This morning, we wanna spend the next few minutes talking about this idea of what would it look like to listen closely and then respond immediately to listen closely and then respond immediately tonight in the big game, there are gonna come some crucial moments where something's gonna happen and there's gonna be a big play and they're gonna look back and say that play or that series of plays, we're gonna look back and see how somebody maybe offense or defense or special teams made the difference. They stepped up right when they needed to and they make that play and it's talked about for years to come. And I think all of us have the capability of stepping up in a big moment and all of us have the ability to listen well and then to respond immediately and let me prove it to you. I was in a very spiritual place, I believe it's called in and out. And uh and it's one of my favorite things of living here in Arizona. And uh and so you go to in and out and, and you, you understand the flow you go in, you, you make your order and then they say here's your number, right? Your number 254. Ok. And may, maybe it's just me but I never listen more intently than I do in that moment. You know what I'm talking about. Like you sit down and you pay attention and, and I wish the intercom was a little clearer. Right? Because your number is 254 and you hear over the intercom, I'm like, what is that me? Is that, is that? Yeah. No, no. Ok. Yeah. Uh I should order that. Ok. And they used to back down. Ok. Not me. And then it never seems to go in order. Does it like it goes through, it's like 251 plus 252 2 54 2 away 253. I start to get up and like you 271 I'm like, wait, you just skipped a whole bunch 332 but we're in a, we're in a different hundreds. Now, what is this like seven Niner? Did I hear a Niner? Like what is? But then when your number is called and you jump up, right? And you're so excited and you, and, and you get your double, double. Ok. With ketchup mustard lettuce onion, preferably not grilled, but I'll take it if need be right and you go and you get your order and you sit down and then you forget any other number that it's ever called. You know what I mean? You tune out. It's like, it's like you listen so intently and you respond, you jump up and then you don't even hear the numbers at that point. And I wonder how many of us as, as we sit there, if, are we listening to God, like we've already got it and we're, and we're not paying attention or are we sitting there in anxious anticipation ready for when our numbers call? Because when God calls, when He prompts, when he goes out there, are you ready and willing to respond? And so if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down because here's the concept we wanna break down today is that when God prompts choose to pursue this idea of listening closely and then responding immediately that when God prompts when God calls your spiritual number, when he, when it's that little tap on the shoulder, a little whisper in the ear, are you listening first of all? And then are you ready to respond? Can you choose to lean into that prompting? Can you choose to pursue what God has called you to? Because we're gonna take a look at a story found in a really the story here found in acts chapter eight. And, and there's really three characters that we see in this story we see in here, there's God and we see God's hand in everything. We see that God is moving one gentleman to share. And at the same time, God is calling someone to listen and in the exact moment and they appointed Kairos the moment of God here they meet and they both follow the prompting that God places in their hearts. And so you have God who's, who's orchestrating everything. And then you have Philip Philip here is seen as the deacon, he's described as a servant there in acts chapter six, he would later be described as Philip the evangelist. And so he was serving and he is helping distribute food and he starts to share the word of God. And he actually goes in the beginning of acts chapter eight and he actually is preaching the word to Samaria, which for people um connected to the story of faith and Christianity and, and Jews that the people of Samaria were really seen as against the people of Jerusalem. That's why when Jesus and John four share the gospel with the woman at the well, it was a Samaritan woman or the parable of what it means to be a good neighbor is called the good Samaritan. And so he uses the extreme opposite of what one culture thinks to say. No, this, this is, this is what it means to love. This is this gospel is available to them. This is what it means to be a good neighbor. And so he calls Philip to go to Samaria and he's preaching and there's miracles being performed and a ton of people are getting saved. And so from earthly numerical success. Philip is seen as very successful. We even see him sharing the gospel with a magician, a wizard. And so there's some spiritual forces at play. And so he sees this people responding and in an unlikely place and then God's gonna call him to leave that place to go into the desert and just head south. Hey, Philip, go south on this road. And it's interesting because he calls him from something earthly successful to something spiritually significant. But it's one person. It's interesting for us too because sometimes God doesn't call us to something bigger. Sometimes he calls us to something more intimate. Sometimes that call is to the desert makes me wonder as pastors as, as a community. Maybe we need to re evaluate what we view as success because he left something busy, something fruitful. And he goes to the desert to see one person and that's seen as success. Why? Because he was responsive and he pursued and he, he did what the spirit prompted him to do. And so it wasn't just fruitfulness, it was faithfulness and, and we see God move and he didn't even knew what, know what God was gonna do. And then on the other side, you get this guy, he's described as an Ethiopian eunuch. Now not to go too far into what a eunuch is. But basically, if you think about how someone might spay or neuter a dog, what would happen in that day is that court officials sometimes would do that to people so that, that there would not be some activity in the court as well as no one's tempted to overthrow you because you can't have an he. And so if you worked in the court of some of these pagan places, as well as other spiritual places, sometimes they would have or recruit people that to be what we call eunuch. And, and so this, this gentleman here was actually really good at his job. He actually was a treasurer. He was really leading the financial department if you will, of Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians. And, but he was spiritual, he was searching, he, he goes to Jerusalem, Jerusalem to worship potentially during Pentecost. And he's, he stayed a little longer and he's on his way back home and, and he's off to the side of the road and he can read, he's reading the prophet Isaiah, specifically Isaiah 53 and he's in a chariot. So you have an official with an official title but not Jewish descent, not someone that you would think would be super spiritual, but he's educated because he can read. He's searching, he's seeking, but he's also in a chariot. So he's pretty well off. So he does not fit the bill of someone ready to what you would think would start a spiritual movement. But here we pick up the story and we see how these two characters meet here in acts chapter eight verse 26. Now angel of the Lord said to Philip rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place and he rose and he went, this is so fascinating to me. He left a thriving growing ministry to go in a direction of a road south in a desert to meet one person. And it says in here it says, and there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians who was in charge of all her treasure. He had to come, he had come to Jerusalem to worship and he was returning seated in his chariot and he was reading the prophet Isaiah and the spirit of God said to Philip, there's that prompt, go over and join this chariot because here you have somebody me man. Like if you approach an official person in a chariot, that could mean trouble, right? And those days, if you approach someone who's got some authority, who's got some power that that could be an issue, there's a reason they're pulled off and they want to be alone. And so it says in here it says, so Philip ran to him, I don't know if I would run like if someone's got an official and a chariot might have maybe armed guard with because if you're in charge of a treasury, right? I don't know if I'm running that way OK, random and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, do you understand what you're reading? And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. And now the passage of scripture that he was reading was this and this is from Isaiah 53. And he says, like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent. So he opens not his mouth and in his humiliation, justice was denied him. And who can describe this generation for his life is taken away from the earth. And so all in Isaiah 53 and some of the great passages in the Old Testament talking about Jesus written 700 years before the coming of Jesus. And and so this is this great picture. And so he had these questions he says, and the eunuch said to Philip about whom I ask you, does this prophet say this about himself or about someone else? And then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with this scripture. He told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, see here is water. What prevents me from being baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stop and they both went down into the water. And Philip and the eunuch um both Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him and when they came out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away and the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at a, I can't even pronounce words as aas or however you want to say that. And he passed through and he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Cesarea. So here's what's so fascinating to me about this story. There's a number of things, but Philip has this thriving ministry to an unlikely group of people in Samaria. And God calls him away from that and says, I want you to go here and he listens and he chooses to pursue. And in there, he, he meets this gentleman who is also searching and happened to be in the right spot at the right time and there they have a conversation and he shares with him the good news of Jesus. And here is somebody on the other side, the Ethiopian eunuch. This court official here is someone who is powerful, someone who has authority, someone who's got responsibility, someone who would call himself religious. But yet when he is prompted, he in turn responds and receives the good news of Jesus. What is that? Good news? Well, the good news is that the world is separated from God by sin. Sin happens when and there's sins of commissions and sins of omission. That's when you do anything that misses the mark or anything that is away from God, where we exchange God for something else for, for pride, for our sinful desire. So, so any motive, any thought, any word, any deed fill in the blank. We we do it every single day in Romans 323 it says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And so so all of us are seen as sinners separated from God. Well, Jesus