Uh, man, what an incredible day of, of celebration. Uh, and look, man, there, there is more to come that I'm excited about. And so, hey, look, let me just say real quick, welcome, welcome to Venture Church. I'm so glad that you're here today. If we haven't had a chance to meet yet, my name's Kyle.
Uh, I'm part of the team. One of the things that, uh, if you have been around, maybe you've heard me say this, uh, man, the the local church, like this moment is, is such an important thing for me. Like, it's been such a big part of my story. The church has, it really has like, like shaped, um, shaped so much of my life. I spent my entire childhood, you know, as a teenager, college student in the church.
And just listen, just so you know, like, that's not, because, uh, I've always just been this hyper spiritual kid. Like I wasn't, I was a fool just like every other teenager. Um, I, I, I was so involved in our church because, uh, I don't know if you know this or not, but, uh, so-so Mississippi, this is not a whole lot going on, okay? I grew up in so-so, uh, this is not a whole lot happening there. But our church, uh, our church had a ping pong table.
And what else do you need as a teenage boy, right? Ping pong table and a mini fridge of Cokes. And like, we were good. And so, uh, we, we hung out at, at the church. And that honestly, just kinda like proximity, right?
Like proximity and presence. It just, it pays off in life. And so, um, I, I can remember there's this one particular event, this trip that we did as a church, a student ministry, a student ministry I grew up in. We, you know, we'd do the summer trips, we'd do all that all the time. I mean, there's one particular trip that just, man, it stands out in my mind.
And really just one night, I don't remember who the, the pastor was. I don't remember what band was at this thing. I don't remember the songs we said. I honestly don't even remember who all was there from our group. But what I remember was, uh, the, the pastor spoke on this one night.
The pastor spoke on John chapter 15. It's where, uh, Jesus teaches I am the vine and you are the branches. He says, apart from me, you can do nothing. Which sounds really scary, except that he follows that up with, but come and abide apart from me. You can do nothing but abide in me.
He invites us to abide, to dwell, to just, to just sit with him. Anybody ever looked at you and said, Hey, just sit with me for a minute and just like, man, it makes you feel seen. It makes you feel special. And here, here Jesus was, and in John chapter 15, inviting us, like, Hey, just, I, I just, I wanna sit with you for a minute. And there was something about that invitation that night.
Man, I, listen, I I've heard thousands of messages. I know I've heard that passage priest, I don't know how many times, but there was something about that night and that invitation where Jesus said like, I just, I wanna be with you. I just, I wanna sit with you for a little while. Will you, will you abide? Will you sit with me?
Like it just meant it grabbed me. That invitation just, it grabbed me and it, and it shook me awake. That, that there's more right there. There, there's more to life than, than broken families and addictions. There's, there's more to life than just trying to please people or win the approval of people that, let's just be honest, we really don't like, like that much anyways.
Like there's more, there's more to Jesus. There's more to church. There's more to church than, than ping pong or hanging out or, or, or trying to network with people. Like there's more, there's, there's hope that lasts. There's, there's joy that persists beyond any circumstances.
Like there's, there's purpose beyond trying to make memories at whatever party may come around the next corner, right? Like, there's, there's more. And I can just remember that invitation. They sit with me for a while, abide with me in it, and it grabbed me in my eyes and just opened up to, to the love of God in my life. And the invitation to, to just be with in my savior.
And I can remember, um, man, just, I love that song, right? My name was called, and I ran outta that grave. For me. What that looked like was I went back to the dorm where we were staying in, and I, I got my Bible and I just meant, I just began to pour over Scripture. I know that might like make me seem a little weird to some of y'all, but I didn't know what else to do.
Like I knew there was, there was more. And man, I didn't know what I was reading. I had no earth the idea what it meant or how to apply it. But like, I knew there was, there was more. And I just, I wanted to find it.
I wanted to figure out what that was and that, that invitation, right? That's what we're celebrating today. We talk about, uh, baptism. We talk about reclaimed Sunday and, and lives that are being reclaimed, lives that are being rescued. We're celebrating the invitation, right?
We're celebrating people who have accepted the open invitation of Jesus to, to abide, to be with, to, to dwell, to, to sit alongside our savior. We're celebrating stories that are, that are being reclaimed, that are being redeemed from death into life. I love that Pictures. We, we, we, we don't go into the water. We're, we, we always say kind of the same thing, like buried with Christ, buried in, in sin, buried in death, and raised to walk in newness of life.
