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God’s Way for Unstoppable Expansion
November 23, 2025 · 50 min
Can trials and persecution actually advance God's kingdom? Through the story of Philip's ministry in Samaria, Pastor Jeff reveals how God uses pressure and opposition to expand His reach.
Series Unstoppable November 23, 2025 · 50 min · Unstoppable
Can trials and persecution actually advance God's kingdom? Through the story of Philip's ministry in Samaria, Pastor Jeff reveals how God uses pressure and opposition to expand His reach. ...more Show the full description Show less Can trials and persecution actually advance God's kingdom? Through the story of Philip's ministry in Samaria, Pastor Jeff reveals how God uses pressure and opposition to expand His reach.
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139K followers
Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
139K followers
In this video 0:00 Trials, Persecution, and God's Sovereign Plan17:00 The Gospel's Unstoppable Expansion33:02 True Salvation and the Call to Humility
Trials, Persecution, and God's Sovereign Plan 0:02 Well, good morning, Brave Church. Would you help me welcome all of our campuses who are worshiping with us today? Great to be with you all. Let me wish you in advance a very, very happy Thanksgiving. Hope it's a0:14 great week for you as you get together with friends and family and others that the Lord would go before you and be a part of those, festivities. Would we continue our worship today? Would you help me by praying? And0:23 let's seek the Lord together as we get ready to hear his word. Our great father who's in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise. Lord, what a privilege it is together with your people, your saints, in your0:33 house. Lord, to give you the praise, the glory, and the honor that you and you alone deserve in our lives. God, we pray that you would be pleased with the way that we celebrate you this day, that, Lord, all0:44 our praise would go to you. And, Lord, we're so encouraged this morning that we get to hear you because, Lord, we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that it is you0:55 who's speaking. So our prayer this morning, Lord, is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak to you, who will believe what he tells1:06 you, and who will, by faith, put into practice what he shows you. Will you agree with me very loud this morning by saying the word, amen. Amen. Have you ever had an experience in your life as a1:18
1:30 us. We we can understand sometimes when we make bad choices that there's consequences to those choices, But we have a hard time understanding that when we're doing what the Lord asks us to do, when we're, faithfully
1:41 attending church, when we're worshiping him, when we're giving of our time, our gifts and our talents, when we're kind to 1 another, we're forgiving 1 another, we're doing the very things that God wants us to do, or
1:51 we're even sharing the gospel and life gets difficult, or things fall apart, or family gets challenging, or marriage becomes hard, or kids have a situation, or health is challenged, or something's going on. We wonder,
2:03 what's going on, God? I mean, I'm doing what you want me to do. I'm being obedient to what you've shown me and this is really really hard. And if you haven't had that experience as a believer, you will.
2:15 It's really a promise from his word that anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. That God uses trials in our life to grow who we are. They're they're part and parcel to what's going on.
2:27 Now when we make bad choices, sometimes we get upset, but bad choices, there's consequences to bad choices. Right? I mean, if you go speeding 105 down I 25 and you get pulled over, you're not saying, well, I'm going
2:39 through a trial right now. I got a speeding ticket. No. You're getting a consequence right now. Right? Or if you go do something silly like you drink too much and you there's consequences to that type of action. I'm
2:50 talking about trials. I'm talking about when you're doing what the Lord wants you to do. You're you're being obedient to what the Lord wants you to be. And now you're doing it correctly. And then you're asking yourself,
3:00 how can this be? Why do I have to deal with this right now? Why is this what's going on? How come my circumstances don't look a lot different than this? Because I'm I'm following you. I said I would honor you. I said I
3:11 would love you. So why is this so hard? And if you ever asked that question before, I believe the Lord has an answer for you today. I believe he wants you to hear from his word what happens when it looks like life's
3:23 unraveling, when God what he's really doing in your life is unfolding things for you. And to do that today, we're gonna be in Acts chapter 8. We're gonna be in Acts chapter 8, the first 24 verses. And as you're turning
3:33 there in your Bible, just remember where we left off, we left off with Stephen being martyr. We left off with Stephen who was 1 of the first 7 that was selected. Do you remember to help with the food distribution
3:43 problem? He was a man filled with the spirit. But moreover, he wasn't just a guy in the church that was serving food. He was a man filled with the spirit, and he had the opportunity to preach. And what he did, and we
3:53 went almost over 70 verses or so last week, he he gave a whole history of Israel, he gave a whole history of how they have been unfaithful, and then he's told them, and now the Messiah has come and you killed him.
