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Attracting Attention (Acts 8:4-25)
11 Plays17 days ago
Three times in Acts 8:4-25 Luke uses the same compound Greek word (prosecho = pros, meaning, before or towards + echo, referring to holding), which came to mean, “pay attention”. Check out verses 6, 10 and 11!
There is a big difference in the way we lived when we were still in darkness compared to the changed lifestyle once we stepped over into the spiritual light through faith in Christ. We cease to draw attention to ourselves and long to magnify the Lord. Like John the Baptist said long ago, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” John 3:30.
Our text today illustrates this difference in what and who we long to glorify in life once we are genuinely born again. Simon the magician or sorcerer didn’t quite get this and always longed to be noticed, but many Samaritans did get it, and their lives were changed. Keep your eye on who craves attention and what each of the biblical characters in this account focused their attention on.
1. Attention to What Was Being Shared, 8:4-8
2. Attention to What Is Done by Self, 8:9-13
3. Attention through What Was Accomplished through Signs, 8:13
4. Attention to What Was Missing without the Spirit, 8:14-17
5. Attention to What Might Be Done with Silver, 8:18-19
6. Attention to What Should Accompany Salvation, 8:20-23
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Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam Street
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Growing in Grace
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
00:00:22
Speaker
If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org. And now, take your copy of God's timeless Word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Theme of Attracting Attention
00:00:43
Speaker
Hey, welcome to Growing in Grace. I'm glad you're listening today. I want to talk about attracting attention. Have you ever been around anyone in your life and it seemed like they always wanted to be the center of attention?
00:00:56
Speaker
Wow. Well, three times in the book of Acts in chapter eight, we're going to start with verse four and go down through 25, but Luke uses the same compound Greek word, pros echo.
00:01:10
Speaker
Now, If you bust that word pros echo up, it comes into two two parts. Pros meaning before or towards and echo referring to holding on to something, which later came to mean pay attention, hold on to it.
00:01:29
Speaker
Well, pay attention is actually used in verse 6, verse 10, and verse 11. So if you don't mind, ah pay attention when I read through here and see if you can hear those words, pay attention, as they're mentioned.
00:01:46
Speaker
But, you know, before I read the text, there's a big difference in the way we lived when we were still in darkness compared to the changed lifestyle once we stepped over into the spiritual light through faith in Christ.
00:02:04
Speaker
You know, we cease to draw attention to ourselves and we long to magnify the Lord. Like John the Baptist said long ago, this is our mantra now that we're living in for Christ.
00:02:18
Speaker
He must increase and I must decrease. That's the that's the the passion that we have as followers of Christ. Well, our text today illustrates this difference in what and who we long to glorify in life once we are genuinely born again.
Simon the Magician vs. Samaritans
00:02:41
Speaker
There's a ah man that's in this passage I'm gonna introduce you to named Simon the Magician or Simon the Sorcerer. He didn't quite get this and he and always longed to be noticed, but many Samaritans, they did get it.
00:02:57
Speaker
And you know what happened to those Samaritans who embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ? their lives changed. Keep your eye on who craves attention and what each of the biblical characters in this account focused their attention on.
00:03:16
Speaker
Listen as I read. Now, those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.
00:03:29
Speaker
And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip. When they heard him and saw the signs that he did for unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice came out of many who had them and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.
00:03:50
Speaker
So there was much joy in that city. But there was a man named Simon. who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great.
00:04:09
Speaker
They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the power of God that is called great.
00:04:21
Speaker
And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip, as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
00:04:42
Speaker
Even Simon himself believed. And after being baptized, he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.
00:04:56
Speaker
Now, When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
00:05:12
Speaker
For he had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Peter Rebukes Simon
00:05:15
Speaker
Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit." Now, when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.
00:05:39
Speaker
But Peter said to him, May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.
00:05:51
Speaker
You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.
00:06:09
Speaker
For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. And Simon answered, Pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.
00:06:23
Speaker
Now, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. Wow.
