Acts Chapter 8 – Week 2 – Day 1

I hope you love the story so far. There is a lot going on, but things are beginning to intensify in this chapter. It begins with the reaction to Stephen’s death and a great persecution in the area. There is this man named Saul that is leading the persecutions. He is a religious leader. He approved of the killing of Stephen, and he continues to hunt down the followers of Christ to imprison them… so much so that they scatter to avoid the persecution.

We also see some work being done by the Apostle Philip. It says that he did some great miracles and that many people were healed. It says that demons were cast out of people, and that they would shriek as they came out.

This goes to show how when someone becomes a follower of Jesus, that God does not expect that we live perfectly, but he does expect that we deal with sin. A man called Simon (the sorcerer) becomes a follower of Jesus, and is baptized, but when he sees the apostles lay their hands on people to impart the Holy Spirit, he wants to buy it so that he can do the same. Peter sees the error of Simon’s heart, and tells him to ask God for forgiveness, and repent of the thinking that God’s power can be bought with money. They pray and Simon has learned, and will adjust. It’s sort of how people get saved and begin to follow Jesus, but they have a lot of old mindsets to deal with. The Holy Spirit will expose those things, and help each of us to deal with them so that we can move more into line with God’s heart. It can take years to purge the junk. That is why the Christian walk is one that lasts a lifetime.

Here is another really cool passage. Philip is prompted by the Holy Spirit to go and speak with this man from Ethiopia. The man is reading from the book of Isaiah… and it is a prophecy about Jesus. Philip shows the man that this is talking about his Saviour. The man becomes a follower of Jesus, and they stop right there on the side of the road to baptize him. After that, the Holy Spirit snatches Philip away and takes him to another place.

What really troubles me is this guy Saul. Why would God allow him to be so terrible to followers of Christ? Sometimes I guess, we don’t see all of what God does in the moment that we live. I hope something is done to stop Saul.