(Through the Bible) Acts 7-8 — Chuck Smith

The Appointment of Stephen and the Ministry of Small Things

Let's turn tonight to Acts chapter 7 in the early church when a dispute arose among the Grecians. That is those Jews of the Grecian culture. They were actually Jews. But they had followed the Grecian culture.

Which was a universal culture as the result of Alexander the Great's conquest of the world. He left little pockets of Greek culture in the major areas and in Jerusalem. There were many who were No longer kosher No longer following the Hebrew culture but had Adopted the Grecian culture though.

They were still Jews. They felt that their why their widows were being slighted when the church was doling out its welfare program. And so they complained to the Apostles who said Let us appoint seven men that are of good report full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to take care of this ministry of Administering the church's welfare in order that we might give ourselves continually to fasting and prayer and so Stephen full of the Holy Spirit was chosen as one of the seven as Also was Philip.

Now these men were chosen for the task of waiting tables. However, the Holy Spirit had other Plans for them, but I do believe that their faithfulness in Those little things is what qualified them for the greater ministry that God had.

We really don't start at the top in our ministry for the Lord. You have to start off with the little things. You have to start off with the plain simple task and as Jesus said Thou has been faithful in a few things.

Now I will make you ruler over many and I think that this is the process that the Lord does follow our Faithfulness in the little things. So often a person comes and says I want to get in the ministry and I say go to the Sunday School Department and volunteer that's the best place to start in the ministry.

If you can learn to relate God's truth to children, then you can relate it to anybody but it's important that we get started in you know, the Sunday school or in Some small task in order that we might develop our own Abilities as well as test and see if this is what God has actually called this to so many times when people say I want to go into the ministry they Expect me to dismiss Romaine and put them in his place on the staff.

And there have been those that have requested that we do that. But I'm convinced that every church needs a Romaine so Stephen was one of those that was chosen full of Wisdom full of the Holy Spirit of good report.

Stephen's Defense Before the Council

But Stephen soon got into trouble. Not with the church. But because the Lord was working mightily through his life with great wonders. That is the works of God that would cause people to wonder at them and miracles that he was doing and so there were those of the synagogue of the Libertines who called him and challenged him and they were not able to really deal with the spirit of wisdom and All by which he spoke so they hired some men to bear false witness against Stephen and as Stephen was standing there in the council to face these charges They all saw his face as though it were the face of an angel That shining beautiful glow of the Spirit upon Stephen and so that brings us to chapter 7 as we note chapter 7 really is Just picking up a continuation of 6 and you can't really start just straight off in 7.

You've got to have the background from 6 To understand the beginning then said the high priest are these things? So you see you've got to have chapter 6 where the accused Stephen of Blaspheming God of saying that the temple was going to be destroyed and of Blaspheming Moses speaking against Moses the temple and These are the false charges that were made partially true and of course a Partial lie is probably one of the hardest things to fight Partial truth partial lie is extremely difficult to combat an outright lie Is no problem, but partial truth partial lie is difficult To combat and this is what he was facing.

He no doubt had declared that Jesus was going to establish a new order and that God Was not Met Just in the temple, but God is now dealing with men everywhere in their hearts and lives. So the priest said are these things so and he said men and brethren and fathers Harkin so now begins Stephen's defense Before the council which is going to lead to his death.

He is going to so anger them That They are going to pick up stones gnash their teeth Against him and stone him. It is interesting that in his defense He is first of all the accused they have made these accusations against him.

But before he is finished with his defense, he becomes the accuser and he accuses them and There his accusations of them was something they couldn't handle. It was more than they can handle and they took up stones and killed him so he starts his defense in recounting their history and As he recounts their history going back to their father Abraham whom they all acknowledged as the father of their nation.

How that God Had called him out of the land of his father's to come to a land that God would ultimately give unto him and to his seed for a possession. How that he journeyed to Heron until his father died and then came on to the land that God had given to him however Though God had promised him the entire land.

He did not personally Gain any inheritance in the land except that when his wife died he bought a cave to bury her in and That was the only part of the land that Abraham ever possessed the burial cave that he had purchased from the the people of the land.

