God's Calling

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Well, guess what? You're getting double Lissa today. I feel so inadequate. If you ever wanna rely on the Lord more, get out of the lane you're comfortable in, and do something that you aren't comfortable with. I thought of you Colson a bunch because I was like, it is not a issue of not knowing what to say.

It's that I have so much to say. How do you boil it down so we're not here all morning? So everyone should have to preach a message on a Sunday. No joke. You will have so much more grace for Brian and all that it takes to boil boil down and get it concise.

So let me, first say that it's an honor to get to bring god's word. I've taken this very seriously and really feel like this story that we're gonna read today in god's word, I really feel like if we start with the end of leaving here today, my goal would be in sharing this story and us digging into this specific scripture together that you would leave the hope is that you would leave feeling super encouraged that today, you can leave here taking a step of obedience towards your calling. We've been talking about calling and all these things, and I feel like, and maybe it's just me, but I feel like it can get really overwhelming when you talk about what am I called to, what are and we just I feel like it's so it's such a big thing no matter what stage of life we're in. If we're towards the end of our life and we're like, Lord, are you still using me? What do you have for me?

Or if we're 19 and getting married and our whole life is ahead of us and are you 20 at Bowdoin? Yes. Okay. You I know.

But we will always use that

as a fun analogy. I love it. The Lord has prepared you perfectly. Let me pray for us, and then we're gonna open our Bibles and get into it today. Lord Jesus, I ask that this would just be your words and your heart would come through in this message.

We don't need to add anything to your word. It speaks for itself. But as we try to dig in today and really hear and see the principles in your word today. Let us have a heart to just absorb what it is for each and every one of us that you have for us today. It might be different for each of us, but as we read this story of Philip, that you would just speak to us and change us about being obedient to you.

In Jesus' name, amen. Okay. Huxley has a has a job today because unlike Brian, like, I basically put my notes in slides.

Right, Joy? It it was, like, kinda easier to yeah. Keep up. So let's turn to the book

of Acts. Acts eight twenty six through 40 is what we're gonna read today. And if you're new with us today, we have a mic that we pass around in the room because we have families that are watching on the livestream. And if you don't speak into the microphone, then they can't hear you. And so that's where we're gonna start today.

But before before we read it, for me, it was really helpful to do a quick review of what has happened in acts one through seven before we read eight. I think it helps set the scene. Huxie, can you put that next one up there? Okay. So it's super quick.

I just went verse by verse, and you guys in here are probably really familiar with acts. So review of what's happening in acts. Number one, Jesus in verse one, Jesus leaves. The disciples are told not to go out until the Holy Spirit comes. Chapter two, the Holy Spirit arrives at Pentecost, and the believers form a community.

They're starting to, like, figure out how to go and spread the gospel organized way. You go here. We're gonna go here. Verse three, Peter starts preaching in the power of the holy spirit or chapter. Chapter four, the apostles start to face persecution, and this is fun.

Have you ever thought why their disciples in verse one, but then the bible changes to apostle? Have you ever thought about that? Because apostle means sent one. So they're disciples before they get sent out. That's where it changes to apostle.

Fun little tidbit. Because I thought I typed it wrong. I was like, wait. Why are they disciples there and apostles there? But so they get sent out.

Apostle just means sent one. Apostles start to face persecution. Wow. That only took four verses. Five, the apostles heal many.

Six, the believers multiply. The church is becoming established. And then this is where Philip comes in, and he's who we're gonna read about today, his story with the eunuch in that encounter. And then seven men are chosen and given tasks to manage the people. And having been

in

ministry for a lot many years, this cracks me up. The Holy Spirit just came. They're working miracles, and all of a sudden, they have to appoint people to manage the people because everyone's fighting over how the money is being given to the widows,

and is it not being given right? It like, oh, are just people. Like, you need some structure, you

just do. Seven men are chosen and given tasks to manage the people. One of those is Philip who we're gonna talk about, specifically food distribution. And then in that, which is a whole another message is the beautiful story of Stephen. If you haven't read about him, that should be a whole another message.

Quickly after that, Stephen is murdered for his faith, and then we read about we Philip comes on the scene. And this is led to scholars believe this is not the same Philip as one of the 12. I think we've always thought it was, but it they call him specifically Philip the evangelist. And so he's not talked about before we get to chapter eight. So they just if that matters to you, it's it's good to put into context that he hasn't been one of the 12 walking with Jesus up to this point.

So he was probably converted, heard the story of Jesus and his resurrection, gave his life to Jesus, and is immediately in the story of acts. So that's pretty cool just to think about his story that way. Who would like to read nice and loud and clear acts eight twenty six through 40? Who gets to read God's word today? It's a privilege.

Yeah. Ian. Yeah. It's good for us to read all the different transitions.

Okay. Chapter eight verses 26 through 40. Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is desert. So he arose and went.

And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Cadence, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning and sitting in his chariot. He was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, do you understand what you are reading? And he said, how can I unless someone guides me?

And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the scripture which he read was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its hearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation, his justice was taken away and who generation? For his life is taken from the earth. So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does this does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?

Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture, preached Jesus to him.

Boom.

Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, see, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized? Then Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.

So he commanded the chariot to stand still, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught Philip away so that the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found in Azeroth and passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

Oh, what a cool story. There's so many cool things about this story. This is why I had a hard time narrowing it down. Thank you, Ian. Will you go back to the front, the first slide, Hux, of what we're gonna talk about today?

So we've been talking about calling, and this is what I felt like the Lord put on my heart. Yes. This is AI. But look, isn't that cute? That's the chariot.

There he goes. But today, the goal is is that you would feel encouraged that you can take one step of obedience towards your calling. All you have to do is listen to his voice. So in this story of Philip and the eunuch, I think it helps us to break apart a little bit of who the characters are in the story. So we've got Philip, and we've got the eunuch.

