Today\u2019s reading draws us further into the world of the early Church, giving us more insight into the climate in which the gospel was preached. It also acquaints us more with those who contributed to the distribution of the gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same day Stephen was martyred, widespread persecution occurred, with Saul actively pursuing and persecuting believers, throwing them in jail (Acts 8:1\u20133). The persecution intensified, but the resolve of Jesus\u2019s followers to share His message only grew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Philip\u2019s encounter with the eunuch was more than being in the right place at the right time. It was a divine orchestration from God, who was ready to meet the eunuch\u2019s desire to know more about Him. Philip met a perplexed man, who did not understand who the subject of the passage from Isaiah was talking about. But Philip did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.<\/em> Here we see God\u2019s saving power in action. As Philip directed the eunuch to Jesus through the scriptures, the eunuch accepted everything that he heard. It was a monumental moment in the man\u2019s life, the eagerness evident in his immediate request to be baptized. As regal and important as his position was in Queen Candace\u2019s court, he took on a more prestigious status as a member of God\u2019s family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This roadside conversion points back to God\u2019s promise in Isaiah 56:3\u20135, where God specifically promised that His salvation would extend to foreigners and eunuchs, who generally did not have families of their own. Better than a biological family, the eunuch now had a place among God\u2019s people and family. What joy he experienced as he returned to Ethiopia forever changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The joy-inducing, life-giving gospel at work in the eunuch\u2019s conversion is the same gospel that has transformed our lives. The eunuch\u2019s story highlights the beauty of God\u2019s grace. Because of sin, we were far from God, but because of Jesus\u2019s sacrifice, we now belong to Him. The gospel welcomes all, without discrimination; the only requirement is that we accept His gift of salvation (Romans 10:13). In God\u2019s household, strangers are bonded together as family and we all experience God\u2019s blessings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The eunuch\u2019s conversion during the Church\u2019s persecution emphasizes that nothing will stop God\u2019s plan for us to be His people. Our lives are forever marked with a deep joy that outlasts any situation we face, knowing that we are loved and accepted by Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today\u2019s reading draws us further into the world of the early Church, giving us more insight into the climate in which the gospel was preached. It also acquaints us more with those who contributed to the distribution of the gospel. The same day Stephen was martyred, widespread persecution occurred, with Saul actively pursuing and persecuting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":72918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acts26"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[73104],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"PHILIP AND THE ETHIOPIAN OFFICIAL<\/b> Today\u2019s reading draws us further into the world of the early Church, giving us more insight into the climate in which the gospel was preached. It also acquaints us more with those who contributed to the distribution of the gospel.<\/p> The same day Stephen was martyred, widespread persecution occurred, with Saul actively pursuing and persecuting believers, throwing them in jail (Acts 8:1\u20133). The persecution intensified, but the resolve of Jesus\u2019s followers to share His message only grew.<\/p> Philip\u2019s encounter with the eunuch was more than being in the right place at the right time. It was a divine orchestration from God, who was ready to meet the eunuch\u2019s desire to know more about Him. Philip met a perplexed man, who did not understand who the subject of the passage from Isaiah was talking about. But Philip did.<\/p> Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.<\/em> Here we see God\u2019s saving power in action. As Philip directed the eunuch to Jesus through the scriptures, the eunuch accepted everything that he heard. It was a monumental moment in the man\u2019s life, the eagerness evident in his immediate request to be baptized. As regal and important as his position was in Queen Candace\u2019s court, he took on a more prestigious status as a member of God\u2019s family.<\/p> This roadside conversion points back to God\u2019s promise in Isaiah 56:3\u20135, where God specifically promised that His salvation would extend to foreigners and eunuchs, who generally did not have families of their own. Better than a biological family, the eunuch now had a place among God\u2019s people and family. What joy he experienced as he returned to Ethiopia forever changed.<\/p> The joy-inducing, life-giving gospel at work in the eunuch\u2019s conversion is the same gospel that has transformed our lives. The eunuch\u2019s story highlights the beauty of God\u2019s grace. Because of sin, we were far from God, but because of Jesus\u2019s sacrifice, we now belong to Him. The gospel welcomes all, without discrimination; the only requirement is that we accept His gift of salvation (Romans 10:13). In God\u2019s household, strangers are bonded together as family and we all experience God\u2019s blessings.<\/p> The eunuch\u2019s conversion during the Church\u2019s persecution emphasizes that nothing will stop God\u2019s plan for us to be His people. Our lives are forever marked with a deep joy that outlasts any situation we face, knowing that we are loved and accepted by Him.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"11","scripture":"Acts 8:4-40, Isaiah 56:3-5, Romans 10:11-14","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2014Acts 8:35<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\r\nby Tameshia Williams<\/i>
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\r\n\u2014Acts 8:35<\/em><\/p>
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