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Act 8,1-8

(8k) Responsibility >> Responsible to defend God’s cause >> Preparing for the ministry – The Romans came and scattered the nation of Israel to the far ends of the earth. Comparing the dispersion of the early Christians to the disbandment of Israel, the fact that the Church was dispersed is what brought the gospel of the kingdom to every doorstep in the world, but the unbelieving Jews have suffered persecution from every doorstep, until it crescendoed in the holocaust of World War II. So the dispersion was good for the Church but a nightmare for the unbelieving Jew.

Act 8,1-4

(216b) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> Satan uses the element of surprise

Act 8,1-3

(11n) Servant >> Paul’s example of devotion – We all know Paul as a very unique person who had distinct gifts; he was more zealous for the gospel than anyone except Jesus Himself. Saul was not like the Pharisees who persecuted and condemned Jesus to a cross, because in their hearts they knew the truth that Jesus was in fact the expected one, the man for whom the children of Israel had been waiting for centuries, nor was Saul like the priests who were being saved in that he persecuted the Church. Many of the Pharisees who hated the gospel did not actively persecute the Church as Saul did, not after Gamaliel's speech (Act 5,34-42). The Jews were afraid of the gospel, knowing there was a curse involved with anyone who would reject it and who persecuted God’s people. They tried persecuting Peter and John, and it was like they were being poked in the eyes, plus they received good advice not to persecute the Church. Gamaliel said that if it is a false religion, it will crumble on its own, but if it is divine, you might even find yourself fighting against God. Saul obviously was an outsider, who was not in the region when Jesus walked the earth in the flesh during His 3½-year ministry, nor did he attend His crucifixion; He had never personally met the Lord, until the next chapter. He only heard about the sect they were calling the Way, which was led by a man whom its followers claimed to have risen from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of God, and Saul considered this to be heresy and treason against the traditions established by his forefathers. He led the dispersion of Christians from Jerusalem.

(155a) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> Conscience >> Having a good conscience >> Doing right to the best of our knowledge – Although Saul was a learned man, he still didn’t see Jesus in the Scriptures. No one did except the prophets who wrote about Him. There were others who saw Him, but almost everyone who saw Jesus in the Scriptures was a prophet or had a prophetic ministry, and beyond that, Jesus was scripturally shrouded in darkness, hidden in plain sight in the Jewish manuscripts, written by men they upheld with utmost respect, though their fathers martyred most of them. When Jesus came in the flesh he hid in plain sight too. Saul was different from both those who hated Jesus and those who believed in Him in that Saul had two things in higher concentrations than anyone else: conscience and zeal. Saul lived by his conscience even before he met Christ. He was not trying to destroy the Church knowing it was the work of God; he was working against it in total ignorance. Had He known it was the divine work of God, he would not have been in hearty agreement with stoning Steven. Saul was a man of action; he didn’t sit around and wait for someone else to get motivated or postulate how something should be done; he just went and did it. He had zeal for God that transcended that of everybody else. He was defending what he believed.

(243f) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecuting the Church of God

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Act 8,4-8

(14o) Servant >> Ministry of helps >> Position of helpers is anointed

(101c) Thy kingdom come >> Zeal >> For the manifestation of God’s kingdom >> Zealous for God’s works

(143c) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> The public >> The disciples ministered publicly – The way the early disciples lived was by its very construction a temporary situation (see Act 4,32-37); it couldn’t have lasted indefinitely, because people would have sold their property, given to the apostles and distributed to the disciples as needed and spent the money and eventually run dry. They would have had no means to support themselves without having to disperse on their own. What were they thinking? It is a known fact that socialism is a temporary political/economic system, suggesting that the apostles were banking on the hope that Jesus would return in their lifetime, and so this is how they were waiting for Him. Ironically, the Church in the last days is going to do the same thing with one giant difference: Jesus will actually return! The disciples were apparently not disappointed when He didn’t come and were to dispersed among the surrounding countryside, since they evangelized the people, leading many thousands of souls to the Kingdom of God. It must have been extremely stressful for them, since they had no idea what was happening, but they didn’t lose their faith over it. God’s purpose for having them all together focusing on their faith was that He created a strong nucleus of people, highly committed to the faith, taught directly by the apostles, and when they were forced to disperse, they were prepared to take on the world with the tools necessary to reach their communities for Jesus wherever they landed, making a big splash, and the Church blossomed. This was God’s answer to launching the gospel of the kingdom into the surrounding nations.

