Hugh's News & Commentary

"An Empty Seat in the Chariot" by Retired Senior Master Sergeant Malcolm Herndon, ordained minister of the Cornerstone Conference, Retired Professor of Math at Emmanuel College

[Editor's comment: When we were in Falcon, NC, for the Centennial Celebration of the Merger a few weeks ago, I was talking with Malcolm Herndon about evangelism and witnessing for Jesus Christ. He said he had a sermon on "An Empty Seat in the Chariot." I knew what he meant and thought about it for a while. Then, I contacted Malcolm and asked if he would send me a copy of it. He has granted me permission to publish it in Hugh's News. It is an excellent message we all need to read, and ask God to help us take advantages of empty seats that may need our witness for Christ. So, sit back, and enjoy Malcolm Herndon's message.]

Text: Acts 8:31b "And he (the Ethiopian Eunuch) desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him."

INTRODUCTION
Outline of Introduction
I. Many empty seats among us.
II.Many questions to be answered.
III. Text: Stated above
IV. Some Philips of scripture
V.Philip – deacon turned evangelist
VI. Philip in Samaria
VII.Philip at Gaza

There are a lot of empty seats out among us where we live, work and play. There are even many seats among our constituents in our church. There are many invitations which beckon unto us to come and sit with someone. It may be in the hospital room, the nursing home, the school, our place of employment, recreational areas, even the church, and maybe even our home. There are questions which need to be answered and they can only be answered by those of us who have the mind and the Spirit of God. There are a lot of closed minds out there, but there are many open minds who want the truth that we have within us. Even the closed minds can possibly be opened by the grace of God.

Our text is recorded in Acts 8:31 b. It is the story of Philip, the Evangelist and the Ethiopian Eunuch whom God prepared, both of them, for this exciting occasion.

Now there are several Philips mentioned in the Scriptures. There was the Philip, the disciple of Jesus. There were others who were governors and leaders of areas within Palestine. But this Philip was a man of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. His name means “lover of horses.” (I don’t know that that meaning has any special significance to what we will have to say today.) It may be that some of you are “lovers of horses,” even though your name is not Philip.

Philip, the evangelist, as he is called, was appointed to oversee the distribution of food and the administration of certain needs in the early church in Jerusalem. He was one of seven chosen to take charge of certain responsibilities which would release the apostles to spend time in prayer and preaching the Word of God. Of course this did not last too long because he, along with others, left the home church and took their flight to other regions due to the persecution of Saul, who later became Paul, the Apostle.

Philip went to Samaria where he engaged in a preaching mission which led to many miracles being performed, where unclean spirits were exorcised, those with palsy were delivered and where the lame began to walk again.

There was such a stir in the city of Samaria that many came to the Lord. The Scripture tells us that there was great joy in that city. Even a sorcerer by the name of Simon believed and was baptized.

Meanwhile, Peter and John, having heard of the great revival in Samaria, came down from Jerusalem and preached the Baptism with the Holy Ghost to them. People were filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues as the apostles prayed for them, laying their hands on them. Simon offered them money to give him the ability to lay hands on others that they would receive the same experience. Of course Peter rebuked Simon and told him that his heart was not right with God if he thought that such gifts could be bought with money.

Peter and John returned to Jerusalem and Philip went down toward Gaza in the southern part of the country.

He came to the vicinity of an Ethiopian Eunuch, who was the treasurer to the Queen dynasty called Candace of the Ethiopians, a man of great prominence. He was financial adviser to the royalty. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship. He was returning to his home country in the chariot and was reading from Isaiah. God spoke to Philip to go close and join the Eunuch.

Philip came up to the chariot and asked the Ethiopian if he understood what he was reading. The Eunuch indicated that he did not understand who the Scripture was referring to where he was reading.

At this point in the discussion the Eunuch invited Philip to sit with him in the chariot. Here we have a seeking sinner who needed to meet Jesus through Philip’s testimony. Philip took the opportunity to preach Jesus to him. They came to a body of water where the Ethiopian was baptized by Philip.

