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Psalm 29:2 “Give honour to the Lord and worship Him in the glory of His holiness.” Let’s pause and give honour to the Lord by praising Him.
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
A follower of Jesus named Philip had been sharing the gospel with people in an area of Israel called Samaria. The Lord interrupted his ministry and told him to go south along the road leading toward Egypt. When he arrived, he found an African leader who was traveling back to his home country. This story tells us what happened.
Read or watch Acts 8:26-40 two times as everyone listens.
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”[37] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Read Matthew 3:13-17.
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Have you been baptised yet? Do you know someone who would like to be baptised?
You might want to speak to the pastor of the church you attend.
Or, you can use this guide to plan your own baptism party.
I am looking for someone to read the Bible with. Would you be interested?
These two sentences have been used to help hundreds of Australians start reading the Bible with their Christian friends.
Two possible approaches:
The Holy Spirit is working in the lives of people you know to draw them to Jesus. The Holy Spirit wants to express the love of the Father through you so they can experience Jesus and connect with Him personally. The daily act of pray, care, share is the first step in this process (Acts 17:27).
27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.
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