Act 8-4,5

(149fa) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Preaching the word to the world >> The gospel of the kingdom >> Preach the gospel of salvation -- These verses go with verse 25. The dispersion of Christians was the direct result of the persecution of Saul, which had the effect of spreading the word of God throughout the regions surrounding Jerusalem (Act 1-8). Saul was trying to clean up a biohazard with a washcloth (that's how the world views Christianity), but he just succeeded in spreading the Christians to the four winds. God used Saul’s persecution for good, and then He later harnessed him and turned him into Paul, transforming not only his name but also his person into the greatest apostle the world has ever known. This is God’s calling card; He uses the greatest obstacles of the Church for His purposes, pulling every drop of benefit from every negative situation and always gives more than He takes. The sphere of the Church’s influence continued to grow in popularity and numbers, until finally at the end of the age it seems everyone has heard about Jesus, thanks in part to the efforts of the early church. This must have been really bad news to Saul when he heard what his efforts had done; it seems he was destined for this.

Act 8,5-8

(125f) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Joy >> Joy is the result of partaking of the Holy Spirit >> Joy is the result of receiving from God -- These verses go with verse 39

Act 8-5,6

(111h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Kingdom of God revealed >> Word plus signs and wonders – Once Jesus ascended to heaven and sent His Spirit at Pentecost, His twelve apostles performed miracles and preached the gospel and established the Church. The reason we don’t see many miracles these days is that there is no age that is about to be revealed, but when God wants to get our attention in the last days, signs and wonders will return. Certain people will be able to lay hands of the sick and they will immediately recover, getting people’s attention in order to speak the word of God to those listening that they may be saved. Therefore, whoever has the word of God deeply embedded in his heart in the last days God may call to perform miracles in conjunction with preaching the word of God to save many. They don’t have to be apostles or prophets; they only need to love the Lord and know the Scriptures by the Spirit. As we know, there has been a two-thousand-year period where few miracles by comparison have occurred, though people occasionally were healed.

Act 8-6,7

(145d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Jesus heals through the Church – What would it take in our society to get people's attention to hear the gospel? We sit in our homes and watch TV and are in that sense in one accord, thoroughly brainwashed, yet standing on a street corner and telling people about Jesus will not draw a crowd, unless of course there are signs and wonders involved; then we might get someone to listen. Why doesn’t God work with His people today the way He worked with the early church, giving us signs and wonders to perform? the Church can’t hardly agree on a single element of the truth; there is no unity in the body of Christ, so if someone were to perform a miracle and preach the gospel and people were saved, all it would do is create more confusion. They would go to one church and hear one thing, then go somewhere else and hear another. There is no solidarity in the Church, and God does not want to contribute to the confusion that already exists. The Church is mostly unproductive and unfruitful in relation to the gospel, because people believe more in money than they do in God. It’s a lack of unity in the Church that is the cause of signs and wonders lacking among the people. If we could go into multiple churches and hear the same gospel, there would be hope, but we could go from church to church and hear all kinds of ideas, mostly contradicting each other, and some even contradicting the Scriptures.

Act 8-7

(146h) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Deliverance from demon possession >> Disciples have authority to cast out demons

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Act 8,9-24

(183e) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Nursery of the spirit of error >> Selfish ambition >> Seeking to control the truth – These verses referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit are a huge point of contention in the Church today from the Pentecostals to the Evangelicals, though these words are very well spelled-out. The problem is not in understanding them, but in accepting them. There are not varying interpretations but varying applications as to how to incorporate this truth into our belief system. Whole denominations have spun-off resulting from these words, such as the Pentecostals. In contrast, the Evangelicals reject any manifestation of the Spirit, though they are more than willing to receive the seal of their salvation, the indwelling Holy Spirit, so long as it has no personal affect on their lives. They disregard these verses to their own shame.

(187j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man>> Die to the flesh >> Spirit versus the flesh >> Trying to work the Spirit by the flesh – This passage does not pertain to our eternal salvation, but to our earthly salvation. The one thing the vast majority of Christians want from God is simply to go to heaven when their physical life on earth is over, but in the meantime they don’t want the Holy Spirit trying to change their lives. Their excuse for rejecting the baptism of the Holy Spirit is that they say it would only create confusion, and they don’t want to risk being led astray. They want to be in control, though the Holy Spirit is not of this world, and this is what they don’t like about Him. Many Christians feel they would be committing some kind of treason by collaborating with a Spirit who in not of this world, suggesting they are more comfortable collaborating with spirits of this world (demons) than with the Holy Spirit. Does that sound overstated? For centuries the Israelites were uncomfortable worshipping the God of heaven, but continually went astray seeking foreign gods and emulating their neighboring nations that were rooted in the spirit of this world. God gave Israel an opportunity to be a special nation for His glory, but they instead continually sought commonality with the world. That sounds just like the Church today.

