The Early Church

For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”

Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.”

They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Good News to many villages of the Samaritans.

But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert.”

He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship.

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

The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”

Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him.

Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he doesn’t open his mouth.

In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will declare His generation? For his life is taken from the earth.”

The eunuch answered Philip, “Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?”

Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him Yeshua.

As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being immersed?”

And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he immersed him.

When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing.

But Philip was found at Azotus. Passing through, he preached the Good News to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.

But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,

and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

As he traveled, he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him.

He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

He said, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Yeshua, whom you are persecuting.

But rise up, and enter into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the sound, but seeing no one.