ACTS CH.8:1-40 PHILLIP THE EVANGELIST WHAT WE ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT As we continue our study through the book of Acts, today we are going to take a look at someone who has a very small part in the narrative of the New Testament, yet his faithfulness to the ministry to which he was called had a major impact on the gospel going out into the world. HOW IT APPLIES TO ME / WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Personal application of a study like this will help us to better understand the importance of remaining faithful to the call God has placed on our lives. God has placed a call on each one of our lives; in Ephesians Ch.2 Paul tells us: Ephesians 2:10 (New King James Version) 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. There is no way of knowing for sure on this side of eternity what kind of an impact we will have on furthering the gospel of Christ and the Kingdom of God. We do this by sowing the word of God into the life of an individual through our obedience to speak the truth with boldness and conviction, to speak the truth in love; and we do this by living our lives in such a way that we bring honor and glory to the Father by abiding in Christ. There is no way in this lifetime we will see all of the fruit that is produced as a result of living a surrendered life to the Lord. Our God is an awesome God, and His desire is to enjoy a personal relationship with you and me through His Son Jesus Christ. And He has chosen man to be the conduit through which the Holy Spirit would work to spread the Gospel to the entire world so that all mankind might come to repentance. This is what Paul speaks to in Romans Ch.10 Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page 1
Romans 10:13-15 (New King James Version) 13 For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things! As Christians we are all called to be ambassadors for Christ, when Paul says how shall they hear without a preacher he is not talking about someone who stands up before a crowd on Sunday morning and delivers a sermon; he is talking about us. He is talking about men and women of faith who have been given the gift of eternal life through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And Paul is exhorting us to step up, to answer the call that God has put on each of us to live for Christ and to allow the Holy Spirit to lead and direct our lives. And the natural result of our faithfulness to that call will become evident by the impact we have on the people around us. And the important idea to underscore in this statement is that the impact is a result of our obedience to the call, it is not a result of our works but of the Holy Spirit working through a yielded vessel to God be the glory. So we left off last time in chapter seven with the stoning of Stephen, and the impact his life had on the people around him. ACTS CH.8:1-3 SAUL PERSECUTES THE CHURCH 1 Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page 2
In chapter 7:58 we saw that the witnesses against Stephen laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul, almost as a passing comment that he was just someone who happened to be at this trial more or less as a bystander. But here we get a little more detail, verse one says Saul was in hearty agreement another translation says that he approved and the King James version says that he was consenting to Stephens death. The word consenting actually means voting which implies that Saul was not just there as a bystander to this court hearing, but that he was actually a voting member of the Sanhedrin, and had cast his vote for the execution of Stephen. I find it interesting also that the scripture says that on that day a great persecution arose against the church. It makes me think of how a group of sharks react when they get a smell of the blood in the water ; all common reason goes right out the window and a wild frenzy ensues in which a lot of times some of the attacking sharks become victims themselves if they get cut. This persecution was fierce and unrelenting, so much so that it drove the Christians out of Jerusalem by the masses in all directions, fleeing for their lives. It is thought that many of them were the Hellenistic Jews which we talked about a little earlier in chapter 6, and that makes sense seeing that that is the type of Jew Stephen was, and as this persecution started it seems logical to me that even though all Christians were being targeted, these guys even more so being that they were a more liberal Jew and there was already a prejudice against them by the more conservative native Hebrew Jew. At any rate from a spiritual perspective we see Satan lashing out at this young church, and he is using the prejudices of man to fuel the hatred he has towards God and His elect. To crush this movement before it gets started, he manipulates the situation and uses the zealous passions these guys have for Jehovah God as distorted as they are, to strike out against this new movement that they see as nothing more than a cancerous threat against their religion and their way of life. Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page 3
