Saul Ravages the Church
8:1 And Saul approved of his execution.
And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
Philip Proclaims Christ in Samaria
4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city.
Simon the Magician Believes
9 But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.
14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” 24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”
25 Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”
34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. (ESV)
1. …On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. …
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
This was a time of intense church persecution, and yet God used it to spread His people across the world, preaching the Gospel everywhere thy went. This is the first time that Matthew 28:19-20 had been obeyed on a large scale; until now, many of the believers were staying in Jerusalem. It can be challenging at times to look at situations such as this from a positive standpoint, but we need to view things the way God does. Yes, the persecution was bad, but it led to the church spreading and growing, and the Gospel reaching distant corners of Judea and Samaria. Even in situations that we may not understand at the time, we need to take confidence in the fact that God is working for the good of His followers and to accomplish His will. It is comforting to know that God has not lost control of the world, and that he has a plan for us in the midst of the chaos.
9Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,
10and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.”
11They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.
12But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women
Many people try to pretend that they have power and that they have been given power directly from God. These are false prophets. We always need to keep a good look out for these types of people (Matthew 4:15). They try to seduce us into believing them and following them wherever they go because they have power and they want us to believe that they can do whatever God does.
True power from God lies with the people who speak His name. This power, is the power to be bold and witness to everyone and not be ashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16) because it is the truth and it needs to be spread widely.
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
We, as Christians should be preaching the word wherever we are! I am so excited that we began to go evangelizing every Saturday night! There are always so many amazing opportunities and open doors that are given! We need to be even more bold, and to always have fear of the Lord! and when we are evangelizing too of course. Mike, I totally agree with what you said as well, that we need to take confidence in the fact that God is working for the good of His followers and to accomplish His will. I agree! This is an encouragement for me to evangelize more!
27So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
I like this passage because it shows that God plan of salvaton was not just for the Jews but for the whole world. Here we read an important official who came all the way from Ethiopia to worship God. . Even the Ethiopian even though he didn’t understand what he was reading, he did understand the importance of Scripture. And God was faithful and sent Philip to help the eunuch understand what he reading. We have the Holy Spirit who helps us understand Scripture when we read. God will be faithful to reveal himself to us but we need to be faithful in reading the Bible even the parts we don’t understand.
34The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”
I think it is so cool that someone people in the bible also read the books written before the ones they were in. Like here, the eunich was reading Isiah, and wanted to know who he was talking about. Of course God puts Phillip in the right place at the right time, so he is able to tell the eunich that he was talking about Jesus. He is baptized right then and there. He was close to the Queen of Ethopia, so he could spread the word there very quickly. This is such a cool example of evangelism in the bible. There are probably not as many people reading the bible today, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop evangelising. You nevedr know when God might give you a perfect opportunity unless you are ready for it.
39.) When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
40.) Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
This is amazing, Philip was basically transported by the Holy Spirit to another place to preach the gospel.
4.) Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
Just as Brooke said, this is what we should be doing every day, preaching the gospel to all non-believers. I am also excited to go evangelizing every Saturday, it is such a great opportunity to share the gospel and even learn more yourself from listening to other people in your group and how they carry on the conversation!
1And Saul was there, giving approval to his death…
It is amazing to me that some of the greatest heroes in Scripture are some of the biggest sinners…David who committed adultery and murder, Moses who killed an Egypttian man in a fit of rage, and Saul who persecuted the church with intense zeal before his conversion. The fact that God softened Paul’s heart and transformed him from a zealous Jew who imprisoned and possibly even killed Christians to the “super” apostle shoes that nothing is impossible for God. There are a few people in my life whose salvation I have been praying for for years and their hard hearts refuse to repent. I am encouraged this morning that no matter how hard someone’s heart is that God can transform it if it is His will. I will pray even more boldy this morning for those lost people in my life!
4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
It is so cool to see how God uses persecution. The church in Jerusalem was being persecuted so they were scattered. But they kept talking everywhere they went so the persecution ended up doing exactly the opposite of what it was supposed to do! The religious leaders of the time wanted to stamp out Christianity forever but instead what they did was help further it along. It is so amazing to me how God works and how He works contrary to secular thinking and logic. What a great God we serve!
22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.
Ahhh! The message of repentance is spreading! And as it has already been pointed out by Mike and Meisha…this came about by persecution. We should not fear what men are going to do to us because it will fit into the purposes of God! Let’s be spreading repentance and preaching the gospel all over south Orange County!
And if you want to hear our first sermon on repentance it is up here on the site: http://www.compasschurch.org/hs/sermons/
Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about it!
Because simon was into magic-tricks he was probably more impressed with the miracles that that God was performing through Philip. He was an eyewitness to the miracles of God, he believed, was baptized, and STILL didn’t “get-it”! He needed to humble himself before the Lord. He was caught up in the ‘shiny package’ of Christianity because his heart was focused on the temporal things.