4:05 But he's resurrected, and they couldn't handle it anymore, and they dragged him out of the city and stoned him. And you remember what he was saying? I see the Lord. Lord, do not hold this sin against him. Lord, into your
4:16 hands I commit my spirit. And with that, he died, and that's where our story left, and this is what's going on. This is where it picks up in chapter 8. Hear the word of the Lord. He says, Saul was in hearty agreement
4:28 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. Some devout men buried
4:39 Stephen and made loud lamentation over him, but Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women. He would put them in prison.
4:51 So as this is taking place, if you were in the first century as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, you would have been experiencing some pretty great blessing from the time of Pentecost onward. Because as you remember,
5:02 Jesus told them to wait in the city as he ascended into heaven until the Holy Spirit was dispensed. The Holy Spirit came. They began speaking in all other languages. Everybody heard them in their own tongue. And that
5:13 very day, 3000 people got saved and baptized. Then not long after that, as they're continuing to preach, a couple more thousand get saved and are part of the church. And then after that, multitudes of people are being
5:24 saved. It's all going super well except remember Ananias and Sapphira, they lied to the Lord, they died, they dealt with that, and then they kept moving. And everything's multiplying, and it's good until this.
5:36 Stephen becomes the first martyr in the church. Stephen stands up for his faith, tells him the truth about who Jesus is, that they're gonna stand judgment before him someday. They couldn't handle it and so they stoned
5:48 him. Now keep in mind this, he didn't just die. He he didn't die by lethal injection. He didn't die by hanging. He didn't die by firing squad. He died by stoning. It was a brutal, brutal death. They would
5:59 throw you over a cliff. They would try to throw rocks on you and then pelt you until you died. I mean, it was a gruesome way. Have you ever seen anybody get in a fight and blood is coming out? I mean, this would be as
6:10 gruesome as it gets in seeing somebody die. And notice what the text says. Here's what the text says. Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. Now check this out.
6:22 Here's what it means. The guy that's gonna become the Apostle Paul was a young man. Everybody was laying their cloaks at his feet so that they could wind up and throw. He's watching this man
6:34 be brutally killed, not just die, but suffer and die, being brutally killed with pieces of his face coming off and all this stuff. And what was his thought? This is great. That's
6:45 what should happen to people that believe like this. That's what should happen to people that love like this. That's what should happen to people that look like this. And it gets even worse because it says, and on that
6:56 day, a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. So take note of this. We're gonna come back to it. But everybody
7:07 was scattered. Persecution came, so everybody scattered. And where did they scatter? Well, they scattered to, Judea, which is the surrounding area of Jerusalem, and to Samaria. Now pause for a second and remember. In
7:18 Acts chapter 1 verse 8, what did Jesus tell them? He said, you'll be my witnesses in all Jerusalem, and where? And Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Where is the gospel
7:29 now gonna go? The gospel is now gonna go to Judea, the surrounding area of Jerusalem, and to Samaria. Why? It's not because they wanna go there.
7:43 Place that they don't want to go. And this is point number 1 that I want to tell you. And when it comes to God's unstoppable expansion, what does God use? God uses pressure to strengthen and advance his
7:55 purposes. God uses pressure to strengthen and advance his purposes. You say, what's pressure? Trials, challenges, difficulties, things that come into your life that you would never
8:07 choose for yourself. That's what God uses. And God is not just doing those to you. God is doing those for you. All of us would say, I wanna be strengthened. I wanna advance his gospel. That's
8:19 what I want. Then God chooses trials. God chooses pressure. God chooses circumstances that you would never ever choose, so that he can get done what he wants to get done. And that's what's going on here.
8:31 Jerusalem, but everybody, except the apostles, gets scattered out to Judea and Samaria. And it says this, some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. Can I just say
8:43 this? We as a culture are horrible at grieving. We don't grieve very well. As a culture, we're 1 of the few cultures in the world that dress up the dead. We embalm them. We wait weeks.
