So, I'm going to deliver tonight on the sermon you were promised by Pastor Anderson on Thursday.
You were told that there was going to be a Stephen sermon and then there was the Phillip
sermon. And I'm not faulting Pastor Mejia when he was here on Friday night. He said,
boy, I've got this other thing. I really want to preach it. And I said, preach it.
And then me being a preacher, whenever you know there's a subject that's kind of floating
out there and an idea, you pounce on that and you run with it. So, I'm going to preach
tonight on the example of Phillip, the example of Phillip. Now, right out of the gate, let's
just clarify who this is talking about. Which Phillip? Because there's the Phillip,
the apostle, and then there's what was often referred to, the Phillip we're talking
about tonight, Phillip the evangelist. And so, this is not the same guy. This is not
Phillip the apostle. Some people get confused about that. That's pretty common knowledge,
but it is out there. Some people will get a little confused and think, is this talking
about the apostle Phillip? Well, it's real clear just from the context of the scripture
that he's not. If you look there in verse two, it says, then the 12 call the multitude.
Now, Phillip the apostle is of that 12, the 12 disciples that Jesus called and appointed
and ordained. So, he's of that 12 that called the multitude of the disciples and
said unto them, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. And
then commands them to look out seven men of honest report full of the Holy Ghost and
wisdom who we may appoint over this business. So, if that was the same guy, if the apostle
Phillip and Phillip the evangelist were the same person, then selecting him as a deacon
would have kind of defeated the purpose. You see what I'm saying? They're saying,
hey, pick out seven guys so we can give ourselves the ministry of the word and prayer.
And they got these guys together and said, oh, we need Phillip to come down and be one
of them. That would absolutely defeat the purpose. So, I think it's pretty easy to
prove that the Phillip here is talking about a different Phillip, not Phillip the
apostle. I'm not going to belabor that point. But he is what is often referred
to as the seven deacons. Now, it doesn't necessarily say deacons in this passage,
but you can see in Acts 6, they're recognized as deacons not so much by a title, but rather
by the fact that they served the church. And that's really what a deacon is. A deacon
is somebody who is a servant, who is a minister of the church. They're an officer
of the church. They're ordained in the church. But their purpose there is, you know,
we see it here, you know, they're there to wait on the tables, the daily administration
to take care of the, you know, the day-to-day tasks that have to be done. And Phillip
was one of these guys. Now, we heard a great sermon about Stephen, and he's one of the,
you know, the primary guys that's mentioned here. He's the first one. But then it also
mentions Phillip, and we learn a lot about Phillip in Acts chapter 8. You know, Acts
chapter 7 is all about Stephen, you know, his sermon, his preaching, and the Jews
running upon him and stoning him. Well, Acts 8 kind of picks up the story. And
if you would, go over there, Acts chapter 8. In Acts chapter 8, that tells us more
about Phillip. You know, this is also, you know, further evidence, if you need it, that
this is talking about a different guy. Because in Acts chapter 8, it says in verse 1, it
says, And Saul was consenting in his death at that time, and there was a great persecution
against the church that was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout
the region, regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And of course, we know
the story in Acts 8, that Phillip, he's not in, he's not there. He's one of the
people that is scattered abroad, you know, further evidence that it's not an apostle.
But I promise you, I wouldn't believe the point, and here I am doing it. But really,
what we see here in Acts chapter 8 is that, you know, Phillip, one of the great
things we can learn from him, you know, that we can all apply to our hearts or
to our lives is the fact that he has the heart of a servant. You know, that's a
really important attribute that we want to have as God's people. And I believe
that, you know, God, you know, puts people in positions like this who have
that kind of heart, not to lift them up or exalt them, but to serve as an
example. And that's what we're looking at, Phillip. That's why we're looking
to him tonight. We're looking to Phillip tonight as an example, not to
just read about Phillip and say, oh, that's nice, you know, great story, but to
actually take that story of Phillip and apply it to our own lives. And one of the
great things about Phillip, when you read about him, is that he has a servant's
heart. You know, and that's a really important attribute, especially
if you're going to make it in the Christian life. If you're going to be a
blessing, you have to have a heart that desires to serve. You know, if you're
somebody who desires to go into the ministry, you know, you need to have a
servant's heart like Phillip. You need to be somebody, and it also shows us that if
you're filled with the Holy Ghost, like these seven men were, that were of
honest report and filled with the Holy Ghost, part of that is going to be you
you know, that that filling of the Spirit, you know, that's going to give you the
heart of a servant. You're going to desire to serve other people and to
help other people. And we could see that Phillip had, you know, a heart of a
servant because of the fact that he was not a respecter of persons. He was
not a respecter of persons. Acts chapter 8, you know, a great chapter,