(195e) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Serving two masters >> Being double minded

Act 8,9-13

(159k) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit anointing >> Counterfeit signs and wonders – God had enough of Simon corrupting the gospel, being a leader of the Gnostic movement. The Gnostics were crooked, corrupt and evil, and their purpose in life was like so many people in the world today and throughout all of human history, to feed their flesh and to satisfy their natural instincts, and to pursue a worldly sense of happiness. The fact that Simon the magician was amazed says a lot about his magic arts, that he used slight of hand to fool the people, which should clue us also to the Egyptians, that they imitated the miracles of Moses in much the same way when God delivered Israel from pharaoh and his army. It doesn’t say what kind of magic Simon performed, but apparently it didn’t resemble anything he saw Philip doing. Pharaoh called his wise men sorcerers and magicians, suggesting that Simon too was a sorcerer, but after seeing real signs and wonders performed through Philip, being a magician he knew this was not slight of hand, in that Simon was not capable of healing anybody, nor was he able to cast out demonic spirits. Simon was probably native to that area and knew some of the people being healed, that possibly some were lamb from birth and knew that this was not a trick. Read more about Simon (Megus) the magician. See also: Gnosticism (Elymas); Act 13,6-12; 191d

Act 8,9-11

(70f) Authority >> Sin of familiarity >> Familiarity-enemy of discernment >> Familiar with the spirit of error -- These verses go with verses 18-24

(181i) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Imaginary perception of self >> Pretending to be someone you’re not

Act 8-12,13

(67i) Authority >> Jesus delegates authority >> Preaching the gospel in Jesus’ name – It got Simon’s attention when the people started believing in the gospel that Philip preached, suggesting that if no one believed the gospel, signs and wonders would have also ceased. Sometimes people believe in Jesus because of other people believing, suggesting that in times of revival there is a snowball effect that occurs: when more people believe, the more people are willing to believe. It works the opposite direction too, the fewer people believe, the less people are willing to believe, which is the case in our own generation. We can hardly talk to anyone about Jesus and expect to convert them to Christianity. Most people have already heard about Jesus and know enough to get saved, so what can we tell them that they don’t already know? In our generation it is questionable whether signs, wonders and miracles would even make an impact. People are so desensitized by television that if God were to start working among His people again through miracles, it is questionable whether people would even react to it, but in the days of the early Church, signs and wonders had a huge impact on people. They knew there was no other explanation except what Philip was telling them, that it was the work of God who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who gave His life to avail His Spirit to us.

Act 8-13

(147e) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Divine works of God >> Signs and wonders – When we look into the history of the gentile church, there were many throughout the centuries who had faith in God, who were truly noble. The early martyrs were: Polycarp of Smyrna, Justin Martyr, Perpetua and Felicity, Ptolemaeus and Lucius just to name a few. These didn’t think twice about giving their lives for their faith and suffering ill-treatment for the cause of Christ, but their numbers pale to the millions of gentile Christians who lived and died over the centuries and believed in Jesus, who scarcely lived out their faith to eek through the pearly gates. Most people live for God in this way today, just enough to elude the flames of hell. Those who love God are an exception, and Paul is saying that gentile Christians of this caliber in the last days will see what it means to be a Christian when they look at their Jewish brothers performing signs and wonders. When we go back to the first century, we see Paul, Peter and John and many other apostles performing signs and wonders, and they were all Jews. The Jews will head the endtime revival that is coming, and signs and wonders will return.

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Act 8,14-24

(110m) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spiritual substance and truth >> Spiritual substance follows obedience

(115h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Laying on of hands >> Bestowing the Holy Spirit – It has been said that the early church was a dispensation of its own that has come and gone, and these verses do not apply to us, but that idea is entirely contrived. Those who believe this want to remain in the theological realm and believe in the saving grace of Jesus' blood sacrifice for the propitiation of our sins, but want nothing to do with any manifestation of the Spirit. The seal of God’s eternal salvation came and dwelt in their hearts, who promised to never leave them or forsake them, and from that point they were saved by the grace of God and were destined for heaven. When they came and heard that the people believed and were baptized in the name of Jesus, Peter and John laid their hands on the believers and they received the Holy Spirit. If they had previously received the indwelling Holy Spirit through faith in the gospel, then what is this Holy Spirit they received at the hands of Peter and John? God gives us the indwelling Holy Spirit to save us for eternal life in heaven, but He gives an anointing to save us in this life. We don’t need an anointing to get to heaven, but without it, living for God in this world is very difficult. Without an anointing we risk living a defeated life, but with the anointing we can victoriously walk over sin.