8:55 Sometimes they look better in the casket than they did when they were even alive. Right? We we do that because we wanna we wanna show honor. In most cultures, when you die, you go on the ground that very day. And then,
9:05 we think falsely that when we go to a funeral or a memorial service that we can cry or tear up for about 30 minutes and then all our grief is done. And anybody that knows anything about grief knows it doesn't work
9:17 that way. Right? I tell people all the time, when you're going to a funeral, cry, wail, like, lament, and then continue to do it. And then you'll find that you're gonna hear a song, or you're gonna have a smell, or
9:28 you're gonna have a circumstance 3 months from now, and 6 months from now, and a year from now, it's gonna trigger everything, and you're gonna cry again. What were these godly men doing? They were making loud
9:37 lamentation over Stephen's death. What was what did it mean? He meant the world to him. And they weren't afraid to cry. They weren't saying, well, real men don't cry. They were balling their eyes out because their
9:49 brother in Christ and their good friend, even though he was in the presence of the Lord, they're grieving him. And yes, to be apart from the body is to be with Christ. If you know somebody who's born again that dies,
9:58 yes, they're in the presence of the Lord, and yes, they're fine, and praise God and all that. But if you love him, you're still gonna miss him. If you love him, you're still gonna grieve. And that's what was going on
10:08 here. So God is using this pressure. He's using the martyrdom of Stephen to reveal the heart of Saul and what he's really thinking. He's also using it to scatter everybody except the apostles who are staying there. And
10:19 notice what this does to Saul. Verse 3. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house and dragging off men and women. He would put them in prison. You know what he was saying? What happened to Steven
10:29 needs to happen to anybody that names the name of Christ. I'll drag them out of their house. I will get them out of their house. We are going to cleanse the world of Christendom. We're gonna cleanse the world of those
10:39 who proclaim Jesus. We're gonna cleanse them. We'll go into their house and drag them out. So to be a Christian costs you. There's coming today, friends. To be a Christian is gonna cost you more than it does right now.
10:50 It won't be something you can just sit in a church on Sunday and say, yeah, I'm going to church. I'm a Christian. It's gonna cost you if you're gonna align yourself with the King. And this is what was going on. You see
10:59 this scattering. Those who love the Lord, the apostles stayed in Jerusalem. Everybody else scattered to Judea and Samaria. And then what do you see? You see Saul's heart. And if this is all we knew about him, here's what
11:10 we would say. What a villainous murderer. What a horrible man. Here's somebody that's beyond the reach of God. Here's somebody God couldn't do anything with whatsoever. We're We're gonna find out in about a
11:22 chapter God can do whatever he wants with whoever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants. Amen? Amen. That's what we're gonna see. But don't be afraid of trials because trials is what God uses to get his will
11:33 done. Notice what it says in verse 4. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Well, who had been scattered? We already said. Everybody was scattered except who? The apostles. So the
11:43 apostles weren't scattered, but who was scattered? Everybody who wasn't an apostle was scattered. So their faithfulness required them hearing the Lord and staying in Jerusalem, the 12, but the rest of them where?
11:55 They scattered. And what were they doing when they scattered? They went about preaching the word. That means this. They went about proclaiming Christ. That means you don't have to be a pastor, a leader, an
12:07 apostle to share the gospel with people. What was everybody doing that was a part of the church? They were telling everybody else about Jesus. They weren't shutting their mouths. They were saying, this is how I live.
12:16 This is why I live. This is why I make the decisions I make as a single. This is why I make the decisions I make as a family. This is why I make the decisions I make as a dad. This is why I make the decisions I make as a
12:25 mom. This is why I make the decisions I make with my finances. This is why I make the decisions I make with my health. Why? Because I follow Jesus Christ, and he's the Lord of the universe. That's what they were doing
12:35 everywhere they went. You don't have to have a degree or some sort of ordination papers or have some role in a church to do this. If you're born again of the spirit of God and the spirit of God dwells in you, it'd be
12:46 hard not to talk about who Jesus is in your daily life. He's going to come out because he's the center and the centerpiece of everything you are. So they're going about preaching the word. Well, where are they preaching?
12:57 Well, they're preaching in Judea and Samaria. You know what this tells me? What Jesus says is always true. He said, you're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria. Well, they weren't going to
13:08 Judea and Samaria. So God sent Stephen to preach persecution breaks out. Guess where they're going? To Judea and Samaria, just the same way Jesus said they were gonna. It's all part of his sovereign plan. Here's what I
13:20 want you to think about. When you're walking with the Lord and you're doing what God wants and trials come your way, and you'd say, I would have never picked this. I mean, this caused me to move jobs. This caused me to
13:28 change schools. This caused me to hunker down and do things that it's all part of his plan. He he he's getting his work done, and you may not see what he's doing, and oftentimes you won't, but I can assure you from the
13:40 word of God that if you remain faithful to Jesus, he's gonna get his work done through you. He always uses trials in your life to do that. I mean, ladies, when you get married, you get engaged, what do you want?
