Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 87
8:24–9:2
L UK E – A cts
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“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things
you’ve said won’t happen to me!”
After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter
and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News.
As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert
road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 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, and
he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from
the book of the prophet Isaiah.
The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the
carriage.”
Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah.
Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he
urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.
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.
He was humiliated and received no justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told
him the Good News about Jesus.
As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said,
“Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?” He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched
Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus.
He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until
he came to Caesarea.
Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to
kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters
addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in
