The Spread of the Gospel through Those Who are Scattered (Acts 8:1-13)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The title of today’s message is, “The Spread of the Gospel through Those Who are Scattered.” We are able to confirm what position we are in by looking at the stream of the Word of the Bible, and that also means that our lives, our family, our workplace, and our school are also within the stream of the covenant, and God is showing us the guidepost that our family and church must go through, through the book of Acts.
1. After Stephen’s martyrdom
1) Church in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1)
This gospel began spreading in Jerusalem in the Early Church. Jerusalem is the city where the Temple is located, as the capital of southern Judah. It is also a place that is covered in the darkness of religion. That is also where Jesus Christ was crucified, and when Stephen began proclaiming the gospel in that region, he was persecuted. Because the light of the gospel was being proclaimed in an area that was covered by the darkness of religion for so long, Satan began to throw a temper tantrum. The religion in that area was not centered on the gospel of Christ; it was concentrated on the church building, the people, or something else. They also had the laws of the Bible, of the Scripture, but the laws were not focused on the covenant of Christ; they were centered on religion and spreading the Law through their own actions and diligence. Because the light of life was being proclaimed in that region for the first time, Satan was blocking them with all of his weapons.
(1) Great persecution (Acts 8:1)
Acts 8:1 says that, after Stephen’s martyrdom, there was great persecution among the apostles and the church. After his martyrdom, we would imagine that there should be more comfort in their lives, but afterwards, there was greater persecution, and God allowed that persecution.
(2) Scattered throughout Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1)
It says, “And all except the apostles were scattered all throughout Judea and Samaria.” This persecution was God’s method to spread the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria. What is “persecution” for us? That, through something that was happening in Korea, or Europe, or Africa, we are all scattered here in America. Those were situations that God allowed.
(3) Buried Stephen
Acts 8:2 says that godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.
2) Saul
(1) Witness of Stephen’s death (Acts 7:58)
(2) Saul’s ravaging of the church (Acts 8:3)
Acts 8:3 says that, “But Saul began to destroy the church.” Saul was a person who was standing as a witness while Stephen was being stoned to death. What the Israelite leaders did, thinking they were doing for God, was actually in the wrong stream. They thought that persecuting these heretics that believed in Christ was for God.
(3) House after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison (Acts 8:3)
Saul was under the misconception that, going from house to house, dragging off both men and women, was work done for God. In reality, all of these things they were doing were for their own benefit, for the church of Jerusalem, because they thought if Christ was taken care of and the Christians went away, they could protect their own position and their benefit. No matter how much Satan works, everything is taking place within God’s allowance.
3) God’s plan
(1) Those who were scattered (Acts 8:4)
(2) Went from place to place (Acts 8:4)
(3) Preaching the gospel (Acts 8:4)
Acts 8:4 says, “Those who had been scattered.” In the Bible, those who remained and those who were scattered are incredibly important people because God is the One Who allows people to be scattered. When these people were scattered, they preached the Word wherever they went. Who are these people? These are the people who saw Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection and were in Mark’s Upper Room. They are the people who know the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection. When Jesus Christ died on the cross and resurrected on Mount Calvary, He finished all the problems of our life. He has finished everything and now He is living within us as the Lord of Life. Now, these are the people who are living with the dream and the vision of life to spread this gospel. When they held onto this dream and prayed, God gave them the filling of the Holy Spirit. These are the people who had something nobody else possessed, they had the mystery that no one else knew, these are the people who concluded with the Triune God. These are the people who had this covenant bartizan in their hearts. The path of our life is determined based on what is inside of our hearts. These people who were scattered because of the persecution actually used that as a tool to spread the gospel.
You and I are people who are scattered today because through whatever circumstance, God allowed us to be scattered, then God has gathered us in this church to proclaim the gospel, and God will allow us to scatter again for the Gentile missions. This gospel will continue to flow until the end of the world, but these things are not happening randomly. The Word that Jesus Christ promised in Acts 1:8 is being fulfilled. It says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth,” so things may seem like they are happening randomly, but it is God fulfilling His covenant within His time schedule.
2. Samaria
1) Those who are scattered – Philip
(1) 7 deacons of the Early Church (Acts 6:3)
Among those who were scattered in today’s scripture, we read about someone named Philip. Philip is one of the deacons of the Early Church. As I mentioned earlier, he is someone who had concluded his life with the gospel alone, world evangelization is his dream, and his method of living is the filling of the Holy Spirit.
