We praise Thee for the daily vacation Bible school that has just concluded and the things that were accomplished in the teaching of the young people and the children that Thou didst put in our hands. We thank Thee for the day in which we live and for the opportunities of it. And, Lord, we pray that thou wilt give us illumination and, also, the will and the power to be submissive to Thy truth. Give us diligence to read it and to ponder it. And we thank Thee that Thou hast given it to us with the promise of the help of the Holy Spirit that we may understand it. Father, we thank Thee for the word of God and for the message that is contained within it. May the Lord bless this reading of his word and let’s bow together in prayer. And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.” For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.’ Then answered Simon and said, ‘Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: For thy heart is not right in the sight of God. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.’ But Peter said unto him, ‘Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs, which were done. “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. That word “bewitched” is a word that really means “to astound or amaze.” But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, ‘This man is the great power of God.’ And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.” For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. He selects Philip to talk about his ministry, but notice there were many others who did the same thing. One of the great things about heaven is that we will hear the stories of these others that Luke passes by. Now, Luke will guess an account of the ministry of one of these men. Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.” As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. 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 so Luke continues his story by saying, But then it was more vigorous and Stephen lost his life and Saul was one who was responsible for that. Today, we go home and we have as the old cliché is “roast preacher” for our Sunday dinner. Would you take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 8, and we’ll read verse 1 through verse 25, for our Scripture reading this morning? Stephen has just preached his great sermon, and he has received as a result stoning to death.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |