No Crisis Experience Commanded #9

The point: Make good use of traveling time by listening to the Bible on tape, as the Ethiopian eunuch made good use of his time by reading Isaiah.

The eunuch reading Isaiah in his chariot is compared to modern believers listening to Bible cassettes in their cars, illustrating making good use of travel time for spiritual growth.

And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candacy, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship. And he was returning and sitting in his chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah. And may I say, in a little aside, the counterpart of that is this. The counterpart of that is getting an inexpensive tape deck and get some cassettes of the Bible.

21:26 - 21:50 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He contrasts the extraordinary Spirit reception in Samaria (Acts 8:14-17) with the ordinary conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-39), emphasizing Philip's preaching of…

A hypothetical scenario of someone reading Isaiah 53 on a subway and asking 'Who is Isaiah talking about?' is used to illustrate how easy the Lord made it for Philip to witness to the eunuch.

For his life is taken from the earth. The eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaks the prophet? Of himself or of some other? Now, how would you love to get on a subway or train or bus tomorrow and someone sitting there reading out loud in his Bible and just as you plunk down next to him, he reads this passage and turns to you and says, Who in the world is Isaiah talking about?

23:39 - 24:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Bear the tedium at times in studying God's truth in order to be safe as a servant of Christ and a child of God.

Saul of Tarsus is presented as the most unlikely candidate for conversion, illustrating God's sovereign grace in choosing and transforming individuals.

You've done all the damage you're going to do to my church, to my people, and you've served the devil and yourself and your false conscience long enough. And I've got great purposes for you. So he knocks him off his horse, flat on his face, blinds him, speaks to him. I mean, if anyone has any question about the nature of sovereign grace and conversion, just read Acts 9.

29:44 - 30:07 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin examines the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (Apostle Paul) across three accounts in Acts (9, 22, 26), demonstrating that despite his unique calling, his reception of the…

Paul's description of Ananias as a 'devout man, according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews' in his testimony before Jews is highlighted as an example of 'holy tact' in evangelism.

We don't even get these facts about Ananias originally, but now he slips in some facts. A beautiful example of holy tact. He's trying to make his message as unoffensive as possible. So he says, The fellow that first contacted me after I heard the voice from heaven, he was kosher.

34:56 - 35:13 Read in full sermon