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Our king is still on the throne.
Okay, Acts chapter 8. Remember Saul, who later on becomes
known as the Apostle Paul, he's going around persecuting the
Christians in Jerusalem. Now, it's the Greek-speaking
Jewish Christians that are targeted here because they were the first
to see, like Stephen, they were the first to see that Jesus had
fulfilled the temple sacrifices. There was a lot of money to be
made in the temple and there was a lot of tradition. And people
don't let go of traditions too easily, okay? So, they didn't
have patience for the Greek-speaking Jewish Christians. So at this
point, the apostles were safe to stay in Jerusalem. but Stephen
was put to death, Philip fled, a lot of the Greek-speaking Jewish
Christians had to flee, and we talked about that, that we might
have to flee, but we must still preach Jesus, okay? Believe me, I like being safe. I like being healthy. I love
being free. But God didn't put me on this
earth to be comfortable. Okay? God didn't put you on this
earth to be comfortable. We were created for one reason. That is to know Jesus and to
proclaim his name throughout the earth. And so we live for
Jesus. He died for us. Least we could
do is live for him, 2 Corinthians 5, 15. So we might have to flee,
but even if we flee, we preach along the way. And that's what
Philip was doing. So, Philip ends up going to Samaria. You know, if you have maps in
your Bibles, in the back, you'll see that, you know, Israel during
the time of Jesus or during the time of the apostles, and you'll
see that Jerusalem is to the south, and he's fleeing north
towards Samaria, the next region. So, there's a region of Judea,
then there's Samaria and then there's Galilee to the north
and the cream of the crop Jews they lived in Judea around Jerusalem
and then the lesser respected, less respected Jews lived in
Galilee to the north but Samaritans were hated by the Jews because
the Samaritans were Gentiles who claimed to be Jews, who thought
they were Jews because the Assyrians had conquered that area when
they conquered the ten northern tribes took the Jews captive,
the Israelites captive and then repopulated the land with Assyrians,
with Gentiles. So there were probably some Israelites
still there but they intermarried so much so The Samaritans were
a reminder of one of the biggest shameful defeats in the history
of Israel, and so it was a slap in the face to Jewish pride,
and then these were Gentiles going around saying, we're Jews
too. And so the Jews are going on saying, we're the chosen nation
of God. And the Samaritans are saying,
well us too. And so the Jews hated it so much they wouldn't
even allow the Samaritans into the court of the Gentiles in
the temple. So the Samaritans ended up building an alternative
temple which God never accepted in Samaria. So, Philip though
is understanding, he's understanding, he's not as caught up with Jewish
tradition, and bogged down by Jewish tradition, he sees that
Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial laws, so he understands, wow,
he actually understands whether he heard it or not, or read about
it or not, he actually understands Jesus' message to the Samaritan
woman. She asked Jesus, where are we going to worship? You
Jews say you worship in a temple? We Samaritans worship on this
mountaintop. Who's right? And Jesus said, a time is coming,
and now is, when you'll neither worship God on this mountaintop
or in Jerusalem. For God is spirit, and those
who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. Jesus
broke down the wall. The wall of separation between
the pagan Gentiles and the Jews. Jesus is our peace. Philip got
it, and because he got it, that nationalistic Jewish pride reached
a boiling point to where they had no place for
the Greek-speaking Jewish Christians, and they had to flee, and so
he had to flee. So he's one of the seven deacons,
he's on the most wanted list. These guys, the apostles were
not even wanted at this point. The Jews were taking Gamaliel's
advice, you know, just leave the guys alone, we'll see if
it's from God at this point. And so they're, the persecution
of the very Jewish, the Hebrew-speaking Jewish Christians, they're not
being messed with. But it's the Greek-speaking ones
that are realizing, you know what, we don't need to offer
sacrifice in the temple anymore, Jesus has fulfilled that. And
So Philip's on the most wanted list, one of the seven deacons,
remember? Picked in Act 6 to wait on tables of the Greek-speaking
Jewish widows who weren't getting as much food. Their needs weren't
being met like the Hebrew Jewish Christian widows. And so he preaches
Jesus, he performs miracles, an entire multitude accepts Christ. The problem is he baptized them
in Jesus' name. Throughout Acts you find them
baptizing people in Jesus' name. Now take a look at what Jesus'
command was in Matthew 28. And this is His command, not
only to the apostles, but it's to us as well. Matthew 28, 19
and 20, in fact we'll start at verse 18. And Jesus came and
spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven
and on earth. Now when you're battered and
beaten, you're feeling like you're alone, don't tell yourself, well,
most of the authority has been given to Jesus. That's false,
that's a lie from the pits of hell. Jesus doesn't have most
authority. He has all authority. If this government decides it's
going to declare war on Christians, I think it already has, and they
come down on you, the powerful people of this world, and they
start beating you, you just got to remember, Any authority they
have is given to them by the Lord, just like Jesus said to
Pilate. All authority has been given to Jesus, nothing is going
to happen to me, nothing's going to happen to you, no matter how
bad, nothing is going to happen to you without Jesus giving the
okay. And if Jesus gives the okay,
some way, shape, or form, he's going to work it for good. You
might say, well, Pastor Phil, how can he work what I'm going
through for good? I don't know, I'm not God. We got a God who's
infinitely wise. If I have all the answers, it's
a false God that I'm preaching. Okay? We better study His Word. If God has spoken, you better
study His Word. And you better handle accurately
the Word of Truth. 2 Timothy 2.15. But the idea
that we have all the answers, He didn't give us all the answers.
