Elevation of Self vs. Elevation of Jesus

January 12, 2025 · Acts

Series · Acts · Week 46 of 120

Scripture referenced 10 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Acts 1:8 Jesus promises the disciples they will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

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Acts 8:1

a great wave of persecution swept over the church in Jerusalem and believers were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria

1 Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles.

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Acts 8:2

devout men buried Stephen with great mourning

2 Devout men buried Stephen, and lamented greatly over him.

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Matthew 24:9

Jesus on the Mount of Olives warns disciples they will be arrested, persecuted, and killed

9 Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake.

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John 16

upper room discourse where Jesus warns believers will be banned from the synagogue and killed by those thinking they are serving God

1 “I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble.

2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.

3 They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.

4 But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’

6 But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart.

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

8 When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment;

9 about sin, because they don’t believe in me;

10 about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won’t see me any more;

11 about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged.

12 “I have yet many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now.

13 However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.

14 He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.

15 All things whatever the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes of mine, and will declare it to you.

16 A little while, and you will not see me. Again a little while, and you will see me.”

17 Some of his disciples therefore said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me;’ and, ‘Because I go to the Father’?”

18 They said therefore, “What is this that he says, ‘A little while’? We don’t know what he is saying.”

19 Therefore Jesus perceived that they wanted to ask him, and he said to them, “Do you inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me?’

20 Most certainly I tell you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

21 A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world.

22 Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

23 “In that day you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

24 Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.

25 I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

26 In that day you will ask in my name; and I don’t say to you, that I will pray to the Father for you,

27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God.

28 I came from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”

29 His disciples said to him, “Behold, now you are speaking plainly, and using no figures of speech.

30 Now we know that you know all things, and don’t need for anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came from God.”

31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

32 Behold, the time is coming, yes, and has now come, that you will be scattered, everyone to his own place, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

33 I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”

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Deuteronomy 18

Moses says to look for a prophet like himself, which the Samaritans connected to their expectation of the Messiah

1 The priests the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire and his portion.

2 They shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Yahweh is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them.

3 This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts.

4 The first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.

5 For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in Yahweh’s name, him and his sons for ever.

6 If a Levite comes from any of your gates out of all Israel, where he lives as a foreigner, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which Yahweh shall choose;

7 then he shall minister in the name of Yahweh his God, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before Yahweh.

8 They shall have like portions to eat, in addition to that which comes from the sale of his family possessions.

9 When you have come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations.

10 There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,

11 or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

12 For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. Because of these abominations, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you.

13 You shall be perfect with Yahweh your God.

14 For these nations that you shall dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do.

15 Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him.

16 This is according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again Yahweh my God’s voice, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.”

17 Yahweh said to me, “They have well said that which they have spoken.

18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.

19 It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.”

21 You may say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?”

22 When a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name, if the thing doesn’t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.

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Romans 11:36

quoted as the scriptural source behind the song lyric about all things being from, through, and to God

36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.

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Colossians 3

let the message about Christ in all its richness fill your lives, read before the offering song

1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.

2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.

3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4 When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.

5 Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;

6 for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.

7 You also once walked in those, when you lived in them;

8 but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.

9 Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,

10 and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,

11 where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.

12 Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;

13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.

14 Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.

15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.

18 Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

19 Husbands, love your wives, and don’t be bitter against them.

20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.

21 Fathers, don’t provoke your children, so that they won’t be discouraged.

22 Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.

23 And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men,

24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

25 But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality.

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Isaiah 55

come and receive bread and wine without cost, connected to the idea that God's gift cannot be bought

1 “Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

2 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness.

3 Turn your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul will live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.

5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you don’t know; and a nation that didn’t know you shall run to you, because of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you.”

6 Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near.

7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh.

9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

11 so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.

12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills will break out before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands.

13 Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up; and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up: and it will make a name for Yahweh, for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.”

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Numbers 6:24-26

used as the benediction, the Lord bless you and keep you

24 ‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you.

25 Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you.

26 Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

The pastor walked the congregation through Acts 8:1-25, the story of the early church being scattered from Jerusalem by persecution and Philip's ministry in Samaria, including his confrontation with Simon the Sorcerer. The passage shows how the very pressure meant to destroy the church actually pushed it outward, exactly as Jesus had said it would go. The figure of Simon the Sorcerer gave the sermon its sharpest edge, raising honest questions about what it really means to believe and follow Jesus.

