Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
If they were saved, why didn’t they have the Holy Ghost already? We have seen that there is a difference between receiving the Holy Spirit and being Filled with Holy Spirit.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
( John 20:22 )
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
( Acts 2:4 )
We believe that we receive the Holy Spirit when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. So why didn’t Phillip’s converts have the Holy Spirit?
Was there something wrong with what they had been taught by Phillip?
Was this intended as one of the signs confirming the apostles authenticity in Mark 16:20?
And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
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They were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, but had they actually understood who Jesus Christ was? Right now they are being thrilled by Phillips miracles which put to shame those of poor Simon the Sorcerer.
Whether Peter and john are fixing a problem with Phillip’s teaching or the Holy Spirit was held back as a sign, this is a clear picture of the importance of Pastoral oversight.
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They fixed the problem.
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Simon hears the cash register in his mind. This is what he has been waiting for: a bankable talent.
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Greed and avarice overcome whatever spiritual revelation he had.
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Peter responds as he did in the situation with Ananias and Sapphira
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He gives a pronouncement about Simon’s spiritual condition.
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However, he is merciful and points to God’s mercy. Making sure to include the part about repentance.
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Peter realized that Simon didn’t have a spiritual revelation at all, he was envious of Phillip and seeking a way to recoup his losses.
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Simon no doubt knows who Peter is, and he as quite possibly heard about what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. Now his own lust and avarice have overpowered him, and he has fallen under the judgement of God, the righteous judge. In panic he asks Peter to intercede for him.
He comes under conviction of his own wickedness, but does he repent?
Technically he has not repented, he asks for intercession, but he didn’t confess his sin. He asks to be saved from the consequences of his actions, but he doesn’t appear to connect that with repenting, turning away, from those actions.
Simon’s status is uncertain.
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Back to Jerusalem. What they did was made sure that Phillip had his facts straight and was on the right track. This was critical because of what comes next.
Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
( James 1:9-11 )
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Low degree ταπεινός tapeinos
/tapeinós (“lowly, humble”) means being God-reliant rather than self-reliant – which ironically always exalts a person (brings them true worth, cf. 1 Pet 5:6).
depressed (1), humble (5), lowly (1), meek (1).
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
( Matthew 5:5 )
Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
( James 2:5 )
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But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
( Luke 6:24 )
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Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
( Job 14:1-2 )
The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
( Isaiah 40:6-8 )
The Parable of the Rich Fool ( Luke 12:13-21 )
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
When we say Simon the sorcerer, what do we really mean?
The Bible shows us that magic and the dark arts are a real thing, it is not just a matter of illusions or sleight of hand. There are several examples of conjuring in Exodus.
From sticks to serpents
Exodus 7:8-13
The plague of blood
Exodus 7:22
The plague of frogs
Exodus 8:6-7
The plague of lice
Exodus 8:16-19
Summoning spirits
There is an example of a medium summoning a spirit of the dead. This was when Saul was panicking having completely lost his way.
1 Samuel 28:7-19
Spiritual possession
People posessed with demons and evil spirits was common in the time of Jesus and the apostles. Now it is called “mental illness.”
Acts 16:16
Books of magic
Scroll, books and textx of the curious arts have always existed. Thankfully many have been destroyed over the course of history.
Acts 19:19
The greatest collection of ancient texts of the curious arts perished in 48BC
In 48 BC, during Caesar’s Civil War, Julius Caesar was besieged at Alexandria. His soldiers set fire to his own ships while trying to clear the wharves to block the fleet belonging to Cleopatra’s brother Ptolemy XIV.[80][81][57][8] This fire spread to the parts of the city nearest to the docks, causing considerable devastation.[81][78][8] The first-century AD Roman playwright and Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger quotes Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita Libri, which was written between 63 and 14 BC, as saying that the fire started by Caesar destroyed 40,000 scrolls from the Library of Alexandria.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
( Mark 11:24 )
And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
( Matthew 17:20 )
Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
( Matthew 18:19-20 )
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Paul didn’t participate in Stephen’s murder, but he didn’t do anything to stop it. He was determined to prove that he was the most zealous of all the pharisees. At this time he thought that meant he had to stop the spread of the church, but he must have been conflicted because of the impact Stephen’s sermon had on him.
I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
( Acts 22:3-4 )
But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.