But then God had told Abraham That his seed was to go into a strange land Where they would dwell for 400 years At which time God would deliver them from that land and at that time He would give to them the land that he had promised unto them and that God would then judge the nation That had made them serve in such terrible bondage.

So he gave to Abraham the covenant verse 8 of circumcision and so Abraham begat Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day and Isaac begat Jacob and the twelve patriarchs and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs and the patriarchs moved with envy Sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him.

Joseph's Rejection and Exaltation

Now the Jews Not only lived in the present they also lived in the past. Their history is Extremely important to them. They have great reverence for the dead and there is a Feeling among the Jews That if you want to be near God, then you should be near the body of his saints.

So they have a common practice of going to the graves of the patriarchs to pray. So at the cave of Mechpelah there in Hebron you'll find the Jews coming by the hundreds to pray there at the burial cave where Abraham and Jacob were buried.

You'll find in Jerusalem on Mount Zion there is a place called the tomb of David and Any time of the day you can go in there and find the older men as a rule. Praying there by the tomb of David. The same is true of the tomb of Rachel near Bethlehem and they go to the graves of righteous people to pray.

Because they have a feeling that the Spirit of God still remains around The graves of righteous people and that's a good place to get close to God. They prided themselves in their fathers and They were always talking about our fathers and always with great pride.

Stephen in his address is Going to be showing them Where the history of their fathers isn't as illustrious and glorious as they would like to believe their fathers for envy sold Joseph Into Egypt they rejected Joseph sold him as a slave to Egypt, but God was with him and He delivered him out of all of his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh The king of Egypt who made him the governor over Egypt and all of his house.

Now there came a dearth over the land of Egypt and Canaan and great affliction and our fathers found no sustenance. You notice our fathers, but Joseph has been cast out by them. But our fathers found no sustenance.

But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first he's really building the case on our fathers and showing them that Judah and Levi and all of these rotten brothers are actually their fathers and at the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers and Joseph's family was made known to Pharaoh.

Then sent Joseph and called his father Jacob to him and his family 75 all together. So Jacob went down into Egypt and he died there and our fathers and were carried over into Shechem and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham Bought for a sum of money from the sons of Amor the father of Shechem.

But when the time of the promise drew nigh which God had sworn to Abraham. The people grew and multiplied in Egypt till another king arose which knew not Joseph. Now He passes over from Joseph Who was rejected by their fathers his brothers sold as a slave.

That's the first example. He's going to give of a mistake that their fathers made of a God-ordained leader. The second example he's going to bring to them is that of Moses and So he jumps right in To Moses.

Moses Rejected, Called, and Sent

This Pharaoh dealt subtly with our family and evil entreated our fathers. So that they cast out their young children to the end that they might not live. That is the Pharaoh you remember ordered that all of the boy babies be slain and the girl babies be kept alive.

And so he is making reference to that order of the Pharaoh in which time Moses was born and was exceeding beautiful and he nourished up in his father's house for three months and When he was cast out Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son.

Actually, they were ordered to cast their children into the Nile River. Moses mother hid him for three months and then when she Cast him into the Nile River She had made a little ark out of the bulrushes and so she kept the order of the Pharaoh she put him in the river, but in this little floating basket and the Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son and Moses was learned and all the wisdom of the Egyptian and was mighty in words and deeds and when he was a Full 40 years old it came in into his heart to visit his brothers the children of Israel and when he saw one of them suffering wrong, he defended him and Avenged him that was oppressed and he killed the Egyptian for he supposed Interesting.

He supposed that his brothers would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them. But they did not understand. Now when Moses Came down to his brothers He just felt well surely they will know that God put me in this position in order that I might deliver them but they did not understand this and So the next day When he showed himself again to them as they were fighting among themselves He said hey you fellows are brothers.

Why are you wronging each other? But he that was doing wrong to his neighbor Thrust him away saying who made you a ruler and a judge over us. Will you kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday? And then Moses fled at this saying and was a stranger in the land of Median in the land of Median where he?