seen that separation, knowing that man could not reach up to God. God reached down to man says word became flesh. This is the Christmas story, Jesus lived among us, Emmanuel God with us, had a ministry there. Perfect life gave us the example to follow His way, his teachings, but then ultimately came to die on the cross as penalty for our sins. And so while we could not pay for our sins, we could not pay that debt. That debt is well beyond any credit card of eternity that we could ever pay off. And so, but Him being perfect Him, being fully God fully man dies on the cross to pay that penalty to pay off the eternal credit card of sin debt. And then he defeats debt itself by rising again on the third day. And so we celebrate this story of Easter and this resurrection that comes and this hope and eternal life forever, but abundant life now. And so we receive this relationship, not because we've earned anything, not because we've learned enough, but because we receive the very grace of God grace by its definition is undeserved. And this is the difference between Christianity and any other religion because it, it is an acknowledgment of our own undeserving sinful hearts. And in this story, we see an unlikely person Philip who really wasn't even approached or seen in these gospels. You had the apostle Philip, a different guy and it goes through and, but he gets selected there in act six and he's used and, and he described in acts 21 later as the evangelist and then he goes to an unlikely people group and they start seeing people respond and then he gets called to go in the desert and now he runs into this court official for someone from another country. Now we can't fully substantiate. But tradition goes on that potentially this Ethiopian was one of the first missionaries to that country. And so now we see people responding in their churches in Ethiopia today, from generations from generation to generation generations potentially back from this original convert. So you see an unlikely person talking to another unlikely person in an unlikely way. But how better do you describe grace? And you see this picture that it's not about us. It's about Jesus and receiving that and receiving that, that new identity that, that you, it's not about a religion of things that I need to earn. I need to earn. I need to earn, I need to earn. But it is a grace to receive that Jesus did it for us. And that because of that we can receive that there's freedom. It says in John eight that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. And so we are set free from the power of sin. Now we still battle and we still struggle. But God comes in. He says, I'm gonna give you the Holy Spirit. Not only is it the seal of the promise of eternity tomorrow? But it is the prompting in your heart today. And then we live the rest of our lives in response as a thank you for what God has done for us, not living for our identity but from it. And so here we have this picture and I want to ask the question in here. I wonder how many people here are a Philip somebody who calls themselves a Christian, but God might be prompting them. And here's the thing. It's maybe not even something big. Maybe it's, it's, it's a conversation to have. Maybe it's out and about and like I should text that person. I should have a conversation. I should share my faith. I should ask them how their marriage is doing. I should give to them. I should pay off that bill. I should, I don't know, I don't know what that prompting is because God uses people and he prompts and puts whispers into your ear. And so when you get that nudge, the question is when your number is called, will you be willing to respond? Because that response might not even be to something bigger in your mind? That call might be something more significant in God's mind. And that's a greater version of success, isn't it when we are faithful and obedient to the God places on our lives? So how many of us are Philip in the room? But then I also want to take attention to and, and ask the question, I wonder how many of us are like that court official. You've tried a bunch of different ways. Maybe you've even been searching spiritually and maybe you've come here today because an invitation of a of a friend or invitation of, of somebody or maybe just that little prompting. I should go my question to you is what's, what's stopping you from believing? Why not here? Why not now? Because as a pastor here for 15 years married, three kids, lived in multiple states, done a bunch of different things. The most important decision I have ever made is to put my life, my faith in Jesus Christ alone. And I'm here to tell you that could be the greatest decision you could ever make. We practice here at the church. We have two ordinances as a church. One is communion. We're about to take that in just a moment. And it says in John 112. It says, for those who call on his name, who did receive him and says, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become Children of God. Then when we pass the communion elements, it really represents the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that it goes back to this original gospel story. Now, I wanna tell you here that if, if you are not a believer, I, I want you to know you are welcome here. Come check things out, ask questions, be here. It's and we love it and you're always welcome here. But the practice of communion, the taking of communion is really a family ordeal. It's, it's for the people who believe in Jesus Christ to, to remember what he did to, to confess what we've struggled with, battled with it and to really remind ourselves what grace and faith is really about. And so in just a moment, we're going to actually have a time of communion where we take the