1 Unit 6 Early Church--Lesson 7 NT6.7 Philip and Simon the Sorcerer Scripture: Acts 8: 4-25 Lesson Goal: This lesson is about Philip, a deacon who preached about Jesus Christ to a man named Simon. We will learn that we can ask God to forgive us when we do wrong. Introduction: This is the seventh lesson in Unit 6: The Early Church. This unit covers Acts 1-12 and tells the story of the apostles spreading the gospel in Jerusalem and Samaria. In this lesson we are going to learn about Philip, a deacon who preached about Jesus Christ to a man named Simon. We will learn that we can ask God to forgive us when we do wrong. It is described by Luke in the book of Acts. Acts tells about the history of the church. Let's say the first five books of the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. Attention Getter: Have you ever seen a magician? They are people who do can trick you into thinking they are doing something when they aren't. They might pull a rabbit out of a hat. Or perhaps play a card or rope trick. Magicians practice and practice doing their tricks so they can astonish people. But all of these things are just tricks and anyone if they practice hard enough can learn how to do them. Magicians want you to think that they have special magical powers. Our Bible story is about a magician named Simon. He wanted to have special power from the Holy Spirit. His story is found in the book of Acts. Alternate Opening: You can perform a simple trick of pulling a coin out of someone's ear. This gets everyone's attention very quickly. Students may say that you are not really getting a coin from an ear but that's okay. The idea is talk about magic tricks and how they are a slip of the hand. Opening Prayer: Let's pray, " Dear Jesus, thank you for forgiving us when we sin. We may not want to sin, but Lord, when we do, please remind us to confess that sin so we can be clean again for you. Thank you for dying on the cross to pay for our sins. In Jesus' name, Amen. Memory Verse: Our Memory Verse is 1 John 1:9 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Lesson Video: http://youtu.be/gow_dp25aqc We ve been learning about the early Christians. First, we learned how the Holy Spirit came down upon the believers like tongues of fire. Then the disciples began to speak in other languages so that everybody could know about Jesus. Then, we learned about how the Holy Spirit gave Peter and John the power to heal the lame man. Peter and John taught that Jesus is the Son of God and many people believed in Jesus. Everyday people were being baptized and added to the church. The religious rulers were jealous and tried to stop them. Through God's power Peter and John could make the lame to walk and the blind to see. These miracles were great signs from God. And so more and more people turned to the Lord. The religious leaders were angry that the church was growing and that people were believing in Jesus. They tried to stop Peter and John by arresting them and putting them in prison. But God protected them by sending an angel of the Lord to release them. The work of the church was so great that Peter and John and the other disciples needed help so seven deacons were chosen. One deacon was Stephen who was also arrested for preaching the gospel. The officials and Jewish leaders even stoned him. Another deacon was Philip. He too was a great preacher and teacher about Jesus. He is the deacon we will talk about in this lesson. At first Philip preached in Jerusalem but then he went down to a city in Samaria. Many of the Christians had gone there because the Jewish leaders were chasing them. When he arrived in the city Philip
began preaching about Jesus and how He was the Savior. When the people of Samaria heard Philip preach and saw the miracles that he performed they paid close attention to what he said. Philip healed many people there. He cast out evil spirits and many paralytics and cripples were healed. There was great joy as people received Jesus as their Savior. In the city of Samaria lived a man name Simon. He was a magician. He had fooled people into thinking he had God's power. He tried to do magic tricks for people and make them think he was great. Simon amazed all the people in the town of Samaria with his magic tricks. He thought he was a great man because everyone from the most important to the least important paid attention to him. Some people said, "This man should be called "Great Power." They even thought Simon had the power of God but they were wrong. Simon did not know about God. When Philip arrived in Simon's town, he told them that Jesus had died for their sins and had gone to heaven. He told the people to believe in Jesus and live for God. Many people believed what Philip told them. Simon the Magician was one of those who believed. After Simon was baptized, he stayed close to Philip to learn more about God. He watched as Philip performed miracles. He wanted to be able to perform miracles like Philip was doing. Because so many people were believing in Jesus in the town of Samaria, two other men Peter and John came to help Philip teach the people. Philip was glad to have their help. Peter and John prayed for the people and laid their hands on them so the Holy Spirit came to live in the people. Simon the magician saw what Peter and John did. He wanted to have the power to make the Holy Spirit come to live inside people. Simon did a bad thing. He offered to buy the power from Peter and John. He said, "Give me this power to heal. I will pay you for it!" Simon didn't understand that God's power cannot be bought and isn't to be used to make money. Peter spoke sharply to him. He said. "Change your heart. You're wrong to think you can buy God's gift with money. This is an evil thing you have done. You will have no part in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. You must pray and ask God to forgive you." Then Simon saw that what he had done was wrong. Simon was sorry, and he asked Peter and John to pray for him. He said, "Please ask God to forgive me of this sin! I do not want to suffer God's punishment." Peter and John did pray for him. Simon asked God to forgive him of his sin of wanting to buy God's power. God forgave Simon. After