'Cause there's just life. There's more to life offered, offered in Christ and the invitation to abide. And so in just a few minutes, we're gonna celebrate more of those stories. We're gonna celebrate more baptism. We're gonna celebrate more people who are being rescued and reclaimed and redeemed to the purpose that God has for them.
And we're gonna give you an opportunity wherever you are, whatever campus you're at, here at Lincoln Road, or any of our other sites, man, we're gonna give you an opportunity to step into that story, to hear that invitation, and take it on to sit with your savior and to take that step through baptism before we get there, okay? I, I wanna, um, I want to just take a minute. I want to go back to a text that, that we read as a church this past week in, um, in our reading plan. If you've been following along over the past several weeks, as we've been reading through the book of acts together, we, we read Acts chapter eight. And I wanna go back to that story.
And here's what I wanna do, is we kind of walk through this story for the next few minutes as really as I kind of wanna bring us to a place of examination, okay? Um, Socrates, the philosopher, Socrates said, an unexamined life is a life not worth living. Which I realize, okay, I realize you don't have to type out the email. Socrates is not exactly a Christian, I get it. But even Jesus, right?
I mean, maybe a little closer to home force. Jesus may challenged us to count the cost, right? To consider intentionally not just where I am, but where I'm going, where my life is headed, and, and what that journey is gonna cost me. Because this is a reality for all of us. Like, we're, we're on a journey, we're headed somewhere, and our journey is gonna cost us something.
And so let's count that cost. Let's consider, let's examine where we are and where we're going. And so I wanna give you just a couple of questions as we walk through the story to bring us to a place of examination for you, just to consider where you are and where you're going in life. And then we're gonna kind of step back and, and just let the Holy Spirit do his work in all of our stories and all of our hearts. Okay?
So Acts, acts chapter eight, um, starting in verse four. It says, now, those who are scattered, when about preaching the word Philip, Philip went down to the city of Samaria and he proclaimed to them the Christ and the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and they saw the signs that he did for unclean spirits crying out with a loud voice came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city. Now, skip down to verse 26. It says, now, an angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.
This is a desert place. Verse 27 says, and he arose and went, now you wanna talk about like a roller coaster of life. Lemme give you a little background. What's happening here, Philip, um, Philip was, was one of the first few chosen to serve within the church as the church has kind of exploded in Jerusalem. After, uh, Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, raised, he appeared before several hundred people, right?
And then it says that, that after he ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit fell on those that were in the upper room praying together. And man revival broke out in Jerusalem. Thousands of people were saved overnight, and the church just exploded in this city. Well, Philip was there in the midst of all of that. And he was chosen as one of the first few to, to serve the church, to make sure that that people in the church had their needs met, and that, that they were being fed and everything was going smoothly.
I mean, he saw the miracles and the wonders, man. He was there firsthand in the midst of it all. And then persecution broke out in Jerusalem. This is what we read earlier in the Book of Acts. Persecution broke out, hatred, shame, ridicule.
They were beaten, they were arrested. Some were killed because of their faith, because of their belief in Jesus. And it says, because of that persecution that the believers fled, they ran. Luke uses the word here that they scattered, they scattered because of the persecution, but as they ran, they took the Gospel and the message of Jesus with them, Philip lands in Samaria, which honestly was kind of like the, the last choice of assignments. Um, Samari was a, was a people that man, they were always on the outskirts.
They never really were invited in to things. They were always the talked about, they were always the less than. And that's where Philip lands, and he begins to preach the Gospel. And it says, in the exact same way as Jerusalem, man, revival breaks out. People begin to see the hope of Jesus.
Thousands are saved. Miracles are having these great joy in the city and understand, like, like this isn't revival breaking out at the BSU. This is revival breaking out at the bar. Come on, you tracking with me. Like, like you see the difference in the people here.
Like this is an incredible moment. There's joy, there's celebration. I mean, Phillips had all the ups and the downs, and now he's back up again. And, and then God steps in this time with a different assignment, an unexpected assignment. He says, Hey, I need you to go to this road, this desert place.
God takes Philip, and he moves him from, from the crowd, from the celebration, from the revival to this desert road, the word desert. By the way, the same, same word that could be translated as wilderness or even even lonely to a lonely road. Philips called to go walk. You ever been in that place where like, it just feels like life has you by the shirt collar and is just throwing you around, you know, where it just feels like, man, you, you're riding high, things are going good, and all of a sudden you get punched in the jaw. You don't know what's happening.