Let’s not make the same mistake that Simon did by getting caught up in the temporal things of our faith i.e. small groups, camp, fun fiends, a cool pastor, great music, ultimate frisbee, beach nights, Mrs. Burke’s nachos, etc. And then serving the Lord as if we are giving something to God that He needed! God does not NEED our service, just like God did not NEED Simon’s money. If we serve God with the wrong heart or wrong intentions we can actually be insulting God. He want us to have a humble and contrite spirit before Him. It is a PRIVILEGE that He would ALLOW us to do anything for Him at all!
Now the Eunuch on the other hand was eager to know God; he was earnestly reading the scriptures even though he did not understand them. The bible says that if we pray to God for wisdom, He will give it to us. Look how God directed Philip to cross paths with the Eunuch. Philip explained the scriptures, the Eunuch had a soft and contrite heart, was baptized, and was REJOICING as a result. Its all about the attitude of our hearts and our growing knowledge in Him.
Okay, I know I’ve written a lot, but how about the Lord causing Philip to disappear and reappear somewhere else that the Lord needed him!!! Wow, imagined if that happened to us; one minute I’m making nachos for small groups and the next I’m evangelizing at Towne Center!!
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
This verse shows that no matter what happens to us or where we go we should be Glorifying God
Wow Beth, what you said is so true. We oftentimes look at people that are extremely hardened to the gospel and say they are a “lost cause.” However, as seen by the example of Saul/Paul, God can have a plan for these lost causes. While we might be discouraged by these people because they are opposed to the Good News, we do not know God’s plan for them. He could be planning for them to have an incredible ministry on earth. I too am encouraged to pray more vigoriously for the people I know that are hardened to the gospel.
4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
As Chritians we should be spreading God’s word wherever we are and no matter what situation we are in.
Great comment Daniel!!!!
7With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.
8So there was great joy in that city.
Oh my gosh i cant even imagine what this would be like! Just trying to picture it is like expanding my mind!!
22Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.
I love how it talks about repentance…..it doesnt talk about “accepting Jesus into your heart” but it straight up says repent of your sins! That is the only way to heaven and to have a relationship with Christ.
31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
this verse just rules out the excuse of witnessing through our actions. there is nothing wrong with living a life above reproach and against the grain of mainstream society, but that will never be enough. our deeds must be accompanied with our words. we need to pray as paul did in ephesians 6:19, that we may be given words to fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.
30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
This verse reminded me of something we talked about a lot at The Narrow. So often people just read their Bibles because they’re told that’s what they should be doing. But afterwards, they “check the box” and forget everything they just read. We should have a completely different attitude toward reading scripture. We should want to know God and his Word. APPLYING WHAT YOU READ IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART!! That’s why I love SOTD sooo much :)
4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went
This persecution actually had a good result when it happened, because more people were spread out and preached the gospel wherever they went, and more people probably repented of their sin and put their faith in Christ. At Evangelism night we don’t all group up together and evangelize, we split into a group of three, so that we can’t reach out to more people. People who follwed Christ could check themselves if they would live for Christ and would take up their own cross. I think I remember from awhile back when Pastor Bobby was preaching he was talking about persecution and how the church gets stronger when persecution happens.
40Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Philip’s motivation to spread God’s word is breath taking! Everywhere he went he was spreading the word of God fearlessly…that should encourage us to do the same whether we are at school or at a movie whenever we come into contact with people who haven’t heard the good news we should take advantage of it and follow the example of philip and the other apostles!
20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
The gift of God cannot be purchased! God has given Peter this gift, Peter did not buy it. Simon (the guy who offered to buy it) did not have a right heart before God and Peter made it very clear (in verses 20-24) that what he was doing was sinning and that he needed to be right before God.
26Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”
It’s so cool how the Holy Spirit provided this opportunity for Philip and also brings opportunities in our lives. We always have to be alert and ready to take advantage of these opportunities, so that we don’t pass up prime times for us to bring others the Gospel.
35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
Even though the Ethiopian was basically directly asking a question about Christ, we have a lot of conversations in our lives that we can use to bring people to Christ like Philip did with the Ethiopian. People may not even be talking necessarily about godly or spiritual things, but we must make sure that our minds are always focused on God, even if we have a lot going on, and that we are always looking for and taking advantage of ways to lead the conversation toward Christ and present people the Gospel. And we know the Holy Spirit will be with us, so we don’t have to worry-we just need to be bold and God will use it for His glory.
I was struck by the same thing as Beth and Katie. If Saul can become Paul…then we obviously should continue to pray for and share the good news with ANYONE even if they seem antagonistic to Christianity. This is a great reminder of the grace of God and of His ability to change any heart.