We'll get to Philip in just a second, but that's kind of an interesting have you ever just glossed over that? Like, how many of you act know what a eunuch is? Raise your hand.

Yeah. And you're just kinda like, okay. Just kinda like let that go, like, really understand it, don't understand

understand how how that that happened, happened, was that planned? And so I think it's important to understand who Philip who God calls Philip to interact with. And if you'll see in the story, he he doesn't the whole point of this story, I feel like, is that god called Philip in obedience with just one step. He just said, start on the road. And I love what the next line says after that.

He says, so Philip started out. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't know who he was gonna encounter. He didn't know what the end result was, but he just started out. And so that's what stood out to me in the story was that he didn't know the full plan.

He was just simply obedient, and then all of these other things took place. God had it all planned out. So I asked myself the question, how many times do I want the entire plan? How often do I want 10 to make it easier for me to do one, two, three, four? And that is just frequently not how the Lord works.

Philip didn't know he where he was being led, how he would be provided for. Think about it, like, in those days when they started out on a road, like, they're not coming across a maverick in three minutes. You know, they like he it just says he started out. Like, he trusted the Lord with every single thing that he was gonna need. He just needed to be obedient.

So God's directing Philip. So let's talk about the eunuch for just a second, and then we'll get to Philip. I'm just gonna read this to you because this is just facts about eunuchs. Ready? K.

There's three different ways that someone was a eunuch. This was very interesting to me. And Jesus actually even talks about it, that there's three different types. Jesus says that they were born this way. They were likely referred to men who had physical conditions preventing marriage or children, and they had developmental abnormalities or were infertile.

They were made not made eunuchs, but they simply could not function or reproduce in that way. Then Jesus also references I forgot to put the reference down where he says oh, Matthew nineteen twelve is where he says it. I'll just read what Jesus says. For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there were eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Heaven.

Like, think we just I've just always thought they were like these here's honestly what I've always pictured. It was like a young boy who's like a slave in a kingdom or a castle made to be like a little boy, girl, man to serve the the king. Like, it I don't know. That's what I've always pictured. Just like, where no attention is drawn, but they're just a servant.

That's kind of always what I thought. So Jesus says they were born that way. The second way, made eunuchs by others. This was the most common meaning in the ancient world. These men were castrated often as children or young teenagers by kings or rulers to serve in the royal courts.

The reasons they did this included guarding royal women. So in their mind, they were thinking, well, they were castrated, we could trust them monitoring the women. Eunuchs were often placed over harems and royal households. Rulers viewed them as less likely to threaten the royal family line. They couldn't reproduce.

And they were also made eunuchs by others to become trusted government service workers. They often held high ranking positions because they couldn't establish competing dynasties through their own descendants, and there's a bunch of examples of that. One is the officials in the court of Nebuchadnezzar the second, Artaxerxes, there's a whole story about the eunuchs. Some scholars think that Daniel and some of his companions may have been made eunuchs when they were taken to Babylon. Although the Bible doesn't explicitly say that, but what an interesting interesting practice way back then.

I don't know. There's so much there. There's so much there about connections of what's happening in the world today and just our identity and different things. But then the third way is a voluntary eunuch. Jesus also speaks metaphorically of people who choose celibacy for the sake of the kingdom.

This does not mean necessarily physical castration in any way. It refers to people who voluntarily remain unmarried to devote themselves to God's work. Examples include Paul the apostle, likely unmarried during his ministry, and others who dedicated themselves fully to ministry. Why is this eunuch, the Ethiopian eunuch, think about that too geographically. So put yourself in this position.

Philip is leaving Jerusalem on it says, head out on the road to Gaza. And if you can just picture a map of Jerusalem to Gaza, so he's walking on the road, but there's a guy from Ethiopia on that road. That's a long way away. This character is very interesting. And the Ethiopian in a in Acts eight was likely a man who had been physically castrated in order to serve in the royal court because of of what it says about his job.

He was a high ranking treasury official in ancient kingdoms. They were often all eunuchs. Just so interesting that they I've never heard that. Like, in order to be trusted with the finances, you had to be a eunuch in a lot of different cultures. Under the Old Testament law, eunuchs faced restrictions in Israel's worship community.

Yet in Acts eight, god specifically sends Philip to this man. And we could say a lot about that about how much the lord cares about each and every one of us. I'm sure he felt, you know, the word we use today is marginalized. You know, who knows? Think just think for a minute about his story.

Like, when did this happen to him? Who did this to him? Was it his choice? Now his body is disfigured and he's serving, but obviously in the story, the Bible says that he went to Jerusalem to worship. So here's this Ethiopian eunuch travels to Jerusalem obviously hungry, obviously thirsty, travels all that way.

He also owns scrolls. He owns scriptures because the Bible says that he's riding in the chariot, and he's reading from the book of Isaiah. Those are were extremely rare, extremely hard to possess and and hold for your own. So he was obviously had means. He obviously had a way.

And here he is not just where I imagine in that day and imagine like today, People come just for the motion go through the motions, check the box. Well, if I go to Jerusalem, I worship maybe the Lord will not feel like what the Lord is saying and the fact that he when Philip came upon him in the chariot was that he wasn't just checking off a box. He was actually putting the word in his life. He was reading the scroll and reading Isaiah and really trying to understand what it meant. And the Lord saw that, saw that act of obedience.

What did he have? He he just simply had the word of God, and he was devouring it. Really quickly too, just with the eunuch and the verse that he's reading in Isaiah. I just wrote this in my notes. As a eunuch, he may have known the Old Testament restrictions that limited eunuchs participation in Israel's worship, but he went anyway.

Yet, he's reading in Isaiah also signifies he had wealth because he had a scroll, at the time they were rare. God saw him there. Only a few chapters later, I think this is so interesting, in that verse of Isaiah, right after he's reading that, we don't see it in here, but soon right after that in Isaiah, you can look it up in Isaiah 56. It says, let not the eunuch say, I am only a dry tree. To them, I will give ever an everlasting name.

