So tonight we will pick back up in our study on the book of Acts chapter 8. We'll be covering verses 4 through 8 if you want to turn there. So thus far in chapter 7 and chapter 8, we've spent a good amount of time studying through the words of Stephen as he spoke to the Sanhedrin. It took us several Wednesdays to get through that, and I found it quite an interesting study. It went through many of the recorded happenings of the Old Testament from Joseph and Abraham, even David and Solomon to some degree. It talked about the temple. It took us quite a while to go through that. Once we finished Stephen's glorification, we bounced to Saul briefly. Then we talked about the persecution a little bit, then we went back to Saul. And now this week, we're jumping to Philip. So it really kind of felt like, OK, let's stay on task here. We're all over the place. We spent several weeks studying through Stephen and all the things that happened with him. And now just one verse to the next, we're talking about something different. We're bouncing back and forth. The reason that we're going to Philip at this point is Luke is trying to give us a picture of what the church looked like after the persecution in Jerusalem, and they fled the city. Philip is a representative of that church that fled. This was an evangelistic effort that was going on. So Philip. Philip is an interesting study in and of itself. We heard about him not that long ago. He was in chapter six, one of the seven that was chosen. And he served the Hellenistic widows as well. We're going to find that his ministry went a lot further tonight. We're going to find that he was more than a deacon, if you will. So if you will, please stand for the reading of God's word. Acts chapter 8, verses 4 through 8. Starting at verse 4, chapter 8. Therefore those who had been scattered went about proclaiming the good news of the word. Now Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them. And the crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and they saw the signs which he was doing. For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice. And many who had been paralyzed and were lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city. Let's pray. Father, we thank you once again for your word We thank you once again for giving us this opportunity to be here. And Father, I ask that you move me out of the way and have your way and your will done tonight. Have your words to be spoken. Give us eyes and ears to hear. Help us to understand. And Father, we thank you so much. We praise the name of your son. We love you. We pray this in Jesus' name. All God's people said, amen. So I'm gonna cover verses four and five together, six and seven together, and then eight by itself. Four and five read, therefore, those who had been scattered went about proclaiming the good news of the word. Now Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them. So go with me, if you will, on a little mental journey The rage of Saul has caused the Christians to flee the persecution in Jerusalem. This was brought about by Stephen's execution or glorification, if you want to look at it that way. And the picture here is thousands of Christians fleeing Jerusalem with basically only what they could carry. There were no U-Haul trucks on the corner to rent in that day. There were no cardboard boxes that you could go behind one of the local retail stores and pick up. And they had to get out in a hurry. So you see them traveling by foot. Some may have a donkey or two. Perhaps even some of the wealthier Christians may have had a camel. They likely had some amount of clothes they could grab and bundle together. Maybe some minimal provisions that they could take with them for a few days. And their fleeing led them into other regions around Jerusalem. And it's in those areas where they planted their families. So that's the picture. People fleeing Jerusalem on foot with what they could carry. And we must realize that while the Christians did flee, they did not go into hiding. They did leave persecution behind, but they went away continuing to spread the word and even more robustly spreading the word. The good news is Jesus Christ is going forward through the persecuted Christians. The way this verse is worded, those who had been scattered, that's referring to the laity of the church, the membership of the church. This is not professional clergy. This is not a professional missionary movement from some organization somewhere. This is people escaping. And this is people sharing. It's being spread throughout. The laity, the church, the membership, if you will, spreading the gospel to anyone and everyone that they come across. that will listen. And we have to realize that in leaving Jerusalem, they're leaving a lot of things behind. Of course, we think about belongings, whatever a house looked like in that day. But they're fleeing a persecuting Sanhedrin. They're going into a land where that Sanhedrin is not immediately imminent. Samaria, and Judea, and some of these other regions. There may have been Jews there. In fact, we'll talk about the Samaritans in a few minutes, and how that they are of Jewish descent, but the Jews would have nothing to do with them. So they're fleeting into these regions, they're planning their families, and they're spreading the word. And that kind of gives us a picture of who we ought to be, doesn't it? It kind of shines a