What Hinders You...? Acts Alive: The Call to Believe and Be Baptized [Pastor Dave Rajoon]

The prayer circle after the France and England game gives the church a clear picture. God is not English and not French, not Republican and not Democrat. God looks at the heart, and God stands with people who call on his name. The name of Jesus must be bigger than party, nation, rivalry, and all the things that divide good Christian people.

Acts gives living history, not just old history. Acts shows Christ continuing his work after the ascension through ordinary men and women, people with fears, concerns, politics, pressure, and real life problems. The gospel did not keep moving because the early church had power, money, comfort, or celebrity. The gospel kept moving because the risen Christ was alive, and the Holy Spirit was working through people willing to say, “Here I am, Lord. Send me.”

Acts chapter eight shows God growing the church in a season of opposition, not comfort. Persecution comes after Stephen, Saul makes havoc of the church, and believers are pulled from homes and put in jail. But God takes what looks like pressure and uses it as a launch pad. The Holy Spirit pushes the church out of Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria, just like Jesus had already promised in Acts 1:8.

The Holy Spirit is the central person in Acts. Without the Holy Spirit, Acts becomes just a novel, like a story with action and adventure but no life. The Spirit is the helper, the comforter, the guide, the one who gives words, power, wisdom, and direction. A church without the Holy Spirit is a dead church, because programs, events, and good ideas cannot replace the presence and power of God.

Philip’s road to Gaza shows how the Spirit directs mission one step at a time. The angel says go to the desert, and Philip goes. The Spirit tells him to overtake the chariot, and Philip runs. The Ethiopian eunuch is reading Isaiah 53, searching but not understanding, and Philip begins right there and preaches Jesus to him.

The Ethiopian’s baptism shows that belief in Jesus is the doorway, and baptism is the next step. Baptism does not save, but baptism declares that old things are passed away and a new life has begun. Jesus does not wait for people to become lily white before coming to the water. If a person believes with the heart, nothing should hinder that step of faith.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Jesus stands above every rivalry God does not belong to one nation, one party, or one side of the field. The prayer circle after the match becomes a rebuke to any spirit that makes politics or rivalry stronger than the name of Jesus. The church must learn how to battle in different spaces and still gather around Christ when the game is over. [14:47]
• 2. Pressure can become gospel movement Acts chapter eight shows persecution scattering the church, but the scattering does not kill the witness. God takes what looks like disruption and turns it into movement beyond Jerusalem. The believer’s hard season may not be wasted ground, because God can use even opposition to push purpose forward. [29:35]
• 3. The Spirit directs the mission The church in Acts does not move like a business, a political machine, or a social club. The Holy Spirit leads, empowers, corrects, sends, and opens doors that human planning would never choose. Any work that carries the name of Jesus must depend on the Spirit, because activity without him can look busy and still be dead. [36:18]
• 4. Desert roads hold divine appointments Philip is sent to a desert road, a place that looks empty and unproductive. Yet the Spirit has already prepared a searching man with an open Bible and an unanswered question. Obedience may feel like running toward nothing, but God often hides the next assignment in the place that looks most unlikely. [56:10]
• 5. Baptism follows believing in Jesus The Ethiopian does not wait to become perfect before asking for water. Faith in Christ becomes the ground for baptism, and baptism becomes the public step of a changed life. Grace does not demand that a person arrive polished, but it does call for an open confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [13:47] - Soccer, Politics, and Prayer
• [17:13] - Acts as Living History
• [18:53] - God Uses Ordinary People
• [21:55] - Growth Through Opposition
• [23:46] - Conflict, Stephen, and Persecution
• [28:09] - Pushed Beyond Jerusalem
• [30:40] - Philip Sent Toward Gaza
• [33:26] - Influencing the Influencers
• [36:18] - The Holy Spirit Directs Mission
• [44:43] - Beyond the Comfort Zone
• [49:50] - Joseph and God’s Hidden Purpose
• [55:26] - God’s Mission for Individuals
• [59:28] - Philip Preaches Jesus
• [60:18] - Baptism as the Next Step

Bible Reading

Acts 8:26-40
Now an 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 went. 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 come to Jerusalem to worship and 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 heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 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, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. [30:40]

Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. [28:27]

Isaiah 53:7-8
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? [32:19]

Observation questions

1. In Acts 8, what specific directions did Philip receive, and how did he respond to each one? [31:50]
2. What details in the passage show who the Ethiopian eunuch was and what he was already doing before Philip arrived?
3. What part of Isaiah was the eunuch reading, and what question did he ask Philip about it? [32:27]
4. What happened right after the eunuch believed, and what happened after the baptism? [33:00]

Interpretation questions

1. Acts 8 begins with persecution and scattering, yet the gospel keeps moving. What does that suggest about the way God can use pressure, disruption, and opposition? [29:35]
2. Philip was sent to a desert road that did not look strategic or fruitful. What does that reveal about the way the Holy Spirit leads people into divine appointments? [56:10]
3. The eunuch was reading Scripture sincerely but still needed someone to guide him. What does that say about the role of personal witness and conversation in helping people understand Jesus? [59:28]
4. The eunuch asked for baptism as soon as he believed in Jesus. What does that show about the relationship between faith, public confession, and obedience? [01:01:01]

Application questions

1. Jesus stands above party, nation, and rivalry. Where is it hardest right now to keep the name of Jesus bigger than politics, culture, or personal loyalties in everyday life? [14:47]
2. God can use painful or frustrating seasons as a launch pad instead of a dead end. Is there a pressure point in life right now that may need to be seen differently? What might it look like to ask how God could use it for his purpose? [49:33]
3. The Holy Spirit is not an optional extra for the Christian life. In what part of life is there the strongest temptation to rely on routine, personality, or planning instead of depending on the Spirit’s help? [39:37]
4. Desert roads can become places of assignment. What is one place that seems ordinary, inconvenient, or spiritually dry right now, but may actually be an opening for gospel conversation? [55:26]
5. Philip began with the Scripture the eunuch was already reading and then preached Jesus. When someone brings a question, confusion, or struggle, how comfortable is it to start right there and point them to Christ? [59:42]
6. The gospel often moves when believers are willing to go beyond their comfort zone. What would moving beyond “Jerusalem” look like this week in a very practical sense? [46:22]
7. Baptism follows believing in Jesus, not becoming perfect first. If baptism has already been taken, how can that public step still shape daily life now? If it has not been taken, what hesitation may still be standing in the way? [01:01:24]