What was said

The sermon opened with the context already established in Acts 8:1, that Saul stood in full agreement at Stephen's execution and then went house to house dragging believers off to prison. The pastor pointed out that Jesus had told the disciples this was coming, and that the sequence in Acts, first arrested, then persecuted, then killed, matches exactly what Jesus predicted on the Mount of Olives and in the upper room. The scattering was not a defeat. It was the mechanism by which the church moved from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria, just as Acts 1:8 said it would.

Philip went to Samaria, and the pastor spent time helping the congregation understand why that was startling. The hostility between Jews and Samaritans ran about a thousand years deep, built from intermarriage, political betrayal, a rival temple on Mount Gerizim, and the ordinary human habit of deciding that the people nearby are the problem. Samaria was not a natural next stop. It was a confronting one.

The crowds in Samaria had been following Simon the Sorcerer, a man who had spent years building a reputation and who, the text says plainly, claimed to be someone great. The pastor set that against Philip, who was on the deacon list precisely because he was the kind of person willing to wait tables and serve quietly. The contrast between the two men was the contrast between two different messages: one pointed to self, the other pointed to Jesus.

Philip preached, people believed, and many were baptized. Peter and John came from Jerusalem, laid hands on the new believers, and the Holy Spirit came upon them. The pastor noted that Peter and John's presence mattered not just as a channel for the Spirit but as apostolic witness that this was one church, not a Hebrew church and a Greek church running separately. What Jesus said would happen was happening, and they were there to see it.

Then Simon believed and was baptized, and the pastor sat with that honestly. The early church document known as the Didache, he noted, specifically said not to consider sorcerers for baptism, possibly because of exactly this kind of situation. Simon followed Philip around watching for the mechanics behind the miracles. When he saw the apostles lay hands on people and the Spirit come, he offered them money for the ability to do the same thing. That, the pastor said, tells you something about where his heart still was.

Peter's response was direct: your money goes down with you, your heart is not right with God, repent and pray to the Lord yourself. Simon's answer was to ask Peter to pray for him instead. The pastor recognized that dynamic from his own experience, people who sense conviction but want someone else to carry it to God for them. He said he will pray alongside anyone, but the path is to go directly to God, repent, and lay the thing down. Whether Simon ever did that, the text does not say, and the pastor left it there rather than settling it one way or the other.

Peter and John headed back to Jerusalem, but stopped in Samaritan village after village along the way to keep preaching. The pastor closed by bringing the two figures back into focus: Simon pointed to himself and wanted power, Philip pointed to Jesus and carried good news. The question he left the congregation with was where their own focus sits, whether they are trusting God for the right reasons or chasing something they want to obtain.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

The pastor described the believers scattered by persecution as people who 'couldn't help' preaching the good news wherever they went. What does it look like in your own life when your faith is something that comes out of you naturally rather than something you have to force?
The pastor talked about prejudice against the Samaritans and said 'everywhere I've ever lived, it's had a prejudice against somebody.' Where have you seen that pattern, and how does the gospel push back against it?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Find in this transcript

Speaker 3Yes. Oh, so much. Oh, so much better. Yeah. It was How are you?

Good. Good.

Speaker 1I almost almost broke into Louie Louie there instead of staying back.

Speaker 2Alright. Good morning, everybody. Hey. Would you join me in song? Would you stand with me?

And in singing singing the Lord's prayer. Father, let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as in heaven right here in our hearts.

Speaker 1Amen. Is it my turn?

Speaker 2I think so.

Speaker 1Okay. Alright. I think I have some announcements. Y'all can have a seat and we'll get to singing again in a minute here. But we'll see what's going on.

What's happening this week? Fellowship. The Teton Valley Idaho Fellowship is on the second Friday of the month, starting in January. Did that happen? It happened.

Alright. The first one has already happened and the second one's coming next month. So if you wanna know more about it, all those people that hooted and borderline hollered right there. Emily, right there. That's good.

Teton Valley Idaho Fellowship is the first Friday second Friday, sorry. Second Friday of each month. Good. JH Women's Bible Study, that started last week also. It's happening down at Gateway Church from 10AM to twelve noon on Wednesdays.

So that's happening. Next, not next week, two weeks from today, is a connect hour that is a potluck. It seems odd that we're doing this on the day of our congregational meeting, but we are anyway. Congregational meeting will happen between services, so will the connect hour. The people who care about the business will just hang around in here a little longer, and the rest of you get a head start down the hall.

