Acts 8:9-25

9 A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be someone great. 10 Everyone, from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as “the Great One—the Power of God.” 11 They listened closely to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic.
12 But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized. 13 Then Simon himself believed and was baptized. He began following Philip wherever he went, and he was amazed by the signs and great miracles Philip performed.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. 15 As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. 16 The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power. 19 “Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!”
20 But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought! 21 You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God. 22 Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts, 23 for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”
24 “Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things you’ve said won’t happen to me!”
25 After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News.

Simon the magician was a person of influence in Samaria.   Many people thought his magic powers came from God and called him “The great one!”  But when the apostles arrived in Samaria, first in the person of Phillip and later with Peter and John, the people themselves realized they had been dooped by this man.  Simon also recognized that the power being demonstrated by the Spirit in the lives of the Apostles and now in the people was the real deal.  He also wanted to experiance that power and was Baptized in the name of Jesus.  But his motivation was not salvation.  He received the message so that he might have the power and the influence.  Luke included this story in Acts for two reasons.  First,  to show that whoever received the Lord, even samarians, would be included in the promises offered from the Lord.  Second, right motivation alone would provide the right results.  I have known a lot of people who have accepted the Lord to get bailed out of tough situations in life only to leave their commitments when it didn’t work out.  That will never result in changed lives.  God examines our motives!  Right motivation equals right results!

Acts 8:4-8

4 But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. 5 Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. 6 Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. 7 Many evil* spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.

The scattered Church became the impetus for sharing the Gospel outside of Jerusalem.  Until persecution had started the church was comfortably entrenched in Jerusalem.  We don’t often understand why things work out the way they do, but Paul says in Romans 8:28 “all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purposes.”  This is a perfect example of events that look very bad but were working towards good.  It started the whole missionery movement and resulted in many coming to know Jesus Christ in Samaria.  Remember this when you are going through things that are hard to understand.  It may not be clear to you what God is doing but I can assure you He is doing something for good.  Would you be willing to endure hardship if you knew it would lead to a revival or someone’s life being changed by God?  Look how God worked in these events and trust Him to work through yours this week! 

Matthew 17:24-27

7-29-07

Acts 8:1-3

A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. 2 (Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.) 3 But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.

It’s still happening today!  The Church is being persecuted!  There are those in China imprisoned for meeting together illegally to talk about their faith in houses churches.  There are those in India being chased from villages and being falsely accused for loving Jesus.  There are those in Muslim dominated countries being killed and driven out for having faith in Jesus!  Just today we have heard of a Youth Pastor from Korea kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan and executed while many more of those who travelled with him are being held as hostages.  It is still happening in our world today.  Just as the Church was persecuted and scattered after Stephen’s death, it continues to be pursued by the forces of darkness to quiet the Gospel.   Let’s remember to pray for those who are being submitted to persecution and torture beyond what we have known or experienced.  As you have opportunity to share your faith don’t shy away.  Remember there are those who are suffering because they have believed and boldly proclaimed their faith.  God strenthen us to do the same where we suffer no such contempt. 

Acts 8:1

1 Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.

Have you ever made a mistake in your life you thought you never could recover from doing?  I have, probably more than one time.  King David did make two huge mistakes and he had a heart “after the heart of God’!”  The Apostle Paul also made a huge mistake.  He was there and it tells us he was one of the witnesses when it came to framing and killing Stephen.  The writer of Acts went out of his way to let us know this information.  We all know what happened to Saul after this event.  The guilt and condemnation of a conscience that had killed an innocent man eventually brought him to a place of acknowledging the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  It doesn’t matter how big or how bad in the eyes of the world your mistakes are.  God is able to raise us up again!  God is able to take the bad and use it for good in our lives!  God is able to bring great purpose out of the ruins of our choices.  I am certainly not advocating making huge mistakes in our lives.  If they can be avoided by humbling ourselves before God before they happen, then by all means do that.  But if you have made wrong choices or ungodly mistakes in your life or you do in your future, do not let them handcuff you from becoming everything God wants you to be.  He is able to raise you up just as He did in Saul’s life.  Look to God to do what it takes in your life to raise you up out of the ruins of any bad decisions you have ever made.  He can and He will! 

Acts 7 (Read the whole chapter but especially) 51-60

51 “You stubborn people! You are heathen* at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! 52 Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. 53 You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”
54 The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.* 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 56 And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”
57 Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him 58 and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.*
59 As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.

