A woman got a call from her babysitter while she was at work.  Her daughter was quite sick with a fever.  So, she left work, and stopped by the pharmacy on her way home, to pick up some medicine.  After she left the store, she discovered that she had left her keys in the car!  Frustrated and worried, she called the babysitter to let her know what happened and found out that her daughter was getting worse.  The babysitter suggested that she look around for a wire coat hanger.   So, she did that, and amazingly there was a hanger lying in the parking lot.  She picked it up, and since she had no clue what to do with it, she prayed for God to send her some help.  Not more than five minutes passed before an old rusty beater of a car drove up, and out came a grimy, bearded biker-type.  "Oh, God, is this who you sent to help me?"  the woman prayed silently.  The man sensed she needed help and went over to offer assistance.  She told him her predicament, and handed him the hanger.  Within a minute, he had her car door open.  She threw her arms around him and said, "Thank you so much, you are such a nice man!"  He shook his head.  "I'm not a nice man, lady.  I just spent the last few years in prison for auto theft.  In fact I just got out this morning."

At that the woman hugged him again and prayed out loud, "Thank you God for sending a professional!"  (Parables, etc., 19.3.1)
 
I think that is what the eunuch may have said to God after Philip left him.  Thank you God for sending a professional.  Someone who was able to come right when I needed him, and knew just what to say.
 
And Philip was a professional evangelist.  But not in the sense that most of us think of the word professional.  He wasn't a paid pastor, like Ed and I are.  Nor did he go through a long process of schooling and testing to prove his salt as a professional evangelist.  He was a professional more in the sense of a professional surfer, who has studied the waves, and who has the feel of the ocean, and knows just the right moment to climb on his board and catch the wave.
 
Are any of you surfers?  (Or, maybe you've watched surfers gracefully boarding down a beautiful wave?).    Rick Warren, who is a pastor in California, says that we Christians need to learn how to catch the wave of God's spirit.  One of the first things that a surfer must certainly learn is that you can ride a wave but you cant create one.   And that's what we need to understand about evangelism, too.  We don't need to create the movement of God's Spirit.  We need to find out what God is already doing, and get on board.

We worry a great deal about our part of evangelism.  Am I good enough?  What will I say?  What if I bungle it?  What if I offend someone?  But what we need to understand is that God is already at work making waves.  God's stated agenda is to make disciples of all nations.  And God's Spirit is on the move:  if you read the book of Acts in the New Testament, you will see God acting on that agenda.   Moving the disciples ever outward, reaching out to people beyond their own culture groups and backgrounds.  Not because they wanted to, but because that's what God was already doing, and they were along for the ride.    First they reached out only to fellow Jews, then to Samaritans, then to Gentiles and the rest of the world. It is the constant prodding of the Holy Spirit that moves the message outward.
 
Evangelism is God's business.  Who's idea was it for Philip to go on that wilderness road toward Gaza?  Philip's?  No.  It was an angel of the Lord who told Philip to go.   It was God's idea.  God set the wave in motion.  Philip went for the ride.
In order to be effective in our evangelism, we need to understand that God is already at work in the lives of the people we will share the good news with.  In some cases they will be like the eunuch, studying the Bible, reading it but not understanding it.  In some cases they will be hurting, and wanting to connect with God, but not knowing how to make the connection.  In many cases they will be wishing that someone would tell them how to become a part of God's family.
 
God is making waves in people's lives.  The 75 cent theological term for this is prevenient grace.  Grace that goes ahead of you.  God is always up ahead, preparing the hearts of those whom you will meet.  My hope is that if you can understand this aspect of evangelism, you will be set free from some of your fears.  You don't need to worry about having great strategy.  You don't need to be a scholar.  You don't need to be a great debater.  You just need to catch the wave.

That's good news; and even better news is that And God is also preparing you to share the good news.     Through your own life experiences.  Through your understanding of the world and how it works.  Through your prayers and insights that God gives.  Through your own story, your own faith journey.  If you go back in the book of Acts just a couple of chapters, you'll see that Philip didn't just jump into this cold.  He had been working on his Christian life.  Learning from the Apostles.  Entering into the life and ministry of the community of faith.  He was recognized by other Christians as one who was living his Christian life and who was responsive to the work of the Holy Spirit in his own life.

Because of his Jewish background as well as his Christian faith, Philip was able to start where the eunuch was at in his understanding, and help him toward Christ.

