Something significant is happening in our world today and we can’t seem to put our finger on just what it is. But something is happening.

In Acts 8 we read the story of Philip encountering the Ethiopian Eunuch on the road from Jerusalem toward Gaza. He was a treasurer in the court of the queen of the Ethiopians and was returning from Jerusalem where he had been worshipping. Philip encountered him sitting in his chariot, perhaps pulled over by the side of the road, reading from a scroll of the book of Isaiah.

Prompted by the Spirit Philip pulled alongside the man and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” To which the eunuch replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” The point of scripture he was reading was Isaiah 53:7-8, a prophecy of the suffering the Messiah would have to endure. His question centered on, “…of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?”

“Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this Scripture preached Jesus to him” (Acts 8:35). The teaching and explanation helped. The eunuch then asked to be baptized and he confessed his belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (Acts 8:37). He accepted the verses in Isaiah as what indeed they were, prophecies about the coming Messiah fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The eunuch’s quest for understanding had now come full circle.

The eunuch had just spent time in Jerusalem. The city was abuzz with news of the momentous event of Jesus’ death and the events in the aftermath of the newly formed Church. The event had shaken the city and the times and the news was on everyone’s mind. “What had happened and what did it mean?” The preaching of the apostles gave the answer.

Something significant had happened. A “positive disruption” was occurring. What did it mean? They were trying to “discern the times”. The gospel in that day gave them understanding and a reason to believe. It also provided hope. It provided the meaning they needed to make sense of their personal lives in the context of the times. The preaching of the apostles and disciples was providing the context for understanding.

Today, something significant is occurring in America and the world as it draws closer to the end of the age. People are looking for understanding and hope in the midst of changing and confusing times. Thinking people know the world has changed and there is no going back to “a better time”. Every day we read news about events that are not normal or sane and we say, “it didn’t used to be this way, people used to behave better”. The world has been disrupted and not always in positive ways.

The gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God had the answers in the days of Philip and this man from Ethiopia. The advantage for us is a perspective of two thousand years to better understand what is happening and the hope of a better life today and in the future with the knowledge of the Kingdom.

In Acts 8 Philip encountered a high official in the Ethiopian government who was reading the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, and desired to know what it meant. When he heard Philip’s explanation he was baptized. His life was changed through understanding that Jesus was the Christ–the long awaited Messiah.

Both these events surround the momentous event that occurred in Jerusalem with Christ’s crucifixion.

With the Ethiopian eunuch he too wanted to know what had happened and what it meant. Philip gave the explanation and it forced this “positive disruption”.

Something had happened in the days of the first century church with the first coming of the Son of Man. Something is happening today in advance of the second coming of the Son of God. The message we provide here can help you understand what is happening. Don’t be caught unaware.