THE ETHIOPIAN PRINCIPLE – REDISCOVERING EVANGELISM
Ps. Nicholas Choo
Acts 8:26-40
26Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south£ to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) 27So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” 30So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
33In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”
34The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?”£ 38He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, 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 snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
The greatest reviva Al in the New Testament is when God sent a great persecution. (Acts 8 & after). Where the church members brought the church to the people (non-believers).
The Four-Fold Framework:
1. “Get-up” (Arise)
· If you don’t get up, you do nothing.
· The Bible talks about it 160 times (in NASB)
· When you get up, it will lead to the call of destiny (Gen. 12 shows us that Abraham left his comfort zone)
3 key terms associated to the word “arise”
a. Call of destiny
b. Call of miracle (Mark 12) – the four men who carried the sick men and broke into Peter’s house and ask Jesus to heal their friend.
c. Call of commission (Matt. 28)
2. “Get out and Go”
· Some need the alarm to wake up
· Some need the ALARM to wake up
· Never hear ALARM
· But God wants us need no alarm to get-up and get out.
· In the midst of what we’re doing, our ears must be sensitive to God’s voice. As God is the One who sets the opportunity for the saints to meet the sinner.
“Behold” (verse 27) – close enough for Philip to see
3. “Get Near”
· Only when Philip get close he saw a stranger, who is a seeker, a sinner with an eternal soul, who needs to be saved.
4. “Get Into”
Verse 30b says: “…“Do you understand what you are reading?”
· Convince
· Convict
· Confess
· Commit
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