If He gave us all the answers, we wouldn't be able to handle
it. Okay? But he says, all authority has
been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations. It's not our goal to lead people
to Christ. It's our goal to lead people
to Christ and disciple them. It's our goal to make mature
Christians. So if you lead somebody to Christ,
you better get them plugged into a good, solid Bible-believing,
Bible-preaching church. Get them plugged into weekly
Bible studies. Otherwise, we know better than
the guy who makes babies and doesn't take care of them and
goes somewhere else. You lead people, somebody to Jesus, you're
their spiritual father, like it or not. You could be twenty
years old and you just led a ninety-year-old guy to Christ, well right now
you're his spiritual father. And you gotta take care, you
gotta care about that person's well-being. Quality discipleship
is what the Great Commission is all about. Go therefore and
make disciples You know, if you're living a totally undisciplined
life in all ways, are you really a disciple? That's where we get
the word discipline from. Go, therefore, and make disciples
of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age." So, he commanded the apostles,
and us as well, to baptize in the name of the Father, Son,
and the Holy Spirit. You see, throughout the book of Acts,
it says that they went and baptized in the name of Jesus. They baptized
people in Jesus' name. they didn't quite understand
who this Holy Spirit is. Now I think after they thought
for a while on John chapters 14, 15, and 16 and Jesus' baptism
they figured out the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead.
The one true God is three persons. But they didn't have it totally
figured out. I mean it was crazy enough for them to start worshiping
Jesus alongside the Father and acknowledging that they're two
distinct persons and still saying, but I only worship one God. How
could you worship two persons and only worship one God? Well,
there's one God, there's at least two persons. Well, now they're
slowly finding out about the third person of the Trinity.
We'll come back to Acts chapter 8, verse 14, Now when the apostles
who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word
of God, they sent Peter and John to them, pretty much to investigate.
They probably freaked out. What? The Samaritans? And then,
you know, John said, hey, you know, Jesus did preach to the
Samaritan woman, a whole village got saved. They're not outside
the sphere of those who are savable. They can be salvaged, they can
be saved. And so they sent them. Peter and John, the two leading
apostles to go check it out, who when they had come down,
if you look on a map it looks like they're going up, they're
going north. But that's not the way, you couldn't even afford
scrolls, you didn't even look at maps back then. So when you're
talking about going up and going down, it's because Jerusalem
is on four mountaintops. So when you leave Jerusalem,
you're going down, okay? And so, and so they, and when they had come
down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
These are people who are already saved. Verse 16, for as yet he had fallen upon
none of them. They had only been baptized in
the name of the Lord Jesus. I think at this early stage of
Christianity, you see, you've got a, it's a
really crazy time. You've got Old Testament saints.
See, how were the Old Testament saints saved? They were saved
the same way we were. In the same way we are saved.
We're saved by God's grace alone. It's a free gift, you can't earn
it. Through faith alone. You don't trust in yourself,
you trust in Jesus. By God's grace alone, through faith alone
and Jesus alone. Okay? Now they didn't know what
Jesus' name was going to be. But even before the Jews came
into existence through Abraham and his son Isaac, even before
they came into existence, right from the garden, God promised
there's going to be a man born a woman who's going to crush
the head of the serpent, who's going to defeat Satan, even though
he gets bruised in the process. It was a prediction of a suffering
Savior. And Judaism did not stifle that
proclamation. It made it even more clear that
he's going to come from the Jews through Abraham's seed. all nations
will be blessed. God blessed Israel to be a blessing
to all nations. God never blesses us so that
we're blessed. He always blesses us to be a
blessing to others. God blessed Israel and chose
Israel because He wanted to bless all mankind and He wanted all
mankind to come to His salvation. And So this proclamation went
out, so the Jews were supposed to, if you're a Jew in the Old
Testament, you got saved because you said, look, I'm trusting
in Yahweh, the God of Israel, who will someday send Messiah
to save me. Okay? And I'm trying to obey
God's laws. They're good guidelines for living,
but God demands obedience from the heart. I can't do that. I
fall short. So the law is a substitute teacher