You can't, you can't get your feet under you. That's where Philip is, just all but can't figure out what's happening. Is it gonna be up? Is it gonna be down today? Listen to me.
Our greatest challenges oftentimes come on the heels of our greatest victories, because they're unexpected. You remember the whole line? Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth, they're unexpected. Our greatest challenges come on the heels of our greatest victories. You get the promotion at work and you're feeling good about it, but all that extra stress and all that extra time at work means you start fighting with your spouse or your kids.
You get your, your major figured out. You, you're passing your classes, you feel good about where you're headed. Maybe you even get a job offer and then your boyfriend cheats on you. Our greatest challenges come on the heels of our greatest victories. And here's the challenge.
Am I going to obey when I don't understand? Am I gonna obey in the unexpected? Am I gonna obey when it doesn't make sense? Can I just be honest with you here? If I'm Philip, I'm having a really hard time with this, I am God, why?
Why would I move from here to there? That doesn't make any sense. Because like, don't you see the good that's happening? There's revival and people are celebrating, and, and God, I like, I, I know it's not 'cause of me, but honestly, like I'm kind of in the middle of it all. Like, don't you want me to stay here?
Like I, I think I can do more here. I'm having a really hard time with this assignment to now go to a lonely road. But for Philip, it says very simply that he rose and he went, no questions asked. He rose, he got up and he went to where God told him to. Why?
Because his purpose was clear obedience. You talk, you wanna talk about a counter-cultural message. Christ calls us not to be successful. Jesus calls us not to be influential, not to be pretty, not to be famous, not to be attractive. He calls us to obey the great commission.
What did he say? Go and teach them to what? To obey, all that I've commanded. So Philip obeyed, for some of us, our obedience looks like the crowd. And it looks like the big moments.
And for some of us, our obedience looks like a lonely road. So here's our first question. I told you, I was gonna give you a couple of questions, right? To kind of bring us into a place of examination. Here's our first one.
What purpose are you living for? What's your purpose? You ever thought about it, ever put words to it? What purpose are you living for? Because here's the deal, we're all living for something.
We all have a purpose, whether it's stated or not, our life is pointed at something to be a good spouse, to be a good boss, to be a good worker, to be influential, to be successful, whatever. And, and listen, most of that is not a bad thing, but Jesus forces us to answer the question, what does it profit a man if he gains the entire world, but he loses his soul and we lose ourself along the way. So often pursuing a purpose beyond obey, obey all that I've commanded. So what is your purpose? What are you living for?
Let's keep reading. Verse 27, he arose Philip Rose and he went and there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians who is in charge of Oliver Treasure. Okay? Paul's right here again, I promise we're gonna get through this, okay? Just hang, we're gonna get through this, okay?
This is God, I don't want you to miss this. Philip is, is called by God to leave this, this big crowd, to leave this big revival, to, to leave this big event and go to a lonely road. Because on that road, God had already ordained a meeting with an Ethiopian government official, a man that was in charge of all of that nation's finances. God had already ordained for his chariot to be on this desert road. The same time Philip the evangelist landed there, but something only God can do.
And God was inviting Phil. It wasn't just assigning Philip to go somewhere, he was inviting him to be a part of a story. Somebody's story of life change. Well, I really do believe, I don't say this lightheartedly, I promise, man, I I really do mean this. And I believe it.
God, I I I believe at venture man, we, we are in the midst of it. I don't know why other than God's hand and God's blessing, man, we are in the middle of an acts kind of movement. I really do. I believe that. I mean, we talk about last year we celebrated this before, just last year, over 300 stories of, of life change, of baptism, of salvation.
Like that's incredible. And we're seeing that played out again this year, today, thousands. Like don't miss this. Thousands of people across south Mississippi, thousands of people are gonna be gathered under one banner worshiping the name of God, proclaiming him being in his word together. Like that's incredible.
In this particular building at, at our Lincoln Road campus, just last week, hundreds of teenagers sat in this room and they worshiped the name of God. This is an incredible thing that we're seeing. And in the middle of it all, there's you stay at home, mom part-time, office worker, retired college student, and the enemy. And the enemy gets in your ear, right? And begins to tell you, Hey, in the midst of all of this, do you think you really matter all that much?
And actually, I want you to see it, man. The enemy may tell you you're just one, you don't matter. And God says, no, no, man, you're one I love deeply. You're not here by accident. There's no way.
