A ten-year-old gets his first grown-up Bible and starts with the Book of Acts, until he reaches a chapter that makes him want to stop reading. Stephen’s death and the first persecution scatter the church in Jerusalem, and those who flee end up where none of them wanted to go: Samaria (Acts 8). The sermon shows that hardship, ethnic prejudice and even false conversions do not halt the gospel, but become the very road along which it spreads. Listen, and ask yourself what you actually expect when you tell others about Jesus.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- Acts 8:1-4 describes the persecution after Stephen's death. How did what was meant to stop the church become an opportunity to spread the gospel further?
- Why was Philip going to Samaria so difficult for Jews, and what does the Samaritans receiving the gospel with great joy tell us about it?
- What was the significance of Peter and John coming from Jerusalem, praying and laying hands on the Samaritans, both for the Jews and for the Samaritans themselves?
- Simon wanted to buy the power of the Holy Spirit. In what situations do you treat God as a tool to fix one problem rather than giving Him your whole life?
- The speaker stressed that the gospel grows through the work of the Holy Spirit, sometimes in extraordinary ways and sometimes in very ordinary ones. Where do you see His work in your life?
- Who are the "Samaritans" for you today, the people you find it hardest to bring the gospel to, and what do you expect when you tell someone about Jesus this week?
