Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Acts 8:29-31

The Holy Spirit leads in each salvation event.  The Scriptures are in the chariot already. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God which is what Jesus teaches us on the Emmaus Road after He has been Resurrected.  The Word of God is God’s Good News found in Jesus Christ and the story of how salvation has come for us.  Jesus is the prophesied Savior.  Salvation alone is in Jesus Christ.

Philip has previously listened to Peter and John speak this Good News story which convinces and convicts.  Philip has preached before the multitudes in Samaria where they gave their humble lives to Christ and were annointed with the Holy Spirit by Peter and John. Let us eagerly view the unfolding of The Secretary of the Queen’s Treasury conversion to Christ’s salvation, a Jewish prostelite needing the Savior.

The man in the chariot does not understand what he is reading from Isaiah and needs a Christian to help him know the full event of Jesus’ suffering death on the Cross, that with His stripes we are healed, His love for this man, and his need for Baptism where the Holy Spirit will be anointing him.  Philip’s lead-in question, “Do you understand what you are reading” opens the way for talking.  We use this lead-in too.