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[Silence] ...the message. Treasure in the desert. Treasure in the desert. Treasure in the desert. The angel of the Lord spoke unto Philip saying, "Arise and go toward the south

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unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza which is desert. Treasure in the desert. I walked in a desert and I cried, "Ah, God, take me from this place." A voice said, "It is no desert."

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And I said, "But the heat, the sand, the vacant horizon." The voice said, "It is no desert." This language of our text is related to a desert scene. It has to do with a traveler from Ethiopia riding in his chariot on a desert road.

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a darker brother, a high official, one who's associated with the royal court. This man is treasurer to the queen. You know, there's a tendency for us to think of the desert

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as being a God forsaken place, barren, desolate area. It's deserted. Another name for it as we think of it in the scripture is the

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wilderness, the wildness, so to speak. Wild way of life is associated with the desert. But strange though it may seem, Philip is in Samaria. And in Samaria, he has a citywide revival.

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And right on the edge of the citywide revival where he has been reaching so many people, the angel of the Lord speaks to him and directs him to take the road

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from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is desert, where he meets a lonely traveler. He is sent from witnessing to many to witness to one. Strange though it may seem, there is treasure in the desert.

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For as we observe the acts of the apostles, really consider the acts of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the Apostles, we observe that there are numerous experiences in which God demonstrates his presence and power in difficult and extraordinary ways. You know, God shows up in places where he's not expected.

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He just has a way of showing up. So the spiritual presence appears when it's not on program. God has a way of showing up in difficult and impossible circumstances. He demonstrates in concrete ways that there are treasures in the desert.

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the Spirit of God directs his servant to take a desert road and that means a lonely road a lonely road it is a road on which a traveler is seen every now and then if we would follow the Spirit of God there are times when we are led to travel a desert road and there we are to experience the agony of loneliness.

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That's what the psalmist is describing when he says I walked in the wilderness Nevertheless in a solitary way, Israel left Egypt and entered the desert. And after his baptism, Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the desert where he spent 40 days and 40 nights.

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We all have our desert experiences. You all have our lonely experiences. There are certain experiences where you just by yourself. Yeah, well, there are times when we celebrate with the group, but there are times when we

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have some of the most meaningful experiences of our lives and there's nobody there but just you. Robert Frost speaks of the lonely road when he says, "Two roads diverged in a wood and I,

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"I took the one less traveled by "and that has made all of the difference." That road, less traveled by. less traveled by, lonely road.

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If we would journey with the Lord, we will travel a desert road, one of the least traveled roads of the world. We will be forced to make decisions that set us

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apart from other people. We will find restful spots by the mountain brook to be sure, but we will be traveling a desert road. If we would journey with the Lord before we pack our bags, we must prepare our minds and

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hearts to travel a lonely and somewhat difficult road. Philip is sent by the angel of the Lord on a desert journey. So you see, for every one of us, life is a journey through the desert. You've got to walk this lonesome valley.

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You've got to walk it by yourself, as nobody else can walk it for you. You've got to walk it by yourself. That's some decisions you just got to make yourself. And on this lonely road, Philip meets this eunuch, this man who comes from the upper

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class, a man of means. In fact, he's head of the treasury, the department of his government. His life is one of wealth. He has the comforts and conveniences.

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He's riding in his chariot, and while he rides, he is reading the 53rd chapter of the book of the Prophet Isaiah. Here he is in an uninhabitable place, a desert road, a desolate place where there's neither rain nor dew, a drought-stricken area, and he recognizes his need for spiritual renewal. We find ourselves in deserts, but

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it's a wonderful thing that in the midst of it all that we recognize our need for spiritual renewal. Here this man is seeking to satisfy a hungering thirst after righteousness. He's reading the book of the Prophet Isaiah. Seeking to have a better understanding of the biblical revelation. You know we may have

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all of the gadgets that can contribute to our earthly comforts and conveniences, but just with those gadgets alone, we find ourselves with a certain emptiness. We find ourselves with a kind of spiritual drowse. We may have our chariots, and some of us are blessed with more than one chariot, a horseless

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chariot in which to ride. It's not unusual to have two cars in a garage, but we still need something that is more meaningful. There's still a higher thirst that we need to satisfy our souls. And so what is so interesting here is that there is a treasure, a treasure that is associated

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with the desert. this experience shows us first of all that Philip is directed into the desert, he's guided by God, he's under the guidance of the Spirit of God. He's given direction to travel a desert road. That's a treasure, that's a treasure. One of the most meaningful experiences that one may have in this life is to follow the

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leadership of the Holy Spirit. That's a treasure. You may not have many of the other things. You may not have a chariot.