But instead of killing this movement, the persecution results in an explosion of it. People are spread out towards all corners of the world and they are taking with them the Gospel. What is thought-provoking to me about this whole situation is that because of this great persecution, these people end up doing what Jesus had commanded His disciples to do some 6 years earlier. Remember that He told them to wait in Jerusalem until after they had been filled with the Holy Spirit, but their call was to go out into all the world and preach the gospel. Acts Ch.1:8 (New Living Translation) 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. But instead of moving beyond Jerusalem the Apostles stayed. And now some 6 years later the church has grown to well over 10,000 and I think the urgency to leave has been replaced with the idea of running this mission from Jerusalem. After all, Jews from all over the world had to yearly come to Israel to participate in the Jewish feasts, so in a roundabout way I think many began to rationalize that they were fulfilling the command of Christ by waiting for the people to come to them instead of actually leaving their homes and going out into the world. But God s desire was that the gospel would go out into all the world, and so He allows this persecution and attack on His church to do to them by force what he had asked them to do freely. And as a result this church is scattered throughout Judea, into Samaria, and ultimately to the remotest parts of the Earth. Effectively fulfilling the commandment of the Lord, kind of reminds me of Jonah s story, on way or another he was going to Nineveh. Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page 4
Back in Acts chapter 2:41 we read that as a result of Peter s sermon on the day of Pentecost some 3000 were saved, and in chapter 4:4 we see the church grew by another 5000. As I read this, the attention has seemed to be on the fruit of one mans faithfulness to call God has placed on his life. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter s sermons have yielded an increase in this young church to the tune of at least 10,000 people when you count the men and women. But not everyone has been called to be a Peter or a Billy Graham. The good works God prepared for you and I beforehand as Paul describes in Eph. Ch.2:10 is where we are going to find a true sense of fulfillment; when we make ourselves available to the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit and begin walking in those good works, bringing honor and glory to God. We are now going to begin to see a shift in the story line here in the book of Acts in terms of the Gospel message being presented. The focus is no longer going to be on the masses that are converted because of a single sermon, but instead on the single covert to the message of the Gospel and their impact on the world around them because of their obedience to the call God has put on their lives. ACTS CH.8:4-8 CHRIST IS PREACHED IN SAMARIA 4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. 5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. This is not the Apostle Philip. We know from verse 2 that when the church was scattered because of the persecution that the Apostles remained in Jerusalem. This Philip, you will recall from Acts Ch.6 was one of the seven along with Stephen who was chosen by the Apostles to look after the widows and the distribution of food. There is a great example here for you and I. Philip s desire was to be used by God, wherever and however God saw fit. The key here is that he made himself available. Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page 5
2 nd Chronicles 16:9 (New Living Translation) 9 The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. Philip, through the leading of the Holy Spirit goes to Samaria, and begins to proclaim the Gospel. Samaria was a country that for all intent and purposes was written off by the Jews. In 2 nd Kings Ch.17 you can read about the account of the Assyrian invasion of Israel in 721BC when the ten northern tribes were carried off into captivity. As the Assyrians moved into the area they intermarried with many of the impoverished Jews who had been left behind and a half-breed race was produced known as the Samaritans. The pure bred Jews looked down on the Samaritans calling them half breeds and dogs and went out of their way to avoid them. You remember from John Ch.4 when Jesus went through Samaria and met the woman at the well, her first comment to Jesus was: why are you a Jew even talking to me; a Samaritan. This prejudice against the Samaritans didn t seem to slow down Phillip at all, perhaps being a Hellenistic Jew had something to do with it, but more than that I believe Phillip was just being obedient to God. And as a result we read in verse 6: ACTS CH.8:4-8 CHRIST IS PREACHED IN SAMARIA 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city. One of the life lessons Charles Stanley teaches in his study on the principles of scripture is that we are to obey God and leave the consequences to God. When we are obedient to the will of God He takes responsibility for the consequences, conversely when we are disobedient to His will we are responsible for the consequences. Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page 6
As a result of Phillip s obedience, great joy filled the city of Samaria and many people were healed from their infirmities set free from the bondage of sin. ACTS CH.8:9-13 THE SORCERER S PROFESSION OF FAITH 9 But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, 10 to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. 11 And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. This Simon had a high degree of local fame. He was honored as one who didn t only have the power of God; they went as far as to say about him that This man is the great power of God. Verse 11 says they listened to him because for a long time he astounded them with his magic. Sorcery was rampant during this time in history and Simon was the best of the best. It is important to remember that sorcery in the Bible always has the connection with the occult. Whatever real power Simon had, it was from Satan, not God. The Samaritans wrongly assumed that because Simon had exhibited this power, that it was from God; but that simply wasn t the case. Was Simon a clever magician or was he a conduit of demonic power? We don t know for sure, what we do know is that Satan will use whatever he can to disrupt the plan of God for the purpose of keeping people enslaved to their sins. This is why it is so important that we don t allow him the opportunity. Protecting ourselves and our families from his assaults means we need to stay away from anything that smacks of the occult. Scripture teaches us that Satan can come to us as an angle of light, and can empower people to do signs, wonders, and even impressive miracles. But he can only make things worse. Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page 7
13 Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done. Amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done: Simon is convinced by Philip s preaching and amazing miracles, to the point where he declares belief, is baptized, and continued with Philip. Simon became a follower of Philip and his ministry. Commentators are divided as to whether or not Simon s conversion was legit of if Simon just saw this as an opportunity to gain favor with the people again. I think the key here is found in last part of verse 13; he was amazed by the signs and great miracles. We will look at this a little more in just a few verses. ACTS CH.8:14-25 THE SORCERER S PROFESSION OF FAITH 14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God s message, they sent Peter and John there. 15 As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. 16 The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit. I find this very interesting that all though these people both believed and were baptized, they were not yet empowered by the Holy Spirit. Why do you think that is? There are a couple of thoughts, one being that Phillip sent for the big guns in Jerusalem because he wanted to make sure that the gospel going into Samaria was not seen as the start of a separate movement or a distinct denomination of believers. They were all part of the same body of believers, the same body of Christ. Sending Peter and John validated the linkage and support between the believers in Jerusalem and Samaria. The other reason I believe we see Peter and John going to Samaria, and more specifically Peter, is because of Jesus s commission and charge to Peter we read in Matthew Ch.16 Matthew Ch.16:17-19 (New King James Version) Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page 8
17 Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. I think when Jesus spoke to Peter about the keys to the kingdom of Heaven, I believe he was prophesying about the fact that Peter was going to be the one who opened the doors for the gospel to be preached and received. In Acts Ch. 2 we saw how on the day of Pentecost, after the infilling of the Holy Spirit, as a result of Peter s sermon, in verse 41 that over 3000 men were saved. Here in Ch.8 we see the message of the gospel going into Samaria, and again Peter is involved with these people receiving the Holy Spirit. And in a few chapters we are going to see that it is through Peter that the message of the gospel is opened up to the gentiles when he goes to Caesarea and delivers the good news to the household of Cornelius. Let s take a look again back in Acts Ch.1 Acts Ch.1:8 (New Living Translation) 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The message of the gospel is spreading just as Jesus said it would, from Jerusalem, throughout Judea, now into Samaria, and before long into the whole world. As painful as the persecution of the church was, it is proving to be the catalyst for the message of the gospel getting out of Jerusalem. ACTS CH.8:14-25 THE SORCERER S PROFESSION OF FAITH 18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power. 19 Let me have this power, too, he exclaimed, so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit! Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page 9
20 But Peter replied, May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God s gift can be bought! 21 You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God. 22 Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts, 23 for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin. 24 Pray to the Lord for me, Simon exclaimed, that these terrible things you ve said won t happen to me! 25 After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News. Even today you find that magicians sell their magic tricks to other magicians for large amounts of money; because Simon offered to buy what he was witnessing Peter and John do lead some to believe that what Simon was doing to impress the people was sleight of hand magic and not something that was necessarily through demonic power. I think it is pretty evident from Simons offer to buy this power from Peter and John that he was more interested about his own reputation among these new converts in Samaria than he was with bringing glory to the name of the Lord. Peter s statements to Simon that his heart was not right with God and that he was in the bondage of his iniquity bears evidence that he was never saved. And notice also when he is called on the carpet by Peter about his disposition, he doesn t pray that his heart might be changed but instead asks Peter to pray to God that these things won t happen to him. There is no true repentance, he isn t interested in having his life altered by a close encounter of the divine kind, and he is only interested in being protected from the consequences of sin. Just because someone says they believe in God does not mean they are saved. James Ch.2:19 says that even the demons believe Christ is Lord. 10 Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page
