Acts 8:25

Acts 8:25 says, And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.  Peter and John were then on their way back to Jerusalem. They had been sent to find out what was happening in Samaria, and having gotten their answer, they were on their way to report.  They had accepted the Gospel being preached to the Samaritans, as they themselves had preached to them there and on the way back to Jerusalem. Even if we are on a particular mission for the church, we still need to be actively proclaiming the Gospel. This will always be the primary task of the followers of Christ. Verse twenty-six adds, And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.  Philip was given another task.  He was having a very successful ministry in Samaria.  He was reaching many people with the Gospel and having them become believers in Christ. We might ask why God would lead him somewhere else.  Today, a preacher, deacon, or simply a church member may be having a great success in reaching people where they are, but that doesn't mean that God is not calling them to some other place. We see no evidence that Philip questioned why he was to go.  He simply went. Now we might say that if an angel told us to do something, we would do it. First, though, we would have to recognize the angel without question.  Even greater than an angel, we have the Holy Spirit to direct us, but first we must recognize His voice and then follow without question.  He was instructed by an angel to go south to Gaza, which is desert.  Earlier when speaking of Stephen, I stated that we didn't know much about the other deacons.  I guess I had been thinking of the apostle Philip when I was first reading about Philip, but my Matthew Henry commentary pointed out my error.  This was Philip who had been appointed as a deacon.  So, we know a lot about two deacons, Stephen and Philip.  Verse twenty-seven continues, And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,  Philip encountered the Ethiopian eunuch.  Philip had been sent into the desert for this man.  God will not send us on useless missions.  We, like Philip, just have to go where He sends us and be ready to act when He reveals the reason.  The Ethiopian was in charge of the treasure of Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians.