Witness to the Samaritans (Acts 8:9–25)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, July 21, 2024

We are now in our eighth chapter of Acts, which will be encouraging. Recently, I read the following:

“When the preferences of the church members are greater than their passion for the Gospel, the church is dying.”  Thom Rainer

What are you most passionate about? Put aside your preferences. The Bible is about the Gospel. The apostle Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 9:16: For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. 

I share that because the Book of Acts is about the spread of the Gospel. This would not happen if the people were stuck in their mold, which is especially true today. If the people were stuck in their preference, Jesus would still only be for Jewish people, but in today’s passage, we see the Gospel spread to the Samaritans. This is now when the Book of Acts transitions from non-Jews to Gentiles.

Here is what can happen when the gospel spreads:

WESLEY: A HEART STRANGELY WARMED

At the first half of the 18th century, England was also in a mess. Gin and gambling were destroying the lives of poor and rich alike. This was the age when Dick Turpin – crime figures were so high, there was so much danger from highway men and footpads that Horace Walpole wrote, “One is forced to travel, even at noon, as if one were going to battle.” The government did not know how to respond so they simply added the death penalty for more and more and more crimes.

Meanwhile in 1713 England by defeating France and Spain had secured itself a monopoly in the slave trade. The horrors of unbridled greed in the early industrial revolution meant that three out of every four children died before the age of five because of the insanitary slums and poverty. And of course it hardly goes without saying–churchgoing was at an all time low, and clergy were time servers. I have an ancestor Bishop Carr of Worcester, who gambled (and lost) so much, that when he died, his creditors highjacked the coffin, and would not allow it to be buried, until the debts had been paid. That was the state of the church and the nation at the time.

And then in 1738, a man called John Wesley went to meeting in Aldersgate in the City of London. He heard a reading from a sermon of Martin Luther on Romans and as he listened “My heart was strangely warmed” he said. He felt God – not the god of cucumber sandwiches but the God who tears open the heavens and shakes mountains. And he began to preach. He preached outside the shafts of coalmines and at the doors of factories. He preached not where the church said people should come, but where people were. 

And lives were changed. Workers who would take their pay and drink it away, leaving nothing for their wives and children, put aside the bottle and turned to Jesus. Families were reunited. Child mortality dropped. Literacy grew as people longed to learn to read to read the Bible. Prayers were answered – people were healed of physical ailments. Church attendance grew – passionate church attendance singing hymns to what at the time were considered vulgar pop-song tunes. Parliament itself was affected. The slave trade was abolished. Sending children down the mines or up the chimney was abolished. The death penalty was restricted to truly serious crimes. And the crime rate fell…because one heart was strangely warmed. And then many hearts were strangely warmed. In one generation, a nation was changed.

God is at work. I believe that our current society has the potential to change as John Wesley’s society, but it will take all of us doing things differently. Let’s now look at a passage where Philip the evangelist went to a different people group. I want to show you how Philip witnessed to the Samaritan and how he was a witness to the Ethiopian Eunuch. I want to show you how Philip was obedient to the Holy Spirit.

1. God was taking care of those who were marginalized.
   1. In verse 4, the Bible says that those scattered because of persecution went out “preaching” the Word.
   2. Do you know the word “preaching” is used five times in Acts chapter 8? They were proclaiming the Gospel; they were infecting people with Jesus.
   3. In verses 4-13, Philip witnesses in Samaria. This is a phenomenal passage.
      1. Philip went to Samaria, and many were set free from their bondage in sin. A magician named Simon was also set free.
      2. Last week, we talked about Acts 8:4-8. Today, we will pick up at verse 9.

Acts 8:9–13 (ESV)

⁹ 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. ¹⁰ They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” ¹¹ And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. ¹² But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³ Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