Isn't that beautiful? He's reading this scripture and just a little way like, he's learning about Jesus and Philip's coming upon him and interacting with him. And soon right after, there's a specific calling out of what God has called him to be. I mean, just it's just so beautiful. There's so much.

There's so much about how God plans just every step. Many scholars think this is part of of the beautiful story of Philip and the eunuch. A man who may have felt like an outsider discovers through Jesus that he is fully welcomed into God's family. God often asks us to leave what seems fruitful, thinking about Philip and the ministry that's happening, so that we can participate in what he is already preparing. So just think about those two paths.

The eunuch has traveled to Jerusalem. He's driving. He's driving. God is preparing his heart to read this scripture about how God is giving him an everlasting name because in the they are called the eunuch. Like, even their name has been taken away.

They are just the eunuch. And just how beautiful that is. I feel like this is a message all in itself.

God calls you by name.

And in in that word, it says, let the eunuch say, I am I am only a dry tree, but to them, I will give them an everlasting name. So beautiful. So God often leaves what we seem as fruitful for Philip, and we participate in what he's already preparing. So now that we know who the eunuch is and sort of his backstory, let's look at Philip's background. So, we have to go back just a little bit to Acts six one through seven and just a little bit about this guy, Philip.

So we saw he was one of the seven that was chosen by the disciples to go out, and I'll just summarize it. It's that what the Bible says is that Philip was one of the seven. Philip was known for his good character, which is why he was chosen, his wisdom. It says that they knew he was full of the holy spirit. Love that.

Faithful in small things before being given a greater assignment. And here's what I see in Philip's story that applies to us is god prepares us through our ordinary faithfulness, our everyday faithfulness. Talks all about Philip's background, and you can go back and read it in Acts six one through seven about who he was and why he was chosen. So I have seven points. That was the that was the background.

Seven things that I saw that really stood out to me in this story. So number one, and I we'll be so patient with you, Hux, because I they're all over the place. I'm sorry. So this was the first thing I felt like God was speaking to me through this story of Philip and the eunuch, is that God prepares us for greater obedience by giving us opportunities to build our character. So before Philip gets sent and before he gets picked to be one of the seven, really, I mean, think about it.

The disciples were preaching the gospel, and in the story, you can go back and read it. And then all of a sudden, there's there's the work of the ministry that needs to be done. And they don't really have time to develop systems and all those kinds of things, but because of Philip's character that's already gone before him, he gets picked. So don't ever underestimate when you show up to work on time, when you have a good attitude, when you go the extra mile, when you do the right thing when no one's looking, when you encourage your coworkers, all those little things that the Lord has given you right now. The Lord is seeing those.

He's building those to call you into greater obedience. And then therefore greater obedience, greater responsibility. We can't really sit back and say, what's the big thing you've called me to? Do you want me to start a refugee camp outside of Saudi Arabia for when the Jews run-in exile and, you know, I mean, that's what Brian fully says on a daily basis. Lord, today, is it today you want me to go start a refugee camp?

If we're not faithful with the thing he's called us to right now, because he loves us so much, he's preparing us for those bigger things. And those bigger things might not someone might not ever see them. How we define bigger is not how the Lord defines bigger. So number one is God prepares us for greater obedience by giving us opportunities to build character. And then this stood out to me, and I have this up there, Hux.

Character often comes before calling. So if you wanna know what God's calling is, he's calling you to be obedient. He's calling you to be obedient today in the little things that he's calling you to. That's good news because we can be walking in our calling right now even if we don't think it looks like some huge plan. And then I asked myself this question, am I being faithful where God has placed me right now?

Am I being faithful and obedient even when no one notices and in the things that nobody sees? I think that's a good question to always ask ourselves. Let's look at Luke sixteen ten, and I think we have it up there, Hux. And, Bethany, I think you brought this up last week when talking about calling. If you're faithful in the little things, you will be faithful in the large ones.

But if you're dishonest in the little things, you won't be honest with the greater responsibility. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? Right? I think we stop with faithful in the little, get the big. We don't really read the whole, you know, the whole thing.

I don't know about you, but I wanna be trusted with the true riches of heaven. Like, that's awesome. Let this encourage you. Every time you do the right thing, every time you put the phone down and don't fire off a text in anger, every time you you what? Hypothetically, I'm I don't know what that's like.

Every single time you do a small act that honors the Lord in honesty, he sees it. And he's like, okay. Okay. Think of what the Lord wants to do in us and through us if we're obedient in the small things. Yes.

Bethany. Just raise your hand, I'll just start, I'll forget to

stop. Something along with that, because I think there's definitely that tendency to feel like, okay, is all about the Lords, rewarding us for doing things good and whatever, and so if we do good, then we get more, and if we don't, we get less. I heard a message once on the parable of the talents, where it's like somebody starts with one, somebody starts with two, somebody starts with five, and you who are faithful with little will be faithful with much. And I always thought that was kind of, felt kind of unfair. Like why did one person only get one, you know?

And something that when it was preached that somebody mentioned, is we don't know what happened before that. We don't know. Maybe they had more, and they were not faithful with it. And the thing that really strikes me about this and that is actually this huge act of love that God does it in that way, because he wants to see us succeed and do well. And so it's like, he's gonna give us a little, because he wants to us an amount that is going to challenge us without breaking us.

And so when he gives us a little and we can be faithful with that, then it's like we're ready to level up. You don't wanna level up. You don't wanna go you know, straight to level five swim team when you don't know how to do the butterfly. Right. You know, like you're not gonna be

set up for You'll be embarrassed.

Yes. You're not gonna be set up for success. And so, I think it's this beautifully like personal

It is.

Kind of love that he does this in this way.

