Monday 6 April, 2020

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” 30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. 31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” 34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” [37] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea. Footnotes:

The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”

For the people who were followers of Christ, they were living in unprecedented times. Acts chapter 8 starts with there being so much persecution against Christians that they had to scatter to preserve their lives. 

With the world in the state that it’s in now, the church is again unable to gather together in the way we are used to, but we will be flexible and dynamic! More than ever, there is such a need for me to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit to know who I need to be “walking along beside” as Philip did in this passage. 

The person I am to walk beside may be a person of great wealth who needs help interpreting what they see and read, like the Ethiopian in this story. Or they may be someone who just needs some practical help in life, or someone to pray with. 

Lord, thank you that You have put some people on my heart this morning that I need to find new ways to walk beside in these unprecedented times. 

Written by Ps Justin Ware