Spreading the Word

SERMON: 2011-11-20--ac1175--spreading-the-word-i SOURCE DURATION: 00:54:50.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.90 APPROVED: false REASON: The recording begins with expository material reviewing the book of Acts (sermon). The end is marked by a sustained acoustic music interval which concludes the sermon's content. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:52:07.020-00:54:43.140 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- Well, so far in our study of the book of Acts, we have noted three reasons why the early church experienced persecution at the hands of their religious authority. Reason number one is the vitality of the early church. We read in Acts chapter 2 verse 43, "Everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles." And then in verse 46 and verse 47 of Acts chapter 2, the early church is described this way, "They broke bread in their homes and they ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people, and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." The early church was a dynamic and a vital community. And it's not surprising then therefore that contrasting that with dead religious orthodoxy as was being presented to them by the synhedrin and their religious leaders, they're quoted as saying in Acts chapter 4 verse 17, "To stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men, that is the apostles, to speak no longer to anyone in this name." The early church was a vital community and that produced a great deal of opposition. Second reason persecution happened in the early church, and we touched on this a little bit last week, is to lay bare what was really living in people's hearts. And nowhere is the contrast between believer and unbeliever more clearly delineated than in the respective reactions of the synhedrin and Stephen in the closing verses of the previous chapter, Acts chapter 7. Here is what we read concerning the synhedrin. They covered their ears, you remember that scene from last week, they yelled at the top of their voices and they dragged Stephen out of the city and began to stone him. They're out of control, they're filled with anger. Now compare that with Stephen's reaction. Here is what he says, "He fell on his knees," the Bible says, "and he cried out, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.'" Now I ask you this morning, which of those two parties of people more nearly represents the character and the nature of Jesus? Well, obviously it is Stephen. Because Jesus too, when he hung on the cross, he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they did." And likewise, Stephen, filled with the spirit of Jesus, seeing Jesus at the right hand of glory is filled with that same kind of compassion. You see, the nature of the gospel is to bring out what lives deep inside. Jesus puts it this way in Luke chapter 8 verse 17, he says, "There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open." Every man, woman, boy, and girl in all the world has a heart that is either oriented towards God or oriented away from God. And when the Word of God comes in whatever fashion that it comes, it is going to drive that heart either further away from God or closer towards God. And God, in His wisdom, uses the anger of the world to teach the church how to love its enemies, and He uses the anger of the world, or He uses the love of the church, to lay bare the anger that is in the world. The Apostle Paul puts it this way, Philippians 1, 27 and 28, speaking to a community that is experiencing persecution. He says, "Stand firm in one's spirit without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved, and that by God." And this stoning of Stephen, for the religious and heathen, becomes their ultimate rejection of Jesus, and Stephen's prayer notwithstanding, "Lord, don't hold this sin against them," it sets the stage for judgment, took 40, 35 years to come, but in AD 70, when the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem, they brought it to its knees and they destroyed once and for all the whole Jewish religious system. And Josephus tells us that the blood of the victims splattered up to the bridles of the horses, and hundreds upon thousands were destroyed, and that was God's ultimate sentence upon Israel for their rejection. But there's a third reason. God allowed this persecution, which effectively destroyed the early church here at Jerusalem, and that is to set the stage for the next phase of the Great Commission. Because remember, what was it that Jesus said to His disciples prior to His ascension in Acts chapter 1, verse 8? Read it with me if you will, out loud, good full voice, "You will receive when the Holy Spirit comes on you. You will be my witnesses," where? "In Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Now remember, when we started our study of the book of Acts, I said that verse is the framework on which the book of Acts is built. And so far, in the first seven chapters of the book of Acts, it's been all about the church at Jerusalem, and the church at Jerusalem grew with great signs and wonders. People estimate it will have been as big as 20,000 or 30,000 people that had come to faith during that short period of time, and it was a thriving community. They loved each other. They loved their community, and things were good. But things also very easily became very ingrown. And so now the Lord is about to use persecution like a stone thrown in the pond to get the Word out into the rest of Judea and into all of Samaria. So Acts chapter 8 represents the next phase of the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Let's look at the chapter together then and see how the story unfolds in this next phase of Gospel ministry. First thing I want us to note then is that wholesale persecution breaks out after Stephen's martyrdom. 