The Growth of the Church

After Pentecost an angel of the Lord told Philip to go to the desert on the way to Gaza. So he went there.

As he walked along the road he saw an important man from Ethiopia sitting in his chariot. The Holy Spirit told Philip to go up and talk to this man.

When he got close to the chariot he heard the man reading from the Old Testament book of Isaiah that said, "He was led like a lamb to be killed, and did not say a word. He was treated unfairly and without respect. His life was taken away from him."

Philip asked the Ethiopian, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He said "No, not unless someone explains who Isaiah is talking about. Is he talking about himself or someone else?"

Philip showed him that Isaiah was talking about Jesus. Philip also used many other Scriptures to explain who Jesus was.

They passed by some water and the Ethiopian said, "Look! There is some water! Why can't I be baptized?" Philip said "If you believe in your heart that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God you may be baptized". The Ethiopian said, "I believe in Jesus!"

So they went down into the water and Philip baptized him. After Philip baptized the Ethiopian an angel carried Philip away to another place where he continued telling people about Jesus.

The Ethiopian went on his way happy to know Jesus.

Some years later the Apostle Paul and his assistants Luke and Silas went to the town of Philippi proclaiming the good news about Jesus. When they got there they met a woman named Lydia who sold purple cloth and worshiped God.

God opened her heart to understand the message of Jesus and she and her family were baptized. She invited Paul to stay at her house, so they did.

Paul and Silas often went to pray while they were there. Every day as they walked to the place they prayed at a slave girl possessed by a demon followed them saying,

"These men are servants of the Most High God they are telling you the way to be saved!" She did this so often that Paul got annoyed.

One day, Paul turned to her and said to the demon, "In Jesus' name come out of her." Right away the demon left her.

The man who owned this slave girl became very angry when he found out what had happened because she could no longer make money for him.

So he had Paul and Silas arrested, beaten and thrown into jail.

They were put in the most secure part of the prison with even their feet tied up. In the middle of the night Paul and Silas were singing songs of praise to God.

Suddenly the earth shook and the prison doors flew open, and their chains fell off.

When the jail keeper saw that the doors were open he went to kill himself thinking that all the prisoners had escaped. Paul saw him and yelled "Stop, we are all here."

The jailer was terrified. He took Paul and Silas home and cleaned their wounds and said, "What must I do to be saved?" Paul answered "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you and your family will be saved."

Right away Paul baptized them all and they celebrated together.

The next day the leaders of the city freed Paul and Silas and asked them to leave their city. Paul and Silas visited Lydia and some other friends, and then left the city. The Good News of Jesus kept spreading and the church kept growing.

The church needed to be taught how to grow as Christians and the truth about Jesus and what He taught. So Paul and several other apostles wrote letters and books to the churches to encourage them and teach them about Jesus. These letters and books are called the New Testament.