Are You Sure Your Faith Is Real? | Acts 8:4-25

[SPEAKER_00]: Acts chapter eight is where we'll be.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to start in verse four.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you have your Bibles, you can turn there.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to pray over our study one more time and then we're going to dive into it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Lord again, we just pray that as we go through Acts, we pray Lord again that these will be your words.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we remember, the things that have been done Lord in your spirit and in your name, Jesus, we just pray that as we go through this,

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I just pray that you softened and speak it to our hearts, Lord, I pray that if there's things we need to repent of, things that we need to turn from or things that we need to be encouraged by, Lord, I pray that you do that and work within us and that we have good soil to receive.

[SPEAKER_00]: In Jesus' name, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so Acts chapter 8, we're going to pick it up in verse 4.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, we covered this couple or last week, but I want to hit it again.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, those who had been scattered, preached the word wherever they went,

[SPEAKER_00]: Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there, and when the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.

[SPEAKER_00]: For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or laying were healed.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that city, there was great joy in that city.

[SPEAKER_00]: So again, this is coming after the persecution happened in Jerusalem.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says that the apostles were scattered,

[SPEAKER_00]: And Saul, which I want to pay a quick note to, we're going to talk more about Saul in a couple weeks.

[SPEAKER_00]: There was a great persecution in the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it says that the church in Jerusalem was scattered to Samaria.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where Philip went to.

[SPEAKER_00]: He went to Samaria.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I want to note a couple of things in this section that's going to lead us into our study today.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says that they were scattered for one.

[SPEAKER_00]: This word for scattered, I'm going to go ahead and try to pronounce it, but I'm probably going to mess it up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Dius Bero, it's a Greek word, and so when you think of scattered and you, has anyone ever stepped on an ant pile?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it's terrible, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: When you step on the ant pile, what do they do?

[SPEAKER_00]: They're just kind of everywhere without purpose, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's different than like the unpurpose scatter.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is like the same word that you would use to scatter seeds.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like a farmer would use to plant seeds to sow seeds.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the scattering of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we see that through that trial and tribulation, God's purpose was fulfilled.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk more about that today because Jesus said that they were going to go to Samaria.

[SPEAKER_00]: and to the other ends of the earth.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this was something that Jesus knew would happen and God used that situation for His glory and for His purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to just one note that for a second, but the other thing I want to talk about is their insamaria, which the Jews and the Samaritans they did not like each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: like, really did not like each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm from Arizona.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are U of A Wildcat fans through and through.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you mention ASU, I want nothing to do with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, Arizona State, that's Phoenix.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't want anything to do with them.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a very strong rivalry, but this is something that was deeply rooted in them.

[SPEAKER_00]: where Jesus even used the parable of the good Samaritan, and was like, well, you had this good Jewish person go by another good Jewish person go by.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, then the Samaritan came by and the Samaritan aided him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who was the neighbor?

[SPEAKER_00]: Was the Samaritan?

[SPEAKER_00]: So there was a lot of generations of this deeply rooted hatred towards them, and he's saying that this is where this work is taking place.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this would be a significant thing for the Jewish people to hear something along those lines.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, but I want to say that's where he's at.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's in Samaria.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it said, when the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs that he performed.

[SPEAKER_00]: So meaning Philip was going in performing signs.

[SPEAKER_00]: What signs will talk about that in a second?

[SPEAKER_00]: But Philip was doing a works of the spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it says they all paid close attention to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're a note taker,

[SPEAKER_00]: And you highlight in your Bible, or you take notes in your Bible, this is something I would notate because this correlates.

[SPEAKER_00]: What I love about the Bible is it's not random.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like things are in there for a reason.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it says the crowds heard Philip saw the signs, but it says they paid close attention to what he said.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, why are they paying close attention?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we're going to talk about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why are they paying that close of attention?

[SPEAKER_00]: So it says they paid close attention to what he said.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it says a verse seven for with Shreeks, impure spirits came out of many and many who were paralyzed and ling were healed.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so there was great joy in that city.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we saw impure spirits removed.

[SPEAKER_00]: We saw physical healing leading to spiritual healing.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of the four grounds of where we're at now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now we're going to get into verse nine, where we're introduced to a man named Simon, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So verse nine, it says, now for some time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amaze all the people of Samaria.

[SPEAKER_00]: He boasted that he was someone great and all the people both high and low gave him their attention and exclaimed, this man is rightly called the great power of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: They followed him because he amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we have Simon the Sorcerer, it's reported that Chuck Smith would call him the Warlock.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever you want to call him, he was some sort of magician, but I want you to understand what that means.