we're all familiar with it, but look at verse 5. It says, Then Phillip went
down to the city of Samaria, and that's a significant place, Samaria, and he
went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them, and the
people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Phillip spake, hearing
and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying out, crying
with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with, possessed with them,
and many were taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed, and there
was great joy in that city. So we could see also that, you know, Phillip being
ordained as a deacon, you know, part of his job was not just to minister, but
also he had to be a guy who could preach, go out and preach the gospel,
you know, and tell others about the Lord, and he was able to do that, you know, and
the reason why he was, you know, did such a great job is because he had the
heart of a servant, and it's interesting that he's, that when Phillip,
this persecution takes place, and the apostles kind of hang back in
Jerusalem, he chooses to go to Samaria. Now the Lord was probably leading in
that, I'm sure, but if you recall, you know, that was not a place that was
real popular with the apostles or Jews of that day, you know, because they
considered them mixed breeds and stuff like that, and it's kind of a
racial connotation, you know, they were a bit racist, quite frankly, but if you go
to Luke chapter 9, go over to Luke chapter 9, keep something in Acts 8,
you'll remind us of this story in Luke chapter 9, beginning in verse 1, and
it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up, he
steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his
face, and they went and entered into the village of the Samaritans to make
ready for him, so he's passing by, Jesus said, I'm going to Jerusalem, why don't you go
over to Samaria and let him know I'm going to be coming by, so the
messengers go by and they go to make ready for him, and they did not
receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem, so the
Samaritans are like, well he's going to Jerusalem anyway, they're not excited
about Jesus coming, they kind of reject him here, and when his disciples James
and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come
down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did, I mean, these guys are just
so jealous for the Lord, they're just so fervent for the Lord, they're saying
well if you're going to reject him, why don't we just call it on fire
and just destroy the city, you know, there's a lot going on there, you know,
is it really, is James and John, are they really wanting to do that just
because they're so zealous for the Lord, or is maybe they just kind of
see an opportunity to get back at the Samaritans for, you know, just something
they don't like about them, you know, because there was a there was a real
rift there, they didn't really care for those people, so, you know, this could be
one of either one of those things, but we'll notice what the Lord said, he says
if he turned and rebuked them, and he said, you know not what manner of
spirit you are of, for the Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives,
but to save them, so he rebukes the spirit, you know, and we should not
have this attitude of, you know, if somebody says the wrong thing, or doesn't
write on this or that, that we're just instantly like, we're just going to
call down the fire, you know, we're just gonna, we're just gonna run them off, we're
just gonna write them off, you know, you have to give people a chance to grow,
you have to give people a chance to be taught things, to be corrected, and to
grow, and to get things right, okay, and that's the spirit that we're
supposed to have, and that's the spirit that Philip had, I mean, he had an
opportunity to go anywhere, he's like, well, I guess I'll go to Samaria, I guess
I'll go there, and really he's showing more compassion here on the
Samaritans than the Apostles did earlier, and the Apostles just like, well
torch the place, you know, and now they appoint these seven guys, and the seven
guys that they appointed, one of them, Philip, is like, well, I'm gonna go preach
to them now, of course, the church has been scattered, so on and so forth, but
he's showing a little more compassion than even the Apostles did previously,
now I'm sure the Apostles got their heart right, in fact, we'll read here, we
know that that's the case, but it may even be that Philip, you know, through
his, the heart that he had to serve, even inspired the Apostles
themselves, which goes to show you that, you know, it's not all about rank in the
local church, you know, just because you can retain an office, or you're ordained
this, or ordained that, that doesn't just make you the supreme, you know,
this doesn't make me, what is the term, the archdeacon, was that the term, you
know, I'm the archdeacon, you know, these titles are there for a reason, you
know, because there's an authority structure in the local church, but, you know, that
doesn't mean that just because I'm the deacon here, that, you know, I can't be
inspired, or motivated, or moved by other people in the church, you know, who aren't,
who don't have those titles, okay, and if you look here in Acts chapter 8, look at
verse 14, go back there to Acts chapter 8, we'll look at verse 14, so
Philip, you know, he goes down to Samaria, and the Samaritans, you know, they come
out, and they, and it says there was great joy in that city, so they just,
they're just loving the fact that he came, they're getting saved, he's doing
these miracles, people are being healed, it's a great time. Now look at verse 14,
it says, now when the apostles, which were at Jerusalem, you know, they're still
trying to hang back, and just sit tight in Jerusalem, they don't want to,
