Acts 8: What Is Keeping You From Being Baptized?

Introduction

"What is keeping me?" The title is intriguing, and Paolo Dorata admits it: it can raise question marks about many things. The answer is found in the text, Acts 8:26-40, the meeting between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch on the road to Gaza.

The message was given in Liège, on the Sunday after a special service where the church remembered its 70 years of history and all the souls who gave their hearts to the Lord. "The Gospel continues to be preached, and it will continue to be preached in this church until the Lord returns."

Throughout the story, the preacher keeps asking the same question: what is keeping the Holy Spirit from working in your life, what is keeping you from obeying, from telling others about Jesus, and, for those who have not yet done so, from being baptized?

Outline of the Message

1. A Church Born of the Power of the Holy Spirit

The church of the book of Acts must remain an example for the church today. It begins with a promise: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
The disciples were all in one accord, in one place, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). "What is keeping the Holy Spirit from coming down this morning? Are we open to receiving what the Holy Spirit wants to do in our personal lives?"
Where two or three are gathered, Jesus is in their midst (Matthew 18:20). "The Holy Spirit is here."
This power is for miracles and healings, but above all for proclaiming the Gospel. Peter, who had denied the Lord three times, preaches after receiving the Spirit, and about 3,000 souls are added to the church (Acts 2:41).
Then comes persecution, after the stoning of Stephen. The disciples are scattered, but "Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word" (Acts 8:4). God used this scattering to spread the Gospel beyond Judaism. "More than 3,000 km away, after so many years, we are the fruit of it."

2. Philip, a Servant at the Tables Whom God Sends

Philip the deacon, or evangelist, must not be confused with Philip, one of the twelve. He was chosen to help the apostles and to serve at the tables (Acts 6:1-6).
Yet God was going to use this man who served at the tables to spread the Gospel. "The Gospel can be spread by you, even as you serve at the tables."
The preacher thanks everyone who set up and took down tables and cleaned during the anniversary day. But he goes further: you who serve in the church, in Sunday school or on the media team, "the Lord wants to use your life to evangelize." Are you ready?

3. Obeying Even When You Don't Understand

An angel says to Philip: "Arise and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert (Acts 8:26). God does not tell him the purpose of the journey.
By human logic, Philip could have said: "Lord, if I am to carry the Gospel, I must go where there are people." Sometimes the Lord asks us for things we do not understand. Philip obeys.
The reason appears in verses 27 and 28: an Ethiopian, a eunuch, an official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. "He was this queen's finance minister," a position comparable to that of the Belgian finance minister.
His country was pagan. We can assume he had come to know the true God through Jews living in Ethiopia, since he had come to Jerusalem to worship.
On the way home, he makes use of his free time. Today he might have looked at his smartphone to see what people are saying about him. But no: "He was reading the Bible."
The preacher steps aside for a moment: he has nothing against smartphones, but in the current climate, Christians must not feed hatred on social media. "Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God" (Romans 13:1). "Be careful what we post. We must not add fuel to the fire."
He encourages you to pick up the Bible, even a paper one, to truly disconnect. "If you are looking for the truth, God will always lead you to the one who is the way, the truth, and the life, our Lord Jesus Christ" (John 14:6).

4. Responding to the Prompting of the Spirit

"The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot”" (Acts 8:29). This is a prompting of the Spirit. How do you respond to it? Sometimes we tell ourselves: "I don't know, I'm not going to do it."
The preacher brings the scene into the present: it is as if the Holy Spirit told you today to walk up to a minister's car, surrounded by his bodyguards, to talk to him about Jesus. What would you do? Philip responded.
He shares a personal memory. While visiting his in-laws in Germany, his daughter, two or three years old, was coughing. Before they left, the hospital had said it was nothing serious. During the night, he felt a clear prompting: take her back to the hospital. He took her in the middle of the night, and she was diagnosed with pneumonia. "The Spirit knew, God knew."
"Let us be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit wants to tell us every day."

5. Understanding the Word in Order to Receive It

Philip ran. He hears the Ethiopian reading the prophet Isaiah and asks him: "Do you understand what you are reading?" The man answers: "How can I, unless someone explains it to me?" (Acts 8:30-31).
Philip's question is of the highest importance: you have to understand Scripture to receive it in your heart. "Hearing the word, if you do not understand it, will do you no good."
The Ethiopian's answer shows his humility and his desire to learn. God established the ministry of the Word so that his enlightened servants would share their light. The preacher explains the Word, but it is the Holy Spirit who makes it shine in hearts.
The passage he is reading, from Isaiah 53:7-8, is quoted in Acts 8:32-33: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he doesn’t open his mouth." The eunuch asks whom the prophet is talking about (Acts 8:32-34).
Philip starts from this prophecy to tell him about Jesus: his life, his suffering, his death and our salvation in him (Acts 8:35). With the darkness increasing, the world needs to hear the Gospel, because "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

6. "What Is Keeping Me From Being Baptized?"