And when you were saying that, just think about it, we only can think one way, God's ways are so much higher. One and five to him are the same. You know, like, it's not more, like that person wasn't necessarily given more love or more, you know, like, to to God, like, giving you one talent is everything you need. He's not holding back. It's like the fullness of what you need.

Five is what he knows someone else. It's not a less or more. It's a fully perfect amount for us. It's more in the natural, of course, like one is five is obviously more than one. But you know what I mean?

Like, because we always want well, why'd he get the five? You know? And he's like, five wouldn't have been loving you, is what I hear you saying. That's good, Bethany. Any other thoughts?

So far, I've been talking a lot. I just wanna get back over here and sing. That's all.

Where I'm comfortable. Kai said, can you sing your message? I was like, let's try it.

You don't you don't want that. You don't want that. Okay. So number one, God prepares us for greater obedience by giving us opportunities to build our character. So don't frown upon those opportunities, those challenging, those moments.

I mean, think of take one second. Close your eyes. I guarantee you in this past week, there was a moment where you were alone by yourself and you had to make a choice to do this or do that, as small as it maybe was. I can think of three for just myself. There was a wrong tag on the flowers.

They had tagged them that way, but I knew that I knew they were actually twenty four ninety nine, not 1499. And for a minute, I thought they tagged them. And the Lord was like, okay. I was like, that's not the right thing to do. And just think about how the Lord I mean, those aren't seem small and they do seem funny, but they're big in the kingdom of god.

They are big because if I can compromise that, what else can I compromise? I did pay $24.99. Just saying. The lady next to me said, don't change the tag. It was their mistake.

And I was like, oh.

Yeah. But God sees those. That let that be an encouragement. God sees those. And I think especially when we're young.

Right? And everybody's doing it. It's so easy to just compromise. Clay has something. River's bringing you the mic.

I just went to a men's retreat this past weekend and one of the things that I felt like god was was showing me was that you know, we don't have to be perfect like some of these, I mean, we we look at things on the YouTube, on TV, on on what have you and we're like, you know, I'm just, I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I I can't be that polished. God wants faithfulness. God can utilize you whether you think you're ready or not.

So, you know, take baby steps, but be willing to step out.

Yeah, how do you ever get polished if you don't ever.

Exactly and I'm just the the one thing that jumped out at me this morning I'm like, how immature have I been throughout my life?

Nancy?

There's been times

Do you wanna answer? Do you wanna answer that? As

we as we said earlier, you know, this early morning, if y'all would have come, you would have heard my testimonial

If you ever want to come and have a confessional time, come to the TMC between eight and nine before service. Yeah.

Me for sure, so I don't know if you really want to come early for that, but nonetheless, know, it just speaks to me that, you know, so many of us are ready. Take the step. It's not, you know, you're not gonna fall. You're not gonna fail. God is gonna be with you every step of the way.

And you know what? Thank you, Clay. Even if you do, I have failed a lot, a lot. I mean, when I first started leading worship, we didn't have planning center and iPads and back in the day, and I would hand write, I would hand write all the music, I would listen to a CD, and then I would write what I thought the chords were to lead worship on Sunday. And then I'd have my handwritten little copy, and I, like, one day, I spilled my water all over my paper sheets before I got up, and I was like, okay.

And I was like, I had no idea what the cords were. I just guessed they were all wrong and I was like, okay, well, I'm definitely not called to be a worship leader.

I mean, I fail. I mean, I

could go on. I could tell you a 100 stories where I was in one key and someone's in another key. I mean, I was stepping out in what I felt like the Lord called and I failed sometimes. I mean, people were like, oh, boy.

But you know what? I didn't quit just because of it.

And so I that's that's good encouragement, Clay. Like, he does position us. And then, you know, sometimes we we don't do it perfectly. We just have to be obedient. Okay.

So point two is God often uses unexpected circumstances to call us into deeper faithfulness and obedience. We see that in this story with Philip. Here, god has just said, start down the road to Gaza. That's the only instruction he's gotten. And we're gonna talk about this a little bit more in just a second, like, things were he was, like, cranking in ministry.

Like, if you go back and read, he's people are getting healed right and left. He it says that one of the reasons they called him was because he was a man filled with the holy spirit. He was laying hands on people. They were getting healed. There was all kinds of stuff happening in Jerusalem right after Pentecost, and Philip was right in there in the mix.

And now god says, start down this road, a desert road away from what would seem like the action. So God often uses unexpected circumstances to call us into deeper faithfulness and obedience. And in fact, I would even say that's usually what he does. Yeah. And will you be obedient?

Because we all wanna be like, yeah, but I'm making so much money now. Like, I just got teacher of the year. You want me to, you know? Let's look at acts eight one through five. Let's just look at those really quick.

Let's look at what led up to Philip being called. I'm just gonna read it for you. Oh, there's so much here too. Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. So just before this, Stephen is murdered.

This is Saul who becomes Paul. Like, he's not even Paul yet. He's not even saved. Persecuting then it says persecution scatters the believers. A great wave of persecution began that day sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.

There is an unexpected circumstance that seems negative that God used to spread the gospel. Think about it. They're persecuted, so they all scatter, and they take the gospel with them. Like, God just uses it. He uses these unexpected circumstances.

Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning, but Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison. But Philip it says Philip preaches in Samaria, but the believers who were scattered preached the good news about Jesus wherever they went. So they got scattered, they're just sharing Jesus. They're forced out, and then they're just sharing Jesus.

I mean, God's using it. The believers were scattered, preached the good news about Jesus everywhere they went. Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria, which if you know the stories of Jews in Samaria, that's a hostile situation between Jews and the Sumerians. Went to the city of Sumeria and told the people there about the Messiah. So Philip is using these unexpected circumstances, like this what seems awful, the Lord is totally using it.

And if you look at it, you know, from where we're looking, like, well, duh. Like, the lord wanted the gospel to spread. He didn't cause this persecution, but he knew it was gonna happen, and so he used it. So we see persecution scattered the believers. Stephen is murdered.

