The Church is Scattered – Acts 8

Joy:  You’re listening to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Episode #97.  Today we’ll read Acts chapter 8 together:  The new church is scattered from Jerusalem; Simon the Sorcerer gets a well-deserved tongue-lashing from Peter; and Phillip is called to leave his place of ministry for another.

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me as we simply read God’s word together.  Some things require discipline and sometimes that’s just not easy to muster by yourself, no matter how badly you want to do it or how much you know you should.  It’s just easier to do it with a friend.  So refill your coffee or tea, get comfortable in your favorite chair and follow along as I read aloud.  I’m so glad you’re here!

Welcome

I can’t seem to shake this notion of getting comfortable with suffering.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking to be miserable.  But I think we all can see that walking thru fires in our lives does have benefit.  It makes us stronger; it builds our character.  And perhaps most of all, we tend to draw closer to God and come to know Him better. 

Anyway, as I was searching for information on this subject, I realized it has been a long time since I mentioned The Bible Project to you.  The site is RICH with resources, mostly in video form, and really helps to deepen my understanding of Biblical themes, words, individual books of the Bible, and so much more!  Oh, and did I mention it was free?  All of it.  I highly recommend that you explore the site.  It does a series on Luke and Acts that may give you some great insight into our current reading. 

Acts Chapter 8:

Saul the Persecutor

1Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria. 2Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him. 3Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.

Philip in Samaria

4So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word. 5Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. 6The crowds were all paying attention to what Philip said, as they listened and saw the signs he was performing. 7For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8So there was great joy in that city.

The Response of Simon

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

Simon’s Sin

14When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15After they went down there, they prayed for them so that the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit because he had not yet come down on any of them. 16(They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19saying, “Give me this power also so that anyone I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.” 

20But Peter told him, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right before God. 22Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart’s intent may be forgiven. 23For I see you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by wickedness.” 24“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” 25So, after they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they traveled back to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

The Conversion of the Ethiopian Official

26An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road.) 27So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem 28and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud. 29The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.” 

30When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” 31“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this: He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will describe his generation? For his life is taken from the earth.  

The Eunuch is Baptized

34The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about — himself or someone else?” 35Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture. 36As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?”  38So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing. 40Philip appeared in Azotus, and he was traveling and preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Close Thoughts

I think it’s important to look beyond the persecution that the new believers suffered in this chapter and consider the behind-the-scenes work of our mighty God. First, we see Saul – soon to be known as Paul – dragging people to prison for simply believing in Christ.  The Holy Spirit though was running so strong within the Body, that of course believers continued to witness about Jesus despite being in jail.  Take notice also that Phillip had a great ministry in Samaria.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, he was performing great signs and wonders.  Many people were believing and being baptized. 

Remember, though, at this time it was believed that the Gospel was only meant for God’s chosen race, the Jews.  The next two chapters will turn all of that upside down.  But for now, when the apostles heard in Jerusalem that Samaritans were being saved and getting baptized, well, they sent Peter and John straight away to verify that it was real.  And on their way back to Jerusalem, they preached in many villages in Samaria too. 

Trace the Growth

Now, back to Phillip.  He’s got this great ministry going and the Lord sends him to Gaza (Don’t you just know that everything in him wanted to argue? “But, Lord, people are getting saved here!”).  But He ends up witnessing to an Ethiopian royal official, who of course introduced the Gospel to Ethiopia.  With that finished, Phillip is plucked up, set down in Azotus and ends up in Caesarea, evangelizing all the way.  Wow! This would be a good time to pull out that Biblical map of yours, start at Jerusalem, and trace the incredible spread of the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

Prayer

Let’s pray.  Oh, Lord, what can we say?  We would read this chapter and rant about that snake Saul and feel sad over the plight of the believers who were thrown in prison and scattered from their homes in Jerusalem.  But what we see as bad, You use for good.  Like wildfires rage thru dry brush, Your word burned thru Israel and beyond.  Thank You, Lord, because we are the ones who benefited.  We are the ones who know You now and share Your Good News still today.  In Romans 8:28, Your word tell us that “all things work together for good, for them who love God, for them who are called according to His purpose.” Never was that more true than when Your church was new.  Thank You, Amen.

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray God will grow in you what has been planted and watered here.  In this time of unprecedented struggle worldwide, we can look to God for guidance and comfort.  Be sensitive to those in your circle of influence who need a word of encouragement and invite them to join us.  If you like this show, it would be great if you give it a five-star review.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you right here tomorrow.  Be well!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.