[SPEAKER_00]: So in the New Testament, magic was defined as magical practices claimed to draw on or manipulate non-human spiritual power.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there is some sort of power that's happening.

[SPEAKER_00]: it says magic was popular in antiquity including Judea.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was sometimes associated with Ephesus and fully associated with the remains of ancient religion of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says that there were some Jewish teachers that regard the magic as fake, but others as genuine, dangerous sorcery.

[SPEAKER_00]: Protective amulets were common, magical formulas, instructions, gestures, one common form was something called love magic, sometimes it was used to deduce a person from their current spouse.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another was to kill rivals in chariot races, people would inscribe the names of their enemies on pots and break them, and then it would curse them.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says that it was frequently claimed to manipulate spirits, controlling them by using special knowledge about them, brought others in in-depth magic and often magical formula spoke of binding or losing demons to manipulate them to do the bitters will.

[SPEAKER_00]: Although mostly later centuries, many magical papyri replete the various formulas designed to achieve these designated ends, they survived in Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what this is, we're talking about

[SPEAKER_00]: There are different things.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is what the Jewish leaders would say is like, slide of hands like in a street market.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you guys have ever traveled to Europe, I haven't, but I have heard you go in like these people will like do these little games and like, oh, yeah, pick the ball or whatever.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's slide of hand.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's magic.

[SPEAKER_00]: You go to a magic show, David Blaine or whatever.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a thing that you can actually justify physically with what they're doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there was also a very real demonic magic.

[SPEAKER_00]: where there were signs and miracles that would happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So one of the things that we saw is that in Exodus, we did the Exodus study a while back.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in Exodus originally, when one of the plagues would happen, Pharaoh would go to his magicians and be like, explain this, do something, and for a little bit, they were able to replicate a version of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: they were able to replicate a version of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what God did was one show that one what he can do is so much greater and then he could also control it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then it got to the point where they're like, we can't do any of the things that this God of the Hebrews can do.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can't do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: and so there is a version of dark demonic magic and so that's what I want to point out is that that's an actual thing it is a real thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Elijah with the profits of bail there was 450 profits around this mountain and Elijah's like yeah go ahead you guys let's see call to a bail and like this this um

[SPEAKER_00]: Sacrifice and you know go ahead and he's like even like kind of talking a little bit of trash like Always young vacation.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's a gun like why isn't your your God doing this and then he goes and he's like hey dump this thing with water three times Dig a trench fill it with water praise the God and boom like the sacrifice is burnt up even the altar was burnt up Again showing just that that there is no competition, but what I want you to understand is those

[SPEAKER_00]: Magicians, those things like they had very real encounters with some demonic power demonic force.

[SPEAKER_00]: Growing up in Tucson, there is a place not too far from where we grew up.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't see this personally, so take that into account, but my teacher, one of the missions that we did, we would go to a local part in Tucson, and there is like still, like the reservation there.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there were, it's the Pasquayaki Tahona Odom, and they still

[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the things we were told is, hey, when we go down there, like we have seen some pretty demonic things, like kids moving things, like levitating things and like so just know, like we need to be prayed up and we need to go and do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our trip back canceled, I didn't see it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there are real things that do happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so what I want you to understand is there is a demonic power.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I want you to understand that.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk about that more in a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there is a demonic thing that happens.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what it was is Simon was doing these miracles,

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, I said, if you take notes, no take that, put that somewhere because we're going to talk more about that in a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: But let's talk about Simon.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we talked about his ability.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's doing some some miracles.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's doing some demonic things.

[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, in the demonic magic I described.

[SPEAKER_00]: any of that does that seem even if it were different than what we see from the biblical miracles for one like you have healings you have the gifts tongues we have different things right so they're we're gonna see some some differences with that that we're gonna go over but let's talk about Simon as what we have on his character trait chart so it says Simon when it talked about it said he practiced sorcery it said he boasted he was someone great so we have Simon this guy

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, I am someone great, the people said that he was rightly called the power of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I would imagine Simon being boastful, also probably referred to himself as the power of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am the power of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a very dangerous statement to be making and what he's claiming.

[SPEAKER_00]: is very boastful.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he was very high up on himself, his abilities.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says that he was a leader.

[SPEAKER_00]: It said that people followed him because they were amazed.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says that people both high and low, all ends of the cultural spectrum, the elites of society and those, the people that reviewed less than everything in between, they looked at Simon as a person of men.

[SPEAKER_00]: We should

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at what he can do.

[SPEAKER_00]: He does these crazy things.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we must we should follow him.

[SPEAKER_00]: But one of the things that I want to want to talk about is, and this is just, I had a pastor who used to say, this is found in in first opinions.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just my opinion.

