Acts 8:4-25, What’s It For?

Acts 8:4-25 and the Spread of the Gospel to Samaria

Acts chapter 8 beginning verse 4. Hear the word of the Lord. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ and the crowds with one accord paid attention To what was being said by Philip and they heard him and saw the signs that he did for unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed crying with a loud voice and many who were Paralyzed or lame were healed.

So there was much joy in that city. But there was a man named Simon Who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him from the least to the greatest saying this man is the power of God.

It is called great and They paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ.

They were baptized both men and women even Simon himself Believed and after having after being baptized he continued with Philip and seeing signs and great miracles. Performed he was amazed. Now when the Apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God They sent to sent to them Peter and John who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

For they had not yet for he had not yet fallen on any of them. But they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the Apostles hands He offered them money saying give me this power also.

So that anyone in whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit, but Peter said to him May your silver perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have neither part nor lot in this matter for your heart is not right before God repent therefore of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible the intent of your heart may be forgiven you for I see that you are on the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity and Simon answered pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.

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. May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word.

What the Gospel Is For in the Church’s Mission

Oh, what is what is this for? No, I mean, I mean this right here. What's it? What's it for? This oh. Maybe you think I'm talking about the table or maybe you think I'm talking about the cloth over it.

You think you're saying well, it's for the Lord's Supper or it's for that Bible or it's the decoration. The cloth is nice, isn't it a little the silvery and then then the red sash whatever you call that thing.

But mrs. Perry made that for us soon after we moved in here. To me I look at that and think not only is this a nice decoration that serves to cover the table. It's actually the table is pretty crude if we took that it's just like basic boards, but it reminds us of mrs. Perry so that's good to have but but what made you think I was referring to the table of the cloth.

I Mean I made a gesture with my fingers and you thought I was pointing. Because you've been taught that this gesture. I'm trying to point at you is for pointing to something Beyond it. But if you've ever tried to ever try that with a toddler get a little toddler a little a little more than a baby.

You know old enough you can talk to him but not much more and you maybe you're you're you're at a window and a cardinal Lands on a tree branch nearby and you point to the cardinal and say to the toddler look at that and He or she looks at what and he looks at your finger.

And you go know the bright red bird. The toddler thinks you're referring to the finger. Maybe here she tries to mimic the gesture, you know, see if I can do that, too. Can I have my one finger sticking out and the toddler thinks the finger gesture is fun.

This is amazing. Never mind the bird cares about the bird this I want to do you mean it to point beyond itself. To something more wonderful than the ability to do this, you know what you think? What's that but to the child?

The sign is more interesting. Well, what is this? For I mean the church. Well here in the early church. They've been told they have a mission. Remember chapter 1 verse 8 the Witnesses Jesus said here in Jerusalem Judea Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth like North Carolina and Virginia.

We don't see an act that they've done anything to accomplish that mission until Stephen is first Slandered and then brutally murdered and a great persecution breaks out and that gives them the incentive to go out.

Causing many Christians in to flee Jerusalem taking the gospel with them and verse 4 says those who were. Those who were scattered because of the persecution they're fleeing for their lives now they went about Preaching the word so they they took the word with them.

So now Judea the region around Jerusalem begins to be filled with these messengers of the gospel and they were there were probably all kinds of great stories the believers bringing the gospel to towns all around there and people being converted and they gather together in new churches and Probably will be entertaining ourselves in heaven for who knows how many a lot how long with all these great stories.

One of those only a few of these is preserved here in the Bible. One of those is from here from Philip the first deacon and and he he knows what the gospel is for. It's for spreading and he doesn't just go to the region around Jerusalem.

He goes to Samaria and here we see what the gospel is for. With the gospel the church and the Holy Spirit is for and we see that in four major parts first Samaria second signs. Then Simon and finally the Spirit.

Samaria as a Boundary-Crossing Mission Field

First Samaria now Philip went to Samaria to us. That doesn't sound like much just a place name. Any other place maybe it's like say well, I was I went to Washington DC you think well, okay. So what but going to Samaria is crossing a major boundary.

It's a it's a breakthrough to a different kind of people. Remember, this is one of the steps Jesus specifically told them to take Jerusalem Judea Samaria now so far over seven chapters into the book of Acts.

This is about a quarter of the way through the book, but about that seven chapters the book. They haven't crossed any boundaries yet. They haven't gone out yet. Now. They had a kind of an internal cultural boundary.