So that's the way that works. It is a potluck. Please bring a dish to share on the twenty sixth. And if you wanna be involved in the vote and in the congregational meeting and just see how God has been blessing and how we are planning for the next year, you come on into that meeting. There is a men's snowmobile trip that's coming up 2025.

Men's snowmobile trip is February 21 through the twenty third at Old Faithful Christian Ranch up in Island Park, Idaho. It's a great time. It's a $100 for adults, 75 for boys. You can talk to Richard Largie if you want to know more details and that's his phone number. I have been on that a lot of different times.

It is just a barrel of monkeys. That is a that is a fun fun fun time to be together. So I love that. I haven't been in a couple of years, but still love it. Hey, that's it.

Speaker 2Got just one more too.

Speaker 1Hit it, man.

Speaker 2Is that Awana is on tomorrow. So regular club night, Awana's on 06:00.

Speaker 1Alright. Would you stand with us? Thank you.

Speaker 2Stand amazed.

Speaker 1Yeehaw.

Speaker 2Christ our firm foundation. Let's sing it. Oh, Christ is my firm foundation. The rock And Lord, as we sing that song, can't think I can't help but look back and go, God, have have you always provided in the past? Yes, you have.

Have you always led us through whatever it was, whether it was a a mount top or valley? Yes, you have. And Lord, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your consistency. God, that when we are inconsistent, you are consistent, that you lead us through that, your great love for us.

When we sing in the song, everything around me is shaking, I've never been more glad. It's not because of the trial, It's that we've put our faith in you through that trial. Thank you. Thank you, God, that you are ever ever present. God, would we turn to you today in Jesus' name.

Amen. You are worthy of it all. You Let's sing that chorus again. Worthy of it all. You You are worthy of it all.

For from you From Romans eleven thirty six. Such a beautiful song, but it comes from this, for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service, and we're going to sing, speak o Lord from Colossians.

From Colossians three, it's let the message about Christ and all its richness fill your lives. And before we sing, Ray, may I ask you to pray?

Speaker 1Lord God, I thank you for for your presence here with us right now. Lord, I thank you that you inhabit the praise of your people. May we be singing your praises, Lord. May we be honoring and glorifying you. When we're together, when we're apart, Lord, I pray that we would be constantly dwelling on your goodness, your mercy, your love, your forgiveness, and may we have the eyes to see people as you see them lord.

May we have the the wherewithal to get past our own junk, our own stuff that we carry around with us, prejudices we may not even recognize. God, would you allow us to get past that? In Jesus name, in Jesus name, lord, may we walk it out. Thank you. We ask that you would receive.

Lord, you are worthy of it all. We're giving back a portion of what you've given us, lord. It says, lord, that we trust you to do what you will in your way among us and through us. Lord, we ask that we would be humble and obedient servants to the king, Jesus. In his name we pray.

Amen.

Speaker 2To receive the fruit of your holy word. Take your truth, plant it deep

Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can kiddos, you can head down. It's time for children's church. That's don't mean just kiddos. It's middle school and high school included down there too.

It's time for children's church. Thank you, buddy. I like the growing orchestra, Carl. Yes. Nice.

Yeah. So here we are. We are up to Acts eight. We covered the first verse last week, and it was just a snippet, just the first part of the first verse last week. So we'll get to that.

We are continuing to study in Acts and week before last, it might come up a lot actually. You all know the Blues Brothers? Yes. The movie, the Blues Brothers. Yes.

Do you know the way the progression of that movie works? They have a mission and it's a what? We're on a mission from God. And that mission is going to be completed and at the end, they end up in jail. But hey, you know, the mission is completed.

What they set out to do, God did through those guys. Now, know it's a secular movie. I know it's got all kinds of ugly stuff I would have left out. Whatever. It's my favorite movie.

It is about the mission of God being completed with only a power that he can provide. This section of scripture right here is showing a significant advance and Jesus has already prophesied advance of his church. He says that he's going to build his church. That's the mission. He says he's going to do it through people who believe and that's what's happening.

So, here we are. This is what we covered last week is the first part of this. Saul, Saul, that's the name. Saul was one of the witnesses. We know he's gonna become Paul.

Y'all are Christians? You've here before? No? Saul was one of the witnesses and if you think about that for a minute, to Stephen's martyrdom and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. There was not any shred of him that felt like we shouldn't do this.

