Books and reading have been a central part of the human experience for a long time. It’s one of the first thing we learn in school and most of us don’t go a day without reading something. What if we used this fact as a way to start the conversation with someone about the Good News?

What is the most recent book you have read?
What has been one of your favorite books to read?
What are you reading right now?

In Acts 8, the church has been spreading due to persecution.

But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. 5 Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. 6 Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. 7 Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city. —Acts 8:4-8 (NLT)

What do you notice about this section of scripture?

As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” —Acts 8:26 (NLT)

How do you think Philip felt about this call?

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, 28 and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. —Acts 8:27-28 (NLT)

What do we learn about this man from this section of scripture?
What details stick out to you?

The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.” 30 Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” —Acts 8:29-30 (NLT)

Why is this a great question to get a conversation going?

The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him. 32 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. 33 He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” 34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” 35 So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus. —Acts 8:31-35 (NLT)

What do you take away from verse 35?

As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?” 38 He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39 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. —Acts 8:36-39 (NLT)

Notice that after Philip told the man about the Good News about Jesus, he let the man respond.
Sometimes we demand or entice people to respond on our timeline, but we need to give people to respond to God’s call themselves.

What do you notice about this man’s response?