13:52 Most of you don't want an emerald or a pearl. You want a diamond. In order for a diamond to form, there has to be massive, incredible amounts of pressure and heat for it to
14:04 become as beautiful as it is. In the same way, that's how God uses us to do the same thing. I mean, think about some of these verses in the Bible that we hear, but it's not when we're it's only when we're going through a
14:15 trial that we understand them. And I'll just tell you this. If you're a born again believer in Christ, here's where you are right now. You're either in the middle of a trial, you're in something that you're being
14:25 obedient to Christ and you're going through a really, really hard time, or you're coming out of a trial and you're thanking God that he brought you through it. Or guess what? For those of you who are sitting here like,
14:34 thank God that's not me, you're getting ready to go into 1. Right? So you're you're either getting ready to come into 1, you're either going through 1, or you're coming out of 1. And there's space in between sometimes. I
14:45 mean, sometimes like, oh, it's okay. I'm feeling pretty good right now. But there's always those things that emerge. Right? I mean, there's never a time like for 5 years, like, man, it's just been like 5 years of bliss.
14:55 Everything's gone my way and everything. I mean, I have way more money than I could have, way more friends than I could have, my health is perfect, my marriage is perfect, my kids are perfect. And you know, I like I joke
15:04 all the time, that's fine for, like, the 5 seconds that that happens in your life, and then things happen again. And God uses those things. And here's what the Bible says. In James chapter 1 verse 2, the half brother of
15:15 Jesus says it this way. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. In other words, when you go through challenges, difficulties, all those things that you wouldn't have chose for yourself
15:26 because you're following Jesus, here's what he tells you. Pause,
15:44 so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So why are you rejoicing? Because God uses trials to perfect you. And when you're going through a trial and you're saying this, I would have never chose this,
15:54 I hate this, you don't have to feel good about it, but you rejoice in the trial knowing God you love me enough to grow me and perfect me because someday you're gonna present me faultless before the father. So I thank you
16:05 that I'm going through this even though I absolutely hate going through going through it that you're doing this for my own good. And I praise you and I'm not gonna
16:17 stop praising you. And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I know that you are with me. Amen? Or how about in Romans 8 28? It's a verse sometimes we quote too much and it's a verse sometimes we
16:28 don't quote enough. I mean think about this, sometimes we use it as a as a patch when somebody's going through a really hard time. But if you really meditate on this when you're going through a trial, you'll see the
16:40 beauty of it. He says, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Here's what you can be assured of. If you're
16:52 walking with the Lord, everything that's going on your life, God is working together for good. Good for you and good for him. He's working it all together. For who? For a group of people that have 2 things. 1,
The Gospel's Unstoppable Expansion
17:04 they love God, and they're called according to his purpose. In other words, I love God, and I'm being obedient to God. I love God, I wanna walk God's way. When I love God and I wanna walk God's way and trials hit, but
17:14 I'm still loving God and walking his way, he's working all that out for my good. It's not a general statement for the non believer. Hey, do whatever you want and it's gonna be good. That's not what he's saying. He's
17:23 saying for those who love God, who are obedient to God, and those who are walking according to his purpose, it's all gonna work out. He's doing it for his good. Or how about the Apostle Paul who owned this? This this
17:32 man, this Saul of Tarsus, this this guy that was part of this synagogue, who was so deeply rooted in his religion that he had hatred towards Christians. He's gonna get saved. He's
17:44 gonna write 2 thirds of the New Testament. And when he was writing to the Philippians, while he was under arrest, here's what he wrote to them. He goes, now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned
17:55 out for the greater progress of the gospel so that my imprisonment and the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the
18:04 Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Here's what Paul was saying. Even though I'm arrested, it sounds like it's really bad and it's not fun. And I'll tell you it's
18:13 not fun, but I wanna tell you something. It's actually been working out for the good. Because here's the truth. It's become known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else that my chains are for Christ.
