To tell the truth, there are some things I wish were not in the Bible, and some of them are in this text.

For instance, Philip is told by an angel to make an evangelism call on the road that goes south from Jerusalem to Gaza. No name. No address.

What would you think if the chair of the evangelism committee at your church told you that she or he had been told directly by an angel to make an evangelism call on I-465 South? No name. No street address. Not even an exit number. Just I-465 South.

Then when Philip arrives, what is the Ethiopian doing? Reading the Bible. Let me ask you, honestly, have you ever knocked on the door of prospects, only to find them reading the Bible? I've had them hide the can of Budweiser under the couch, stare comatose at the TV, recite the full history of every meeting of the Lions Club which they have attended since 1938, but ask me to interpret the Bible?

And did you notice that Philip didn't make the call in the home? He ran up beside the Ethiopian's chariot, and banged on the side and climbed in. I have seen some pretty wild stuff in the modern evangelism programs, but nothing that recommends what we might call "intersection evangelism" -- running up to cars stopped at the intersection and banging on the window and then hopping in.

Then it's all over; the Spirit catches Philip up and takes him away to Azotus. When you make a call, and get a decision, sometimes it is like you have wings on your feet. But if anyone here has ever been transported by the Spirit in this way, please see your pastor after the service today.

Then there is that reference to the Ethiopian's sexual condition: he was a eunuch. In our culture and in our time, sexuality is such a sensitive and confusing matter. It arouses deep feelings. Masters and Johnson. Homosexuality. Child pornography. AIDS. Just the mention of his sexual condition makes some of us uneasy, nervous.

So here we have a strange story. Sometimes I wish it were not in the Bible. But after living with the passage for some time, I have also come to believe that it has a strong and positive word to say about evangelism for those closing years of the 1980s.

Let us begin with the Ethiopian. What do we know about him?

First, the obvious. He was from Ethiopia. Very likely he was a person of color, a black person. Ethiopia itself was regarded as an exotic, far-off place. The kind of place they put on travel posters. Much like we might think of Hawaii or Alaska.

Ethiopia was nearly the end of the civilized world. Civilized, yes, but a country of strangers to the living God. (That is why, according to Psalm 68:31, the Jewish people looked forward to the day when Ethiopia would, like a trusting child, hasten to put out her hands to God.)

This man was in charge of the royal treasury in Ethiopia. The ruler of Ethiopia was usually a woman, called the Candace. So here we have a kind of Malcolm Baldridge of the first century, who ran the software for Nancy Reagan.