Begot two sons and When 40 years were expired there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an Angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in the bush and when Moses saw it He wandered at the sight and he drew near to behold it and the voice of the Lord came unto him saying I am the God of thy fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

Then Moses trembled and dared not to behold. Then said the Lord to him put off your shoes from your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. I have seen I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt and I have heard their groaning and I am come down to deliver them that to me is very comforting as God says to Moses.

I have seen I have heard and I've come to help. What is true of God's people at that time is true of God's people always. God sees God hears and God has come to help. God sees your affliction. God sees your trial.

God hears your cry. God hears your call and he responds. God has come to help and now I Will send you to Egypt this Moses whom they refused saying Who made thee a ruler and a judge? The same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel Which appeared to him in the bush?

The Pattern of Moses' Three Forty-Year Periods

Now In their fathers they have two classic examples of their fathers. Putting out God's anointed Joseph's brothers sold him as a slave. They would not they rebelled against Joseph's dream. You remember he had a dream where the sun moon and twelve stars bowed down to him or the eleven stars.

He had a dream where his brothers and he were tying up their sheaves and his brother's sheaves all bowed down to his in These dreams that was declaring that God had ordained Joseph as a ruler over his brothers but they rebelled against that and they tried to get rid of him selling him as a Slave to Egypt and yet God did exalt him and make him a ruler There in Egypt and they came under his rulership later.

Now the same is true with Moses. They cast him out. Moses thought that they would know that God ordained that he would be a leader and a ruler among them. But they did not know and they cast Moses out but 40 years later God brought him back as a ruler and a deliverer for the people and so he uses these two examples of the mistakes that their fathers made of Recognizing God's ordained plan and God's ordained ruler.

There's a pattern that exists in this nation. He brought them out after that. He had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt in the Red Sea and in the wilderness. For 40 years. So Moses life divided up into three 40-year periods.

40 years in the schools of Egypt becoming something. 40 years in the wilderness. Finding out he was nothing. 40 years leading the children of Israel through the wilderness. Finding out that God could take nothing and make something out of it.

And so the 40-year divisions of Moses life. This is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel a Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you from among your brethren like unto me and him.

Shall ye hear? This is he that was in the church in the wilderness. With the angel which spake unto him in Mount Sinai. The church in the wilderness the word church ecclesia in Greek Literally means the called-out ones.

Israel was never called the church in the land. But they have been called out of Egypt and thus in the wilderness were known as the called-out ones. The church today are those that God has called out of the world.

To be a special people a peculiar nation unto him. There on Mount Sinai with our fathers. He received the living oracles, which he gave unto us. That is the oracle is a spokesman of God's Word and there God gave to Moses the law his word.

To whom our fathers you talk about your fathers. God gave them these living oracles, but they would not obey them. But they thrust him out from among them and their hearts turned back again to Egypt you talk about your fathers.

Oh our fathers this and our fathers that your fathers Rejected the law of God. They again cast Moses out and in their hearts. They returned back to Egypt saying to Aaron Make us gods to go before us. For as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt.

We don't know what's become of him. He had been 40 days up in the mountain. The people became impatient and they came to Aaron and they said we're going to go back to Egypt. Get make us gods that will lead us back to Egypt.

We don't know what's happened to Moses and so they made a calf in those days and offered sacrifice under the idol and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven as it is written in the book of the prophets.

Oh ye house of Israel, you have offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of 40 years in the wilderness. Yea, you took up the tabernacle of Molech the star of your God Repham Figures which you made to worship them and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

The Tabernacle, Joshua, David, and Solomon's Temple

Now our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness as he had appointed. Speaking unto Moses that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus now Jesus there is a reference to Joshua in the Old Testament.

I've told you over and over again that the name Jesus is the Greek for the Hebrew name Joshua and because he is talking to them. And it is translated here into the Greek. The name is given in Greek. But this is a reference to the historic man Joshua who took over Moses place and led the children of Israel into the land which also our fathers that came after brought in with Joshua that is the tabernacle of Witness that was made in the wilderness.

They brought it into the land Whom God drove out before the face of our fathers under the days of David. Who found favor before God and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob, but Solomon? Built him a house.

How be it now? He was accused remember of speaking against the temple and all Solomon built him a temple. However, he said The Most High dwells not in temples made with hands as saith the Prophet and Of course, you can go back to the Old Testament.