leading me back to belief in Messiah. The bloodshed of animals
doesn't take away my sins, but someday God will send the Lamb
of God. who will take away the sins of
the world. And so you've got to understand,
there were many Jews, thousands of Jews who were already saved,
who didn't even know yet that Jesus was the Messiah. They were
trusting in Him, but they didn't know. So you've got that going
on, okay? Then you've got people getting
saved and they never even heard of the Holy Spirit. Okay? The church, they were already
believers, and then on the Feast of Pentecost, they got baptized
with the Spirit. Here we see the Samaritans get
saved, and they're not yet baptized with the Holy Spirit, and they
get baptized later on. Okay? We find that in different
cases. Cornelius, in Acts chapter 10,
it's weird, they get baptized with the Holy Spirit even before
they get water baptized, while Peter's preaching. they start
speaking in tongues and so it's like wow Peter says they're saved
and they're Gentiles I can't withhold water baptism from them
so they were already saved and baptized with the spirit before
even being water baptized now there's a big debate going on
in the church and it's been going on for centuries about whether
or not Salvation and baptism with the Holy Spirit are one
event now, or two events later. And we don't have time to look
at it, but Jesus says, look, I'm going to baptize you with
the Holy Spirit, or John the Baptist says about Jesus, one
comes after me, I baptize with water, one's going to come who's
going to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. A lot of
people go around and say, I'm baptized with the Holy Spirit
and fire. No, you're not. It's either or. It's not both
ends. The very next verse, Matthew 3.12, explains God gathers the
wheat into the barn, symbolic of being baptized with the Holy
Spirit and salvation, and then burns up all the chaff, all the
garbage with unquenchable fire, symbolic of hell. So it seems
to me that this is a transitional period. Peter says this baptism
now saves you. So it seems to me, you get baptized
with the Holy Spirit the moment you first believe now. Now having
said that, I would take a better safe than sorry approach. When
you lead somebody to Christ for salvation, also pray that they
receive the Holy Spirit and are baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Keep in mind, the Old Testament saints, they had to be regenerated
by the Holy Spirit, they had to be born again to be saved.
You'll even see King Saul got a new heart. Okay? The Holy Spirit
had to apply the work of Christ, which was yet to be done, to
the heart of the Old Testament saints for them to be saved.
Yet, the Holy Spirit did not indwell them, and the Holy Spirit
did not fill them, and the Holy Spirit did not baptize them.
See, being baptized, being immersed with the Holy Spirit is the first
filling of the Holy Spirit that you receive, and I believe you
receive that when you first trust in Jesus for salvation. Now here's
such a transitional period, people are just finding out who Jesus
is, it's going to be a while before they even find out who
the Holy Spirit is. Okay? Like I say, when you lead people
to Christ, also pray that God baptizes them with the Holy Spirit.
Okay? And so, it says, verse 17, then
they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. And so they're baptized with
the Holy Spirit. We don't have time to look at
it when you get a chance. Look at 1 Corinthians 12, that whole
chapter. Paul says to the Corinthians,
all of you, have been baptized with the Holy Spirit but then
he says but not all you speak in tongues not all you have this
gift not all you have that gift don't force your gift on other
people but the Holy Spirit baptizes us and empowers us to do work
in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would come down and anoint
the king of Israel and the high priest Jesus predicted in John
chapters 14, 15, and 16, the Holy Spirit will come to you,
I'm gonna send him to you, so you will not be an orphan. And
he'll be in you, and he'll empower you, and he'll guide you into
all the truth. And so, this is why Jesus said to John the Baptist,
there was no man born a woman, excepting Jesus of course, no
man born a woman greater than John the Baptist up to that point,
but Jesus said the least. in the kingdom of God is greater
than he. Because we got something John the Baptist never got. We get the baptism with the Holy
Spirit. And so we've got to remind ourselves
that there is more to salvation than just being forgiven. Let
me repeat that. There's more to salvation than
just being forgiven. We are also empowered by the
Holy Spirit. Okay, when you keep making excuses
and say, well pastor, I can't be godly because this, or I can't
be godly because that, or I can't be all that God's calling me
to be, you're actually bad-mouthing your God. Because Jesus didn't
leave you as an orphan. He didn't leave me as an orphan.
