Contemplate these questions as you dwell in Acts 8:4-25:

1. What significance does Philip's journey into Samaria hold in the context of Jesus' initial commission to the apostles in Acts? How does this demonstrate the fulfillment of Jesus' plan for the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth?

2. What does Simon the magician's response to witnessing the genuine signs and miracles performed by the Apostles reveal about the power and authenticity of the gospel message? How does Peter's admonishment and call to repentance reflect the importance of genuine faith in Christ?

3. Despite the distraction presented by Simon's misguided attempt to acquire spiritual gifts, the narrative emphasizes the unstoppable advancement of the gospel. How does this narrative encourage believers to remain steadfast in proclaiming the gospel even in the face of distractions or difficulties? What can we learn from the apostles' unwavering commitment to the Great Commission?

Transcript:

 Now we come upon another interesting story here in the book of Acts. It seems like it's one after the other. But we have to remember what we saw on Friday. Remember that there was persecution going on in the church in Jerusalem. And so, they were being scattered. And so, what happens? Now remember, at the beginning of Acts, what did Jesus say the Apostles would do that.

They would be his witnesses from Jerusalem and all of Judea into Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And so, the book of Acts is following that course that Jesus said would happen. And so, we see that Philip goes into Samaria when he is scattered and many there hear and believe the gospel. And so, there's great joy when people are healed and When they come to faith, but then we come across a guy by the name of Simon.

Now he was a magician. Now we don't know what exactly he did. We don't know that if he was some sort of an illusionist. Who was doing things to deceive people. We don't know if he was Doing things by the power of demons. We don't know what was happening But we see that even Simon himself believed and then he was baptized now He then saw signs and great miracles being performed and he was amazed now me personally again Like I said, we don't really have any proof of what was, of how he was doing these things.

But I always kind of come across this and I think, you know, maybe he was doing some illusions because he's seeing real signs and wonders and he is just amazed by them. These aren't tricks. These are real things that are happening. These aren't little, uh, illusions or parlor tricks that the Apostles are doing.

People are truly being healed. And so, Simon, um, is amazed by this. And then we see that when the Apostles come, Simon sees them laying on hands and people receiving the Holy Spirit. And he wants to be able to do this. He is amazed by this. So, he actually offers them money. Now you and I can look at this and see, yeah, that’s an issue.

And Peter himself, you know, tells him you are not going to have any part of what's going on. Your heart's not right before God and then in verse 22 he says, Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. Notice that Peter does not immediately condemn him.

Instead, he tells him to repent. He calls him to repent. And then how does Simon respond? He says, Pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you've said may come upon me. Now, this seems as though Simon is repentant, that he wants the apostles to pray for him. Now, there's a long church tradition that Simon Magus, or Simon the Magician, Was the first one to spread the Gnostic heresy.

We don't know if that's true It could have been another Simon and somehow ancient traditions sort of Conflated these two people but here it sure seems as though Simon is Not wanting to fall astray. He wants to believe he does not want this condemnation to come upon him and so hopefully that is what happened.

Hopefully when he left from there, he realized the wickedness of his heart wanting to offer money for a gift from God. And, uh, he was repentant.  But the big part of the story here, while we're distracted here by Simon, we have to see what is continuing to happen.  It says here, now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

The gospel is going out. Despite what happened, there was Simon the magician, the gospel has gone out. And it's gone out to Samaria. Someplace where we might not think that it would go remember back What an amazing thing it was that Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well But now the gospel of Jesus Christ is going out to Samaria and people are believing and coming to faith This is an amazing thing.

The gospel is advancing. The church is growing. And so, as we think about this passage, you know, obviously we could look here at the evil intent of Simon and, and we don't want to be, uh, trying to acquire the things of God on our own or trying to pay people for things from God. Instead, we, we should be trusting God to, uh, give his gifts as he deems fit, right?

But the bigger story here, as I said,  Is that the gospel is advancing  and so as we think about the church as we think about our lives That's what we want to keep doing despite The things that come up against us whether it's the persecution that that spread the apostles out, you know Maybe we fear persecution, but the god but the gospel kept going because the apostles were brave whether it is distractions from people trying to Buy the things of god the gospel keeps going  And so as we think about this, regardless of what distractions come up for us, whatever difficulties come up for us today, may we continue to desire to proclaim the gospel.

May we desire to be sharing the good news of God because that is what matters, that the gospel goes out and that more and more people hear and come to faith.