[SPEAKER_00]: But my opinion is previously in the verse we had in verse seven.

[SPEAKER_00]: It talked about how many

[SPEAKER_00]: I think my opinion is whatever demonic power was empowering Simon was removed and Simon was now powerless.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is what I think.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's just an opinion.

[SPEAKER_00]: You may have a different opinion.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's fine.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that's what I think.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that Simon was now here and one of his empowerment was now gone.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it says that he looked at Philip and that he was amazed.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk more about that in a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that's that's just again my my little thought on that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, but when the people believe Philip as he proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

[SPEAKER_00]: Simon himself believed and he followed Philip everywhere astonished by the great signs and miracles that he saw.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to talk about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, we talked about, they paid close attention to them in verse 6.

[SPEAKER_00]: that Simon has done miracles.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, when Philip gets there, it says that they saw what he was doing, but what did I say?

[SPEAKER_00]: He paid close attention to what Philip said.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because they've seen miracles before.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've seen things happen before.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the person they have experienced with this Simon and we just describe him as a character what type of person is he is very boastful he's all about himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to see in a little bit that he also cares for money and so that's who they've seen so they're like okay hold on we already have somebody that can do kind of crazy thing so let me hear this person let me pay attention what they say so so they pay attention and they listen now what we do see that's different is.

[SPEAKER_00]: When they look at Philip and Philip's ministry, Philip was not promoting Philip.

[SPEAKER_00]: Philip was promoting Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: So now you have someone who was doing miracles that Simon himself said he was astonished by.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's where I also think there's a very big difference on what Philip was doing in his miracles.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it says that he was healing people that were laying, we're walking, that he was coming in there and he was doing these works of the spirit to the point where Simon, who had been a miracle, quote unquote miracle worker himself, was astonished by what he was seeing Philip do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now he's like, oh my gosh, who's this guy?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well now here's this guy doing these things crazier and he's like guy that's not me like I am here because of Jesus and pointing all of this that people be like, give this guy credit.

[SPEAKER_00]: This guy is rightly called the power of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, no, he's pointing everything back to Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so now this is the big difference is he's over here.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's doing these crazy works, but he is pointing to another not no part of him is pointing to himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a quote, Stanley D. Tosunt, that he's French, it says, both perform miracles, Simon by demonic power and fill up by divine power.

[SPEAKER_00]: Simon boasted and welcomed the acclaimed to himself,

[SPEAKER_00]: but fill-up proclaim Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: Both were amazed at signs, or people were amazed at Simon's magic, but people were converted to Christ by Philips Ministry.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what I want to note is, is that in our life, if we are just looking for the miracle, will the enemy can replicate miracles?

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk more about this.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to dive more into that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if we're just like, God, give me a sign, show me a sign.

[SPEAKER_00]: If all in life is you're just looking for material signs, will the enemy can develop material signs?

[SPEAKER_00]: But we need to listen to the message too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because we do see there were two different types of miracles that were taking place, but also two very different messages.

[SPEAKER_00]: One pointing to Jesus and the other was pointing into some self-serving.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk more about that as we continue to unpack that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it also says that Simon himself believed and was baptized.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to notate that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember that.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk more about that later.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Simon was also astonished.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says like he was like, this is crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've never seen anything like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it says that Simon believed and also was baptized.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 14, we're going to keep pushing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 14.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, when the apostles and Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.

[SPEAKER_00]: When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them.

[SPEAKER_00]: They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then Peter and John placed their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what we're going to address is one Peter and John, they go to Samaria, which would have been one, they would have known that that should have been coming, but it says for the empowering of the spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk more about that in a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says that they placed hands on the people and they received it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, Jesus had told the apostles, you guys are going to go to Samaria.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this should be starting to click with all the apostles like, oh, it's no surprise we're going to Samaria.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus told us we're going to go to Samaria.

[SPEAKER_00]: So for one, I want to point something out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, Acts chapter 1, verse 4 through 8, this is Jesus, right before He ascends, this is Jesus conversation with the apostles, it says, on one occasion while he was eating with them, he gave him this command, do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for my gift, the Father promised, which you have heard me speak about, for John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:4–8

[SPEAKER_00]: They neither gathered around him and asked Lord, are you going to, at this time, restore the kingdom of Israel?

[SPEAKER_00]: He said to them, it is not for you to know the times of the dates the Father has set by His own authority.