MAIN BODY
Outline of Main Body
I. God always prepares us for the ministry that he has given to us.
II. God always prepares the hearts of those to whom we will minister--those who need God..
III. God always prepares the situation that will make our ministry most effective and sufficient.
IV. He always gives us the Word to fit the occasion.
V. The results are certain if we follow Him.
Main Body Exposition
I. God prepares us (if we are obedient)
A. From conception
1. Many influences we will encounter along the way to see the end result of His will.
2. Some people or circumstances will thwart our accomplishing of His will, if we allow them to.
3. I like to see an individual who has had all the bad influences possible, who breaks out of the pattern that he is trained in, and follows the perfect plan of God.
4. I like to see the individual who has gone the limits of sin, who has become tired of sin and breaks out of that pattern of detrimental behavior, who comes to the Cross and gives his heart to the Jesus.
B. He prepares us all along the way.
1. Through His Providence.
2. Placing someone in our path to arrest our attention.
3. Taking someone or something out of our path to save us from destruction.
II. Many examples from the Scriptures of individuals who make up our fellowship in Christ and prepares their hearts.
A. Oftentimes we choose those who will best satisfy our selfish desires.
1. The rich
2. The affluent
3. The educated
4. Only those who sing well.
5. Those who the most promising
B. God has some choices that He wants us to make. Here are some from the Scriptures.
1. The man on the way to Jericho who was robbed and beaten and left for dead.
2. The Good Samaritan who came along and took time to sit in the seat beside him.
3. The child, like Samuel, who hears from God, but too immature to understand the voice of God and needs some wise counselor like Eli, to help him answer the call of God.
a. There may be a future pianist among us whom we need to take under our supervision and train him/her to one day take charge of a pianist’s duties.
b. There may be a future evangelist that we need to take under our wing and train him/her in the basic principles of evangelism and preaching.
c. There may be a future Sunday school teacher who has the makings of a great teacher if the church or an individual in the church will help to provide the incentive and the support to train him/her.
d. The same thing could be said about a guitarist, a drummer, or an organist, or many other positions in the church.
4. The sinner, who beats upon his breast and asks God to be merciful unto him, a sinner.
5. Contrast the boy with the meager 5 loaves and two fishes who gives his bread and fish to feed the 5,000, and…
6. The one who has nothing to give but himself in total service to God.
(Many are willing to support someone who has something to give as the little boy did, but when one comes along who has nothing to give, they turn away from him.)
My question to you today is: Where, in all of your activities, can you find an empty seat beside someone who needs help in finding his way through the maze of life? Maybe just a word, maybe just a small explanation, maybe a monitor of his training to ensure that the proper destination is reached for that one to find his reason for being and succeed in reaching the goal that God has placed him in this world to reach.

Are we too busy to tend to these matters? Are we too selfish to spend the time on someone else besides ourselves? Do we lack the long term foresight which will not only start the process, but continue the process to its God intended success?

I. Therefore . . .  God always prepares the situation that will make our ministry most effective and sufficient.

II. He always gives us the Word to fit the occasion. Elaborate and review the Scriptures from above.

I want to commend parents who are influencing their children to become proficient, dedicated members of this congregation. You are starting them in piano lessons and other musical training that will result in prepared people to take over the helm of church music functions in the future.

I want to commend those Sunday school teachers who are instilling in their students’ minds the excitement and the rewards of one day becoming teachers in our Sunday school. I want to commend those of you who are in other leadership positions in the church to show your youth and others the satisfying rewards of leadership.

Why don’t we all find that empty seat beside someone who is anxious to make a contribution to the work of the church and instruct and counsel them in the proper way for a successful life of service to Christ.

Let’s leave the church for a moment and look at the many avenues that our daily experiences lead us. It may be on the job where you work each day that there is someone who needs help or salvation, who has an empty seat beside of them, beckoning to you to occupy that seat and instruct them in the right way. It might be that one who is 82 years old in a hospital bed who has never accepted Christ and, in the past, when his heart was about ripe to be won to Christ, no one turned to him and sat in the seat beside of him to point him to Jesus.

It may be that supervisor who is frustrated at production failing or his inability to identify with personnel under his supervision who has a seat beside of him for you to sit in and impart wisdom when he needs it.

It may be one under your supervision who is frustrated due to family or financial problems, who has an empty seat for you to sit in and counsel him with the knowledge which you have acquired through experience.

It may be that one who is sitting in the barber chair and you are waiting to get a haircut. He may give off some trashy talk and in a diplomatic way you can cause him to think about what he has said. Then he will reveal the innermost thoughts of his heart, giving you a chance to sit in the seat beside him and to pray for him or lead him into a brighter path.

It’s like the song that I heard many years ago, most of which I have forgotten. But I do remember a few words to it. “Souls are dying, Men are crying, Want you help bring the lost ones to the fold? Go and find them, help to win them, Win the lost at any cost.”

As I have been speaking, some of you have been going out on a tangent within your mind. You have identified a colleague, a student, a fellow worker, a child, a parent, a bus driver, a teacher, a police officer, a nurse, a supervisor, a doctor, a lawyer, or someone you know who has a seat beside of them and they want so desperately for you to come and sit beside them and lead them into the truth.

V. The results of our efforts are certain and positively effective if we follow Him. Are you ready to meet the challenge? Some of you are meeting the challenge already. Some are seeing where you can take your witness a step further and make the mark that God wants you to make for him, whether it be in the church building, or outside of the church building, where the CHURCH really exists - IN THE WORLD. May these words convince you and challenge you to deliberately choose to get out of the box which you find yourself in and sit in the seat of effective ministry for JESUS!