preaching the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. They preached the gospel in many of the villages in Samaria. In our lesson Simon did something wrong, even though he may not have realized it at first. Have you ever done something that you later found out was wrong? Maybe you left the classroom without asking the teacher. You didn't know it was wrong but then the teacher told you! Well that was the way it was with Simon. He did not do wrong on purpose. Sometimes we do wrong things on purpose. Have you ever done something wrong on purpose? Maybe you knew you were going to get into trouble for something so you lied to get out of it. Or perhaps you hit your little sister even though you knew it was wrong. Sometimes we do wrong things on purpose and other times we find out afterward that what we have done is wrong. But in either case--we can ask God to forgive us when we do wrong. Simon was sorry for that he had done and he asked Peter and John to pray for him. He needed God's forgiveness. Sometimes people think that the good things they have done will somehow cover up the bad. But that is not true. Think about making scrambled eggs for breakfast. Let's say you have four good eggs and one bad rotten egg. If you put the rotten egg in your bowl you will ruin the whole thing. You would not want to eat those scrambled eggs. That is the way it is with sin! One sin keeps us from being totally good. And a person has to be totally good to go to heaven! The only way we can do that is by having our heart changed. Jesus gives us His righteousness so we can go to heaven. SO--the thing that matters the most is whether we believe in Jesus. Believing in Jesus is more important and any of the good things we could do. It is also more important than the bad things we do because when we believe in Jesus, we can be forgiven for the bad things we've done. Without Jesus and His death on the 2
3 cross, we can't get rid of the bad things we've done! When Jesus died on the cross He was paying the punishment for what we have done that was wrong. He was suffering for us! When we pray and confess our sins to God, He loves us so much that He wants to take those sins away. It is great to have a God who loves us and wants to forgive us no matter what we do that is wrong. All we have to do is ask God for His forgiveness and be truly sorry that we sinned. Being truly sorry means we will try as hard as we can not to do the same bad things again. Remember confess your sins! Review Questions/ Game: Spinner Game Print out the spinner game template below on heavy poster board or cardstock for each 2 or 3 students in class. Add a paper clip to make the spinner. Have students take turns spinning the spinner and answering the review questions on the spinner card. Make sure every student has an opportunity to answer a question. OR use the following questions in a group discussion. 1. What office did Philip have in the early church? (He was a deacon. Deacons were chosen to help the apostles.) 2. Why did Philip go to Samaria to preach? (Many of the early believers had moved there to escape the persecution of the church by the Jewish leaders.) 3. What could Philip do to show that the message he preached about Jesus was really true? (He could perform miracles of healing. These were signs from God that the message about Jesus was really true.) 4. Who first listened and followed Philip when he came to Samaria? (Simon) 5. How did Simon respond when he heard Philip's preaching? (He believed and was baptized.) 6. What job did Simon have before Philip came to preach in Samaria? (He was a well known magician.) 7. Who came from Jerusalem to help Philip with the preaching? (Peter and John) 8. What happened when Peter and John arrived? (They laid hands on the people and they received the Holy Spirit.) 9. Why was it important that Peter pray for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit? (So the Jerusalem believers could see that God saved the Gentiles as He had saved them and filled them with the Holy Spirit) 10. When does the Holy Spirit come in to the heart of the believer? (The moment he/she believes in Jesus) 11. What special gift did Simon want Peter to give him? (The power of the Holy Spirit.) 12. What was wrong with Simon's request? (He wanted to use the power of the Holy Spirit for personal profit. He wanted to buy the power from Peter.) 13. What did Peter tell Simon? (Peter said, " Change your heart. You're wrong to think you can buy God's gift with money. This is an evil thing you have done. You will have no part in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. You must pray and ask God to forgive you.") 14. What did Simon do when Peter told him his heart needed to change? (He asked Peter and John to pray for him and ask for God's mercy and forgiveness.) 15. What is the difference between a "magic trick" and a "miracle from God"? (A magic trick is just a trick to fool you. The magician makes you think there is magic. A miracle is something that God really makes happen that human beings could never make happen no matter how hard they tried.) 16. What is the important lesson we can learn from Simon? (We need to confess our sin and ask God for His forgiveness.) Bible Memory Verse Activity: Verse Pennant Our Memory Verse is 1 John 1:9 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This verse means that if we tell God what we've done that is wrong and are really sorry about it that he will take those sins away. Look up the scripture in the Bible. Have a student read the verse. Repeat the verse together. Each student will need a piece of ribbon 3/4" - 1" wide by 12 3/4" long; a piece of white felt 12 3/4" wide by 31" long and multicolored markers. Before class cut a piece of felt into a pennant shape, for each child in class. Glue or staple the ribbon onto the felt at the wide end. In bubble type letters, write out the verse 1 John 1:9. This should take up most of the space. The children will color in the bubble letters that you had previously outlined. If the kids are old enough, you can let them cut the felt and attach the ribbon. This pennant will hang in their room and remind them of the importance of asking for God's forgiveness of sin.
