The Desert Road - 05.31.26 - Tim Corbin

 This sermon walks through Acts 8:26-40 and the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, showing that the mission of Jesus is truly unstoppable because the Holy Spirit is always leading His people toward those He is already preparing. Tim highlights how Philip obeyed when God called him away from a fruitful ministry in Samaria and onto a hidden, inconvenient desert road, reminding us that God’s mission is not measured by crowd size but by faithfulness to follow His voice. The Ethiopian man was searching, hungry, and reading Isaiah 53, and Philip simply came alongside him as a “spiritual tour guide,” pointing him to the good news of Jesus. The sermon challenges us to listen for the Spirit, pay attention to the people God has placed in our lives, ask “Who is my one?”, and take next steps of obedience, including baptism. In the end, the Ethiopian goes on his way rejoicing, Philip continues preaching, and the Gospel keeps moving because God is still drawing people to Jesus through ordinary believers who are willing to follow Him down the desert road. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, good morning, church. I hope you guys are enjoying the weather as much as I want uh rain to come so that we don't have just the driest of summers. I really like this sunshine. It's good. It's good. I don't know if you've got out this weekend, maybe went for a hike, or maybe you went uh maybe you worked in the yard. Anybody work in the yard this weekend? All right, good, good. I'm still holding off. I'm just still just kind of putting that off, procrastinating, uh, waiting to get a uh letter from the city. And so we'll we'll see, we'll see what happens, all right? My name is Tim Corbin. I'm the pastor of spiritual formation here at Revive, and uh I love how we've been going through the book of Acts. Have you enjoyed going through the book of Acts? What I love about the book of Acts is it's something that is just so invigorating when you think about your own spiritual walk, when you think about the spiritual atmosphere in church, when you think about the spiritual atmosphere in your life, in your community, what's going on, there's so much that can happen. And I know the book of Acts is descriptive of what is happening in the first, the first New Testament church, but I also have to believe that God wants it to happen among us as well. I believe that He wants us to read these stories and see what could possibly take place in our own lives and how the Spirit can work in and through us in the midst of our own lives. And if you are you're with me, I just encourage you to keep reading through the book of Acts. It's okay to read it more than once. It's okay to read it more than what was preached on Sunday morning. Just read this and say, God, what do you want me to see in this? What do you want me to experience in this? What do you want me to engage and give myself over to based on what I'm reading in the book of Acts? One of the things you may or may not know about me, I grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Uh, that's where my accent is from. Uh, and then 20 years ago, uh, God led me and my family to Seattle, Washington, uh, to start a church. And uh the Northwest was competing with the Northeast to see how few churches there could be, and to see how few people could go to church. And the Northwest was winning. And so I thought, okay, God is calling me and my family. Uh I have a wife, we have three daughters, they were all under the age of five, and we're gonna go to the Northwest and Seattle area to start a church. And in case you're wondering, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Seattle are not alike in any way or form, okay? They are very different. Very different culturally, very different belief systems, very different in the way they go about doing things, okay? But God led us to the Northwest to start a church, to reach people who were far from God. Well, we got up there and we started off with a kids' sports camp. We don't know anybody in the community. We moved in, we're starting to build relationships, and what better yet, to start off with a sports camp, invite kids, invite families to connect with them. In order to promote this sports camp, we sent out uh a mission team of about a hundred people all around the community just handing out flyers. They had come up for a week and they were going door to door, handing out flyers, promoting this kids' sports camp. And as one of the teams came back, they said, Hey, you had given us a map to hand out flyers in our particular specific area, but we noticed this townhome complex that was near us but was not in our assigned area. Is it okay that we went and handed out flyers at that townhome complex? And I said, Absolutely, that's great. We're trying to meet as many people as possible and connect with our community. That's great. And they're like, Okay, because if you said it wasn't okay, we were doing it anyways because that's what God called us to do. I said, Okay, that's great. We'll do this. Uh, sports camp time