(200c) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Rejecting the will of God >> Rejecting God’s purpose

Act 8,14-21

(190k) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Baptism of the Holy Spirit – Peter and John came and laid their hands of the people and they were receiving an anointing from God; this anointing is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The title “Christ” literally translated means anointed one; therefore “Christians” means anointed ones? This implies that all Christians should have an anointing from God, and this is what Peter and John were doing when they laid their hands on the believers and prayed for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. What is the purpose of the anointing? This treasure teaches us about God and empowers us to do His will. There are many people who totally reject the baptism of the Holy Spirit, yet they no less have an anointing from God, though they never sought it or prayed for it. They have a theological problem with the Scriptures, though they believe in Jesus and love Him with all their hearts, and God gives them an anointing in spite of them. This tells how much God desires His anointing to clothe us. They listen to the Holy Spirit and consistently obey Him, which is the manner of keeping the anointing. The anointing is shy like a dove that comes to rest on us, and unlike an actual dove that would fly away if we moved too fast, the anointing leaves when we sin, until we repent, then He will return. However, if we never repent, the anointing will leave and not return. This does not mean we are no longer saved. The anointing is not a requirement of salvation, any more than baptism, but just as baptism is a sign that we believe, so is the anointing. Baptism is the emblem of the anointing, being a ceremony that we perform in the physical realm leaving no mark on our bodies, contrary to circumcision of the old covenant that did leave a mark. Along those same lines, the anointing also leaves a spiritual mark, but unlike circumcision that is a private mark, the anointing is made for everyone to see the glory of God beaming from our countenance. Without the anointing all we have is inkblots dabbed on paper, but the anointing lifts those inkblots off the page and places them in our hearts, so that we know we belong to God by the Spirit of truth. The anointing does all these things, and Philip was performing miracles, signs and wonders through the anointing that he received directly from Christ Himself. The anointing gives us a taste of heaven, making us long for home where we will enjoy forevermore the things the anointing is teaching us about heaven. The anointing gives us a conviction against sin, so whenever we do evil, there is a pain that the anointing greatly enhances, because of our closeness to God. It is this pain of conviction against sin that makes us feel closer to God.

Act 8,14-20

(133c) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Holiness >> God is holy >> The Holy Spirit

Act 8,14-17

(35i) Gift >> God gives Himself to us >> Receiving the Holy Spirit as a form of baptism

(83b) Thy kingdom come >> Receiving from God through prayer >> Ask and it shall be given

(2n) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Get out of His way >> Do not abuse His grace

(19i) Sin >> Hardened heart will twist your mind

(22j) Pride (craving authority; Key verse)

(23a) Sin >> Pride closes the windows of heaven

(48h) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> Judged according to your type of sin

(70f) Authority >> Sin of familiarity >> Familiarity-enemy of discernment >> Familiar with the spirit of error -- These verses go with verses 9-11

(76b) Thy kingdom come >> Motives >> Seeking authority for security >> Motives based on desire for power

(79b) Thy kingdom come >> Renewing your mind >> Satan will control your mind if you don’t

(83j) Thy kingdom come >> We have the ministry of intercession >> Church prepares itself to meet Jesus

(88g) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God >> Fearing God's judgment is the beginning of wisdom >> Fear the consequences of your disobedience

(96m) Thy kingdom come >> Having a negative attitude about sin >> Having an attitude of greed

(138f) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Reproof >> Reprove your brother for not thinking right

(167c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (Mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind is set on the flesh >> Wanting authority without responsibility – Intrinsically we know what Simon wanted was evil; we cannot pay money for rights to the Spirit of God. Simon perceived the mechanism of transfer and wanted access to the Spirit and was willing to pay money for it, suggesting that he intended to charge people for laying his hands on them and bestowing the gift of God and turning the grace of God into a business. However, laying on of hands is a mere visual aid to bolster the faith of those involved more than it does to transfer the anointing. Jesus proved this by healing people in various ways. For example, no doctrine has yet been created whereby the clergy coats the recipient with mud as a means of transferring the healing virtue, as Jesus did in Jn 9-6.

(175a) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Trying to bend kingdom principles

(178e) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Hypocrisy of the Church is rebuked >> The Church is rebuked for rebellion

(179i) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Unworthy servant >> Unworthy because of unfaithfulness

(181b) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebelling against God >> Rebelling against the witness of God

(184h) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Spending His grace on your pleasures >> Abusing the anointing – Simon craved authority, being a form of pride, indicating it was simply a matter of time that Simon would have set up a stand and charged exorbitant prices to receive the Holy Spirit through the laying on of his hands, but the gift is not for sale. He saw this as an investment venture and the seed of a lucrative business, an opportunity to profit from the gospel. How many church leaders have seated themselves in the pulpits of contemporary Christianity seeking to profit from the gospel? What Peter said to Simon is what God says to all who do this, “May your money perish with you.” They are in the gall of bitterness and the bondage of iniquity, having no part or portion in this matter. We can always tell someone is trying to profit from the gospel, for his heart is not right before God, hence he has nothing to offer. They might erratically wave their arms and be talented in speech with charisma coming out their ears, but weeding through all that and listening to the message itself, there is no substance to what they say, like chasing rainbows. People leave their churches awe inspired, but five minutes later they’re back in the dumps, their lives depreciated by yet another weeks-worth of sterility.

