On April 28th, 2024, Rev. Matt Sapp discusses the story of Philip baptizing an Ethiopian eunuch, emphasizing inclusion and the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding acceptance. It highlights the theme of full inclusion in the gospel for all, overcoming exclusion based on differences.
Acts 8:26-40
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Other scriptures mentioned, in order
Additional Links
Chapters
00:00 The Welcome
00:13 Here Is Water
18:30 The Benediction
Central is proud to be a place
Want to learn more about Central? Visit our website at centralbaptistnewnan.org or give us a call at 770-683-0610.
Acts 8:26-40
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Other scriptures mentioned, in order
Additional Links
Chapters
00:00 The Welcome
00:13 Here Is Water
18:30 The Benediction
Central is proud to be a place
- where all generations worship, grow, and serve together.
- where women and men have equal opportunities for leadership.
- where traditional worship is engaged with excellence.
- and where diverse approaches to Christian faith and theology all find themselves at home under the lordship of Christ.
Want to learn more about Central? Visit our website at centralbaptistnewnan.org or give us a call at 770-683-0610.
[00:00:00]
Katie Faison:
Good morning, and welcome to Central Baptist Church on this very exciting morning when we get to baptize 6 believers. We are so glad that you could be with us.
[00:00:13] Matt Sapp:
Our message text this morning from Acts chapter 8, we've read just a brief portion of it as part of our baptisms. We'll read the whole thing thing together now. Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, go south to the road, the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to to Gaza. So he started out and on his way, he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake, which means queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The spirit told Philip, go to that chariot and stay near it. Then Philip ran up the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet.
Do you understand what you are reading? Philip asked. How can I, he said, unless someone explains it to me? So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of scripture the eunuch was reading. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is like a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation, he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth. The eunuch asked Philip, tell me please who is the prophet talking about? Himself or someone else?
Then Philip began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized? And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
The Ethiopians question, what is to prevent me from being baptized, is not an idle question. The only two things we know about him are things likely to leave him excluded. What is to prevent me from being baptized? Well, first, you're Ethiopian. You're ethnically and racially different. And second, you're a eunuch, you're sexually different. The only two things we know about this man are things that make him different and different in ways that often left him excluded. Philip happens upon this Ethiopian man on a deserted stretch of road. He's a man well positioned in the court of the Ethiopian queen.
He's not just some straggler on the side of the road. He's a man of substance and position, but his differences mean that he's not someone who has always been easily included. So his question, what is to prevent me from being baptized, is not an idle one. This Ethiopian in Acts chapter 8 is on his way home from Jerusalem to, the scripture tells us where he had been worshiping at the temple. There's a very specific group of people in the new testament who show up over and over again. They're referred to as God fearers. Roman soldiers. Sometimes they're Greek citizens. Sometimes they're Ethiopian eunuchs. Always they're gentiles. Gentiles of all kinds, non Jews, these God fearers are.
They're non ethnically Jewish people who study the Jewish scriptures, who are interested in learning more about following Jewish rules and customs and practice and worship. This Ethiopian was one of those God fearers, a non Jewish person who had traveled to Jerusalem to worship in the temple, but he barely even got to worship while he was there. The temple courts in Jerusalem were divided by category. We talked about this some before Easter. Moving from the outside in, there was the outer court of the Gentiles way at the far reaches of the temple complex. Inside that very far outer court of the Gentiles, inside that, there was the court of the women where Jewish women were allowed.
And inside that court, there was a court reserved just for Jewish men, and then inside that area was an area reserved only for the priests, and then inside that area, getting toward the center of the temple was the holy of holies, the place where God resides, and only the high priest, only one man could go in there, and then only once a year. The entrances to the inner most courts, the court for the priests, and then the court for the holy of holies, those entrances were separated from the rest of the temple by these tall heavy curtains that hung down from floor to ceiling so that no one could get a glimpse inside of them, and everything about what happened closer to the center of the temple just seemed shrouded in mystery. The Ethiopian eunuch had just come from worshiping there, where the only place he was welcome was in the very outer court of the Gentiles.
That would be like him coming to worship here this morning and not just being asked to stand on the sidewalk outside, but across the street on the sidewalk in front of the Trex store. Right? So his question, what is to prevent me from being fully included, was not an idle question. Theologian Bradley Chance reminds us that this Ethiopian's disqualification from full participation the It was rooted in scripture. Deuteronomy 23:1 specifically excludes eunuchs from the assembly of the Lord, specifically excludes them from worshiping in the temple. So the tough task for us, he writes, is to decide how we will respond to those who want to worship with God's people, but whom our traditions, even our scriptural traditions, seem to disqualify.