they don't want to do what Jesus said, to go into all the world, and to preach
the gospel to every creature, they're just kind of hanging back, it says, but when
they heard that Jerusalem had received the Word of God, and who was it that
brought the Word of God, was Philip, with that servant's heart that he had,
they sent unto them Peter and John, they said, well, you know, we can't, we can't let this
guy that we had ordained to wait on tables to get all the glory, we better
send some other guys down there, right? Now that's probably not what's going on,
but they were sending them down there to, you know, help him, you know, I think
maybe Philip inspired the other apostles at this point, they said, wow, Philip
went down there, he's tearing it up, let's, let's get behind him, let's back
him up on this, let's help him go down there and do a great work, it says
they sent Peter and John, and look at verse 25, and they, when they had testified
and preached the Word of the Lord, now it's interesting there that it's John,
right? John, the same guy who's saying, well, shall we just, you know, let's light
him up, back when Jesus was here, saying, torch the place, let's call on
fire, and now he's come all the way around, and he's there, and he's
ministering these people, he's preaching the Word of the Lord unto them, and it
says that they went and preached the gospel in many villages of the
Samaritans, you know, I think Philip having a servant's heart and going to the
Samaritans, I think he even inspired men like Peter and John to go and do a
great work as well, so it just goes to show us that, you know, it's more
about the heart in the servant more than anything, the type of, you know, you
can inspire other people, whether you're the pastor, whether you're the deacon,
whether you're just a, you know, a boy or girl in the church, you know,
just you having a heart for other people can move others to be like you, and, you
know, Philip has the heart of a servant, we see that, first of all, because he's not a
respecter of persons, he's not gonna say, well, the Samaritans, there's no way
I'm going there, you know, and not only that, he's not, he's not, you know,
partial that way, but he also cares, you know, just about the one person, you
know, he's not just impressed, he's not just only worried about reaching a
whole, all the villages of the Samaritans, I mean, obviously that was
something that he cared about, otherwise he wouldn't have gone there and preached
to them, but he also cares about the one person, you know, he's willing to even go
after just one of the lost sheep, right, look at verse 26, and it says,
And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south,
unto the way that goeth before from Jerusalem unto Geza, which is
desert. And he arose and went, and behold a man of Ethiopia and eunuch of
great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all
the treasure had come from Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, sitting in
his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the spirit said unto Philip, go
near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip replied, just one guy, I mean,
I got all these villages and Samaritans I could be reaching, I could, I could, send
me on a crusade, you know, give me a large crowd to preach to, Lord, I mean,
what are you gonna waste my time on one guy for? Just one person. Didn't you see
what I did back there? I mean, I'm moving the Apostles to do great works.
Don't waste my talent on one person. Is that the, is that the attitude that
Philip had? No, he had a servant's heart, you know, he was full of the Holy Ghost
and he cared about even one person. And it says in verse 30, And Philip dragged
his feet. I guess if I have to, I'll go talk to this Ethiopian, if you say so,
Lord. No, it says he ran. That's significant, you know. Now, that's not a
requirement for being a deacon. Okay, let me just clarify that, right? Because if it
is, I'm disqualified. Doesn't say how far he ran though, right? But if it says
that Philip ran, you know, he was excited to go get talked to this guy. He
said, oh, you want me to talk to him, Lord? You got it. He didn't, you know, make
his case and make a bunch of excuses. He said, I'm gonna go witness to even one
guy. He didn't care if he was preaching to whole villages. He didn't care if
he was getting thousands saved, even if he was getting one person saved. He just
wanted to serve other people. And it said that Philip ran thither to him and
heard him read the prophet Isaiah and said, understand what thou readest. And he
said, how can I, except some man should guide me, and he desired Philip that he
would come up and sit with him. And the place of the scripture which he
read was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb he was
dumb, he was dumb before a shear, and so on and so forth. Verse 38, and he says,
we'll jump down to verse 36, and as they went on their way, they came into
a certain water, and the eunuch said, see here is water, what doth hinder me to
be baptized. And Philip said, if thou believeth with all thine heart, thou
mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
So this is a great example, you know, speaking of baptisms, you know, you get
saved and then you get baptized. It's not, you know, one isn't dependent upon
the other either. Well, you know, baptism is, you have to be saved to get baptized,
but you don't have to be baptized, you don't have to get baptized to get saved.
We all understand that, that's another sermon. But we see that, you
know, Philip was ordained as a servant, you know, back in Acts chapter 6, when he
said, go pick out guys, pick out these seven guys that, you know, are full of
wisdom, the Holy Ghost, you know, part of that, I believe, that they chose Philip.
