and aliens of the covenant, and cut off to the tenth generation from coming into the temple and worshiping God, we're now able to be brought near. See, he's a man in his position who can have great influence for the good and who is in a position to proclaim the Gospel to a whole country. You know, when kings are converted, nations can be converted. After the U.S.

Conquered Japan at the end of World War II, it is reported that the Emperor asked Douglas MacArthur, who was the Supreme Allied Commander, if that meant that the nation had to become Christians. And Douglas MacArthur missed a wonderful opportunity for the Gospel. He should have said, absolutely it does. Because the Emperor recognized that being conquered by the American nation meant that he had to adopt the religion of the Americans. And in his view, that religion was Christianity, Because that was the religion upon which our country was founded in 1639, with the first constitution.

It acknowledged Jesus Christ as the King of Kings, and the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the Word of God. And he was asking, do we now have to become a Christian? If MacArthur had said yes, then that nation would have been baptized. Does that mean that they were all converted and regenerated? No, certainly not.

But it means that that nation was marked as God's people. And see, that's something of what's happening here. This influential leader in this court is going back now with the Gospel. A Gospel that says look to all his fellow eunuchs, to all his fellow officials, to the whole nation of foreigners that in Christ they are brought near. What do we learn then from this passage about evangelism?

We learn that Philip is available. He's available even when God calls him to leave a very successful, apparently outward successful ministry, outward and inwardly. He's available. He's willing to leave. Leave it all in a moment.

Go where God sends him. Philip is prompt in his obedience. He doesn't wrestle along with how do I need to leave this prosperous place. He goes immediately. He's also willing to engage strangers.

Did you notice that? He talks to somebody who is a complete stranger, who is a different race, who is a eunuch, who is a high official in a country, who is probably in the midst of a royal train. And he engages him. He is not intimidated in any way by this stranger. Philip also obeys intelligently.

He follows the directions of the Holy Spirit, but then as he sees things and he understands the Word of God, he responds intelligently. He follows, he obeys intelligently. And he also focuses on Christ and on the Scripture. He starts the conversation bringing Him to Christ. And then He preaches Christ to Him.

Such that the eunuch obeys the command to be baptized. So as he's preaching Christ to this eunuch, they came to the water and the eunuch says, ah, here's water. What's to hinder me from being baptized? So he had some understanding already to even know about baptism and the connection with this. Now verse 37 I'll point out is not in the majority text.

It's not in 88% of the Greek manuscripts. It's not in there. This whole verse. And those manuscripts that it's not in are the lines of best transmission. They're the best lines of manuscripts.

It's not in there. And in the 12% of the manuscripts that this verse is in, there are 18 different variations of it, which does not lead one to a lot of confidence. But one of the compilers, Wilbur Pickering, of the majority text, who is a Baptist in his theology, said that if the Ethiopian unit, or if Philip didn't say this, he should have. And if it wasn't written in the text, if Luke didn't put it in the text, it probably happened. And people have surmised that, well, Philip probably retold this account many times, and in other times of telling it, he added this detail.

But I would say this is not in the majority text, and I don't believe it's in the infallible Word of God that we have. But, and that's significant only in this, in that this is the only place in the Bible that attaches any conditions to baptism. Everywhere else, we simply read that people believe and are baptized. There's no if-then scenario. Like there is with the Lord's Supper.

There is a requirement that you have to examine yourself to be a member of a church and so on to partake of the Lord's Supper. There's no such requirement that's ever given for baptism. People believe and are baptized, even like Simon that we saw last week. He believed he was baptized, even though he was completely unregenerate and reprobate and never turned away from his magic arts. But also we see that God sovereignly prepares this opportunity.

It's the Lord's sovereign work in this eunuch that makes Him believe. That prepares Him. That causes him to be seeking for the truth, that causes him to be reading in Isaiah, that prepared the soil for Philip to come along and preach. God sovereignly prepares the opportunity. And if he does this to this Ethiopian eunuch, he can prepare anyone's heart, regardless of where they are, whether they're in communist North Korea, or communist China, or Shamans in Africa, the Lord sovereignly calls and prepares those whom He has chosen.

And our duty, our calling is to be faithful like Philip. To be available, to be prompt in our obedience, to be willing to engage strangers, to obey intelligently and to focus upon Christ and the Scriptures. May God give us grace to do that. Heavenly Father, please bless to our hearing this portion of Your Word. Lord, may it stick in our minds.

May we remember what Your Spirit is teaching us here. May we be those who are prompt in our obedience, who are available when you call, who follow the promptings of your Holy Spirit as you lead us to reach out to people. Lord, may you overcome, enable us to overcome the fears that keep us silent, the fears that suppress our willingness to engage with strangers, especially about the Gospel. And Lord, even the language barriers. May you grant success in reaching across these language barriers to bring your word to those whom you have created in your image.

We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Thanks for watching!