We've got the Holy Spirit indwelling us. He regenerates us, gives
us a new birth like the Old Testament, but then He indwells us, and
then He fills us to overflowing. And that first filling to overflowing
is called the baptism with the Holy Spirit. But then you get
many fillings there. Anytime you step outside of God's
will, you need to be filled again. You can't be filled with the
Spirit without prayer, without study of God's Word. You've got to cling to God moment
by moment, day by day. And again, I'm going to give
you this illustration. Being indwelt by the Holy Spirit
is like you're driving the car and the Holy Spirit's in the
passenger side seat. That's being indwelt by the Holy
Spirit. Being filled by the Holy Spirit, you move to the passenger
side seat and the Holy Spirit's driving. So it's not like you
get more of the Holy Spirit when you get filled. He gets more
of you. Being filled with the Spirit
and being controlled by the Spirit are synonymous. Okay? In the New Testament, they're
synonymous. And it may have been Some would
say the text seems to imply that God postponed the baptism with
the Holy Spirit because they had never heard of the Holy Spirit
and Peter and Philip only baptized them in the name of the Lord
Jesus. Others speculate that, you know,
God, there may be another reason why God postponed the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, and that was so Peter and John and the
Jerusalem church, the Jewish church, would see that the same
Holy Spirit who regenerates and works through Jewish Christians
is also at work in Gentile Christians, even Samaritans. even Samaritans. The Jews used to refer to Samaritans
as dogs. That's why when Jesus gave the
parable of the good Samaritan as an example of what being a
good neighbor is all about, it blew away the Jewish religious
leaders. It'd be like our media today
never likes to show Christians in a positive light because it's
got an anti-Christian narrative, an anti-Christian agenda. Well,
the Jews had an anti-Samaritan agenda and Jesus was saying,
no, I am such a big God, I can work even with the Samaritans. Now, by the way, just look at Luke. verses 9 to 13, Luke 11 verses
9 to 13 Jesus says this, so I say to you ask and it will be given
to you seek and you will find knock and it will be opened to
you everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to
him who knocks it will be opened so there's a lot of, you know
false teachers on television saying, therefore, you know,
claim a Corvette in Jesus' name. Just ask for it in Jesus' name. He's got to give it to you. That's
not what he's saying. Look at verse 11. If a son asks for bread
from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he
asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. I'll stop there for a second. If you ask God the Father, in
Jesus' name, for a good gift, God will give it to you. The
problem is, what we think is good and what God knows is good
for us is often, more often than not, two different things. Okay? We almost always say, God,
take this period of suffering, this trial, from me. And God's
like, no, I'm using this trial to cause you to grow, to catch
your attention, bring you closer to me, to get you to stop trusting
in your own wisdom, in your own power. So often what we think
is good and what God knows is good for us are two different
things. God knows how to give a good gift. Jesus said, you
know, You know, I don't think I'm reading
too much in the text there. If a little baby, a little child
asks his father for a serpent or a loaded gun, the father would
say no. I'm not...so you can ask, you
can ask in Jesus' name for bad gifts. If God knows it's bad
for you, God's going to say no. Okay? The secret of prayer is
not dragging God off the throne to do your will. The secret of
prayer is you, your will rising up so you desire for your life
what God desires for your life. Okay? I think as you grow closer
to the Lord, you stop praying less and less for selfish things
and more and more for what is God's will. I remember praying
with a bunch of Christians from a third world country who were
being persecuted and uh... it wasn't a bunch it was about
three of them and uh... and they asked me to lead them
in prayer and so I prayed that God remove the suffering from
them and they stopped me they said we're not asking for that
prayer we're asking that just God comforts us in the midst
of our suffering and uses our suffering for his glory okay
I was thinking about their safety and well-being. They stopped
me because they were thinking about the kingdom of God. Okay? Oh, that we would have that perspective.
We'll get it. We'll get it. The way our government's
going, we're going to be spiritually walking on water. We're going
to be doing real good in our walks with the Lord because there's
not going to be anything on this earth. for us to be attracted
to anymore after the government gets through with us. Verse 13,
if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your heavenly Father give, what
does it say there? The Holy Spirit to those who
ask Him. See, so the whole context about
asking, seeking, and knocking According to Luke's Gospel, the
whole thing there is that the ultimate thing to ask God for
is more and more of His Holy Spirit. Well, basically, ask
for the Holy Spirit and God's not going to deny you. If you're
trusting in Jesus for salvation and you ask for the Holy Spirit
in Jesus' name, you'll receive it. Okay? So, baptism with the
Holy Spirit is not just for special Christians, it's for all Christians.
I tend to think that once you trust in Jesus for salvation,
you also get baptized with the Holy Spirit and that this is
a transitional period. In case I'm wrong, when you lead people
to Jesus, also pray that they get baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Okay? And then don't dictate to God
what gifts you receive. The Holy Spirit distributes the
gifts of the Spirit as He wills according to 1 Corinthians chapter
12. But remember, there's more to
salvation than being forgiven. We are also empowered by the
Holy Spirit. So you're not just supposed to
be a forgiven person who just stays home and watches TV. or
just search the internet or whatever it is you do. You're supposed
to be a saved person who is forgiven and empowered to serve the God
of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. By Peter and John investigating
the situation and baptizing the Samaritans with the Holy Spirit,
God is showing them that there's only one church. whether it's
Jew, Samaritan, or Gentile, we all make up one church, okay? And there are no second-class
Christians. So Peter and John investigate
the situation, baptize the new converts with the Holy Spirit, And now in verses 18 to 25, Peter
has to confront Simon the sorcerer. Remember a couple weeks ago we
talked about Simon the sorcerer and a guy who was into occultic
magic, demonically empowered guy. He makes a profession of
faith in Jesus and Philip baptizes him. And you might be thinking,
boy, that was a big mistake for Philip to baptize that guy. Not
really. When a person makes a profession
of faith in Christ and you explain the gospel message to them, you
have no way of knowing if they're lying. And in the early church,
you make a profession of faith, they baptize you on the spot.