You are so way. You're here by accident on a day where we're celebrating at at least 40 people being baptized across venture church. And God's been calling you to step into more. God's been saying, there's more to your story. There's more for you to do.
You're not here on accident, Uhuh God has a word for you. Here it is. This man had had come to Jerusalem to worship. So here was this Ethiopian. He had been in Jerusalem worship, worshiping verse 28.
And now he was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. So Philip ran to him and he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and he asked, do you understand what you're reading? And the man said, how can I, unless someone guides me. And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Here's what we learned about this man. Okay? He is on a journey, he's on, he had been in Jerusalem. He is an Ethiopian government official, been in Jerusalem worshiping because he had heard this message of Jesus. He had heard that there was this man who did miracles and he was crucified.
Now people are saying that he actually got up out of the tomb. That, that the, the church was being born, that there was this thing called the way in which meant thousands of people were beginning to follow and obey. They were turning the world upside down. He had heard these rumors and he said, I gotta go see it. I gotta see what this is all about.
So he goes to Jerusalem, he goes to church, he worships and he walks away with questions. He still doesn't understand it all because listen to me, faith is not just about an experience. Faith is a journey, right? It's a journey. We take one step at a time.
And for many of us, we, we, we have the experiences when we come to church every single week, we, we do the experience thing, we do the worship thing. And yet we walk away feeling unchanged because we're, we're living faith. The one experience at a time, instead of walking the journey, instead of taking the journey that God has us on for this man, his journey would've stopped. And this is where so many of us ha have fallen. His journey would've stopped had he been unwilling to admit his inadequacies.
You understand what you're reading? This dude's a big deal. You understand that, right? Like he's, he's riding up in a chariot, he's in charge of an entire nation's finances, and here comes this stranger running alongside, Hey, do you know what you're reading? Of course I do.
What would people think if, if I told 'em I didn't get it? I'm a 45-year-old dad. What would people think if if I told 'em I messed up? I was wrong. I've, I've been, I've been leading in this way.
People think I've got it all together. What if, what if I told them? What if I actually admitted, I don't think I got it all together. You understand what you're reading? And this man says, of course not.
Can you teach me? Here's the question, alright? Here's the second question. Who are you inviting to sit with you? Are you given permission to sit in the chariot with you?
Who's riding with you on the journey? Craig asked the question last week, what, what is forming you? Because we're all being formed by something, right? We reflect the greatest influences in our lives. And so what is it?
Who is it that we are inviting to influence us? Maybe it's a person, maybe it's a thing, maybe it's a Netflix show. What are you inviting to influence to you who's sitting with you? I just say, this is kind of a side note, but, um, but man, God has really been working on me in this one. One of the things I love in this one I'm really convicted on, um, man, I love in this story is, is Phillips's willingness to get in the chair yet, right?
Because like you, you got this Ethiopian who's saying, Hey, come help me, come sit up here and teach me. But then you got Philip who actually gets in and he, it says he rides with this man. How long did he ride? We have no idea. Maybe an hour, maybe.
He rode all the way to Ethiopia. I honestly don't even know if you can take a chariot from Jerusalem to Ethiopia. But like, he gets in and he rides and he just says, he, they, they talk along the way and he, he opens Scripture to him. Like, one of the things I really long for myself is to be a person of presence like this. Like to, to, to be intentional with interruptions.
I dunno if you get this or not, but like, man, I, I'm really bad with interruptions. I really am. Um, I got, I got a job to do. I got a task to do. I gotta go cut the grass.
I gotta respond to this message. I gotta do this or that. And somebody comes along with a question. And most of the time it's my family And I struggle with it. I, uh, Saturday morning, I may just got lost in a video on my phone and I woke up to Brooks saying, old school.
I just was trying to tell you something. I mean, how often do we do? We do, we treat our families like, Hey, you hang out over here real quick. I gotta do this. I'll come back around to this conversation.
Men, this may be a word just for you. I think this, I think it's true for everybody, but men, lemme say it to you specifically. Your family is being formed by you. Your family is being formed either by your presence or your absence, but they're being formed by you. And you get to choose which one it is.
Side note, lemme get back to the story. Now, the passage of Scripture. This is verse 32. Now, the passage of Scripture that he was reading was this like a sheep. He was led to the slaughter.
And like a lamb before its shear, it is silent. So he opens not his mouth, he's quoting Isaiah here in his humiliation, justice was denied him who can describe his generation for his life is taken away from the earth. Now, here's the question. 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 'em the good news about Jesus. So Philip is riding in the chariot with this man. They get to this question and the euch says, I don't understand. And so Philip takes the Scripture, which for them would've been the Old Testament, genesis, the Malachi. It says, beginning in this Scripture throughout the Old Testament, he says, let me tell you about Jesus.
