Acts 8:9-13\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery\u00a0in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,\u00a010\u00a0and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, \u201cThis man is rightly called the Great Power of God.\u201d\u00a011\u00a0They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.\u00a012\u00a0But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God\u00a0and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized,\u00a0both men and women.\u00a013\u00a0Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles\u00a0he saw.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cNow for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery\u00a0in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,\u00a010\u00a0and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, \u201cThis man is rightly called the Great Power of God.\u00a0 11\u00a0They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 Simon was a sorcerer who performed amazing acts.\u00a0 Some are quick to claim that Simon did not have any real power but was a charlatan who deceived the people with tricks.\u00a0 Yet, we must not be so quick to dismiss that Simon may have used real power just as Pharaoh\u2019s magicians used real power (Exodus 7-8<\/b>).\u00a0 It is not amazing that non-believing skeptics quickly deny the supernatural.\u00a0 What is amazing is that those who claim to be believers would doubt the supernatural for both Biblical times and also for now.\u00a0 (Though we must remember that we live in Biblical times.\u00a0 Are all prophecies already fulfilled?\u00a0 Did we miss the Second Coming of Jesus?)\u00a0 God who supernaturally created the heavens and earth, who supernaturally spoke from a bush that was on fire but not consumed, who parted the Red Sea, who lived as man, was crucified, died and rose from the dead, He has always performed the supernatural.\u00a0 So we know the supernatural exists.\u00a0 The Bible speaks of the evil one being able to display \u201cpower, false signs and wonders. (2 Thessalonians 2:9<\/b>).\u00a0 We have noted the real power that was displayed by the Pharaoh\u2019s magicians.\u00a0\u00a0Revelation 13:2<\/b>\u00a0not only states that the enemy has power, but that he can share his power with others, such as the Antichrist.\u00a0 The devil has magical, perhaps supernatural powers. \u00a0But his power is limited and God\u2019s is not.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not confuse what the devil can do with true miracles of God.\u00a0 Practitioners of magic claim it comes from either themselves, or from the devil. (Not most modern \u201cmagicians\u201d who will readily claim that what they do is an illusion.)\u00a0 Whereas miracles come from God and are accredited to God.\u00a0 Miracles are used by God to lead people to Him.\u00a0 Did Simon really do magic or was he a great magician?\u00a0 Well we might consider that the people of that day more \u201csuperstitious\u201d than us.\u00a0 Yet it is more likely they understood more about magic and miracles than we did, especially those of us in the West who discount even the supernatural movement of God among us today.\u00a0 Did the devil give Simon power to do \u201cmagic\u201d, or was he just an illusionist?\u00a0 If he was just an illusionist, because they had followed him and been amazed by him for a \u201clong time,\u201d he must have had a very large repertoire of tricks.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God\u00a0and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized,\u00a0both men and women.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 The people had paid attention to Simon.\u00a0 They had taken notice of Him.\u00a0 But the message that Philip delivered to them they believed.\u00a0 Philip gave them the Good News (The Gospel).\u00a0 The people believed and they were baptized.\u00a0 Philip did just as Jesus directs us all to do \u201cTherefore go and make disciples of all nations,\u00a0baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,\u00a020\u00a0and teaching\u00a0them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you\u00a0always, to the very end of the age.<\/i>\u201d (Matthew 28:19-20<\/b>)\u00a0 Simon and Philip were very different.\u00a0 Simon did his magic and took credit for it and accepted the admiration and acclaim of the people.\u00a0 Philip did exactly the opposite.\u00a0 The signs that He performed were never claimed by him to be of his own doing, but of the power of God.\u00a0 When God did mighty signs through Philip and people came to find out more, he pointed them to Jesus.\u00a0 Simon wanted power and praise whereas Philip came not to receive praise for himself but to bring people and their praise to God.\u00a0 Simon wanted for himself.\u00a0 Philip wanted for God and the people.\u00a0 They were opposites.\u00a0 As a result, God indeed made Philip a \u201cFisher of men.\u201d (Matthew 4:19<\/b>)<\/p>\n
Ultimately Family, let us not desire miracles, but that we are used to lead people to Jesus that they may love and praise Him and thereby be saved.\u00a0 That is how we act if we properly love.\u00a0 If God decides to use miraculous signs, that is His decision.\u00a0 We must merely pray that the message we bring is given by the power of His Holy Spirit within.\u00a0 We should have humility and our hearts should desire what John the Baptist desired, that we would decrease and Christ would increase (John 3:30<\/b>).\u00a0 Praise God!\u00a0 Let it be Lord!\u00a0 May Your name Jesus, be lifted high and may we lead all who will come to you.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acts 8:9-13\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery\u00a0in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,\u00a010\u00a0and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, \u201cThis man is rightly called the Great Power of God.\u201d\u00a011\u00a0They followed him because he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,2257,100,101,94,17,711,757],"class_list":["post-1570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-exodus","tag-john","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-psalm","tag-revelation","tag-thessalonians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1571,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570\/revisions\/1571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}