ChosenRebel's Blog

Monday is for Discussion

Looking more closely at what God did with the Ethiopian Eunuch. Here are the facts as we know them:

• He is from Ethiopia (vs. 27)
• He is a Eunuch (vs. 27) –probably by choice rather than physical cutting or birth else he would not be able to enter the Temple (Assuming he did when he went to Jerusalem)
• He is a worshiper of Yahweh, having come to worship in Jerusalem (vs. 27)
• He is humble enough to receive help (vs. 30-31)
• He is a motivated and interested searcher after truth—reading the scroll of Isaiah 53. (vs. 32-33)
• He asks the right interpretive question (vs. 34)
• Philip begins with the Scripture quoted and tells him “the good news about Jesus” (vs. 35)
• When the Ethiopian believes, Philip baptizes him (vs. 36-38)
• Immediately after the baptism, the Spirit removes Philip away and the Ethiopian never sees him again (vs. 39-40)
• The Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing (vs. 39), presumably, back to Ethiopia.

THE SOVERIGNTY OF GOD

The Spirit of God is in complete control of the action. He tells Philip to take the Gaza road (vs. 26). He orders him to join the Ethiopian in his chariot (vs. 29). And it is the Spirit of the Lord that takes Philip away after his conversion and baptism (vs. 39). 

And it is hard to escape that it is the Spirit of God that sends the Ethiopian Eunuch back to Ethiopia and the court of Candace ALONE. The gospel is entrusted to one person for a nation. As far as we know, this man, never mentioned again in the pages of Scripture, is the one responsible for taking the good news of Jesus to this African country.

The Spirit of God trusts his converts to take
the gospel to the world.
Do we trust our converts to take the gospel
to even their neighbors?

What’s wrong with this picture? 

Marty Schoenleber, Jr. is the founding pastor of one church, the teaching pastor of another and the church planting trainer/mentor of over 200 other church planting pastors. For 14 years he sereved as adjunct professor of Church Planting at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and has taught Preaching at the International School of Theology, and Evangelism at Moody Graduate School of Theology. His latest book is Picking a President: Or Any Other Elected Official (CrossBooks, [May 2012]). You can follow Pastor Marty on twitter @1Chosenrebel4JC. (update: actually, that is not his latest book but you can find all seven of his books on Amazon.)