I Love The Church: Who's Chasing Who

August 30th, 2026/Seventh Day Adventist

Story:

Over the last several weeks, we've been talking about why I love the Church, and today I want to talk to the person in the room who isn't exactly sure where you fit in all of this yet.

Maybe you believe in God, but you're still trying to figure out Jesus. Or maybe you grew up around Christianity, but you've got some real questions. If we sat across from each other at a coffee shop and you were completely honest, you might say, “Parker, I'm still not sure I believe all of this.”

I want you to know that I'm really glad you're here. You don't have to pretend. You don't have to fake certainty. You don't have to sing something you don't believe or act like you understand something you don't understand. There's room for you here.

There's a guy in the Bible who I think you might really like. He's successful, intelligent, influential, and he's spiritually curious. He's reading the Bible, but he doesn't understand it. He's interested enough in God to pursue Him, but he hasn't figured out Jesus yet. Then one afternoon, on a desert road, everything changes.

Passage: Acts 8

26 An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road.) 27 So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem 28 and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.

29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.” 30 When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” 31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this:

He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb is silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who will describe his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth.

34 The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about—himself or someone else?” 35 Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture. 36 As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?” 38 So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing.

Pray:

This Man Had Almost Everything

Before we rush through this story, I want you to see this man, because sometimes when we hear “Ethiopian eunuch,” we imagine some poor, rejected guy sitting alone on the side of the road. That's not the picture Luke gives us.

This man is powerful. Luke says he's a high official responsible for the entire treasury of the Kandake, the royal title associated with the queen or queen mother of the African kingdom south of Egypt. In modern language, this guy is something like a secretary of the treasury or CFO of a nation. He's trusted with enormous responsibility. He's educated. He has resources. He's traveling in a carriage with enough status that when he eventually sees water, Acts says he orders the chariot to stop. This is an important man.

And yet, he's searching. I find that fascinating because sometimes we assume people search for God because their life has fallen apart. Sometimes that's true. But sometimes your life can be working and your soul can still be searching.

You can have the career, the house, the degrees, and the Colorado lifestyle. You can ski on Saturday, hike on Sunday afternoon, eat organic, meditate, make good money, and still lie in bed at night wondering, “Is this really it?” That's this guy. He's successful enough to manage a kingdom's wealth and still searching for something money couldn't give him.

He Had Traveled an Extraordinary Distance Looking for God

Luke tells us that this man had traveled to Jerusalem to worship. Don't read past that. The “Ethiopia” Luke describes is most likely not modern Ethiopia as we know it today, but the ancient African kingdom of Kush, south of Egypt. Depending on where his journey originated, he may have traveled well over a thousand miles.

In a chariot. To worship. That’s the distance from Boulder to Los Angeles, Houston, or Chicago! On a chariot.

That's not casual curiosity. This man is hungry. Something has caused him to believe that the God of Israel is worth traveling an extraordinary distance to pursue. Now he's headed home, and he's still searching. He's reading Isaiah aloud in the chariot.

There's something here that I think somebody needs to hear: you can be moving toward God before you completely understand God.

Maybe that's you. You keep coming to church. You downloaded the Bible App. You’re trying out worship music. You ask questions. You're interested. You just don't know what you believe yet. That's okay. Keep moving. Because here's what I love about this story: while this man is traveling down a road searching for God, God is already arranging an encounter with him.

While He Was Looking for God, God Was Already at Work

Look at the details. An angel tells Philip to go to a particular road. Philip goes. The Spirit tells him to approach a particular chariot. The man inside happens to be reading Scripture. He happens to be reading Isaiah. He happens to be reading Isaiah 53. He happens to be reading about the suffering servant. Philip happens to arrive close enough to hear him, and the man asks, “Who is this about?”

There are a lot of “happens to” in this story. Luke wants us to see that God is at work. Maybe you're sitting here thinking, “Well, I just came because my wife wanted me to come.” Maybe. “I came because somebody invited me.” Okay. “My kids like it here.” Great. “I don't even know why I keep coming back.”

But what if there is more happening than you can see? I'm not saying I know what God is doing in your life. I'm simply saying Acts 8 shows us a God who knows exactly where one searching person's chariot is on a desert road.