Christians fled from Jerusalem. Philip ended up in Samaria. What looked like a setback for the spreading of the gospel became a great opportunity. God used the persecution to spread the gospel. God will use hear me.

God will use disappointments. He will use closed doors. He will use losses in our life. He will use difficult seasons to redirect us towards his purposes. Take a second.

Close your eyes. Could God be working through a difficult situation in your life right now? Is he trying to help you build character and be obedient even though it is rough? Lord, speak to us. Alright.

Number three. This is the third point that I saw. Obedience sometimes means leaving what's working. We already kinda touched on that a little bit. You can go back and look in acts eight twenty five through 26 and with Philip's situation, which we just kinda touched on his ministry.

He's, like, sharing Jesus, and let me just read just a little bit of that because it's it's pretty cool. It says, he's being obedient, and he's seen all these miracles. He's getting everyone is getting healed. Ministry in Samaria is thriving. People were being saved.

Miracles were occurring. Revival was happening. And then God tells Philip, go south to the desert road. What Philip didn't know was why he was leaving. Isn't that what we always wanna know?

We'll all go, but why? What what what's the purpose you have for me? He didn't know who he would meet, and he didn't know what God was going to do, and yet he was obedient and this is the deeper thing when I was gonna say it when Bethany said that, we don't be obedient or at least the heart is in the little things so that necessarily god will give us more. The heart posture is, lord, I wanna be obedient in the little things because you're worthy. If I never even see the greater thing, this gives you glory.

And I think if we have that kind of heart posture, not always what's the next thing, what's the next thing, but in this moment, the right thing that brings the Lord glory and honor is the right thing to do regardless if I ever see the greater thing. Like, feel like that's the heart posture that God longs for, and he's like, ah, here we go. When we do it because we love him. Because everything he does for us is out of love. Everything we do should be out of love for him.

So here's the the truth of this part that I saw. Success is not always the same thing as obedience. I think the world we see that in the world a lot, especially in Western culture. It's, like, really hard to not get those two confused, and I'll let you have the holy spirit speak to you what that means for you. Yeah.

And Amanda loves the topic of obedience. It's like her favorite.

My favorite and melting in delight over here.

This is sweet.

And God asked me to do hard things. I'm like, oh, I'm I'm reminded. But what I keep thinking of is is you're on this particular part of the story is Philip's that he was filled with the holy spirit, which scripture says that we read. Because when you're in a thriving situation, he was in a thriving ministry doing literally the work of the kingdom. So we could be doing the work of the kingdom.

It could be our success in our jobs, whatever we measure success like you just said. But to me, the thing that's sticking out is that he knew the voice of the holy spirit. Yeah. Because it seems like foolishness to go into the literal desert when you are thriving for things of the lord. And so he could have said, uh-uh, enemy.

I'm not. That's your voice. I'm not gonna go to the desert, but that was the lord. Yeah. So to me, there's just such a big distinguisher between knowing so much knowing the voice of the holy spirit that you're not in in your best effort, just be like, uh-uh, devil.

I rebuke you. He's like, devil's not even around. That's the Lord calling you Yeah. Into a desert place. So, anyway, just knowing that knowing his voice so clearly so you can differentiate is to camp.

That's so good. I mean, we've done full series cultivating a relationship with the holy spirit. How can you hear his voice if you haven't cultivated a relationship with the holy spirit? Like, you have to be able to I mean, I think some of us in the room are like, well, if I heard clearly the voice of the Lord say start out on the desert road, I'd go. I just don't know if I'm hearing the voice of the Lord right, and only you can hear the voice of the Lord for you.

Bethany?

Oh, just with that, I was thinking of, like, I feel like in my early in

my faith,

I would do this thing where it was like, okay, would God want me to do? Like, in this situation, whether it was career, or like, you know, my plans on the weekend or whatever, what would God want me to do? And I'm like, Jimmy Nutron, calculating what is gonna do the most good with the things that I have and trying to analyze, oh sorry. Sorry. To outrun myself.

But what is going to be the thing that does the most good and is the best for God, and da da da da da, and then it's so humbling to realize that God doesn't need us to do that, and it's also kind of silly totally in vain, because we don't know all the things. And so it's like, we can try to calculate as much as we have with what we know, but what we know is so limited, that truly the best thing is, like Amanda's saying, is cultivating. And actually, trying to do that calculation is actually the lazy thing to do. Because it's like, okay, I can try to figure out what the best thing to do is here, or the path that God wants me to, using all these other ways. But really, the thing that we're supposed to do is cultivate a relationship, and it's way more work to cultivate a relationship than it is to analyze a bunch of factoids.

It's good. It is. That's the part. It's easy to show up at your wedding day and say I do. The hard part's every single day after that.

Am I right or am I right? We just celebrated twenty seven years of this weekend. Am I right or am I right? Then the work begins. Brian always says at a wedding that people think that they're standing on the peak during the wedding.

This is like we've we've come to the top of the mountain, whatever. And Brian's like, you barely just put the backpack on at the trailhead, at Lupin Meadows Trailhead, like, ready. Here's a question for us to ask. Am I willing to follow God when his instructions don't make sense to our worldly western perspective? I think that's a good question for us to always ask.

Okay. Point four. We're getting there. God often reveals the next step only after we've been obedient in taking the first, and we've already talked about that. But this plays out.

God has made us so uniquely. He knows what we can handle. Some people and sometimes the lord will give a huge vision, and it seems audacious and he gives it. And then he might have someone else come alongside you that knows how to take the logical steps. But he is a god of order.

This has just been our world lately, so this is what I was relating this a lot to. So we built this garage apartment, and I'm not making this about me or us, but this was just has been our world. So I walked out of the planning department so excited to see these stamped for approval, and I was like, we got them. Woo hoo. And then I got home and this sinking feeling just came over me.

