Andy and Alison Fry“BE WISE AS A SERPENT AND GENTLE AS A DOVE”
We see that the enemy likes to overplay his hand BUT God turns all things round and uses it for his purposes.
We are looking at Philip today with our focus being Simon.
Acts 8: After the stoning of Stephen we see Philip going to Samaria and he preached Jesus Christ. Many signs and wonders were witnessed. He was a miracle worker and in verse 8, it says that there was great joy in the city. All the signs and wonders were a manifestation of the Kingdom of God – the power of the gospel.
Verse 9 says BUT, which means HOLD ON!
Verse 13 we see Simon who was a sorcerer being transformed and baptized. There is an amazing transformation with Simon and he “sticks” close to Philip. Simon wants everything Philip has. He is willing to be discipled as he is aspiring to be what Philip is.
The BUT in verse 9 says that there are lessons to be learnt from Simon, something to be warned about. His transformation does seem genuine and by him following Philip – that is what we look for in the natural realm. However gifted and anointed Philip was he wasn’t able to do all things on his own. He needed the input of other apostolic ministry. Peter and John came along and baptized people in the Holy Spirit. This is an aspect that Philip didn’t have. We need the Ephesians 4 gifts. It is there to equip the saints and build up people. To see the gospel spread through people’s lives.
Verse 18 gives the reason for the BUT. “And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money.” Verse 19: “saying, give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” The secrets of Simon’s heart are revealed. Simon has a problem in his motives. Worldly culture shouldn’t take over Biblical culture but biblical culture should penetrate into the world. People can make all the right choices and say all the right things but the motives in the heart need to be dealt with. Character deficiency causes them to fall. We can miss Gods ultimate destiny for us as in the case of Moses, Saul or David.
Character! How much of Jesus do we have? How do we fair when we look at Jesus? Character is formed in the crucible of life. Tests and trials purify the metal. We have people who want to short circuit character – they want fame, the spectacular, status, title, control etc but God is in the business of revealing heart motives. With men it’s the famous 3 “F’s”: Fame, Finances and Females. What about for women? Males, Money and Material security.
Deception happens in the mind and heart. No one is immune against deception. Deception is the gradual persuasion to believe a lie. Error is usually some truth taken out of its proper boundaries. It affects those around you and people will believe a lie because they are complacent. We see the seeds of deception being sown where people want to be man-pleasers rather than God pleasers but God is faithful, just and will cleanse.
Verse 22 – 23 Simon had something deep-rooted that hadn’t been dealt with. The external looked good but the internal needed more of God.
The lessons we can learn from this series are:
Thanks to Andy and Alison for their input. What a blessing!
Compiled by Molly Manhanga
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