He knew that Stephen should be stoned and even in a lynch mob. I didn't mention it last week. It was not the way that you normally would stone someone. There'd have to be agreement and the raging and shaking a fist and the lynch mob mentality that took place. Saul was completely in agreement with that.

And from that point, says, a great wave of persecution began that day. It was sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and all the believers except the apostles were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. I, myself, when I read Acts one eight, not eight one, but one eight where it says, when the power of the Holy Spirit comes over you, you will be what my witnesses. You're going be my witnesses here in Jerusalem. Stay here until this happens.

You're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, the outer line parts from there and even to the uttermost to the very ends of the earth, to the ends of the earth. And then I see this, the great wave of persecution started. They're clumped up in Jerusalem. Luke doesn't really give us a sense that they shouldn't have been. It starts from Jerusalem, but the growing past just Jerusalem is about to happen because of the persecution, because of the stone in the Stephen.

And acts eight two says, now some devout men came and they buried Stephen with great mourning and they showed their great mourning. Now, if you look back on the law, Torah, if someone is stoned to death, nobody's supposed to cry over that. That seems impossible to me because just the fact that they sinned in such a way that caused them to be stoned is something to cry over. But this says devout men, people who are God fearing folk were mourning over Stephen and it it says like loudly as they implied. And they buried his body.

They gave him honor. That's just something. It's in there. But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He was there with the coats of the people who were doing the stoning and he agreed with it, and then after that, he was emboldened to flush them out.

He went from house to house. He was dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison. Do you all remember Matthew twenty four nine? He's up on the Mount Of Olives. The disciples have asked him questions about when what's the deal?

End of the age, what's all the eschatology stuff? It's so interesting. We can't stand and not know. And Jesus is telling them, well, there's a lot of change coming. There's gonna be a time that's coming.

It's not too far away when you will be arrested, and you'll be persecuted and you'll be killed. This was probably less than a couple of months before our present text. He just told him this. There's a time coming when y'all are gonna be arrested and you're gonna be persecuted and you're gonna be killed. And in the book of Acts, we have seen this in this order.

They were arrested first. What do we do with them? Then they were persecuted. Put them back in jail. Flog them before you let them go.

And then Stephen is killed. So there it is, arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers, because you're following the way, the way of peace that passes understanding. People don't like it, and you're going be hated all over the world because you're following after my way. John 16, same kind of thing in the upper room discourse when he is telling them how it's gonna be after he has gone ahead of them into heaven.

These things I've spoken to you so that you will not be led into sin. All of chapter 14, all chapter 15, and chapter 16, the priestly prayer in 17, all of this. These things I've spoken to you so that you won't be led into sin. They're going to ban you from the synagogue. It's going to happen.

An hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that they're offering a service to God. They're going to be the religious folk. They're going to kick you out of the synagogue, and they're gonna think they're doing God a favor when they kill you. These things they will do because they've not known the father and they've not known me. Just telling you, Jesus says ahead of time.

But the believers now, but the believers, the ones not the apostles, but the believers who were scattered, they preached the good news about Jesus wherever they went. They couldn't help it. It was a part of who they were and it was coming out of them no matter what. They could not help it. They were scattered and they preached, they proclaimed the good news, the Euangelion, the good message about Jesus wherever they went.

Philip, for example. Now Philip, we've seen his name before. He's listed as he's second in the list. Quite a list to be in now that Stephen has been murdered. Right?

But everyone liked this idea. They chose the following. These are the first deacons. Stephen, a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit. Philip is the next guy on the list and it says, Philip, let me back up.

Philip, for example, we're gonna see what he's doing. He's proclaiming, it'll say that in a minute. But we do see him later on in Acts and he's the only person that's called an evangelist in the book of Acts. And truly, he is. He's carrying the message and we're gonna see it grow here.

The next day, we went on to Caesarea. Luke, by this point, is traveling with Paul, who used to be Saul, and they stopped in and they hung out with Philip, the evangelist. One of the seven men who'd been chosen to distribute the food, he had four unmarried daughters. He lived in Caesarea. We hung out with him for a while.

That's cool. I like Acts because of that. Philip, for example, went on to the city of Samaria, and he told the people there about the Messiah. This is city of Samaria. I think we're pretty familiar with Samaria in the church because we have the example of the Samaritan woman at the well, and we have Jesus using the absolutely ridiculous example of a good Samaritan, right, helping an injured man.

So we it comes up from time to time. This says a city of Samaria, and he told the people there about the Messiah. The Samaritans were looking forward to a Messiah. They only had the first five books of the Bible. They had the Samaritan Pentateuch.

