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August 26 - Acts 8 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Tuesday.
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  It's the 26th of August. Great to have your company.
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  I hope you're going well. I hope this week is treating you
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  well as we are in, would you believe it, the last week of
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  winter in this part of the world?
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  Oh, isn't that welcome? Although in Tasmania, winter
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  kind of holds on through the first month of spring.
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  Yeah, I think September is probably the hardest month for
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  me as the whole world says, hey, it's springtime and things start
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  to blossom, but blow me down, the days do not get much warmer.
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  That's when October comes and things start to feel a bit
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  easier. Or you might be far away where
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  the weather is all opposite to here.
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  Wherever we are, whatever's going on.
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  Great to have your company as you have tapped on plane, not to
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  get a weather update, but to hear this next chapter and
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  what's happening in the growth and the birth of our church.
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  And at the end of yesterday's reading, we were introduced to
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  this young man named Saul. And today we will continue to
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  hear a little about him and then about the church growing in all
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  sorts of different directions. So join me friends as we
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  continue the story reading Acts Chapter 8.
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  Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with
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  the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution
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  began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and all
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  the believers except the apostles were scattered through
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  the regions of Judea and Samaria.
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  Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning, but
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  Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church.
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  He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women
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  to throw them into prison. But the believers who were
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  scattered preached the good news about Jesus wherever they went.
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  Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the
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  people there about the Messiah. Crowds listened intently to
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  Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the
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  miraculous signs he did. Many evil spirits were cast out
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  screaming as they left their victims, and many who had been
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  paralysed or lame were healed, so there was great joy in that
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  city. A man named Simon had been a
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  sorcerer there for many years, amazing the people of Samaria
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  and claiming to be someone great.
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  Everyone from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as
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  the Great One, the power of God. They listened closely to him
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  because for a long time he had been astounding them with his
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  magic. But now the people believed
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  Philip's message of good news concerning the Kingdom of God
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  and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women
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  were baptised. Then Simon himself believed and
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  was baptised. He began following Philip
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  wherever he went, and he was amazed by the signs and great
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  miracles Philip performed. When the apostles in Jerusalem
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  heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God's message, they
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  sent Peter and John there. As soon as they arrived, they
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  prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit.
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  The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had
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  only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus.
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  Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and
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  they received the Holy Spirit. When Simon saw that the Spirit
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  was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he
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  offered the money to buy this power.
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  Let me have this power too, he exclaimed, So that when I lay my
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  hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit.
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  But people replied, May your money be destroyed with you for
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  thinking God's gift can be bought.
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  You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with
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  God. Repent of your wickedness and
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  pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive your
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  evil thoughts, for I can see that you are full of bitter
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  jealousy and are held captive by sin.
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  Pray to the Lord for me. Simon exclaimed.
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  That these terrible things you've said won't happen to me.
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  After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria,
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  Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, and they stopped in
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  many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the good news.
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  As for Philip, an Angel of the Lord said to him, go South Down
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  the desert Rd that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.
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  So he started out and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch
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  of great authority under the kandak, the queen of Ethiopia.
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  The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now
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  returning, seated in his carriage.
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  He was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
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  The Holy Spirit said to Philip, go over and walk along beside
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  the carriage. Philip ran over and heard the
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  man reading from the prophet Isaiah.
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  Philip asked, do you understand what you're reading?
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  The man replied, how can I unless someone instructs me?
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  And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with
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  him. The passage of Scripture he had
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  been reading was this. He was led like a sheep to the
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  slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he
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  did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and received
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  no justice. Who can speak of his
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  descendants, for his life was taken from the earth.
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  The eunuch asked Philip, tell me, was the prophet talking
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  about himself or someone else? So, beginning with the same
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  scripture, Philip told him the good news about Jesus.
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  As they rode along, they came to some water and the eunuch said,
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  look, there's some water, why can't I be baptised?
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  He ordered the carriage to stop and then went down into the
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  water and Philip baptised him. When they came up out of the
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  water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away.
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  The eunuch never saw him again and went on his way rejoicing.
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  Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther N at the town of
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  Azettus. He preached the good news there
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  and in every town along the way until he came to say Surya
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  Jesus. We can so easily become
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  accustomed to the phenomenal nature of your message.
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  This message of forgiveness, this message of inclusion, this
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  message of love, this message of a God of the universe who loves
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  us enough to send his only son. And we hear all of these early
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  Christians heading into all these different places and just
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  telling people about you and that changing lives again and
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  again. Jesus, I pray that you would
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  give us boldness, that we would not underestimate the power of
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  your story and the way that your love can transform not just us,
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  but the people around us too. Lord, give us your spirit, Your
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  spirit that would empower us to speak clearly of the hope that
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  we have in you so that we can continually point to you, our
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  wonderful Saviour, in whose name we pray all of these things.
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  Amen.