They needed to cross between Greek speakers and local Hebrews, but they haven't gone out. They haven't crossed geographic boundaries. Now finally Philip breaks through a boundary. What's Samaria for? By the way so the Jews.

It's for avoiding. You know if you lived up north where Jesus was raised and you want to go down south to Jerusalem. Samaria was in between. Are you most the time they would go far out of their way? Around it to avoid it the people there in Samaria were for ostracizing.

That's why the disciples were amazed. Remember Jesus is speaking to this woman at the well. They're amazing speaking to it. Not just a woman but a Samaritan. It was a revolutionary to think that a Samaritan remember the parable who is my neighbor Jesus.

He tells a parable of the good who? That's what. So I'm shocking about that. It's a Samaritan is my neighbor. The Samaritans were outcasts. They were considered half breeds and heretics. They were the descendants of some Gentiles who have been imported into the land of Israel and who then intermarried with a few leftover Israelites there and they they kind of adopted this watered-down Perverted form of Israelite religion and a mixed with other things.

They and they had even their own temple the Samaritan temple on a different mountain. You know not remember that woman at the wells trying to debate Jesus about where should we worship in Jerusalem or our own temple?

They were a breakaway sect. Kind of like what we may regard the Jehovah's Witnesses. They're like that. You don't consider them one of us. They didn't need and they on their part didn't consider the Jews one of them.

They didn't need Jerusalem. They didn't need to fellowship with the Jews. They thought what's Jerusalem for in their mind? Nothing to us Samaritans. We're independent. We're separate and so Philip goes to these Breakaway Israelites in verse 5 and proclaims to them The Christ that is he was preaching who the Messiah is.

Who is the one who brings in the kingdom of God on earth? Of course, that's Jesus. So if you want to be in the kingdom of God, you must believe in you must submit to and you must follow Jesus that's what he's telling these people no more debating about which temple is best.

That doesn't make any sense anymore. Jesus is the way the truth and the life if you want to be God's worshiper. Doesn't matter which temple you go to you must worship Jesus in spirit and in truth. So what's Philip in Samaria for?

He's for getting the good news out to all kinds of people even these Breakaway Israelites, it's it's for crossing boundaries either geographic ones or cultural ones that divide people for cross those boundaries with the good news that Jesus is the king of the kingdom of God.

What are signs for? You know, I point to the table and the cloth. And you know that when I say look at that, I don't mean look at my finger. Of course not. I'd look at whatever I'm pointing to sign are not for drawing attention to themselves.

What would you think if you're driving down the road and you saw a sign it read? Read me. I mean, that's it. Just just read me. You probably think what a waste of a sign who would put up a sign like that.

Signs are for pointing to something else, you know beyond them maybe to the speed limit saw a sign coming in here. No zoning. Okay, I'm not sure exactly what that's about. But I understand somebody around this county doesn't want there to be zoning.

Okay, got it. Hey, they can point to where a hospital is our billboard might point to a business. Signs are for pointing. Philip in Samaria has signs calls them verse 6 crowds are gathered and they were very attentive to what he was saying because because they saw.

What quote the signs that he was doing signs pointed to what he was saying? So they paid very very careful attention to his message. It was what some people call power evangelism in other words. You use power to get people's attention spiritual power and and then evangelize them the signs are expressions of God's power to show that the message of salvation is powerful and he says for in verse 7 other words explaining because he's doing signs because.

These are the signs unclean spirits came out of people. They would scream loudly, but they came out many and it says many who are paralyzed or lame were healed. These are the signs if they stumbled into Phillips meeting on crutches.

They could leave without the crutches if they were carried in by others they were able to walk out. These weren't intended by calling them signs think what that means. That means they are not intended to just be miraculous works of health care right now sure is it's great that people can be relieved of their physical or Psychological suffering to give them healing in the body healing in the mind give them the healing that they want.

That's that's good. But here by calling them signs it shows the healing is not an end in itself. They are meant for more than just allowing people peace of mind or the ability to walk unhindered. They were signs pointing to something far greater than the healing itself.

And think what it says about the fact now in our day. There's so many prayer meetings. One reason people find prayer meetings. Just so dull and don't want to go because they'll end up hearing about you know I have a cousin who has a friend who has an uncle who's got a sore toe and they'll pray, you know.