(2) Man full of faith and filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:5)
In Acts, it also says that Philip is also filled with faith and the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is talking about a state where Christ is controlling all of me. We entrust everything to Christ and we are completely filled and controlled by Christ. Religion is about filling myself with myself, or emptying myself. If you let go of yourself or you empty yourself without being filled with Christ, then Satan will actually work on you more. There is this meditation movement that is so popular in America right now and it is about people emptying themselves, but because they are filling themselves with something other than Christ, they are actually being filled by Satan. There are religions that say to let go of all of your greed and all your possessions, but if they empty themselves without being filled with Christ, they will be filled instead with evil spirits. For us, we are talking about being filled with the things of God when you let go of yourself. That is a person filled with the Holy Spirit like Philip.
(3) Proclaimed the Christ (Acts 8:5)
In Acts 8:5, it says Philip proclaimed the Christ. He proclaimed the Christ in the city of Samaria. So, in today’s scripture, we can see that the covenant is flowing according to God’s time schedule, first starting in Jerusalem and Judea, and now to the north to Samaria in Israel.
2) Samaria
1) Capital of the northern kingdom of Israel
Samaria is a place that was already destroyed by Assyria, and it’s located in north Israel. The people of Samaria do not worship God; they created their own idols on their mountains, raised up their own priests, and did whatever they wanted.
(2) Samaritans became a mixed people, distinct from Jews, through Assyria’s policy of
Intermarriage
Samaria is also a region where Assyrian men came and created families with Israelite women so that their genealogy was mixed with Assyria. Then, of course, the region of Samaria was filled with idols from Assyria as well.
(3) Jews had no dealings with Samaritans (Jn. 4:9)
It says in John 4:9 that the Israelites in the south and the Samaritans in the north did not associate with each other at all because the Israelites were saying that the Samaritans are not of Abraham’s pure lineage. But in John 4, Jesus Christ goes to the region of Samaria, where no other Israelites went, and proclaims the gospel to the Samaritan woman. Jesus Christ Himself went to Samaria on His own.
The members of the Early Church ended up in Samaria because of persecution. If we do not actively go out to proclaim the gospel, then God will use any method to spread the gospel in those regions. If you look at everything in your life from the standard of proclaiming the gospel, you will be able to see the accurate timeline. Where is our “Samaria”? We are living in the small region of Los Angeles. We may be thinking of the region where I live, the culture where I live, but God wants us to go beyond that, and the way for God to allow us to go beyond that is through persecution. 2000 years ago, God used the method of persecution to spread the gospel. Now, God is using various methods like immigration and relocations. God is also moving our church within this time schedule of the covenant. And God is currently working towards all nations and the 5000 unreached tribes. So, we are able to see that through every situation, it is God’s method to spread this gospel.
3) Reaction to the gospel
(1) With one accord, paid attention to Philip’s words (Acts 8:6)
“When the crowds heard Philip proclaiming the gospel and the signs he had performed, they all paid close attention to what he said,” this was a place that had never received the gospel except for the one time Jesus Christ was there. This is a place that no Israelite could think of going, or even wanted to go, but through the persecution of Stephen and afterward, God sent the members of the Early Church to Samaria.
Because of the longstanding idolatry in Samaria, these people were worshiping demons. That is the place where many people were living, seized by evil spirits. It is also a region where they had many illnesses caused by evil spirits. They had diseases that could not be diagnosed nor cured by medicine. These are the physical diseases that are actually coming from their spiritual disease. When the gospel of life goes into people like this, some people are cured immediately, and some people are cured over time.
(2) Unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out (Acts 8:7)
(3) Many who were paralyzed or lame were healed (Acts 8:7)
In Acts 8:7, “For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.” Even now, there are regions where the gospel has never entered. In America, it might look like there are many churches, but those are just church buildings; there are still many places that have still not received the gospel. There are also many elderly people who may not have heard the gospel, but their children and the next generation have yet to hear the gospel. Because these people have never heard the gospel, they are following the idols and values that Satan has placed in them through American culture, and there are many people who are even at the point of mental and physical illness because of these evil spirits that are possessing them. When these evil or impure spirits were cast out, many who were paralyzed or lame were healed, so there was great joy in that city.
The gospel must enter for us to have joy. The gospel must enter and God’s Kingdom must be established in order for us to receive true joy.
3. Samaria
1) Simon
And there was one person who was influencing the region of Samaria. Acts 8:9 says there was a man named Simon. The devil conquers a region spiritually through one person, through one religion. We must break that down by the work of the Holy Spirit in order for the gospel to spread.
(1) Practiced magic (Acts 8:9)
Now, for some time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city, and this is not just talking about tricks and magic, it’s talking about, through the work of evil spirits, there was sorcery and witchcraft.
(2) Man who healed people with the power of demons
(3) Claimed to be someone great in the region (Acts 8:9)
This person was even healing other people through the works of evil spirits, and many people followed him. If somebody does that, then they will make a lot of money as well. Especially back in those times, because they did not have as many medical advances, many people were dying from sickness. Because Simon was able to heal them with the works of evil spirits, many people and money followed him.
