{"id":1576,"date":"2019-05-12T12:49:51","date_gmt":"2019-05-12T20:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1576"},"modified":"2019-05-12T12:49:51","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T20:49:51","slug":"devotion-acts-818-25-a-wrong-heart-is-revealed-by-its-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1576","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Acts 8:18-25 A Wrong Heart Is Revealed By It\u2019s Fruit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 8:18-25\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles\u2019 hands, he offered them money\u00a0<\/i>19\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/b>and said, \u201cGive me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>20\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/b>Peter answered: \u201cMay your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!\u00a0<\/i>21\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/b>You have no part or share\u00a0in this ministry, because your heart is not right\u00a0before God.<\/i>22\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/b>Repent\u00a0of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.\u00a0<\/i>23\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/b>For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>24\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/b>Then Simon answered, \u201cPray to the Lord for me\u00a0so that nothing you have said may happen to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>25\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/b>After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord\u00a0and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles\u2019 hands, he offered them money\u00a0<\/i>19\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/b>and said, \u201cGive me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 It is debated whether Simon actually had demonic powers or was just an illusionist as we have illusionists today.\u00a0 One thing that is certain is that He could recognize power and when he did, he wanted it.\u00a0 A true Believer wanting the Holy Spirit moving through them is wonderful.\u00a0 Such a Believer wants this for the fellowship of oneness with God (John 14:20<\/b>) (as God and servant) and to be used of God to lead others to God that souls would be saved and He would be praised.\u00a0 Simon\u2019s motives it appears, were dark and selfish.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cPeter answered: \u201cMay your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!\u00a0<\/i>21\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/b>You have no part or share\u00a0in this ministry, because your heart is not right\u00a0before God.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 We know that the Lord had given Peter the gift of Discernment, which was on full display here and in\u00a0Acts 5:3, 7-10<\/b>.\u00a0 The stronger and more true translation of \u201cMay your money perish with you<\/i>\u201d is \u201cMay you and your money go to hell!\u201d\u00a0 It was not a curse, but rather a revealing of the ugliness of Simon\u2019s heart and mind.\u00a0 Some may want to judge Peter for this proclamation, but we must withhold that judgment.\u00a0 Sadly, but true, if we follow the command of Jesus to share the Gospel, we have heard some ugly things expressed about God.\u00a0 Or we have read of them.\u00a0 I remember a time in elementary school, even long before I had become a Christian, that a group of us kids had gathered and the question was brought up \u201cWhat is the difference between Catholicism and Protestantism?\u201d\u00a0 To most of us it appeared that we believed in much the same way.\u00a0 Than a boy said something that shocked me to core (I still remember).\u00a0 He said the difference was that \u201cCatholics worship that **or* Mary and Protestants don\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0 Obviously that classmate had heard some very ugly things from adults.\u00a0 I was horrified.\u00a0 I was stupefied.\u00a0 How could someone say something so ugly about the Mother of God?\u00a0 Even today, as I remember I am nauseated by the comment.\u00a0 The point being that the comment was so ugly and repugnant that Peter\u2019s reaction was quick and strong.\u00a0 It is easy to understand how Peter could react this way to somebody speaking so ugly and disrespectful of the Spirit of God, of God Himself.\u00a0 It was stunningly horrific that Simon could think that the works of God could be bought and sold as one would sell a donkey or wine.<\/p>\n

Peter was not being cruel or unloving, but responding to the ugliness of Simon\u2019s statement that could not be left alone.\u00a0 Sometimes, when in gatherings, I have heard some pretty blasphemous statements by proud people speaking ignorance.\u00a0 It demands a quick response so as not to poison the group.\u00a0 It is not an attack on the person but a defense of The Truth.\u00a0 Peter, who was still quick to defend the Lord (John 18:10<\/b>), must reprove this heinous request by Simon.\u00a0 What Peter was doing was not actually condemning Simon to hell, but warning him that his heart and mind were not right and that he would have no part in the promises of God if that remained so.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepent\u00a0of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.\u00a0<\/i>23\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/b>For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 It was Simon\u2019s heart that was wrong, not Peter\u2019s.\u00a0 After issuing the harsh, but true, words to Simon, Peter told him to repent so that he may be forgiven.\u00a0 KJV states the verse this way \u201cRepent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 After telling Simon to repent Peter tells him to seek forgiveness from God.\u00a0 The words \u201cIf perhaps\u2026<\/i>\u00a0may be better understood by us as meaning \u201ctherefore\u201d instead of \u201cperhaps.\u201d\u00a0 Or \u201cso then.\u201d\u00a0 Peter is telling Simon to repent and after he has does that, then God will forgive him.\u00a0 But Simon needs to know that God does not accept an unrepentant heart that is full of bitterness and sin.\u00a0 This description could be understood as Simon having a heart that is handcuffed to sin with no key to free himself.\u00a0 He has walked in sin, he has embraced sin, and now, as a result, he is seemingly hopelessly handcuffed to sin without a way to get released.\u00a0 And that is true, outside of the grace of God through Jesus, Savior to all who will come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Simon answered, \u201cPray to the Lord for me\u00a0so that nothing you have said may happen to me.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 The big question here is, was Simon sincere in that prayer.\u00a0 The scripture gives us no indication either way.\u00a0 Some doubt his sincerity.\u00a0 Others may state \u201cWhy should we doubt him?\u201d\u00a0 I know that I have long pondered this.\u00a0 Still I am not sure.\u00a0 However having learned more from the early elders of the church, it is said that Simon may be the initiator of heresy of Gnosticism.\u00a0 Another tradition states that he became such a heretic, and so deluded, that he thought that if he were too be buried alive that in three days he would rise from the dead.\u00a0 Harry Houdini, a recently popular magician that astounded more modern audiences, also promised to return from the dead.\u00a0 Neither did.\u00a0 Arrogance in a person is like a disease that begins small and then overtakes and kills.\u00a0 Only Jesus rose and not either of these two tricksters.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord\u00a0and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Peter and John had a divine appointment to not only bring a blessing from God to the Samaritans, but to also know with their own eyes, and see with the discernment given to them by the Holy Spirit, that God was to save beyond the borders of Jerusalem, and to all people of all nations.\u00a0 They brought this testimony back to The Twelve.<\/p>\n

We see that all along the way Peter and John preached the Gospel wherever they were.\u00a0 We shall see that so did Philip. \u00a0Oh Lord God, may we be faithful to your command to preach the Gospel wherever we are and at all times.\u00a0 May no consideration presented to us or conceived by us, back us down.\u00a0 Let us always be found with the joy of knowing You as Savior and Lord and let it be a river that floods through us and out of us.\u00a0 Family, let us praise God, now and always!\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

\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 8:18-25\u00a0\u2013\u00a0When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles\u2019 hands, he offered them money\u00a019\u00a0and said, \u201cGive me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a020\u00a0Peter answered: \u201cMay your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the…<\/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":[82,100,94,17],"class_list":["post-1576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-john","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576","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=1576"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1577,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576\/revisions\/1577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}