I was like, I don't know how to do this. I mean, this is a foreign language. Huts, will you put that one picture up there? Like, I don't know if you can see. Like, what in the world even what is all this?

And so this this is where I started. I was so overwhelmed. We already spent all this money getting the blueprints. So we had the whole plan. We could see what on the last page, what it was gonna look like.

But there was no way. It was so overwhelming. So I called Chris Baxter, and I was like, Chris, he's an architect. Like, what do you do? How do we build this?

Now that and he goes he said, you start with the first step, and the first step is learn how to read the plans. I was like, so smart.

Yeah, but I'm ready to start hammering.

And so I had to stop with what I knew and what came natural to me and I had to learn a new skill. I spent four weeks before we ever did a single thing learning how to read blueprints, and a whole another message is you do not have to do it alone. I literally brought these plans to Chris Baxter's office. I was like, help, and he's like, here's where you start to learn. And he showed me, he's like, learn this page and then bring the blueprints back.

I learned how to read that. Mean, Isaac can tell you, you we did not do we had to call in a ton of experts to help us. But you just start with the first step because God knows how he made us. Hux, will you go to the there's another one of this craziness. I mean, like, guys, like, this little thing is like a certain clip that if you put it on there, he they won't approve your they won't approve the inspection when they come.

Like, the weight, we had 26 inspections, which is why this felt so heavy. If this wasn't four two by sixes packed together, we wouldn't get our inspection approved. How do you go back once you've messed that up? I'm thinking all the money and all the responsibility and the but we did. I was like, okay.

I'm just gonna do this wall. P one, I know what a p one is. I don't know what any of that is yet, but I know what a p one is. Go to the next slide, Hudson. And so we're like, that picture was was this one wall.

So it it had a call out for all these things, and, again, like, they're gonna come and inspect it. Like, what comes naturally to me is just what makes sense? I'm just gonna build it, but that was not this. There was very specific things. These all had to be a certain height, and you had to have three king studs and one trimmer and so this is Matt Summers and I said, if you would just come.

So in this analogy, Matt is the holy spirit. Okay? If you would just come while we build the very first wall and watch us and hold our hand, I feel like if we do this first step, I feel like I can I'll get it from there. So then go to the next slide, Hux. So this was a huge day.

We were like, we did it. We did it. And then I had to learn how to read the blueprint some more, but I just feel like God this is an analogy, the Lord really did a work on me on just slowing down and taking the step that's needed in order to do what the bigger picture is. Like, that, I couldn't have done that. Like, I couldn't have done that.

I don't have the skills for it. Brian doesn't have the skills for it. We've never built a structure by ourselves completely. And so start with that first step. We always wanna go to 10.

Okay. Here's what I learned through this. Faith is trusting God with the next step and not necessarily demanding the entire plan or even the knowledge specifically for the entire plan. Okay. Point five, God is working on both sides of the divine appointment.

And we touch on this. God was already preparing the eunuch. I wish we he had a name. I wish we could call him by his name, not just by you wanna should we name him? What'd you name him, Bethle?

Marcus. Okay. Marcus. Not the eunuch, just Marcus. So Marcus is in his chariot, and he's riding, and God is preparing his heart.

And let this be an encouragement. If God calls you, it could be as simple, guys, as, like, you notice someone at the grocery store. You just notice them. This happens to me pretty often. And instead of just being like, oh, you say, Lord, did I notice them for a reason?

Are you calling my attention to them? Just give it a second. Stop for a minute. Just ask the Lord. I I have started to learn that for some reason at Whole Foods, always have some divine I don't go there very often.

Divine interaction or something. And so not all the time, but sometimes I'll even stop before I go in. Okay, Lord. Like, is this like a do you have a appointment for me? But think if we get outside of thinking about ourselves, not about, like, how uncomfortable I'm gonna feel, you know, asking that person, are are you doing okay?

Like, just noticed you and I know this this is my approach. Hey. They look at me and usually, like, I'll know right away. They'll be like, oh, you know, small town, hey, aren't you? Didn't I meet you somewhere?

And then I will normally just say to them, I know this might sound crazy, but I just I noticed you over there, and I just couldn't help but think. I believe in the God of the Bible, and I just can't get out of my head. I was just gonna walk away, but I just couldn't help but stop to think. Maybe you're having a rough day, and I don't know if you believe in God or not, but I just wanted to know he sees you because he stopped me. I'm in a hurry.

I we're all busy, and he just stopped me, and I just wanted to tell you he loves you today. And sometimes nothing happens. It really doesn't. And sometimes instant tears. And the point is is, like, God speaks to us while he's engaging with and he's intersecting these things about our days.

And sometimes we forget about that. Like, if god calls you to it, then he and many times, they'll be like, nope. Doing good. And I'll be like, okay. Have a good day.

Yeah. He still loves you.

And so just I think if a mindset shift can be as believers that it's not about us, if we really say, you can have my whole heart, you can have my, what are the words? You can have my heart, you can have my whole heart, you can have every part. Like, that includes your time in the grocery store, that includes your money, that includes your schedule, all of it. God is working on both sides of the divine appointment. What did Philip find?

Philip found an Ethiopian official reading Isaiah. He was a man searching for truth. I mean, God couldn't have prepared and cultivated his heart better, but Philip wouldn't have known that if he hadn't been obedient. So Philip gets the command to start out on the road. The second command is go walk next to the chariot, And then he finds this man.

He's just taking steps, listening to the Lord. And then Philip just asks a simple question. Do you understand what you're reading? He didn't start out with, do you know Jesus as your lord and savior? He says, do you understand what you're reading?

And the context of that is if he was from Ethiopia, he was probably didn't speak the language that the scroll was written in and Philip did. And so there's also, some scholars believe that Philip was a Greek speaking Jew from Jerusalem because of where his family came from, and he was probably reading. He was also probably understood Greek, and so that also was, like, a super cool intersection. They could actually communicate. Philip is sent to the desert road to meet with one man.

From a human perspective, it seems inefficient, but god sees what Philip cannot see. God is preparing the Ethiopian when god calls us to something or someone, he is frequently already at work in the person's heart. We're often joining a story that God has already begun. That's cool to think about. And here's a question for ourselves.

Do we have ears to hear the prompting when God is calling us? Or are we too busy or too frazzled with life, or maybe we haven't taken our own healing seriously? Maybe we we need deep healing, and we just we don't think that we're worth it. So we haven't even taken our own healing seriously so that we can be ready to go and be sent out. Who might God be preparing in your life right now that's asking that question like the Ethiopian?

Because that question he asked when he said, do you understand what you're reading? The very question he was asking was, is Isaiah talking about himself or is he talking about someone else? I mean, like, talk about a perfect segue to share the gospel. It's so beautiful. Number six, our responsibility is obedience.

God's responsibility is the results. Amanda has a story she's told before about. She felt really clearly that the lord she thought the Lord was telling her to buy this bike. Was that Walmart in Tulsa one time for someone in front of her in line? And so she went to all this work.

She this person needed this, and anyway, long story short, she yes okay he had a sign he was standing on the street corner I need a bike so Amanda goes and buys the bike and what ends up happening? Just what happened when you got him the bike?

So I saw, like, a presumably homeless man who just said needing a bike. And I was I we see stuff like that a lot and especially in bigger towns, and I was I just don't always feel convicted, but the because a lot of them, you know, don't need anything. But some do, and you wanna be the hands and feet of Jesus. Anyway, I was like, I can do a bike. Not not easily.

Like, we didn't really have tons of money for bikes for strangers, but I called Corey and made sure. And I was like, I just feel a conviction, and I think I need to do it. And he's like, okay. Go for it. And I had one or two babies in the car with me, and we went and bought a bike and brought it to him.

And before I got it out of the car, I just went and asked his story. Like, hey, man. How you doing? And it was something like he misses his son. He just needs a bike to get in the and I was like, why?

I have a bike for you. It's in the trunk.

You want me to sit there? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But then he acted so odd. And I was like and I was like and and I got it out and everything. He helped me. I opened the trunk. He got it out.

And and he was just acting so odd. And then he was like stumbling over his words, and he's like, well, I mean, another lady said she was gonna get me one. I'm just gonna meet her at Target tomorrow at four. And I was like, okay, something So

you don't want the bike?

So you don't want the bike? I was like, your sign literally says I need a bike. Like, wasn't translating. I was like, doing exactly what you asked. Anyway, he ended up kind of rejecting it.

And so I was like, well, it was kinda heavy, so, like, hop in the car. And so I took a stranger I made a stranger get in my car with my two babies in the back. This is also my personality. I made him load it back up, and I made him go return it for me. Because he asked for one, and I got it, and he said no.

And I was after that whole inner that's a whole other but then after that, I was like, did I miss it, Lord? Did I miss that? Because I because I don't just do that all the time. I really felt a conviction to do it. And I do feel like I was obedient.

And then this number six is a perfect story for that, because I was like, he can have the bike. He can be fake. He can be real. I don't care. Right.

I was obedient, and I dusted my hands of it. Yeah. And it was no and then I just I didn't lose any sleep over it. I was that was so bizarre. But I felt like I was obedient.

Yep.

Who cares what anyone else is doing? So it was so weird.

Did they make the bike back?

Yes. I made him get it out of the car, and we walked into

yeah. Yeah. Our responsibility is obedience. God's responsibility is the result. If you feel I love that story.

I can just Maybe and Amanda would say this if she had more time. Maybe the Lord was just asking Amanda to be obedient. That's right. And maybe God really did want that man to receive that bike and something was going on with him. We don't know.

We're not we're not responsible. Ian, and then we'll get to our very last point.

We just talked about this maybe last Sunday a bunch. I don't know if it was last Sunday or if I missed one. But just that we often, most of the time, have no idea the spiritual significance of some of these little things that happen. And so it's like his like feeling weird and rejection, like we don't know like what the Holy Spirit was doing in his heart, and maybe just incredible healing that could happen, and it's like that small act of obedience looses the power of heaven, and we don't often see, and that's okay. Because that's comes in, it's like Point trusting God to do what you

seven is you may never know the full impact of your obedience. Think about the story of Philip. Yeah. You were tracking right with me, Ian. Think about Philip's story.

It says, he prays he explains the gospel to the man. He gets to see some immediate change. The guys wants to get baptized, baptizes the guy, and it says that when he came up out of the water, Philip is taken away.

Like he didn't get to

stick around and walk next to the eunuch and be like, did you see the change? Like look at this guy and like go down the road and be like, he just got saved. I just led him to the Lord. I was obedient. Like, I didn't even know the chariot was there, you guys.

Like, he just did what he was supposed to do, and then the Lord took him to the next thing. He never saw what happened after that. And so, Amanda, you're you're exactly right, Ian. Who knows when we're obedient? We and we don't need to know.

We just trust the lord with it. We don't know. I mean, some scholars think that that he went on, you know, and shared the gospel in Ethiopia. Like, that's probably what happened if he was so excited, you know, and he's traveling this way just like what was happening. It was, you know, with the persecution and being scattered that, you know, he took that truth and he took that gospel in a place that needed it to go.

Right. That's right. I have a lot more notes, we're gonna move to the next thing. River, can I have that? I wrote this song a long time ago.

I completely forgot about it. But I was thinking the other when I was reading through this scripture, I remember I wrote this song because I thought, there are no songs that I could find about just being obedient. And when I first got saved, this was my heart. Was like, Lord, I just wanna obey you. And so I wrote this song while I sing this song, we're we're gonna land the plane.

