Stranger In The Chariot

TEXT: Acts 8:25-39        

THERE was once a good man who lived in a country far away. He worked for the Queen. He took care of her money and special things. A queen is like a king. She is a lady who tells many people what to do in her country.

This man wanted to learn about God but there was no church where he lived. He had been to the city of Jerusalem where the Temple Church was. Now he was on his way home.

This man was riding in a chariot. It is a wagon with two wheels instead of four wheels, and horses pull the chariots. It is not heavy like a wagon, so it is easy to pull.

God was looking down from Heaven. He saw this good man who wanted to learn more about God. God sent an angel down to talk to Philip who was one of God’s helpers. He went all around the country telling people about Jesus.

The angel told Philip to go along the road until he met a man he did not know. The man would be riding in a chariot.

This is just what happened, too. The good man was riding along on his way home from the Temple in Jerusalem. While he was riding he took out his Bible. He began to read about Jesus, but did not understand what he read.

Philip was walking along this dusty road. Then he saw the man in the chariot reading his Bible. God told Phillip to go over and talk to the man. Philip hurried right over. He was so quick to do anything God asked him to do.

The man was reading. Philip said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

“No, I don’t,” said the man. He wished someone would teach him what the Bible was saying. He asked Phillip to come and sit with him. Philip got up into the chariot and sat down by the man. Here they were way out in a hot country, no houses, no people, no stores. No one but just these two men! God knew where to tell Philip to go to find the man who wanted to learn about Jesus. God knows where every one is all the time. He even knows what we are doing. He knows what we are thinking.

This good man did not know one thing about Jesus. So Philip began to tell him all about Jesus. He told him how Jesus loved him; how he could have the sin taken out of his heart by praying and telling God he was sorry for any bad things he had ever done.

The man believed everything Philip told him about Jesus’ love. He listened and listened to Philip.

Trot, trot, trot went the horses pulling the chariot. After a while they came to a pool of water. “See, here is water; is there any reason I can’t be baptized in this water?” Philip said he could be baptized if he believed with all his heart.

“I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” said the man. The chariot stopped. Out got Philip and the good man. They walked down into the water. Philip baptized the man.

Way out there in that lonely country God saw a man who really wanted to have a clean heart. Right away God sent someone to tell him about Jesus. God sent Philip.

As soon as the two men came up out of the water the good man looked and Philip was not there. He was gone. He was not walking down the road. He was not by the pool. He was gone. God had moved Philip to another place to preach. God took Philip away and the good man never saw him again.

Where people live makes no difference to God. He does not care what color their hair is. He does not care what color their skin is either. Why? Because God made them the color He wanted them. God wants them all, someday, to live with Him in Heaven. He wants you to live there, too.