MAY 17 READING…ACTS 8
Chapter 8 begins by saying that Saul was consenting to the death of Stephen. This means that Saul, who watched the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen was actually watching over the whole murderous affair as a representative of the Jewish religious leaders. We will see that Saul was zealous for exterminating these followers of Jesus…believing that he was doing the Lord’s work. Sadly, there are those like Saul today. Highly religious people who are zealous for their religion even to the place of destroying and killing others, “in the name of their god”. This is not Christianity. It is not by threat, coercion, or brutality that we share our faith…its by the power of the Holy Spirit of God.
We see the demonstrated power of the Holy Spirit in the occurrence of Philip sharing the Gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch. The Holy Spirit arranged the whole thing. The Holy Spirit was working so mightily that even a man named Simon wanted to buy the power from the Apostles and deacons. Philip was led by an angel to go toward the south, for the Lord had an appointment for him. He comes upon a man from Ethiopia who was reading the Scripture. Philip asks him if he understood what he was reading. The man said, how could he understand if no one explained it to him. The man asked Philip who the prophet was speaking about in the passage he was reading. Philip then told him about Jesus, and told him if he believed all his heart, he could know the Lord and salvation. The man said that he believed, and right there Philip baptized the man into the faith. The Spirit of the Lord came and took Philip away, and he continued to preach and share the Gospel wherever and to whom ever the Spirit led him. We need to be so sensitive to the Holy Spirit that when He leads, we go…and when He tells us to share, we do.
Please share your thoughts from today’s reading.
TOMORROW’S READING…ACTS 9
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