So it's basically the books of Moses with a couple of modifications. They went about trying to live by Torah. Now, they were about as successful in living by Torah as the ancient Israelites were successful living under Torah. Last week, we saw how they carried the Israelites carried in the wilderness, they carried their little shrines to Molech and they carried their little idols with them, and God waited for that generation to die off, those who trusted in other foreign gods. Samaria had the same kind of issues.

Actually, we mentioned Shechem last week. Shechem is where the bones of Abraham were buried and when Stephen's given his great speech and he mentions that Abraham, oh, y'all just revere and honor Abraham, you can't stand any message that doesn't include Abraham somewhere and Abraham's buried in Shechem, which is in Samaria. And that kind of just irritated him. But Shechem is that close right there to Samaria, the city of Samaria. Samaria, that's what it looks like actually.

This is more recent picture because it's a picture from the Library of Congress. You can get all kinds of stuff online. That's looking up to the city of Samaria. It used to be on the main road between Galilee and Jerusalem, but Jews didn't take the main good road from Galilee to Jerusalem. They'd rather go down to the Jordan River, walk alongside the river, and then walk uphill.

No joke, like walking from here to the top of the pass instead of walking on camelbacking basically, some hills. So why was there such prejudice against the Samaritans? You can look back if you want to and study this history. It goes back about a thousand years, nine hundred years at least, and then seven hundred years, there's a major aggravation, and then about a hundred and fifty years before Jesus time, there's another major aggravation. But basically, in the Babylonian exile when the Jews were exiled from the land, taken away from Babylon, and when they were coming back filtering back through, there was a time where some of them didn't make it all the way back to Jerusalem.

They had probably intermarried in Babylon anyway. So they're already not as pure as they want to be or claim to be. And as they're coming back, Samaria is a place that sides with Alexander the Great. It sides with everybody who comes along that is against the Jews. And so they see them as half breeds because they're half Jewish or partially Jewish, but they in one particular way did not wanna just have the temple only in Jerusalem.

So they built a temple, they convinced the governing powers at the time to build a temple on Mount Gerizim. Mount Gerizim, when Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman, it's like, what are you even doing talking to me? You're a Jewish man. I'm a Samaritan woman. It's obvious.

What in the world is going on? And then, when he confronts her a bit personally, she immediately goes to religious questions. Right? She immediately goes into the religious stuff of, y'all say that we're supposed to, you say that worship has to happen in Jerusalem and we say that it needs to happen on Gerizim. Now, the temple in Gerizim was torn down by that point, but we believe still that that's the holy place and you believe this other one's a holy place and Jesus says, the time is coming when whoever worships must worship in spirit and in truth.

He's looking forward, looking forward, not looking backwards to all the prejudice and stuff. So why was there prejudice against the Samaritans? Honestly, I'm gonna ask you why there's prejudice anywhere. Everywhere I've ever lived, it's had a prejudice against somebody. Everywhere I've ever lived.

And there's a little bit of a, oh, God, those people. We lived in Costa Rica. And in Costa Rica, if I got in a cab and just shooting the breeze, we talked to somebody, it was either going to be a Nicaraguan cab driver because they come here to Costa Rica to make money because Nicaragua was next to impossible to live in at the time. And if I got in and the guy was from Nicaragua, I could recognize the accent and I'd hear what's going on and we'd have one conversation. If I got in and I started a just a simple conversation with a Costa Rican cab driver, a lot of times I'd say, Nicaragua, People from Nicaragua, Nicas.

We didn't have any problems here before they got here. Like, come on now, you know that's not true. And I'd always challenge it, but I mean, whether it's just a slight little hint of it, you know, from the in the South, we're drilled so much from early on with states rights and with stuff that Georgia is just Georgia. Like Alabama, ugh. I mean, if you ask folks from South Carolina where they're from, they'll say South Carolina.

If you ask somebody from North Carolina, oh, excuse me, where you're from, they'll usually say Carolina. They don't even want to say North in the name of the state. Sorry, that's just been my experience. But there's a subtle sort of prejudice that happens everywhere all the time. It doesn't really matter why.

It was. Okay? It just was. So John four, the Samaritan woman, if you want to go there and see what Jesus confronted that with love and concern. And at the end of that episode, right, the lady is so excited about having been set free that she drops her water pot, the whole reason she's at the well in the first place.