came, kids started showing up, families started showing up, we started meeting new people in the community, and one of the people, one of the families that we met, came from this town home complex. And they came, we connected with them, had great conversations with them. Uh, husband was in the Navy, uh, and so he would be deployed for a year at a time uh on ship, and then he'd come back and work at the base, and then at some point he'd be deployed again. And so we just built a good relationship with them. And in order to start a church after sports camp, a month later, I invited people into my home for a Bible study. Now, note, I don't have a church building. I don't even have a church at this point. I called myself a pastor, and people kept saying, What church do you pastor? And I was like, I don't I don't really have one yet. I'm trying to start one and convince them to let me pastor it. And so I started a Bible study in my home and I invited strangers to this Bible study. Okay? Now, what are the two things you don't talk about? You don't talk about politics and you don't talk about religion. Well, I'm inviting them to talk about religion. And they show up, and I'm not gonna lie, I was sweating through my clothes. I didn't know what they were gonna believe, I didn't know how they were gonna respond, I didn't know how they were gonna discuss, I didn't know how any of this was gonna go down. We got through the first Bible study, no one cussed me out, no one threw punches, everybody was good. Most of them knew nothing about the Bible. And I was like, okay, this is gonna work out. I don't know how you guys are gonna connect with one another, but let's keep doing this. So we started doing this weekly, inviting people into our home to have a Bible study. And I started going through the book of John. I wanted people to know about Jesus. And so we started the first chapter and just started going through the book of John, and I was explaining to them for the first time, first, that there was a book in the Bible, and it was called John. And I was just describing and explaining these stories of who Jesus was. Now, I got to the point where I was like, can we get to John chapter 3? Why? Because John chapter 3 just lays out the gospel so well. John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life, have eternal life. Can we get there? And I thought we were getting there in the Bible study, but I realized we hadn't finished chapter 2 yet. And I was like, oh, do I skip it? Do I just skip over chapter two? And I thought, you know, you committed to this. This is what God told you to do, just stick with it. You'll get to John chapter 3 next week. Be patient, Tim. So I go to John chapter 2. The end of John chapter 2 is Jesus going to the temple and he's throwing over the tables and he's running out the money changers who are selling animals for sacrifices and making the temple something that it wasn't designed to be. But there's a curious piece in there that says some of them believed in Jesus, but Jesus did not entrust himself to them because he knew them, he knew their hearts. And I thought that's really interesting. So I read that passage. We went through the Bible study. I thought, okay, no big deal. Let's pray. Does anybody have any questions? And this mother from the town home complex raised her hand and said, How do you know when enough is enough? And I'm not gonna lie, I thought she was talking about her husband. And I was like, maybe we should talk about this later, you know? Um, I said, What do you mean? She said, How do you know when you've done enough to get into heaven? No matter how many times I tell myself not to cry, it just happens. And I said, What do you think it takes? And she said, Well, I try to love my neighbors, but they play their music till 3 a.m. in the morning. I try to do good to my kids, but they don't always obey me. And I try to really love my husband, but it's hard when he's been gone for a year and he comes back home and tries to reintegrate into life. She said, How do you know when enough is enough? And I said, Well, John chapter 3 says, For God so loved the world that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. And I said, Scripture teaches us that it's belief in Jesus Christ alone that gives us eternal life. And she looked at us and she said, That's it? That's it? Why hasn't anyone ever told me this before? I said, Well, you need to go home and read John chapter 3. And we'll get back next week and we'll talk about John chapter 3. So we prayed, she went home, and I wake up to an email from her that says, I went home and read the rest of the whole book of John. And I can't tell you, but this is a weight that has been lifted off my life for the first time. I am saved. I know Jesus. Thank you. It was an amazing story that I got to be a part of and I got to see, and it is very real to me. I want you to turn with me into the book of Acts, chapter eight, and we're gonna look at a similar story as we continue in our study on the book of Acts. And as you turn with me to chapter eight, I just want to pray for us real quick. Father God, you are good. You have given us your word to speak to our hearts, to say something to our souls, for it to be a foundation for us to understand things, and for us to live and to experience this life and this life with you. God, would you use your use your words to pierce through our souls this morning? That you may be glorified. God, have your way with us. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. So we're looking in Acts chapter 8, and what we discover in the book of Acts is the gospel has come, the gospel has been preached, people have been saved, the Spirit has empowered them, people are being filled with the Spirit. Uh Jesus said, Hey, you're gonna go be you're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, to the ends of the world, and they're living life, and all of a sudden, persecution breaks out in Jerusalem, and they scatter. But the gospel goes with them. You see, in Jerusalem, they were being persecuted to squelch the gospel, to keep them from being from being pre from it being preached, from people hearing it, from people believing about Jesus or understanding about Jesus the Messiah. But they take the gospel with them. And one of those was Philip. We discovered last week. Philip went to Samaria, just like Jesus said, You're gonna be my you're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem, yes, they were doing that. In Judea, yes, they were doing that. And now they're going to Samaria, yes, they're doing that. And he preaches the message of Jesus, and people get saved. And in these towns and cities and this area full of people, people get saved. And then all of a sudden, we get to this passage here. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn with me to Acts 8, verses 26, and we'll read through verse 40. Uh, actually, we'll just start off in 26 and 27. You'll you'll you'll follow along with me, it'll be okay, and I'll figure out what I'm saying. Acts 8, 26 through 27. It's on the screen if you don't have it with you. 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 he went. So an angel of the Lord speaks to Philip. He's in this area, people are getting saved, great things are happening, and now an angel of the Lord goes to Philip and says, Hey, I want you to actually now take a road through the desert place from Jerusalem to Gaza. And Philip rose and went. He obeyed the angel of the Lord. What's amazing is in our lives it's important to know that the Spirit is always speaking to us. The Spirit is always speaking to us. But are we listening? If I were Philip, I would have wanted to hang out in Samaria, right? Jerusalem's getting persecution. I go to Samaria, I'm preaching the gospel, people are getting saved. This is amazing. I want to stay here. And the angel of the Lord says, Hey, now I want you to go on a road through a desert place to Gaza. Wait, what? Are we finished here? Because there's a whole lot of cool things happening here, but you're inviting me somewhere else. Because the Spirit is always speaking to us. Are we listening to what the Spirit is saying? And Philip rose and went. I want you to notice something also. He was told to go to the desert road. And the desert road is not glamorous. Okay? Nobody goes to the desert road to live a life we're talking about. Nobody goes to the desert place to have this incredible experience and post about it on social media. In fact, you probably can't get cell service in the desert place to post about it on social media. There's nothing going on in the desert place. But the Spirit of the Lord tells him, hey, go down this road because I'm asking you to. I'm telling you to. I want to lead you somewhere. And Philip goes down this desert road. It's not a place where the crowds are. It's not where excitement is. It's not where the fame is. It's not where visible success is. But the spirit leads Philip to the desert road. And sometimes the spirit does that in our lives too. The Spirit may not always lead us to glorious places. Sometimes he leads us to the hidden places, to the quiet place, to the inconvenient place, to the place that doesn't seem strategic, but Philip obeys. Now let's look in Acts 8, 27. He says, 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. So along this road, this desert road, he's leaving the place, the crowds who are receiving Christ, the Spirit, the angel of the Lord, leads him to this desert road. He goes along and he comes across an Ethiopian eunuch, an official serving Candace, queen of the Ethiopia. This man had traveled nearly a thousand miles to worship in Jerusalem. A thousand miles. Alright? Tomorrow, grab your chariot. We're all leaving Denver and we're going to Los Angeles. That's a thousand miles. He traveled a thousand miles to worship in Jerusalem. And we should ask ourselves why. Why would a man travel a thousand miles to worship? Because God was already stirring something in his heart. He was searching, he was hungry, he was looking for answers. In many ways, he represents people all around us who quietly search for God, even when no one else sees it. And Luke in the book of Acts