little bit of light on, are you sharing the gospel, Richard? Who are you sharing it with? You should be sharing the light of Christ through you for whoever's around you. And I'm not saying I need to go around beating people over the head with the Bible, but being a witness in the way you live your life, sharing your testimony at the proper times and the right ways, not being afraid to share the gospel of Christ. We should be doing that, and I think that's what we're seeing happen in these fleeing Christians. Not all of us are preachers, not all of us are teachers or even evangelists, but we all have a belief. We all have a testimony. If you're saved here tonight, you have a new heart, you have a new nature, and you're not the same person you used to be, and that is your testimony. Here's what has changed in my life. And I didn't just do this. Jesus Christ did this. The Holy Spirit within me did this. Tertullian said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And I've heard that a lot over the last few months. and the studies that I've been doing, and Stephen being a martyr, and that's been in a lot of the reading that I've done. But we might ask ourselves, how can this be, or what does that even mean? The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Persecution in and of itself will cause some number of true believers to stand on their faith. Persecution will cause some number of true believers to say, I will not bow to that idol. I will not adopt those ways. Persecution takes a lukewarm church out of its comfort zone and it makes it active again. We see some of that happening now in our communities with the struggles that are out there. And it's a great thing. I hate what has happened there, but I really love seeing the communities come together. I love seeing neighbor helping neighbor. People going and doing, sorry. It's an amazing process. There's a boldness that happens in persecution. And this, for instance, the early church has been first forced out into the world outside the walls of Jerusalem in complete dependence upon God, in complete dependence upon the faith that they have. In verse 5 we are reintroduced to Philip. And as I said a few minutes ago, he's one of the original seven that was chosen to be the deacons or the servants toward the Hellenistic widows. In Acts 6 he was named Second, only to Stephen, who we just studied through. And he is the only man in the scriptures to carry the title directly of an evangelist. Now we have Paul, who told Timothy to do the work of an evangelist. And we think about Paul himself, we'd be probably foolish to think that Paul wasn't an evangelist, right? But Philip is the only person that carries that title in the scriptures. Philip is proving that Stephen's teaching that God can be rightly worshipped outside of the temple to be very true. He's continuing Jesus Christ's ministry of reaching out to those who are marginal and outcast and undesirable even. The Samaritan people are those outcasts in these verses, and they are an interesting story in and of themselves. Several times we've heard about how they weren't accepted by the Jewish people, and they faced a lot of critical accusations. They were called half-breeds. To eat with a Samaritan at that table or in the same house was viewed as worse than eating pork. Their daughters were considered unclean. They were accused of abortions even back in that day. They had their own temple. in Mount Gerizim, and all the Jews considered it to be a false temple, that it was a sacrilege in the eyes of the Jews. The Jews, in their mind, there was only one temple, and that was the one in Jerusalem, of course. Yet, these Samaritans were of Jewish descent. You see, Samaria was an ancient capital of the Northern Kingdom. And after about a century of idolatrous worship and rebellion toward God, the city fell to the Assyrians, and you'll find that in 2 Kings 17 and 18. And many of the captive Samaritans resettled in other lands and pagan lands. They were moved there by the Assyrians. That also is in chapter 17 of 2 Kings. And what resulted was a mixing of the Jewish blood with Gentile blood. the Samaritan race was born. Now they did hold on to some of their Jewish heritage and religion, such as they believed the first five books of the Bible, what we call the Pentateuch, Genesis through Deuteronomy. But that's all they revered was those five books. They believed in a Messiah. We can go back and study John chapter four, the Samaritan woman at the well, she talked to Christ about the Messiah. Their Messiah was called Teheb, T-A-H-E-B. And that means the returning one or the coming one. Jesus had not readily admitted to be the Messiah to the Jewish leadership, but he did this with this lady at the well in John chapter four. He said, I am he. of whom you speak. Ezra 4 tells us that the Samaritans were willing to help rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, but they were flatly rejected by the Jews due to the disrespect that the Jewish people held for the Samaritans. But if we go back and reflect on that John chapter 4 story of the lady at the well, We spend a lot of time thinking about getting a drink of water there. But Jesus laid some groundwork there. In John 4, 39 to 42, we read, from that city, many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who bore witness. It's evangelism, right? He told me all the things that I have