[SPEAKER_00]: 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.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Jesus had already told them,

[SPEAKER_00]: You're also, you're going to Judea, you're going to Samaria, I know that sounds crazy to you, but then to the ends of the earth.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it talks about a couple of things here that I want to point out.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, John baptize with water, but a few days you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now this is before the ascension, so I want to talk about is there are different interactions with the Holy Spirit, and I want to us to understand that is the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Holy Spirit is a person.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Holy Spirit is not a possession.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holy Spirit's a being.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's a relationship.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so with relationships we have different aspects.

[SPEAKER_00]: So one of the things is it's considered the easiest way to break it down that I've heard it breaking down is that the Spirit is with us, the Spirit is in us, and the Spirit is upon us, which is the powering.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's talk about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So with us, when we accept Jesus into our heart,

[SPEAKER_00]: we have the Holy Spirit living in us.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we have access to the Holy Spirit in us in our life.

[SPEAKER_00]: With us is that conviction to come to know Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when you're out there and you're like, man, I just feel like a stirring or I don't know, like I feel like God's calling me to him, that is a conviction of the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is the Holy Spirit convicting your heart to turn to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then when you accept Jesus, that's when the Holy Spirit comes in.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this last one is upon us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, actually, let me talk about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, this is the verse, I think, yeah, this is the verse Luke read when we started our service.

[SPEAKER_00]: So in us, Acts 2, 38 through 39 says this, Peter replied, repent and be baptized.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sin, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: The promise is for you, your children and all who are far off,

[SPEAKER_00]: for all whom the Lord God will call.

[SPEAKER_00]: What I love about that is that promise was for them and for us today that the Holy Spirit is given to us when you accept Jesus, that you have access to the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now we're talking about the Spirit being upon us.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we talked about, they talked about baptized with water, but you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: These guys are saying that they had simply been baptized in the name Lord Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't mean like, oh, well, they just got baptized in the name of Lord Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, hey, these guys are still waiting for the empowerment of the Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we're going to talk about this, and I'm going to dive into that a little bit more.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't want to lose you, but the spirit coming upon us, what that is is the empowering of the spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: So John 20, verse 21 through 23, so this is right after the resurrection happened.

John 20:21–23

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the times where Jesus appeared to the disciples when they were locked in a room, and they were still scared.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this is soon after he had resurrected.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, verse 21, it says, again, Jesus said, peace be with you as a father has sent me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am sending you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And with that, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you forgive anyone sins or sins are forgiven, if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Jesus breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit, but then again, a couple, you know, 40 days later before he ascends, he says, wait there because I'm going to send an advocate for you, the helper.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what does that mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Does that mean that, well, they only got one interaction with the Holy Spirit and there's only one.

[SPEAKER_00]: It means they got the first interaction with the Holy Spirit, which was received him in their heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what he's saying there.

[SPEAKER_00]: He gave them the Holy Spirit, and then it's giving them, it's telling them, like, you're going to have the Holy Spirit, so you're going to have wisdom and discernment to know if you forgive anyone sins or sins or forgiveness.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're not forgiven, they're not forgiven.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that gave them, like, domain of, like, you can just control what you want to control.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was saying, like, you're going to have wisdom and discernment to discern and people.

[SPEAKER_00]: We see that with Ananias and Safira.

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember that a couple weeks ago, when he was like, he knew and he was like, hey, is this everything from your land and he's like,

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and he's like, he dropped it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like,

[SPEAKER_00]: You lied to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: He knew he had an empowerment from the spirit and he had some wisdom in there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we see there's different interactions with the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says and breathe on them to receive the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then 40 days later before ascension he says, We're going to send another one.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then they go to Pentecost where they receive the Holy Spirit starts picking in tongues.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there were different interactions with the spirit that we see biblically.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what we're going to talk about.

[SPEAKER_00]: Acts two chapter one says, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

[SPEAKER_00]: Suddenly a sound like a blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house while they are where they were sitting and they saw.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

[SPEAKER_00]: All of them were suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as a spirit enabled them.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we had Jesus who had breathed on them, or said, receive the Holy Spirit that already happened, and now this is something separate.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we see separate interaction with the Spirit, and why do I bring that up?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is I bring that up because have we ever in our life asked to have the Spirit come upon us?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know this is like, I don't understand that.

[SPEAKER_00]: What does that mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: You have the Holy Spirit as a Christian.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have Jesus in your heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have that but the talking about the giftings like if you have a gifting in something or if you've prayed about like I've had a gifting in whatever that something that you can pray about One of the things just kind of like theological things I want to talk about is it talks about laying hands on them

[SPEAKER_00]: Some people believe that the only way you can have a spirit is if someone lays hand on you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, laying hands, we see that, they laid hands, they prayed for them, they received the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I don't think that is the only way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there are some other people who may disagree and say there's only one interaction with the Holy Spirit Sam.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is something that's kind of a debated topic.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're getting in, I always tell Nick, you always give me the kind of hot topics of things.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is sometimes going to be a hot topic.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I believe that the spirit can come, yes, by the laying of hands, but according to Acts chapter 10, verse 44, Peter is talking to the Gentiles.