00:06:35
Speaker
Quite a lot of reference here to what different ones were paying attention to. What gets your attention? What attracts your attention? And would you like for everybody to sort of notice you?
00:06:49
Speaker
Or would you say, i don't really want people to notice me. There's something beyond me that I desire for people to notice, and it's Jesus Christ.
00:07:00
Speaker
Well, let's look at this passage
Gospel's Joy in Samaria
00:07:01
Speaker
together. I've kind of broken it down into about six main points that I want to mention, perhaps eight if there's time. But here's the thing.
00:07:11
Speaker
Number one, attention to what was being shared. Look at verses four through eight, if you have a Bible. If not, just listen closely. You so see, after there was persecution that arose in that area, believers in Christ were scattered.
00:07:28
Speaker
They were thinking that they would be put to death if they did not go into hiding. But everywhere they went, you know what they did? They shared the word of God.
00:07:39
Speaker
Philip was one of the deacons there in Jerusalem. Well, Philip went to an area called Samaria. Now, to go to Samaria was quite a thing because he was a Jew, so this would be going into an area that typically...
00:07:55
Speaker
Jews hated Samaritans and Samaritans hated Jews. So this was definitely a cross-cultural outreach. He was sharing a gospel message about Christ, according to verse 5.
00:08:09
Speaker
But then it says, "...the crowds were united... in giving their attention to the message. That's what they were focused on. They were focused on this gospel message that Philip was sharing with them.
00:08:23
Speaker
Here's the way it says it in verse six. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said. Wow. You know, mighty works also accompanied the message, yet the miracles were not the focus.
00:08:43
Speaker
the gospel attracted their attention. And as a result, because the gospel was their main focus of attention, you know what came into that city?
00:08:54
Speaker
Joy, joy. It says, much joy entered the city once Philip took the gospel message there. And so I'm so glad that Philip took the gospel with him because the people of Samaria,
00:09:10
Speaker
They were so ready. Their hearts were longing for something, something of substance that they could believe in and be happy about and rejoice in. And they found it when they heard the message of Christ, that simple gospel message.
00:09:27
Speaker
So the first thing that some people say, you know what, I'm going to put my attention on what is being shared. But let's move to a second thing, because not everyone wants that to be the focus of attention.
00:09:40
Speaker
Secondly, we see verses 9 through 13 represent those who would say, well, I want you to pay attention to what I'm doing. So attention to what is done by self.
00:09:53
Speaker
The attention of the multitudes shifted when they heard the message. You see, before, they were amazed by a local magician named Simon.
00:10:06
Speaker
He had previously practiced magic in the city, and it says ah that the people of Samaria, they were amazed. They couldn't believe it. The thrill for the magician is described clearly in verse 9 when he says that he himself was somebody great.
00:10:27
Speaker
That's what he liked about the whole thing. It wasn't necessarily that they were so amazed at his magic tricks, but What he liked was they were saying, you know what, Simon?
00:10:39
Speaker
You are great. You are the greatest, man. That's what really got his attention. He liked the thrill that he felt whenever he was the big man on the block.
Simon's Misunderstanding of Spiritual Gifts
00:10:52
Speaker
He was the big man in the city. And so everybody was so amazed at all of his magic tricks. But What happened when Philip brought the news, the gospel message?
00:11:05
Speaker
Well, verse 10 tells us what all the folks in Samaria began to give their attention to. It says, before it was to Simon, they were saying about him, well, this man is the power of God that is called great.
00:11:22
Speaker
But you know what? Whenever Philip came on into the city, they began to say, wait a minute, I like this. This is more substantial.
00:11:33
Speaker
This really helps me in my life. And so now they were placing their faith in and beginning to follow Jesus Christ.
00:11:44
Speaker
As a matter of fact, Simon was so spun around by the whole thing and so confused by it all, he said, you know what? I believe. I believe. And they were saying, well, if you believe, then you need to be publicly baptized so that you can identify with Christ.
00:12:02
Speaker
He said, oh, yeah, I'm willing to do that. But was it really genuine? Well, you may need to hang hang that thought right there until we can get down here just a little bit further in this passage.
