Acts Chapter 8:1-25<\/p>\n
The power of God is real and active in our world to bring about His glory.\u00a0 The chapter starts with Saul (who will become the apostle Paul) making havoc of the church.\u00a0 Because of Saul being against the church the church scattered and multiplied.\u00a0 Before Saul found Christ he was being used by God to multiply the church.\u00a0 Serve God where you are, for this is the season of life God has\u00a0placed you in\u00a0to bring Him glory.\u00a0 We see a season of persecution in verses 1-3.\u00a0 Bad times are still God\u2019s time to work.<\/p>\n
We see a season of great joy in verses 4-8.\u00a0 Many were healed and unclean spirits were removed from the city.\u00a0 We all enjoy these seasons of happiness and healing.<\/p>\n
The next season is of teaching truth.\u00a0 The truth of God’s Word is very important in every aspect of life.<\/p>\n
Simon believed and was baptized, of course Simon\u2019s salvation is not disclosed but it is clear he did not surrender all to Christ nor to the Apostles authority.\u00a0\u00a0The confusion of Simon seems to come from the giving of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 The Jews received the Spirit in the first chapter.\u00a0 This is where the Samaritans receive the Spirit of God.\u00a0 The Samaritans were half Jew.\u00a0 A big step in the unity of the church happens here, since not only did they surrender to God but to the Apostles authority.\u00a0 This moves us from the Jewish people to God\u2019s people called the Church.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see the demonstration of the Spirit two more times, it will happen again for the Gentiles and once more for the followers of John.\u00a0 This was not just a confirmation to the Samaritans but to Peter and John so that they will accept the Samaritans as God\u2019s people.<\/p>\n
Note the Spirit happened as it did in the beginning of Acts.\u00a0 They spoke in a language, more than likely a language as in the beginning of Acts, one people could understand.\u00a0 This was a move of God and a confirmation of the worldwide move of God to gather the Church.<\/p>\n
The Spirit cannot be bought. Verse 18<\/p>\n
The Spirit cannot be controlled; Simon wanted power to give it as he pleased.\u00a0 Verse 19<\/p>\n
The spirit works in hearts that are right before God.\u00a0 Verse 22; Do you find it interesting that Peter could see Simon\u2019s heart?\u00a0 How did Peter see the heart?\u00a0 By what proceeded out of Simon\u2019s mouth.\u00a0 See Matthew\u00a015:18\u00a0where Jesus explains to the Apostles the heart is known by the mouth.\u00a0 Simon was unwilling to repent.<\/p>\n
One last thing on Peter and John\u2019s return to Jerusalem; they preached the gospel, not anoint people with the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
We do need the power of God\u2019s Holy Spirit.\u00a0 We do need the anointing and filling of God\u2019s Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Don\u2019t make it an act to figure out or celebrate, make it work in you so change happens and souls get saved because of the boldness of God\u2019s Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
Let the first half of this chapter move in our hearts and minds today.\u00a0 We will finish the chapter\u00a0tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1162,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161\/revisions\/1162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}