And I'm sure there was other guys there, that they were, well, these are the
only seven guys that are full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom. I'm sure there were
other people around that had the Holy Spirit, that had the wisdom, that could
have done just as good a job. But maybe what set Philip apart from some
of the others was the fact that he was willing to serve wherever and
whenever he was needed. He wasn't gonna say, you know, I'm only gonna serve in
this city, or I'm only gonna serve when the circumstances are just right,
or only if I'm gonna get certain accolades, or only if I'm gonna be
recognized, you know, only if my, you know, I'm too good to serve here but this
will do for me. He was willing to serve anywhere, at any time, any place. He was
ready to go and serve wherever he was needed. Look at verse 40 there. It says,
but Philip was found at Azotus and passing through he preached in all the
cities till he came to Caesarea. You know, he went above and beyond, too. You
know, he had the heart of a servant. He wasn't somebody just like, well, I did
my duty, I'm done now. It doesn't say here that the Lord, you know, told him
to go preach here. He just kept right on going. You might say, well,
this is what the Lord wants. I'm just gonna keep right on going. And he
preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea. So we see, first of
all, that, you know, one of the things we can learn from the example of
Philip is that he has the heart of a servant. He's willing to serve anybody,
any number of people, anywhere. But not only that, you know, Philip was a
reliable and faithful man. He was a reliable and faithful man. And, you
know, churches need reliable, faithful men, not just behind the pulpit. They need
them, you know, in the pew as well. That's what makes up the backbone of a
church is reliable, faithful individuals, men and women, people you can just count
on that are gonna be there, that are gonna help out and play
their part. So if you look in Acts chapter 6, it says there in
verse three, wherefore, brethren, look out among you seven men of honest report.
Now what that means there is that they have a good reputation. You know, the
report of them is that they're honest people and that they have a good
reputation. You know, I believe that's, you know, one of the best things you can
ever compliment you can ever pay another man is to say he's a good man.
That's one of the best things you could ever say about somebody. You know, have
that said about you is a great thing to say, hey, that guy is a good man or that
woman is a faithful lady. You know, that's something that we should all strive
for. And I believe that's what Paul, or excuse me, Philip had. You know, he was
one of the seven men that had, what, an honest report to say, hey, this is a
good guy. He's faithful. He's reliable. He's gonna do a good job. And if you
would, go over to Acts chapter 21. You know, he had a good reputation, you know,
and he maintained that reputation. I mean, he wasn't just one of these guys
that just, you know, got all fired up for the Lord, did some works, and then just
kind of petered out. He wasn't one of these guys who just got all fired up
for the Lord, you know, won a bunch of souls to Christ, and then just kind
of faded away. You know, he kept serving God day in, day out for his entire
life. He was a faithful, reliable man. You know, that's the type of people we
should strive to be. We should strive to be like Philip. We should be willing
to serve anybody, anywhere, and not only that, but we should be willing to do that
for the rest of our lives. We should keep that servant's heart and never lose
that. Because if you, you know, years later, he hasn't lost his reputation. Now
remember in Acts chapter 8, it says that he came, he preached in all the
cities to what? Till he came to where? To Caesarea, right? And that's where he
kind of parked. I think, I don't know everything that went on in Philip's life,
but we're about to read about him here, you know, many years later in Acts
chapter 21. You know, it sounds to me like he got there, you know, he kind
of settled in. You know, he also, you know, it's just another great
attribute. He was willing to go anywhere, but also when it was time for him to
park and stay in one spot, he was willing to do that. Hey, if this is
where I need to be, that's where I'm gonna be. That's where I'm called,
that's where I'm going. I'm gonna preach wherever I need to be. Look
here in Acts chapter 21 verse 1, it says, and it came to pass if we had gone
after, that after we were gone, gotten from them, and had launched, we came
with a straight course over unto Cuz, and the day following unto Rhodes, and
from thence unto Patara. This is, of course, talking about the Apostle Paul.
Okay, the Apostle Paul and Luke and others are traveling. This is many years
later after Acts 8. I mean, Acts 8, Paul hasn't even gotten saved yet. You know,
he still saw, he still hasn't gone into the desert for three years and
in Arabia. He still hasn't done a lot of things. A lot of time has
passed between Acts chapter 8 and Acts chapter 21, and it says there, and
after finding a ship and sailing over into Phoenicia, we went abroad and set
forth. Now when we discovered Cyprus, we left in a left hand and sailed into
Syria and landed at Tyre, for the ship was there to inlaid her burden. And
finding disciples, we tarried there seven days, who said to Paul through the
Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. And when we had accomplished
those days, we departed and went our way, and they all brought us on our
way with wives and children till we were out of the city, and we kneeled
down on the shore and prayed. Verse 6, and when we had taken our leave one
another, we took ship and returned home again. And when we had finished our
course from Tyre, we came to Tomaeus and saluted the brethren and abode with
them one day. And the next day, we were that were of Paul's company, departed
and came on to Caesarea, where we last left Philip, right? And entered in
the house of Philip the Evangelist, which was one of the seven, and
abode with him. So all these years later, Philip is still there in
Caesarea, and he still has that reputation. You're like, hey, where do
you stay when you're in Caesarea? Oh, you go to Philip's house. You know, he's a
faithful man. He's gonna receive the brethren. You know, you can go there.