She runs back to town and she talks to the people that she apparently was trying to avoid by being at the well by herself, and she says, come and see this guy. I found him. They were looking for Messiah. They were looking for the Takheb. The Takheb is the prophet that Moses had mentioned.

I've mentioned it every Sunday for the last three. In Deuteronomy 18, he says, you are to be looking for a prophet like me and she was. She was looking for that to have that Messiah. Come and see this guy. He told me everything I've ever done, which was a lot of bad stuff apparently.

And they were like, okay, wait a second. It says they stayed there for three days. Jesus and the disciples who are with him stayed in Samaria for three days. Boy, that's confronting some issues. I can't imagine Peter as dogged as he was.

And where he says later on in Acts, he says, you know, I've never had any unclean ever enter my enter my mouth, Lord. You know, he stayed in Samaria for three days. What did he do? He must have fasted. He couldn't eat anything.

Well, those dirty Samaritans. Luke 10. Luke 10 wouldn't be nearly the great story that it is without that prejudice in the background. Right? A priest and a Levite just walked by and leave the guy, but the good Samaritan, the good Samaritan?

Yeah. So that's Samaria. That's what we're talking about. It was amazing when Jesus said this earlier in Acts when he says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses witnesses. You will testify as to your experience.

You'll do it here in Jerusalem and you'll do it in all Judea and Samaria, and grammatically, I use the NIV here because it's right. In this case, Judea and Samaria are squeezed together, and I think that that's appropriate and unthinkable at the same time and to the ends of the earth. So Philip, for example, to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah, and crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message. Okay. Part of that might have been Jesus had been to Samaria for three days.

There's a little bit of a following going there. It could have been. They were intent to hear this message that they'd heard something about earlier, maybe. Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and because they wanted to see the miraculous signs he did. That gathers a crowd when somebody's doing miraculous things.

And this says, many evil spirits were cast out, many were screaming as they left their victims, and many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed, and this is from Philip's ministry there. We don't know how many people were with him. We don't know if he's just representative of a lot of other folks that were doing the same thing, but as he was going, evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims, and many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city. It was a big deal, and it was a time of we might say revival, but maybe just vival.

Okay? There was no read. This is this is like the end of since Moses Pentateuch, you know. Jesus actually says to the Samaritan woman, he says, wow, If this isn't a story of where one planet and another one a long time later begins to reap, I don't know what is. And I think he was talking about Moses.

Moses plant and then Philip is seeing the same thing that Jesus saw. Great joy in that city. And now a man named Simon, not Simon Peter, a man named Simon who had been a sorcerer there for many years. Oh, boy. Confronted with all the evil spirits screaming as they come out and all of the lame being healed.

Here we come to Simon. You might know him as Simon Magus, Simon Magus or Simon the Magician. We'll just read about him. A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, amazing the people of Samaria, and claiming to be someone great. Just that information right there puts him at odds with Philip.

Doesn't it? Philip was what? According to what Jesus said, find some faithful people who are humble, who are willing to serve the orphans and the widows, you know, and Philip's on the second one on that list. And then Simon, oh, he's been a sorcerer there for many years. He's been paid to cast spells and give blessings and curse people, I'm sure.

And, he was amazing the people of Samaria, and claiming to be someone great. Isn't that all the way it is with magicians? Have you ever heard a magician same name, Byron the Humble? No. It's always been Byron the Magnificent, or something the amazing crest mirror or whatever, claiming to be someone great.

Everyone there from the least to the greatest in the city of Samaria often spoke of him as the great one, the very power of God. So they had lifted him up on a pedestal. He kept himself on that pedestal. And Simon Magus, that's the way we're introduced to him, and it says, and they listened closely to him because for a long time, he had astounded them with his magic. So they were there for the show.

Wait a second. If you put this in contrast with what it just said about Philip, Philip's it says crowds listen intently to Philip because they're eager to hear the message, yeah, but they also want to hear the miraculous signs that he did. It says they listened closely to Simon Magus because for a long time, he had astounded them with his magic, the signs that he did. People listened because of the way that they were acting. But now, it says the people believed Philip's message.

The Philip's message was the good news of the gospel. Philip's message was actual good news. It wasn't trusting in Simon the Magus, it was trusting in Jesus. Trusting in God by the way that he had determined, which was Jesus. But now, the people believed Philip's message of good news concerning the kingdom of God, the name of Jesus Christ, and as a result, many men and women were baptized.