Now, in contrast to Deuteronomy 23, Isaiah 56:3 through 7 says this about eunuchs. Let no foreigner say, surely the Lord will exclude me from his people, and let no eunuch stay say the same, the prophet writes. To eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, I will give a name better than sons and daughters. And to foreigners who keep the faith like Ethiopians, their sacrifices will be accepted on my altars. In contrast to that Deuteronomy 23 verse, a day is coming, says the prophet Isaiah, when all people, even Ethiopians and eunuchs will be fully included and welcomed.
And in Acts chapter 8, we see that day arriving. In that way, welcoming people who had been previously excluded isn't the contra veining of scripture, it is the fulfillment of scripture. And the Ethiopian who had been reading, not coincidentally by the way from that very same book of Isaiah, the one who had been excluded from the temple just the day before looks up at Philip and asks, what is to prevent me from being fully included? Another thing to notice here in this passage, is that this passage like lots of things that happen in the book of acts is incredibly spirit filled. This isn't just one man, Philip, randomly deciding that now we're gonna start baptizing eunuchs and welcoming Ethiopians.
This is a spirit led movement, a spirit led change. Look on the back of your worship guides. Our passage begins with an angelic command. The spirit telling Philip to travel down this particular deserted road. Guided by the spirit, Philip meets the eunuch. He's told to go and stand by and wait while he's reading the scriptures who's quite obviously predisposed to receive the gospels. He's just come from the temple to worship. He's sitting there reading scripture right now. The spirit explicitly directs Philip to approach this man. The eunuch just happens to be reading from a text in Isaiah about the salvific work of the coming messiah, just the entry Philip needs to share the gospel.
Spirit is then present in Philip's presentation to open the Ethiopian's mind to the full truth and meaning of scripture, to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. In the story, water somehow appears right on queue, a little pool in a roadside ditch to be available for baptism. And then, Philip is mysteriously suddenly gone. Disappeared. Taken away by the spirit of God. Led by the spirit to preach the gospel in the surrounding towns and villages. Look closely. This is not an ordinary passage recounting an ordinary event. There's something nonmaterial happening here, something material happening here, something spiritual.
Left to his own devices, Philip would never have preached a gospel that included anyone, but those already inside the fold. Neither would Peter have, read Acts chapter 10. Neither would Paul. Paul is a Pharisee's Pharisee. He knows who's in and who's out. But Philip, Peter, and Paul, all 3 of them in the book of acts are guided by spirit led second conversions. As they wrestled independently with scripture and tradition and faith and the activity of God in their lives, and the activity of God in the people around them. Their initial inclination, all of them, was to keep people with differences out.
And they, and we, have Deuteronomy 23 to lean on with our initial inclinations. But the spirit intervenes to lead us to include more people than we would naturally be inclined to. As I mentioned earlier, we talked twice in the weeks leading up to Easter about the the stratification of those temple courts, the outer court and the intermediate court and the the inner court and the holy of holies and the curtains that divide those inner courts, But we talked too about those curtains on Good Friday. While Jesus was on the cross, some of y'all know this know this scripture. Some of y'all know these verses. While Jesus was on the cross, scripture tells us that those curtains, those big heavy curtains dividing the inner portions of the temple were torn in 2 from top to bottom, ripped from top to bottom, left lying on the floor of the temple, leaving whatever artificial divisions we had preview previously created left in tatters.
As we said, God is set loose on the world. Rushing out toward the boundary, roaring out toward the margins. And in the first 10 chapters of Acts, that's the story that's being told on the other side of resurrection. And this passage in acts chapter 8, the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip, it doesn't stand alone. It's in the middle of an incredibly remarkable series of chapters in which all kinds of typically excluded people find themselves joyfully embraced in the kingdom of God. Discipleship is about unraveling that mystery together.
The mystery that God and Jesus Christ has somehow come to bridge the divide of difference and redeem the whole world. Even people who might have previously been excluded. Acts chapter 8 begins what to me are 3 of the most remarkable chapters in all of scripture. If you've got an unusually good memory, you'll remember that we've touched on these chapters together before in worship. They are just shot through with experiences guided by the Holy Spirit. Experiences like this one between Philip and the Ethiopian. And you can't read these chapters together, I dare you to, without coming away with the idea that these chapters are written to emphasize that the gospel is for all people everywhere.
