The Plan for the Summer July – What the Bible teaches about Evangelism August – How to practically reach out to Others
The Role of God’s Spirit in Evangelism Acts 8:26-40 – God directs Philip to meet a specific man 26-28 – An angel of the Lord directs Philip to the desert 29-38 – The Spirit of the Lord tells Philip to meet a specific man 39-40 – The Spirit of the Lord takes Philip away when the job is done
The Role of God’s Spirit in Evangelism 26-28 – An angel of the Lord directs Philip to the desert 26 – God initiates this story “an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip” 26 – The plan did not need to make sense to Philip “go to the south” This is desert (no one around) Philip had been in the city of Samaria (many people around)
The Role of God’s Spirit in Evangelism 26-28 – An angel of the Lord directs Philip to the desert 27 – Who is this special man? Ethiopian Eunuch Great authority – in the treasury department 27-28 – What does he know of God? He had been to Jerusalem to worship He was reading from Isaiah
The Role of God’s Spirit in Evangelism 29-38 – The Spirit of the Lord tells Philip to meet a specific man 29-31 – God directs Philip to the specific chariot 32-35 – God has the Ethiopian reading in Isaiah 53 36-38 – God gives the Ethiopian a responsive mind to believe God’s word
The Role of God’s Spirit in Evangelism 29-31 – The Spirit of the Lord tells Philip to meet a specific man 29 – God directs Philip to the specific chariot – a specific man “go near this chariot” “overtake this chariot” 30-31 – Philip and the Ethiopian talk Philip obeyed – he run over to the chariot Philip took initiative – he heard and he asked The Ethiopian knew he needed help, and asked Philip to teach him
The Role of God’s Spirit in Evangelism 32-35 – The Spirit of the Lord has the Ethiopian reading Isaiah 53 32-33 – He was reading from Isaiah 53:7-8 Likely the whole passage and not just parts of these two verses These verses do focus on Jesus’ death for our sins 34 – The Ethiopian wondered of whom these verses referred. 35 – Philip explained that Isaiah was writing about Jesus
The Role of God’s Spirit in Evangelism 36-38 – The Spirit of the Lord gives the Ethiopian belief 36 – The Ethiopian wanted to get baptized. He wanted to join the group that Philip belonged to – that of the followers of Jesus 37 – True belief in Jesus Philip responds that only those who truly believe in Jesus can become one of His followers. The Ethiopian claimed that Jesus (the man) was the Christ (the promised Messiah) and the Son of God (God) 38 – Philip baptized this man
The Role of God’s Spirit in Evangelism 39-40 – The Spirit of the Lord takes Philip away when the job is done 39 – God does an amazing miracle “The Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away” Why would God do this? The one result was that the Eunuch didn’t see Philip anymore. He responded by rejoicing. Philip would have seemed like a messenger from God to him, and he would trust Philip’s message even more The second result was that Philip was suddenly back among people, where he sought out crowds to preach the Gospel to, ending in the city of Caesarea.