If we stopped right there, just be like, hallelujah. Let's sing a song, Carl. But it gets it gets a little messy right here. It says, then Simon himself believed and was baptized. Okay.

I wasn't expecting that. If you've ever read any early Christian literature, there's an the the pronunciation of forgive me on this is d I d a c h e. When I've read it in my head for all my whole life, I've called it the didache, and it is the didache. Most people call it the didache, the didache, whatever it is. It's an early like not exactly church order, but this is the way things ought to go in the church.

It's it's extra biblical. It's not something anybody claims to be canonical, but it gives us a picture of how the earliest of the early church did things. And when it says, who should be considered for membership or baptism? It says, no sorcerers. Do not even consider these folks.

They've made their whole life out of duping people and pulling the wool over their eyes. Don't even consider sorcerers. So to see Simon himself believed and baptized, that might have been the rule that that's why it made it into the Didache or the Didache. That might have been the reason it made it in there, but Simon himself believed and was baptized. Now, if we take this to be that right there, Simon was saved.

The rest of the text gets a little fuzzy and a little hard to deal with. I'm gonna I'm sit in your lap just like it's been in my lap for weeks. Okay? Simon himself believed and was baptized. Okay?

Himself. Simon the great. He began following Philip everywhere he went. He was amazed by the signs and the great miracles that Philip performed. Sounds like he's in it for the signs and miracles, don't Now, when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God's message, they sent Peter and John there.

Okay. It said everybody except for the apostles was cast out. Now, there are lots of different reasons people believe that happened. The apostles were Hebraic Jews and so they didn't have the same kind of persecution as the Hellenistic Jews. So, when they spread out, they spread out first.

The Hellenistic ones were outside of the city first. That's what most people believe. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that God the people of Samarit accepted God's message, they sent Peter and John there. And as soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. That is such a big deal.

In the Old Testament, we see God visiting upon people with his spirit. We see kings, prophets, priests from time to time. We see that David was filled with the spirit and when he sinned and it's possible to be at once. Having the spirit indwelling you and sin. You can still resist the Holy Spirit.

You can still quench the Holy Spirit and David did. And when he realized his sin, his earnest prayer was, Lord, please don't remove your Holy Spirit from me. I know that that makes all the difference in the world. I don't want to be as blind as not having it. So as soon as the apostles arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

They believe the message, they're baptized as belief in Jesus, but then Peter and John listened to them, communicated with them. It says, they laid their hands upon these believers and those believers received the Holy Spirit. It doesn't say specifically that Simon was in that group. It doesn't say. Maybe, might have been.

The next thing that it says is after they laid their hands upon him and this is sort of a is it apostolic authority? Is the power of God flowing through them to be or are Peter and John there as witnesses to see that what Jesus said is gonna be true? What they knew from the Old Testament was going to be true that this message was not just for the people of Israel. This message was to be shining from the people of Israel as a light unto the Gentiles, unto the nations. This message, Peter and John were seeing it expand beyond the bounds of Jerusalem.

You have to go through Judea to get to Samaria and they're seeing it and they are saying, we see this. We believe you and we are one church, not two separate churches. This is not a Hebrew church and a Greek church. This is one thing. Now, when Simon saw that the spirit was given, when the apostles laid their hands on the people, his immediate thought is it's something that they've got.

It's something that they did. So I'll say capital a apostles here. The New Living does not capitalize those things. It doesn't capitalize the names of God either. But when the apostles laid their hands on people, Simon offered the apostles them as the apostles.

He offered them money to buy this power. Oh boy. Does it sound like he believed the gospel? Okay. I don't care which camp you're in on whether he believed or not.

I hope he did. I hope he did. But he has not evidenced it at all at this point. He's following Philip around trying to figure out his tricks. How did he do this?

How did what exactly what was the formula there? Abracadabra, hocus pocus. What is what did he say? What did he say? When he when they put their hands on him, how?

Tell me, I will pay you to tell me the secrets. He offered a money to buy this power. Let me have this power too, he exclaimed, so that when I lay my hands on people, they'll receive the Holy Spirit. Wouldn't that be great? If I can just walk on the bus, I don't have to evangelize it.

Just walk by and go, woah. Hey. Woah. Here you go. Have the Holy Spirit.

Yeah. I'm glad none of y'all jumped up and rolled around. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

But Peter replied, may your money be destroyed with you. Oh, for thinking that God's gift can be bought. It can't. You can't buy it. Come and receive freely, freely, freely, freely.

