The Gospel Proclaimed in new places

Introduction

Good morning LaFayette Baptist Church and happy father’s day. If you would all please go ahead and turn in your Bible’s to Acts 7, Acts 7:51-60. will be our sermon text today. For the sake of time today, we are going to do just like we did last week, and hop right into the scripture today. So,

Scripture

If you would all please rise for the reading of God’s Word today. The words to the scripture will be on the screen, please read along with me as we are reading. When I am done I will say “this is The Word of The Lord” if you will all please respond with “Thanks be to God.” Let’s Practice that for a second. Also, there are a few hard words to pronounce in the reading today. So, we are all just going to give it our best shot, no worries if we say it wrong. First, let’s pray.

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

9 A man named Simon had previously practiced sorcery in that city and amazed the Samaritan people, while claiming to be somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God.”[b] 11 They were attentive to him because he had amazed them with his sorceries for a long time. 12 But when they believed Philip, as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. 13 Even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he followed Philip everywhere and was amazed as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed. 14 When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 After they went down there, they prayed for them so that the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit because he had not yet come down on any of them. 16 (They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.18 When Simon saw that the Spirit[c] was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also so that anyone I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”20 But Peter told him, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart’s intent may be forgiven. 23 For I see you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by wickedness.”24 “Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

25 So, after they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they traveled back to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

Context

Last week we began a sort of new major section or part of the book of Acts. We haven’t talked about it in a while, but you may remember that in the beginning of our Journey through Acts, we mentioned several times how this Book or record of acts or actions of the Apostles after Jesus Asencion actually has 3 major missional section which are Jerusalem, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. So, now we are the second, Samaria. Which shows that The Gospel of Jesus is now spreading further out. Before, we saw it mostly contained to the nation of Israel, and early church focusing in the city of Jerusalem. Now, it is going out to the surrounding areas and countries.

Of course this was from God’s providence and plan to share the gospel and bless the world, but one event (and you might even say one person) can be pointed back to as to why this was starting. Look at verse 1 of chapter 8 in your bible’s, it reads, Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria. So, Saul’s and the Jewish leader’s persecution of church in Jerusalem caused The Church to go out into the surrounding places, causing the Gospel of Jesus to spread.

Now, this might seem right and normal and to be expected to you, but let me stress something. Jews and people with Jewish heritage DID NOT come near or associate themselves with the people of Samaria. And they would take great lengths not to go to Samaria and not to speak to Samaritans. So, for them to go there, would have shown that severity and harshness of their persecution. What’s very interesting about Samaria, is that despite how much Samaria and Jerusalem hated each other, they were brothers; with the Samaritans coming from the Tribes of Isreal of Ephriam and Manasseh, where they differed though, was their belief in where worship was supposed to happen. To the Jews, this difference was deplorable, and they disowned their brothers and regarded them as lesser than dogs. Yet, on multiple occasions in his worldly ministry, Jesus showed honor to the Samaritan people, not only revealing himself to them (with the woman at the well) but also using them in one of his most famous parables (the parable of the Good Samaritan).

So, as we are thinking about the implications of our text today on our modern day lives, I want you to notice how The Gospel should not be held back from any group of people, despite what your own thoughts or prejudices may be against them. I want to challenge you to also seek out opportunities to come around people you wouldn’t normally go to, and share the same hope in Jesus that you have; and watch how God will move in those people and those places. With that, From the text, I want you to see these actions of God when The Gospel is proclaimed in new places.

Message

The first Actions is: God on Display in a new place

9 A man named Simon had previously practiced sorcery in that city and amazed the Samaritan people, while claiming to be somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God.”[b] 11 They were attentive to him because he had amazed them with his sorceries for a long time. 12 But when they believed Philip, as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. 13 Even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he followed Philip everywhere and was amazed as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed.

What we see here, is man Simon who was clearly in league with Satan and demons. He had strange powers and had deceived the Samaritan people into believing that his power was from God and that power was very great. In fact, he was such a sorcerer and so in league with Satan, that there are many non-cannon tales of him being in a “miracle” contest with the Apostle Peter and worse yet, Simon is often pointed to as the heretic that started the Gnostic heresy, which as you will recall John wrote his letters against. Gnosticism itself teaches against the divinity of Christ and that the world was created by some sort of a lesser God. Notice this from the text, after hearing Phillip (who was one of the 7 chosen in Acts 6) proclaim the good new of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God, many men and women became convinced of the truth and were baptized. Simon himself, the heretic heard the Gospel, and saw the signs and miracles and became intellectually convinced.