00:12:16
Speaker
And I think he's going to tip the scales and let us know. But you can begin to see what was the real attention, the focus of attention of Simon and perhaps some others was what was being accomplished through the signs.
00:12:35
Speaker
Verse 13, the last part of verse 13, gives us a clue as to what drew Simon's attention. Oh, it wasn't the Savior.
00:12:46
Speaker
It was the signs that amazed him. Verse 13 says, and seeing signs and great miracles performed, he... that's That's like a singular, he was amazed.
00:13:02
Speaker
In other words, he had been so so into the power of the supernatural, and now he's saying, look at all those things. Nobody can explain that. And so the object of his faith was the power of supernatural phenomena.
00:13:18
Speaker
As a matter of fact, the word amazed is used three times in this passage. You see, he was a sorcerer, and so he could tell that there was a genuine miracle that was being done.
00:13:32
Speaker
You know, I got to thinking about something. Do you remember in the Old Testament, there's a book called Job? And in the book of Job, in chapter one, God is actually talking to Satan.
00:13:47
Speaker
And God is saying, have you considered my servant Job? There's no one like him. He's just going on and on about how Job lives for him and serves him and honors him.
00:14:01
Speaker
But then Satan says, yeah, in Job chapter one, verses six through 12, he says, really, Job only lives for you, for the goodies, not for your goodness.
00:14:16
Speaker
It's just that you bless him so much that he loves that. But he said, here's what you do, God, Satan said, you take it all away.
00:14:27
Speaker
And you know what your man Job there will do? He'll curse you to your face. You see, the accusation that was being brought against Job by Satan oh was Satan was saying, Job only serves you for all the miracles, for all the blessings, for all the good things that you're giving to him.
00:14:50
Speaker
he's not matt He's not so amazed by your goodness, by your grace. He's not amazed by your greatness. He's not amazed by your holiness and your love, your mercy, your kindness, and your forgiveness and all those things. Nah, he only wants all those goodies.
00:15:12
Speaker
Was it true? No, it wasn't true. But that's what he was accusing him of, but for Simon the magician, I'm afraid it's it was true.
00:15:23
Speaker
But what was the attention of that early church, especially those that were back in Jerusalem? Well, verses 14 through 17 tell us that they were giving their attention to something that was missing without the Holy Spirit.
00:15:42
Speaker
but because the Holy Spirit had come upon all of the Jews, but thus far, the Holy Spirit had not come upon all of these who were Samaritans.
00:15:52
Speaker
And I think it was God's way of bringing those Jews over to the Samaritans, and the Samaritans were receptive to the gospel, but so far,
00:16:04
Speaker
The Holy Spirit had not been given. And so that's why these apostles at Jerusalem, once they heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John.
00:16:17
Speaker
And they went over there and they prayed that the Holy Spirit might be given to them. For he had not yet fallen on them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
00:16:30
Speaker
And so when they laid their hands on them, on the Samaritans, they received the Holy Spirit. And so that's what was the attention of those ah apostles in Jerusalem.
00:16:43
Speaker
They were thinking, you know, God's presence should be here with these Samaritans. Maybe we should go over and pray that the presence of the Holy Spirit would also be given to them.
00:16:57
Speaker
And so he was, he was given to these Samaritans. And what a wonderful joy it is to walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit each and every day, because it's not the flesh, it's not you and i trying to live for Jesus the very best that we can in the flesh.
00:17:15
Speaker
Oh no, it can be much greater than that. No, there's the fruit of the Holy Spirit Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
00:17:27
Speaker
Those are things that the Holy Spirit wants to produce in the life of every believer. So what do you think Simon says?
00:17:38
Speaker
That's almost like the game, right? Simon says, but there's a fifth thing on what kind of things might get the attention of some people. And I think there's some people like this today.
00:17:50
Speaker
the attention to what might be done with just a little bit of silver, just a little bit of gold, just a little bit of cash, and how can this change the equation?
