Philip And The Eunuch

“So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.” – Acts 8:35

Imagine for a moment during a Sunday worship service, an out-of-the-blue thought enters your mind. And it stays there. You need to leave the church service and walk to a nearby Waffle House. It’s not that you lack focus on the sermon or you suddenly crave some hash browns, smothered and covered. No, this is a direction from the Holy Spirit. As you enter the Waffle House, you notice an open seat next to a strangely dressed person. You immediately assume he is not from around here.  His head is buried deep in a book, and as he looks up with puzzlement on his face, he turns to you and asks, “I don’t get this. What does John 3:16 mean anyway?”

The Holy Spirit has set up the perfect opportunity for you to share the good news of Jesus Christ with a stranger. In Acts 8 we read about the Holy Spirit calling Philip from success in Samaria, where many are won to Christ, to a lonely desert road between Jerusalem and Gaza. To this point, the good news of Jesus has been preached to crowds, and conversion has happened to many at a time. Now, we see how God uses Philip to save one man—and not any man but an Ethiopian eunuch, from a land far away.  

In Acts 8:29 the Spirit says, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.” The Holy Spirit does not tell Philip why, or who is in the carriage.  Philip hears the Ethiopian reading out loud the book of Isaiah. “He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people.” (Isaiah 53:7–8).

Now Philip knows why the Lord directed him to this desolate place where there is one lone chariot and man from Ethiopia. Philip proclaimed the good news of Jesus to him, the Ethiopian believed, was baptized (v. 38) along the road, and went on his way rejoicing (v. 39). 

The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch teaches us one of the ways God uses us to evangelize the world. It’s what one does if one loves Jesus and loves people. You tell the good news. The Ethiopian eunuch shows us that through the power of the Holy Spirit with the good news of Jesus Christ, God will radically save even the most unlikely.

When God calls you to move, to act, or to share – will you? Philip did and a man’s life was changed for eternity.

Discussion Questions:

1. We can trust in God’s foreknowledge to align people, situations, and events that present us with opportunities to share the gospel with those whose hearts are ready to receive. Agree or disagree and why? 
2. It’s important to have a solid biblical foundation, a knowledge of Scripture, and how it all points to Jesus, if we’re going to be Spirit-filled and evangelize our neighbors. Agree or disagree and why?