At the end of October, David Livingstone spoke to us about the Ministry of the Jesus Film in Africa. In his presentation at the 11:15 worship hour, he said something that I don't think he mentioned at the other hours.

He told the story of a showing of the Film somewhere in Kenya. If you've seen the film, you will remember the scene where Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, asks Jesus to restore his sight, and Jesus does that. Dave told us that a blind woman was present at the showing. When she heard the exchange between Bartimaeus and Jesus, and when Bartimaeus received his sight, she began to cry out, "Jesus, I want to see. Jesus, I want to see." It was an understandable and pitiful spectacle.

Then, David Livingstone, this CCC staff person, said the last thing I expected him to say. He told us that the Kenyan blind woman received her sight. A first-century style miracle seems to have happened in century 21 during the showing of the Jesus film in an open field somewhere in Kenya.

John and Margy Haines recently retired from missionary service. They spent 33 years in Morocco and France, introducing Muslims to Jesus, the Savior of the world. In the mid-80s Carole and I shared a few days with them in Valence, France. John told us the story of a Muslim woman, who had professed to believe in Jesus.

She was not consistent in her new faith in Jesus. She had not agreed to be baptized. John and Margy came to her house for some social occasion. A number of people were there. At some point the woman left her guests to get something from her bedroom. She didn't come back for an uncomfortably long time. When she did come back, she went straight to John and said, "I am ready to be baptized. I am ready to follow Jesus with all my heart."

John and Margy were delighted but mystified. Then, the woman explained. She said, "I went to my bedroom to get something, and while I was there, Jesus appeared to me. His presence took away my doubts about Him and my fear for following Him."

John called what had happened to the woman a power encounter. I would call what happened to the woman in Kenya a power encounter. I expect to hear stories like that from Benny Hinn or Oral Roberts. I didn't expect to hear them from stone-cold-sober, evangelical missionaries like Dave Linvingstone and John Haines. These pesky missionaries have tampered with my stree-level experience of God.

Unintended Consequences
Acts eight inspired me to talk to you about power encounters. Let me show you why. The unbearable tension between the Jerusalem Sanhedrin and the apostles of the Church finally gave way to violence. The Sanhedrin had directly ordered them not to speak any more in the name of Jesus. The apostles saw that as an order to disobey God. Since they had to disobey somebody, they ignored the Sanhedrin's direct order.

Amid this sullen tension, Stephen made his voice heard, questioning how seriously Jews actually obeyed God's law and even whether the Jewish temple meant what official Judaism said it meant. Accusers misrepresented him, but even rightly undstood, he was presenting radical ideas. He was the trigger that released the pent-up answer of the Sanhedrin against the Church.

Stephen was stoned to death at the behest of a young and zealous Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus. You might think things would calm down for a while to see if the apostles got the message. They did not calm down. Young Saul meant to keep the pressure on.

Verses 1-3 tell the story of his radical zeal. And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that (very) day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison. It was a dark day for the young Church.

Have you noticed how often coercion, especially violence, does the opposite of what it set out to do? Saul began to destroy the church, but verse four says, Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Saul thought he was going to destroy the Church. In reality he made it grow.

And did you notice where those who had been scattered preached the word? Verse two says they were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, and that's where they preached the word. Judea and Samaria, that has a certain ring to it. Where have we heard that before?

Do you remember Jesus' promise in Acts 1:8? "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..." Well, we never thought it would happen like it did. We figured the apostles would do a strategic plan and move into Judea and Samaria in an orderly fashion. Do you mean to tell us that the fulfillment of Jesus' promise happened as a result of Saul's violence against the Church?

It seems that is exactly what Luke is trying to tell us. Messy way of doing things for sure, and dangerous, but none the less strategic. But it was God's strategy, not man's. That fact didn't make life any more pleasant or any less dangerous for the people Saul put in prison and hounded from pillar to post. Whatever they felt and whatever they knew, their suffering was God's instrument.

The Gospel Goes to Samaria
The next 21 verses focus on events in Samaria and on Philip. we meet two Philips in Acts. One was an apostle, and the other was one of the seven, elected along with Stephen and five others to take care of widows in Acts 6. The Philip we read about here was the one from chapter six. We know that, because verse two tells us the apostles did not leave Jerusalem. They held their ground, a notable act of courage.

Verses 5-8: Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city.

That description is stunning on two counts. The miracles that took place are stunning by their number and kind. We don't wonder a bit that they all paid close attention to what he said. He earned the right to be heard.

Luke's description is also stunning, because he actually said so little about the miracles. We would prefer a two-hour documentary. Luke dashes off three sentences. He has a purpose other than satisfying the curiosity of his readers. Before we look more closely at his main purpose, I need to comment on these miraculous signs.