Acts 10:44

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to get into this in a couple weeks.

[SPEAKER_00]: Peter is talking to Gentiles, so people that were not Jewish, and he's preaching the gospel to them, and it says, while Peter was still speaking these words, the spirit came on all who heard the message.

[SPEAKER_00]: The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on even the Gentiles.

[SPEAKER_00]: For they heard them speaking in tongues in praising God, then Peter said, surely no one can stand in the way of them belonging or being baptized with water.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and then they ask Peter to stay with him for a few days.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why do I bring all of this up?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why do I spend time to go over this?

[SPEAKER_00]: One because God does not work in just your time frame and your mindset of like, hey, no, Sam listen.

[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, you get baptized then you get, that's what he said, they've only been baptized by the name of Jesus, then they had to go and get laid hands on them.

[SPEAKER_00]: These guys received a spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: No hands laid on them.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, while he was talking, they were empowered by the Holy Spirit and he says, well, it's going to keep them from being baptized now.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've received the save of Holy Spirit that we have.

[SPEAKER_00]: The thing is that God will do what God sees fit as God is just.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is what we need to understand.

[SPEAKER_00]: is that God is going to do what he sees fit according to what he knows.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think in my opinion, why was the Holy Spirit kept off of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit kept away from the Samaritans?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's think about this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about this.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's all, it has a point.

[SPEAKER_00]: I promise you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know you're like, this is so random, same.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do have ADD.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will preface it with this.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, it probably is a little random because that's my mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: But think about this.

[SPEAKER_00]: We had,

[SPEAKER_00]: It says the people were amazed and they followed Simon, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because he was doing miracles.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was doing these things and Philip comes and they're like, all right, we were listening Philip, because we see you doing these miracles and they're crazier than what Simon did, but we're a little worried like what's going on Philip?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Philip's doing these miracles and it says, oh my gosh, like he's pointing to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not even taking the fame for himself like, oh, to follow this dude, but this dude's

[SPEAKER_00]: Man, Jesus is the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, okay, well, now why didn't they get in power by the spirit right then and there?

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, well, let's think about this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Simon, still here, still in the room.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna talk about him again in a second of why I think we had this delayed is without the shepherd and without that guidance.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there was so much room for the wolf and sheep's clothing and let's get into that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, going into this next section.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so let's go verse 18.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, when Simon saw, so Simon still on the scene guys, when Simon saw that the spirit was given at the laying of hands of the apostles, he offered them money and said give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Peter answered, may your money perish with you because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right before God repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord and hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then Simon answered, pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: After they further proclaimed the Word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter, and John, returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samarits and villages.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we have Simon here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, this is why I think God waited to empower them with the Holy Spirit because as soon as Simon saw what was happening, it says that he had followed Philip around and watched Philip do these

[SPEAKER_00]: He's following Peter and he's watching Peter and he's like, hey, these guys are doing some crazy things.

[SPEAKER_00]: I see when they lay hands on people, they receive the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he goes to pay him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, let me get some of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me get some of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now what I want you to notate is Simon was highly revered, probably feared because of the type of stuff that he was doing and people both

[SPEAKER_00]: People were probably paying him to do stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the attention is not on slam anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says that he realized and repented, or it says that he realized and believed and was baptized is what he says.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now here he is coming to Peter and saying, let me buy that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And for one, Simon is treating the whole spirit like a possession.

[SPEAKER_00]: So one, I think why this empowerment waited is because God knew that it was going to be misused and wanted to make sure that someone was there to make sure that that was set up correctly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because

[SPEAKER_00]: If they would have had this empowerment and let's say Simon in this case was in power with the Holy Spirit and things were happening I think it would have led people astray but God I think held back that until they were there to instruct and to guide but also to prevent this wolf and sheep's clothing that is what I think now that might you might think that's harsh you may see like okay well was he a false believer was he said let's talk about that was Simon.

[SPEAKER_00]: do we think he would say false believer?

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe.

[SPEAKER_00]: What I do know is they named in medieval times, they named this act.

[SPEAKER_00]: They called it the act of Simony.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the big things is people would try to purchase positions in the church, like deacon, pope, things like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was things that people would try to buy their way into, and eventually they called it a term called Simony after our

[SPEAKER_00]: Our man here Simon the sorcerer because they're like that's evil.