It's only in America that we have a one-year training course
or whatever it may be, and most people don't make it through
that, so we got a bunch of people who say, yeah, I'm a follower
of Jesus, I've just never been baptized. Okay? Water baptism
does not save, but once you are saved, the first thing Jesus
commands you to do is get water baptized. Okay? And so, Simon the sorcerer had
been baptized. Well, let's look and see if he's
a true believer. Verse 18, And when Simon saw
that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy
Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me this
power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy
Spirit. They laid hands on them, they
received the Holy Spirit. If I laid hands on you and prayed
for you to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and you get baptized
with the Holy Spirit, how would somebody know? Okay? Well, in
some cases, not in all, but in some cases, being baptized with
the Holy Spirit, some people would start speaking in tongues
like the church did on the Feast of Pentecost. Look at Acts chapter
10, and Verses 44 to 48, Peter's preaching
to the Gentiles, to Cornelius, Acts chapter 10, 44 to 48, while
Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon
all those who heard the word. Well, how do you know the Holy
Spirit fell upon them? because there was some outward manifestation.
And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished,
as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had
been poured out on the Gentiles also. Well, how did they know
that the Holy Spirit was poured out on them? For they heard them
speak with tongues and magnify God. then Peter answered can
anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized who have
received the Holy Spirit just as we have and he commanded them
to be baptized in the name of the Lord then they asked him
to stay a few days so I'm assuming now there's no evidence that
everywhere throughout all time especially since in the book
of Acts it's a historical narrative it doesn't always say this is
what happened therefore do likewise Okay? It's a historical narrative,
you've got to put it in its proper context. At the same time, Simon
the Sorcerer saw something and he said, wow, that made a change,
so there had to be something outward that he saw and said,
I want that power to do that. Okay? And so I think that in
this passage they were speaking in tongues. Okay? It's possible
they could have just been prophesying or something but something that
really stuck out I think that they were probably speaking in
tongues at that point and it's kind of like the first Jews, the first Gentiles,
the first Samaritans to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, God made
sure that it was made so manifest outwardly that there would be
no confusion that the same thing that happened to the Jews on
the Feast of Pentecost was also happening to the Samaritans and
later on to the Gentiles. Okay? Now let me say this, There
are some churches out there, hyper-Pentecostal churches, not
Pentecostal churches, I don't have a problem with Pentecostal
or charismatic churches, but hyper-Pentecostal churches where
they'll pray over you for baptism with the Holy Spirit and then
they think you have to speak in tongues. And if you don't,
they'll say, okay, repeat after me. Okay? There's one church in Seattle
that behind closed doors, if you can't get it, They take you
to a back room and they'll try everything, the last resort is
they make you say the alphabet as fast as you can. If you went
to a church where they made you say it backwards, say the alphabet
real fast backwards. Let me tell you, tongues can
come from one of three places. It can come from God and it's
a gift of the Holy Spirit. Okay? Not everybody has the gift
of tongues. Number two, not every believer
has to give the tongues. Number two, it could come from
man. You can go to one of these churches, they say, just say
the alphabet real quick, over and over again, and then you
gotta practice your prayer language, and you get better and better
at it. Okay? And then the third possibility, it could come from
the demonic realm. You got people who don't know
ancient Latin, don't know ancient Hebrew, that are demon possessed
and during exorcisms have been known to speak in languages they
were never taught. So this is something that the
demonic realm can counterfeit. Okay? So we've got to be very,
very careful. I had a guy that I was counseling. He still roams the streets of
Bremerton with a far away look and but he was practicing his
prayer language like he was told when he was 19 and he had a good
job already and everything I confirmed it what he said through his mother
talked to her on the phone but He said he was praying in his
prayer language for over two hours on his knees on the floor
in his apartment and then he said cartoon characters jumped
off the wall into his head and from that day on he's been hearing
voices. And now the poor guy they put
him on all kinds of hallucinogenic drugs to try to give him some,
he's on government assistance, can't hold work, still hears
voices. And I asked this young man, just
give me two weeks of not praying in your prayer language. Okay? To see where it's from. So basically
what I am saying is God wants us to have all the fruit of the
Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control. He doesn't want you to pick.
Say, I don't want patience or self-control, I'll have the love
and the joy. No, the Holy Spirit wants to
bear all this fruit in your life. But when it comes to the gifts
of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit distributes the gifts as He wills. Okay? There's too many people
trying to force other people to have their gifts. I have the
tendency to do that. As soon as a guy gets saved,
I think, okay, this guy, I'm going to have to start training
this guy to be a preacher. And he might not have the gift
of teaching. He might not have any desire to be a preacher.
But I just, you know, I'm like Paul, woe is me if I don't preach
the gospel. I can't even imagine living without preaching. So
it's easy, I'm so in love with serving Jesus, it's easy for
me to forget, to restrain myself, and I start thinking everybody
should have my gift. Well, there's people who do that
with tongues, there's people who do that with the gift of
prophecy, the gift of healing. Let me tell you, It's the fruit of the Spirit
that will determine your spiritual maturity, but allow the Holy
Spirit, pray to the Holy Spirit, say, I don't want, Holy Spirit,
I don't want to quench you, but I don't want to grieve you either.