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You may not have many of the things. Here is a man in a chariot and he still needs guidance. He still needs direction. And so we need the direction of the Spirit of God in our lives.

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And we may not have many other things, but if God is guiding your life, that's a treasure. God is guiding your life. And in the midst of all of the lonely experiences when there's nobody else, when it comes the time in life when father and mother may not be there, it's a wonderful thing to have them

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guide your life and to strengthen you. But there'll come a desert experience when they won't be there. And I often think of the experience

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when I was in seminary and I had to undergo surgery and my people weren't able to come. And I went through that experience by myself. It was one of the best lessons that I've ever had.

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I was miles away from home, and I went to surgery and stayed in the hospital for a week or so, and I went through all that alone. Life's like that. There are certain experiences that you must somehow walk with God and God alone, and God

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alone somehow walks with us on that desert road. That's the treasure that that's the wonderful thing as much as mother and father love you they won't be there sister and brother but God will direct us on that desert road that's a treasure

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Philip sees this man and the Spirit says draw nine to his chariot spirit tells One of the things many times is we are too far from one another. Many times we don't reach people for Christ because we're too far. You know, sometimes we come and this person, we may not have but four or five, this person

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will sit on this pew, next one on the next pew, and the next one on the next. he says draw nigh to his chariot, get close to him. God wants to use Philip in an evangelical ministry with this man and when he draws nigh he gets close enough to hear the man. The man is reading out loud from the scripture and

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he listens to him he's running along beside his chariot listening to the man as he reads aloud the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah. And Philip says to him, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he says, "No, how can I unless I have someone to direct me?"

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You see the wonderful thing is that there's always somebody that God has that can direct us if we are open to the leadership of his spirit. And he invites Philip because he gets near and shows an interest in him, he invites Philip to come up and sit with him in his chariot.

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And Philip does so. Philip begins at the very place where he's reading and and preaches to him Jesus. Oh I think that many more people would be warned to Christ if we had the courage to witness, if we had the courage. You know we go we wonder what they gonna

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say and many times we we don't have the courage but when he goes there he hadn't seen this man before but he just followed the leadership of the Spirit and as he follows the leadership of the Spirit every time the doors open and he preaches to him Christ just tells him about Jesus Christ. I'm sure that Philip

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not only explained to him the meaning of the of the scripture but he also had him to understand what Christ means to me. He preaches to him Christ. And you see the very fact that they are together here in the chariot is another treasure and that is fellowship. You know one of the great treasures that you'll have in life

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life's a lonely experience but one of the great treasures you have is that there's friendship and fellowship that that there's friendship that's a gift in the desert that you don't have many friends you know I mean real intimate friends you don't have many of those in life you go through life you may live 50

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60 or 70 years or 80 but you'll only have a few intimate friends but the wonderful thing is that they are there and that they are there as a resource that will strengthen us in the midst of all of our desert experiences. That there is the blessed experience of fellowship. It's a fellowship that's built on the Spirit of

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God. So that's one of the treasures in the desert, that God's Spirit is expressed in the lonely stretches of life when we are all alone. It's the fellowship of His spirit that somehow provides company for us in our desert experiences. Jacob understood that when he found himself in a lonely place. He was running away from

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home. He was a fugitive from justice, so to speak, and as he went to sleep there on the pillow and as he was awakened the next morning by the early dawn's light, he said surely the Lord is in this place and I didn't even know it. The psalmist experienced it when he talks about the fact that when my father and my mother

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forsake me the Lord will take me up. Well there that's the treasure in the desert that there is fellowship and the wonderful thing is that God grants us His spirit, he's reading Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the prophecy that he reads, "He shall grow up as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He has no

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form or comeliness." That somehow God can cause goodness to thrive even in the midst of contrary circumstances. That even in the desert there are treasures. I had the privilege of flying over portions of Arabia and you look at that land and all that sand and you wonder why in the world God made it, nothing grown and you wonder

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why. Other parts of the country you find a great deal, just mountains and mountains of rock. But men have discovered treasures in those deserts. Some of the richest oil deposits in the world have been found right there that people thought

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there was nothing to. Great treasures right there in the desert. And God somehow in the midst of our desert experiences provides treasures for our lives, a treasure in the desert.

