Have you ever been in a place you did not mean to get to? A wrong turn, a closed door, or a sudden change of plans can leave us frustrated. We had a destination and a timeline, and now everything feels off track. It is easy to ask what the point of it all is.
In our series Kindling the Fire, we are looking at how God sent his church beyond the hometown where everything started. Acts chapter 8 shows us what happens when the first church ends up in a place it never planned to go. They thought they understood the mission, and God was blessing their work. Then they found themselves on the wrong side of the tracks, and we get to see how God meets them there.
A crime scene and a scattering
Acts tells how Jesus' followers carried his message into the world. Chapter 8 begins at what feels like a crime scene. Stephen, a servant full of the Holy Spirit who made sure people in need were cared for, had just told a religious council that they knew the facts about God but had missed his heart and refused to see that Jesus is God. The council dragged him out of the city and threw stones at him until he died.
A man named Saul approved of the killing. A great persecution then broke out against the church in Jerusalem. Saul went from house to house, and because the church met in homes, he was breaking up church gatherings and sending Christians to prison. Believers who had only just learned to care for one another across language differences were suddenly scattered. This was not where anyone wanted to end up.
Persecution that spreads the message
Look at what the scattered believers did next.
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 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. So there was much joy in that city. (Acts 8:4-8)
We might expect people chased out of their hometown to keep quiet about why they left. These believers did the opposite. The good news about Jesus was on the tip of their tongues. Persecution pushed them into places they would not have chosen, and when they arrived, they shared God's word. It traveled farther than it would have if they had stayed home. We could say it this way: the persecution of God's people leads to the spread of God's message.
Philip is worth a closer look. Luke, the doctor who wrote Acts, liked to talk with eyewitnesses, and he seems to have spent time with Philip. Philip had been chosen right after Stephen to serve tables, which meant handing out food to widows. We think that is worth noticing. Serving tables looks like a good training ground for serving people with God's word, because it teaches the attitudes a servant needs.
Across the border in Samaria
Philip went to Samaria, and that detail matters. Many of us hear the word “Samaritan” and think automatically of the word “good” because of Jesus' famous story known as “the Good Samaritan.” In Jesus' day those two words sounded like a contradiction. Samaritans shared much of the Jewish faith, including the law of Moses, and they worshiped on a mountain in their own territory. But they had married outside the Jewish people, which God had told the Jews not to do. Jewish people said the Samaritans had cut themselves off from God's people. Samaritans said they were still God's people. Many Jews on a long walk would go miles out of their way to avoid Samaria completely.
So Philip was crossing a border. We can picture him as a border crosser, willing to enter what others saw as enemy territory so that he could bring people to the feet of Jesus. And people responded. When they believed, they were baptized, both men and women. Baptism is a public declaration that we are putting ourselves under Jesus' teaching and following him with our whole lives. Belief leads to obedience, and belief without obedience is only a nice idea.
Who do we think of as across the border? It is not always easy to see. We may think of national borders, but what about social ones? Who do we keep at arm's length because their politics, their neighborhood, or their way of life makes us uncomfortable? How might those people hear about Jesus?
Philip may not have meant to be in Samaria, but it seems God meant for him to be there.
Simon and the gift that cannot be bought
Samaria's best-known man was Simon, who had practiced magic and told everyone he was somebody great. The people even called him the power of God. Notice how much of his reputation rested on his own words. When Simon saw that Philip's message came with real power, he admitted it was greater than his own. He said that he believed and was baptized.
Jesus had told his followers they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Yet for seven chapters they stayed in Jerusalem. Now God made sure the apostles saw that he was moving among people they had considered outsiders. Peter and John came down. John had once asked to call fire down on a Samaritan village, so he had every reason to be skeptical. Instead he saw God at work. They prayed, and the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit.
Acts does not give one fixed order for believing, being baptized, and receiving the Spirit. In some stories these happen at the same moment, and in others they are spread out. We at Neighborhood Church, along with the Charis Fellowship, teach that a person receives the Spirit when they believe, and that baptism is the outward sign of what has already happened inside. When Simon saw the Spirit given, he saw something he wanted.
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.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 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. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” (Acts 8:18-23)
Money has a way of showing what our hearts value. Simon saw a way to get back on top. But a gift from God cannot be bought or owned. Even when God gives us a gift, it is not for us alone, and it never becomes ours to control. God cannot be manipulated.
Yet we try.
We promise to come to church every week if he will help with a raise. We say that if he will just do this, we will never do that again. We treat God like a vending machine, and we forget that we have nothing he needs.
Simon admitted God was more powerful, but he had not surrendered. Surrender is what Jesus asks for. We cannot make ourselves right with God. We are not smart, strong, clever, or wealthy enough. The only thing we can do is raise our hands and say, “I give up.” So are we surrendered to Jesus, or are we just trying to play him to get what we want?
Acts does not tell us what became of Simon, but the invitation stays open for all of us. Look to Jesus and say, “I thought I had it, and I do not. I give my life to you.” He has paid the price to buy us back from our sin.
A question in the desert
Philip then received a new assignment from an angel: go to the desert road south of Jerusalem. There he met a wealthy official from Ethiopia, a kingdom in Africa. He served the queen, whose title was Candace, and was in charge of her treasure. He was also a eunuch, a man who had been castrated, and men like him were not allowed into the temple in Jerusalem. Still, he had traveled all that way to honor the God of heaven, and he was bringing home a scroll of Isaiah. People in that time read aloud, so Philip could hear him.
So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. (Acts 8:30-31)
The passage described someone led like a sheep to the slaughter, and the official asked whether the prophet meant himself or someone else. This was an easy place to begin.
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:35-36)
They went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. Then the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the official went on his way rejoicing. Notice that the gospel first left the Holy Land for Africa, before it reached Europe.
Walking people toward Jesus
Are we prepared to walk someone to Jesus, starting wherever they are? Sometimes the walk is short, like reading Isaiah. Sometimes someone knows Scripture well, yet their heart seems far from what God is doing. Can we start there? Sometimes someone is living only to please themselves. Can we start there?
Often all it takes is a simple question. “Do you understand what you are reading?” is one. “Is that working?” is another, especially for people searching for fulfillment in the wrong places.
Persecution promotes a proliferation of preaching with power to pariahs who imperfectly practice patterns of emancipated life in Jesus. God took a painful scattering and used it to carry his message across borders. As he takes us on detours of our own, may we ask for eyes to see the opportunities. Where might he send us next?
Keep exploring
If you are local to Ocala and would like to talk through any of this, we would love to hear from you. Email us at ocala@weareneighborhood.church or text 352-236-2211. We would be glad to connect and keep the conversation going.
If you live outside the Ocala area, we would encourage you to find a local church near you where you can keep asking these questions and walk through them together with others.
Editor note: This blog summary was generated from a sermon transcript processed by AI and reviewed by a human editor. It is provided for convenience and engagement but may not fully reflect all of the original sermon emphases or explanation. The original writing and delivery of the sermon were done without the input of AI. Please refer to the full message and more importantly the Scripture for complete context and teaching.