Grieve, when you grieve the Holy Spirit, you start a fire He never
wanted started. You're sinning, okay? When you
quench the Holy Spirit, you don't, you put out a fire that He wants
started. So if the Holy Spirit wants to do something through
you, allow him to do that. Okay? But don't think because
my friend Johnny has this gift, I gotta have that gift too. You
know? And by the way, if we all have
the same gift, we're not a body. We're like a bunch of elbows. A bunch of elbows. You could
pile up elbows up to here and you don't have even one body.
Okay? The body of Christ needs elbows.
It also needs forearms, it needs hands, it needs eyes, it needs
a mouth, it needs a nose, the list goes on and on. And so if
you think, boy, I don't have his gifts, praise God. Okay? Probably one of my biggest failures
in building the church throughout the years is I tend to attract
guys who have the same gifts as me. rather than attracting
guys who have gifts that complement my gifts. Then when I find one
whose gifts complement my gifts, then I gotta be real prayerful
that I don't work the guy to death. Okay, not speaking about
anybody in particular, Pat. But, you know, I'm zero on technology. He knows how to do things I can't
even imagine doing through technology and because of people like him, I could preach to 60 people on
Sunday and then it goes out to thousands throughout the week
and throughout the months and throughout the years. But whatever
the case, understand that you just want to use the gifts that
God has given you. So they baptize with the Holy
Spirit, they're probably speaking in tongues, Simon the Sorcerer
says, I want that, that's a power I don't have. Okay? Let me tell
you, Simon the Sorcerer is not the first guy to follow Jesus
because he wanted power. Okay? Seems to me Judas Iscariot,
he was pro-Messiah. He wanted to see Messiah come.
He was pro-Jewish. If he were in America today,
he'd be like a patriot. Okay? he thought Jesus might
be the Messiah so he followed Jesus because he wanted the political
power then when Jesus kept talking about they're going to kill me
I'm going to die and then I'm going to rise from the dead and
he kept thinking look if he's not going to lead a rebellion
against Rome if he's not in it for the power if every time we
gather thousands of people and he thinks that they're not following
him for the right reasons he pushes them away by what he says
I want to be where the power is And Judas Iscariot betrayed
Jesus. Then when he found out that the
Jewish religious leaders considered the money blood money, and his
God was dead because his God was political power, he hung
himself. But Simon the Sorcerer was a
guy who was just in it for power. See, let me tell you something.
He's the same with the gifts of the Spirit too, by the way.
Don't fall in love with the gifts. The gifts are supernatural abilities,
supernatural powers given to you by the Holy Spirit to do
what God's called you to do, fulfill your mission. Don't fall
in love with the gifts because then you'll stop falling in love
with the gift giver. Okay? Just fall in love with
Jesus. Just stay right up there. Don't
even come down from Calvary. If you're in your 90s, like,
remember Stella in her 90s in prayer work? She never got far
away from Calvary. People could say, well, she wasn't
the greatest theologian on the earth. Duh, what does that mean? She was a woman whose heart never
left Calvary. She was there with Jesus. Calvary,
she was there with him at the empty tomb. and fall in love
with the gift giver and then don't quench his spirit. And
Simon saw that through laying on the hands the Holy Spirit
was given, he offered them money saying, give me this power also
that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.
But Peter said to him, your money perish with you. because you
thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. You have neither pardon nor portion
in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of
God. Repent, that means turn from your sin, repent therefore
of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought
of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned
by bitterness and bound by iniquity. Then Simon answered and said,
Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you
have spoken may come upon me. So when they had testified and
preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching
the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. So Simon, the
sorcerer, tried to buy spiritual power from the apostles. He was
not a true believer. Peter tells him his money would
perish with him. You see, not all who profess
to believe are true believers. What's even worse than that,
if a person has charisma and people follow that person, if
that person is not a true believer, then they're a great candidate
for being wolves in sheep's clothing in the church. Okay? You don't
have to look far today for wolves in sheep's clothing, just turn
on the television set. Now there's, you know, I am so,
I'll tell you, I'm so bummed out. On Saturday nights, I can
turn on one Christian station and Billy Graham is preaching
a powerful message from the Lord. And then I turn on the other
Christian station and Charles Stanley is preaching a powerful
message from the Lord. And I thought, Lord, couldn't
you just work it out so you stagger it a little, so that there's
a heretic preaching when Graham is preaching, and there's another
heretic that's preaching when Stanley is, and it seems like
all the godly guys are on at the same time, and then after
a while you just look at station after station, it's nothing but
heretics preaching. But you don't have to go far
to find wolves in sheep's clothing. By the way, The test of Simon the Sorcerer
is going to be the test of American pastors and preachers today. Some pastors have built big,
powerful empires in their ministries. I'm not even slamming them for
that. I mean, the apostles, Peter preaches
his first message, 3,000 people get saved. What am I going to
do? Say, well, Peter, you've got a megachurch, you're a heretic.
