Where Will You Take the Gospel? | Acts 8:25-40

 

Read Acts 8:25-40

 

The context of Acts 8:25-40:  Philip, a disciple of Jesus, is travelling to Samaria to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the Samaritans. 

 

“Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.  Philip went down to the city of Samaria an began proclaiming Christ to them.  The crowds with one accord were give were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was preforming.  For in the case of many who had unclean Spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.  So there was much rejoicing in that city.

--Acts 8:4-8

 

The city of Samaria:  After the separation of Judah and Israel in the ninth century, King Omri of the Northern Kingdom bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer (1 Kings 16:24). He built there the city of Samaria which became his capital. It was strong defensively and controlled the valley through which the main road ran between Jerusalem and Galilee. In 722 B.C. the city fell to the Assyrians and became the headquarters of the Assyrian province of Samerina. While many of the inhabitants of the city and the surrounding area of Samaria were led off into captivity, some farmers and others were left behind. They intermarried with new settlers from Mesopotamia and Syria.

 

The Assyrians began to populate Israel with people from other nations they had defeated. Verse 24 says, “And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.” The descendants of these foreigners and the remnant of Israel were later simply called “Samaritans.” During the time of Christ, the Samaritans were despised as an “unclean” people because of their mixed ancestry and rejection of temple-based worship.

 

“The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Avva and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.”

--2 Kings 17:24

 

“Generally speaking, the Jews of that day hated the Samaritans. They considered them compromising half-breeds who corrupted the worship of the true God. ‘There was deep-seated prejudice, amounting almost to hatred, standing between the Jews and the Samaritans.’”

--William Lasor

 

1. God Commands His Church to go and Share God’s love and truth to those who are lost—all nations must hear His Good News, especially the nation of Israel.

 

 

“So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’”

--Acts 1:6-8

 

God had a plan for Samaria, for the entire world, reaching Samaria with the good news of His death and resurrection, and Philip is the disciple that is called to go there.  God works through Philip and many become followers of Christ in Samaria because of Philip’s missionary witness.

 

“But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.”

--Acts 8:12

 

God has always commanded His people to go out and share His good news to the world—God’s chosen people, Israel, is the beacon of God’s light, God’s grace and truth in this sinful world.  Here, God is commanding Philip to go and preach the gospel to the Samaritans.

 

“For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.  I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations.”

--Isaiah 66:18-20

 

The nation and people of Israel are important to God.  God will shine His glory through Israel one day during the millennial reign, Israel is God’s chosen people, both the nation and the Jews—this is why God has commanded the gentiles to go and share the gospel with them—He will also send Jewish missionaries to share His glory.

 

 

“But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.”

--Romans 11:13-14

 

“They are sent to Tarshish (Spain, France and Italy) to Pul (a region in Africa) and to Lud, which according to some is the same as Libya, though it seems preferable to take Pul and Lud together for all of Africa. Tubal was a son of Japheth, whose descendants settled in north-eastern Europe or Russia and Javan is the biblical name for Greece.” 

--Harry Bultema

 

Philip is a Greek jew (hellenisitic Jew) called by God to go and share the gospel with the Samaritans. Philip obey God’s call in His life and God works through him—the gospel of Christ reaches different parts of the world through Philip’s obedience.  God’s grace is still outpouring to His people—where will you take the gospel?

 

 

2. God called Philip and Philip stepped into his calling to share the gospel of Jesus boldly.

 

 

“But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, ‘Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a desert road.) So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go up and join this chariot.’ Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”

--Acts 8:26-31

 

Notice how Philip was called to go down a road less travelled.  This must have seemed peculiar—or it may have even been challenging.  Philip was called to leave a thriving ministry, to leave during a revival in Samaria and he follows, now he’s called to go down a desert road—a road very few ever travelled.  Philip didn’t know what God had in store—what God wanted him to do.

 

Philip the evangelist:

--He asks “Do you understand what you are reading?”

--The Eunuch answers: “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?”

 

God cares about the lost and God cares deeply about his followers—Matthew 9:36-38 gives us a glimpse of God’s heart for people that need instruction that need to hear the good news of Jesus.

 

 

“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.  Then He *said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.’”

--Matthew 9:36-38

 

--Philip takes this chance to share Jesus with the Eunuch—he doesn’t miss a beat, He shares that Isaiah is prophesying about Jesus Christ. The Eunuch is reading Isaiah 53:7-8 and God brings Philip to him to show him what Isaiah 53:7-8 is truly about—Jesus Christ.

--The Eunuch’s life is transformed, he believes in Jesus and needs to get water baptized to follow in his savior’s footsteps.

--The Holy Spirit enraptures and fills the Eunuch and Philip; as Philip is taken away to another city to continue being the evangelist God called him to be.

 

This is a strange, perhaps unprecedented event in the Scriptures. But a similar thing happened when the disciples’ boat came immediately to its destination (John 6:15-21), and a similar thing will also happen when the church is caught up together with Him at the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18).

 

 

3. God has saved you—who will you share your salvation with? Where will you take the gospel?

 

Because of Philip’s obedience, Samaria heard the gospel, Samaritans on the road in encampments heard the gospel—this partially fulfilled Isaiah 66 and gentile Christians are still called to share the gospel with the Jewish people and the nation of Israel.

 

Because of Philip’s obedience, the land of Ethiopia would hear the gospel through the Ethiopian Eunuch—we know today this moment birthed an entire church, the Coptic Church.

 

 

“The joy of the Ethiopian, even after Philip’s strange departure, shows that his faith was firmly rooted in God, not in Philip. The Coptic Christians – greatly persecuted today in Egypt – trace their spiritual heritage back to this Ethiopian official.”

