Acts 8:26-36, 38-40 NLT
As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.” Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him. The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus. As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?” He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea.
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One of the questions I've encountered over the years is, "What about the people who've never heard about Jesus?".
Jesus wants the good news to be proclaimed and explained everywhere to everyone.
This story demonstrates God's commitment to seek and to save those who are lost.
Here in chapter 8 of Acts it seems like a lot has happened. But we need to think back over the beginnings of the church.
In chapter 1 the expectation is set that the good news would travel to the very end of the earth.
Acts 1:8 NLT
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
In chapter 2 it seems that the whole world is hearing and responding to the good news when the Holy Spirit comes on the disciples.
Acts 2:9-11 NLT
"Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!”
So the seeds of the good news have been planted.
So it is no wonder that after the first persecution of the church scatters the believers some back presumably to their home lands that Luke the author of Acts shows us how God is sending his great news about Jesus to the ends of the earth, or at least to Africa.
See since the beginning God has been stirring the hearts of far flung folk to seek him and rewarding their seeking with finding.
God is more concerned about the world than you are. It had been good plan all along to get his message out. No one will be able to say to God that they wanted to know but God failed to get the message or to them.
Are you as concerned about getting the message out as God is?
Will you obey as Philip did? Will you leave an active growing needy work in "Samaria" to walk in a desert? Will you be led to tell those seeking Jesus?
So what about those who haven't heard the good news? Will God send you? Has he already sent them to you?