18:22 It's also caused all the born again brothers here in this prison with me, when they see me standing for the word of God, they're now standing with courage for the word of God. Because courage begets courage. So don't
18:32 worry about me. I'm just in a different location doing exactly what I do if I was at your church this weekend. I'm preaching the gospel. Right? That's how he understood that. And no matter where you go, can I just tell
18:43 you this? No matter where you are, the gospel still has power. For some of you, you're about 4 days away from seeing some people you don't wanna see.
18:55 The gospel has power in those situations. Right? I mean, you pray about that. You trust the Lord. Right? Because here's what's happened. When when pressure gets mounted, it always opens up new opportunities.
19:07 When when pressure gets hard, it always opens up new opportunities. Sometimes that new opportunity is remaining where you are. Sometimes that opportunity is going to new places. For those of you that follow football,
19:17 you'll know what a a blitz is. It's a blitz is when they they send more rushers than there are people that can block for them. But when you send more rushers, it always opens up a cavity for where somebody is not. And if
19:27 you can recognize the blitz is coming, it opens up new areas to go. Oftentimes, the biggest plays that happen in football are because a blitz came, and they were pressured, and they were overwhelmed, but it opened up a
19:38 new possibility in your life. When things get difficult and pressure mounts. It can be that God's opening up new opportunities and new ways and places you would have never ever looked before or walked or gone if the
19:49 pressure hadn't amounted. And that's why for those of us who are born again, who have gone through trials for seasons and periods of times, we look back on our life and we recognize where we stand today. It's not the
20:01 good times that have gotten us there. It's the difficulties and pressures and the trials that we've stood firm with the Lord that have built the character that we are now. Amen? And while we all wanna be strengthened and
20:12 we all wanna advance God's kingdom, none of us are praying, God, send more trials. I I just want more I mean, I wanna be so overwhelmed this week, I can't even think. We don't pray that way, nor should you. But when a
20:24 trial comes, consider it joy, because God is doing something special for you, even though it's not fun. And a trial means this, I would have never ever in 1000000 years chosen this for myself.
20:37 How come nobody else has to go through this? That's a trial, and it's for you. And it's for your good, and it's for the good around you. What does God use? God uses pressure to strengthen and advance his purposes,
20:49 but notice what God also does. God also who does he choose? Who does God choose? Like, what's he gonna do as he takes his gospel to Judea and Samaria? Who does he choose? God chooses people and
21:00 places you often avoid. God chooses people and places you often avoid. Notice this in verse 5. They've been scattered there preaching the word. Philip went down to the city
21:12 of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. Okay. Map, Samaria would be
21:24 the place. Nobody wanted to go. Jews hated Samaritans. I mean, you remember, wasn't it James and John that were sitting with Jesus and they asked if they should call down fire on them? I mean, they didn't like this this
21:36 group of people. They couldn't stand the Samaritans. They didn't want anything to do with the Samaritans. There's no way they would have ever gone to Samaria. As a matter of fact, when is when when people from Israel
21:46 traveled to the north, they avoided Samaria. They went all the way around it. It would be like for us living here in Colorado, for some reason we hated people in Wyoming, which I don't know why we would, but if we did
21:56 And in order to get to Montana, we go all the way around. We'd go through Idaho or we go through South Dakota and Nebraska. We we go around it because we want to avoid them. That's how the Jews treated Samaria. That's
22:07 why when Jesus is with the Samaritan woman, it's such a big deal. That's why Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan. Why? Because they hated Samaritans. They were prejudiced
22:19 against Samaritans. Jesus said, here's where my gospel is going. It's gonna start in Jerusalem. It's gonna go to Judea and surrounding areas. Then I'm taking it right where you don't want it to go. Cause I'm gonna do
22:28 some work in people that you would avoid. And I'm gonna do some work in people you would never wanna be around. And I'm gonna do some things in people you think are unsavable. That's what God does. Amen? And what he's
22:39 trying to reveal is our own prejudices. We think, yeah, the Samaritan, the Good Samaritan. And think about your own prejudice, who are the
22:51 groups of people that you avoid, that you won't go near. Know that Jesus is Lord, and I can't stand that group, and they're gonna find What's that group for you?
23:03 Is it
23:03 the
23:03 LGTBQIA Alphabet Mafia group? Is it Democrats? Is it Republicans? Is it politicians?