elements and take the cup. And if, if you're not a believer, I encourage you actually don't take those elements. But also I want to give you the opportunity to receive the belief because for those who call in the name of the Lord, this is what our call is to. And then we're going to go outside and end and celebrate with a, a young lady who is taking that step of faith and going public with her faith and getting baptized and so I love the phrase there of the official and he says, what's stopping me? And there is baptized? And, and really, that's the qualification there for baptism. It's just that you have a faith you believe in Jesus. And so I wanna ask you maybe what's stopping you? If there is somebody here today, maybe God is prompting you to take that step. And if you believe Jesus Christ is your Lord and savior. And if, if you've been baptized here, I'm not talking about an infant baptism. And that's like a, a seen as a dedication. What I'm talking about is a believer's immersion. Someone who you are personally saying I declare this to be true. This is my God. This is my faith and, and it's really a symbol of what Jesus did. And so if you wanna make that claim today, we're gonna have the opportunity. What's stopping? You might get a little wet. OK? We can get you some towels. We got extra for the community shirts if needed. OK? Now it's not something we're like, OK, I got baptized last week. I'm gonna get baptized again. OK? You're not going through that. It's just, it's just a public declaration of doing that. And so, yeah, I'm not saying to just jump back in the water as many times as possible. It's just, but have you had that moment, that decision moment to say I am going public with my faith. Two quotes here and then we're gonna be done for this morning. Um With Andrew, we've been reading through uh a classic in ministry world called the Master Plan of evangelism by a guy named Robert Coleman. And he says this, he says, when will we realize that evangelism is not done by something but by someone, this is the new evangelism. We need, this is not better methods but better men and women who know their redeemer from personal experience, men and women who see his vision and feel his passion for the world. Men and women who are willing to be nothing so that God might be everything. Men and women who want only for Christ to produce his life in and through them according to his own good pleasure. When God prompts, are you willing to choose to pursue? It might be scary. You might not know the outcome of that, but I wanna challenge you. I wanna encourage you that here on this big day. But really every day. Are you willing to take that step now growing up in Ohio, uh I don't normally cheer for the Bengals, but I'm going to, I'm going back to that root. So it's really, it's just an anti L A cheer. But um I'm just being real, right. Cardinals. Come on, we're just mad anyway. Uh but one guy will be cheering for. Is that the more and more I hear about Cooper Cup, the receiver for the Ramps, the more I see his faith lived out. There was an interview he gave in September when the season began and before he would go on to win what's called the triple crown of receiving this season. And he said this, he, he wrote, he would write verses before he plays. And he says today, the verse that was on my mind, this was back in September today. The verse that was on my mind is that the heart of man chooses his path, but the Lord establishes his steps. He's quoting uh Proverbs chapter 16. He says, and it gave me so much freedom to go out there and play free, giving everything that I had and to know the results rested in Him. I love that, don't you? What if we did did that each and every day? What if we gave everything that we had? That means everything we have to our marriages, everything we have to our parenting, everything we have to our workplace and our relationships and our friendships and our communication, uh whatever you work, it's accounting, you're going to, you're doing accounting to the glory of God. If it's nursing, you are nursing to the, to the glory of God. If you are raising kids, you are raising kids in Christ together, you are doing this together that whatever God has put in your hand, that you will do it with everything that you have that with passion and with presence and with purpose. And the power of God behind you. So that when you feel that very prompting of God, you say I am free to live as God has called me to. And I'm gonna trust him with the results that my friends is a big day. And that is what God has called us to with heads bowed and eyes closed. For just a moment, we're about to take communion is about to be passed in case you didn't receive elements on the way in. I do want to give you a chance to receive. It can look unusual. It can you can receive Christ right now. In this moment in a church set up in a school on Super Bowl Sunday, we had an Ethiopian court official on the side of a road in a chariot. And if God can send Philip to meet him on that road in that spot, I know God can meet you here right now. And so if you've never prayed to receive Him to receive this grace, I want you to pray along with me, dear God. I know that I can't make it on my own. God. I believe in your son Jesus, that he is Lord and savior that by dying on a cross, he paid for my sins and by rising again, he, he defeated sin and death. And, and so God because of you and you alone Jesus, I can be saved. My sins can be forgiven my purpose, my joy. Comes in you and I can't think of a greater time than on a day that the world celebrates. That God, I wanna commit my life to you, not just for a moment, but for eternity. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for loving me. So your sons, let me pray.