tells us something. He's a eunuch. That's important because in the ancient world, eunuch would have lived on the margins. He could come near to worship, but there were barriers that reminded him he wasn't fully included. Yet here in the book of Acts, one of the first people the gospel reaches beyond Jerusalem is an outsider. And Luke is showing us something. Jesus came for people who think they are too far away. Jesus came for people who think they are too far away. They may think they're too different, too broken, too excluded. And some of you know exactly what that feels like. To feel close enough to see God working in other people's lives, but not sure you truly belong. To feel like there are barriers between you and God. To wonder if someone like you could ever really be welcomed. And Luke wants us to see that Jesus came for people exactly like that. You see, the gospel is moving outward, it's moving from Jerusalem outward. And before Philip ever arrived, God was already at work. And that's how often evangelism works. Before we ever arrive, God is already at work. When we move to the Northwest, I'm not gonna lie, I believed down deep in my heart of hearts, I was bringing Jesus to them. And it only took a few months for me to realize that Jesus was already there. And he said, Tim, why don't you come up here? I want to show you some things. I want to show you some people that I love. I want to show you some people that you can help explain me to them. I'm here. Now I'm inviting you to be with me. Before we ever arrive, God is already at work. Jesus is already there. We started becoming what I call spiritual tour guides. Have you ever been on a tour and you got a tour guide and you're driving around or you're walking around and they're like, this is the very first tree that was ever planted here 50 years ago. And you're like, good, that's great. We got a tree. Very cool. They're not making the landmarks, but they're pointing out the landmarks. If Jesus is already at work in people's lives, I'm not bringing him to them. I'm pointing him out in their lives as I connect with them. And that's how often, that's often how evangelism works. It's not forcing Jesus onto people, it's noticing where Jesus already is, where he's working and pointing people toward him. And now the Ethiopian is heading home, sitting in his chariot, reading from the prophet Isaiah. And Philip meets him because the spirit led him there. And the spirit tells Philip, go talk to him. Can you imagine? If I were Philip, I'd be like, but I don't know what I'm supposed to say. I don't know if I'm gonna have the answers to the questions he asked. I don't know if I'm gonna mess something up. Do you really want me to go? And the spirit says, go. Go talk with him. And Philip says, Do you understand what you're reading? And the Ethiopian says, How can I unless someone guides me? Now in Acts 8, 32 through 35 says this. Now the passage of scripture that he was reading from is this like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shear 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, does this prophet say this? About himself or about someone else? And then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with the scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. The Ethiopian man asked, Who is this passage speaking about? This passage in Isaiah. Isaiah was written hundreds of years before this moment in the Bible. Hundreds of years before this moment. And this is a prophecy of Jesus to come hundreds of years later. And of all people, this Ethiopian eunuch is reading this passage. And he's saying, Who is this passage speaking about? This is the great prophecy about the suffering servant, the one who would suffer for sins. And the Ethiopian doesn't know it yet, but he is reading one of the clearest prophecies about Jesus in the entire Old Testament. And God has been preparing this conversation long before Philip arrived. And the Ethiopian is asking, who is this suffering servant? And Philip is about to show him that the answer to all of his searching is Jesus. And the answer to all of your searching is Jesus. In many ways, the Ethiopian is asking the same question people ask today. Who is God? Can I belong? What am I searching for? How do I find peace? Is there hope for someone like me? And the answer is yes, in the person and work of Jesus. One of the other stories that we encountered in the Northwest as we were starting this church, one of my daughters was in preschool, and so we would go drop her off at preschool, and then we'd go pick her up around noontime. And we met another mom and preschool. This is what you do when you have preschoolers. You just kind of network in this way. And so my wife began speaking to this mom, and they said, Hey, let's go to McDonald's for lunch and hang out and get trapped in one of those playground tubes, you know, trying to get our kid out when it's time to go. And so they go, they hang out, they're doing McDonald's thing or whatever, and all of a sudden they were having such a good time, they're like, hey, let's let's not end