You couldn't find a more diverse group of people presented one after the other if you tried than you find in Acts chapter 8, 9, and 10, it's Samaritans and sorcerers and Pharisees and Roman soldiers and Ethiopians and eunuchs newly welcomed 1 by 1 into the circle of inclusion and God's love. Bang bang bang bang bang. This Acts 8, 9, and 10, ends with an unlikely capstone. It's Peter. Peter is the last one to be converted. A second conversion, but a conversion nonetheless. At the end of this 3 chapter catalog of just a motley crew of unlikely new believers, Peter is the one who comes to a new and and more complete understanding of who God is.
Peter, Jesus' closest disciple. Peter, the number one apostle. Peter, the preacher at Pentecost. Peter, the very first person to offer underneath the water. That Peter. Acts 8, 9, and 10 end with Peter unraveling a new bit of mystery about our faith. And the bit of spirit filled mystery that Peter is converted on is this, the gospel is for everyone. Even for people whom we previously thought were specifically excluded. Peter says, let no man ever call unclean again that which God has now made clean. It's time to stop living a Deuteronomy 23 faith, in an Isaiah 56 world.
And as the holy spirit was present, in the full inclusion of an Ethiopian eunuch, as the holy spirit was present in Peter's evolving understanding of just who is included inside the circle of God's love. The holy spirit leads us to unravel the same mystery too. That's what discipleship is. That's the walk with God we've led these new believers to start today, and we see it happening in real time in acts as even the disciples are taking their next steps along the journey of understanding. The presence of God's holy spirit in our lives, the necessity of God's enduring presence through the holy spirit is itself an indication that there is still more for us to know. More mystery to be revealed, more people to be What is to prevent me from being baptized was not a rhetorical question.
In the middle of a spirit filled experience, the Ethiopian asked, which of my differences will exclude me today? Will the differences that left me on the outside looking in yesterday leave me feeling excluded today too. Some of you may be asking that very same question this morning. We all bring our inadequacies, our insecurities, our sins, our differences with us into these pews. We bring with us all the ways we felt slighted and excluded and and left out in the past, and wonder if we might be left out in the same way in the future. Those things sit uncomfortably inside of us as we sit maybe a bit more comfortably in our pews.
And in this spirit filled room, we ask silently the same question the Ethiopian was brave enough to ask out loud. Which of my differences will exclude me today? None of them. None of them. Read the gospel. None of them. Let's say a prayer together.
[00:18:32] Katie Faison:
Beloved children of God, remember that in our baptism, we are born in the spirit of grace. May we love one another well. May we love our sisters, brothers, and even the stranger well, for God is love in us. Amen.
Good morning, and welcome to Central Baptist Church on this very exciting morning when we get to baptize 6 believers. We are so glad that you could be with us.
[00:00:13] Matt Sapp:
Our message text this morning from Acts chapter 8, we've read just a brief portion of it as part of our baptisms. We'll read the whole thing thing together now. Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, go south to the road, the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to to Gaza. So he started out and on his way, he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake, which means queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The spirit told Philip, go to that chariot and stay near it. Then Philip ran up the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet.
Do you understand what you are reading? Philip asked. How can I, he said, unless someone explains it to me? So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of scripture the eunuch was reading. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is like a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation, he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth. The eunuch asked Philip, tell me please who is the prophet talking about? Himself or someone else?
Then Philip began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized? And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
The Ethiopians question, what is to prevent me from being baptized, is not an idle question. The only two things we know about him are things likely to leave him excluded. What is to prevent me from being baptized? Well, first, you're Ethiopian. You're ethnically and racially different. And second, you're a eunuch, you're sexually different. The only two things we know about this man are things that make him different and different in ways that often left him excluded. Philip happens upon this Ethiopian man on a deserted stretch of road. He's a man well positioned in the court of the Ethiopian queen.
He's not just some straggler on the side of the road. He's a man of substance and position, but his differences mean that he's not someone who has always been easily included. So his question, what is to prevent me from being baptized, is not an idle one. This Ethiopian in Acts chapter 8 is on his way home from Jerusalem to, the scripture tells us where he had been worshiping at the temple. There's a very specific group of people in the new testament who show up over and over again. They're referred to as God fearers. Roman soldiers. Sometimes they're Greek citizens. Sometimes they're Ethiopian eunuchs. Always they're gentiles. Gentiles of all kinds, non Jews, these God fearers are.
