Second Presbyterian Church Sermons Podcast
May 17, 2026 · 40 min · 7 segments
“As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’” (Acts 8:36)
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Let's be clear from the very start.
This was never supposed to happen.
Nearly every piece of this story is all wrong.
The place, all wrong.
A wilderness road between Jerusalem and Gaza, far from anywhere the apostles expected the gospel to go.
The people, all wrong.
After all, Philip was a deacon.
He was supposed to be serving tables back in Jerusalem, not leading Bible studies in the desert.
And as for this outsider, well, his name appears on no approved list of baptism candidates.
The process, all wrong.
There is no committee.
There's been no session vote, no statement of faith carefully reviewed in advance.
And yet here they are, Philip and this unnamed Ethiopian official, sitting together in a chariot on a road to nowhere, reading Isaiah out loud and asking what these ancient words mean for them now.
And then, on this wilderness road in the middle of the desert, behold, there is water, a stream flowing through the desert as if someone knew they were coming.
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