done. So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking him to stay with them, and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word, and they were saying to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is truly the savior of the world. So when Philip came to the Samaritans, some of them were believers already. Jesus had preached there during that two-day period. He had spoken with these people, and there were some number of them that believed. For them to now hear from Philip about the resurrection of Jesus, whom they had believed in, to hear about his ascension, that's an affirmation of what they believed, and it provided them with more assurance. Philip was physically in their midst preaching Christ, the Messiah, and his sacrifice. And I'm sure this was music to their ears. Here we have a rejected people. People of Jewish descent visiting with them, believers in Christ, who are open to them. And it's really kind of fitting, isn't it, that the Samaritans would be next in line to receive the gospel, first of the Jews, right? And they, like the Christians, have something in common. They've both been rejected by Jerusalem. Verses six and seven read, and the crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was being said by Philip. And as they heard and saw the signs which he was doing, for in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice, and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed." So here we have Philip, much like Peter, on the day of Pentecost. Crowds are being drawn to hear what's going on. The preaching of the gospel occurs. And most commentators interpret verse six in such a manner that apparently the signs and miracles are just occurring while the preaching is going on. We have seen miracles happen in our study in Acts, and it's always been a Peter saying, stand and walk. And we think about the laying on of hands. What we have here in these words is the preaching is happening And this person can walk, this person can see evil spirits coming out. Because in this verbiage, it reads, we're giving attention to what was being said by Philip as they heard and saw the signs which he was doing. While they were given attention, they saw the signs and miracles occurring. And we have to be careful here, this wasn't a Benny Hinn crusade. What they're seeing is the work of the Holy Spirit in regenerating hearts, in healing physical infirmities, in casting out demons. And the Spirit is going about the congregation doing these things while Philip preaches. And Philip receives much credit for these signs in many respects. But he's simply the tool. He's the vehicle, if you will, through which the Holy Spirit is working. Verse 6 goes on to state that the crowds were of one accord. They were in unity. There was unison with the crowd of Samaritans and what Philip was teaching. They were of the same heart and the same mind. belief in Christ, agreement with what was being said. And in doing so, they were giving attention to what was being said to Philip, which shows a level of intensity and eagerness to hear and to learn from the words spoken by Philip. As mentioned before, Jesus had come to the Samaritans in person, and some had believed in him. And now they're hearing the message of his messiahship again. And many more are believing. And they're seeing these signs, the signs that they had likely heard all about coming out of Jerusalem, are happening in their midst in this city of Samaria. And as we've talked about before in Acts, these signs are a, they're an, gives authenticity to what Philip is doing. This is a sign that this is truly a messenger of God. They're proof, they're evidence. that the preaching is true, and these words have come from God. Philip spoke, and when they heard his message, they saw the signs, and as they occurred and they were in full agreement, this is of God. And when I think about Philip's preaching, there's some real parallels between his preaching and what the apostles did. I mean, the apostles preached Christ, the people came to listen, they believed, Here we have the same thing with the crowds coming. The apostles and Stephen perform miracles to substantiate that all they taught was fact and real. The same thing's happening with Philip. Stephen and Philip were both part of those original seven, as we discussed. But as I read through this, through their serving, a ministry took root. As their faithfulness grew, so did their ministry grow. They started out believers just like the rest, quickly became deacons. From believer to deacon to preacher to miracle worker. And I just see that God does use faithful people. As we go into verse seven, one thing that really caught my attention is the word many. It's used twice in verse seven, it's repetitive. And if you read through that, it's real easy to go over words like many and you realize much and okay, let's go on. But this implies that the signs and miracles of removing unclean spirits and the healing of the paralyzed and the lame were not just occasionally happening. They were occurring with frequency and to several people in the same timeframes of when Philip was speaking. Philip is simply preaching Jesus Christ, and the people are experiencing this in great numbers. And I really struggle with the whole removing unclean spirits thing. I haven't seen that personally happen. I've seen people that have said, this guy is demon possessed, or this person really has an evil