Passage of the Day - November 21, 2010

Acts 8:25-40

 25So, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.
 26But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, "Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a desert road.)

 27So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship,

 28and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

 29Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot."

 30Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

 31And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

 32Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:
         "HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER;
         AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT,
         SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.
    33"IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY;
         WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION?
         FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH."

 34The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?"

 35Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.

 36As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"

 37[And 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."]

 38And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.

 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.

 40But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

I have been doing Passage of the Day for a year and a half now.  There have been passages that I have given deep responses to and those I have given glancing blows.  The deeper responses were due to the various teachings and guidances I have received over the years.  The glancing blows are the ones that I haven't (sometimes, admittedly, I just didn't do a good job).  We all need guidance in order to understand God, the glory He deserves, the true path to salvation, the way to appreciate the gifts He has given us, and how to please Him.  Find a way to be guided.

**Verse 37 is in brackets because according to those who published the New American Standard Bible, this verse doesn't exist in early manuscripts.