To illustrate a point, I need everybody to please stand up. Everybody that possibly can, please stand to your feet. Now, holding on to the pew in front of you, please raise one leg. Let go of the pew and hold your hands up over your head. Now hop on that one leg. Now, while hopping, make the sound of your favorite barnyard animal. Aw, c’mon. Do it.
That’s so funny! I wondered how many of you would do any of that. I did it to illustrate power. You gave me the power to get you to do something that you would not normally do. You gave it to me. And I bet you will never give me that kind of power ever again, will you? Do you know why you will not give me that kind of power again? Because I abused it.
You trusted me and I tried to do something that would make you look foolish for no good reason. And you were wise not to do it and you would be wise to never fall for that again. Now, I’m afraid anytime I ever ask you to stand for anything, you will think I’m messing with you, even if it’s to sing a song. And I apologize for that.
I promise to never do that again and I will never use that illustration again. Do you ever wish you had power? Real power, not like what I just tried to do. Do you ever wish you could get people or things to do what you want? If you have ever had teenagers, driven an old car, owned a cat or voted you know what I’m talking about.
Sometimes it feels like we are powerless. Sometimes it feels like nothing in this world is in our control, like no matter how hard we try, our world is spinning out of control and we are left looking foolish for no good reason. I imagine we have all been there and nobody likes it. But I have good news for you. You don’t have to live that way.
Sure, there are going to be times when things are not going to be in your control. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be in control all of the time. But we as believers have power. As Jesus-loving, God-fearing, Spirit-filled Christians, the Bible says we have power.
This is the second of 3 messages asking the question, “Does Acts 1:8 Apply To Christ Fellowship?” Let me read that verse to you. It’s actually not the main passage of our study today but let me remind you of what it says so you can keep all of this in perspective.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Last week, in the morning and evening services, we determined that it does indeed apply to us and today we will see what to expect when that power comes. We saw last week that the first church, of whom this church reminds me so much, was just getting started and was maturing in numbers and in wisdom when Satan attacked, Stephen was stoned to death and Saul started persecuting the church.
We then saw Philip go down to Samaria and start to preach about Jesus there and it says in Acts chapter 8, verse 6 that when the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did that they all paid close attention and people were healed and it led to great joy in that city. And that is where we pick up today. Look at Acts chapter 8, verses 9-25.
Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. 14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria . 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” 24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” 25 After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.
Have you noticed yet that Acts chapter 8 is a big chapter? I don’t mean it is necessarily a long chapter. It’s just packed full of good and interesting things. In fact, this morning we are going to focus on just verses 9-13. I read the whole passage because I want to discuss this in more depth tonight at 6 pm and I think we will have some good discussion. But based just on verses 9-13, I have 3 points I want to make this morning. I want us to see that
· Power is attractive
· Power w/o truth points to self
· Power with truth points to Jesus
Now, whether you want to admit it or not, power is attractive. I hear people sometimes say that they are not really attracted to powerful people and I understand that and believe that power is not high on your list of what makes someone attractive. You don’t necessarily need a president or CEO for a mate to be happy. But everybody likes at least a little bit of power.
And that’s not just true for women looking for a husband. Men like powerful women, too. Not only that, but everybody wants to follow a powerful person. I want the president of our country to be a powerful person. If we are going into war, we want the General of the Army to be someone who can get things done and who can make good decisions and have them carried out. We don’t want weaklings.
General Patton once said, “We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.” That’s the kind of person we want to follow into battle, a powerful person and there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”
1 Corinthians 4:20 says, “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” Power is a good thing. Power is necessary. And power is attractive. It’s what made everybody want to be around Simon. It says that he practiced sorcery and evidently Satan had given him power and all the people could see this power and they were amazed.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.” Well, Simon had power but he had no character. The people, though, thought he must be a deity of some sort. They say in verse 10 that he “is the divine power known as the Great Power.” He must be God or God’s chief representative.
We learned last week that we are to preach, we are to tell about what a relationship with Jesus means in our lives everywhere we go just like the first church did. And as we go we should expect to encounter situations where people have been deceived. We know that Satan prowls around waiting to kill us dead but if he can’t be a lion who destroys, he will be a serpent who deceives. (Wiersbe. P. 101)
And sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference in someone who has the power of Satan and someone who has the power of the Holy Spirit. The Samaritans weren’t stupid people. They had just been deceived by the father of lies. Everything God does, Satan wants to counterfeit. God gave us marriage and Satan gives us lust. God gave us work. Satan gives us theft. God gave us rest on the Lord’s Day and Satan gives us an excuse to stay home from church.