You're gonna be safe. He's gonna nourish you. He's gonna help you. You can get
refreshed. You can go on and continue to serve God. You know, Philip settled in
Caesarea, and he was faithful, and he served the Lord there. You know, just a
great guy. I mean, it just goes to show you the servant's heart that he
had. You know, he could have gone anywhere. He could have done anything,
but he said, you know what? This is where I need to be. I need to settle in
Caesarea. I need to park it there, and put down my route, and dig in, and just
really reach this town. Okay? And, you know, he keeps, he has that reputation
of being a faithful man all these years later that even now the Apostle
Paul is coming to him. You know, now what should show us is that if you want
to be a reliable, faithful person, at some point, you got to put your route
down. At some point, you just got to settle down and say, this is where I'm
at, and just dig in, and just go at it. You know, and I understand life
takes us different places at different times, and there's seasons, but, you know, at
some point, you just have to say, you know, this is where I'm at. This is
where I'm gonna stay, and I'm just gonna serve God for the rest of my
days, and just be a blessing there, and unless God, you know, makes it very
clear that he needs to pick you up, and move you somewhere else, just be
content to stay where you are. Keep serving God, and I believe that's what
Philip had. He had a servant's heart. He said, you know, I'm just gonna stay
here, and I'm gonna serve God, and he maintained that that reputation for
being a reliable, faithful individual, and not only that, you know, Philip, he gives
us a great example of having a servant's heart, but also being
somebody reliable, because he was willing to go anywhere and preach to
anyone, and that he was willing to settle down and do what he needed to do,
but not only that, but he also raised faithful children. You know, that's
usually a really big, you know, indicator of what kind of person
you're dealing with. You know, if you see a man or a woman who are raising good
godly children, that doesn't happen by accident.
Kids, you know, newsflash, the kids don't turn out like that
without a lot of hard work, without somebody actually putting some effort
into that, and being careful, and teaching, and instructing, and
disciplining. That's something that takes a lot of work. That takes a
person who being reliable, that takes a person being faithful, and that's
the type of person Philip was. Look there at verse 9. It says,
they entered into his house. In verse 9, the same man had four
daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. You know, he had pure
children. They weren't, his daughters weren't out running
around, gallivanting, you know, and just running around town,
living loose. You know, they were in dad's house under his
supervision, and they were prophesying. You know, they were
teaching, they were instructing, and you know, they were, why is
that? Because Philip was a faithful man. Because Philip was
a reliable person. All these years later, you know, he still
has these faithful children. And if you would, go over to
1 Timothy chapter 3, 1 Timothy chapter 3. So all these years
later, you know, Philip, it's interesting the life of Philip,
because, you know, you can't really say Philip's still a
deacon, can you? At this point in the story, I mean, he's
ordained a deacon, but then the church that he's a deacon of
gets persecuted and everybody leaves, the apostles are hanging
back, and he all of a sudden, we see him. That's why he's
called Philip the evangelist, right? That's the office he's
really fulfilling, but he was a deacon at one point. But even
all these years later, he's still fulfilling the
requirements of a deacon. So if you look there in 1
Timothy chapter 3, look at verse 8, it says, Likewise, must the
deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to
much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the
mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. You know, and
that's not always, we read over those, go, yeah, no
problem. I could do that. That's not always as easy as
it sounds. You know, I'm only two years into being a deacon,
and I hope I can be like Philip and just remain faithful
for many, many, many years to come. I hope I could, you
know, maybe someday somebody will blow through Tucson and
say, Hey, let's go see brother Corbin, you know, and
I've got my faithful children still with me, still
meeting those requirements. What's great about Philip
because I don't even think you could really consider
him a deacon at this point, you know, but yet he's
still fulfilling those qualifications, yet he's still a
faithful, reliable man, which just goes to show you
that, you know, the position doesn't make the man.
The man makes the position. It's not, you know, that's
the way it works. And it says there in verse nine,
holding the mystery of the faith in a pure
conscience and let these first be proved and then let
them use the office of the office of a deacon being
found blameless, even so must their eyes be grave,
not slander, sober, faithful and all things.
Let the deacons be the husband of one wife,
ruling their children and their own house as well.
So he's, you know, obviously he's still meeting these,
these qualifications, you know, and that's a tough
qualification. You know, for me, it's pretty easy,
but you know, cause I got such a great wife and I do,
you know, but that, that, you know, ruling your house
well, that takes effort. That takes work.