[SPEAKER_00]: We cannot be doing that like no like it was a It was an act against the church to try to do that, but it was something that happened for a while, but what we do see is that Simon did have what seemed like a love of money and still of power.

[SPEAKER_00]: So was he a real believer?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's first

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I would say absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there was a poll recently.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't quote me on the year, but sometimes in the last five years and it was like, how many of Americans are Christian?

[SPEAKER_00]: It was astounding amount.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was like 80%.

[SPEAKER_00]: of American's or Christians.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, man, I look at our world today and I'm like, if we had 80% of the world living as Jesus lived, like it would not look like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so do I think that there are a large people, a portion of that that probably are incorrect, or maybe not, living how they should be, yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Matthew 7, but just don't take my word for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Matthew 7, verse 21, it says this.

Matthew 7:21

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven.

[SPEAKER_00]: but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.

[SPEAKER_00]: Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?

[SPEAKER_00]: Did we not drive out demons and perform many miracles?

[SPEAKER_00]: Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you away from me you evil doers.

[SPEAKER_00]: So can we fool ourselves into going through the motions?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, yes, we can.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that is again what God was trying to prevent is, again, this wolf and sheep's clothing, because I think Simon would have very quickly turned into this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Didn't I do all these things in your name?

[SPEAKER_00]: God, like, I followed, I believe, and I did these things on your name, but his heart wasn't there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Peter says, like, I can see that you are a poison by sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: He tells him to repent.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, yeah, I think that we can fool ourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, well, I believe in God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He believed, it says, He believed in God.

[SPEAKER_00]: James 2 verse 19 says this.

James 2:19

[SPEAKER_00]: You believe there is one God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even the demons believe that and shudder.

[SPEAKER_00]: Meaning, even the demons know that God is God and that Jesus came, but the demons are not going to be in heaven.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so there is something that happens that acceptance of Jesus, yes, it takes that intellectual knowledge of like, yes, like I accept Jesus as my heart and like, here's the thing is like the way is easy, but it's actually accepting the Lord like intellectually understanding and just like, yeah, you can intellectually understand and reject something is the point is how do you know that by your life, how you're living your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, first Corinthians 13, 1 through 7 says this.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gone, gone, or a clanging symbol.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all the mysteries and all the knowledge, and if I have faith it can move mountains, but do not love, I am nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not love, I gain nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs, love does not delight in evil but

[SPEAKER_00]: So what does that mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: We need to inspect our heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because yes, our actions should show a reflection of our heart, but can I fake my actions?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can someone just show up to church and just show up to church?

[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, showing up to church doesn't make you a follower of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, if you're a follower of Jesus, you should go to church a hundred percent.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, like that's what we're designed for But walking into a gym just because I walk into a gym.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't become any more fit Right, I have to give it the program.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have to lift.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's how you know like if I if I were you know standing before you now and be like I'm in the gym eight days a week figure that one out

[SPEAKER_00]: All the time, extra day, I'm making a next day, like, Sam, sorry, you don't look like you're the gym rat, the gym bro.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because it'll show, like, you'll see the fruit of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I'm like, I spend six hours a day powerlifting, you're like, dude, lies, not, that is not true.

[SPEAKER_00]: Powerlifting power rings, that's what that's cops call donuts.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that's that's true.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the thing is is that's the same thing like going into the gym like I remember being young and and younger And I remember I went with one of my buddies and it was like a kind of like a hangout thing We go hit a couple of sets and I walk around

[SPEAKER_00]: We're like, I spent three hours at the gym.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, like, on your status, like, yo, put it in the gym for three hours, like, although there was too much of crush it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I did, like, three workouts.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then I'm like, like, walking over here, and I'm like, oh, what's up?

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm gonna go over here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just mess around, do nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I can, I can go through the motions.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by all things, like, man, like, I spent three hours at the gym.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I did.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't do anything, though.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so the same is true in our heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can we just show up and go through the motions?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what does that mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, what I want you to understand is, you have confidence in your faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we need to check to understand like, am I putting my faith in Jesus?

[SPEAKER_00]: And are my actions in my heart are those coinciding?

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk more about that in a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we do have confidence.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're here like, oh my gosh, how do I know if I'm

[SPEAKER_00]: are you pursuing a Lord?

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, like it doesn't mean you're going to be perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're still going to make mistakes.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're still going to have mess up.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like we are human.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are flawed.

[SPEAKER_00]: But are you turning and repenting that?