(193h) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Repent >> Repent from not renewing your mind

(198g) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Ordained by man >> Having evil motives for seeking leadership positions >> In the ministry for personal gain – Don’t seek to be the pastor of a church for sordid gain; nowadays this is a major problem. There are some church leaders who decided to become pastor as a career move, but Peter is saying don’t do it for the money; instead, do it for the sake of Christ and with a zeal that comes from God. Paul said that it was acceptable for the pastor to get his living from the gospel (1Cor 9-14), but Paul also said in the very next verse, “I have used none of these things” (v15). Paul most often chose not to be supported by the Church, but to support himself so he wouldn’t be a burden on people. He took donations from the Church whenever needed, but he was a tentmaker by trade and continued his work in order to support his own ministry, so more resources could be funneled to the progress of the saints. This should be the attitude of every pastor, yet some pastoral attitudes about money are not much like Paul but more like Simon. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t accept support from the Church, but their attitude should fall somewhere between Paul’s attitude and pulling down fifty thousand dollars a year with perks.

(241c) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Obstacles in the way of the kingdom >> Ask but don’t receive >> Asking with wrong motives

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Act 8-20

(173h) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Unholy sacrifice >> Offering sacrifice without God’s approval >> Sacrifice against the ways of God

Act 8-22,23

(68i) Authority >> Discernment >> Judging truth and error >> Perceiving wicked motives

(120c) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Forgiveness >> God forgives us when we become accountable to Him >> As we confess our sin

Act 8-24

(83k) Thy kingdom come >> We have the ministry of intercession >> Church intercedes for each other

(173b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Scripture that contradicts the Catholic faith >> Relationship between Jesus and His mother >> Jesus is our mediator, not Mary (or the apostles) – Prayer is essentially how we interact with God and how we intercede for others, but what Simon wanted was different from the ordinary ministry of intercession. What he wanted was similar to what the Catholics do when they pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The are asking her to mediate to God for them, but this is evil. Also, Simon’s answer was typical of people who depend on their pastor for their relationship with God. Simon should have accepted Peter’s initial command to repent and pray for himself, but Simon didn’t know how to pray, having no confidence in God. This is so often the case with people in the Church; they have no relationship with God, and so they ask the minister to intercede for them, though the Bible explicitly says in 1Tim 2-5, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” When we think of the formation of the Catholic Church, it basically congealed around the people's desire for their pastor to conduct their relationship with God for them, to take responsibility for their spiritual lives, so they could focus on their life in this world and on their jobs to bring home more money to give to the Church, and so Catholicism accommodated them. People wanted humans to be in charge of the divine, and for this reason it was immediately corrupted. So many people are addicted to this natural realm, to their five senses; they don’t want to live by faith; they want the pastor to pray for them, to intercede on their behalf, and that is why they give their money to the Church, and the Church unabashedly requires it from them.

Act 8,25-27

(222b) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Do not give what is holy to dogs >> God does not entrust his treasures to dogs >> God retrieves his treasures when sheep revert to dogs – Phillip was between two people, the Samaritans and the Ethiopians. Philip was passing through Samaria preaching to some of its villagers, and God told him to go to this Ethiopian eunuch and preach Jesus to him. Something occurred between Jesus and the Samaritans during His ministry. Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman about God, and she ran into her town and everybody followed her back to the well (Jn 4,5-27). There He stayed in Samaria for a few days and further spoke with them, and the Samaritans gladly received Him rejoicing, because they thought the focus of His ministry was on them. Later at the end of His ministry He passed through Samaria again, headed toward Jerusalem, and the Samaritans took offense at Him, because His interest was toward the Jews instead of them. If the gospel revolved around the Samaritans, they would receive Him, but if they had to receive the gospel through the Jews, they didn’t want it.

Act 8-25

(149fa) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Preaching the word to the world >> The gospel of the kingdom >> Preach the gospel of salvation -- This verse goes with verses 30-40

(220d) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> Predestination >> Divine appointments – It wasn’t a coincidence that he happened to be reading this passage that was referring to Jesus, and it wasn’t a coincidence that Philip met him there, for this was a divine appointment. The eunuch went back to Ethiopia and influenced his queen. There are many such divine appointments.

