21.8: Preaching the Good News of the Salvation of Jesus Christ No Matter What

<p>In Acts 8 we have a paradox. A paradox is two &nbsp;contradictory properties coming together. Here we have gather and &nbsp;scatter. The group of believers in Jerusalem was growing quickly and &nbsp;they gathered together for worship like we learned in <a href="https://giselleaguiar.com/2021/01/02/the-holy-spirit-comes-the-good-news-is-preached-and-a-church-is-born/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Acts 2</a>. However, Jesus told His disciples to GO and make more disciples of every nation, <a href="https://giselleaguiar.com/2020/05/12/why-do-i-have-to-be-baptized-again/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">baptizing</a> them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew &nbsp;28:18-20). Go means go! Scatter! Persecution scatters the believers. &nbsp;Our friend, Saul, is mentioned here and we’ll get to what happens to him &nbsp;in the next chapter. Here we have the story of Philip’s adventures in &nbsp;Samaria. (By the way, that’s a picture of Samaria, Israel at the top.)</p> <p>Understand, the Jews didn’t get along with the Samaritans at all. The &nbsp;Samaritans were descendants of Jews who had mixed with the local &nbsp;Canaanites. Something that Moses told them NOT to do. So, imagine the &nbsp;challenge Philip had trying to get these people to understand what the &nbsp;Good News of Jesus’ true salvation was. (Further reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+4&amp;version=NLT" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Jesus and the Samaritan Woman</a> &amp; <a href="https://giselleaguiar.com/2020/12/11/who-is-your-neighbor-that-youre-supposed-to-love-like-yourself/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">The Good Samaritan</a>.) Let’s dig in…</p> <p><a href="https://giselleaguiar.com/2021/01/08/preaching-the-good-news-of-the-salvation-of-jesus-christ-no-matter-what/"><em><strong>Keep reading in my blog....</strong></em></a></p> <p><em><strong>Jesus said, “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to t