Today's Reading: Old Testament: Numbers 3 - 4
New Testament: Acts 8
Focus Verses: Acts 8:30-36
30Then 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.32The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." 34The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. 36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?"
Insight:
Philip was able to find and help the Ethiopian because: 1- He received direction from the Holy Spirit (vv.26 & 20); 2- The Ethiopian was already seeking God through worship (v.27) and reading the scriptures (v.28); 3 - Philip knew the scriptures so well that he could recognize what the man was reading and could explain how that scripture pointed to Jesus.
Response and Action:
I need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading. I need to be thinking about how I can be a help to people around me who are seeking truth. I need to be very familiar with the Scriptures and be ready to explain how they point to Jesus.
Holy Father, please lead me into paths where there are opportunities to help others find you. Help me to recognize those who are seeking for the truth that can only be found in Jesus. Help me to know and remember scripture and give me the ability to explain how it points to Jesus. Amen.
Proverbs: 6:23
"For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life..."
Resources:
Hope Has Its Reasons: The Search to Satisfy Our Deepest Longings
by Rebecca Manley Pippert