8/1, on that day, a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Now note, up until this time, persecution was aimed primarily at individuals. First we had John and Peter arrested for healing the crippled, dragged before the Sanhedrin, let off with some severe warnings to stop preaching about Jesus. Then the next thing that happened is the twelve apostles all get dragged in before the Sanhedrin, and they not only get warned, but they get flogged, but they're still allowed to go. Then we have Stephen's arrest, his trial, and they don't let him go. Instead, they kill him. Until now, it is like the jaws of hell are opened wide, and every demon that drove the Sanhedrin to crucify Jesus and to kill Stephen, who was bearing witness to Jesus, now got spread out all over the church, and persecution broke out, impacting every believing individual, and they were scattered, the Bible says, throughout Judea and throughout all of Samaria. Just to put that in perspective, a little map here, just to show you where Samaria is. It's not a very good map, but it's the best I could come up with. You will notice here is Jerusalem, I don't know if you can read that. Here is Samaria, and here is Judea. So now, the saints are expanding into Samaria, and they're expanding further into Judea. The Gospel begins to expand into the next phase, and here's what's interesting about this persecution, because the passage says very clearly that all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Everybody, eventually, except the apostles. Now that's kind of interesting, because typically when persecution breaks out, who do you think are the first people to be arrested? It's the leaders. Cut off the head, killed the body, strike the shepherd, scatter the sheep. Somehow or another, the apostles were protected or went into hiding. They continued to be able to steer the church from their underground position, but all the believers, eventually, ended up being scattered all through Judea and all through Samaria. You can imagine what a social upheaval that would have been for people who, just like you and me, enjoy their life, enjoy their jobs, enjoy their communities, and all of a sudden it was severely disrupted. Now we'll come back to this in a few moments, because this becomes rather significant in terms of laypeople's involvement in spreading the Gospel. A lot of us think the preachers ought to do the preaching. Well, this story illustrates that the power of spreading the Gospel never lies with the select few. It lies with the body of Christ. But as I said, we'll come back to that in a few moments. Second thing I want us to notice, then, is that this persecution is headed up by Saul of Tarsus. Verse 3, "Saul began to destroy the church, going from house to house. He dragged off men and women and put them into prison." We first met Paul, or Saul, in the last chapter, you will recall. He's the young man who guarded the garments, the clothes of the witnesses who stoned Stephen. And we see here a significant escalation of his own hostility. The Bible says in the first part of this verse, "Saul agreed to Stephen's persecution, but now he goes from being a bystander not only to being an active participant, but he in fact becomes the ringleader." He goes, the Bible says, from house to house, and he dragged off men and women and put them into prison. Those here who are old enough to have lived through the war in the Netherlands in World War II will remember the fear of the knock on the door when the Nazis would come and they would drag off whoever they could find. Well, that's the kind of climate that Saul created when he went from house to house, and he dragged people and put them into prison. And the big question is, why would Saul do that? Because he was so righteous, according to the rules of the law. And he did it, of course, because he really thought he was doing God a favor. Years later, when he himself was on trial for the faith before King Agrippa, in Acts chapter 26, the verses 9, 10, and 11, Paul describes it this way. He says, "I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests, I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them." It's interesting because it means he must have been part of the Sanhedrin, presumably. Many a time, I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme, denounce Jesus, renounce him. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them. And that of course sets the stage for his Damascus Road conversion, where he is going, because he's run out of work in Jerusalem. He's put everybody in jail, and now his ambition takes him to the next city. And what's scary about this, is it not? That you can think a hundred percent to be right, thinking that you're doing God a favor, and yet be totally, totally mistaken. Jesus puts it this way to his disciples in John 16 verse 2, "When he is warning them about persecution, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God." And is it any wonder that when he had his eyes opened spiritually on the road to Damascus later on, and he sat in darkness because he was blind for three days, he must have just been overwhelmed with grief and with guilt. And is it any wonder that he went forth to become the amazing apostle that he became because he knew the grace of God in a way that few people ever get to know him? And later on when we look, Lord willing, at his conversion story, we'll discover that he received mercy, he said, for two reasons only. Because in his zeal to persecute the church, he did it out of ignorance, and he did it out of unbelief. And God had mercy on his soul. And never know who God is going to reach in the depths of their brokenness and their sin. So it sets the next stage for the next phase of the Great Commission. Persecution in this story is headed up by Saul of Tarsus, and now, of course, what we've been talking about, the gospel now comes to Samaria. Verses 4 and 5 of Acts chapter 8, "Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there." Two things in that passage that are worthy of noting. First of all, who does the preaching? Well, the Bible says, "It is all those who had been scattered," that is to say, ordinary believers. I said a few moments ago, the apostles were still all back in Jerusalem underground somewhere. They could hardly move, and they certainly couldn't move publicly without losing their heads. And now you've got this whole church, they have just been uprooted. I mean, put your head into this. They've lost their jobs, they've lost their savings, they've lost their houses, they're drifting out there. But rather than, you know, belaboring their poor situation and complaining and grumbling, what are they doing? Everywhere they go, they preach the gospel. I don't know how many of you here are old enough to remember Dr. James Kennedy from the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. He used to have a television program, any of you remember seeing him? A few of you have. Many years ago, back in the '60s, he's dead now, but many years ago in the '60s, as the founding pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, which eventually grew to have about 10,000 members, he developed an evangelism program that took many evangelical churches by storm. It was called Evangelism Explosion. And under Evangelism Explosion, they sent out teams of three, if my memory serves me correctly, not just two by two, but three for a number of reasons, to visit homes in the areas of the church or in the places where people lived. They'd knock on doors, and then they would ask people, if they were willing to enter into conversation with them, they would ask them two questions. Number one, if you were to die today, would you go to heaven? And number two, if you were to stand before Jesus after you died today, and he asked you, why should I let you into my heaven, what would you say? Interesting questions. And that would, for many households then, become an opportunity for conversation about the person and the place of Jesus, because, of course, a lot of people, why should I let you into my heaven? It always comes down to, well, I'm a pretty good person, I hope my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds, or I go to church periodically, and it became an excellent opportunity to proclaim Jesus and his cross. But I tell you that story, because when James Kennedy came to seminary in my seminary days and he shared this vision with us, he anchored it firmly in this story in Acts chapter eight, they were all scattered except the apostles, and they went preaching the gospel wherever they went. Because he said, you know, the average lay person thinks, well, who am I, I'm not educated, and I've got my hands full with my daily activities and my daily jobs, and the preacher or the theologically trained people, they are the ones who should be carrying the faith and who should be proclaiming and defending it. And he said, that's not how it goes here in the divine wisdom of God. The apostles were all underground in Jerusalem, but those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the gospel. Let me ask you, when is the last time you ever took the opportunity to tell a co-worker or a family member or a friend concerning the hope that is within you? When is the last time you told anybody who Jesus is and what Jesus has done in your life and you say, well, I can't do it, I'm too tongue-tied, I'm too afraid? Nonsense. Nonsense. Cut it out. Just cut it out. Listen to the Holy Spirit, listen to the questions that people are asking, and when they describe to you their problems, as people are always very happy and glad to do, you take them by the hand if need be and you say, listen, I don't know how to solve your problem, but let me tell you about somebody that I know who has made a huge difference in my life. And then see where the conversation goes. People are far more open to hear about Jesus than you and I are prepared to share it. And we have opportunities galore if only we have eyes to see them and the courage to step into them. God stirred up that early church, broke up that coziness that suffered by now from koinonitis, which is being infected with a love of community inappropriately, and He scattered them all through Judea and all to Samaria. So it's the people who do the preaching, but then the passage goes on to say, of course, introduces us to one of the primary speakers now, and his name is Philip. Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went, and Philip went to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. Who remembers who Philip is? Let me see if you paid attention earlier when we were reading the book of Acts, come on. Ken knows. A few other hands here and there. Philip was one of the seven deacons. And the deacons are listed first, Stephen, and then Philip, and then the other five. And Philip, like Stephen, obviously was more gifted than could be satisfied by waiting on tables. And remember, it's a wonderful service to wait on tables if that's what you're called to. And I, for one, am grateful for those of you that have the gift of serving. But he had a passion and a calling that was beyond that. And so Philip, being uprooted out of Jerusalem, apparently there wasn't room to hide the deacons with the apostles because, of course, Stephen had been one of the deacons, so they were really marked men, I suspect. And as he goes traveling, he comes to this city in Samaria. Now, if you take home the Scripture passage and you read the rest of the chapter, you'll see that this is the introduction to Stephen in part because he shows up later ministering to the Ethiopian eunuch on the way, on the Gaza Road. And the Ethiopian eunuch, as we'll see later on, becomes another phase of the gospel expansion now into the nation of Africa. Eventually, Philip ends up living in Caesarea by the sea, just across from Samaria. And we meet him again later on in the book of Acts, and now he is the father of four unmarried daughters. Any of you remember that story? What was the distinguishing characteristic of his four daughters? They all prophesied. And Paul, in one of his missionary journeys, was refreshed at the home of Philip, who is now called Philip the Evangelist. But we get ahead of ourselves. Philip goes to Samaria and he preaches the gospel there. Now, note the reaction of the Samaritans. Now remember, the Samaritans were despised by the rest of Israel. The Samaritans were sort of a half-breed nation, constituted when some pagan exiled tribes were transplanted into Samaria during the time of the captivity and the return thereof. And they adopted some of the practices of Israel, but they also incorporated many of their pagan practices. And so a good Jew wanted nothing to do with the Samaritans, which is why Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan, when the good religious people went off over by the other side because they didn't want to get their hands dirty on their way to church. The good Samaritan represents, well, you know, in our language, and don't misread me when I say this, but sort of in our parlance, they were from north of seven. They were just, didn't quite cut it. So here goes Philip. He comes to a city in Samaria, doesn't say what city it is, but now listen to how he is received there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs which he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed, so there was great joy in the city. Two things in those three verses that I'd like for us to note. The first thing is they all paid close attention, and the rest of the passage indicates to us that they were very responsive to receiving the gospel, and maybe one of the reasons for that is that back in John's gospel, of course, we have the story of the woman at the well. And the woman at the well, after she had met up with Jesus, went back to the city of Samaria, told everybody about him, and the whole city got evangelized. I don't know if that's related to this or not, but it illustrates a receptivity on the part of people who you would not normally consider being open to the gospel. And what it illustrates, I think, is that many of the last are first, and many of the first are last. And there's a very important biblical principle here that is very dominant in Luke's writing, both in his gospel and in the book of Acts. And that is the fact that the gospel always has to go to the Jews first, and then only to the Gentiles after the Jews reject the gospel. And so all the apostles, throughout the book of Acts, where there is a synagogue, the first thing they do is they go to the synagogue, and they give an opportunity to the Jewish community to receive the Messiah, the Son of Abraham, that everybody had been looking for and expecting. Sadly, many wanted nothing to do with it. And then when the Jewish people reject the gospel, then it goes to the Gentiles, because the first will be last, and the last will be first. The apostle Paul puts it this way in Acts chapter 13 on their first missionary journey. He said, "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you rejected," interesting language, "and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles." And later on in the book of Romans, Romans chapter 11 verse 25, and I don't have that verse up for you, Israel, he says, "had experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in." And so all Israel will be saved. Many different interpretations of that passage, but I believe that one of the things that it means is that the Jewish people as a group have rejected the gospel so that the word of God can go to the Gentiles. How many of us know that we're here because the Jewish folks rejected the gospel and we have been planted into the tree? Paul talks a lot about that in the book of Romans. But he says, "The day is coming when the full number of Gentiles have come in. I believe there