Act 8,26-35

(50dc) Judgment >> Last Days >> Jewish Led endtime revival >> Israel prophesied to restore the gentiles to salvation – The Ethiopian was reading Isaiah and God told Philip to join his chariot, and Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading, and in essence he said, ‘How could I unless a Jew guided me.’ Who else knew more about the Jewish manuscripts than the Jews? Wouldn’t it be nice to find someone this honest who could say, “I don’t know what the Bible means; could you explain it to me?” When we try to tell people about Jesus in these last days in America, nobody needs any help understanding the Bible, yet when they tell us what they believe, it is a mishmash of religious ideas that they heard from various sources, half of which is false and the other half a cobble-job of detached ideas that scarcely resemble the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul’s missionary journeys led him into Asia, and he was heatedly persecuted there. In fact, Asian Jews were the ones who persecuted him most (Act 21,27-36). He was not well received there, and as a result Asia is largely un-Christianized to this day. Now 2000 years later, though they have an oppressive government, the people are becoming open minded to the gospel, and all of Asia will respond like no other nation during the Great Endtime Revival that is coming.

(106m) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Purpose of hearing from God >> God gives us direction (Attitude) – God will work with his people in the last days in much the same way that He worked with Philip in this passage. Signs and wonders will be common in those days, but what will be far more important is the ability to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. He will direct His people in ways that will protect them from the antichrist, if they can but hear His voice. The problem with many Christians is they haven't developed the hearing ear, and they have no relationship with God, so they don't know His plan and purpose for His people.

Act 8,26-29

(149i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Authority of the rhema given to evangelism >> Receiving authority from God personally – Philip was instantaneously translated to a new location miles away. This as far as we know never happened again, but it probably will happen again in the last days when miracles become common as in the First Century. When God moves by His Spirit to accomplish things on the earth, He will muster His Church to faithfulness. They will put away all their lackadaisical attitudes and serve the Lord with a whole heart, and this is how Philip lived for Jesus. Far as we know, this Philip was not one of the twelve; that is, miraculous things happened to more than just His twelve closest disciples. They happened to anyone who was willing to serve Him with a whole heart in times when God is moving among His people.

Act 8-26,27

(106c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Knowing the sound of His voice >> Flowing with the wind of His voice – God had control of Philip; He could guide him any way He wanted. An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip because he had a hearing ear and was used to obeying the Lord. The more we obey Him, the better we can hear His voice. Therefore, the person who cannot hear the Holy Spirit is living and walking in disobedience. When God gives instruction to the person with a hardened heart, he almost never does it, and he becomes all the more hard of hearing. What we don’t use, we lose. Creatures that live in caves, some of them have eyes, but they are blind; their eyes don’t work anymore; they can’t use them in a cave because there is no light, so their eyes become blind from disuse. Same with our ears, if we don’t obey the Holy Spirit, our ears will grow deaf to His voice.

Act 8-26

(15e) Servant >> Angels are messengers from God >> They are sent to impart information

(105lb) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit into the wilderness >> Wilderness is the true nature of this world -- This verse goes with verse 35

Act 8,27-35

(120l) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Contentment >> Content with your way of life >> Content with remaining single

(232l) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Seek the essence of his kingdom >> Seeking the truth – This court official was a trustworthy man with a good heart, having come to Jerusalem to worship. He believed in Israel's God, knowing that the Jews had been given a tremendous gift as keepers of divine truth, as he was keeper of the queen’s treasures. He respected the Jews, having been chosen by God to represent Him in the world and to disseminate the message of eternal life to any who would receive it. Although this Ethiopian could never be a Hebrew, he sought their God for His favor. He was returning to his homeland and sitting in his chariot and Philip heard him reading the Bible and invited him to help interpret the prophet Isaiah. Willing to admit that he didn’t understand what he was reading, he hoped Philip the Hebrew would teach him the ways of his God, one who was chosen not just as a Jew but also as a believer in Israel's Messiah. This Ethiopian eunuch was willing to humble himself and receive instruction, having all the qualities that are required for salvation, suggesting that perhaps our sexuality gets in the way of the gospel. 

Act 8,27-29

(194b) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Run to God >> Run to Jesus when He calls for you – God told Philip to join this Ethiopian man in his chariot, the manager of the queen’s treasure. That doesn’t mean her treasure was in his chariot, but that he came to worship Israel’s God, though he was not a Jew. He came to Jerusalem because he believed in Israel’s God. He was reading Isaiah, and Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading, and the man said, ‘How would I know unless someone [a Jew] explained it to me.’ He believed in Israel’s God, but he didn’t understand Him, indicating that he was not well acquainted with the Scriptures. He had a scroll that he probably bought in Jerusalem. Such a scroll was expensive, hand-written, whether it was the entire scroll of Isaiah or just a portion of it we don't know. He needed Philip the Jew to explain Isaiah to him, and he happened to be reading a prophecy about Jesus that He fulfilled, and so from there Phillip preached Jesus to him and the man was saved. They came across some water and Phillip baptized him, and as the Ethiopian emerged from the water, Phillip was taken by the Spirit and translated to another place, where he continued preaching Jesus to people who wanted to hear. “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’” (Zechariah 8-23). Phillip followed Jesus wherever He led him to the point of his feet leaving the ground, being led by the Spirit in ways that are unnatural. This is how God prefers to spread the gospel of Christ, showing signs and wonders, placing His words in our mouth and having us speak to those He puts in front of us everywhere we go.

