Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 7-8.

We can learn a lot about sharing the Gospel from the story of Philip and the Ethiopian.  In this story the Holy Spirit directed Philip to go to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza.  When Philip got there he saw the Ethiopian riding in his chariot reading Scripture.  So, Philip approached him until he could hear what he was reading.  Luke tells us that Philip approached the Ethiopian’s chariot because the Spirit told him to do so.  I firmly believe that to be true, but I suspect that most of us would say that we were “led by the Spirit” to approach the Ethiopian.  In any case, when Philip heard what the Ethiopian was reading Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading.  The Ethiopian told Philip that he did not understand, so Philip took this opening and began to explain the meaning of the passage which the Ethiopian was reading, and from there explained the entire Gospel to him.  So, what do we learn about sharing the Gospel from this story?  Philip did not go to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza looking for someone to whom he could preach the Gospel.  As I understand this passage, he went there because he felt a call to do so.  When he got there, he saw someone riding in a chariot reading (I suspect that he could tell that the man was reading Scripture, but perhaps not).  So, he went closer in order to discover what the man was reading.  When he heard what the man was reading, he asked him if he understood it.  It was only after the Ethiopian expressed an interest in someone explaining what he was reading that Philip began preaching the Gospel to him.  In the same way we should seek to determine if those we encounter are receptive to hearing the Gospel before we start preaching it to them.  The time for preaching the Gospel to those who are not receptive is when they bring it up to us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.