00:18:01
Speaker
Well, verses 18 and 19, that's the stunt. that's the stunt that Simon, the magician, pulled. He thought, well, if I just slip them a little money under the table, then they're going to help me be able to have this power that comes from God. And then I'm going to be able to determine who can get the Holy Spirit and who can't and so forth.
00:18:24
Speaker
But believe me, suddenly he was confronted by Peter. He had offered the wrong thing. That's not the way that someone who's saved, someone who's following Christ should act. That shouldn't be their attention.
00:18:42
Speaker
You know, as a matter of fact, there's a theologian named R. Kent Hughes, and he exposes something called simony. It actually comes from this passage.
00:18:52
Speaker
But simony is when someone feels they can obtain spiritual power to promote self. They can gain recognition or status. They have their eye on advancement in the church.
00:19:06
Speaker
That is called simony. As a matter of fact, a former pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, named W.A. Criswell, talked about people who long time ago used to say, well, I think I can purchase a bishop's office or a cardinal's hat, or I can pay some indulgences to build St. Peter's Cathedral, and I can get those that have died out of out of Hades and get them over into purgatory and so forth.
00:19:39
Speaker
I mean, simony was widespread by the 11th century, and it was so off base. And it was all this whole idea of, you know, if we just have enough money, we can buy our spiritual blessings.
00:19:53
Speaker
But that's simply not true. So let's look at verses 20 to 23, because these verses tell us what the attention would be on what a accompanies salvation.
00:20:07
Speaker
Attention to what should accompany salvation. You know, the early church fathers like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Jerome, they all concluded that Simon was not truly converted.
00:20:22
Speaker
And he went on to become a heretic. You know, it kind of reminds me of how Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1 and 2, that it's possible for some to believe in vain.
00:20:36
Speaker
James talked about how some people, rather than having a true faith, a saving faith, a living faith, he said they have kind of like what the what could be called a dead faith.
00:20:48
Speaker
Because yes, it's faith, but it's not real and it's not genuine. In John 2, verses 23 to 25, even our Lord said He was not going to entrust Himself to some people because they were focused on bread and they were focused on miracles.
00:21:07
Speaker
You see, a sign, a lot of times the miracles, they were called signs. And so these were given to point beyond themselves. The miracle was not what should be the focus.
00:21:21
Speaker
And so I thought, wow, there's definitely a lot that we should focus on in terms of who God is, how God works, what God has said.
00:21:31
Speaker
How can I spread the gospel like Philip and not try to you know misuse the Holy Spirit or try to try to buy power? ah by giving some money and thinking, okay, this is going to get me some kind of spiritual blessings or power or whatever.
00:21:50
Speaker
But now verse 24 tells us the attention to what will cause one's suffering. Attention to what will cause one's suffering. you know After Simon pronounces this incredible i mean simon peter that is pronounces this incredible curse upon Simon Magician because of all of his you know trying to use money to buy the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit power,
00:22:18
Speaker
He says to Peter, pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me. So once again, it's just odd, isn't it?
00:22:31
Speaker
That he hears Philip preaching the gospel, talking about repentance, repentance, putting your faith and trust in the finished work of Christ. Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
00:22:43
Speaker
He was placed in the tomb. Three days later, he was raised from the dead and he ascended back to the Father after being seen over a 40 day period of time by over 500 witnesses, eyewitnesses.
00:22:58
Speaker
And they promised that he's gonna one day return to this earth and set up his kingdom and all of these wonderful kind of things. But does Simon talk about any of those kinds of things that he would have heard from Philip?
00:23:11
Speaker
No. Let me read verse 24 once again. Listen to to see what you can hear about the attention. what is What has captured Simon the magician's attention?
00:23:25
Speaker
according to verse 24, when he verbalizes his prayer request ah to Peter the apostle. Pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.
00:23:42
Speaker
Isn't that sad that even after all of this, seeing these Samaritans put their attention on the gospel, seeing these apostles so burdened that the Samaritans embraced the gospel, but they had not yet been given the Holy Spirit.
