Alan Lewis
Elon, North Carolina
August 2025
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.
12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”
24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” 25 After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.
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?” 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. (Acts 8:2-40 NIV)
We are studying the book of Acts. Last week, we looked at the first Christian martyr. Today, we are going to look at the first Christian missionary. We are going to get some tips on evangelism from this first missionary.
The church has many missionaries. Churches support missionaries. Many come back from the mission field and give their testimony. What was the first missionary like. Who was he? Where did he go?
Last week, we focused on Stephen. Today, we are going to focus on a man called Philip. Luke knew Philip. He stayed in his house (Acts 21:8).
Both Stephen and Philip were deacons. Both were godly men, but they had completely different callings. What God calls you do may be the exact opposite of what God calls someone else to do.
We don’t all get the same calling. We don’t even all get the same gifts, but we all serve the same God. One of these men was called to die and one was called to live.
One was called to die as a martyr. Another one was called to live a long time, raise a family and minister. Stephen’s life was suddenly cut short. He died a violent death. Philip lived a long time.
He got married. He had kids. The Book of Acts tells us that he had four daughters. They were all single. They served God. They were also preachers or at least had the gift of prophecy (Acts 21:9).
Philip went on to become a missionary. He became the first missionary in the church. Luke calls him “Philip the Evangelist” (Acts 21:8). In fact, he is the only one in the Bible who is called an evangelist. He was a good deacon. He was an even better evangelist.
What happens in Acts 8? This is a quick overview of the chapter. There are three scenes in the chapter.
Scene One – Persecution and Evangelism
Many have said that the whole book of Acts in three sentences: The Savior went up. The Spirit went down, and the saints went out.”
In Acts 8, we see evangelism and this evangelism began with persecution. After Stephen was murdered, a great persecution of the church began. This first persecution of the church was not from the state but from religious people. It was led by Saul.
Believers were minding their own business at home. Without warning, someone would break the door, grab them, arrest them and haul them off to prison and they would never be heard from again. Some fled before they could get arrested.
The persecution backfired. It just spread the gospel. Satan meant it for evil. God meant it for good. Satan used it to destroy the church. God used persecution to get the gospel out.
The church was scattered. That led to evangelism in Samaria. Philip went to Samaria. He preached and did miracles there. Samaria is in the West Bank today. God did some amazing things through his ministry.
Paralyzed people started walking. Demons came out of people. They did not just come out of people. They came out with loud noises and shrieks.
Scene Two – The Visit of the Apostles
The apostles visit Philip’s ministry in Samaria. They might have been skeptical about some of these reports about the Samaritans. They show up, lay hands on the Samaritans and they receive the Holy Spirit.
How did the apostles know they received the Holy Spirit? There was some visible sign of it (e.g., tongues) and they saw it. A second Pentecost took place, just like the one in Acts 2.
Scene Three – Philip & the Ethiopian Eunuch
At the end of the chapter, an angel tells Philip to a desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is the same Gaza that has been in the news.
On October 7, 2023, there was a surprise attack from Gaza to kill as many Jews as possible. Hostages were taken.
The hostages are still in Gaza today in bad shape and Benjamin Netanyahu is now talking about fully occupying Gaza. Gaza is in the Palestinian territory today.
Philip is led by an angel to this area where he encounters a man on a chariot doing some bible study. He was from Africa.
We don’t know if he was an Ethiopian Jew, a proselyte to Judaism or a Gentile. Philip led this African man to faith and baptized him. The gospel went to Africa in this chapter.
Philip Method of Evangelism
Today, we want to look at how to do evangelism from Acts 8. We want to look at how Philip did evangelism. We want to look at how the first missionary did evangelism. We are going to look at the Philip Method of Evangelism.
1) Don’t Wait for Special Training
There is nothing wrong with education. There is nothing wrong with training and seminars on evangelism, but you don’t have to have them. You just have to tell people what God did in your life to save you.
The first missionary was not the pastor. It was not an apostle. It was just a deacon. Now, there was an apostle named Philip, but this was Philip the deacon, not Philip the apostle.
Philip was an ordinary Christian. He had not been to seminary and yet God used him. God did not use the apostles to reach the Samaritans. He used Philip. Ordinary Christians can do some things that the leaders can’t do.
Not only can ordinary believers share the gospel, but they can also perform miracles. Philip performed miracles (Acts 8:6-7). He wasn’t an apostle. Apparently, you did not have to be one to perform miracles.
2) Share the Gospel Anywhere
Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went (Acts 8:4 NIV).
You can share the gospel wherever you go. That is the message of Acts 8. Christians were persecuted in Acts 8. They had to leave Jerusalem for their own safety but that just led to more preaching.
Wherever you go, you can have a testimony for Christ. You don’t have to go to a foreign land to preach the gospel. You can do it wherever you come in contact with people.
