RECOGNIZING AND DEVELOPING THE EVANGELIST WITHIN THE BELIEVER PART 1: THE BIRTH OF THE MESSAGE

RECOGNIZING AND DEVELOPING THE EVANGELIST WITHIN THE BELIEVER
PART 1: THE BIRTH OF THE MESSAGE


Acts 8:26–40


Sometimes a message is prepared. Other times, a message is discovered. This message was discovered during my preparation to study the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in the book of Acts.

At first, my focus was simply on the encounter between Philip the Evangelist and the Ethiopian traveler on a desert road.

But as I began to research the passage more deeply, something unexpected began to happen. The story began to expand.

It was no longer just a story about two men meeting on a road. It was part of a much larger story that had been unfolding for generations.


1. The Study That Led Backward

While studying the Ethiopian eunuch, I realized that the man was not just an individual traveler. He was an Ethiopian.

That observation pushed my study further back into the Bible. Where did Ethiopia appear in Scripture? That question led me to the genealogies of nations in the Book of Genesis.

There I discovered something interesting.

Ethiopia is historically connected to Cush, one of the sons of Ham. Ham was one of the sons of Noah. Now the story had taken me from Acts all the way back to Genesis.


2. Discovering the Nations

Genesis tells us that Ham had four sons:

Cush

Mizraim

Put

Canaan

These sons became the ancestors of several ancient nations. Cush became associated with regions of northeast Africa, including Ethiopia. That meant something powerful.

The Ethiopian eunuch in Acts was not appearing randomly in the Bible. His story was connected to a lineage that had been mentioned thousands of years earlier.


3. The Study Continued Further Back

But the discovery did not stop there.If Cush came from Ham, and Ham came from Noah, then the story led back to the flood. And when I began studying the flood, I discovered another important truth.

Before the flood came, Noah was described as a preacher of righteousness. This meant that long before the apostles, long before the early church, God had already raised a witness to speak to humanity. Now the pattern was beginning to appear. God has always raised witnesses.


4. A Surprising Pattern in Scripture

As the study continued, something remarkable became clear. God often spreads His message during moments that appear tragic. For example:

The flood was a global disaster, yet through it God preserved humanity.

The young servant girl in the house of Naaman was living in captivity, yet her testimony led a powerful commander to the God of Israel. The persecution of the early church forced believers to scatter, yet that scattering caused the gospel to spread beyond Jerusalem.

Even the encounter between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch happened during a time when the church was under pressure.

What looked like tragedy often became God's strategy.


5. The Realization

At that point, the message began to form clearly. Throughout the Bible, God was constantly raising witnesses. Sometimes those witnesses were prophets. Sometimes they were ordinary people. Sometimes they were individuals in difficult situations.

But in every generation, God has raised someone to carry His message. This realization led to our church's topical theme for this series:

Recognizing and Developing the Evangelist within the Believer.

Because the truth is this: God has always used people to spread His message.


6. The Question for Us

If God used Noah…

If God used a servant girl…

If God used Philip…

If God used a traveler returning to Ethiopia…

Then the question for us today is simple:

Could it be that God still places witnesses among ordinary believers?

Could it be that many believers carry an evangelist within them but have never recognized it?


Prayer

Heavenly Father, Thank You for always raising witnesses in every generation. Open our eyes to see the evangelist within us. Give us courage and wisdom to carry Your message, just as You empowered Noah, the servant girl, and Philip. Help us recognize, develop, and walk in the purpose You have placed in our hearts, that Your Word may reach many through us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.


Transition to Part 2

In the next message, we will travel all the way back to the beginning of the Bible.

We will examine God's original design for humanity in the Book of Genesis.

There we will discover that evangelism did not begin with the church. It began in creation itself.

Closing Statement

This series is a journey through Scripture.

From creation…

to the flood…

to the nations…

to Naaman…

to the Ethiopian eunuch…

And finally to us today.

And along this journey we will discover something powerful:

The evangelist may already be inside the believer.

The only question is whether we have recognized it.

God is speaking, are you listening?



Prince Julius Nenebi-Darkson 

(EL-PJ God's penman)

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