this. Why don't you come back to our house? And next thing I know, I'm working from home. Uh, and not the next thing I know, I am working from home. Next thing I know, they're showing up to home my house, and now we've got kids running around. They're talking about life, they're talking about different things that are going on, and she just begins to share with my wife uh just about her life. She talks about how she lost her mother at an early age. She talked about how her husband struggled with alcoholism and that he had to give him an ultimatum, that if he doesn't get cleaned up, she's taking the kids and leaving. And she just began to unpack her life. And then at some point, the topic got to prayer, and she said, I cry out to God, but I'm not sure He's listening. And I'm listening in, wondering what my wife is going to say at this moment. You know, does she need the professional pastor to come help? Because I'm working, but I'm on, just tag me, I can jump in or whatever. And this woman says, I cry out to God. I'm not sure he's listening. And my wife said, I wonder if you're very crying out to God. Is God telling you that he's right here? And he hears you. And she said, I've never thought about it like that. And my wife leaned in and said, I think God is very near to you. And he wants to show himself to you. From that moment, things changed. She went and got her husband. They start coming to Bible study. They start asking questions. They start learning about scripture for the first time. And these people did not have church in their background. They didn't even go to church on Easter and Christmas. The only church time they had was when there was a wedding taking place at a church. And they started coming because God was doing something in their life. And I remember one night, it was several few months, several months later, and I had 15 adults sitting in my living room. And I don't remember what we were studying, but I just remember the Spirit of God saying, ask the question. Ask the question. And with kids running around upstairs, probably busting holes in walls, yelling, screaming, having a good time. I just thought I've got to ask the question of these people, these 15 adults that are sitting in my room. So in the best Baptist way I could do it, I said, everybody, bow your heads and close your eyes. It was weird. I'm not gonna lie. These people are not churched, and I'm asking them to do something they've never experienced before in their life. What's he about to do to us? Bow your heads and close your eyes. And they did it. And I remember asking, I was like, either tonight or within the last few months, how many of you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? And eight of them raised their hand. Eight out of 15 adults in that moment. And I just remember thinking, Tim, you're not part of the biggest church, you're not part of the coolest church in town. In fact, nobody even knows that your little group is meeting in your living room. But those lives and the Spirit of God changed me forever in that moment when I followed him and asked the question. Later, we baptized them. They gave their life to Christ. They started plugging, they plugged in, they started serving, they started coming. God was good. One of our seven marks is share your story. Share your story. Who is your one? Who is the person God has already placed in your life? Maybe it's the neighbor, maybe a coworker, maybe a family member, maybe a friend. Not someone you're trying to fix, someone you're willing to pray for and care for and point toward Jesus. And see, here's what's important. Success is not based on how many people come to faith. Success is based on how faithful we are to follow the Spirit and share. Are we willing to follow the Spirit and share? We move on to Acts 8, verses 36 through 40. 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 Astus, Azetus. And as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. And then the passage ends with this incredible moment. The Ethiopian Philip, they're walking, they're driving along, and all of a sudden, look, here's water. What prevents me from being baptized? And I love that because everything inside this man says, I know who I am now. I know whose I am now. I'm with Jesus, and I want to be baptized. I don't want to wait. Let's do this now. Because baptism is the outward declaration that we now belong to Jesus. It symbolizes our death, our dying to our old life and being raised into new life with Christ. And the question we get to ask even today is what prevents me from being baptized? Have you come to a place in your life where you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Have you put your trust in him? Then what prevents you from being baptized? Sometimes what prevents us is fear. Fear of standing in front of people. Fear of what others may think. Fear of making faith public. Sometimes it's feeling unworthy. We think we need to clean ourselves up first. We think we need to grow more before we obey. Sometimes what prevents us is uncertainty. We keep waiting for a better time, a more spiritual