What’s the difference in God’s power and Satan’s counterfeits? One word: truth. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” But how do you know what is truth and what is not? When Satan tempted Eve, he falsely represented truth. When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, he did the same thing. When someone has power, how do you know what is truth and what is not?
Power without truth points to self. That’s how you know. When Simon was doing all of his magic and all of his amazing show, who got the glory for that? Simon did. Don’t you know his head was getting so big? He had them eating out of his hand, calling him a god and following him around. I imagine he was making some pretty good money too. He drove a nice chariot. Wore the nicest sandals. You know, because he deserved it, right? He probably did his shows in front of huge crowds and it was all about him.
Simon got false praise and gave false hope. Because power is attractive, I’m sure he had large crowds following him around and they were glad to give him credit for what he was doing but it was false praise because what wasn’t a trick was powered by the devil. And the reason power is attractive is because of the possibility of what it can do for a person and so the people were hoping that Simon could do something for them but their hope was false and based upon power that was without truth.
Pope Francis continues to thrill some people with some of the things he has said in recent interviews. He made headlines just a week or so ago again with some shocking comments and I was watching the news and they were interviewing Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York about what the Pope had said. Dolan was just gushing about how “this man speaks like Jesus!” And my heart was just broken to hear that because he does not speak like Jesus.
Jesus never said anything about how by doing good we can all meet together in Heaven. Jesus never said anything about just following our conscience. Jesus never preached that we should focus less on certain sins so that the world will like our religion. But people hear the Pope talk like that and they love it and they flock to be around him and they say he’s great and compare him to God, all the while getting their hopes up that maybe they don’t have to change their lifestyle and they can still get to Heaven. (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2013/05/did-pope-francis-preach-salvation-by-works.html)
Power without truth always points to self but power with truth always points to Jesus. Read verse 12 again. 12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Philip was not a professional preacher but he preached what he knew and that was what Jesus had done in his own life. It says he preached the name of Jesus Christ.
And do you know what happened to Philip? I don’t either. Nobody knows for sure. Some sources say he was later thrown into prison and martyred but the Bible doesn’t say much about his later life and that would be fine with Philip because Philip’s ministry was not about Philip. It was all about Jesus. The power that Philip had was filled with the truth of Jesus.
One thing I love about Billy Graham and his whole family is anytime you see or hear them being interviewed they are going to talk about Jesus. I especially like to see an interview with his son, Franklin. You could ask Franklin who he thought was going to win the big game and he would find a way to bring the subject around to Jesus. I saw him being interviewed by Larry King who is Jewish. King asked Franklin point blank if he thought only Christians would get to Heaven. And do you know what Franklin did? He quoted scripture.
He didn’t give his opinion or say what he thought King might want to hear. He spoke truth and it pointed right to Jesus. He said, “Well, Jesus said in John 14:6 that He was the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no man comes to the Father but through Him.” Franklin pointed the way to Jesus and I believe that God has blessed Franklin and all the Grahams for that. Between Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child countless people have heard and received the Good News about Jesus.
And that is not bringing false praise to Franklin. That brings true praise to God. And it brings true hope. Romans 15:13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” In Psalm 39:7, David said, “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.”
Can you imagine the relief the Samaritans felt, the joy and peace they had when they realized that they had been following Simon down a dead-end road but now they had found the Way, the Truth and the Life? I heard it said that probably nothing in the world arouses more false hope than the first 4 hours of a diet and some of us know that to be true. But true hope, hope that is built on a foundation of truth, built on the inerrant and never-changing Word of God will always bring great joy. We read last week in verse 8 of this chapter that the Samaritans had great joy and you can too with a relationship with Jesus Christ. Today is the day of salvation if you only put your hope and trust in Him.
So, does Acts 1:8 apply to us? Absolutely. While we may not be called to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, we are called to be preachers, preaching the hope and truth of Jesus everywhere we go including Lake Bridgeport, Wise County and to the ends of the earth. And we do have power. Through prayer and the Holy Spirit we have the power to do what Philip did and more. And when we preach we can expect to find those who also have power but are not empowered by the Holy Spirit. And you can tell those by their message that points to themselves instead of to Jesus.
So, this morning let me close with 2 Corinthians 5:20 that simply says, “as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” I implore you, I beg of you, don’t wait another day to receive the joy and peace that comes from a relationship with the risen King Jesus. Be reconciled to God.
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