will be a great awakening among Jewish people, and so all Israel will be saved." He says, "If you who are a wild branch can be planted back into the tree, how much more a natural branch that has been broken off because of sin and rebellion can be planted back into the roots of Abraham. We stand today on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, and a hardening has come upon Israel to allow the gospel to reach you and me. But what a day it will be when they in turn come to faith." And if you ever see that happening in your lifetime, then lift up your heads because you know that your redemption is drawing nigh. That will be the harvest that ushers in the coming of the kingdom. The gospel always goes first to the Jews. When they reject it, it comes to you and to me. We should never be cocky, proud, or arrogant about that. It's only God's mercy that has given us opportunity to repent. And I would take that a step further and say that even today, the gospel first comes to the church. And it first comes to those who were born into Christian homes and who have grown up with the issues of faith. But sadly, when those who should know better choose for whatever reason to reject that, you will discover that for everyone who rejects it inside the church, there's 10 people out there who are just dying to hear the good news. And Jesus will send his people to the highways and the byways and compel them to come in because my house, he says, the feast will be filled. Amen? The feast will be filled and the Lord will get them from anywhere he needs to in order to bring all the elect to full salvation. So they pay close attention, the Samaritans who are the despised half-breeds, they receive the gospel with enthusiasm just like in the days of Jesus to Syrophoenician woman, a Canaanite, a cursed woman if ever there was one. She had faith that exceeded the faith of the people in the house of Israel. What a shameful thing for those who thought they knew it so well and they were so blind they couldn't see Jesus when he was standing right in front of them or recognize him for who he was. But there's a second thing to notice in those couple of verses that we've just read together and that is that there was a huge demonic manifestation, listen again to the verse, with shrieks, evil spirits came out of many and many paralytics and cripples were healed so there was great joy in the city. We don't talk a lot about demons today, I sometimes think we're so blind spiritually that we couldn't recognize them if they stood right in front of our noses. But all through scripture demonic activity is a devastating reality and they're part of Satan's kingdom who tried to affect and control the lives of people to keep them in bondage, to keep them from knowing the true God and to keep them from living God's way. And throughout the New Testament you run a lot into what are known as unclean spirits. Spirits from Satan that have entered into people's lives and that make life miserable, that cause them to suffer and that certainly keep them from knowing God and obeying his will. And so here is Philip, he's preaching in this city in Samaria and what happens, hell just breaks loose, with shrieks, evil spirits came out and they left the people. So here's my question, why this huge manifestation of the demonic as Philip is preaching in this city in Samaria? I'll give you two reasons really quickly before we wind this up. First of all because there is a clash of kingdoms. There is a clash of kingdoms. Remember there are fundamentally two kingdoms in the world, the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God. The kingdom of darkness is fundamentally oriented towards Satan, the kingdom of God is fundamentally oriented towards God, and the kingdom of darkness is a place where Satan's will gets done. And the kingdom of God is a place where God's will gets done. And without going into a lot of detail about it, and you've heard me talk about this before, these are called by St. Augustine, the city of man and the city of God, they both have their origin in Genesis chapter 4. The city of God begins with Abel who gets killed, his brother Seth replaces him and his genealogy becomes the genealogy of God's people. And Cain who killed Abel becomes the founding father of the city of man. And that conflict between Cain and Abel is a conflict that goes throughout all the pages of scripture. You see it in the fight between Ishmael and Isaac, you see it in the fight between Jacob and Esau, you see it in the fight between the nations of the world and the nation of Israel, and you see it in the conflict of Jesus with the powers of darkness. Those two cities, the city of God and the city of man, go weaving their way through history until you get to the book of Revelation, and in the book of Revelation they have both come to maturity. The city of man is now called what? Babylon the Great, and the city of God is called the New Jerusalem. What are the two distinguishing characteristics? What is Babylon the Great called? It's not a very flattering name. She's called a whore. And what is the church called? The Bride of Christ. What's the difference between a whore or a prostitute and the Bride of Christ? A whore is for sale if you pay the price. She has no loyalty, and she'll go with you if you will buy her. A bride knows that she belongs to her groom, and she cannot be bought, she cannot be sold because she knows that without the groom there is no life, isn't that true? And so at the end of history, if we can have those circles back up, what do you think happens? At the end of history, this Babylon the Great, now having come to mature, is completely and totally destroyed. Four or five hallelujahs in the book of Revelation all focus on the fall of Babylon the Great, which means that most of the great nations of the world, most of the history that you have learned in school will come to a grinding halt when the big towers of the world come cascading down under the judgment of God. Not a pretty picture, but it's part of God's redemption. And guess what happens to the bride? She's made herself ready. She's dressed in robes of righteousness, which are the righteous deeds of the saints. And what does the father say, "Come, beloved of my father, enter into the kingdom." And God throws this big wedding party where forever God's people celebrate the goodness of God in the kingdom of God. Now here's what I want you to understand. Those two kingdoms exist all through history. In fact, sometimes those two kingdoms exist in your heart and in my heart, because who of us can say that we're completely free from the one and completely surrender to the other? That dividing line runs throughout the course of history. And whenever those two kingdoms start coming together, and guess what happens? There is fireworks. And so throughout history, you see these power encounters, you see Moses and Pharaoh. What's that all about? Well is the Lord God? Or is Pharaoh and are the gods of Egypt gods? And you have this power encounter, "Let my people go." And then you roll the clock forward and you get to the days of Elijah. Elijah and Mount Carmel. Remember, a power battle is bailed the God who gives life to the people of Israel and to the nation, or is the Lord God? And you've got that whole rather fascinating story where he makes fun of Baal, and he says, "Well maybe Baal has gone to the bathroom," and that's why, that's kind of cleaned up in Bible translations, but that's what he really said. Good crude Hebrew humor. Maybe he's gone to the bathroom. And you get that power encounter where fire comes from heaven and God establishes his kingdom, and then you get into the New Testament and what happens when Jesus begins his ministry. You've heard me say this before, who was the first to recognize Jesus for being the Messiah once he began his ministry? It was an evil spirit crying out in the synagogue, "Have you come to torment us before our time?" I think it's kind of tragic that demons sometimes are smarter than people. But now when you get to the book of Acts, you will notice that wherever the gospel goes, wherever there has been significant satanic invasion, there is a power confrontation. And so you get Paul going to Ephesus and there he runs into a huge pile of occult power. And you get them going later on to, or earlier rather, in Philippi, the same kind of thing. And so what happens here is that as Philip comes in the power of the Holy Spirit, proclaiming the authority of Jesus, every demon in hell gets stirred up and spontaneous deliverances are taking place because the kingdom of God is coming with power. Imagine how many people that would freak out if we did a little bit of that over here. But understand that spiritual reality can get pretty ugly. So that's one reason he's in Samaria. But more specifically, there's this power clash. But then of course, Samaria is the home, or the city in Samaria is home to whom? Simon, the magician. The city is the home of Simon, the magician. 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. 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." They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. When we talk about magic, we think primarily of illusionists, sleight of hand. But magic in Scripture has a much darker history. And so Pharaoh was surrounded by whom? Magicians. King Nebuchadnezzar was surrounded by whom? Magicians. Ronald Reagan, when he was president of the United States, got much of his advice from whom? An astrologer. Spiritual power from the dark side always moses up to the seat of human power because that's one of the ways in which Satan controls the world. And so here we have Simon, the magician, not just an illusionist, but a man who truly operated in spiritual power. Because you see, there is not only the spiritual power from God, there's also the spiritual power from the dark side, and there are some who would say there is spiritual power that is spiritually neutral because it is the latent power of the soul. That is to say, abilities that once were given to Adam and Eve, but that have grown dormant in the human race because they have not been cultivated. I don't know if that's true or not, but there are many people who swear by that, whatever the case. He so impressed this city that they followed him and called him great. And that, of course, opens the doors for spiritual infestation. Because you know just as well as I do that the devil can just sort of willy-nilly enter into your life. He couldn't even willy-nilly enter into Judas's life to betray Jesus until Judas made the choice. There has to be a breaking down of barriers in order for the evil one to come and lodge in people's lives so that it becomes the kind of demonization that we read of in Scripture. Sometimes that's because of generational sin. Sometimes that's because