00:23:59
Speaker
And so he was so burdened about that and broken about that. That's what... but Simon Peter, and that's what John and other apostles were burdened about. But Simon the Magician, no, he wasn't focused on those things.
00:24:16
Speaker
Simon the Magician was focused on himself. Simon the Magician was thinking, maybe i could use some of my money. i could buy the Holy Spirit, get this power, and then I could perform great things.
00:24:29
Speaker
great feats, great miracles and magic tricks that could be done with God's power. So you see what's happened? He hasn't really repented of his sins. He hasn't been changed.
The Apostles Preach Salvation in Samaria
00:24:42
Speaker
You know, the Bible says that if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.
00:24:47
Speaker
Old things have passed away, behold, new things have come. There was one place in the book of Acts where it says all of these people in Ephesus who were practicing magic and doing all these kind of dark things, well, you know what they did?
00:25:02
Speaker
They got rid of it They burned all their magic books because their repentance was real. But there's something not quite right with Simon the magician.
00:25:15
Speaker
Even though it says he had faith, even though it says he got baptized, but somehow it's not genuine. It's not authentic. His life has not changed yet.
00:25:26
Speaker
And so here we hear him in verse 24, simply saying once again, I don't want to suffer. I don't want anything bad like that to happen to me.
00:25:37
Speaker
Would you please pray for me? So now I want you to listen once again to an eighth thing that some would give their attention to. I think verse 25 makes it clear who these apostles gave their attention to.
00:25:52
Speaker
It says that now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem and preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.
00:26:07
Speaker
what is it What does it tell us that these apostles from Jerusalem, they came over to Samaria, they prayed that these Samaritans who had embraced the gospel would now rec receive the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit was given.
00:26:24
Speaker
He was there. God's presence was going to be with them now. He was going to help them. He was going to bear the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. But now, what about these um apostles? What were they focused on as they were on their way back home?
00:26:41
Speaker
They were going into all these villages of Samaria and they were preaching the word. They were preaching the gospel. They wanted them to know. So the last thing that we could give our attention to is what will happen to lost souls.
00:26:58
Speaker
Maybe they were still thinking about old Simon the magician and they were they were broken that he still didn't quite get it But you know what? They said others in Samaria, they understood.
00:27:12
Speaker
The Lord opened their minds to understand that they needed Christ, that they needed salvation in Christ. They understood what why He came to the cross, to pay the penalty as the perfect substitute for their sins.
00:27:28
Speaker
They also understood that the Father raised the Son from the dead because He was trying to say, He did not do anything wrong. The wages of sin is death.
00:27:42
Speaker
But my son never sinned. He deserves life. And so that's why the Father raised him from the dead. And that's why, as believers, we don't have to be afraid of death.
00:27:53
Speaker
We don't have to be afraid of any suffering. We don't have to be afraid of being condemned because of our sin. Because Romans 8, 1 says, "...there is now, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." yeah It's just such a great a great word to deliver to anyone else, to tell others this good news of the gospel.
00:28:19
Speaker
So I'm so glad that verse 25 reminds us that some Christians out there have the focus of their attention on those who are still lost People need to have a burden for souls and say, I don't care how much this person makes.
00:28:38
Speaker
I don't care what kind of career they're in. i don't care what kind of house they live in. and don't care what race they are. What I care about is their soul.
Closing Prayer and Reflection
00:28:49
Speaker
There's so many wonderful lessons that we can learn from Acts chapter eight, especially verses four through 25. What is it that will attract your attention this week and this day?
00:29:04
Speaker
Do you want to be the center of attention? Or would you say, no, I want to magnify God. Let's pray together. Lord, help us to magnify God as we go through the rest of our week and help us to be focused, to focus our attention on the eternal things, the things that matter,
00:29:24
Speaker
So we put it all in your hands and ask that you would help us to apply the message that we heard today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you so much for listening.
00:29:36
Speaker
I pray that God will bless you this week as you put your attention on Jesus Christ. Amen.
00:29:52
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.