Because this thing that we call the Bible is more than just a book. It's 66 books written by different authors in different languages across different countries, across different centuries. And it all tells one story, the story of Jesus and his redemption and rescue of you. It all points to him in Genesis, like He is the word. He is the word of God.
In Genesis, he is the word in which life is created. And then in the Gospel, he is the death in which life is restored to you. It all points to him Through Adam, through one man's sin and death enters into the story. It enters our life. And yet, through another man, through Jesus, through the Son of God, life and hope and rescue enters Moses, Moses was, was sent to, to free the Israelites, to lead the Israelites out of slavery.
And yet, Jesus offers us freedom from the slavery of sin. He breaks the chains of sin. Noah needed an arc to survive the judgment of God. But we've been given a cross to survive God's judgment. Jonah was, was sent to the enemy to preach the good news.
And yet, you and I have been given enough grace to love our enemies because we were once enemies of the cross. The Israelites needed a, a spotless lamb sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins. And yet, Jesus, the lamb of God laid down, willingly, laid down his life so that you could be forgiven so that I could have hope. It all points to Jesus, our need for hope, our need for joy, our need for mercy, our need for love. It's all Jesus.
And Philip says, here it is. Here's Jesus. Here's the man you're questioning. Here's the one who's laid down his life for you. Here's the one who's offering you more.
And he says, in a moment, the man stops his chariot and says, there's water. What keeps me from being baptized? If this is true, if the message of Jesus really is true, if there's hope, if there's rescue, if there's redemption, I have to do something about it. And immediately his pursuit stops and he bows his life to his savior. So here's the last question.
I'm not asking you, do you believe the story of Jesus? I want you to think about what you're doing with it. If it's true, what are you doing with it? Because this book, this, this is something that's, that's more it. It should be more than, than simply believed.
It's it's lived. Scripture isn't just believed, it's lived out in a moment. He says, if that's true, something's gotta change. And he stops and he's baptized. Dallas Willard, um, is a man, just a, a great Christian, uh, thinker, writer, pastor, somebody that, um, has been around for a really long time.
He, he died actually about a decade ago, but recently has just really kind of become famous and influential. A lot of his writings, a lot of his teachings. And I read this the other day, Willard was asked what a person must do in order to become a saint. And Willard said, simply, the path to sainthood is achieved simply by doing the next right thing. So lemme ask you, we wrap up.
What's your next step? Faith is a journey, right? Faith isn't just an experience, it's a journey. We take one step at a time. And so what's your step today?
Maybe your step is salvation. And maybe you hear this story, you hear the hope of Jesus, and you say, man, I need that. I need, I've been trying to figure out life on my own and it's not working and I need more. I need something else. Tell me about Jesus.
We've got people ready to, to pray across all of our campuses. We've got people ready to pray with you. Walk you through that, help you understand, answer any questions you have. Okay? We'll tell you more about that in just a moment.
Maybe your step today is baptism. You hear the stories, you see this man, and you think, what stops me? There's water. There's water at all of our campuses. It's ready.
It's full. It's even warm for you. What prevents you from being baptized today? The only thing that prevents you is you. Listen to me.
Don't let your rush slip into rebellion. He's inviting you to take a step. We all got places to go, I get it. But don't let your rush slip into rebellion. The next 10 minutes could be the next 10 minutes that changes your life forever.
That changes your eternity. Lunch can wait 10 minutes and let it be just another day, another experience where you don't get your questions answered. Maybe your next step is something different. Maybe your next step is to invite a coworker into a conversation. Maybe your next step is to invite a neighbor over for, for a meal.
Maybe it's to ask somebody for forgiveness. Faith is a journey that we take one step at a time. Today's the day for us to take a step together. So lemme pray for us. And then across all of our campuses, we're gonna talk about how you can take a step today in this moment.
Lord, we come before you. God, I thank you just for your goodness, God, that you do offer us more, not, not more gain, not more fame, not more glory. But God, you offer us more hope, more, more joy, more, more love, more purpose. God, you, you offer us life and life abundantly. I wanna pray that in this moment, you will give every single soul in this place the hope, the courage, the strength to take the next step you've placed in front of us.
We love you, Lord. We give you all the praise and all the glory, all things we ask here. Amen.