I’m sure we have all heard and sang that old hymn, this little light of mine. This song of course isn’t about a light that you have or you possess, but one that is given to you by the gospel of Jesus of Christ, the light of truth that only God has. The point of this light, isn’t to keep it to ourselves, but let it shine and go forth doing what it does, shining and bringing light to a place that was previously dark. See, (use lamp stand) if don’t share the light, then place is dark, but when I turn on light, it goes out and brings clearness and vision that wasn’t their before. Just like the words on pages here, without this light, the words are hard to see, but when it is turned on, AHHH yes, I can see. When we walk into a dark room, and turn on the light, then we can see things for what they really are.

Just as Phillip was bringing The Gospel to new places and putting God on display in new places; When we share the gospel in new places, that were once formerly dark, then we put the fullness of God on display; revealing who God is and what He does for us in salvation. Without that, without that knowledge, the person remains in darkness and sin just as a room stays dark until we bring some light into it. So, bring and shine your light. Bring it with you and shine it in the old and familiar places, but also bring it with you and shine it in the new and unfamiliar (and maybe even scary) places. You never know who will come to faith or become convinced. To Phillip and others of the Jewish heritage, it would have seemed odd for Samaritans to come to faith, and yet they did when they had the truth revealed and the light shined. You will find the same thing and the same blessed surprise when you put God on Display in a new place.

The Second action is: God living in the new believers

14 When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 After they went down there, they prayed for them so that the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit because he had not yet come down on any of them. 16 (They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

After hearing the news of the Samaritans receiving the Gospel from Phillip, the apostles (who were among the only believers left in Jerusalem) Peter and John to the people of Samaria. Now, keep in mind the prominence of these two apostles, who were two of the “inner 3” disciples of Jesus and Peter being the leader of them. Their presence in and with these people would have spoken hugely to The Church, destroying the centuries of prejudice that would have existed between these two peoples, because The Church, The Gospel, God wasn’t just for certain people, He and they/it are for everyone. So, to show this truth to the world, When peter and John laid hands on the Samaritans, God the Holy Spirit came to live in those baptized believers. Just note and remember here, that the book of Acts is transitional history, and many of these events are one time occurrences, as today we know that God the Holy Spirit comes to live in believers immediately upon conversion.

I can only imagine, that in this moment, John and Peter had to remember one thing that Jesus told them. In fact, John records this in his Gospel in chapter 14, which starting in verse 23 reads: 23 Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 The one who doesn’t love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.25 “I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you. There is no doubt, if for some reason they doubted the faith and love of Jesus of any of the believers they laid hands on, their doubts would have gone away as they saw the Holy Spirit come and live with them, on that note, notice howe there is no mention of Simon the sorcerer receiving the Holy Spirit……

When a new believer is made, he or she is sealed with the assurance of salvation from God the Holy Spirit. He comes and lives within a person, and though we may have ups and downs in our faith, a true faith remains just that, true and the general trajectory of a person’s faith is more and more towards Christ-likeness; because God the Holy Spirit is always pointing us towards Christ and His glory and Christ is always pointing us towards God the Father and His Glory. This is all a wonderful and precious gift, and one that continues for the purpose of advancing God’s kingdom and bringing God glory. So, now that we see the action of God living in new believers:

Another action is: God is not in Wickedness and Sin

18 When Simon saw that the Spirit[c] was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also so that anyone I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”20 But Peter told him, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart’s intent may be forgiven. 23 For I see you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by wickedness.”24 “Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

We Continue the story, and up to this point, it had been plausible and possible that Simon was a converted believer, but his actions here shows that he was not, and many point to him as the first false convert in the Christian faith. Simon observes Peter and John laying hands on the people and afterwards they received the Holy Spirit. When what was happening was really an act of Mercy, Love, and Grace from God; Simon saw dollar signs, and a way to further his sinful influence that he had previously when he had deceived the people into calling him “The Great Power of God.” So, he tries to buy off the apostles, and receive this power for himself. To which, Peter gives a very strong rebuke, pointing out his sinful heart and desire and tells him that he has no part in this matter. The Apostle points out that his heart is still plagued with bitterness (likely over losing his influence/fame/and fortune) and that wickedness was deep in his heart. As such, God was not in or with this wicked man, and Simon needed to pray to God for forgiveness and be made right with God. Simon’s response to this, showed that he still didn’t really understand, because he did not understand a crucial thing, that a person’s faith in Christ, their faith in God is a personal experience that requires you to personally come before God, and no one else other than God has authority to save you.