While we sing this, would you just ask the Lord what he's called you to to be obedient in today? And maybe some of you in this room know, like, the moment I say that, something bubbles up. I have not been obedient in that step you've already told me. And maybe some of you in here are thinking, I don't even know what the Lord is calling me to. Just ask him.

Lord, is there something in front of me today that I can take a step towards obedience obey yes I will obey give me courage yeah I will obey

What a what a beautiful and simple thing we can say to the lord. I will obey. And if you lived in my house, you heard I will obey and the kids say right away.

All the way.

All the way. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Something in this story too with the eunuch, he had a choice to accept that help or not. Right? So whether in your life, from the story we read today, whether you're Philip, which is what we concentrated on and you're the one listening to the Holy Spirit and obeying, or whether you're the eunuch needing help, someone's offering it, You gotta you gotta obey and say yes as well.

He could have

been like, no, I'm fine.

And I think it's the Coptic Christians in Egypt today attribute their faith to the to the Ethiopian eunuch. A lot of them say that that's where it started. So, yeah. Because he got that help, because he obeyed as well, probably countless people came to knew to know the lord. You, like we said today, you just never know the impact of your obedience.

As we just wind down the service today, obedience is something that just never goes away as a believer. It's something you need to be comfortable being uncomfortable in. And so as we bring our tithe and our offering to the Lord every week, it is an opportunity to to obey the Lord. Not not just in an act or like we always talk about. You know, here at Tribe, we don't just want to check off a box and do something rote for no reason but we want to obey the lord.

What is he asking of you to give? And it could be different every time. You could just do a consistent amount. It could be something, you know, there's even an option for it like an auto withdraw but it could also just be an opportunity for you to listen to the lord's voice at whatever your local church is and just say, what do you want me to give today? And I think the the story of the talents that Bethany mentioned and even our story today, like money is not a thing for the It's just how humans do in exchange.

It's not a deal and so when he asks us or prompts us to give a certain amount, whether it's to tribe or your local church or to a charity, whatever it is. It's to calibrate your heart is what that's for. So, we we'll pray together ways to give today if you are doing that is there's a physical box right behind Bodin. You can put that there. That's also the place you can put your connect card if you that out today.

And then there's a black lockbox outside the front door downstairs. You can always put in cash or check or whatever you have. And then easy ways to give is online, tribejh.com, of course. And then, Hux, if you'll put up the giving link. If you have a smartphone, it's also really easy just to type in, this number here.

Just like you're texting a friend, you type in (833) 369-7847. Type the word give with a dollar sign and whatever you want to give. Technology is wild, right? Can you imagine in the Bible times them having a device in your hand that you just give money? Okay.

Well, let's pray together and then just one quick announcement. We'll get you guys out of here. Heavenly father, thank you so very much for this day. Thank you for Alyssa and her obedience to you in delivering this word today, lord. Thank you just for the truth of your word and thank you for just this discussion model we have so we can just see your word with different perspectives and help us to always weigh and measure what we hear no matter from what source just with your word.

Thank you for the beauty of your truth in your word, the one and only truth. Thank you for everybody here and just as you speak to us each and every time we're about to give. Lord, help us to just be our hearts to be sensitive to what it is you're asking us to do. Not only with money like we're doing with our tithe and our offering but just those moments where if you ask us to buy bikes or if you ask us to do different things, Lord, let us not be so in our humanness just but why? But why?

Let us just be so soft and tender to obey your voice because you have never not been trustworthy. You have never not been faithful. You have a 100% record of faithfulness and trustworthiness and so we bank on that. Lord, you're so faithful. We love you.

We thank you for the work of the ministry that here at Tribe we get to do. We get to be your hands and feet. Thank you so much for everybody here. We love you. Amen.

Just one well, let's. Yes. You want to? We'll do it at the end. One one quick announcement and then one final thing.

So, I don't know if you know but our friend Natalie had a a dream about worshiping at the rodeo here in Jackson Hole and we're making it happen. So, starting tomorrow, every for five consecutive Monday nights starting tomorrow. It's called Revival at the Rodeo and it's just going to be at 07:00 in tribe tribe worship plus extra will be there. So, we're just going to be praying. There'll be a short message but yeah, we'll be up.

Tribe will be there doing our thing for the lord music. So, yeah, come if you want. It's totally free. I think they'll have snacks just so Jackson.

I love it.

Yeah. And just come and pray as well. Yeah, it's an opportunity. You know, for for churches to unite which we love doing that but it's for the public. It's because we're in peak season.

If you've been around at all, you know that. So, anyway, one final thing as we leave. You saw those blue these blueprints that Lissa showed you in that one first wall, but just like when you take your first step of obedience and you're like, I did it, but it's not complete. Lord, what's next? What's next?

Well, the hunters had, like, a 47 steps of obedience to have a completed project. So we have just a short video that Susan made with her drone and her excellent photography skills. So we just wanna show you the final product of Lissa and Brian's obedience. Not not for any reason other than to see obedience pays off.

Okay, go ahead. This is a brag on Susan's camera skills. Go ahead.

So that is insanely beautiful. Yes. But here's the deal with the Lord. He wanted you to finish that because he's got something else, like, around the corner. He's about to I'm sure he'll ask you later today for something huge.

He wants us to complete things so we can go on. So let me pray for us, and we'll get out of here. Please, let's stand to our feet. Mhmm. Oh, lord Jesus, we love you so much.

Thank you that you honor obedience. It is like your love language. When we obey you, our heavenly father, in your perfection, you just brings delight to your heart, and that's what we can give back to you for all you've done for us. What we can give back is our worship and our obedience because you are worthy of it all. Thank you for this day.

Thank you for everybody here. Lord, I just pray a special blessing over every family represented here. Help us to not only listen and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit but have the courage to obey. We love you. In Jesus name, amen.

Amen. You are dismissed. Happy Sunday.

You got this. You got this.