You can find that they say that the Lord doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. The heaven of heavens cannot contain him and so Solomon was saying I I have no Illusions that this is going to be your exclusive dwelling place.

The heavens of heavens can't hold you how much less this house that I've been built. But Lord we want this house as a place where we can just come and meet you. For the Lord said heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.

What house will you build me saith the Lord or what is the place of my abode? Hath not my hand made all these things. I Think of that whenever I think of giving to God. Because anytime I ever give to God anything I'm only giving back to him that which is his anyhow.

Didn't he make everything? He lets me be a steward of his goods and in my giving to God I'm only really giving that which is his anyhow and then he now gets to the application of the of the points that he has been subtly making and he presses now the application very directly.

Stephen's Indictment of Israel's Rejection of God's Messengers

You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You do always resist the Holy Spirit as your father's did. So are you guilty you're doing the same thing? Which of the prophets have your father's not persecuted.

And if you go back in their history You'll find that their father's persecuted every true prophet of God. Isaiah was persecuted saw sought in to ultimately Jeremiah. Thrown in the dungeon for speaking in the name of the Lord Elijah.

Elisha real problems with the Kings because they spoke out against their evil. Your father's tell me now which of the prophets did they not persecute and They have slain those which showed them before the coming of the just one in Other words these prophets who were telling them of the coming of the Messiah.

These true prophets of God. They had killed these prophets who had prophesied of the coming of the just one the Messiah of Whom ye have now been the betrayers and murderers, I mean you're worse than your father's.

They killed all of the prophets that came to them who were telling them of the coming of the Messiah. But you killed the Messiah. What a charge. Because you were the betrayers and the murderers. You have rejected the law by the disposition of angels.

You've not kept it. He was accused of speaking against the law of Moses. He said look you haven't kept it. You've rejected it now when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and They gnashed on him with their teeth but he being full of the Holy Spirit looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.

And he said behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man is standing on the right hand of God. Your father's rejected Joseph. God made him a ruler. Your father's rejected Moses. God made him the ruler.

You have rejected Jesus Christ. God has made him the ruler. I see heavens open and I see the Son of Man standing there on the right hand of God. Jesus in the book of Revelation. Promises to those overcomers in the church of Thyatira that they will be granted To sit on their thrones in his kingdom.

Even he said as I have sat down at the throne of my father. But here he sees him not sitting on the throne Next to the father, but he sees him standing. And I believe that it is significant. I Believe that Jesus has stood to receive into heaven the first martyr in the early church.

Stephen's Martyrdom and the Spread of the Gospel

The first one of millions Who would give their lives for the testimony of Jesus Christ? And I believe that as Stephen was ready to be martyred the Lord stood to receive him into that heavenly kingdom.

Son of Man is standing there at the right hand of God and They cried out with a loud voice. They stopped their ears they did not want to hear the truth and they ran upon him with one accord and they threw him out of the city and stoned him and the witnesses Laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul and They stoned Stephen.

And as they were stoning him he called upon God saying Lord Jesus Receive my spirit and He kneeled down and cried with a loud voice Lord Lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this He fell asleep.

We find in the martyrdom of Stephen much of What we saw in the crucifixion of Jesus in that number one. He was praying for those who were committing the crime. You remember Jesus said father forgive them.

They know not what they do. Stephen is saying father. Don't lay this sin to their charge praying for the persecutors as Jesus said pray for those who despitefully use you and thus Stephen following the example of Jesus.

Secondly We find that Stephen here is commending his spirit unto God. Even as Jesus went on the cross Commended his spirit unto God and so following the example of the Lord in his crucifixion Stephen is now martyred and the first blood of the church has been shed and as the result They did not silence the witness of the church.

They only spread the witness all over the place where then began a great persecution against the church and We are introduced now to one of the chief persecutors a zealous young Jew a Pharisee of the Pharisees whose name is Saul and He was standing by Consenting to the death of Stephen holding the coats of the fellows who were throwing the stones No doubt cheering them on.