--Enduring Word Commentary

 

 

 

 

Read Acts 8:25-40

 

The context of Acts 8:25-40:  Philip, a disciple of Jesus, is travelling to Samaria to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the Samaritans. 

 

“Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.  Philip went down to the city of Samaria an began proclaiming Christ to them.  The crowds with one accord were give were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was preforming.  For in the case of many who had unclean Spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.  So there was much rejoicing in that city.

--Acts 8:4-8

 

The city of Samaria:  After the separation of Judah and Israel in the ninth century, King Omri of the Northern Kingdom bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer (1 Kings 16:24). He built there the city of Samaria which became his capital. It was strong defensively and controlled the valley through which the main road ran between Jerusalem and Galilee. In 722 B.C. the city fell to the Assyrians and became the headquarters of the Assyrian province of Samerina. While many of the inhabitants of the city and the surrounding area of Samaria were led off into captivity, some farmers and others were left behind. They intermarried with new settlers from Mesopotamia and Syria.

 

The Assyrians began to populate Israel with people from other nations they had defeated. Verse 24 says, “And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.” The descendants of these foreigners and the remnant of Israel were later simply called “Samaritans.” During the time of Christ, the Samaritans were despised as an “unclean” people because of their mixed ancestry and rejection of temple-based worship.

 

“The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Avva and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.”

--2 Kings 17:24

 

“Generally speaking, the Jews of that day hated the Samaritans. They considered them compromising half-breeds who corrupted the worship of the true God. ‘There was deep-seated prejudice, amounting almost to hatred, standing between the Jews and the Samaritans.’”

--William Lasor

 

1. God Commands His Church to go and Share God’s love and truth to those who are lost—all nations must hear His Good News, especially the nation of Israel.

 

 

“So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’”

--Acts 1:6-8

 

God had a plan for Samaria, for the entire world, reaching Samaria with the good news of His death and resurrection, and Philip is the disciple that is called to go there.  God works through Philip and many become followers of Christ in Samaria because of Philip’s missionary witness.

 

“But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.”

--Acts 8:12

 

God has always commanded His people to go out and share His good news to the world—God’s chosen people, Israel, is the beacon of God’s light, God’s grace and truth in this sinful world.  Here, God is commanding Philip to go and preach the gospel to the Samaritans.

 

“For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.  I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations.”

--Isaiah 66:18-20

 

The nation and people of Israel are important to God.  God will shine His glory through Israel one day during the millennial reign, Israel is God’s chosen people, both the nation and the Jews—this is why God has commanded the gentiles to go and share the gospel with them—He will also send Jewish missionaries to share His glory.

 

 

“But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.”

--Romans 11:13-14

 

“They are sent to Tarshish (Spain, France and Italy) to Pul (a region in Africa) and to Lud, which according to some is the same as Libya, though it seems preferable to take Pul and Lud together for all of Africa. Tubal was a son of Japheth, whose descendants settled in north-eastern Europe or Russia and Javan is the biblical name for Greece.” 

--Harry Bultema

 

Philip is a Greek jew (hellenisitic Jew) called by God to go and share the gospel with the Samaritans. Philip obey God’s call in His life and God works through him—the gospel of Christ reaches different parts of the world through Philip’s obedience.  God’s grace is still outpouring to His people—where will you take the gospel?

 

 

2. God called Philip and Philip stepped into his calling to share the gospel of Jesus boldly.

 

 

“But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, ‘Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a desert road.) So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go up and join this chariot.’ Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”

--Acts 8:26-31

 

Notice how Philip was called to go down a road less travelled.  This must have seemed peculiar—or it may have even been challenging.  Philip was called to leave a thriving ministry, to leave during a revival in Samaria and he follows, now he’s called to go down a desert road—a road very few ever travelled.  Philip didn’t know what God had in store—what God wanted him to do.

 

Philip the evangelist:

--He asks “Do you understand what you are reading?”

--The Eunuch answers: “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?”

 

God cares about the lost and God cares deeply about his followers—Matthew 9:36-38 gives us a glimpse of God’s heart for people that need instruction that need to hear the good news of Jesus.

 

 

“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.  Then He *said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.’”

--Matthew 9:36-38

 

--Philip takes this chance to share Jesus with the Eunuch—he doesn’t miss a beat, He shares that Isaiah is prophesying about Jesus Christ. The Eunuch is reading Isaiah 53:7-8 and God brings Philip to him to show him what Isaiah 53:7-8 is truly about—Jesus Christ.

--The Eunuch’s life is transformed, he believes in Jesus and needs to get water baptized to follow in his savior’s footsteps.

--The Holy Spirit enraptures and fills the Eunuch and Philip; as Philip is taken away to another city to continue being the evangelist God called him to be.

 

This is a strange, perhaps unprecedented event in the Scriptures. But a similar thing happened when the disciples’ boat came immediately to its destination (John 6:15-21), and a similar thing will also happen when the church is caught up together with Him at the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18).

 

 

3. God has saved you—who will you share your salvation with? Where will you take the gospel?

 

Because of Philip’s obedience, Samaria heard the gospel, Samaritans on the road in encampments heard the gospel—this partially fulfilled Isaiah 66 and gentile Christians are still called to share the gospel with the Jewish people and the nation of Israel.

 

Because of Philip’s obedience, the land of Ethiopia would hear the gospel through the Ethiopian Eunuch—we know today this moment birthed an entire church, the Coptic Church.

 

 

“The joy of the Ethiopian, even after Philip’s strange departure, shows that his faith was firmly rooted in God, not in Philip. The Coptic Christians – greatly persecuted today in Egypt – trace their spiritual heritage back to this Ethiopian official.”

--Enduring Word Commentary