That takes, you know, it takes being a faithful man.
It's not something that, you know, there's people that
aren't able to do that. Houses fall apart.
Marriages get out of whack, you know,
and if that's the case, you know, disqualified.
I mean, these are, these are very clear qualifications
in scripture. And why is it,
why is it that the Bible even has these qualifications
for a deacon? It's because deacons, you know,
it's not, it's not to lift them up to make them, you know,
into some, you know, make them, you know,
exalt them in some way, you know, yes, they're lifted up,
but is it, is it so that they can receive glory
and praise? No, it's because those people that are lifted
up in that position are there to serve as an example.
You know, that's why you have to meet these
qualifications to have that office,
to have that title of deacon or Bishop or elder.
You know, you have to meet these qualifications
because when you, when you have that title,
when you have that position,
other people are looking at you and they're watching you
and they're following your example,
or at least they should.
And they should be shown a good example.
That's why it says, if you're there,
go over to 1 Timothy chapter three, verse 13.
It said, for they that have used the office
of a deacon well, purchase themselves a good degree
and great boldness in the faith,
which is in Christ Jesus.
He said, look, if you use that office well,
you get a good degree.
Now he's not talking about a diploma.
It's never going to be, what's the, how's that song going?
I'm probably doing the wedding march.
I don't know, I'm not real familiar
with the high school graduation song,
but it's never going to be like,
oh, you brother, deacon Russell,
you've done, you did four years at Tucson.
Now we're going to take that little tassel
and move over to the side.
You know, that's not what he's talking about
because the degree just really means rank,
you know, or an official rank.
They have a degree where, you know,
you reach a certain degree or whatever.
So I think that's what he's talking about here.
They have reached a good rank.
You know, they have a good position.
They have a good title.
You know, they're really what it's for
is for the purpose of distinguishing leadership.
You know, somebody has to lead a local church.
You know, somebody has to take the reins
and lead a church and say,
this is the direction we're going.
You know, and that's the pastor ultimately, you know,
and ultimately this church is under pastor Steven Anderson
up in Tempe, Arizona.
You know, we're a satellite church, but you know,
he's kind of, I'm presiding over, you know,
I'm helping lead.
I'm leading as I would think that he would want it led.
Okay.
Point being, somebody is still leading, right?
And deacons, you know, they get a good degree.
They get a rank because why?
Because they're leaders too, you know?
And here's the thing, you know,
not everyone probably knows about it,
but you know, our previous deacon,
it goes to show you, you can,
you can not use the office of a deacon well, you know?
And if, and I've, I've had to try and, you know,
live that down for him.
I know I've had to make,
I had to come into this and, you know,
like Trump make the deacon great again.
You know what I mean?
Like I had to, I had to re hit the reboot,
but it's kind of, everybody's like,
oh, another deacon out here, here we go.
Just like, it's like, they set a watch.
How long is he going to make it?
You know?
Hopefully I've proven I'm not going to, you know,
start preaching some strange heresy.
You know, I don't even,
I don't even not even that creative to come up with one,
but you know, he's saying, look, you know,
if you use it well, you get a good degree.
It goes to show you some people can use it poorly.
Okay.
And here's the thing.
There are qualifications for a reason for the deacon
because of the fact that you are serving
as an example, like Phillip.
You know, we should be able to look to men in the Bible,
you know, or even in our own lives,
the people that are, you know,
fulfilling these roles or in the scripture, you know,
and say a good example of somebody who's faithful,
somebody who loves the Lord,
somebody who's willing to serve anytime, any place,
somebody who loves people, you know,
somebody who wants to see souls saved,
somebody who wants to do a work for God.
You know, and if we follow the example of Phillip,
you know, we might not be appointed deacons now,
self excluded, obviously, but you know, if you say,
hey, I'm going to follow the example of Phillip tonight,
you know, I'm going to be like Phillip.
That doesn't guarantee that one day
you're going to be a deacon, right?
I mean, one, if you're a woman, you're automatically,
you know, that, that is not for you.
That's very biblical.
But here's the thing, you know,
why follow the example of Phillip?
Is it to get a title?
Is it so you could just say, well, you know,
I'm a deacon now, or I've reached some status?
No, the reason why you want to follow the example
of deacon, of the deacon or men like Phillip
is so that, you know, you can live a life
that's pleasing to the Lord as well,
so that you can be considered a faithful man,
so that you can be considered a faithful lady in the church.
You know, we might never be able to fulfill
that role of deacon, but you know,
we could all be evangelists, can't we?
We could all do that.