3) Overcome Prejudice
You have to overcome prejudice to share the gospel. That is what this chapter is all about. The gospel breaks down all social, racial, and ethnic barriers. In Acts 8, the gospel goes out to complete outsiders. It goes out to outcasts. We have two examples of this in Acts 8.
The first example is the Samaritans. The Samaritans were half-Jews. They were a group of Jews that married pagans, and it resulted in the Samaritans.
There was hatred between the two groups. There was animosity. There was prejudice. There was racial animosity between the two. There was religious animosity between the two.
They worshipped at different temples. These groups hated each other. They were outsiders. Philip did not ignore them. He preached Christ to them.
A second example is the Ethiopian Eunuch. Philip did not just preach to the Samaritans. He preached to an African.
Salvation does not just go to Samaritans. It goes to Ethiopians (ends of the earth). Here he reaches, not just across racial barriers but across the color barrier as well. The gospel reaches a new ethnic group.
As far as we know, this was the first time in history that Africa was reached with the gospel.
This man was an outsider. He was a foreigner. He had a different race. He had a different skin color. He had questionable sexual identity.
He was a eunuch. That means that he was excluded from temple worship, but Philip preached the gospel to him anyway.
Are there any prejudices that we have when we talk to people about Jesus? Prejudices are hard to overcome. A lot of us have them. We should be aware of them.
4) Preach the Biblical Gospel
Many preach a gospel that does not come from Scripture. What did Philip and the apostles preach in Acts 8?
But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women (Acts 8:12 NIV)
After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages (Acts 8:25 NIV)
They preached the Word of God. They preached the gospel. They preached Jesus, his death, burial and resurrection. When Philip talked to the Ethiopian Eunuch, he talked to him about Jesus.
Philip did not preach a message about prosperity, like some preachers do today. He did not tell the Samaritans how they could get rich. He preached Jesus.
He also preached the kingdom. What is that all about? God has a kingdom. When people accept Jesus, they are transferred from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. They go from darkness to light. One day, the King will come back in glory to rule and reign on the earth.
They did not just preach faith; they preached repentance. Peter told Simon Magus that he needed to repent. Some preach a gospel today without repentance.
5) Expect Some Surprises
Philip had some surprises. He went to Samaria to preach, and he encountered some people who were demon possessed. That was a surprise.
He preached to the Samaritans. They believed and were baptized but didn’t get the Holy Spirit. That was another surprise. He wasn’t expecting that. If you believe, you should get the Holy Spirit.
In fact, that is what Peter preached in Acts 2. He said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. AND YOU WILL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.” (Acts 2:38 NIV).
They believed. They repented. They were baptized but they did not get the Holy Spirit. They did not get the Spirit until John and Peter walked forty miles north and laid hands on them.
Why did two apostles have to show up for the Holy Spirit to fall on the Samaritans? Do we all have to have a second work of grace? The Samaritans were saved. They were baptized but they had to wait to get the Holy Spirit. Many churches teach that.
If you have to wait for an apostle to come and lay hands on you to receive the Holy Spirit today, then no one would have the Holy Spirit. There are no more apostles on earth. Other times in Acts, people received the Holy Spirit at salvation. Why was there a delay in Acts 8?
Most believe that there was a unique situation in Acts 8. There were special circumstances in this case, because it involved the Jews and the Samaritans and the special relationship that existed between these two groups. These two groups did not get along.
If a Samaritan church started, no one would accept it unless the apostles (who were also Jewish) came down and put their stamp of approval on it and verified it.
The apostles would not have accepted the Samaritans as true believers unless they saw it with their own eyes. Once they saw that God accepted the Samaritans, they accepted them.
There was a delay to create unity in the church. It prevented two churches from forming – a Jewish church and a Samaritan church.
A final surprise is that Philip encountered someone who claimed to be a convert who was not even saved. He went through all of the motions but wasn’t saved. That still happens today.
His name was Simon Magus. He was a charismatic individual. He was a cult leader. He had a big following. People proclaimed him to be “the great power of God.”
He was a wizard. He was a magician. He did not just do card tricks. He had supernatural power through the occult. He amazed everyone in the city. He claimed to have the greatest power you could have.
Then, something happened. He got some competition. Philip showed up. He preached and did greater miracles than Simon did, and he did not even draw attention to himself. Simon lost some of his followers.
Even Simon was amazed by what he saw. His miracles paled in comparison, so he joined the movement. If you can’t beat them, join them. He believed and was baptized but he wanted the same power that Philip had, so he tried to buy it with money.
When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8:18-19 NIV)
Many preachers today would love that. There are a lot of greedy preachers. They always want donations. Judas would have loved that.