We see what Luke meant when he said Stephen was full of the Spirit and Wisdom.  He preached a marvelous message taking the religious leaders through the entire Old Testament and sharing the Gospel with them.  In order to do that he had to be a man who spent much time reading and conversing about the Law and the Prophets with those who knew.  He was a man of the word of God.  He would be someone we would love to have hanging around us at Cedarwood sharing the insights he had into the scriptures.  His message was so powerful and convicting that those he was preaching to had to cover their ears to try and make the words go away.  Ultimately they became so enraged they picked up rocks and stoned Stephen to death.   He died staring into the face of Jesus asking Him to forgive his murderers.  Not many of us will ever be asked to die for our faith.  But all of us will be in a position to forgive others who sin against us.  Stephen did it under the most unusual of conditions, that is, while being murdered.  The amazing thing is he was able to do it at all!  What it teaches us is that under the most difficult of situations, God can accomplish the same in each of us if we are walking in the Spirit.  We cannot do it in our own strength.  But it is amazing what can be accomplished in the Spirit.  I don’t want you to think the message is redundant, but it really is.  Each day we seek to be like Stephen, Not controlled by the flesh, but full of the Holy Spirit.  Let’s continue to bow in His presence and ask the Lord to Fill us with His Spirit today. 

Acts 6:8-15

8 Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. 9 But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. 10 None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.
11 So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God. 12 This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.*
13 The lying witnesses said, This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses. 14 We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth* will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.
15 At this point everyone in the high council stared at Stephen, because his face became as bright as an angel’s.

It does my heart warm to see a nobody (not an Apostle) be one of the guys performing miracles and signs and wonders. All we know about this man is that he was picked to wait on tables because he was full of the Spirit. It was demonstrated in his life and through his actions. The author of this story calls him “a man full of God’s grace and power.” It’s never about us! It’s always about God and what He can accomplish through us when we allow Him to work in us. Stephen showed great wisdom and insite into Jewish Law. He performed amazing miracles and he wasn’t even one of the original twelve. What that means for the rest of us (those not having apostolic standing with God) is God could do the very same thing in our lives. He could choose to demonstrate His grace and His power through us. We could be the conduit that God uses to bring people into His Kingdom. Of course the choice is God’s, but the choice to let God work in us to bring us to the place where He could use us is ours. Paul say’s “keep on being filled with the Spirit” in Ephesians 5:18 so we make the choice. God does the rest. So let’s start out the week with a choice to be available to God so that He can fill us with His Spirit and choose to work in us and through us. You cannot become another Stephen by trying harder, but you can choose to be available to God to allow Him to fashion you as He did Stephen. It starts with surrendering you life into His hands and asking Him to fill you with His Spirit. The next step is always Gods who the gospel writers remind us will not give us a snake when we ask for the Spirit, will He? Have a great week getting closer to God!

Matthew 17:22-23

7-22-07

Acts 6:1-7

1 But as the believers* rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.
2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. 3 And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
5 Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). 6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.
7 So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.

The Church was enjoying unprecedented growth and seeing all kinds of signs and wonders.  But it wasn’t a perfect world!  With the onslaught of all those people joining the ranks of God’s army came the logistical problems that happen when you minister to that many people.  Their were feelings of jealousy and suspicion that were spreading throughout the ministry.  It is a good thing the scriptures are honest with us about the early church.  They could have left out problems like these and given us the impression that all was well with God and man.  But where there is man there also is the potential for sin to divide.  I don’t want anybody to think of the early church as perfect and without problems.  Quite to the contrary.  The entire New Testament after the Gospels is about the problems that arose as these early pioneers moved forward in the faith.  This was the first test.  Would they get distracted and crumble in division, or would they address the problems in a godly manner and move on.  The Apostles were very wise at this point.  They had a calling to preach the Gospel and to be in prayer and communion with the Lord.  So they asked the body to pick seven other men who were spirit filled to handle the situation.  We will always have problems in our churches, it’s not a perfect world.  But we can and will complicate and avoid solutions that are fair and just if we turn to people who are not filled with the spirit to resolve issues.  So do me, yourself and God a big favor.  Walk in the Spirit!  Be someone that can be turned to because you have the first and best qualifier to be called on in these situations.  Then, you will be heard when it counts!

Acts 5:41-42

41 The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.* 42 And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.”

I admire the Apostles!  They stood before the high council of Israel, were sternly warned once again to stop teaching in the name of Jesus, flogged and then sent home with a warning of impending death if they continued down this path.  So as they are leaving they start rejoicing in God and to God that they were worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.  WOW!  After hearing what they heard and seeing what they saw, they go and continue to teach and preach “Jesus is Messiah!”  Nothing could deter them from the task they were given by God.  No embarrassment, No threats, not even physical pain!  They were determined to get the message out.  How I pray the body of Christ today would see things in this same light!  We have been given a message as a Church to get out to the world.  What will you let stand in the way of God using you to get the job done?  What are the things that deter you from rejoicing in Him and getting the message out.  Don’t let the world scold you for being a christian, or threaten you if you share your faith.  It’s time for the body of Christ to stand up for who Jesus is!  Look for opportunities today to let people know the love of God for them through Jesus.  Let nothing deter you from being who and what God has called you to be!