Do you want to learn more about the Bible, but don’t know where to start? You’d be surprised how many people identify as a Christian, yet don’t know a whole lot about what the Bible says. For this reason we encourage everyone who attends our church to participate in small group or one-on-one Bible studies.
Maybe you’ve grown up in church, or maybe you have never owned a Bible in your life. Either way, there is always more to learn. Consider the story of the Ethiopian eunuch from Acts 8:26–39:
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’” 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, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, ‘“Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
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.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
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?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 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.
We love this story because it shows a man deeply devoted to knowing God, yet the man knew that he needed help. He humbly accepted guidance from Philip, and as a result was able to know God in a more intimate way than he could have ever imagined.
In the same way, we hope you take the opportunity to dig into a Bible study that will help you know God more intimately. We use an introductory Good News study, which will be available for download soon, but we highly recommend that you work through it with a “Philip” in your life. Please contact us to set up a personal Bible study today! Our members are trained to help you explore the Scriptures personally, so you can find the relevant teachings based on your needs and experiences.
If you’d like to continue exploring on your own, please visit our sermons and lessons page for the latest updates.