The Apostle Peter rebuked him. Simon the Apostle confronted Simon the Magician. Peter said, “You are going to Hell and your money is going with you.” Now it looks like on the surface that Simon Magus got saved.
Simon himself BELIEVED and was BAPTIZED. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. (Acts 8:13 NIV)
Simon did the same thing the Samaritans did. He believed.[1] He was baptized. Philip must not have had any doubt about his profession of faith. Everyone thought he was saved, and he seemed to have some remorse. He asked Peter to pray for him.
Simon did have faith but what kind of faith did he have? The Bible talks about true faith and false faith. It says that faith without works is dead. James says that demons have faith, but they are not saved. Simon the Magician showed remorse but not for what he did but for the punishment he might receive.
We know from church history that Simon was the first heretic and the father of heresies. Irenaeus, a second century church father said, “all sorts of heresies derive their origin from his sect.”[2] He says that a heretical group known as the Simonians came from Simon Magus.[3]
The lesson here is that we never know if a person is genuinely saved. We can only see what is on the outside. A person can make a profession of faith and get baptized but only God knows people’s hearts. We can tell by their fruit. Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit.
6) Follow the Leading of the Spirit
The Spirit said, “Arise and go” and he went. Philip listened to the Spirit and did what He said. Can we hear God talking to us? Do we listen to the leading of the Spirit, even when it does not seem to make sense?
Philip was being used by God. He was leading a city-wide revival. People were getting saved. They were getting baptized. Miracles were taking place.
Demons were being cast out and yet the Spirit was leading him to leave the crowds to minister to one person in the middle of nowhere. That seemed like a bad use of his time but God called him to do it.
Are we sensitive to the leading of the Spirit for opportunities to witness to people? We need to be open to new people and new places that God might send us to. Sometimes He sends us to strange places to witness, like a desert.
7) Look for Open Hearts
Jesus said, “Open your eyes and look. The fields are ripe for harvest” (John 4:35). One preacher pointed out that we need to look for souls that are ripe.
They are spiritually open. God is working in their hearts. We often focus a lot on people who are close and harden to the truth.[4] We spend a lot of time with them. We need to look for open hearts and see where God is working. The Ethiopian Eunuch was open.
The Ethiopian EunuchWhat do we know about the Ethiopian Eunuch? He was a VIP. He was not just a government official; he was a top official in the government of Ethiopia. He was the Secretary of Treasury for the Government of Ethiopia. Ethiopia at this time was ruled by a woman. The Ethiopian Eunuch was the Minister of Finance for an African Queen. He was wealthy. He not only had a good government job, but he was rich enough to have his own chariot. He was rich enough to own his own copy of Isaiah’s scroll. Today, we can have access to the Bible in any language. That was not available two thousand years ago. There was no printing press. These books had to be hand copied. They were expensive. Many people who are wealthy have no interest in spiritual things. They have everything they need. Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24 NIV) This man was different. He had money but he still traveled eleven hundred miles to worship. He bought a scroll of Isaiah and read it out loud. Many Jews today have never read the Book of Isaiah. They have never read Isaiah 53. Few people are readers today. If you don’t like reading, you can have it read to you. We have audio bibles today. He was not only wealthy; he was educated. He knew several languages. He was reading Isaiah 53 in Greek. He did not just read the Bible; he studied it. He asked questions. One of the best ways to study the Bible is to ask questions, like this man did. He said, “The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” (Acts 8:34 NIV) If he did not understand something, he was humble enough to ask for help. He had questions he could not answer but he asked for help. He was hospitable enough to invite him into his chariot. Finally, this man did not just read it; he applied it. He asked if he could be baptized. |
8) Ask Questions
Notice what Philip did and did not do when he spoke to this man.
He was NOT condescending. He did not talk down to this man
He was NOT confrontational. He did not immediately tell him that he was a sinner, was headed straight to hell and needed to repent.
He was NOT rude or obnoxious. Philip did not start preaching to this man when he first saw him. He began his conversation with a question.
He heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30 NIV).
There are many questions we can ask someone as well. They are non-threatening. They get people talking. They start conversations.
There are many questions you can ask. You can start with general questions about the person but work towards religious questions.
Do you go to church? Do you believe in God? Have you ever read the Bible? Do you believe in heaven and hell? What do you believe about Jesus? Have you ever accepted Christ as Savior?
[1] The Samaritans believed (ἐπίστευσαν), an aorist indicative active verb (3rd person plural) in Acts 8:12. Philip believed (ἐπίστευσεν), an aorist indicative active verb (3rd person singular) in Acts 8:13.
[2] Irenaeus, Against Heresies I.23.1-2.
[3] Irenaeus, Against Heresies I.23.4.
[4] https://missionaljourney.blogspot.com/2008/11/evangelism-to-red-apples-pre-evangelism.html