spirit about him. But I haven't seen an exorcism. I haven't been a part of one. I don't know what this looks like. I've seen the exorcist one time a long time ago, but I can, this is different. Unclean spirits being called out, cast out, removed. I mean, we read about Jesus doing this even one time when the apostles were unable to remove an unclean spirit. Matthew 17, starting at verse 14. And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples and they could not cure him. And Jesus answered and said, oh, you unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me. And Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him and the boy was cured at once. And the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we not cast it out? And he said to them, because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move. and nothing will be impossible for you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." That last line really resonated, so I got to digging into some of this Matthew 17 story. Prayer and fasting. There's so many people out there who put little to no value in prayer and fasting. I got a church on Sunday, that's good. That's enough. But Jesus is telling us something here. There are things that will not happen in your life without prayer and fasting. Spurgeon stated that these words are indicative of the fact that some tasks require that you have overcome heaven by prayer and conquered yourself by self-denial. And some people see little value in it. I personally think the removing of unclean spirits would be like the premium miracle to manifest the proof of the Messiah and his kingdom. This is of God. This verse goes on to tell us that these unclean spirits were coming out of them with a loud voice, shouting even. So there's great reluctance for the demon to come out. They were forced removal against their will. And I couldn't help but while I was studying through this, you know, I was just thinking, well, the Holy Spirit made them say uncle, right? Get out of here. Go. And not only were the people being released from this bondage of evil, this bondage of Satan, but they're being healed from various diseases and infirmities, such as paralysis it talks about, being lame. And these two infirmities are obviously viewed as being among the most burdensome of infirmities. I would think right in there alongside blindness. I mean, no longer were they totally dependent upon others for even the most simple task, to go to the restroom to get a drink of water. Someone either had to go do it for you or they had to take you there. They weren't just granted mobility, they were granted independence to a large degree when they came out of a state of paralysis and were able to do for themselves. The state of being lame. And it's real easy to to think about miracles and we would naturally put a lot of stock in a miracle. Some of us have seen what we would call miracles. Things that it had to be God that did that because there's no other way. There's just no other way. And those are wonderful experiences to know that God exists at that level. That he thinks enough of you or someone you know that he intervened for that moment in time and showed his presence. And when those things happen, we need to put high value on that. We really do. But we cannot let that be a substitute for true faith. Sometimes people get so wrapped up in wanting to see a miracle that it becomes a fantasy even. And they put all their stock in that moment in time. And their salvation is based on Jesus Christ. Philip is a tool through which God is working. And the early church may have been driven out of Jerusalem. And it may have appeared quite weak in being chased out of Jerusalem. But it's proceeding forward with power, with majesty that belongs to the triune God alone. And then we come to verse 8. So there was great joy in that city. Galatians 5 tells us that joy is in that list of things that are the fruit of the Spirit. It's second only to love. It's right before peace. And you've got patience and kindness and goodness. All of these things are a fruit of the Spirit. All these are given to individuals when they truly believe. And joy is second on that list. Now, we may all get a little different portion of this, but we're all going to get some of this. Joy is a fundamental characteristic of people who have truly been saved. Now, that's not to say we walk around with rose-colored glasses on and every moment in time is a joyous moment. There are trials and tribulations. But even when we're going through times like right now, there's so much unknown in the world right now. We've got this disaster that's going on as we're here right now. A hurricane is crashing into Florida again. Wars in Israel. Wars in the Ukraine. An election coming up. Just all kind of unknowns out there right now. But we still need to find our joy in Christ. We still need to look to Him for our joy. Because it's real easy to get bogged down in all this. It's real easy to let this dominate us. And it can rob us of our joy. And when we have these struggles with finding our joy in Christ, we really need to back up to the most simple of verses, such as John 3.16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. That's where our joy is. The fact that we don't have to face death the same way that we used to. Eternity looks a whole lot different with Christ in your life. Find joy in those things. Joy. In this verse, the