Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for the day and time in his Word, and ask him to watch over, teach, and grow his people in love for him.
Read
Scripture Passage
Christ Is Preached to an Ethiopian
26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”
34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ac 8:26-40
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
The Spirit sends Philip to an Ethiopian official reading Isaiah. Philip asks whether he understands, explains that Isaiah's suffering servant points to Jesus, preaches the gospel, and baptizes the man after his confession of faith; the new believer then continues home rejoicing while Philip preaches elsewhere.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
Acts 8:30, 32-35
do you understand what you're reading? He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb before its shearer is a silent, so he opened not his mouth. then Philip opened his mouth and began, and beginning at this scripture preached Jesus to him.
Daniel explicitly chooses Philip's question about the official's reading as the best part. Bryan then explicitly says he would underline both Isaiah's suffering-servant passage and verse 35, where Philip begins from that Scripture and preaches Jesus.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Obey God's leading, ask thoughtful questions, explain Scripture by showing how it points to Jesus, preach Christ rather than personal opinions, and believe with the whole heart that Jesus is the risen Son of God and Savior.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Close out of that. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2022, we'll go all the way from the book of Acts to Philemon. Can you say Philemon? Well, I just find Lehman not finally Mon All right. Well, I have some tea Dan. Dan's got some tea. You might grab your Okay, yeah, you can take the baby spoon out that's fine good just put it right here and Let's go ahead and drink.
We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. You ready, bud? Thank you so much for this day and thank you for this time that we get to spend in your word. Father we pray that as we read your word that you would watch over us, teach us, And we pray that we would grow in our love for you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright, here we go. We are at Acts chapter 8 beginning at verse 26. Acts chapter 8 beginning at verse 26. So we're right here. Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is desert. So he arose and went.
And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot he was reading Isaiah the prophet.
Then the Spirit said to Philip, Go near and overtake the chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said to him, do you understand what you're reading? And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
The place in the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation his justice was taken away, and who will declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth. So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does this prophet say this of himself or some other man?
Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture preached. He preached Jesus to him. He preached Jesus to him. Now, as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, See, here's water. What hinders me from being baptized? And Philip said to him, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. So he commanded the chariot to stand still.
And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they had come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way, rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea."
Wow, what do you think that was about? Someone getting took by waves. Well, it's taken away. Okay, so that happens at the very end. That happens to Philip. Okay, so Philip was up north. He was in an area called Samaria. And he's been preaching there. And the people in Samaria believe. And then guess what happens next? The Spirit says go down to the desert. And who does he meet in the desert?
I don't know. What's he riding in? I forgot the name of it. A chariot. Do you know what a chariot is? Yes. Okay, so there's an Ethiopian and he's a eunuch and so he's an official and he's working for the Queen. And what's he doing while he's riding in his chariot from leaving Jerusalem and going down to Ethiopia?
What's he reading? He's in a chariot. He's reading about... I forgot his name again. He was reading one of the prophets. The prophet Isaiah. He was reading the prophet Isaiah. And did he understand what he was reading? No. So what does he ask Philip? What are you reading? Do you know what you're reading? Well, Philip said that to Enoch. Yeah, do you know what you're reading? He said, no, how can I understand unless someone explains it to me? And so Philip gets up and who does he say Isaiah was talking about? Who is the passage talking about? Well, was Isaiah talking about himself? No, the passage in Isaiah here. Let's go ahead and read it again.
He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb before its shearer is a silent, so he opened not his mouth. And in his humiliation his justice was taken away. And who will declare his generation? For his life was taken from the earth. Is Isaiah talking about himself? No. Who's he talking about? It starts with the goat. And it ends with a death. Who's it talking about? Jesus. It's talking about Jesus. That's right.
And so the Ethiopian says, Hey, why can't I be baptized? And what does Philip answer him? If you believe with all your heart, sure. And does the Ethiopian say, no, I don't actually believe it? No, he didn't say that. Does he believe? That's right. He believes. He believes and he's baptized. And then after that, he's caught up in the spirit and he's taken somewhere else, right? Yeah, to preach some more. Yeah, to go preach some more. That's right.
So what do you think was the best part of that story? Let me see. When the priest was like, someone was like, yo, what are you reading? Oh, you liked when Philip asked what he was reading? You know, I think God at the heart of this passage, I think I would underline that passage from Isaiah, but I would also say, then Philip opened his mouth and began, and beginning at this scripture preached Jesus to him.
Yeah. Yeah. So what do you think we should do? Obey God. Okay. Should we maybe believe Him? Yeah. With part of our heart or with all of our heart? All of our heart. All of our heart. That's right. That's right. And what about if you were a pastor? Should I preach on whatever I want or should I preach about Jesus? Are you writing out Jesus with your fingers? Daniel's learning how to spell, so. Yeah. Daddy should preach about who? Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. And everybody should believe in who? Jesus. That's right. That's right. Well, do you? Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He was raised from the dead? Do you believe that the prophets of old all point to Jesus Christ? Is He your Lord and Savior?
You ready to pray? Yeah. Okay. Father, we thank you so much for this day. And we thank you for our Lamb who was led to slaughter, who faced the injustice of the cross, that he might take the full wrath of God for our sakes. Lord, we thank you for sending us the good news and we pray that we would love you and follow in your ways. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You want to say goodbye to everyone? Goodbye! Bye! We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye everyone.