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And the greatest treasure of it all is that God is with us. That's what really happened here in this experience. All of it is the working of the Spirit of God and God's presence and God's power been manifested in our desert experiences.

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There is treasure in the desert. The unerring hand of the Almighty God is present. There is the pillar of the cloud that leads by day. God's there in the desert.

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in the desert. As they make their journey through the desert, the Israelites are aware that God is there because he's given them that cloud. And then by night there is a pillar of fire. God is there. Even by day and by night, God is there. He's present. That's the treasure. That's the treasure. When they find themselves without bread, God is bread in a starving land. And when they find themselves without water, God is water in dry places.

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God's there. When they find that they are bitten by fiery serpents, poisonous serpents in the desert, God somehow provides healing for them in that desert. When they have bitter experiences, some experiences are too bitter for us.

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They say the water here is too bitter, we can't drink it. But God has a way of sweetening, he makes sweet the bitter waters. That's the treasure, God's the treasure. That's what our forefathers knew.

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They didn't have the things, they didn't have the comforts, they didn't have the chariots, they didn't have these things. but they say religion is a treasure. I really do believe. Religion is a treasure! I really do believe! Religion is a treasure! I really do believe. God is present in our deserts and thank God for the treasure in the desert, the treasure of his guidance, the

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treasure of his fellowship, the treasure of his son Jesus Christ. I walked, yes I walked in a desert and I cried, "Oh God take me from this place." The voice said, "It is no desert. I said but the sand, the heat, the vacant horizon and the voice said it is no desert because God makes the desert to blossom like a rose with the presence of his

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spirit and his power. As the choir sings now Spirit of God (piano music) (dramatic piano music) (soft piano music)

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(gentle piano music) [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [ Music ]

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♪ Spirit of God ♪ ♪ We stand upon the cross ♪ ♪ We've conquered through ♪ ♪ All these wars and wars ♪

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♪ Soon you will be free ♪ ♪ I need them to fall ♪ ♪ God make me holy ♪ ♪ I'm going to die ♪

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♪ And I'm going to sing ♪ ♪ I'm going to sing ♪ [Music] ♪ All the people there ♪

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♪ Now the days are brighter ♪ ♪ And the morning's near ♪ ♪ Now the days are brighter ♪ ♪ And the morning's near ♪

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♪ God's on the way ♪ ♪ Sleep in the quiet ♪ ♪ In the comfort of the light ♪ ♪ Sleep in the quiet ♪

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♪ All is calm since the day ♪ ♪ True to thy people ♪ ♪ Thy people so long ♪ ♪ God make thee all the earth ♪

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♪ Forth to love ♪ - Let us pray with our heads. O gracious God, our Father, we have said to your people that there is treasure in the desert, the treasure of your guidance, the treasure of your fellowship, the treasure

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of the presence of your son Jesus Christ, grant that we may be strengthened through this word, that we may have the certainty of this treasure in our lives as we go forth to confront the challenges of this week. Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before his

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glorious presence with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Father, we glory, dominion, and power, now and forevermore. Amen. [ Music ]

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[choir singing] ♪ The Lord bless you and keep you ♪ ♪ The Lord lift his countenance upon you ♪ ♪ And give you peace ♪

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♪ And give you peace ♪ ♪ The Lord make his face to shine upon you ♪ ♪ On you ♪ ♪ And be gracious unto you ♪

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♪ And be gracious ♪ ♪ The Lord be gracious ♪ ♪ Gracious unto you ♪ ♪ Amen ♪

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♪ Amen ♪ [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]