Movement: The Ethiopian Eunuch

Here is a man who made it. He was in charge of the entire treasury of Ethiopia, a powerful official who reported directly to the queen, wealthy enough to own his own scroll of Isaiah and educated enough to read it. He was at the top of the ladder educationally, professionally, socially, politically, and financially. And he was empty enough to put his whole career on hold for a months-long journey to Jerusalem to worship, only to be turned away at the temple door because of what he had done to his body to get ahead.

In Acts 8:26–40, Reverend Donny Cho traces how conversion actually happens, and with it how gospel movements begin. It is upward: the Holy Spirit is the agent of change, sending Philip down a desert road and telling him to run alongside a moving chariot. It is outward: God sends an ordinary Jewish man across every boundary of race, class, status, and geography to a foreigner he had every reason to avoid. And it is inward: the eunuch is reading Isaiah 53 and asking who the prophet is talking about, a servant led like a lamb to the slaughter, cut off from his descendants. Philip begins with that very passage and tells him the good news about Jesus. The ultimate insider became the ultimate outsider, crucified outside the city and cut off, so that the excluded could be brought in and given a name greater than sons and daughters. The eunuch goes on his way rejoicing. He is no longer a dry tree.

If you have paid a real price to get somewhere and found it empty when you arrived, or if you have ever felt shut out from God by what you have done or what has been done to you, this sermon is worth your time. Take a few minutes to watch.