Act 8-29,30

(215a) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God Has Good Timing >> God is always right on time

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Act 8,30-40

(149fa) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Preaching the word to the world >> The gospel of the kingdom >> Preach the gospel of salvation -- These verses go with verses 4&5. Ethiopia was open to the gospel, so God told Philip to accompany the man in the chariot who was reading the Bible, and Philip preached Jesus to him, and so the eunuch was converted on the spot. When the Ethiopian returned to his homeland, he had a profound influence on the queen. He had rights to her presence and was able to speak with her and to the influential people of her kingdom. The eunuch took the gospel home with Him and told the queen about the salvation that Jesus bought for mankind with His own blood. The eunuch received the gospel and Ethiopia learned about Jesus Christ through Philip, so when we trace Christian history to Ethiopia and discover what happened there, we credit Philip with the onset of the gospel in their land. When the gospel came to them in earnest, the soil of the people’s hearts was ready for the seed.

Act 8-30,31

(157j) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Unable to know the truth

Act 8,32-35

(141f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >> Prophesy about Jesus’ death

Act 8-35

(105lb) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit into the wilderness >> Wilderness is the true nature of this world -- This verse goes with verse 26

(150h) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness of Jesus >> Speak the word of the Spirit >> Speaking the words that God speaks – Philip opened his mouth and God filled it with the words that he spoke to the Ethiopian. God desires to relate the gospel to people through us. The don’t need to hear our prepared speeches; they need to hear the words that come from heaven. These words are anointed and inspired and they come from the heart. There is nothing wrong with preparing an outline for evangelism, but at some point we need to just open our mouths and let the Holy Spirit speak through us.

Act 8,36-38

(191ba) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Baptism >> Baptism symbolizes death, burial and resurrection >> Baptism is a sign of faith – This is an excellent passage that absolutely determines the most important thing to believe for salvation. Peeling away the dross, what matters most is believing Jesus is the Son of God. Everything else by comparison is immaterial. Every cult that denies Jesus the Son of God came in the flesh would love to rip pages like this from the Bible, and there are others too, such as those who believe in infant baptism. That is not to say that infant baptism is a sin or evil, but neither is it biblical. Once a person becomes old enough to know what he believes and turns to the Lord, if his parents baptized him as an infant, he should be baptized again as a believer. This passage teaches that baptism is a ceremony that we perform after we believe. There is a sequence we must follow: believe and then be baptized. If a person doesn’t believe in Jesus, why would he want to be baptized? We know a baby doesn’t believe in Jesus; it doesn’t know anything; people should not say they are ensuring the child’s salvation by baptizing it as an infant. Here lies the harm in infant baptism: It could be a source of confusion if a person depends on his infant baptism to get to heaven.

Act 8-39,40

(147d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> God exercises authority over every living thing – We could almost say this was a kind of rapture, the difference being the actual Rapture will catch people away into heaven whereas God set Philip back on the earth in a different location. We know God can do anything, and we know Jesus disappeared before the eyes of the two guys He met on the road to Emmaus at the breaking of the bread (Lk 24,13-32), so why doesn’t God do this more often, especially for His people who are being persecuted or in danger, just snatch them from their troubles and place them out of harms reach? God is not in the business of protecting us from suffering; He doesn’t share our sentiments that suffering is evil and should be avoided at any cost; rather, He uses our fiery circumstances to shape us and mold us closer to His image. In Philip’s particular case God relocated him because signs, wonders and miracles were commonplace in the early days of the Church. Plus, God worked with large resources of faith, whereas in today's Church an environment of unbelief is mostly what we find, which is hardly conducive to seeing miracles. If God performed miracles in the Church today, they would be misinterpreted and abused, which would be God’s opposite purpose for performing them.

Act 8-39

(125f) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Joy >> Joy is the result of partaking of the Holy Spirit >> Joy is the result of receiving from God -- This verse goes with verses 5-8

Act 9,1-8

(110e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through you >> God chooses men to speak through – God chose Paul in a way that he didn't choose anybody before or after him. The amazing thing about this, while still on the road to Damascus, Paul could have denied the whole thing and resumed the life he had before this experience, but when Paul saw the person who was speaking with him, he realized how far off-course he had become. The wrongness of his way soaked into his spirit, not being the kind of person to put up defense mechanisms, thinking one thing, saying another and doing something else, but was actually a man of conscience, though he was sincerely wrong. He was taught by Gamaliel, the man who advised the religious authorities not to persecute the saints, lest they be found fighting against God (Act 5-34), in stark contrast to the Pharisees who had Jesus crucified, who were clearly not of Saul's caliber. They literally denied everything, used every imaginable defense mechanism and were self-deceived by their own trickery. They knew Jesus was the Son of God, their Messiah, the expected One, but they denied Him. This Paul did not do.