• Acts 8:8 left off by saying there was much joy in the city. Why? They were scattered preaching the gospel. Unclean spirits came out. People were healed.
• Now, we see this man named Simon. He has previously practiced magic.
• Notice it says that he amazed the people of the city. They thought he was somebody great.
• Verse 10 says they all paid attention to him, and verse 11 tells us why. They thought the power of God was working in him.
• But verse 12 gives the contrast. They believed Philip when he preached the good news about the Kingdom of God, and they were all baptized.
• Verse 13- even Simon believed and was baptized. He continued with Philip.
• In Verses 14-24, Peter and John, hearing about this witness in Samaria, came to lay hands on these people so that they could receive the Holy Spirit.
• Acts 8:14–24 (ESV)
• ¹⁴ Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, ¹⁵ who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, ¹⁶ for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷ Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹ saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” ²⁰ But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! ²¹ You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. ²² Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³ For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” ²⁴ And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”
• Philip was not one of the original 12 disciples. So, the 12 hear what is going on and they come down to check it out.
• Peter and John travel to check this out.
• So, verses 14-17 tell us about them receiving the Holy Spirit.
• Now, the Holy Spirit usually comes upon us when we receive Christ. There was likely a delay in this instance because this allowed the Apostles to confirm God’s work in Samaria and authenticate Philip’s witness. God purposefully delayed in this instance.
• The book of Acts is transitional. It is descriptive, not prescriptive. It is history. We must get our theology from the epistles.
• Rydelnic teaches at Moody Bible Institute, and he shares: When he has his students study the various ways the Holy Spirit came upon people in the Book of Acts, there is no consistency. Sometimes, they speak in tongues, or sometimes, like the apostle Paul, they receive their sight back.
• This may have kept the apostles, and specifically Peter, in charge of the church at this time, keeping it from becoming a Samaritan church.
• We must experience the apostle’s teachings, not teach the apostle’s experiences.[2]
• In verses 18-24, we see the magician Simon trying to buy the ability to give the Holy Spirit out, but Peter would not allow that. Peter told him that he needed to repent.
• In verse 23, Peter is saying that he saw in his soul that he wanted the gift of the Holy Spirit without submitting to His power.
• Verse 25 summarized: Acts 8:25 (ESV): ²⁵ Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.
• The gospel is spreading.
• Do we realize that people in our society are held hostage? People in our society are prisoners of war. They need to be released. They need to be set free, and we can help with this. The Samaritans needed Jesus, and it took Philip, being different, to set them free. Imagine ourselves in Vietnam. The war is waging around us, and we see many people who are prisoners, but we walk right by; we do not set them free. Imagine ourselves in World War II; we walk right by a concentration camp, and we have the full ability to set the people free, but we do not.
• We CAN set them free, but we are afraid we may not have all the answers, we are afraid we may be laughed at, we are afraid of something else.
• Do we know that we are all in God’s army? We are all fighting the enemy; that is what we are called to as Christians. The people in this city and this world are prisoners. They need us to set them free. They are prisoners spiritually, not unlike the people in Vietnam or even in concentration camps. Certainly, the people in concentration camps had more tangible imprisonment, but without Christ, there is an eternal prison. Its effects are current and eternal. Set them free!
• It is time to set them free.

Ortberg shared a story from Tony Campolo:

John Ortberg, in The Life You’ve Always Wanted, tells about the time that Tony Campolo, the college professor, popular speaker and author, was about to address a college chapel service. Several men from the school gathered with Tony for a time of prayer before he spoke. They circled, knelt, laid hands on him and began to call out for God to bless their speaker.

Campolo shared that his men prayed a long time, and as they prayed, they grew tired and started leaning more and more on Campolo. The prayers were earnest, but their weight was getting too much to bear.

On top of that, one guy was not even praying for Tony. He was praying for someone named Charlie Stolzfus.

“Dear Lord, you know Charlie Stoltzfus. He lives in that silver trailer down the road a mile. You know the trailer, Lord, just down the road on the right hand side.”

Why was the man praying for Charlie? Tony was the speaker, not Charlie Stoltzfus. In addition, the Lord already knew where Charlie Stotzfus lived.

“Lord,” the man continued, “this morning Charlie told me he’s going to leave his wife and three kids. Step in and do something, Lord. Please bring that family back together.”

Finally, the prayer time ended, they had a great chapel service, and Campolo headed home. Just as he was merging onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike, he noticed a hitchhiker on the side of the road and decided to give him a ride.

As they rode along, Tony introduced himself. The man stuck out his hand and said, “My name is Charlie Stoltzfus.”

Campolo could not believe his ears. What are the chances . . . ?

At the next exit, Tony left the interstate and turned the car around. As they returned to the interstate, Charlie said, “Hey, mister, where are you taking me?”

Tony said, “I’m taking you home.”

“Why?”

Campolo said, “Because you just left your wife and three kids, right?”

The man was stunned. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. I did.”

He moved over against the door and never took his eyes off of Campolo. Then, when Tony drove right into the guy’s yard, that really did it.”

Charlie’s eyes bulged out. He said, “How did you know I live here?”

“The Lord told me,” Tony said. (He didn’t explain how the Lord told him).

The trailer door threw open and Charlie’s wife ran out. “You’re back! You’re back!”

Charlie whispered in her ear what happened. The more he shared, the bigger her eyes got.

Campolo then said with real authority, “The two of you sit down. I’m going to talk and you two are going to listen!” And he laid it on, and they listened.

That afternoon, Campolo helped those two receive Jesus Christ as Savior, and that was the start of the healing of a marriage.

Now, was that coincidence that Tony Campolo happened to pick up that particular hitchhiker? Or did God answer the praying man’s petition to “step in and do something?”

James 5:16 reads, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” Prayer unlocks divine power, heaven’s blessing, and God’s answer. How many of our coincidences are really answered prayer?[3]

Prayer

^[1] Stanley E. Porter, “Acts,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1732.

[2] Open Line; 07.11.2021 and 11.05.2022

[3] http://www.thecitizen.com/blogs/dr-david-l-chancey/03-27-2012/prayer-really-works-when-we-take-it-seriously