It's just a list of physical ailments and let's pray for them. Sometimes prayer meetings and prayer requests are just filled sometimes just consumed with prayers for healing as. If they were an end in themselves, they were the goal.

Just getting healed. Rarely prayers for conversion or for repentance almost like that's embarrassing. That's to be somebody be. Somebody. Something to be saved. Someone to repent of their sins, you know.

But you but if you see the there's wrath of God coming or judgment. Don't you want to pray for people to be relieved of that? Suffering. Maybe the reason we don't see more signs because people look at this.

Why don't we see things like this now? For evangelism, what do we could do but bunch of Miracles signs and that would give people's a position that we could evangelize them. But maybe the reason we don't see signs is that we don't treat them as signs.

Remember what signs are. Signs point to something else. That's what they're called here. That's why they're called signs. We treat them as in this ends in themselves. That they're they're self Referential.

They're just about just about healing the body to be relieved of our aches and pains to be able to walk. Well again, it's about extending our life for a few more years, but they point to nothing. Eternal people go to healing meetings if they didn't get healed but.

Will they go if they want to hear the gospel? Here's something eternal. But if it here they are what signs. They point to the truth that Philip is preaching. That Jesus is the king of the kingdom of God.

And so because the gospel has come to Samaria, it's pointed to it's attested to with signs. Paid attention then many were not only healed temporarily, but far more importantly they were saved eternally.

So in verse 8 there was much joy in that city. What are the signs for? Pointing to Christ who brings much joy. But then there's Simon. Simon was a big shot in Samaria. He had practiced some kind of magic.

Now whether he was a he was a charlatan who just did illusions sleight-of-hand tricks. It fooled people. You know think of how much a guy like David Copperfield could get by in those ancient days, you know.

Do these illusions people think he had real power? Maybe he was like that. He learned tricks that you know. That fool people in the thinking had power or whether he actually had possibly good. I had actually demonic power.

It's I've got a medium or we each either way. We don't know it really doesn't matter. But he amazed the people of Samaria. He was he was an amazer. And so they they even gave him the title of the great.

He had divine power. So he was they said Simon the Great. He's like the incarnation of God's power. He's so amazing. The amazer amazed amazed him with his tricks. Interesting though you think about it whatever tricks he did.

He wasn't healing all those cripples in Samaria was he because there's so plenty of them for Philip to heal. Philip had plenty of things to work with with his signs people that people with needs because whatever Simon was doing he didn't meet those needs.

So maybe that's why God gave Philip those many signs to do to show that the Jesus the Christ. That he's preaching has far greater power than this Simon. You're impressed with him and this Simon who's been enthralling the people for years.

It was what is called a power encounter when the power of God encounters the power of some other power. Some other claim to power. Here is the power of the one who they used to call the great. Oh. So you think this guy you think this Simon is the divine power that is called great.

That he's the incarnation of God's power. You think so because they can do these tricks now God says you want to see some real power look what I'm gonna let Philip do and So God heals cripples the demon oppressed to show as Jesus said that the finger of God is at work.

If the fingers of God is at work. So the kingdom of God has come upon you the signs point to the fact that Jesus is more powerful than Simon and Whatever he was representing. The signs in the preaching are so powerful many believe even Simon himself.

Simon, False Faith, and the Limits of Money

Sort of. They believe Phillips message in verse 12. About notice in verse 12. This is summing up his message the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. Now some today teach that the the kingdom of God was just the message that Jesus taught before the he was the crucifixion and the resurrection and.

And now in the quote Church Age we have a whole different gospel. Some people teach that but but he see right here in verse 12 and In later in the book of Acts that that is still the message. It's still the kingdom of God's the same gospel of the kingdom.

Jesus was preaching with it when he was on earth. The rule of God is coming on earth. So repent and submit to the king. The kingdom then comes through and in now we know The name of Jesus what is preaching for?

It's for the kingdom of God. The preaching with the signs brings conversions and that means. That means baptism notice that they believe first and are baptized. That's always the pattern in the book of Acts in the New Testament believe then baptism both men and women including the amazer himself.

Simon. Notice in verse 13 Simon says Simon believed in a manner of speaking. Now here's an important truth. Many people don't understand but it's obvious from this passage as particularly you see it when when when you when we look at all that the Bible says about faith.