If you're open to it, you will find that you can use almost anything as an illustration to lead someone to Christ.  A flower symbolizes the creation, a butterfly can teach us about conversion, the aroma of baking bread reminds us of the sacrament of Holy Communion.  There was a pastor who gave a whole sermon around a peanut.  After worship, one parishioner commented, “I never expected to learn so much from a nut.”  There was a soldier in WWII who was caught looking at a pack of cards during a worship service. When he was called on the carpet he explained that “You see, Sir, when I look at the ACE, it tells me that there is one GOD and no other.  When I see the 2, it reminds me that there are two parts of the Bible, the OLD TESTAMENT and the NEW TESTAMENT.  The 3 tells me of the TRINITY—FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT.  The 4 reminds me of the four gospels, MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE and JOHN.  When I see the 5, it tells me of the FIVE UNWISE VIRGINS who were lost and that five were saved.  The 6 makes me mindful that GOD CREATED THE EARTH IN JUST SIX DAYS, and GOD said that it was good.  When I see the 7, it reminds me that GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY.    As I look at the 8 it reminds me that GOD DESTROYED ALL LIFE BY WATER EXCEPT FOR EIGHT PEOPLE, Noah, his wife, their three sons and their three wives.  When I see the 9 I think of the NINE LEPERS that GOD healed.  There were ten lepers in all, but only one stopped to thank him.  The 10 reminds me of the TEN COMMANDMENTS carved in stone by the hand of GOD.
 
The Jack makes me remember the Prince of Darkness. Like a roaring lion, he devours those that he can.  When I look at the QUEEN, I see the BLESSED VIRGIN MARY,  MOTHER OF JESUS.  As I look at the last card, THE KING, it reminds me that JESUS IS LORD OF LORDS and KING OF KINGS!”  (Parables, 19.4.6)
 
God goes before us, preparing the hearts of people, to receive the Good News that we have to bring.  And God prepares us to speak a word of encouragement, a word that guides them to Jesus.   Then, if we are willing to be led, God brings us into some encounters that I call “holy coincidences.”   For example, a young man had been to his regular Wednesday evening Bible study, where he had learned about listening to God's voice and obeying God's call.  He started home wondering whether God still speaks to people or not.  So, he prayed “God. . .if you still speak to people , speak to me.  I will listen.  I will do my best to obey.”  Now, that's a dangerous prayer!  As he continued to drive toward home, he had the strangest compulsion to stop and buy a gallon of milk.   He shook his head and said, “God, is that you?”  He didn't get a reply, and so he continued on his way.  But again the thought came, buy a gallon of milk.  And he said, “OK God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk.”  It didn't seem like such a big deal.  He could always use the milk.  So, he stopped off at a convenience store and again began to drive home.  As he passed Seventh St., he had the urge to turn down that street.  He drove past, but the urge was still there.  He turned back, and said, half jokingly, “OK God, I will.”
 
After he had driven several blocks, he felt he should stop.  All of the businesses were closed, and the houses were dark.   Then, he got the strangest notion that he should go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street.  This was too much.  “Lord,” he said, “this is insane.  Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid.”  But the sense that he should give the milk grew stronger.  Finally, he gave in, willing to look like a crazy person, because he wanted to be obedient.  “But if they don't answer right away,” he said, “I'm out of here.”
 
He walked across the street and rang the bell.  A man from inside yelled “Who is it? What do you want?”  and before he could run away, the door opened.  The man looked like he had just crawled out of bed and wasn't too happy about it.  The young man thrust the gallon of milk at him and said, “Here, I brought this to you.”  The man grabbed the milk and went running down the hall speaking in rapid Spanish.  A woman came back with him, carrying a crying baby.  They explained that they had just been praying because they had had some big bills that month and ran out of money.  They were asking God to send an Angel with some milk.  “Are you an angel?”  the wife said.  The young man reached into his wallet, pulled out all the money he had with him and put it in the man's hand.  He went back to his car with tears streaming down his face.
 
That young man was open to God's leading.   So was Philip, or he would never have been on the road where the Ethiopian was going to pass by.  We need to be open, too, if we are going to accomplish the work that God has for us.

When I say open, I don't mean mindless.  Listening to God's voice does not mean following every stray thought as if it were gospel.  If we do that, we may end up in a commune somewhere drinking poison Kool Aide.  God's voice is recognizable.  We can learn to discern the difference between God's voice and the other voices that come at us.  That comes with time, as we study, listen, worship, pray, and take some risks.
 
Just remember, surfing, the wave does most of the work.  In evangelism, God does most of the work.  God prepares people for the message, God prepares us to give the message, God arranges special meetings with people who need the message.   And God is in charge of the results as well.   One of the early church historians says that the Ethiopian eunuch that Philip met went back to Ethiopia and became an evangelist himself.  You never know the effect that your words and your life will have upon another person.  You could be leading another Billy Graham to Christ.
 
Are you ready to catch the wave?   Then come to the Lord's Table, and tell Jesus that you're ready; he's waiting for you.