But I have no doubt but what Stephen's death and his reaction to it had such a Tremendous impression on Paul that he never got away from it. And I believe that it was ultimately the background of Paul's conversion.

For you remember when Jesus finally apprehended Paul on the road to Damascus to imprison the Christians there the Lord said Paul it's been hard for you to kick against the goads and That death of Stephen was something that was a goad in Paul Hearing this young man seeing his face like an angel and no doubt that witness that Stephen gave Hey, our fathers have been wrong.

Joseph was rejected by our fathers and yet God had chosen him to be the ruler. Moses was rejected by our fathers yet. God had chosen him to be the ruler. Could it be that we are? also guilty of Rejecting God's ruler and of course Peter had said the stone which was said of not of you builders.

The same has become the head cornerstone. When I was speaking at a Congress in Jerusalem Which the purpose was to express the Christians the evangelical Christians support for the nation of Israel at that Congress.

Before I had a chance to speak I received a letter from one of the rabbis from the me a shorin, they're the ultra-orthodox radicals and The letter was a severe rebuke to me. For being involved in a Congress that was Seeking to promote the peace of Jerusalem and that's what the Congress was called the peace of Jerusalem Congress this rabbi said Israel has no right to exist as a nation.

We have no right to exist as a nation until we have our temple again. This nation is not a true nation and he went on really coming down on me for Supporting the nation of Israel. I have been witnessing to many Jewish people over there that have become friends of the family and.

So I took this radical hate feel filled letter and I showed it to my friends. I said look what one of your rabbis have sent me. And as he read the letter, he got all upset. He said don't pay any attention to it, they're crazy.

They're a bunch of radicals. They're crazy. Don't pay any attention to it. I Said but they are rabbis. Oh Yeah, but they're crazy. I said but there are the religious rulers. They are the rabbis. Oh, it doesn't matter.

They're crazy. They're nuts. They don't know what they're talking about. I said that is very interesting. Have you ever stopped to think That it was perhaps men just like these Who rejected Jesus Christ?

Persecution Scatters the Church

Radicals crazy and You are still following their crazy radical conclusions. He didn't have anything to say Saul Verse chapter 8 was consenting unto the death of Stephen and at that time there was a great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem and They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.

Except the Apostles and Devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. It is quite possible that these devout men are not Christians or members of the church and the reason why I say that is because they made great lamentation over him.

A true understanding of what happens to a child of God at death Doesn't really provoke great lamentation. But it provokes Rejoicing for them who are there now with the Lord in the kingdom. It could be that some of the Jews devout men You see it doesn't identify them as Christians at all.

Just devout men and the Jew was usually described by his devotedness Had taken Stephen's body and perhaps they lamented that such a fine young man should be so mistreated By the radical crowd and as for Saul He made havoc of the church entering into every house and hailing men and women committing them to prison.

So Paul was empowered by the Sanhedrin to Imprison those who called upon the Lord and he was going to the house fellowships and just wrecking havoc among the early church. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word and so far from stamping out the witness of the church all the Persecution did was spread the witness all over the place.

For everywhere they went They were preaching the Word of God and thus the gospel Began to spread throughout Judea and Samaria. Now Jesus had said to his disciples in the first chapter verse 8 and you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and remember they said to them you have filled this city with this man's doctrine and In Judea and in Samaria.

And so we find now the next movement of the church as it goes beyond Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria as the result of this persecution Paul being one of the chief persecutors of the church so Philip.

Philip's Evangelism in Samaria

Now we are introduced to a second of the seven Who was appointed to the task of waiting tables in the early church and overseeing the church's welfare program. God is taking another one now filled with the Holy Spirit full of wisdom and of good report and is using him now in the ministry of an evangelist and later on We find years later That Philip is living in Caesarea and He is called there Philip the evangelist and we are told that by this time.

He now has four daughters who possessed the gift of prophecy and As Paul is returning to Jerusalem He stops and spends a few days with Philip in Caesarea and I imagine That Paul and Philip as they were there probably recounted some of the early experiences of Stephen and of Paul's being there and because Philip was there and around the situation too and how their paths had crossed earlier in life only when they were going different directions and how God has brought them together in the Communion of the gospel here now later on in Caesarea so Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.