23:16 Right? I mean, what is it? Is it people by their color or skin? Like, where's your prejudice? Are they white people? Are are they black people? Are they Asian people? Are they Hispanic people? Like, where's your
23:25 prejudice? Is it socioeconomic where people that live over there in that area versus people that live over here? Is it rich people? Is it poor people? Is it bald people? I mean, what's your
23:36 prejudice? Because if you don't let the Lord uproot them, you can't be the fullness of what God wants you to be. And for many of us, we avoid people that God wants us to share with because we care more about our
23:48 reputation than we do about the lost. We do. We're afraid that if we associate with that group of people, people will think, well, I'm kinda like them, even though we're not. And by associating with them, I don't mean
24:00 you adopt their behaviors, or you affirm what's wrong, or you act unrighteously, or wickedness, you shouldn't. Your main friend should be believers, and all that. But sometimes we as Christians, the longer that we're
24:10 Christians, we don't even go anywhere near people like that. That's not what Jesus did. What was Jesus called? He was called a friend of sinners, because who else could he be a friend with? That's who he hung out with
24:20 all the time. If he didn't wanna associate with people that weren't like him, he would have never left heaven and come to earth, because the only people he could hang out with were sinners. And people pejoratively dubbed
24:29 him a friend of tax collectors and sinners. I mean, in the great story in Luke chapter 15 of the prodigal sons and the lost coin and the lost sheep, how does that story start out? That Jesus was hanging out with what?
24:40 Pharisees, tax collectors, and who? Sinners. That's who he hung out with. We as Christians sometimes the longer that we're Christians, we're like, well, I'm too good for that. And if they saw their pastor hanging out
24:51 with people like that, they would think their pastor's like, no, no, no. You're not like that. You associate and hang out with believers, but it doesn't keep you from loving people that are unlike Christ. We're called to
25:01 take the gospel everywhere. And if we don't take the gospel everywhere, then how's the gospel gonna get out? Share? How is it gonna be expanded? So he goes down to Samaria proclaiming Christ to them. And the crowds with
25:13 1 accord were giving attention to what he's what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he performed. For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud
25:24 voice, and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. So what's Philip sharing? He's sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's telling people the same gospel that they've told him to shut up, that there's a God in
25:35 heaven. He loves you so much. God the God the Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world. Jesus Christ became incarnate flesh. He's the God man. He came. He fulfilled the law. He died on the cross for your sins.
25:45 Your biggest problem is your sins. Jesus died in your place for your sins. He rose from the dead. And by repentance and faith, you can have life in his name. And they were hearing him say that, but they're also seeing
25:54 God perform some miraculous things too. People were being healed. People were being cleansed of the demonic. They were being set free spiritually. They were being set free physically. I want you to keep in mind some
26:06 who was he using to do that? God was doing all the work, but he was using Philip. Was Philip an apostle? No. You'll hear sometimes people say, only the apostles perform signs and wonders. No. Stephen wasn't an apostle.
26:18 He did. Philip wasn't an apostle. He did. It tells me this. God can use whoever he wants in anywhere and anytime to do whatever he wants with whomever he wants. Right? And this is what was going on. So
26:30 now, Samaria is seeing the fullness of everything Jesus did in Israel. They're seeing in their hometowns in Samaria. That's what's going on. God takes the gospel where we don't think it needs to where it
26:42 doesn't need to go. And notice what it says, so there was much rejoicing in that city. Group of people where the gospel doesn't work. The
26:54 gospel is true no matter where you go, no matter who you're talking to, no matter whether people are steeped in Islam, whether people are steeped in Hinduism, whether people are steeped in spirituality, whatever they
27:04 call themselves. The gospel works. The gospel knows no bounds. It continues to expand. Now notice this. Now there was a man named Simon who formally practiced magic in the city and astonishing the
27:16 people of Samaria claiming to be someone great. And they all from smallest to the greatest were giving attention to him saying, this man is what is called the great power of God. And they were giving him attention
27:27 because he had for a long time astonished him with his magic arts. But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ,
27:39 they were being baptized, men and women alike. So he's given us a little history man named Simon. Some of your Bibles will call him Simon the magician. Some of them will call him Simon the the
27:51 source. So, Simon was channeling demons. That's what Simon was doing. Has this quote unquote supernatural power to talk to the dead, they're just channeling demons. You can
28:03 see people on TV talk like this. They'll say something like, oh, yeah, I want to talk to you. You know, I see this Atlanta Braves baseball cap, and the guy will be like, that's my dad. He was an Atlanta Braves fan.