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a quote.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, every person sends but only a full persistent.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that was I don't remember who said that but it was a really good quote and it's like we all mess up But are you gonna continue in that that's where that heart check is is not.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I messed up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well You're not a Christian you messed up.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, we all mess up But are you persisting in that because now that's starting to reveal some of your heart in there again?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not the judge to say like this person's Christian this person's not that's God's job not mine But we are called to look inwardly and examine ourselves So the other thing I want to say is okay on Simon

[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe he was never a Christian, maybe, but maybe he was a Christian, but also was naive.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a thing, too.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that also is a thing, too.

[SPEAKER_00]: First Peter, I'm sorry, first Timothy chapter three, one through seven.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is Paul describing the qualifications of being an overseer, which I want you to understand,

[SPEAKER_00]: had been an overseer a bad one, but he had been an overseer for the people of Samaria for that whole length of time.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this is now what Paul is saying the biblical foundation is for an overseer.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says he is here's a trustworthy saying whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the overseer is to be above, sorry, I cannot talk.

[SPEAKER_00]: Above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

[SPEAKER_00]: He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him and he must do so in a manner that is, uh,

[SPEAKER_00]: worthy of full respect.

[SPEAKER_00]: If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can you take care of God's church?

[SPEAKER_00]: He must not be a recent convert or he may be conceded and fall under the same judgment as a devil and he must also have a good reputation with outsiders so he will not fall into disgrace or into the devil's trap.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to take a snapshot of that and understand that what science was trying to do was trying to replicate what Peter was doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Peter was now viewed as, as like man, this guy is a person of authority and it's like, hey, you're doing these things.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to pay for that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want that too.

[SPEAKER_00]: So could this just be a result of him being young in his faith?

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe.

[SPEAKER_00]: We do see that he probably was a lover of money.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the things that it talks about is that he must not be a recent convert or he may be

[SPEAKER_00]: He is a recent conversion and here's I think the point of why that is important to notate is because someone who we already saw Simon struggle with being boastful, struggle with being proud now is in a position where others are looking to others and now he's like well

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to get back into that, whether he's like, but I just want to heal people and I want to do that that way, like that's good, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: His heart wasn't right and Peter says that.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says that he sees his heart and could tell where he was going.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the one thing I heard Ed Taylor say, he's a pastor in Calvary about, was he saved not saved?

[SPEAKER_00]: Was he just making mistake?

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, ultimately, I don't know if he was saved or not, but I do know he was headed in the wrong direction.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was headed in the wrong direction.

[SPEAKER_00]: stops him and calls him for repentance, which is honestly one of the most loving things Peter could have done in that moment is telling him with that literally means is to turn away like you were about to make this choice go the complete opposite direction.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love my pastor back home.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love his example of repentance.

[SPEAKER_00]: It always sticks with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: He tells me he's like, yeah, you know, we're doing some interior decorating and you know, I went to go and get some paint samples get some colors and you know, I got some colors for the bathroom that I thought would look nice and so I grabbed these colors I go to the house and my wife hates them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she's like, we are not doing these colors.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, so I repented, meaning I went back.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was originally going to paint the walls, these colors.

[SPEAKER_00]: I went back, got different colors and brought those back.

[SPEAKER_00]: I changed completely what I was going to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, it should also be important to notate that I'm colorblind.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I have no idea what color they actually were.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, I love that because it's literally, though, it's this picture of I was about to do this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I completely changed and did something different.

[SPEAKER_00]: what he is telling Simon is in your heart, where your heart is at, you need to repent of that because where your heart is at is not where it should be.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he's challenging his heart posture saying that it was poisoned and it says full of bitterness and captive to sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, turn away from it.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we're called to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to start winding some things down.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what I do want to point out is that the enemy will attempt to lure and counterfeit what God does.

[SPEAKER_00]: We saw that in Exodus when they were doing the plagues.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pharaoh's like, can you do this?

[SPEAKER_00]: And for a little bit, they could kind of do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then it got to the point like we can't do it and we also can't control it and we're suffering.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can't do anything that they're doing anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: The enemy will try to do the same thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: The wolf and sheep's clothing, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So how do we navigate that?

[SPEAKER_00]: We saw these miracles that Simon did, these demonic miracles that he was doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was the counterfeit.

[SPEAKER_00]: In our life, we're just looking for the miracle.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're just looking for the, ooh, the, ah, the man, that was something supernatural.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the enemy devils in all that supernatural stuff as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if we're just depending on something supernatural to happen and not challenging, where is it coming from, you can fall for anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: What we need to pay attention to is the contact and the message, because that's what the Samaritan did and why I credit them is because it says they saw, but it says they paid close attention to what Philip said, because they've already been deceived by Simon.

[SPEAKER_00]: So paying close attention.

[SPEAKER_00]: So how do we navigate that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this is a quote from Ben Patterson.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, the American Banking Association, once sponsored a two week training program to help tellers to tech counterfeit bills, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, the program was unique.