ACTS CH.8:26-40 CHRIST IS PREACHED TO AN ETHIOPIAN 26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. Phillips ministry in Samaria was firing on all cylinders; people were hearing the message of the gospel and coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And in the midst of this great awakening and revival God tells Phillip to get up and go. And not just go, but to go out into the desert. I think we could do a whole bible study just on these couple of verses. First of all I think it is important to note that as soon as Phillip received his new marching orders from God, he got up and went. This speaks to me about the sanctity of his Spirit-filled life. How many times in our lives has the Spirit of God given us specific direction in our lives but because of all of the background noise we have been unable to hear? Or we hear but we fail to move out because of the fear of the unknown? Or even worse we fail to move because we are flat out being disobedient? Phillip did not seem to have this problem, God spoke and Phillip moved on it, not knowing what was going to happen, but confident that God in fact was in control. God is in control today as well, we may not know the why of any given situation, but we can be confident in the Who who directs us. We should also glean from this event, the reality of Isaiah Ch.55 Isaiah Ch.55:11 (New King James Version) 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Because the apostles were still in Jerusalem, God called a layman to do the job they were originally commissioned to do by Jesus Christ. 11 Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page
Remember the last command Jesus gave his disciples was to go into all of the world and preach the gospel; to start in Jerusalem, then Judea, then into Samaria, and then into the utter most parts of the world. 6 years later, the Apostles are still in Jerusalem. And we read in verse 2 that when this great persecution rose up against the church that they fled Jerusalem and were scattered, except the Apostles, they remained in Jerusalem. God s word will not be negated because of any man s disobedience; He will simply find someone who has a willing heart and use them. ACTS CH.8:26-40 CHRIST IS PREACHED TO AN ETHIOPIAN 27 And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. This man from Ethiopia who had gone to Jerusalem may have been a Jew or a proselyte (a gentile who had converted to Judaism), we don t know for sure, we just know he went there to worship. And as he is returning he is sitting in his chariot reading from the prophet Isaiah. This says to me that he has a genuine hunger for God and he is seeking truth. This reminds me of one of the great promises of God found in scripture. Proverbs Ch. 8:17 (New King James Version) 17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me. If really we will diligently seek the Lord He will let us find Him, even if that means finding someone and redirecting their lives so they intersect with ours in a place as remote as a desert for the purpose of revealing to us the truth of God. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, Go near and overtake this chariot. 12 Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page
Notice that God is giving direction to Philip one step at a time. This is how He works with you and I. Very seldom will he lay out the whole plan at once simply because He wants us taking each step with Him. We all have the tendency to take short cuts when we think we know where we are going. Much of what we do for God is in the journey not the destination. 30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, Do you understand what you are reading? 31 And he said, How can I, unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. Keep in mind who Philip is talking to, this Ethiopian was a very influential power man in his Kingdom, and yet look at his humility, he wants to know the truth and has a teachable heart. We should never come to a place in our lives where we think we know all there is to know about the word of God. A teachable heart produces humility. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth. This is a portion of a prophecy found in Isaiah Ch.53, Written over 700 years before the birth of Jesus that predicted how He would suffer and die, bearing the iniquities of us all, and restore the fellowship between sinful man and a holy God because of His perfect sacrifice. 34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man? 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Beginning with this scripture Philip preached Jesus to him. Peter tells us in his epistle that as important to his faith, being an eyewitness to Jesus was, His life, death and resurrection; that it was the more sure word of prophecy concerning Christ that his faith was based. 13 Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page
Philip wanted this man s faith to be based on the truth of scripture. As Christians, sharing our God story with someone may have an impact on how they think, but it is the truth of scripture, the infallible word of God that reveals our need for a savior. And it is the word of God that has prophetically laid out in detail several hundred years in advance the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; our kinsman redeemer. The only one who because of His sinless life was in a position to offer his life as a ransom for our lives. This is what the Apostle Paul is referring to in Colossians Ch.2 when he wrote: Colossians Ch.2:13-14 (New Living Translation) 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves, this is the message of the gospel, this is what Philip explained to the Ethiopian. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized? 37 Then Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Paul teaches us in Romans Ch.10 that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. 38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. This is the same word Paul uses to describe rapture of the church in 1 st Thessalonians Ch.4:16-17 when he says that we who are alive and remain on the earth when Christ returns for His bride will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. 14 Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page
Philip is caught up, snatched away 40 But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea. Philip will go on to spread the gospel and become known as one of the great evangelists of the early church. The next time we run across Philip in scripture is in Acts Ch.21 where he is living in Caesarea and the Apostle Paul on his way to Jerusalem stops by for a visit. Next week we will look at the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. 15 Pastor Steve Acts Bible Study - Lesson 8: Phillip the Evangalist April 15, 2014 page