28:13 Here's what he wants to tell you. That's demon channeling. That's all that is. And people were seeing Simon do this kind of stuff and saying, he's the great power of God. He's a great man. Look at all the power that he
28:24 is. Be very very very very very very very very very very leery of people that have power that are not aligned with the word of God. Just just be leery of all that. There's
28:36 there's no secret knowledge. God reveals everything that he wants you to know. When someone claims, I know something that for 2000 years in church history and the Bible's never revealed, they're a charlatan and they're
28:46 false. 100 percent of the time. You preach the word. You share the word. The word of God is eternal. There for you to hang on to. Amen. That's a heresy.
28:59 And this is what was going on. So like with Simon, he was telling them he had special powers. He was telling them he had a special relationship with the divine. He was telling them what they needed to do. But when people
29:09 started hearing the gospel and were getting saved and being baptized, things begin to change for them. So notice what happens in verse 14, or verse 13 rather. It says, even Simon himself
29:21 believed, now I'm gonna put believes in quotation marks because I'm gonna show you this in a bit. He believed and after being baptized, so he believed, he made a profession of faith, he was baptized in water. He
29:32 continued on with Philip. And notice what it says. Just notice what's intriguing to this man, Simon. It's not the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not what's intriguing to him. It's not that his sin has been forgiven. It's not
29:44 that he submitted to the lordship of Christ. Notice what he's seeing. And as he observed the signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. What was he amazed by? He wasn't amazed by
29:56 the glory of God. He wasn't amazed that Jesus Christ saved him from his sin. He wasn't amazed of the glories that are to come. He was seeing Philip do some things and he was amazed at what Philip could do. That's
30:07 what was intriguing to him. It says, now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy
30:19 Spirit. For he had not yet fallen on any of them, they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. We need to pause here
30:30 and talk about this. Because there's a lot of people that will teach this text and they'll say things like this. That's why there's a second baptism. There's a baptism of the Holy Spirit because you see, people believed
30:39 in Jesus, but they didn't have the Holy Spirit. That's why you have to pray for the Holy Spirit or you need a pastor to lay hands on you to get the Holy Spirit because that's what was going on here. Now, what we're
30:47 seeing here is something totally different. What we're seeing here is the unfolding of the history of the church. We're seeing the unfolding of the gospel. We're seeing Jesus' prophetic words be completely realized.
30:59 He said, you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and where? Samaria and to the ends of the earth. So what's happening now? The gospel's going out to Judea, and now it's in Samaria. So what are they gonna do?
31:11 They're gonna call in Peter and John. Do you know why? Because if they went back and said, all Samaritans, they're hearing the gospel and many people are responding. These people in Jerusalem will be like, Sabaritans
31:23 aren't going to respond to Jesus. They're Gentiles. They're not going to believe that word. It's not even for them. And so what you're seeing here as the church is unfolding, you're seeing how God is now bringing Jews
31:35 and Gentiles together in 1 family called the church. That's what he's doing. Now keep in mind, we'll talk about this later. God still has a plan for ethnic Israel. He does. The Bible makes clear he'll never take away his
31:46 promises and all that. But what we have in present time history in the church is that in order for people to be saved, they must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. They must repent and believe the gospel to be
31:57 saved. And when they do, whether they're Jew or Gentile, they come into the household of God to worship the 1 true God, the Lord Jesus Christ. So what you see here is you see the Lord pausing long enough
32:09 for them to see that he's bringing Gentiles into the fold, that the gospel is for the world. It also intentionally is showing the expansion that Jesus's words were entirely true. And third,
32:21 it's giving apostolic validation and verification for what was going on. I mean, when Peter and John come and they're gonna see these people are truly believers. These people are definitely believers. And they lay hands
32:33 on them and they receive the Holy Spirit. It wasn't because they needed to come for them to receive the Holy Spirit. It was a way of God saying, see, I told you we're gonna be my witnesses here. Now you're my witnesses
32:43 here. These people are definitely born again, and they're receiving the full measure of the spirit. And I wanted you as my disciples to see it with your own 2 eyes. That's what was going on here. You say, how do you know
32:53 that? Because the Bible makes clear that for us as believers today that the moment that we believe, first Corinthians 12 13 says, for we were all baptized by 1 spirit into the body of Christ. TheShow more
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