Some say that all one must do is believe to be saved. That's sort of true Sola fide faith alone. It's one of the principles of any true church. Certainly any before church. But not everything that is called belief or faith is real belief.

It's just mental agreement. Belief you just don't think of any reason to argue against the message. Is that really faith? Now some say yes. That all you have to do is say you believe you have to agree in your mind.

And they say that's faith and then you're saved and then they'll say once saved always saved. So you can't lose your salvation because you agreed at one point in the past and it is a matter about whether that belief changes your life at all.

What's faith for they say it's just to keep you out of hell. Here Simon believes it says in verse 13 sort of He agreed. You know, he wasn't arguing with Philip. He was going along with his message. He was even baptized as an expression of his sort of faith and He continued it says Simon continued with Philip that means he went to the meetings and he listened to Philip and our terms would say he's going to church.

And so he appeared for a time to be a believer. He's baptized. It's attending church. But did he have true? Saving faith. Oh, we'll see. By what he thinks what he thinks this the gospel the church the preaching the signs.

What it's all about what it's for. What you think it's for deep down shows whether your faith is real or. Whether what you call faith Is just something else. Well Simon the amazer is Now himself amazed at the end of verse 12.

He sees the signs and the great miracles performed. He's amazed by them. You know, he knows he's look at that. Wow Simon. I mean this Philip this isn't a trick. You know, he's not just pulling coins out from behind people's ears, you know things like that and amazing people.

No, he's actually healing cripples. He knows this is no illusion. Though the problem was though he didn't see what the signs pointed to he was like a toddler looking at this. Wow, that's amazing thinking it's all about itself.

Thinking about how can I do that? Can I do that? Can I make my fingers do that? No, he's thinking Simon's thinking well somehow how looking at Philip. How can how can I make this about me? Well, there's Samaria the breakaway Israelites with the signs pointing to Jesus and Simon.

Formerly the great now apparently a believer. But what does he think belief is for? Next is the spirit the Apostles in Jerusalem hear the good news about the Samaritans. It says they had received the Word of God.

That's an interesting way. That's in verse 14 an interesting way of putting believing isn't it? Accepting the gospel normally people today say they receive Christ as their Savior here Luke puts it as they received the Word of God.

That's how believing the gospel is put in verse 14. It's receiving the Word of God. It's not just believing part of it. You know the part that promises heaven. It's believing it. That he is true. And so you don't just you know, believe the parts are convenient to you.

You believe at all even the parts about if you want to be Jesus a disciple you have to take up your cross and follow him or seek first the kingdom of God or You know seek that first not money or pleasure or being the great you receive the Word of God.

That's what you do. When you become a believer. So the Apostles here that that has happened in Samaria and they send their a team there, you know Peter and John to check them out to connect with them to form a relationship with them to show that we're part of the same church.

Now here's an odd thing starting in verse 15 and 16. They needed the Apostles to come to confirm them because they had not received the Holy Spirit. It's what it says. They had not received the Holy Spirit.

They had believed and so they must have they must have something of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. Because we know from elsewhere. We saw that passage in Sunday school this morning first Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 that the unspiritual person the natural person person without the spirit.

He cannot he lacks the ability to accept the things of God the gospel, right? It's not just a matter of willpower you simply can't do it without the Holy Spirit it's a Impossibility for the unsaved person to do to believe the gospel.

It does not able so everyone who truly believes needs the Holy Spirit to enable them to believe so they had Something of the Holy Spirit, but notice the language in verse 16. He That's the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen.

Falls out of a you know, like a weighty a powerful big thing falling that that had not fallen on them. They had only I think that's key only been baptized. So see this is the only kind of baptism they had in water.

I think that's implied emphasizing that this is the only baptism they had experienced not a baptism in the Holy Spirit and They had only been baptized in the name of Jesus that is by his authority and Commission.

Now the implication is they had not been baptized in the Holy Spirit and that's odd. Because I if you remember a few weeks ago I said it when we're in Acts chapter 1 or 2 or both that after Pentecost now every believer is baptized in the Holy Spirit at conversion that Pentecost was the church being baptized in the Holy Spirit and since then every believer receives that Empowering when they are born again.

In other words Pentecost is not something we seek after we're saved. It's comes as part of the package deal now and I believe that's what scripture teaches first. Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13 says for in one Spirit we we were all baptized into one body and all were made to drink of one spirit.

