Matthew Stuckey here, and today I wanted to talk to you about something that I like to
call an Acts chapter 8 situation.
In the book of Acts is my favorite story in the entire Bible, and it's the story of how
Philip led someone to the Lord.
And I just want to read a couple quick verses to you, but what I mean by an Acts chapter
8 situation is this.
It's when you get somebody saved that you've never met before that you do not know, and
when you're not out at a regular, soul-winning time.
So basically it's when you're in your everyday situation, you're at the gas station, you're
at the store, you're going for a jog or whatever, and you happen to run into a situation where
you just start a conversation with someone randomly when you're not planning really on
going soul-winning, and you end up leading them to the Lord.
And I think Acts chapter 8 is the best story we have of this in the Bible, and I want to
read just to you a few verses about this.
In verse number 26, the Bible reads this, and this is when the angel of the Lord speaks
on Philip.
He says, arise and go.
So he tells Philip, arise and go, and in verse number 27 the Bible reads, and he arose and
went.
You see, Philip is ready to preach the Gospel.
In verse number 29 the Bible reads this, and it says, and then the Spirit said unto Philip,
go near and join thyself to this chariot.
So what is Philip's reaction?
Well, in verse number 30 it says, and Philip ran thither to him.
You see, Philip was a man who was always ready to preach the Gospel, and the Bible tells
us to be like that.
It says, sanctify the word God in your hearts and be ready always.
And we need to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks it the reason
of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.
We need to be ready to preach the Gospel.
Now, I've had many people that have asked me how exactly you go about this, and I'm
going to quickly explain to you in less than a minute how to get somebody saved in an Acts
chapter 8 situation, and then I'm going to just quickly give you some very important
reasons why we should be looking to do this in our lives.
Now, it's actually a lot simpler than you think.
Now, I personally carry a Bible with me wherever I can, and I also like to keep Bible tracts
or Bible invitations from my church in my pockets, and that can help give you the boldness
to approach someone.
But basically, you just go up to someone and you just say, hey, do you mind if I ask you
a question?
If it's somebody who's a little bit older, you can just say, hello, sir, do you mind
if I ask you a question?
Or, hello, ma'am, do you mind if I ask you a question?
And, you know, almost always they say, sure, and then you just say, hey, do you go to church
anywhere?
And then they'll, you know, tell you yes or no, and you ask them what church, and then
you respond back, well, even more importantly, going to church, you know.
And I like to say, though, before this, I'll say, well, you know, I'm a basic Christian.
I go to a Baptist church, you know, not some crazy religion or anything, but let me ask
you this.
More importantly than going to church, do you know for sure if you're going to heaven?
Now, the reason why I like to tell them I'm from just a normal sort of church is, you
know, they might think I'm a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness, or they have absolutely no clue what
religion I am, because I'm not introducing myself from a church.
But then I just go straight into the Gospel, and I ask them, do you know for sure if you're
going to heaven?
And they say, well, don't you need small talk to get the conversation going?
You know, if the small talk comes comfortably, you can do it, but it's not necessary.
Very often they'll say, sure, you can show me.
You'd be surprised how many people are open to hearing the Gospel being preached, especially
on the streets in a more comfortable atmosphere than at the door.
And so that's how you get involved with the situation, and if you don't have a Bible
you can just quote the verses, and I just want to give you some quick reasons.
So it's actually a lot simpler than you think.
It's just a matter of having boldness and praying for those opportunities, which is
something we should be doing daily.
We need to be ready like Philip was.
You know, I think that it's important that we're not just twice a week we're ready to
preach the Gospel at certain set times, but that everywhere we go, we're ready, that God
will give us an opportunity and we'll take advantage of it.
And so some quick points here to keep in mind is this, hold on just one second.
A person that you meet on the streets in this sort of situation or an accident situation,
they have a much higher chance of getting saved than a normal person at the door.
You see, when you knock on doors, sometimes you have to knock 30 doors before you get
somebody who's interested in listening.
But you don't have to talk to 30 random people to get someone to listen, or 30 people to
get somebody saved on the streets.
They have a much, much higher chance of getting saved.
So you've got to keep that in mind.
When you see what even seems like a glimpse of an opportunity, there's a very decent chance
they could end up getting saved.
And so that's one thing to keep in mind.
And a large reason why is because God's the one setting up the appointments.
You're asking for God to send people your way, and oftentimes He's answering that prayer
if He knows you're going to take advantage of it.