Wow I like how the scripture switches to different characters and then conects them all to God. it was pretty amazing how Simon i think it was switched from sorcery to following crist so fast, it shows you how powerful the word of god is.The part in this verse that realy amazed me was how simon tried to pay for the ability to bless people and what peter said to him”May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
that was amazing and very true,and it shows you that u cant buy ur way to christ. The last part that was absoolutely astonishing was when philip was lifted up by the wholy spirit and put in a totaly different place.Scripture has yet to sieze to amaze mee.
39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
I guess God wanted him somewhere else. Thats how we should be at our schools. Sometimes we just get caught up in trying to have friends and having fun and we devote our time to that solely while missing huge oppertunities to witness. Its possible to witness to everyone you come in contact with even when they don’t bring it up. like Bobby said, “If God wanted us to be in heaven we wold, but now He wants us to preach the good news.”
Great Comment Mike!!
1 And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
This verse kinda had a double meaning to me… What first stood out is that although the church was being persecuted as Mike said, it turned out for the good because the word of God spread all over the surrounding area! The second thing that stood out as I read it again was that the apostles did not flee! These men were so zealous and sold out for the cause of Christ that they did not fear death itself! Nothing was gonna get in the way of them spreading the word. Right now, we are not facing persecution as intense as that, but we still need to stand up for the Gospel and Christ and not fear what men or our highschool acquaintances can do to us… we need to fear God, and take that fear and spread His truth across the highschool campuses of orange county!
13Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
20Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
As you can tell simon was not in it for the right reasons, he was just captivated by the miracles that he witnessed. Just like in Matt 7:21 not everyone who believes will go to heaven but those who do the will of God, and simon was not doing the will of God by following Philip he just thought the miracles were cool
4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
these people from the church were preaching gods word where ever they were going. this verse is encouraging for me to be evangalizing where ever i go for example school, as which we should all be sharing the great word of the EVERYWHERe, telling the people to “turn or burn”!!!!
Great things are happening in the church at this point in Acts. Many are following because the followers of Jesus are preaching the Good News and the need to repent. Although Stephen has been persecuted even to the point of death, look at what it has brought about. All of the Christians are scattered throughout the world still spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone. We can learn so much from these people. They are zealous for spreading the Good News to everyone as we should also be. I am pumped to start double and tripleing it up at school every week. Possibly even 4 by 4.
AMAZING! you can’t become a Christian by pretending to do good, without faith. Money should have no value to you, only the treasure that you are storing up in heaven! The persecution did not stop people from wanting to be baptized. These people have True faith! we must strive to become more like them, by bringing the word to all the people we meet, in hopes of saving them! i am going to bring my friend over on son, she is pumped up!
Wow the church grew from persecution. The persecution of all the christians didn’t cause them to stop spreading the word but only motivated them more to tell of Jesus. That is so cool… and here we see that Saul was approving the death, and later on in the book, he will be the one persecuted… thats so cool to see.
18When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money
19and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
I think it is sad that many people live in sin, yet do not see the reality of it! This man was just curious, so he acted on what he thought was the socially acceptable way of asking for something. He was most likely shocked when he was called out for being “captive to sin.” Similarly, non-Christians are often shocked when Christians do not approve of seemingly common and accepted behaviors, like cussing. They are blinded by their sin and cannot see the beauty of a life outside of it
32The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
As I read this I thought about the sovereignty of God and how God knew that Phillip would be there and that this Eunch would be reading that very passage about Christ when Phillip came by. God orchestrated that meeting with the Eunch and it was there that the Eunch put his faith in Christ. We need to be ready to share our faith for those moments that God orchestrates in our own lives.
21You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
22Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.
WOW, we need to take the attitude of our hearts this serious! We need to constantly making sure that our hearts are right before God, or we can have no part or share in the ministry! In verse 22 we see how seriously God takes this as well, and how we should react with repentance and prayer!!
23For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”
When i read this verse i immediatly thought of the non-christians at my school. This is how i need to picture them as souls captive to sin. As a Christian that is blessed with freedom from sin, my immediate response should be to tell everyone I see and be a doer of the word!!!
This was such an awesome chapter! First I wanna say that I remember one of Bobby’s sermons a while ago about the part with Phillip in the end of the chapter, what an awesome thing that God did, and how He used Phillip! Maybe one day God will use me and I will disapear suddenly, that would be so cool!
One verse I really like was verse 3
3But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
Take it from God, any one can become a Christian! Sometimes we go through school looking at people and comletely judging them, saying things like, “They could never be a Christian” or things like, “Ya, they def have no chance!”
If you look at Saul, he was probably the worst of them all! He was going house to house! It says he was “DRAGGING” the people of to prison!! I am sorry but it does not get more intense then that! Like are you kidding me?!