[SPEAKER_00]: Never during the two week training did the tellers even look at a counterfeit bill.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, nor did they listen to any lectures concerning the characteristics of a counterfeit bill.

[SPEAKER_00]: All they did for two weeks was handle authentic currency.

[SPEAKER_00]: hour after hour day by day until they were so familiar with the true that they could not possibly be fooled by a false.

[SPEAKER_00]: We need to study, meditate on and applies God's word until we are so familiar with it that we cannot be fooled by anything less than something that is real true.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is how we detect the counterfeit, how by knowing what's true.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have the benefit now of all these

[SPEAKER_00]: and seeing what they experience, seeing what they walk through, seeing the Holy Spirit move, seeing all these things and knowing, take it to God's Word.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even when someone would say, like, hey, you know, I've got a word of the Lord for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of my pastors always said, you can always say, I'm going to pray on that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because if it doesn't match up with what the Bible says, that's not from the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that is what we should always use.

[SPEAKER_00]: Take it to what God's Word says.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pray on it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, sometimes it's very easy to be like, yeah, that is not what God's saying.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll never forget I was in sixth grade.

[SPEAKER_00]: I won't mention this kid's name in case he ever listens, but he listens, you know who you are.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was in sixth grade and this kid told one of my other friends, God told me I'm gonna marry you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she's all,

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, God did not tell me that, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know where you're getting that from, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And, uh, means to say, fast forward all these years later, my other friend, the one that he told that to, she's married, has two kids of her own, and not to that guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: So...

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, we need to take that stuff and I know, yeah, okay, yeah, it's a sixth grader, but that is a thing people will legitimately do that and say this is a word from the Lord could it be maybe, but what you should always do is I will pray on that and I'm going to compare it to what God's word says.

[SPEAKER_00]: because that is where we find our truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God does not contradict himself, normal his words.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do think that people have the gift of prophecy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that and we're going to talk more about this next week.

[SPEAKER_00]: Next week, Buckle and we're going to talk a lot about the Holy Spirit, the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the gifts, some people, and maybe even here they believe that the gifts are dead that they're not around anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't believe that.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are like very prominent pastors that do believe that though if that's you We'll talk about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to discuss it, but I do think they're still alive and active But we're gonna talk more about that next week.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to dive too much into it because we'll say that for next week But that's the teaser like at the end of the next week, so it's like next week on next week We're getting into the Holy Spirit's and cool stuff, but anyways

[SPEAKER_00]: So what do we do?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's abide in Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: John 15 tells us to abide in Christ because He is the vine, abide in the vine.

[SPEAKER_00]: No Jesus, no His Word.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is how we will navigate that.

[SPEAKER_00]: No Jesus and His Word because the world and the enemy will always try to throw the counterfeit.

[SPEAKER_00]: It will always try to throw the counterfeit, whether it's through something supernatural, through something that's like, oh man, that was really sounded really good.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure that Simon was a great talker.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure that he had, I mean, he would have captivated all these people.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had to have been pretty charismatic.

[SPEAKER_00]: So those things alone, we need to abide in what the word says and what Jesus says.

[SPEAKER_00]: John 15 26 27 says when the advocate comes who I will send to you from the Father, the spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me and you must also testify for you have been with me from the beginning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Guys, when you accept Jesus, you have the spirit in you, but how many of us have ever asked to be empowered by the spirit?

[SPEAKER_00]: there are different interactions with the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's something like I said, yeah, if you want someone to lay hands on you, that you can, but we saw just from having that heart posture, the Gentiles received it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's something I would challenge you to is to have that conversation, but we're going to talk more about the Holy Spirit next week as he is our advocate, and we're going to get more into that as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to come into a time of worship and communion, but let's close and prayer.

[SPEAKER_00]: So dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: We thank you for your word.

[SPEAKER_00]: We thank you that it is so good, Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: We just thank you that we can gather together, Lord, just as believers and breed and Lord, if there's anyone here, Lord, that maybe doesn't know you or has been living that counterfeit life for what I just pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: that you just revealing them to soften their heart and to turn from that Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: So repent from that and to live for you what to pursue you just like Peter was telling Simon repent and Lord I just ask that we can take this time right now, Lord, that we're never guaranteed tomorrow, that we're not even guaranteed walking out of this building, Lord, that we if we need to make our heart right,

[SPEAKER_00]: that we will do so now we're coming before you and Lord, not just going through the motions, not just checking the boxes Lord, but have a genuine relationship and a love for you and for your people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we just thank you and we praise you, a Jesus name.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.