Samaritans, they not only experience joy, but they experience great joy. Widespread joy. Joy on every face. Joy displayed in their actions. Joy is obvious. It's great joy. And it's really easy to read through a short verse like this. This is one of the shortest verses in the Bible. It's not the shortest one. Jesus' web, I think everyone would agree, is the shortest one. And these numbers in our Bible and these chapters, these letters and these books were not written in this manner. These have been added so that we can identify, if I say go to verse 10, it's real easy to go to verse 10. I don't have to read through 10 verses to say, okay, this one. But when we come to these small, individual verses, we need to stop and ask ourselves, why? Why did Jesus weep? Did he weep because Lazarus had died? Do we really think Christ was surprised and there was nothing that he could do to keep it from happening? No, we don't believe that for a minute. But yet he wept. And here we have great joy in that city. Why did they have great joy? There's a number of people that ask, how do you study the Bible? What do you do? And I try to explain what I do and how I read and the things that I reference. Some of the most important things you'll do in your Bible study is ask yourself questions. Why was there great joy in the city? What caused this great joy? Where did they find it? How did they find it? And when you think about it that way, there's a number of reasons there's great joy in the city. They have a sense of acceptance that has enraptured the Samaritan people. I mean, for so long, they've been downtrodden. They've been the second-rate citizens. Jews have disparaged them. They're not even welcome in the city. They can't go to the temple. They want to belong. They want to be accepted. So having this Christian community coming in and being open to them is a welcome feeling for the Samaritans. And don't we all desire some degree of this from time to time? I mean, isn't that why we're here tonight? Isn't that a part of why we gather here on Wednesdays? Fellowship. Another reason Christ who appeared to them sometime before this is recorded in John 4, has returned. The Tehib has come. The returning one. Not in person, but through one of his preachers. In Philip. And the Holy Spirit. And his Messiahship is being declared. Evil spirits are being removed from their loved ones. People are being freed from the bondage to evil, to sin. Evil spirits are coming out with a shout. It's evident what's happening. It's obvious that the word of God is going forth and accomplishing all that it's set forth to do. It will not return void. Serious, life-altering ailments and infirmities are being healed and cured. men, women, children, suffering from paralysis, being lame, other infirmities, being healed. I mean, can you imagine having a child that can't walk because of polio or some other terrible whatever and you brought them to church and Philip spoke and they walked out of here. They got to run and play with the other kids. Or your dad who may have had an accident trying to provide a living and he's got a broken back in a day and time when a doctor was nothing like what we would call a doctor. And you wheeled them in here to church and they were healed during the sermon while Philip preached. And they were able to start supporting the family again and weren't a burden any longer. Or some terrible sickness that struck your neighbor that you were having to take care of and now they're able to help take care of you. I mean, there's a lot of reasons for there to be great joy here. I mean, all these things would bring about a joy of joys, in my opinion. But that's not the greatest joy. Most of all, the great joy that they experience is because of salvation that has come. The burden of their sins, as they believe, has been defeated through repentance and belief in Jesus Christ. Their dread of death has been relieved. Eternity in heaven will be theirs. The believing Samaritans have gone from being the black sheep among the Jews to being a cherished child of the King, co-heirs with Christ. They're going to get to see Jesus once again and oh, how we should all long for that day. And as we think back, to that Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter four. Those living waters that Christ talked to her about is now springing forth and they'll never thirst again. Oh, there was great joy in the city. And I pray that everyone here knows Christ and can experience some of that great joy. I hope that we can continue to grow in our joy in Christ. because of what he's done for us. I mean, my prayer is that we could all share in the same great joy that the Samaritans did. And if this joy is missing from your life, because Jesus is missing in your life, I pray that repentance and belief will come upon you and that you'll believe upon the Lord Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this evening. We thank you for your word. We thank you for the joy that we're able to have in our life. Help us, Lord, to open our eyes and be able to see that joy and enjoy that joy that is found in your son Jesus Christ, Father, once again, I thank you for these people that are here. And I ask that you bless them moderately, take us home safely, and bring us back at the next appointed time. And it's in your son's precious name that we pray, and all God's children said, amen. Thank you, and you are dismissed.