of personal sin, personal choices that people have made. Sometimes that's because of trauma. People's natural guard came down and the enemy got in there and he began his brooding infestation. Whatever the case, this city is held in Satan's grip. And please understand that whatever Satan has a grip, darkness descends. Even as happens, lives fall apart. And so what's significant about this story is not that Simon the Great, as he is called, Simon Magus in Latin, Simon the Sorcerer, has had power over the people of Samaria. What is remarkable is that when the gospel comes and Philip demonstrates the Word of God with signs and wonders and with authority, the city as one, including Simon, which is highly unusual, make a profession of faith. But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Men himself believed and was baptized and he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. Now we'll see later on, it's very questionable whether his conversion was an authentic conversion. I think Simon was in love with the spectacular and when he saw that Philip had more than what he had, he wanted it. And you may recall as the story goes on, he offered money so that the Holy Spirit could be given through the laying on of hands and Peter has a few stern words to say, words that you might not want to repeat in church because he literally said, "You and your money can go to hell." That's another one of these translations that got a little cleaned up for our eyes and ears but that's really what he said. But the point is this, and this is what I want to end with. As we try to be faithful to Jesus, as we try to step into situations where we bear witness to his name and proclaim the power of Jesus to set people free and to restore them and to equip them and to empower them, we're going to run into spiritual opposition. And when that happens, it can be very, very scary. But remember what Jesus said, "I am with you always even to the end of the age." And where darkness increases, the spiritual power of God increases because the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. And in obedience to that command, the church has gone to the ends of the earth, continues to proclaim Christ for the glory of God until the day every ethnic group will have heard the gospel. And we will hear the sound of the trumpet, the voice of acclamation, and Jesus comes to reclaim the earth and usher in his eternal kingdom, I don't know about you, but it can come quick enough as far as I'm concerned. Maranatha, come, Lord Jesus, come. Stand with me. Father, we all find, I'm sure, sometimes in living the Christian life that when we try to step out into new places where you call us to step out into, that we experience a spiritual heaviness or sometimes circumstances that try to discourage us or stop us or we find ourselves in situations where we have feelings that we don't know what to do with and we wonder where you are. We pray this morning, if nothing else, that you open our eyes to spiritual reality, that you open our eyes to the fact that when the kingdom of God comes in power, there's always a backlash from hell, but that Jesus himself has promised to be with us always and that even the destruction of the church in Jerusalem could not stop your purposes from going forward because you said, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost ends of the earth." And Father, we're not all called to be missionaries and we're not all called to go to distant lands, but we are certainly all called to proclaim the name of the Lord. So help us to do that with our children. Help us to do that with each other as spouses or friends or adults. Help us to do that at work, not Lord, in an obnoxious, preachy fashion, but in a wholesome, authentic way where we bear witness to the Lord Jesus and then expand our influence Lord. Take the influence of this community beyond our homes, beyond our schools, beyond our places of work, into the city, beyond the city, beyond the country, to the uttermost ends of the earth. We pray that you will just stir up that kind of passion, that kind of calling. And Lord, when the parade takes place later this day and we have the Christmas float in there and BCS has their float, Lord, use those opportunities too, just to give voice to the presence of God's people in this town and in this community. And may hearts and lives hear your word. And having heard your word, may they bend the knee. May you add to the church daily those who are being saved for the glory of God. We pray it. In Jesus' name, God's people agreed and said, "Amen and Amen." [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:52:07.020; remove through 00:54:50.000] Jesus, we believe in his name. We are called by the name of Jesus. We are saved. We are saved. And in his name, the King has saved. And in his name, that is our dream. For the risk of a day that is hard enough. In Jesus' name, God's people agreed and said, "Amen and Amen." Jesus, we believe in his name, God's people agreed and said, "Amen and Amen." Well, in the name of Jesus, we shall stand, we shall stand. And in his name, God's enemies shall be crushed. We believe in his name, God's people agreed and said, "Amen and Amen." In Jesus' name, God's people agreed and said, "Amen and Amen." In Jesus' name, God's people agreed and said, "Amen and Amen." [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:54:50.000; resume after this marked segment]