And when I read the life of Phillip, you know,
he starts out as a deacon, you know,
that's something, I don't know how long he did that,
but it doesn't seem like it was very long.
And that church gets scattered,
and then he's just like, well, if I can't be deacon,
I'm not going to do anything then.
Was that his attitude?
Well, if I can't rank in a church,
if I couldn't have a degree in the local church
and be called this by this title or that title,
I'm just not going to do it.
That wasn't his attitude at all.
He said, oh, that's over?
Well, let me just go into being an evangelist,
which is a role that we can all fulfill.
Every single one of us, man, woman, boy, girl,
we can all be evangelists.
You know, and we can do some amazing things
as evangelists.
I mean, you look at the life of Phillip.
When were his most amazing works done?
Was it as deacon?
I don't know that there was probably
a lot of exciting things going on maybe
when he was deacon.
Let's watch Phillip, you know, clear a table.
Let's watch Phillip set up the buffet table, right?
Let's watch Phillip go up to the taco shop
and get a bunch of meat and bring it back
and feed everybody.
Wow, that's amazing.
That's the most exciting thing in the world.
Let's watch Phillip vacuum or wipe down a table
or pay a bill, you know, or keep the lights on,
whatever, you know, some mundane,
you know, the daily ministration.
That's not exactly the most glorious position.
You know, I'm thankful for this position.
I love being the deacon, but you know,
it's not just, you know,
one exciting moment after another as the deacon.
You know, it's like, a lot of it's, you know,
pretty mundane.
Cut this, check, you know, deposit that,
go clean this up, order this.
There's a lot of just, you guys want to follow,
I mean, you want me to start writing this down,
which we should write the life and times
of deacon Russell?
Is that gonna be a national bestseller?
Let me tell you about the time I scrubbed this toilet.
You know, it was, and this thing was dirty.
No, just kidding.
You know, let me just tell you about all the exciting
thing I do as deacon.
You know, we look at Philip, you know, he did a lot,
a lot of the most exciting things that he did
was after the church was scattered,
when he was known as Philip the Evangelist.
That's, you know, and that's the thing.
You want to live an exciting Christian life?
Be Philip the Evangelist.
Don't get so, you know, you know,
worked up about attaining some rank or some position
or some title in the church,
because it's really not all that glamorous.
You know, rather, you know,
to strive to be more like Philip the Evangelist,
is you get to see some amazing things.
I mean, he's going down preaching to the Samaritans,
people are getting saved.
He's, these miracles are taking place, you know,
and we might not be out, you know,
casting demons out today, but you know, the greatest,
you know, in the list of miracles, Jesus, you know,
he says, go back and tell John that the dead are
raised, you know, the blind received their sight,
the deaf hear, the lame walk,
but what's the last thing he said
in that list of miracles?
The poor have the gospel preached to them.
He lists all these miracles and the last thing is,
go tell John the Baptist
that the poor have the gospel preached to them.
And we want to do all these miracles and things like that
and I don't believe that's for us today,
but I'll tell you there is one miracle we can go do
and that's go preach the gospel.
Because every time you preach the gospel to somebody
and they get saved, that's a miracle.
So I want to work miracles, go preach the gospel then.
And watch, and it never ceases to amaze me
and I've been at it for a little while,
when you knock on the door and say,
hey, can I show you from the Bible?
And they say, yeah, and every time I'm like,
oh, really?
Oh, wow, well let me show you then.
And then you explain it to them
and I'm just reading the Bible
and explaining it pretty simply
and then the light starts to turn on there,
you can tell the Holy Spirit's working that person's heart
and you ask them, do you believe this?
Do you believe this?
You want to pray and receive Christ?
They say, I do.
That amazes me every single time.
You ever think that happens
and I walk away and go, this is so boring.
I want to go be the deacon.
I want to go do deacon things.
I want to go do deaconly things.
This evangelist stuff, this is for the birds.
No, that's what I want.
I want more of that.
A lot of times when I'm deaconing
or whatever that is, I'm like,
man, I want to go do some evangelizing.
That's what I want to go do.
I want to go up to the Yakima tribe
and preach to all the natives up there
and see them get saved.
I want to go back, I can't wait
for the Navajo reservation to open back up
and go preach to them.
That's what we should desire.
That's where the amazing things happen.
I mean, look at Acts 21, verse eight.
Acts 21, verse eight.
And the next day, they that were of Paul's company
departed and came to Caesarea.
And we entered in the Philip's house.
The evangelist was one of the seven
and bowed with him.
And that same man had four daughters,
virgins which to prophesy.
And as we tarried there many days,
there came down from Judea
a certain prophet named Agabus.
And when he was come unto us,
he took Paul's girdam, bowed in his own hands,
and it said on him, thus saith the Holy Ghost.