4 Group Learning Activity: Forgiveness Cut a heart from white drawing paper. Use a Frixion erasable pen (found in most craft or office supply stores) to write "I'm sorry" on the paper heart. Compare the writing on the drawing paper to sins that you have done that are wrong such as disobedience to parents; lying; stealing; swearing, etc. Hold the heart with the writing on the paper up to a light bulb. Compare the light bulb to the light of Jesus' love. Allow the paper to warm up a moment and watch the "sins" suddenly disappear. Ask students these questions: What effect does sin have in your life? Why should you confess your sins? What does God want to do with our sins? Do our sins become "invisible" or does God completely remove them? (Removes them.) I'm sorry. Group Learning Activity: Marks of Sin Have the children sit in a large circle. Give each child an index card and a pencil with a good eraser. Say: Scribble on your card, then erase it until the mark is completely gone. Try not to rub a hole in the card. Give the children a minute to try this. No one will be able to produce a card that is as clean as the original. Either a faint pencil mark will remain or the card will have a rough appearance where it was erased. Gather the pencils and have children put their cards in the middle of the circle where the cards can be seen but where the children can't touch them. Say: Let's pretend that the marks we made on the cards are the wrong things we do. What are some of the wrong things that people do? (People lie, they steal; they cheat; they say bad words; they're mean.) When people realize they've done something wrong, they try to make it right and clean up their lives, just as you tried to erase the pencil smudges from the cards. What are some things people do to make things right after they've done something wrong? (They say, "I'm sorry; they tell the truth; they ask for forgiveness; they do right things.) Say: Look carefully at the cards. You can see where the pencil marks were. No matter how hard we try, when we sin or do something wrong, we can't get rid of our sins by ourselves. Listen to what the Bible says we need to do when we sin." Read 1 John 1:9. Who can make sins go away completely? (God; Jesus) That's right. Only God can make our sins go away completely. Craft Activity: Cloud Picture Have students read Isaiah 44:22 "I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you." Say: We are going to make a cloud picture to remind us of how God forgives us our sins. Have students draw an outdoor scene with a cloud in the sky. Give each child some white cotton balls to glue to their cloud. Write the verse across the top of the picture. Craft Activity: Gospel Frisbees To encourage students to share the good news with others, create a good news Frisbee by cutting out the centers of two Styrofoam plates or two paper plates leaving only the outer rim intact. You may want to try different diameters for the most effective Frisbee. Allow the students to decorate their Frisbee with the gospel message using colorful markers or crayons. You can have students print the following verses on their Frisbee: Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:3; Romans 10:13; John 6:47. Cover the Styrofoam or paper plates with clear shipping tape. Use scissors to cut off the excess tape around the edges. Place the two plates together, decorative sides facing outward and tape all the edges together. Bible Challenge: (older students) Map Activity Print out a copy of the map of Judea and Samaria one for each student. Place a large J and a large S on a map of Samaria and Judea. Have a student come point to the J. Have another student come trace the border of Judea in crayon. Do the same with Samaria. Then have a student draw arrows from Judea to Samaria, illustrating the spread of the Gospel. Have the children write the following across or below the map: They preached the word wherever they went Acts 8:4
5 Life Application Challenge: The Jerusalem believers faced difficulty when they were persecuted for their faith in Jesus. The difficulty was not wasted on these believers. They allowed the difficulty to send them out of their comfortable zone and go to others to share the Gospel with others. They trusted God to help them as they faced persecution. The believers were becoming strong in their faith when they stepped out on faith. God was using their obedience to bring more believers into His Kingdom. How are you allowing difficulty to make you a stronger believer? Use your gospel Frisbee to talk to a friend this week about Jesus.
Philip and Simon the Sorcerer Acts 8: 4-25 6 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
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10 Philip and Simon the Sorcerer Spinner Game What was the name of the sorcerer who practiced magic in Samaria? Did Simon the Sorcerer become a Christian? What happened when the apostles laid hands on people in Samaria? What is the difference between a magic trick and a miracle from God? What did Simon the Sorcerer want to buy from the Apostles? Place paper clip in center of circle. Take turn spinning the clip to answer the questions.
11 Map of Judea and Samaria