I think of Isaiah 55, come and receive with that bread, wine without cost. Right? May your money be destroyed with you for even thinking that God's gift can be bought. You can have no part in this for your heart is not right with God. So Peter does not believe that he's saved.

Repent. This is the message for any of you who are in it for the wrong reason, Peter says. Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord directly. You can pray to him directly, perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts. For I can see that you're full of bitter jealousy, you want what we have and we know it's not because of us.

We know that it's Jesus. We know that. He's testified before the Sanhedrin that that's the truth. He's not being haughty about it. For I can see that you're full of bitter jealousy and that you're still held captive by sin.

And Simon says, pray to the Lord for me. Pray to the Lord for me that these terrible things won't happen to me like you've said. So is that repentance? Maybe, but it's still not what needs to happen. Maybe it's the beginning of repentance.

He recognizes it and sees it and says, I don't want that end. But what Peter had said is pray to the Lord. And he said, no, you pray for me. Now, I don't know how many of y'all have people in your life that do that, but in this position, I get these calls fairly regularly. Pray for me.

Pray for me that I'd just be able to I was like, I will. I'm going to, but really you can you don't you can skip the middleman. You can go directly to the source here. You know, if the Holy Spirit's convicting you of your sin, you don't have to talk to me about it. You can.

I'll I'm fine with that but pray directly to him. Repent of it, walk away from it, lay it down. I'll help you. I'll be your accountability partner, but pray for me, he says. No.

Now, if you've or if you're into any of the later writings like especially of the Gnostics or some of the gospels that were from 300, 400, 500, 600 or later or any of the dark ages material. If you're into this, Simon Magus comes up against Peter all the time in the fan fiction. Okay? It's just normal. This it's just normal to see Simon Magus and Peter up against one another.

But in the Bible, this is what we hear and this is where we get our religious vocabulary term of simony. Simony is when you try to buy influence or power or buy your way into something, and it was a sin then and it's a sin now. Pray for me. Now what Peter had said is, you pray, you repent and walk away from this, let go of the bitter jealousy, you walk the path God has for you. Don't let your heart be caught up in sin that you want to be and you claim to be someone great.

It takes humility. God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Pray for me, he exclaimed that these terrible things you've said won't happen to me. And after testifying, this is the next verse.

It's kind of a summary statement. After testifying and that's what Jesus said they would do. You will be my witnesses. Witnesses, not lawyers, not judges. You'll be my witnesses and you'll testify to what you've seen.

You'll relate it to the word, it says, and preaching the word of the Lord. This is what I've seen and this is where it makes sense in God's word. After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord, in Samaria, right there, unthinkable as that might have been for people. Peter and John then returned back to Jerusalem. That was sort of home base for this movement of the way.

Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, but it says they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the good news. All the way back from near Shechem, Samaria, they're as they're wandering back, they're stopping in and hanging out and preaching the good news. That's it. That's the last slide. Carl, would you come on up?

Band, orchestra, everybody. Come on up. I want you to think about a couple of things. There was a progression to how this goes. It says, they listened to Philip.

They listened to Simon Magus. They did it because of what they saw them doing, but the message was very different between those two guys. One of them was elevation of self, Simon Magus, and the other one was elevation of Jesus. And so listening, the people listened, but what the what the folks were proclaiming, what they're hearing, Simon Magus was calling himself great, and they said, yeah, he is kind of great. Look at all the stuff he's done.

But Philip was saying, Jesus is great. I'm kind of a nobody, but he saved me, and this is the message, he wants to save you too. And it says and the people received that message. Now that part about Simon, he believed and was baptized. We don't know his heart.

I pray that he he believed in Peter's rebuke was accepted, all the fan fiction, that's just extra. But from what we see from the Bible, we don't know and it sits there. What happened with Simon Magus and what happened with Philip? Now Philip, we're gonna see next week preaching on down the Road. We don't hear about Simon anymore.

The altar is always open. As we sing this last song, we talk about abiding. May we really see where we actually are? May we see what it is we actually believe? Are we trusting God for the right reasons?

Is our focus Jesus or is our focus self? Is our focus the truth or is it some power that we want to obtain? We're going to sing the song Abide. Would you stand with us, but the altar is open. If you want to talk to me, I'll turn off the mic and stop playing the bass.

For the benediction today, we're gonna go back to number six. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and may he be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. Amen.

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Buying God'S Favor Holy Spirit Persecution Prejudice Samaria Simon Magus

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