Philip must have spoken about the kingdom of God and what it takes to be saved: repentance, accepting the Lord Jesus, following him and then being baptized. When they come to some water, the eunuch says: "Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?" (Acts 8:36). This is the title of the message.
This request reveals that he had received the good news of Jesus in his heart.
The preacher speaks to those who are not baptized: imagine the church's baptistry open, filled with water at the perfect temperature. "What is keeping you from being baptized?"
Philip's answer can shed light on your heart: "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And the eunuch declares: "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts 8:37).
"If you wait for perfection, you will never get there." This is not about being baptized lightly: there must be repentance. But after that repentance, if you have Jesus in your heart, what is keeping you?
The eunuch has the chariot stopped and Philip baptizes him (Acts 8:38). His promptness shows his sincerity. "As for you, if you want to be baptized, you have no chariot to stop. You just have to come and find me." One person has already come to tell him she wants to be baptized, and baptisms will take place soon. Those who want to join in, or to take a few classes, can come and find him.

7. Continuing on Your Way Rejoicing

When they come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carries Philip away, and the eunuch goes on his way rejoicing. Philip finds himself at Azotus and preaches in all the cities until he reaches Caesarea (Acts 8:39-40).
Philip does not travel from Azotus to Caesarea in one stretch: he goes from place to place to evangelize. As soon as he has finished with the eunuch, he moves on. "Each one of us is called to evangelize."
"You, today, this afternoon, on Monday, on Tuesday, where are you going?" At work, at school: do you still have a heart ready to talk about Jesus wherever a door opens?
The eunuch goes home alone to a pagan country where persecution probably awaited him. He had not found joy in riches; he found it in Jesus Christ. "Salvation gives you this joy."
To conclude, the preacher shares a testimony from when he was 17 or 18. A classmate, often absent for hospital treatment, had leukemia and remained full of life. He tells her about Jesus and invites her to the youth meeting. Her father is against it. One Saturday, she comes anyway, while her father is in the café across from the church.
That day, the youth leader, who knew nothing of her story, preaches on Zacchaeus, little Zacchaeus, while she herself was small in stature. At the invitation, she steps forward to accept the Lord, then leaves bending low so her father will not see her. A few months later, she passed away. "If she had had the opportunity to be baptized, she would have done it."
"I know it is not baptism that saves," but it follows faith. "You who have the opportunity to be baptized, do not waste time. Tomorrow does not belong to us."

Key Takeaways

The Holy Spirit gives the power to witness. Even scattering and persecution served to spread the Gospel all the way to us.
God uses those who serve at the tables. Your service in the church can become a service for the Gospel.
Obeying the Spirit often comes before understanding: Philip sets out on a desert road before knowing why.
You have to understand the Word to receive it. The preacher explains it, but it is the Holy Spirit who lights it up in the heart.
If you believe with all your heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, nothing keeps you from being baptized. Do not wait for perfection: tomorrow does not belong to us.

Personal Application

What is keeping the Holy Spirit from working fully in your personal life today?
When has the Spirit prompted you to take a step you did not understand? How did you respond?
What place does Bible reading have in your free time, next to your smartphone and social media?
Where you go this week, at work or at school, who could you talk to about Jesus if a door opens?
If you believe in Jesus and are not yet baptized, what is really keeping you?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Ethiopian eunuch ask in Acts 8:36?

Seeing water along the road, the eunuch says to Philip: "Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?" For Paolo Dorata, this request reveals that he had received the good news of Jesus in his heart. It is also the question he puts to those who are not yet baptized.

Do you have to be perfect to be baptized?

No. The preacher recalls Philip's answer: if you believe with all your heart, you may. Some wait for a certain perfection, but "if you wait for perfection, you will never get there." What is needed is sincere repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Baptism does not save; it follows faith.

Why is Philip sent to a desert road?

The angel does not tell him the purpose of the journey. Humanly speaking, Philip could have wondered why he should go and preach the Gospel where there is nobody. He obeys, and the reason appears afterward: an Ethiopian official who was seeking the truth was passing by, reading the prophet Isaiah.