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THE POWER OF PHILIP!

I want you to take a moment and think about what you would never never do regardless of whether or not you are a Christian. In other words, even before you came to know Christ what would you not do - assuming you had a choice.
I would never:
– dive off a cliff into a body of water.
– torture my body by competing in a triathlon.
– attempt to kiss an ostrich.
– give a gift that required batteries without including the batteries.
– join a nudist colony.
– put myself in a position to be fired, or hired, by Mr. Trump.
But most of all, I would never never:
– run with the bulls in Barcelona or anywhere else.
But, in a very real sense, it is in the latter arena that believers found themselves in after Stephen was martyred. For in Acts 8:1 -3 we read:
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
On that day, the day Stephen was stoned to death, the bulls were let loose in the streets of Jerusalem. The rage, the goring, the devastation was led, as you know, by Saul. With Saul leading the charge the assault was so brutal, so thorough, that the church was nearly destroyed. In fact, the verb used in v. 3, found only here in the New Testament, was used of the “ravaging” of a body by a wild beast. So in a very real sense the church was was being ravaged by the powerful bulls of Jerusalem.
But as Saul snorted out devastation everywhere the believers scattered everywhere and preached the good news. In Acts 8:4 - 8 we read:
Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
Philip, one the seven waiters back in chapter six, one of the minor characters in Scripture, headed for the very place that he said he would never go to - Samaria. Granted, as a Grecian Jew his animosity toward the half-breeds in Samaria was probably not as deeply rooted as with the Jews in Judea. Nevertheless, the cultural message communicated to all Jews in the first century was simply this: “Jews do not associate with Samaritans.” It was a maternal message that held power over all Jews.
Also, by way of example, Jesus had already crossed the border into Samaria, ministered to an unnamed woman at Jacob’s well, and, at the invitation of the locals, stayed for two days preaching the word. Then, just prior to his ascension, he told the disciples in Acts 1:8:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
However, despite Jesus’ example and despite the fact that the resurrected Christ clearly spelled out the primary responsibility for believers to bear witness to all nations, we need to give credit to Philip for having the courage to cross the border into Samaria. Yes, in Acts 8:1 he was providentially provoked into crossing some border into some country just to get away from the running of the bulls. But, he could have headed south or east. He didn’t have to cross into culturally forbidden territory. The fact that he did, and others have since done the same, is a credit to this man’s willingness to be a “fool” for the sake of Christ. And, it is a credit to the power of the Spirit within him!
Now before we look at some particulars, I want you to contrast the two paragraphs at the beginning of Acts 8. In the first paragraph we have the running of the bulls in Jerusalem. Those who were unwillingly caught up in the rampage were torn from their families, beaten, thrown into prison, and undoubtedly some, along with Stephen, were killed. It’s not hard to imagine the tears, the sorrow, the grief, and the bitter agony left behind by the raging bulls.
In the second paragraph we have the scattering of the saints, the scattering of good seed by divine provocation. As they scattered, they proclaimed that Jesus Christ was the long awaited Messiah. They shared the good news that Jesus willingly died in our place. And, because of his death on the cross eternal life was offered as a free gift to anyone who believed in his name. Many, due to the undeniable miracles, due to the words of grace and truth, paid close attention to Philip and found new life in Christ. So while tears were shed in Jerusalem, there was great joy in this unnamed city of Samaria.
We now need to look at two case studies. The first concerns a sorcerer or magician by the name of Simon. In Acts 8:9 - 23 we read:
Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”
Like Simon we miss the point of what is happening in this passage. The passage is all about power or the lack of it. Simon is introduced to us as someone who appears to have power. At least, his media ratings indicate that he has power. In reality, the only power he had was the power to deceive others and he knew it.
So when Philip who possessed the power of the Spirit came along, Simon was drawn to him. So drawn, that when the invitation was extended to receive Christ he got out of his seat and went forward. But, as we keep our eye on him we quickly realize that he was not interested in a personal relationship with Christ. What he had eyes for was the power Philip possessed. Why? Because if he could somehow market it on TV, then he would indeed be great; and fabulously wealthy.
Meanwhile, there was another group altogether that should’ve possessed power but didn’t have it. It was as if they had been given a gift that required batteries but the batteries were not included with the gift. They had sincerely accepted Christ, they had trusted in the good news, they had leaned on what Philip said about the Christ, and yet they did not have the power of the Spirit within them.
This would be like me giving a calculator without batteries to a student that he or she needed in order to take a math test. What sort of teacher would pull a stunt like that on a student? Not me! Okay, I admit that I have thought about it from time to time. But to date, I haven’t done it.
Yet, this was what God allowed to happen with these new believers in Samaria. Why? Why undermine the good work done by Philip? To understand this, we need to take into account the historical context. For five hundred years the Jews and the Samaritans had been at odds with each other. If the Holy Spirit had fallen immediately on the Samaritan believers, apart from the laying on of hands by Peter and John, there would have been no connection between them and the church in Jerusalem.
There would have been First Church and Second Church instead of one church. In God’s wisdom and grace, the Divine Battery was not included with the receiving of God’s indescribable gift. Instead, this aspect of the gift was administered by the apostles which had the added effect of maintaining the unity of the early church.
Also, the arrival of Peter and John allowed Simon to be exposed as an opportunist. In exposing him, the apostles underlined the fact that the Divine Battery is in fact a gift. It’s a gift that is normally included with the gift of eternal life. It was, and is, a gift that gives us the power to be children of God. It is a gift to be enjoyed and to be used in the service of others. It is not a gift to be used solely for profit.
Was Philip upset about not being in on the big picture stuff? Not at all! He was an evangelist plain and simple and as long as he got to do his job, the job God had given him, he was happy. He had a AAA Battery within him which meant that he was prepared to do Anything the Spirit wanted him to do Any time, Any where. If he was alive today he would be wearing a bracelet with “AAA for the Lord” on it.
How do we know this to be the case? Because of the second case study that is found in Acts 8:26 - 39. We read:
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
Note! Philip had an effective ministry going on in Samaria. Then out of the blue the Lord asked him to drop everything and go south via loop 101. He didn’t tell him why, he just said “go - now!” The Lord said “run south” and Philip took off as if a starter pistol had gone off. Would we have responded as Philip responded? Or, would we have stood around and asked stupid questions? Questions like, why the rush?
But Philip knew nothing about postponed obedience which is really disobedience. He didn’t know why he needed to rush away from his work in Samaria, he just knew that he was told to “go.” As it turned out, the rush was so he wouldn’t miss the text the Ethiopian would be reading at high noon.
After the encounter, Philip was transported north to the village of Azotus where he again exercised his gift of evangelism. The eunuch traveled south and as he traveled he continued reading Isaiah. At least, that is my guess. If so, he soon came to Isaiah 56 and must have rejoiced all over again. For in vv. 3 - 5 he read:
“ And my blessings are for Gentiles, too, when they commit themselves to the Lord. Do not let them think that I consider them second-class citizens. And my blessings are also for the eunuchs. They are as much mine as anyone else. For I say this to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath days holy, who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me: I will give them – in my house, within my walls – a memorial and a name far greater than the honor they would have received by having sons and daughters. For the name I give them is an everlasting one. It will never disappear!” (NLT)
Philip? He settled down in Caesarea, married, and had four daughters. Twenty years later, when Paul and others stayed overnight in his home, he was known as Philip the evangelist. He knew his calling and he stuck with it. And, he consistently lived out the grace and truth of Christ in his home. For in Acts 21:8 - 9 we read:
Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

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