Acts 8

The church scatters as the Sanhedrin attack any who agree with Stephen, whom they just stoned.  Saul of Tarsus is the chief instigator.

Phillip evangelizes Samaria with much success.  (Remember Jesus' promise in Acts 1:8).  Simon the Magician also believes (in an amazed sense, for the signs, probably not genuine faith).  When the apostles hear of it, they send Peter and John so they receive the Spirit.  Simon tries to buy the power when he sees it, but asks for preservation when Peter rebukes him.

Phillip then heads for Gaza by the Spirit's leading, and to a chariot heading south.  The passenger is an Ethiopian courtier going home after worshiping in Jerusalem, reading Isaiah 53, and Phillip preaches Jesus to him from it.  He asks for baptism, which Phillip does, and they part.


How this is about Jesus
The Spirit is coming on those the apostles evangelize, now in the second stage of Samaria, as Jesus said.  His church is spreading.


Application
From the beginning of the New Testament church, there has been hostile opposition so extreme the church has run away and scattered.  This is not indicate compromise or failure on her part.

We should be willing to present the Gospel to unlikely converts - Samaritans were known heretics and syncretists of paganism with the Law of God.  The Ethiopian eunuch lives a long ways away in an exotic palace!  But they need Jesus like everyone else.