But here these believers believe and are baptized in water but oddly enough. They aren't baptized in the Holy Spirit. So they're they're like then almost exactly like that. Remember the first part the disciples 120 disciples are in Acts chapter 1.

Before you know before Acts 2 for Pentecost Believers, they're believers who haven't been baptized in the Holy Spirit. So what's going on? Well some like Pentecostals would say well just see you're wrong.

About the baptism of the Holy Spirit is being part of conversion. It's a separate experience. There are two stages first that my answer to that would be well. Okay, I understand from this passage as though it is if this were all that the Bible said.

But first Paul never teaches that or the other apostles in the epistles. Even when just teaching about the Spirit. That's kind of important now. Surely we'd be taught about something. That's that important when we there's something we need to seek an experience.

Surely we would be taught about it. But we're not second. If you're going to make this passage and to the norm. You're teaching that is a pattern. It's not just history, but it's a pattern. We're supposed to follow that there are two stages.

There's salvation first and then there's a baptism the Holy Spirit we seek after that. You're making this the norm to say that then you need to make all of it the norm. You don't just get to pick and choose which parts you want to make the norm and ignore the rest.

And so you'd say well, we need the apostles to come and lay hands on us and pray for us to have that spirit. Right. That's what happens here. By the way, that doesn't happen again later in the book of Acts.

So this is the only time. So, how can it be the norm but never mind that but you have to say well this is the norm where we're gonna get these apostles to come and pray for us and Get us that baptism the Holy Spirit.

Well, of course some will say some will say okay. I'll see you to that. I'll we'll fix that by calling some people apostles and well, yeah, but I'm not that impressed by these new apostles We have around here.

Sorry. I'm just I'm not buying that. They're like Peter and John not going for that now. Remember the context the church is crossing boundaries. This is a new breakthrough up until now the gospel had only been spread among Jews.

Now they cross into the Samaritans Jerusalem Judea. Now Samaria, it's another step to obeying Jesus's command but Samaritans are breakaway Israelites. Maybe and actually probably or maybe even almost certainly they would be tempted.

Since their culture is so accustomed to breaking away from the Jews. Maybe they would think hey We can form a breakaway church. Right, they think we've become believers. We'll have our own church independent.

If they believe the gospel and are baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit they have everything then maybe they would think. Like they've been trained to think from their youth as Samaritans worshiping in their own temple.

Completely separate from the Jews. Maybe they would think We don't need the wider church. We don't need that church in Jerusalem. We don't need those so-called apostles. We're self-sufficient. We've been self-sufficient before.

We didn't need the temple in Jerusalem. We'll be self-sufficient Christians not needing the church in Jerusalem. They were breakaway Israelites. They could easily become Breakaway Christians. Now here's a statement of opinion.

I Think it's not ideal. That we this church is not formally associated with a wider Fellowship of churches, whatever you want to call it some convention or association or denomination. We don't want to be micromanaged from outside like told where where we can, you know, can't have a building.

But we also don't want us we don't want for ourselves a self-sufficient got a breakaway. I'm independent. It's kind of arrogant spirit. It's healthy for any church for us to recognize Formally officially that we're not the only church in the world.

That we're part of a bigger body of Christ and it's healthy and maybe healthy to have some outside Accountability, I still hope one day that we can join some kind of family of churches. After all, what's what's the church for?

It's for being part of the true universal church. Well here the Lord seems to have made an exception to not have included the baptism in the Holy Spirit with conversion. That's the only time this happens in acts so that and he seems to have done it so that Peter and John would come from Jerusalem.

Connect with them. You know say they physically lay hands on them. They touch them communicate through touch. You know that we people we were disconnected Jews Samaritans had nothing to do with each other.

But now we're connected. We're touching communicate through touch that we're together now. We're the body of Christ we're part of the same family of believers and by doing that and When that happens, it's then that they experience the same baptism of the Holy Spirit that the Apostles experience in Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit as Power, Not Mere Inference

What's the Holy Spirit for? For power. Notice first. That after they're being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Nope. Nope. Well notice that that experience was Was noticeable notice that it's noticeable. Did you notice how noticeable it is?

You could see it in other words it expressed itself. Being filled baptizing the Holy Spirit expressed itself in an obvious ways. Now we're not told exactly here what those expressions were. But they were obvious they were visible.

It's not just well now now we've laid hands and we pray this prayer and now you just believe you have the Holy Spirit. Now you could see something had something has changed to quote John Piper. Receiving the Holy Spirit is experiential not inferential.