So oftentimes God's already done the work.
He's like, all right, I've found the person that's ready to hear that's going to end up
getting saved.
And you are just, you know, taking advantage of what God's done to just be the willing
vessel to preach the Gospel.
So one thing to keep in mind is they have a much higher chance of getting saved.
And so another thing to keep in mind is different people are going to hear the Gospel that wouldn't
normally hear the Gospel.
You know, some people door to door will not open the door no matter what the reason is
for anyone.
Or if it's a religious person, they'll never answer the door.
And then there's people that oftentimes are out walking around, though.
They might talk to you when they're out walking around in a more comfortable atmosphere.
So you're having different people are hearing the Gospel that would normally hear the Gospel.
And oftentimes also it's amazing, you know, some of the stories I have of people that
are from random states that just happen to be in for that day.
And it's so obvious that God set up that appointment for you to preach the Gospel to them.
So different people are hearing the Gospel that wouldn't normally get to hear the Gospel.
Because someone from Chicago, Illinois is not someone I'm going to knock on their door
and get saved because I live in Morgantown.
But yet I remember getting someone saved from Chicago who just happened to be in town.
And so you're going to have different people hearing the Gospel.
Different people are going to be hearing the Gospel.
Another thing is it makes you more outgoing.
And being outgoing is a good trait to have.
You know, believe it or not, I'm not a naturally outgoing person.
I would actually consider myself a little bit more on the shy side or maybe toward the middle.
Now, going solo, it makes you more outgoing.
But looking for acts eight situations makes you even more outgoing than normal.
And this is very good if you're going to be a pastor one day in terms of getting visitors to church
and make people feel comfortable and at home.
And it's just a very good trait to try to end up becoming more outgoing and more friendly.
And this is going to help you do that.
Another thing to keep in mind is this.
If you're looking for acts eight situations and talking to people at least a couple times a week,
trying to talk to people a few times a week in these sorts of situations,
the Holy Spirit is staying upon you more often.
You know, it's not just like, well, you know, today I read a few chapters of the Bible,
and, you know, well, I've got so many times, I'll kind of bump it up.
It's like every day you're just there to preach the Gospel.
And it helps you to read your Bible more, to pray more.
You're looking for opportunities.
I know ever since I really started implementing this in my life,
it's really helped me out a great deal to, you know, really be in all areas of Christian life
really on fire in terms of reading my Bible and praying and in all areas.
So it's going to help keep the Holy Spirit upon you.
Another thing, and the big thing is it's exciting.
I mean, Acts chapter eight, in my opinion, is the most exciting soloing story in the entire Bible.
It's my favorite story in the Bible.
And like the story I mentioned from Chicago, I just want to make another quick mention.
You know, we were talking about doing a soloing marathon in Chicago, Illinois,
and just about a week or two prior we ended up canceling it.
And a week later, someone from Chicago, Illinois happens to be in town
because he has to appear at court.
And I just happened to be there to give him the Gospel and he got saved.
I don't think it's a coincidence that this person was there.
He was probably someone that we were going to get saved when we were in Chicago.
Also, I know someone from, I was planning to go soloing potentially up in Washington, D.C.
one week, and I wasn't sure if I had the time.
And I had originally planned to go.
Well, two days before I ended up going to Washington, D.C.,
someone ends up being in town for work for that day specifically from Washington, D.C.
And I didn't end up having the time to go soloing on Saturday,
so I believe that's another person I probably would have ended up talking to.
But also people from random situations.
Someone's just randomly there charging their cell phone.
Just everything, the timing is just perfect and you're just seeing God at work.
And it's exciting. Those are the stories that you repeat.
I mean, going door to door and getting people saved is exciting.
Don't get me wrong.
But getting someone saved in an Acts chapter 8 situation is more exciting.
Those are the ones where you want to call your friends and say,
Hey, man, you got to hear what just happened.
So it's exciting.
And the Christian life being exciting is going to help keep you motivated to keep living the life.
And it's also exciting because it's always new.
Going door to door, it starts becoming more routine.
But when you're approaching random people,
there are always exciting and new conversations.
And it's just very exciting.
I would definitely say start trying to apply this to your life.
It's also going to build your boldness.
It takes a little bit of effort to do this
and it's going to help increase your boldness.
And that's a good thing in life to have boldness
in terms of getting people saved, in terms of preaching the truth and living a righteous life.
You need to have boldness.