And so on and so forth.
I mean, imagine being Philip.
I mean, you're just going about your day,
raising your kids, evangelizing,
just living your life, being a good man,
being a godly man.
It's the apostle Paul.
I mean, that would be a pretty cool visit.
Even back then, I think Paul's,
his reputation got, everyone kind of knew
in that circle who the apostle Paul was.
And not that he's some big shot
or apostle Paul was trying to be somebody,
but he was a man of reputation.
Whether he was trying to or not,
he was somebody.
I mean, it's pretty cool
when you're just being faithful like Philip,
sometimes you get to meet some pretty cool people.
We get to do that.
I mean, Pastor Bruce Mejia was here
and I'm not saying that he thinks he's all that
in a bag of chips,
but I thought it was pretty cool
to get to meet Pastor Mejia,
spend time with him, talk with him,
just get to know him.
I'm sure if you talked to Paul,
he's a lot like just ordinary guys,
just a humble guy trying to serve God,
that God used in a great way.
Point being, it's when you're fulfilling
the role of an evangelist like Philip,
when you're being like Philip in this way,
you get to see some cool things.
You get to meet some interesting people.
We get to have fellowship with one another.
And then you get to see Agabus show up
and pronounce this prophecy on Paul.
I mean, just to be fly in the room,
that would have been cool, right?
Like, man, I was there when Paul was told don't go
and he went anyway.
I mean, he had some stories to tell, right?
You know, he got to receive some godly company
for many days.
I mean, we've probably all had to receive some company
from time to time,
but they're not all company, you know?
Sometimes it's like, you know,
somebody we'd rather not have around.
It's like, oh, they're coming.
Oh, we got to put up with it.
You know, because company, what's the saying?
Company is like fish.
After a few days, it starts to stink.
I don't think that was the case with the apostle Paul.
I think when he left, you know,
he was kind of like, oh man,
I'm kind of sorry that had to end.
That would be cool to have him stick around.
If you live the life of the evangelist,
if you be like Philip in this way,
man, you get to get to know some people.
You get to know some pretty cool people.
You get to make some good friendships.
You know, that's one thing we've got.
We could celebrate two years here in this church.
And we made some friendships in this church.
We got people that we've gotten to know
and will continue to get to know.
And that's special.
You know, we shouldn't count that for nothing.
You know, he also got to reach the villages, right?
At the Samaritans.
He got to go out and do all this great work.
Well, you know what?
We could do that here.
We could reach Tucson.
We could go reach all the small cities around here.
We could go reach and knock the doors
in Morenci County and Safford.
We could reach the villages of Arizona from this church.
We could do that.
We could be like him.
And if we're willing to follow the example of Philip
and be like him and not get so hung up on a title
and be more about the work that needs to be done,
have that servant's heart.
You know, we could raise godly families like Philip did.
You know, that's one of the great things
about following his example
is that you also will raise godly children
who will love the Lord and serve him.
How about this?
If you follow the example of Philip,
not only do you get to make great friendships,
have great company, do great works,
and you know, winning souls to Christ,
raising godly families.
How about this?
You get to retain a good reputation.
You get to get to the end of your life
and say, I finished the course.
I've kept the faith.
You get to get to the end of your life
and people say, that's a good man.
That's a good woman.
That's a faithful person.
You can retain a good reputation
if you're willing to be like Philip.
You know, and what is it that Philip had?
He had the heart of a servant.
And that's really the best thing he had going for him.
He was just a humble guy.
Hey, you need someone to serve as deacon?
I'll do that.
Oh, this isn't gonna work out?
Okay, well let's just go be an evangelist then.
Why?
Because he had the heart of a servant
because he loved people
and all he wanted to do was help people.
All he wanted to do was preach to people.
And look, if you'll follow that example,
you can have all these things that Philip had.
You know, you can have great friendships.
You can have a godly family
and you can end your life, you know,
with a good reputation, but that's the thing.
You gotta follow his example.
Those things aren't just gonna fall out onto you
on accident.
That's not how it happened for Philip.
You know, he had to get full of the Holy Ghost.
He had to get some wisdom.
That's what we need to do.
We need to make sure we're walking in the Spirit,
that we're reading the word of God,
that we're being filled with the word of God,
that we have the wisdom to gain all these things,
to be like Philip, to walk in the Spirit.
And then we can have these things.
They're not just gonna,
we're not just gonna trip over one day
and be like, oh, all of a sudden I'm a faithful man.
No, you have the purpose to do that, okay?
So that's my message tonight.
I wanna encourage you to follow the example of Philip
because there's a lot of great things
that Philip got to experience,
but it required him, again, having that servant's heart.
Let's go ahead and pray.