CONVERSION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Those who had been scattered preached the Word wherever they went.

Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.

Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. 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.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

Acts 8:4-13

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The stoning of Stephen was a launching point for an all out persecution campaign against Christian believers in Jerusalem. As a result, the Gospel wasn’t contained nor stopped. Rather, it dispersed out of Israel’s holy city and into the rest of Judea and into Samaria. As we see in our scripture passage from Acts 8, “those who had been scattered preached the Word wherever they went”.

One of the people under the “those” category was a disciple named Philip who the scriptures tell us “went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there”. This Philip was none other than one of the other seven men who had been elected by the people in Jerusalem to assist the apostles with social affairs.

But as we see in our passage today, there was far more to Philip than simply handing out food to widows or caring for other physical needs of the people so the apostles could be free to minister. For Philip was quite the evangelist himself, spreading the good news about Jesus while also healing the lame and driving out demons. He drew crowds who were fixated on the signs he performed and the things he said. In other words, they were a captive audience and the scriptures tell us the Samarian city was filled with great joy over all he was doing there.

Interestingly enough, Philip wasn’t the only one in town doing mysterious works. For we read about a man named Simon who was the polar opposite of Philip. Yes, both men were amazing the people but Simon was doing so through the dark art of sorcery. There was nothing God-connected about his actions but the people sure seemed to believe there was, perhaps because Simon was a man who bragged quite a bit about himself.

We know this because the scriptures tell us he did and the people believed it for themselves because all, “both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, ‘This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.’”

Unfortunately, they couldn’t have been further from the truth.

This is why the Lord brought Philip to the Samarian city. To show the people what a true man of God could do under His power. The plan was to convert the people and move them from the practitioner of sorcery, Simon, to the practitioner of God-driven works, Philip.

Of no surprise, God’s plan worked to perfection for not only did Philip gain the trust and belief of the people as he “proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” but the people chose to be baptized, “both men and women”.

Even Simon seemed to decide to cross over to the Jesus side as the scriptures tell us even he “believed and was baptized”. We read where he “followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw” him perform. But as we’ll soon see, Simon didn’t quite get what he was committing to. He didn’t understand that he was surrendering to gain salvation, not some other power from God. More on that tomorrow but for now, Christian conversion happened in that city in Samaria and in a big way, just as God intended it.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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