The Torah Network

2 yrs

Thought for Today: Wednesday July 12:

You have heard it before: Live one day at a time. Do not contaminate today by corrupting it with tomorrow’s troubles... Today is challenge enough! And since you will need fresh energy and a new insight to handle what tomorrow throws at you, wait until it dawns before taking it on. Some of the things you do today may seem totally insignificant so far as tomorrow is concerned, but stay at it.

Comment

2 yrs

BIBLE STUDY LESSON 12

SERIES U --- THE EARLY CHURCH

GUIDANCE FROM AN ANGEL

THAT MAN FROM THE COURT OF QUEEN CANDACE

From Acts 8:26, 40

One day an Angel of YHVH came with a special message for Philip. [It’s time to leave Samaria and go to the desert road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza,] the Angel said. Philip did what the Angel told him to do. When Philip arrived at the appointed place, he met a man going home to Ethiopia after worshiping in the temple in Jerusalem. This was no ordinary Ethiopian, but the Chief Treasurer of Queen Candace. He was a eunuch with great authority. He was sitting in his chariot reading aloud from the Book of Isaiah. [Go over to his chariot and let him know that you are there,] Ruach HaKodesh told Philip. Philip ran over to the chariot, where he heard the man reading from Isaiah. [Do you understand what you are reading?] Philip called to the man. [How can I?] the man asked. [I need someone to explain this to me.] When the Ethiopian realized that Philip could help him, he invited him into the chariot. Then he shared this passage with Philip:

[Like a sheep He was taken to be slaughtered, as a lamb that is silent before its shearers, He spoke not a word. In His time of humiliation, He was denied the justice due Him, and who can tell of His descendants, for His life was cut off from the earth.]

[Of whom was Isaiah speaking here?] the Ethiopian asked Philip. [Was he talking about himself, or someone else?] Then Philip told the man about Yeshua, starting with this passage, and sharing the Good News of His coming. Farther down the road, they came upon a place with some water. [Now that we have water here, is there any reason why I can’t be baptized?] the Ethiopian asked. [You certainly may be baptized, if you believe with all your heart,] Philip told him. [I do,] said the Ethiopian. [I believe that Yeshua Moshiach is YHVH’s Son.] The Ethiopian ordered his driver to stop the chariot, and he and Philip went down into the water where Philip baptized him. But when the two came out of the water, the Spirit of YHVH took Philip away suddenly. The Ethiopian did not see Philip again, but went on his way home rejoicing. At this time Philip was at Ashdod. From there he went toward Caesarea, preaching Moshiach throughout all of the villages.

COMMENTARY

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PHILIP AND PETER

The Sanhedrin, the highest council of the Jewish people, tried to halt the growth of believers by persecuting the followers of Yeshua. But the more they tried, the further the Gospel spread, for many believers fled from Jerusalem, taking their faith in Yeshua to places throughout the land. Philip, who had been a deacon in the church in Jerusalem, went to Samaria when he was forced to leave the city. There he preached the Gospel, winning many to Moshiach. But at the instructions of an angel, Philip left Samaria and went to a lonely stretch of the road which went from Jerusalem to Gaza. There he shared the Gospel with an Ethiopian officer, who would take this Gospel back to his own land in Africa. Philip went next to Azotus, between Ashkelon and Joppa, and made his way northward, preaching at the major cities as far as Caesarea. Peter journeyed from Jerusalem to Samaria during Philip’s ministry and helped him there for a short time. Next, he is found at Lydda, where he healed Aeneas, then at Joppa, where he raised Dorcas from the dead. From Joppa, Peter went to Caesarea, where he discovered that YHVH was working among Gentiles as well as Jews. There, Cornelius the Roman centurion, stationed at Caesarea, received Ruach HaKodesh and was clearly received by YHVH as much as the Jewish converts. In one sense, these early journeys by people such as Philip and Peter were missionary journeys, for they took the Gospel to Romans and Samaritans, as well as Ethiopians through their visiting officer.