They're non ethnically Jewish people who study the Jewish scriptures, who are interested in learning more about following Jewish rules and customs and practice and worship. This Ethiopian was one of those God fearers, a non Jewish person who had traveled to Jerusalem to worship in the temple, but he barely even got to worship while he was there. The temple courts in Jerusalem were divided by category. We talked about this some before Easter. Moving from the outside in, there was the outer court of the Gentiles way at the far reaches of the temple complex. Inside that very far outer court of the Gentiles, inside that, there was the court of the women where Jewish women were allowed.
And inside that court, there was a court reserved just for Jewish men, and then inside that area was an area reserved only for the priests, and then inside that area, getting toward the center of the temple was the holy of holies, the place where God resides, and only the high priest, only one man could go in there, and then only once a year. The entrances to the inner most courts, the court for the priests, and then the court for the holy of holies, those entrances were separated from the rest of the temple by these tall heavy curtains that hung down from floor to ceiling so that no one could get a glimpse inside of them, and everything about what happened closer to the center of the temple just seemed shrouded in mystery. The Ethiopian eunuch had just come from worshiping there, where the only place he was welcome was in the very outer court of the Gentiles.
That would be like him coming to worship here this morning and not just being asked to stand on the sidewalk outside, but across the street on the sidewalk in front of the Trex store. Right? So his question, what is to prevent me from being fully included, was not an idle question. Theologian Bradley Chance reminds us that this Ethiopian's disqualification from full participation the It was rooted in scripture. Deuteronomy 23:1 specifically excludes eunuchs from the assembly of the Lord, specifically excludes them from worshiping in the temple. So the tough task for us, he writes, is to decide how we will respond to those who want to worship with God's people, but whom our traditions, even our scriptural traditions, seem to disqualify.
Now, in contrast to Deuteronomy 23, Isaiah 56:3 through 7 says this about eunuchs. Let no foreigner say, surely the Lord will exclude me from his people, and let no eunuch stay say the same, the prophet writes. To eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, I will give a name better than sons and daughters. And to foreigners who keep the faith like Ethiopians, their sacrifices will be accepted on my altars. In contrast to that Deuteronomy 23 verse, a day is coming, says the prophet Isaiah, when all people, even Ethiopians and eunuchs will be fully included and welcomed.
And in Acts chapter 8, we see that day arriving. In that way, welcoming people who had been previously excluded isn't the contra veining of scripture, it is the fulfillment of scripture. And the Ethiopian who had been reading, not coincidentally by the way from that very same book of Isaiah, the one who had been excluded from the temple just the day before looks up at Philip and asks, what is to prevent me from being fully included? Another thing to notice here in this passage, is that this passage like lots of things that happen in the book of acts is incredibly spirit filled. This isn't just one man, Philip, randomly deciding that now we're gonna start baptizing eunuchs and welcoming Ethiopians.
This is a spirit led movement, a spirit led change. Look on the back of your worship guides. Our passage begins with an angelic command. The spirit telling Philip to travel down this particular deserted road. Guided by the spirit, Philip meets the eunuch. He's told to go and stand by and wait while he's reading the scriptures who's quite obviously predisposed to receive the gospels. He's just come from the temple to worship. He's sitting there reading scripture right now. The spirit explicitly directs Philip to approach this man. The eunuch just happens to be reading from a text in Isaiah about the salvific work of the coming messiah, just the entry Philip needs to share the gospel.
Spirit is then present in Philip's presentation to open the Ethiopian's mind to the full truth and meaning of scripture, to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. In the story, water somehow appears right on queue, a little pool in a roadside ditch to be available for baptism. And then, Philip is mysteriously suddenly gone. Disappeared. Taken away by the spirit of God. Led by the spirit to preach the gospel in the surrounding towns and villages. Look closely. This is not an ordinary passage recounting an ordinary event. There's something nonmaterial happening here, something material happening here, something spiritual.
Left to his own devices, Philip would never have preached a gospel that included anyone, but those already inside the fold. Neither would Peter have, read Acts chapter 10. Neither would Paul. Paul is a Pharisee's Pharisee. He knows who's in and who's out. But Philip, Peter, and Paul, all 3 of them in the book of acts are guided by spirit led second conversions. As they wrestled independently with scripture and tradition and faith and the activity of God in their lives, and the activity of God in the people around them. Their initial inclination, all of them, was to keep people with differences out.