Luke never even gives us this man's name. We know his job. We know his nationality. We know his physical condition. But we don't know his name. Yet God knew exactly where to find him.

You may feel anonymous in this room, but you're not anonymous to God.

He Was Powerful, but There Were Some Doors His Power Couldn't Open

Here's where this story gets even more interesting. Luke repeatedly identifies him as the eunuch, and that mattered in the ancient world. His position as a royal official gave him enormous influence, but his physical condition also created limitations that his money and power couldn't remove.

Deuteronomy 23:1 contained restrictions concerning eunuchs and “the assembly of the LORD.” Scholars debate precisely how those restrictions would have affected this man's experience in Jerusalem, so I don't want to tell you something the Bible doesn't tell us. The Bible never says he walked up to the Temple and somebody rejected him. We don't know that. But we do know that as a eunuch, he would have known Israel's law contained a boundary associated with his condition.

Think about that tension. He can oversee a kingdom's treasury, but there are some things his position can't change. He can possess wealth, but money can't change his condition. He can travel all the way to Jerusalem, but distance traveled doesn't automatically bring him closer to understanding God.

Don't we all eventually discover some version of that? There are doors success can't open. There are wounds money can't heal. There are questions intelligence can't answer. There is guilt achievement can't erase. Eventually everyone reaches a point that reminds us: I can't save myself.

Then He Opens Isaiah

This is where the story becomes almost unbelievable. He's riding home reading Isaiah 53. He reads, “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.” Then he asks Philip, “Who is the prophet saying this about?”

I love the honesty of his question. This is a man trusted with royal finances who is humble enough to say, “I don't understand.” Sometimes the greatest obstacle to discovering truth isn't having questions. It's pretending we don't have them.

Notice Philip's response. He doesn't shame him. He doesn't say, “You traveled all the way to Jerusalem and you don't know this?” Philip gets into the chariot.

That's why I love the Church. At its best, the Church is filled with people willing to get into somebody else's chariot. Somebody did it for me. Somebody did it for you. Maybe it was a parent, a friend, a pastor, a Crew leader, a roommate, or somebody who simply listened to your question and helped you understand.

Pinewood, may we always be that kind of church. Not threatened by questions and not treating people like projects. Just willing to pull up a chair and say, “Let's look at this together.”

Philip Starts Where the Man Is and Points Him to Jesus

Acts 8:35 might be my favorite verse in the story: “Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.” Beginning there.

Philip meets him where he is. He doesn't begin with the question Philip wishes he were asking. He begins with the question the man is actually asking, and then he points him to Jesus. That's our mission as a church: Meet people where they are and point them to Jesus.

We'll meet you in your questions. We'll meet you in your doubts. We'll meet you in your pain. We'll meet you in your success. We'll meet you in your skepticism. But we're going to point you to Jesus. This man asks, “Who is Isaiah talking about?” Philip essentially says, “Let me tell you His name.” Jesus.

Isaiah 53 describes the innocent servant who suffers, is rejected and is led like a lamb to slaughter. Jesus is the One who came for us. Jesus lived without sin. Jesus took our sin upon Himself. Jesus suffered in our place. Jesus died and rose again.

And maybe you're wondering, “Why did Jesus have to do that?” Because the deepest problem in my life isn't something success can fix. It's sin. It's the separation between a holy God and people like us. Isaiah says the Servant would be “pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities,” and that “the LORD has punished him for the iniquity of us all.”

That's what Philip gets to tell this man. The God you've traveled all this way looking for has made a way for you to come near. Jesus took what separated you from God upon Himself so that you could be brought near to God. You may feel like an outcast in Jerusalem, but you're welcome in God's presence.

The good news isn't that you finally figured out how to reach God. The good news is that in Jesus, God came for you. Who’s chasing who?!

And Isaiah Had Something Else to Say About Eunuchs. Here's one of those details I had read past for years. This man is reading Isaiah 53. But just three chapters later, in the same book of Isaiah, God gives an extraordinary promise.

