City Life Starter

Written by Efe Abbe

The Word

²⁶ As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” ²⁷ So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.” ³⁰ Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”³¹ The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.

³² The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter.
    And as a lamb is silent before the shearers,
    he did not open his mouth.
³³ He was humiliated and received no justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth.”

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” ³⁵ So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus. ³⁶ As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?” ³⁸ He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

Acts 8:26-38 NLT

Reflection

After His resurrection, Jesus told His followers to wait in Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit, who would give them power to be His witnesses (Acts 1:4-5) because He knew that it would take God’s presence in His followers to be able to commit to and carry out His mission in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the Earth.

We see God’s Spirit at work in Philip’s obedience to Jesus’ instruction to get up and head south from Samaria (Acts 8:1-26) and to approach the envoy of a high ranking foreign official, who was an eunuch. Nothing about this encounter appears comfortable for Philip. He had to be willing to obey, get up and leave, head down to a road in the wilderness (not knowing why), and be bold enough to interrupt a VIP — who according to Levitical law was restricted from direct access to God’s assembly (Deuteronomy 23:1).

I love this story because it demonstrates God’s kindness to us who have been given the mission of making disciples and to the world to whom we are sent. The Lord Jesus could have appeared to the Ethiopian official and explained the scroll of Isaiah (Luke 24:13-33; Acts 9:3-6) but He chose not to, rather He sent Philip.

Jesus has established His church and commissioned us to tell everyone about His saving power and grace. That requires us to be committed, intentional, and willing to be uncomfortable, for the reward of seeing people reconciled to God.

Application

Think about the people that God has brought into your life, I would hazard to guess that there are those who are yet to be reconciled to God — this isn’t an accident.

We have already been sent to make them disciples; pray and ask God for specific wisdom on how to come along side them, like Philip did for the Ethiopian. Trust the Holy Spirit to empower you as you obey the Lord and to help them believe God’s Good News.

Prayer

Thank You Heavenly Father for entrusting and sending me to tell about the Good News of salvation in Jesus, Your Son. Please make me bold, intentional, and willing to obey Your command to make disciples, in Jesus’ name, amen.