And they, and we, have Deuteronomy 23 to lean on with our initial inclinations. But the spirit intervenes to lead us to include more people than we would naturally be inclined to. As I mentioned earlier, we talked twice in the weeks leading up to Easter about the the stratification of those temple courts, the outer court and the intermediate court and the the inner court and the holy of holies and the curtains that divide those inner courts, But we talked too about those curtains on Good Friday. While Jesus was on the cross, some of y'all know this know this scripture. Some of y'all know these verses. While Jesus was on the cross, scripture tells us that those curtains, those big heavy curtains dividing the inner portions of the temple were torn in 2 from top to bottom, ripped from top to bottom, left lying on the floor of the temple, leaving whatever artificial divisions we had preview previously created left in tatters.
As we said, God is set loose on the world. Rushing out toward the boundary, roaring out toward the margins. And in the first 10 chapters of Acts, that's the story that's being told on the other side of resurrection. And this passage in acts chapter 8, the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip, it doesn't stand alone. It's in the middle of an incredibly remarkable series of chapters in which all kinds of typically excluded people find themselves joyfully embraced in the kingdom of God. Discipleship is about unraveling that mystery together.
The mystery that God and Jesus Christ has somehow come to bridge the divide of difference and redeem the whole world. Even people who might have previously been excluded. Acts chapter 8 begins what to me are 3 of the most remarkable chapters in all of scripture. If you've got an unusually good memory, you'll remember that we've touched on these chapters together before in worship. They are just shot through with experiences guided by the Holy Spirit. Experiences like this one between Philip and the Ethiopian. And you can't read these chapters together, I dare you to, without coming away with the idea that these chapters are written to emphasize that the gospel is for all people everywhere.
You couldn't find a more diverse group of people presented one after the other if you tried than you find in Acts chapter 8, 9, and 10, it's Samaritans and sorcerers and Pharisees and Roman soldiers and Ethiopians and eunuchs newly welcomed 1 by 1 into the circle of inclusion and God's love. Bang bang bang bang bang. This Acts 8, 9, and 10, ends with an unlikely capstone. It's Peter. Peter is the last one to be converted. A second conversion, but a conversion nonetheless. At the end of this 3 chapter catalog of just a motley crew of unlikely new believers, Peter is the one who comes to a new and and more complete understanding of who God is.
Peter, Jesus' closest disciple. Peter, the number one apostle. Peter, the preacher at Pentecost. Peter, the very first person to offer underneath the water. That Peter. Acts 8, 9, and 10 end with Peter unraveling a new bit of mystery about our faith. And the bit of spirit filled mystery that Peter is converted on is this, the gospel is for everyone. Even for people whom we previously thought were specifically excluded. Peter says, let no man ever call unclean again that which God has now made clean. It's time to stop living a Deuteronomy 23 faith, in an Isaiah 56 world.
And as the holy spirit was present, in the full inclusion of an Ethiopian eunuch, as the holy spirit was present in Peter's evolving understanding of just who is included inside the circle of God's love. The holy spirit leads us to unravel the same mystery too. That's what discipleship is. That's the walk with God we've led these new believers to start today, and we see it happening in real time in acts as even the disciples are taking their next steps along the journey of understanding. The presence of God's holy spirit in our lives, the necessity of God's enduring presence through the holy spirit is itself an indication that there is still more for us to know. More mystery to be revealed, more people to be What is to prevent me from being baptized was not a rhetorical question.
In the middle of a spirit filled experience, the Ethiopian asked, which of my differences will exclude me today? Will the differences that left me on the outside looking in yesterday leave me feeling excluded today too. Some of you may be asking that very same question this morning. We all bring our inadequacies, our insecurities, our sins, our differences with us into these pews. We bring with us all the ways we felt slighted and excluded and and left out in the past, and wonder if we might be left out in the same way in the future. Those things sit uncomfortably inside of us as we sit maybe a bit more comfortably in our pews.
And in this spirit filled room, we ask silently the same question the Ethiopian was brave enough to ask out loud. Which of my differences will exclude me today? None of them. None of them. Read the gospel. None of them. Let's say a prayer together.
[00:18:32] Katie Faison:
Beloved children of God, remember that in our baptism, we are born in the spirit of grace. May we love one another well. May we love our sisters, brothers, and even the stranger well, for God is love in us. Amen.