I need to comment on them, because I am after the truth, and as your pastor, responsible before God for the care of your immortal selves, I want to encourage in you also a hunger for the truth. Five comments will do for now.

First, God still does theese miraculous signs in the world today. I don't know how many or how often, but I do know we don't control when and to whom they happen. Second, there are false claims to miraculous signs in the world today. I don't know how many or how often, but I do know there is fraud among some faith healers. Third, I have knowingly been part of two miraculous healings. The first one caught me by surprise; the second I had hoped would happen, and it did. Fourth, I seem to have no God-given power for healing. Fifth, all such miraculous signs - power encounters, as I called them earlier - serve to do exactly what happened in Samaria. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. Miracles are not an end in themselves. They dispose people to listen to the gospel. This is a topic I will address with you from time to time, and I am always willing to talk about it.

Verses 9-11 give us a close-up of events in Samaria. We meet a man named Simon. 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 the divine power known as the Great Power." They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.

Sorcery is the exercise of supernatural powers through the aid of evil spirits. It was God's purpose for Christianity to expand beyond its Jewish origins, but as soon as it did so, it began to encounter a whole new set of challenges. One of them was the occult. Just how challenging becomes clear in the encounter with Simon the Sorcerer.

Things began well enough. Verse 13: Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. Things went downhill with the arrival of the apostles from Jerusalem. Verses 15-17 explain why they had come.

When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

I have always believed that Christians receive the Holy Spirit the moment they began to believe in Jesus. This incident seems to call that belief into question. Nevertheless, I continue to believe that Christians received the Holy Spirit the moment they began to believe in Jesus.

I continue to believe this for two reasons. First, this is the only place in the New Testament where there is a delay between the beginning of faith in Jesus and the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Everywhere else in the New Testament they happen simultaneously. This leads me to the second reason I continue to believe as I do.

Jews looked down on Samaritans, because they were part Jew, part Gentile. There was also bad blood between Jew and Samaritan. To believe in Jesus and be baptized put them on an equal footing with Jewish Christians. It was potentially another explosive issue that would put the Church at odds with Jewish authorities. The apostles needed to put their stamp of approval on it. That happened when Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. It was a necessary confirmation of the inclusion of despised people within the Church on an equal footing.

Meanwhile, back to Simon the Sorcerer. He was enthralled by it all. Remember, he had enjoyed the reputation of being the Great Power. When he saw the Spirit given through the laying on of hands by the apostles, he wanted a piece of the action. Look at the end of verse 18 and verse 19. 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."

Do you know what Peter actually said to Simon in Gree? English translators have spared our innocent ears by saying, "May your money perish with you." What Peter actually said was, "To hell with your money." He was not being profane; he was making a strict, theological statement about the nature of Simon's request, and he called Simon to repent and pray to the Lord for forgiveness. To Simon's credit he answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me."

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
Simon's long sojourn in sorcery had given him a hankering for spiritual powers, and he was willing to pay to get it. The hankering after power encounters, such as those I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon, can be overmastering. The Bible makes it clear that both paranormal experiences of the occult and of the truly God-given belong to our world. The increasing opennes of our culture to non-rational experience, along with its skepticism about truth, has made the paranormal of all kinds a mainstream experience. A parable of Jesus equips us to discern truth from error in such a world.

It is the parable of the rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. The beggar was in chronic bad health and begged scraps to eat from the rich man's table. The rich man knew no such inconveniences. The beggar died, and angels took him to Abraham's side. The rich man died and went to hell. There the tables were turned. The once rich man begged for Lazarus to come and cool his tongue with drops of water. It didn't happen.

Then, the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus back into this world to warn the rich man's brothers about the pangs of hell. Hell was already having a salutary effect on the rich man's selfishness. Abraham's reply sets up the punch line nicely. "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them."

The rich man, so used to living by sight and not by faith, rejected Abraham's counsel and insisted on his orignal request. "No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them they will repent."

Abraham's response to the rich man speaks right into the heart of our post-modern craving for the unusual and the bizarre. "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."

I have no doubt that many claims to psychic power are fraudulent. There is a sucker born every minute. I have no doubt that some claims to psychic power are valid. That poses a different challenge altogether. Let the People of Christ respond this way.

The occult in all its forms does not point people to Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind. Psychic readings, Tarot cards, Ouija boards, channeling, astrology, Wicca, and satanic rituals do not point people to Jesus Christ as the Savor of mankind. Neither do they nurture our ongoing relationship with Chrst. Stay away.

On the other hand, the Bible does both. In John 5:39 Jesus says, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me." Psalm 119:105 says, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path, for as long as we walk the path.

This book is old but not antiquated. It is as fresh and life-giving as your next breath. Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest it with all the powers of your maturity.