Isaiah 56 says, “Do not let the eunuch say, ‘Look, I am a dried-up tree.’” Then God promises faithful eunuchs, “I will give them a name better than sons and daughters... an everlasting name that will not be cut off.” And then Isaiah says, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

I want to be careful here. Acts does not tell us Philip turned the scroll over to Isaiah 56. We don't know whether they discussed it. But we know God had said it.

Centuries earlier, Isaiah looked forward to a day when foreigners and eunuchs would no longer define their relationship with God by exclusion. And now, sitting in a chariot on a desert road, is a foreign eunuch reading Isaiah.

He isn't merely reading about God's promise. He's living in the days when that promise is coming true.

Isaiah 53 shows us the Savior who makes the welcome possible. Isaiah 56 shows us people once far away being brought near. Acts 8 shows it happening.

That's the Gospel. The welcome isn't possible because God decided sin doesn't matter. The welcome is possible because Jesus dealt with sin at the cross.

“What Would Keep Me?”

Suddenly they come to water, and the eunuch looks at Philip and asks, “What would keep me from being baptized?”

Don't miss that question. What would prevent me? What would hinder me? Coming from this particular man, that's a powerful question.

We shouldn't pretend we know everything going through his mind. But we know he's a foreigner. We know he's a eunuch. We know the Torah contained restrictions associated with his condition. And now, having heard the good news about Jesus, he asks, “What would keep me?”

The story gives us the answer. The chariot stops. They go into the water. Philip baptizes him. His nationality doesn't stop him. His physical condition doesn't stop him. His questions didn't stop him. Jesus has made a way.

I wonder how many people spend years asking a different version of the same question. “Could God really want somebody like me? After what I've done? After what happened to me? With the questions I still have? After how long I've been away?”

You don't clean yourself up and then come to Jesus. You come to Jesus and let Jesus make you new.

He Started the Road Searching and Finished It Rejoicing

Acts says Philip is carried away by the Spirit, and then Luke gives us this beautiful final picture. The eunuch “went on his way rejoicing.”

I love that Philip is gone, but the joy remains. Philip was never the destination. Jesus was.

The man started the road searching and finished the road rejoicing. He started with, “Who is this?” Then he moved to, “What would keep me?” And he ends rejoicing. That's what Jesus does.

Closing: There's Room in the Chariot

This is why I love the Church. I look around this room and see Philips and Ethiopians sitting together. Some of you could explain Isaiah 53, and some of you are thinking, “I didn't even know Isaiah had a chapter 56.” I'm glad you're both here. Some of you have followed Jesus for fifty years. Some of you aren't sure you believe in Jesus yet. I'm glad you're both here.

There's room in the chariot.

If you're the Ethiopian today, I especially want you to hear this: I see you. We're glad you're here. And God sees you. You don't have to fake certainty. Bring your questions. Keep reading. Keep coming. Keep searching. But don't miss Jesus.

Maybe what you've been looking for isn't ultimately something. Maybe it's Someone.

And for those of us who already know Jesus, there's an invitation for us too. Somebody needs you to get into their chariot. Listen to their questions. Love them. Walk with them. Open Scripture with them and point them to Jesus.

Everybody at the table has a next step. Some of us need to keep searching honestly. Some of us need to finally respond. Some of us need to help somebody else along the road. But ultimately all of us need the same Person. Jesus.

Invitation:

Maybe today your question has changed. You walked in asking, “Who is this?” But somewhere during this journey something has shifted, and now you're asking, “What would keep me?”

What would keep me from following Jesus? What would keep me from surrendering my life to Him?

Jesus died for your sin. God raised Him from the dead. Salvation is received by grace through faith in Him. You don't need every question answered before you can trust the One who gave His life for you.

If you want to make a decision to follow Jesus, join me and everyone else in the building as we pray out loud together. It's not the prayer that saves you, but your faith, making Jesus Lord of your life. We don't let anyone go on the journey alone.

If you have faith in Jesus, let's pray together.

Prayer of Salvation

Jesus, I acknowledge that I need you.

I confess that I have sinned against you.

I believe that God raised you from the dead.

And right now, by faith, I say, “Jesus is Lord.”

Thank you for forgiving me.

By your grace I am saved, and by your power I am set free.

Amen.