Let me read you an relevant article from a Dr. Henry Morris, “One of the often-used excuses for rejecting the God of the Bible is if God is omnipotent (as the Bible teaches), and since evil exists in the world (as everyone can see), then God must be the author of evil or incapable of preventing it. Either way, such reasoning insists, that kind of God is not worthy of worship. If that logic were accurate, then most of the foundational truths of Scripture should be rejected. The Bible insists that the whole of reality was initially “very good” (Genesis 1:31) but was quickly marred by Lucifer’s lie and Adam’s rebellion (Genesis 3:14-17). The thrice-holy God (Isaiah 6:3) has no pleasure in wickedness (Psalm 5:4), does not tempt any man with evil (James 1:13), and loves righteousness and hates wickedness (Psalm 45:7). God does not cause evil. The Archenemy, Satan, is the father of untruth (John 8:44) and was the source of the deception of Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3) and the rebellion of Adam that brought sin and death into the creation (Romans 5:12). The most precise description of the all-consuming character of the Creator God is that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). There can be no impurity or inconsistency within the nature of the Godhead. The holy separateness of the Creator is such that no thing, no concept, no act, no thought can ever cause a break within the absolute light of our eternal God.”

If this is God, which it is, then he is not in wickedness and sin. He cannot tolerate it, and unfortunately, much like Simon, people can appear to be in Christ, can appear to be a Christian, but when a “test” happens or their faith needs to be proved, we discover that they were not. It’s a sad fact, non-the less we have to be sure to still evangelize these people, love these people, and just as Jesus taught us, to go after the lost sheep. Because, like a sheep on their own without a shepherd, they will be inevitably become prey to the evil one and their souls will be eternally lost if they don’t turn to Jesus. I know through conversations with some of us here, that this is a hard reality that some of us are facing with loved ones. But let me encourage you, it is not your fault. You have done everything that you could, and God honors that and your efforts. You have given them the information that is necessary and that you needed to, you have done well. Now, it is time for him or her to realize there are personally accountable before God. In the meantime, continue to minister to that loved one that they would have more opportunities to respond “yes” to Christ.

The next action is: God sends His Church out

25 So, after they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they traveled back to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

Here we cap-end our passage. After John and Peter had done these things, they returned back to Jerusalem, making several stops along the way to preach the good news to the Samaritans. Now, some of us have talked about how in our English translation, preach can mean a few different things, the word preach here comes from the word εὐαγγελίζω ĕuaggĕlizō, yoo-ang-ghel-id´-zo[1] which translates best to our word “Evangelize.” So, they went through Samaria evangelizing all the way through, an action that just weeks earlier would have seemed impossible and extremely unlikely to the apostles, yet here it stands, God’s Kingdom from then on and until Christ’s return will be on the move.

Let me ask you something. Have you ever had or owned anything that didn’t serve a purpose for you? Like, have you ever bought a car that didn’t work, or had only bad parts on it, or wasn’t worth fixing up? Probably not. Or, have you ever bought a jar of jam that was 15 years past its expiration date? I really hope not, I hope if you did you didn’t eat it!

My point here is, that God created His Church, the bride of Christ to be on the move, sharing with others. God gave you the Holy Spirit, gave you salvation so that He would be glorified through you and your faith would move you to bring in others and minister to others. He gave you feet and hands for walking and moving things, not for sitting and not doing anything. Everything and everyone has a purpose and a reason in God’s kingdom. So, we each have to ask, am I available for the Kingdom? Am I the bride of Christ that loves your husband (Christ) or is some secret or hidden sin holding me back? If so, remove it, and take your first step away from it and towards Jesus and the cross who is anxiously awaiting you with open arms.

Conclusion

Beloved, I hope this text speaks to you today. Did you see God on display in a new place? Where is in your life that you would like to see God on display where He wasn’t before?... think about it….. When you do this, ultimately you may see God living in new believers, which continues the cycle of kingdom growth and God receiving more glory, because God is not in wickedness and sin, and he receives glory when people turn from their wickedness and sin. This will all be done both through and to The Church as God sends His Church out as we follow the great commandments to Love God and Love People and Fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples.

With all of that being said, I would be remised if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

[1]Strong, James. A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible, vol. 1, Logos Bible Software, 2009, p. 33.