I was talking to a pastor friend of mine recently
about how just the thought of starting a church one day is intimidating.
And if you're building up your boldness,
then one day you might have that boldness to actually do something great like that.
And the truth is, though, in the Christian life, it requires a lot of boldness.
And this is going to help build that boldness up as well.
It's also going to keep you humble.
The reason why it's going to keep you humble is a lot of times in these situations
you're talking to people that don't have a lot of money,
people that are poor.
If you've ever served in a bus ministry
or preached at a nursing home,
those situations really help keep you humble.
You see how a lot of people's lives are just not that great.
And this is going to help keep you humble
because you're talking to a lot of people.
Sometimes you're talking to homeless people a lot of times,
people that are poor,
people that are just walking around,
no jobs a lot of times.
And it's going to help keep you humble talking to people like this
and realize how fortunate you are and where you are in life.
It's also good practice for being a preacher
because if you start a church,
all pastors I know, they have to go
soul-winning door-to-door by themselves for a long time.
And if it starts becoming routine for you
to preach the Gospel by yourself,
then it's going to be a lot easier one day
if you do start a church
to go soul-winning every day by yourself.
Just think about every day,
month after month, until you build up a solid core people.
And even if you go full-time later on in your life,
you're going to be going door-to-door by yourself.
That would be tough to do,
every day by yourself
that sort of fellowship at the door.
And also another thing to keep in mind is
it's less out of the way.
You don't have to dress up and meet up with people to go soul-winning.
You already are there.
So it's taking you less time.
So that's another great thing.
It saves you time.
You're already there. You might as well, right?
And the thing really to keep in mind I think is
that God is doing the work.
He's setting up these appointments.
We need to have that faith that He's going to do it.
And I've seen it in my life and I know lots of other people have as well.
We need to have that faith that God will set up the appointment.
And really we're just saying,
you know, here am I. Send me God.
I'm here. I'm willing to preach the gospel.
I'm willing to go out and get Him saved.
Now I remember at lunch just this past week,
where that's what I said.
You know, at lunch I quickly ate and I said,
man, I only got 30 minutes.
God just sent me something. I'll do it.
I'm the person that will be that willing best
to go preach the gospel and get Him saved.
Give me someone.
And I found someone. I preached the gospel to them and they got saved.
This is the one who's doing the work.
You know, it's a lot easier.
Instead of having to knock 100 doors to find the people that are interested,
God a lot of times just picks out the person and goes,
here's the person.
This is who I want to have hear the gospel
and save a much higher chance of getting saved.
And one of the big things about this is
in our lives, you know, oftentimes we rush through everything.
You know, we're like, well, I've got to go to Walmart.
I'm just going to quickly run to Walmart,
go in, get what I have,
and just fully focus on that.
And sometimes we need to slow down.
Instead of that, when we're walking to Walmart,
we should be looking around, looking for opportunities
because they're going to be here like this
and gone like this.
These are the sorts of things where you need to be ready.
Philip ran the other two of them.
If Philip didn't run, the opportunity would be gone.
But Philip ran.
He arose. He went.
I mean, he was ready to preach the gospel.
And so at all times, we really need to make a focus
to kind of slow down a little bit and just kind of,
you know, when we go out, try to look for opportunities.
Just think, you know, God, I'm ready.
Since I'm one, I'm ready to preach the gospel.
I'll delay my lunch for 30 minutes to preach the gospel.
And so I think it's a very important thing
to apply to your life.
This is the topic I'm most passionate about.
I don't know if you can tell from this video.
It's exciting. It's awesome.
The stories that you have, it's great.
So many important things about this,
and it really is a lot simpler.
It's a matter of taking that first step.
I remember the first time that I cried aloud in a sermon,
and I was intimidated to do it.
But I just had to make that decision. I was going to do it.
And now it's become a lot more comfortable for me.
And the first time you've been preaching, you know,
you're just like, man, I don't know if I can do it.
You're nervous, but you just got to do it.
The first time, you were so alone.
You're just like, oh, man, I'm so nervous.
I don't know what to do.
You know, it's really just you got to make that first step
where I'm just going to approach someone.
I'm going to be going to Walmart.
I'm going to try to find someone.
God just sent me something. Please help me out.
I want to start applying this to my life.
And so we got to just start making that decision
of looking for those opportunities,
looking for those Acts chapter 8 situations.
And let me tell you something.
We live our lives as a tale that is told.
And what a tale you're going to be able to tell
if you start applying this to your life.