And the remember the word Christ is the Greek word for the Messiah. So he preached the Messiah Unto them. Now the Samaritans were looking for the Messiah. You remember when Jesus? Met the woman at the well There near Shechem.

She said to him we know that when the Messiah has come He is going to teach us all things. They were looking for the Messiah they they knew the scriptures that related to the Messiah and they were looking for the Messiah and You remember that the woman went into the town and Started telling people come and hear a man who has told me everything that I've ever done.

Is this not the Messiah. And they came out and they heard Jesus and then they said now we believe not because of what you Have told us but because we have heard and seen for ourselves. And so the seed was already planted in Samaria and so Philip went to proclaim the Messiah unto them and The people with one accord Gave heed unto those things which Philip spake.

Hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean spirits crying with loud voices came out of many that were possessed with them and many taken with palsies and those that were lame were healed and There was great joy in that city the city of Samaria.

The gospel is now being preached and the result of the gospel in the hearts of the people is that of great joy Always the result of the preaching of the good news. Now there was a certain man called Simon Which before time in the same city? used sorcery and He bewitched the people of Samaria giving out that himself was some great one.

There was this fellow was probably a Warlock. He used sorcery. He had the people convinced that he had great mystical Magical powers and All of the people had given heed to him from the least of them to the greatest saying that this man had a great power of God and To him they Had regard because for a long time.

He had been bewitching them with these sorceries but when they believed Philip and The preaching of the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. They were baptized both men and women they were freed from the bewitching of this Simon and they were brought to the gospel and Baptized now when the then Simon himself believed also and when he was baptized he continued with Philip and wondered beholding the miracles and the signs which were done now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God They sent him to them Peter and John.

The Holy Spirit in Samaria and the Error of Simony

Peter and John interesting companions in the gospel records men of different temperaments yet brought together and very closely Associated with each other but it is interesting that this is the last mention of John In the book of Acts.

Now Peter comes in for further mention attention will of course later on turn to Paul and to Barnabas and to others but this interestingly enough in the book of Acts is the last mention of John. Now John did outlive the rest of the disciples and Of course in the later years Wrote his gospel his three epistles and the book of Revelation.

But later on as we are dealing with the church in Jerusalem and The issues that come up before the church council John strangely is not mentioned As in a in any type of a role he's just it's the witnesses silent Concerning John and I really don't have any real suggestion for that Except that it's just not there and I don't know why.

But as John said in his gospel, I suppose if everything Were written that should be written all of the books in the world could not contain The things that should have been written about these things so When the church or the Apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God They sent unto them Peter and John now that would take away the idea of Peter being the Pope.

Because he was sent By the Apostles He was sent by them. It didn't say that, you know as You know, he had the pontifical authority and was giving the orders, but he was sent by the Apostles Who when they were calmed down?

They prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet he was fallen upon none of them. Only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now it is interesting how that this has Been a problem to so many Bible commentators the fact that they had not yet received the Holy Spirit that he had not fallen upon them as yet and so they you see it is commonly acknowledged that a person is baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ and No man can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit and The moment a person receives Jesus Christ and is baptized the Holy Spirit Comes into their lives we know that you cannot receive Jesus without receiving the Holy Spirit into your life and So this poses a great problem to the majority of Bible commentators when we find that the people in Samaria had believed and Were baptized in water and yet the Apostles sent them down that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

For he had not yet fallen upon any of them. I So problemed over this particular text that they have not noted the Greek preposition. You remember Jesus said concerning the Holy Spirit to his disciples For he is with you and shall be in you.

But then later Jesus said you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Now this is the same Greek preposition hippy that is used here. The Holy Spirit had not yet fallen hippy upon them so The commentators have difficulty trying to say well, you know, they weren't yet filled with the Spirit this was some special case in Samaria because you know this was the first time outside of Jerusalem and all and they and they Really wrestle and and do all kinds of foolish things with this text.

Because they do not want to acknowledge that there is an empowering experience of the Holy Spirit apart from conversion. But yet that's exactly what the text does prove. That yes, we do receive the Holy Spirit in us when Christ comes into our lives.