Acts Chapter 8 Devotion

Hmmm weird concept "buying the holy spirit", I guess translated into our times, it can mean doing things that look good but not really having the right intentions. Like you donated a large some of money to know you better get something out of it. It's also ironic that Simon the "Sorcerer" who performed tricks was proclaimed high and mighty where Philip actually did miracles and cast out demons was persecuted and labeled as a fake.

Also I learned that some people have the interest of knowing Jesus but don't know how to peruse him. W e have to give that extra push and direction to guide them to know who Jesus is.

THANK YOU HANNAH'S MOM FOR DINNER YUM YUM

Verse 8
"So there was great joy in that city"
IF joy is one thing, i wonder what it means to experience GREAT joy. I think this GREAT joy is somethign eternal. Last week, Sam compared love, biglove and Great love. When he said GREAT lvoe is when it changes your life, i wonder if this GREAT joy is what they experienced when they came to know Jesus. "something" that changed their life. IF we had somethign exciting, to something big, wouldn't we want to share it to everyone? Jesus is the GREATEST of all, shouldn't we share HIM? I mean that is our purpose. So what with the things God has provided us with, lets bring JEsus into our ministry and share him to the heart of others.
Simon is a good example of what any one of us in the praise team can become. Being humans, we're vulnerable to anything unless we have a SET goal that overpowers everythign else (distractions). Being greedy and only carign abotu what he would become is somethign we ahve to look for. Of course we're constantly getting better (woot) but we shouldn't take pride in it, instead we should be humble and remember, our praise if for God. Not for us, Not to us, not for anyone else, except Him. Let's keep that mentality foundation strong.

First of all, I was like, "what the heck is a eunuch?"

I looked it up, and it's a castrated man that serves a household. Why were they castrated? I'm guessing that was so that they don't get tempted to fall for the women there and stay focused on serving.

I liked what he did though...I like that when he was stuck with a passage, he simply went up to Philip and asked for help. This is a perfect example of going on a mission field and someone that you're reaching out asking for help. Philip committed and tried his best to explain everything. And he eventually got saved and was baptized by Philip, so I guess this is a story of triumph. I like that

I'm EXCITED for tmrw and I'll see u all there!!!


Roh

Acts 8

News of Saul...

Simon the Sorceror:
I thought this bit was very interesting..
Simon himself was baptized and yet we find that his intentions for believing may have been very selfish. The idea of thinking he could 'buy' the Holy Spirit for himself was pretty neat, and I'm sure he wasn't the only one that seriously considered it a possibility, having seen all these apostles carrying out these miraculous acts, of course some would want to be able to do that, as well. What's sad though, is how had his heart been in the right place, he'd have realized that the Holy Spirit can work its way through ANYBODY. Anyways, good to check that your heart and faith are always in the right place..


See y'all tomorrow morning!!

- H

TELE-PORTATION YOOOOOOOOO
Philip did a criss angel and vanished. Thats sickkkk

hmmm i always like to read stories about God over money. In such a materialistic world its always nice to continually hear it. Woooahh Ethiopians were back then? I cant believe asians are even in the Bible :p

This seems to be a smooth talk from Philip to the Ethiopian. But in realistically not everyone we want to evangelize to will be so willing to learn. But i guess were only there to introduce, not change. Thats up to God.

E-Sek OUT!

yo homies. The Chunger wants all of us to come to EM service tomorrow. He wont tell me what its about, so i take it that its about him. maybe it has something to do with him graduating and becoming a pastor or something. Come or ill pop a cap in yo @$$

I learned from this Chapter that there might be two additional types of people in this world..
1. the knowledgeable type:
Simon the Sorcerer represents... fundamentally people (in strong cases magicians) who are aware of illusions or occurrences, to be just that.
They opt to understand phenomenons and to learn it as a skill for trade.
So, Simon offered to give money in return for additional knowledge (The Holy Spirit), which he thought was an item available for purchase.
He was obviously wrong though, as it is one of the only things that can't be bought.

2. the understanding type:
The Ethiopian represents people (strong cases: naive people) who seek to find answers under the guidance of one who is known to be most resourceful about the subject in discussion. As long as the message and the intentions are sound, they will be strong believers.

sweet, so excited for tmr!
see ye guys!

Alright here we go again
So everyone knows that Stephen was stoned to death for defending our faith.
And there was great persecution, but people continued to put their lives at risk, knowing very well that what happened to Stephen can easily happen to them. But, they kept going because of their unbelievable faith.. Whenever Sam preaches about evangelism, he alwyas says "What have we got to lose? that they'll say no?" And it's so true. We hav eit so much easier - when we spread the gospel we're scared that people are gonna look at us funny.. But back in the day, these people had their lives at stake and they kept going
I guess that's a model for the kind of faith and unyielding trust that we should be working towards.
And Mike makes a good point about Simon - he's the type that thinks that intelligence or personal skill are so important in life.. he even tries to buy the Holy Spirit. But I guess this goes back to what I was saying before about the fact taht we can't change peoples hearts with knowledge - it all has to be done with the Holy Spirit, and on cna receive the Holy Spirit only when they have an open heart..

Acts 8

v.21 "You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God."

It was interesting to see that Simon so wanted to be like Peter and John that the first thing he could think of was to offer them money. Peter told him that his heart was not right, and he had to pray for forgiveness. From this chapter, I realized that believers can be jealous of other believers for their gifts- whether it be confidence, humor, or musical skills.

I think Peter is asking Simon (and us) to find our own gifts and fully use them because they are specifically given to us by God. Our gifts cannot be traded for others, and they certainly cannot be bought. So, we have to think about what gifts we have, and how well we're using them in our lives to spread God's love.