17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes freely by God’s will.ġ4 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. He wants the Spirit’s power for himself, not for the church, or to know God himself. In our story, Simon recognizes there is an unstoppable power and he wants it, with wrong motives. But this is how things have always been done. If only it was within their power to be more fruitful. If only they had a way to plow that field more quickly. The rains come and the harvest grows and the little village has just enough food to make it through till the following year. They work hard all plowing season and they manage to get the whole field plowed just in time to plant before the rains come. They feel blessed to have such a great tractor. On a good day, they move that tractor ten feet. Some pull and others push and every day of plowing season they move the tractor a little further across the field. Each year they pull out their big red tractor and use it to plow their field. If we as a church could experience even a taste of the Spirit’s power like Philip did, it could change everything.įrancis Chan wrote a children’s book called, “ The Big Red Tractor and the Little Village.” There’s a little village where the people live off what they farm each year. Through the Spirit Philip performs great signs and miracles. The Holy Spirit, through Philip, brings people to faith and repentance. Simon sees that the Holy Spirit is unstoppable. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. ![]() He does so with power and authority, full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:3).ġ2 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. When Philip, one of the leaders of the early church tasked with caring for the Greek-speaking widows, and other early believers are chased out of Jerusalem by persecution, he goes north to Samaria where he begins to preach the gospel-the good news about Jesus Christ. He is far too powerful to be controlled by us. Here is the root of all idolatry-thinking we can handle God, that we can control him with our religious deeds, our prayers, our words. The people of Samaria think he has divine powers- “the Great Power of God,” like a mini Hercules or Perseus, sons of Zeus. He’s arrogant, prideful, and claims to be someone great. Micky Mouse isn’t dancing around wearing a big blue pointy hat with stars on it and waving his fingers at a broom. Simon’s sorcery is no The Magician’s Apprentice. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. They know enough to get themselves in trouble, which is perhaps why Simon is someone who has so much power.Ĩ Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. ![]() They share some beliefs and background with their Jewish neighbors, but this has only caused religious and ethnic division. Samaria is a land where the people are Jewish but not Jewish. This man lived in the town of Samaria, north of Jerusalem. Maybe you’re wondering, “Who would ever try to buy the Holy Spirit?” Well, I’m glad you asked because a Sorcerer named Simon would. The Holy Spirit is a person, more like Charlotte. The Holy Spirit is not like the big brass pots or Navajo rug. The Holy Spirit is not something we can purchase or buy, not with money or good deeds. My hope and prayer is today’s sermon will make us more aware of the Holy Spirit’s power and how we sometimes attempt to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit. In today’s text one man has to learn the hard way… The Holy Spirit is not for sale. The legend goes that one time she was so still that someone thought she was a life-sized doll. Sometimes tourists tried to buy the little old lady, Charlotte, who had fallen asleep behind the counter, my boss. Occasionally tourists would try and buy this big beautiful Navajo rug we had hanging on our wall. Occasionally tourists would try to buy the big brass pots we had in the back of the store, but they were a decoration. Have you ever tried to buy something that’s not for sale? When I was a teenager, I worked at a tourist shop in the mountains of Colorado called Indian Village.
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