Act 9,1-6

(238aa) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> The kingdom is transferred to the Church >> Born again by the will of Christ

Act 9-1,2

(243f) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecuting the Church of God – Saul made arrangements with the high priest, tying his malevolent behavior to the religious authorities, but he was the only one scouring the countryside in search of Christians with the intent of ridding them from the earth. There was no other active posse chasing them because of Gamaliel; however, Saul was not the only one with an interest in the matter; rather, he was the only one still in the dark about God's protective hand on His beloved people, believing he had authority from God to persecute the Church. The high priest didn’t feel he had authority to do what Paul was doing, because he had already interacted with these people and felt the cold hand of God slapping him in the face. The high priest realized, though he wasn’t willing to admit it, that Christianity was an act of God, while Paul believed Christianity was a sect that threatened Judaism and their ancient customs, going all the way back to Moses, who said, “He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed” (Exodus 22-20). It may not have seemed like it to some, but Christians were in fact worshipping the God of Moses, proving the many differences between the old and new covenants. Paul was trying to snuff out Christians to protect what he perceived to be the truth; he really believed he was doing the Lord’s work. This proves that Paul never came in direct contact with the disciples or with Jesus when He was alive in the flesh. Paul’s conviction to destroy Christianity was so hostile that the Lord Himself confronted Paul, but more than this, God had plans for him that He had established before He made the world; He had prepared Paul for the days in which he lived to reach a sad and sinking world with the transformative gospel.

Act 9-1

(84l) Thy kingdom come >> Your words can lead to your own demise >> They can be destructive

Act 9-2

(57c) Paradox >> Opposites >> Vision impairs sight, but the blind can see -- This verse goes with verses 4-6

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Act 9,3-17

(117i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing visions

Act 9,3-9

(23n) Sin >> Poverty (Oppression) >> Fear of the unknown >> Fear the appearance of Jesus

Act 9,3-7

(30i) Gift of God >> Favor by His grace >> He does not take your sins into account -- These verses go with verses 15&16

(40i) Judgment >> Judgment of Christ >> God’s word executes judgment by the Spirit – Jesus took it very personally that Saul was persecuting His believers; He ask Saul why he was persecuting Christ Himself. Jesus made a statement corresponding to this in Lk 10-16, “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (see also: Mat 25,41-46). We could take it step further and say, ‘He how persecutes you persecutes Me,’ for this is how Jesus felt about it and He voiced it to Saul on the road to Damascus. 

(111j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Word and the judgment of God – The Bible does not divulge the names of the people who were traveling with Saul, indicating that they were incidental to the story, except to emphasize that they heard the voice but didn’t see the vision, emphasizing the fact that the word without the Spirit is useless. The Spirit and the word, when they come together are very powerful, but alone are relatively ineffectual. Saul’s companions may have heard a voice, but it didn’t change their lives because they didn’t see the light. In another rendering of the story, Paul testified that the men with him saw the light but understood nothing (Act 22-9). Like them, had Saul seen the light but heard no voice, that too would have been ineffectual, but together, seeing the light and hearing the voice, changed Saul’s life so profoundly that he changed the world with the influence of Christ on his life. The Spirit without the word is the stuff of cults, and the word without the Spirit is the very definition of apostasy in which the Church is currently living, but the two together is the power of God that He placed in Paul, who turned the world upside down for Jesus.

Act 9,3-6

(106g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Hearing His voice

(154d) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Witness that the world is godless >> Witness that the world does not know God -- These verses go with verses 15&16

Act 9,3-5

(112b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Light >> Jesus’ light overcomes darkness >> The light of His power – When Saul came along and started persecuting Christians before his conversion, after the other Pharisees had given up trying to silence the gospel, God had determined to make him His own, so He revealed Himself to Saul on the road to Damascus. Not all Jewish leaders of Israel would have become Christian had Christ revealed Himself to them as He did to Paul, who was willing to change His heart about everything when presented with the Truth (Phi 3,5-8). Had Saul been one of those who initially persecuted the apostles and saw some of the miracles that God was doing, he may have gotten saved earlier; instead, God revealed Himself to Saul later and had such a profound conversion that it drove him to preach the gospel of Christ under all levels of duress. He suffered persecution that no other man was willing to endure for Christ’s sake and for the sake of the gospel, because He saw Jesus in his glorified state.

Act 9-3

(215i) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The Kingdom of Heaven appears suddenly >> Without warning >> God brings His kingdom to pass in its time

Act 9,4-6

(57c) Paradox >> Opposites >> Vision impairs sight, but the blind can see -- These verses go with verse 8