No. I'll tell you. I don't want any more people
in our church than we can effectively disciple. I don't want to take
warriors from little churches and build a big church by making
them spectators in our church. Statistics show most megachurches
did exactly that. They took warriors out of small
churches and then made them spectators in bigger churches. I don't want
any more people in our church than we can effectively disciple.
Having said that, the Great Commission says disciple as many as you
can. So, when I stand before the Lord,
I would hate to hear from the Lord, you know, you had 30 people
in your church that you weren't really discipling. That'd be
some scary word. I want to hear well done. Well
done now, good and faithful servant. But I also don't want to hear,
you know, I gave you a really good ministry. I taught you a
lot of stuff there, a lot of truth, Fernandez. And there was
another extra 50, 100, 200 people I wanted you to disciple. And
you just weren't diligent enough. Okay? We want to be pleasing
to the Lord. But I tell you, we're coming
to a day where the test of Simon the Sorcerer is going to be a
test that every minister is going to have to face. There are some
ministers that have built powerful ministries and they're going
to have to decide what's more important to them, the power
or Jesus. Okay? I am not anti-power. Okay, Tony Kampala, speaking
of heretics, Tony Kampala, he preached one good message They
put it on a Christian radio and everybody thought it was an evangelical.
It never really was. But Tony Kampala once said that
you can never exercise power and love simultaneously. And
my first Bible teacher loved that message and gave me the
audio cassette. It was back in the days of the
audio cassettes. It was like right after the Stone Age. And
so I listened to it and my old Bible teacher said, what did
you think? I said, I thought it stunk. I thought it really
bombed. He said, what are you talking
about? I said, well the guy's main premise, his whole thesis,
is you can't exercise power and love simultaneously. Last I heard,
God is eternally all-powerful and he's eternally all-loving.
If this guy's right, if Tony Kampala's right, God can't be
God. He can't be all-powerful and
all-loving at the same time. I said, I think he needs to go
back to Bible college and take Theology 1 all over again. And
I bummed out my Bible teacher, because he liked the message.
I'm telling you, don't be anti-power. We serve an all-powerful God.
But make sure it is God's power, and you're using God's power
the way God wants His power to be used. Okay? If I'm anti-power, I'd be anti-love,
because I'll tell you, I don't know any more powerful thing
in the universe than God's love. Okay? So you could be loving
and powerful at the same time, but there's some people who worship
at the altar of a human kind of power. of
even a satanic, a demonic kind of power. And there's going to
be a lot of pastors that are going to say, well, I can continue
to have my church of 5,000 people and I'll be honest with you,
I can continue to have my church of a smaller group of people,
60 to 80 people so long as I get on board with
the government's agenda. And if the government says something
is not a sin anymore, if I agree with it. In other words, if I
just start preaching political correctness, if other pastors
start preaching political correctness, we can keep what little or what
great amount of power we already have. But that decision is going
to be a tough decision for some pastors. I'm telling you, there's
going to be some big mega-churches that when biblical Christianity
just becomes illegal across the boards, it's already illegal
in some aspects when you deal with gay marriages and things
of that sort. There's already people losing
their careers, their jobs, due to that getting fined, getting
threatened with jail time. But there's some churches that
are going to do just fine because they're going to be like chameleons.
They're gonna just change with the changing views of man. And
Simon the Sorcerer wanted power. He didn't want Jesus. Judas Iscariot
wanted power. He didn't want Jesus. Where are you? I'm telling you,
there's a lot of good you can get out of Christianity without
getting Jesus. some of us we just had no friends
so we trusted in Jesus for salvation now we got lots of friends but
it's not the family that makes you get up in the morning it's not the family that is your
reason to live what makes your heart beat what makes you happy
to take that next breath what makes you get up in the morning
The whole reason why you live, the name is Jesus. It's not power, it's not anything
else. You know, if you're, if you quote-unquote
believe in Jesus for something, anything other than Jesus himself,
you've got to question whether you really know him. And so, now Simon did fear God's
judgment. I wish I could say that he did
repent. The only things written about
Simon Magus, Simon the Magician, Simon the Sorcerer after this,
some of the early church fathers say he was the founder of Gnosticism.
one of the earliest Christian heresies. Now, most scholars
doubt that, most scholars just think that the early church fathers
took his name of his first demonic wolf in sheep's clothing and
just applied it to Gnosticism, so it's really tough to figure
out because it seems like Gnosticism really didn't come into existence
for about another 120 years. I don't have time to go into
a big dissertation on it, but there's full-blown Christian
Gnosticism, which is a heresy, and then there was Jewish Gnosticism,
which predates it, so maybe he was part of one of those earlier
views. This view was Gnosticism, the Greek word, gnosis, for knowledge,
it means salvation by secret knowledge. So instead of salvation
by God's grace alone, through faith alone, and Jesus alone,
It's not who you know, it's what you know. See, with us, it's
who you know. Okay? It's kind of like sometimes you
get the job because of who you know, not what you know. Some people say, well, it helps
to have friends in high places. Let me tell you. It helps to
have three friends in the highest place. the triune God, the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, the one true eternal God. But whatever the case, it's who
you know that saves, not what you know. These guys will go
behind closed doors, secret handshakes, secret wisdom, secret knowledge.