moment, a future version of ourselves. But baptism was never meant to be the celebration of someone who has it all together. It is the declaration of someone who has surrendered themselves to Jesus. We have a baptism class coming up June 21st. If you want to be baptized, you're ready to take that next step. Go to that class June 21st. If you've got questions about baptism, see one of us or go to that class June 21st. But what is God inviting you into in your next step as you follow him? And this Ethiopian man goes on his way rejoicing. Why? Because he had found what he had been searching for all along. Or maybe better said, he discovered the one who had been pursuing him all along. And then something strange happens. Philip is suddenly carried away by the Spirit. Luke doesn't mention, doesn't spend much time explaining it because that's not his focus. His focus is the mission continues. The mission continues. The church on mission is unstoppable. The gospel is unstoppable. Philip goes to the next town and then the next town. And then the Ethiopian goes back home, carrying the gospel with him. You see how God is at work in the midst of all this? So let me ask you today: are you following the Spirit? Are you willing to go down the desert road? Are you paying attention to where God may already be at work in people's lives? Have you publicly identified yourself with Jesus through baptism? Because the Spirit is still leading, God is still drawing people, Jesus is still changing lives. Remember the lady at the beginning of the story? She came to faith right there in the middle of my living room. She continued on in her faith. She started serving with us in preschool. She finished reading the rest of the Bible. She got baptized with us. But because she was part of a Navy family, they ended up moving from Seattle to their next position. But they got plugged into a church. And her husband came to faith, was baptized, started serving as one of the leaders in that church. And her kids came to faith. And part of her story was a mission team handing out flyers in their assigned area and wondering: should we go to that town home complex over there? God, what do you want us to do? Well, what would Tim want you to do? Well, I don't know what Tim wants me to do, but God wants us to go. We'll ask forgiveness from Tim later. And they went. And that family showed up. I don't know who in your life or who adjacent to your life God is already at work in. And how He's inviting you into it. But you and I will never know unless we're not attuned to the Spirit. Unless we're not listening for the Spirit to speak to us and guide us. Unless we believe that we don't have to have all the answers. We just need to show up and say, Do you understand what's going on in your life? And can I point you to Jesus? That's what it is. And that's what God's inviting us into. Let's enter into a time of reflection. Everybody, bow your heads, close your eyes. Where are you in this story? Are you more like the Ethiopian today? Searching, hungry, looking for answers, wondering if you truly belong? What is God saying to you? Are there barriers you believe stand between you and God? Perhaps you feel too broken, too far away, too sinful, too different. What would it look like to believe that Jesus came for people exactly like you? Are you following the Spirit? Is there a road God has been calling you to walk down? A conversation, a person, a step of obedience, a place that feels inconvenient, maybe uncomfortable. Have you been listening? And if you've heard his voice, have you responded? Who is your one? Who is the person God has already placed in your life? Ask God to bring their face to your mind right now. Pray for them. Ask God to show you how He may already be at work in their life. And what is preventing you from being baptized? If you've trusted Jesus but have never been baptized, what is holding you back? And bring that honestly before the Lord. Ask him what your next step should be. And take a few moments to listen and pray and respond to whatever the Spirit is speaking to you today. As we live and love like Jesus right where we are, the Spirit will lead us to people He is already preparing. Would you pray with me? Father God, you are good. You are at work. Your spirit is here, your Spirit is speaking to us. God, give us ears to hear, and let us follow you. God, let us follow you into the towns and the cities where the crowds are, but God, let us also follow you into the desert place, into a road that may not be that glamorous. But God, wherever you are, and wherever you're leading us, is the most satisfying place that we could ever imagine to be. God, would you have your way with us? And as the prayer team comes forward, if there's something on your heart that you need to share with someone today, maybe the prayer team is that. Maybe you can just go approach one of them and say, This is what God is doing in my life, this is the step that I need to take, or this is something that I need prayer for. But what is the what is the Spirit telling you today? And how can you follow and obey?