That is many Christians today are taught. Like I just taught you that they receive the Holy Spirit when they believe so. They then think on the basis of that that they can infer that they have the Holy Spirit by the fact that they believe.

Of course that depends on what you think believe is right? That's also an issue here. It doesn't mean to believe but it but they think they agree because they agree they have the Holy Spirit. So you you ask them whether they know they have the Holy Spirit and they reason.

They think in their head yes, I know I have the Holy Spirit because I believe they think they believe and Believing is all the evidence you need. For knowing you have the Holy Spirit. But here we see that that's not true.

Being baptized at the Holy Spirit was something that could be seen it made it an obvious. Difference it was powerful. You know if someone or yourself has the Holy Spirit by what you what you can see and their Experience not not just inferring.

Well, they say they believe and so therefore they have the Holy Spirit. That's that's that's inferential. No, it's experiential. That that expression of the Holy Spirit May be a hunger and thirst for the Word of God.

It's just now. You want to you want to read it you want to hear it effectively preach you just want to be. You want you want you want to understand it? You want to know it you want to absorbed it or it may be a love of praise.

So that you just want to sing to the Lord. Maybe maybe loudly. This is praise in the Lord in song. It may be maybe a gift for evangelism. You want to reach out and you have a gift to do that or maybe a yearning to do something you want to do something.

The extension of the kingdom you want to serve and you want to give. You want to be involved with reaching out or it may Be the the power to be self-controlled. When before you didn't have that power you can control your temper now or your sexual desires.

You can walk in holiness. It may be the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But it's obvious. It's experiential. It's not just inferential. That means if someone says that they believe. But there's no signs of the Spirit in their life.

There's no spiritual desires. They agree with the doctrine. Sure. They're not gonna argue with you about it. But there's nothing in their life that shows the power of the Spirit then maybe. They're not baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Which now for us? Because we're not Samaritans. We're not breakaway Israelites for us that means They're not true believers. They're not truly saved. They're nominal they just have a mental belief. Are there such people.

I think there are a lot of people Who have come into the kingdom of God who have finally been truly saved? Perhaps through the Pentecostal and charismatic movement or through what campus crusade used to do.

I'm not sure if they still do it or not they used to have this old strategy of trying to lead nominal Christians profess Christians to be quote filled with the Spirit and They tell nominal Christians profess believers it may maybe show no signs of our of interest in spiritual things.

They say, you know, they would challenge them if they're not saved. It's a supposedly you say, okay. Supposedly you're a Christian, but you're lacking something right? You're lacking power. So you need to be filled with or baptized in the Spirit and many then you know saying yeah, you're right I'm lacking power.

So they would repent of their sins. They would seek that power they would pray to be filled with the Spirit and their lives would be changed radically and then. They testify That for years they say, you know I became a believer when I was whatever when I first prayed that prayer and I agreed but for years I was a Christian.

But I lived a powerless life until I had that second experience. However, they want to describe it a baptizing the Holy Spirit or whatever. What I think really happened to many of those people is that many of them weren't true believers at all before.

They were just mental believers mental agreeers. Maybe we should call them that Greer's agreeers who had never been born again and. And then when they they were challenged about their powerless life about the sins in their life.

And they pray to be baptized in the Holy Spirit it was then that they were truly born again. Regenerated given a new heart and of course as part of that package deal. Received the Holy Spirit. And so what they think is a second experience.

Was really their first experience. They had a great experience. But just a just a bad understanding of it here. Simon thinks he's a believer. The church even thinks he's a believer up until now. But he shows he's not.

He sees in verse 18 that the Spirit was given to the Apostles hands again. He noticed that he's he sees it. It can be seen the experience. It's an experience. It's not just a doctrine. It's powerful. Of course Simon loves power.

He wants power. So he does what any good businessman would do. No. How much is it? You know, what is money for. Money is for getting anything we want, right? That's why we love it so much. I mean we tell the kid to do a chore and he or she doesn't do it.

But we tell money to get what we want and money always obeys money's great like that. That's exactly what we tell it to do buys whatever we want. Until we find out there's something that money can't buy.

Simon like a lot of people today doesn't know that there are some things that money can't buy. Well, he gets out his checkbook. Comes to Peter and John says in verse 19, you know, how much is it? Give me this power.