So we need to have a new perspective, all of us. We need to see people as either saved, or unsaved, the outside has nothing to do with it! Because if there is anything that abolishes this it is this chapter right here, because we all know that Saul becomes the apostly Paul who writes half of the New Testament. It is amazing to seee how God works!
4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
This verse makes me want to go door to door evangalizing, with a big sighn saying “Turn or Burn” (as said in last weeks sermon). When i read this verse i realized that the only time i realy get in deep conversation with people is on saterday nights. But as a Christian i should be sharing Gods word werever i go.
S.
C.
I have always loved the storry of the Ethiopian and Phillip. It encourages me to always obey God even when it sounds rediculouse and hopeless. The truth though, is that anything that God calls us to do is good and we should obey Him becasue we love Him.
21You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
22Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.
We need to make sure that our hearts are right with God and pray with out ceasing. also repent of our wickedness.
4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
this is so cool to see how God uses everything for his good here. The church here is being persecuted and through that they are scattered. But it does not end there god uses that to get the Gospel all around the place. this is so cool to see that even through persecution God makes good come out of it!!!!!!!!
20Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
People that are not of God don’t understand how to get this eternal life and the people that claim to be Christians but are not, don’t fully grasp what they are looking for. The only way they can receive it is through the holy spirit and through the will of God. They can’t buy their way through salvation, or special gifts but our God has to provide it for them. At times I think it’s weird how they don’t believe but then I remember that God has made them blind for now and they can’t see. We need to continually pray that it is His will and God will open their eyes to let them see who He is and the truth about what He’s done for us. :D
The story about Simon really shows us what it means to be a Christian. True Christianity isn’t some club that you can buy yourself into and then get to do cool things like go to camps and listen to cool music. Simon tried to by the God, uhah no. Being a Christian is turning away from your sins and following Christ. We can’t miss the point.
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
i love this verse and its such an inspiration to me. a lot of times i get nervous about spreading Gods word, but it is something i am definately working on.
Great comment Mike, yes i agree it is so reassuring and awesome to know that our God is in control even in the misdst of this sinnful and crazy world. And what great comments about verse 4! we should be striving to be like them and preach the Word to everyone no matter where God puts us on the world map!
15When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
This verse just reminds me that Christians need to be praying for those who are not right with God and have not repented every single day! This is a very important prayer that we need to be praying. I admit that I hardly pray for my dad or brothers salvation or my friends salvation. I need to apply this verse into my life because I am slacking off on this.
The end of this passage really stuck out to me. How God used Philip to work in eunuch’s life. How he taught him the gospel then baptized him. Then once God was done using him to help euunuch he made him vanish to somewhere else to help other people in need of hearing God’s word.
As has already been pointed out several times, it’s incredible to see how the Lord used persecution to spread the gospel. I doubt that the people at that time could understand God’s big picture for spreading the gospel all over the world. Likewise, it’s hard for us to see the big picture when we are persecuted, but we can rest assured knowing that the Lord will work all things together for good!
7With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.
8So there was great joy in that city.
wow these verses really stood out to me. I agree with jenaee, that was mind blowing!! to think of the evil spirits leaving the people, and crippled people all of a sudden being healed! that would be an amazing experience!!
Also the whole story with Simon really gave me perspective. People may say that they are Christians, and believe it in their minds, but their hearts have the wrong intentions, and therefore they are not really Chritians at all. Simon was more concerened with doing amazing things, and preforming miricles, he missed what Christianity was all about, having repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!!
i loved this chapter! (:
great comment david!
7With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.
This is really amazing and shows how powerful God is and the miracles he can do through people.
I was surprised no one was making a bigger deal out of the first 3 verses. This is the amazing thing about God… Saul who was responsible and present at the murder of the first Christian Martyr (and many others) goes on to be the second greatest writer in the new testament thanks to his encounter with Jesus on the road to damascus. This would be like Osama Bin Laden becoming a missionary for Christ today.
It would have been a great thing to walk up on the eunuch and hear him reading from the book of Isaiah predicting Christ’s death (700 years prior) listing my favourite (spelled correctly) old testament prophecy.
Glad to see so many new names on SOTD and Laguna Hills small group blowing up.
31″How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
These two verses really stood out to me tonight because Philip just comes and asks this guy a simple questions, “Do you understand what you are reading?” and that opens this great opportunity to instruct him about the gospel! I thought it was awesome how he ran with that passage the guys was reading and used that to talk about Christ. This was inspiring to me to be always talking to people asking thoughtful questions and being ready to use any opportunity to tell them the good news about Jesus!
Simon’s “Great Power “was mistaken for “the great power of God .” Simon’s magic was energized by Satan to magnify him. Where you find true believers you will also find imposters and deceivers. 2 Corinthians 11: 13-15 (13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.) Simon’s question to Peter and John in vs. 18-19 revealed his true heart and his false conversion. We need to be aware that Satan will continue to send those to deceive and destroy the Church.