The first Gnostic writing was the Gospel of Thomas, which Thomas
never wrote. The secret teachings of Jesus
to Thomas. Then there was the Gospel of
Judas. That Jesus really wanted Judas to betray him. And that
Jesus didn't really physically die on the cross for our sins.
In fact, he wasn't really physical. He only pretended to be human.
All this secret knowledge, okay? Let me tell you where Gnosticism
came from. And this is why Simon the Sorcerer,
even if he's not really the founder of Gnosticism, has so much in
common with him. Gnosticism really is forbidden
knowledge, forbidden wisdom. So secret occultic knowledge,
secret magical demonic formulas, okay? You know where that started? That started when Satan, speaking
to a serpent, said, no, if you eat from the tree of the forbidden
fruit, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, knowledge that
God has forbidden you to eat from, you'll become like God. It's a good thing. You won't
die. Satan made that same offer to
Simon the sorcerer and he bought it. What about you? Is it Jesus? Or is it the forbidden knowledge
that the world and Satan and the demonic realm offer? And so then after that, Peter
and John preached through Samaria and returned to Jerusalem. But
just remember, not all who profess to believe are true believers.
There are wolves in sheep's clothing in the church. There's one pastor
in Seattle that I've often said his strongest His biggest blessing,
his strongest point is his charisma, but his biggest curse is his
charisma as well. And watch out. Watch out for
people with a lot of charisma. You better test what they say.
Some people are just tempting to follow them no matter what
they say. Great speaker. Boy, I want to follow this guy.
Well, test it with the Word of God. Okay? And I'm not talking about the
other guy, I'm talking about me. Test what I say from this pulpit.
John preached last Sunday. Test what he preaches from this
pulpit. Test what you hear on television,
on the radio. It's the Word of God that's the
final authority, not the wisdom of man. And so, Two main points I want to leave
you with. We'll talk about next week, Philip leading the Ethiopian
eunuch to Christ. I don't want to rush through
that. But, well, several points. Number
one, even in adversity, preach the word. Even in adversity,
preach the word. You might say, well, I can't
preach. I don't, you know, I don't feel like preaching the word.
You know what? To be totally honest with you, I don't feel
like going to this camp. And being away from my wife on her
birthday, I don't feel like going there.
But God's called me to preach the word. And so I'm going to
pray for his anointing, I'm going to preach the word. But some
of you are suffering. You're going through all kinds
of physical ailments and all, even in adversity, preach the
word. Number two, the gospel is for
all people of all nations. Okay? We got a president and a government
that wants to make it look like Christians are a bunch of racists.
I'm telling you, the Christian church is the most multicultural
entity on the planet Earth. If there's a people group on
the planet Earth who never heard about Jesus, then believe me,
New Tribes Mission is trying to figure out how to reach them.
Okay? The Bible says there's going
to be people from all nations and having the Gospels for all
people of all nations. If you have an ounce of prejudice
or racism in you, rebuke that in the name of Jesus. Get rid
of that. Because last I heard, my God sent his Son to die on
the cross for all mankind. If there's somebody out there
that you don't love, that's your problem. My king loves him. My king died for him. The gospel
is for all people of all nations. Number three, not everyone who
professes to believe is a true believer. Well, he said he's
a believer. You know, if I had a dime for
every young Christian guy who marries a gal because she says
she's a believer, and every Christian gal who marries
a guy where he said he was a believer, Not everyone who professes to
believe is a true believer. And then number four, true believers
are indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit. You know, when
you feel alone, you feel down, you feel like nobody's there,
you're not alone. You're not an orphan. God did not leave
you as an orphan. You're indwelt and filled with
the Holy Spirit. Allow Him. Unleash the Holy Spirit
in your life. Be all that He called you to
be. I'm a loud mouth, so God called me to preach. You might
be a quiet person, well then God's calling you to serve. And
believe me, we got people here who can put you to work. Whether
you quietly serve other people, you can go with Willis and quietly
serve other people. I think Pastor Willis and Don
will supply all the loudness that is needed. You can just
supply the quiet service. If you need to teach people,
believe me, there's plenty of senior citizen homes out there.
that need a preacher. And be all that God called you
to be. You're not an orphan. Stop making
excuses. The Holy Spirit wants to be unleashed
in your life. And allow the Holy Spirit to
control your life. Let's close with a word of prayer.
Father in Jesus' precious name, Our king is still on the throne
Acts part 10
Series Acts
Continuing our series in the Book of Acts. Part 10 deals with Chapter 8, the persecution of the Church by Saul, Peter and the Sorcerer.
| Sermon ID | 83151313298 |
| Duration | 1:01:11 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
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