( Acts 23:6 )
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
( 1 Timothy 1:15 )
4-8
Following the Lord’s commands
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But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
( Matthew 10:23 )
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And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
( Acts 6:5 )
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And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
There is a way out, but we don’t have to worry about it.
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For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
Stephen’s case against the establishment has 8 accusations:
1.
Acts 7:2-10
The will of God was with Joseph, the establishment rejected him.
2.
Acts 7:17-29, 35
Moses came as a deliverer and was rejected. This is the first time that the children of Israel rejected Moses.
This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. v. 35
3.
Acts 7:36-37
Moses prophesied the coming of the Messiah whom the establishment crucified.
4.
Acts 7:38-43
The tablets of the 10 commandments which Moses smashed and had to make again.
To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, v. 39
5.
Acts 7:40-41
The golden calf.
6.
Acts 7:42
The host of heaven.
7.
Acts 7:43
Moloch and Remphan.
8.
Acts 7:51-53
Stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears
the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers
Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
( Philippians 1:6 )
Writing sermons can be an odd process.
I have been trying to remember a passage that I heard or read which I thought was saying that God has the power to keep or maintain us until we have completed the work that he called us to do.
I think I remember a pastor preaching something along those lines years ago.
I’ve tried to look for the passage using the concordance, but I can’t remember the words exactly so the searches that I have done didn’t produce anything that I recognized as what i thought I was looking for.
Thankfully I have been keeping up with my daily Bible reading.
In fact, today I just got to the end of the Bible and I will be starting it again for the 15th time.
Recently I read what i thought was the passage that I was looking for. Conceptually it matched the idea that I thought I remembered. I made a mental note of what book, chapter and verse it was. Then I forgot the mental note.
What I remembered was where it was on the page: the bottom left corner.
Today I decided to find it and worked my way back from the end of the Bible looking at all of the bottom left corners.
I found three passages which work with the idea I am trying to confirm whether or not it is really a thing.
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
( 1 Peter 1:7-9 )
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
( 2 Timothy 1:12 )
And how about this for a twist: this sermon was an issue that I had been pondering for a while, so much so that I began a diligent search for the passage in it. Another one dropped in my lap in an intriguing sermon from BEZA International Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the very place where I received my call to write Matty’s Paradigm.
a freedman, one of the class of manumitted slaves; a synagogue at Jerusalem appears to have been reserved for them.
Manumitted – Manumission, or affranchisement, is the act of an owner freeing his or her slaves.
Cyrene – Cyrene (/saɪˈriːniː/; Ancient Greek: Κυρήνη, translit.Kyrēnē) was an ancient Greek and later Roman city near present-day Shahhat, Libya.
Alexandria – Alexandria (/ˌælɪɡˈzændriə/ or /-ˈzɑːnd-/;[3]Egyptian Arabic: إسكندريه Eskendereyya; Arabic: الإسكندرية al-ʾIskandariyya; Coptic: ⲁⲗⲉⲝⲁⲛⲇⲣⲓⲁ Alexandria or ⲣⲁⲕⲟϯ Rakote) is the second-largest city in Egypt and a major economic centre, extending about 32 km (20 mi) along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country.
Cilicia – In antiquity, Cilicia (/sɪˈlɪʃiə/)[2][note 1] was the south coastal region of Asia Minor and existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia during the late Byzantine Empire. Extending inland from the southeastern coast of modern Turkey, Cilicia is due north and northeast of the island of Cyprus and corresponds to the modern region of Çukurova in Turkey.
Asia – The Roman province of Asia or Asiana (Greek: Ἀσία or Ἀσιανή), in Byzantine times called Phrygia, was an administrative unit added to the late Republic. It was a Senatorial province governed by a proconsul. The arrangement was unchanged in the reorganization of the Roman Empire in 211.
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Stephen may have been aware of this teaching of Jesus:
But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
( Luke 21:12-15 )
Jesus was quoting scripture:
Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
( Exodus 4:12 )
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And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die.
( 1 Kings 21:10 )
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13
Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
( Matthew 26:59 )
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the customs which Moses delivered us.
Irony. When Stephen mounts his defense he will accuse them of resisting and opposing Moses.
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Angel – a messenger, generally a (supernatural) messenger from God, an angel, conveying news or behests from God to men.
Matty (Headwind) 