Family First
Following the Spirit
Acts 8:40 (KJV)
But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.
Here is a fascinating passage. After serving in the town of Samaria, establishing what appears to have been a solid work, the Holy Spirit of God moved Philip to head into the desert where he met and led the Ethiopian eunuch to a saving knowledge of Christ.
The desert, not being commodious to live in, Philip began an itinerant ministry starting first at Azotus, and preaching in all the cities between it and Caesarea on his way. How long he was in these cities we are not told. Experience has taught me that stopping to preach one message isn’t really preaching “in all the cities.” It’s possible, I suppose, that he stopped in each city, preached, and if there was little response, moved on. It’s more likely he stayed in each of these cities long enough to either have established a beachhead for future ministry or else to have determined that God’s Spirit had not worked there as of yet.
At any rate, he preached in every city “till he came to Caesarea.” Adam Clarke writes,
“It is likely that his itinerant mission ended here; though he continued occasionally to perform the work of an evangelist, and to bring up his family in the knowledge and fear of God, which is…