2) Region
(1) Simon was called the power of God (Acts 8:10)
Acts 8:10 says, “All the people, both high and low, gave him their attention,” they exclaimed about Simon, “This man is rightly called the great power of God.” This is an example of how Satan completely controls a religion spiritually through a religion or one figure like this sorcerer. Close to where we are, there is the Scientology building. If you go to West Hollywood, there are these large signs that advertise Scientology. The root word of Scientology is “science,” they are a religion that claims to heal people using religion from a scientific perspective. The people spread Scientology through many celebrities, actors, and artists. Satan specifically attacks these influential celebrities and artists because they can be used by evil spirits. There are also churches in that area, too. The Scientology building is tremendous, it is big and very influential. They claim to use science, but it is actually evil spirits that are working through them, and works of healing actually take place.
(2) For a long time he exerted the influence of demons (Acts 8:11)
(3) Many people followed the power of demons (Acts 8:11)
Acts 8:11 says they followed him [Simon] because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. In the areas that do not receive the gospel, Satan uses these spiritual figures to conquer the region with his evil spirits. A few years ago, I went to El Salvador for missions, and the field was exactly like that. When I went to that field, I learned that the churches would lose all of their pastors and congregation members every two years. So, there were no people inside the church, and every pastor would give up and move somewhere else every two years. When I went to that region, exactly like today’s scripture, there were people practicing sorcery and witchcraft in every region, healing people with their potions or with their magic, and it was easier for people to go to these shamans or sorcerers rather than the hospitals, and that is the spiritual culture that has been flowing in that region for a very long time. These are people who lived in abundance because they had gathered so much wealth.
I asked one of the churchgoers in that region, I asked what these sorcerers were thinking, and this person responded, “These shamans do good things for us,” and these are people who go to church. Who cares if people go to church? If they do not receive the gospel and they are just going back and forth in a religious building, they cannot overcome the darkness in a region. Then, who is the first spiritual conqueror in this region where we are living now? We are living in what used to be Mexican territory. This is also the region where the Aztecs were doing demonic rituals and sacrifices. After the Aztecs, the Spanish people came and changed their idols into Mary. This is also the region where, through Hollywood, these demonic and evil influences are spreading spiritually through media and culture. This is where churches are rising up.
What do you think God wants here? God’s will is for us to shine the light of the accurate gospel. That is the reason why God allowed us to be scattered. Restoring the accurate gospel is the beginning of shining the light of life. We live with the gospel of Christ and we live for the gospel of Christ. For that purpose, God’s work and grace will be upon us.
3) Preaching the Word
(1) Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:12)
Just as one person, Philip, was scattered into a region where there was no gospel, we must also scatter into the regions that do not have the gospel. That is where Philip proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. Philip was not only proclaiming about the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ, but the name of Jesus Christ. The name of Jesus Christ. Through the name of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven, Satan is cast out, and those who are dead receive salvation. Children of God have the authority and right to use the name of Jesus Christ. Right now, when we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit works and evil spirits are cast out. That is when God’s Kingdom is established. The work we must do and the churches must do, and God’s will, is for us to use the name of Jesus Christ to establish God’s Kingdom in our families, our regions, our jobs, and our fields.
(2) Was baptized in faith and continued to follow Philip (Acts 8:13)
So, it says the people of the region of Samaria believed Philip and they followed him. They were baptized, both men and women, and Simon himself believed and was baptized. What is “baptism”? A “baptism” means, by going into the water, it represents the death of my old self. The “me” that lived before Christ has now died in the water with Christ, and when we come out of the water, it represents our rebirth with the new life of the gospel. That is the baptism we received. There is a reason why God allowed you and I to be scattered in this region and in this field. It is God’s method to fulfill the Word of God’s covenant.
(3) Seeing signs and great miracles, he was amazed (Acts 8:13)
What is the difficult persecution in your life? If you hold onto the covenant of proclaiming the gospel in that situation, then all of it will change into blessings. In order to do that work, you must save yourself every day. How can I save myself? I must have a very close relationship with the life of Jesus Christ. Then, my spiritual state will become very normal. If our spiritual state is distant from God, then we are spiritually struggling. Or, if our spirit has nothing to do with God, then we are spiritually dead. If your spiritual state is dead or weak, then we cannot have a normal state of mind. The Spirit of God saves us and also saves our mental state and everything else in our life. That is how you save yourself and the entire universe every morning.
We save the field we are going to later that day, through prayer, by establishing God’s Kingdom there. We go into the field every morning, holding onto the vision of establishing God’s Kingdom upon all the people I’ll meet and the work that I’ll do that day. In the evening, I dream about the people who will receive the gospel or stand within the covenant, and I make a masterpiece. Inside of that stream, our students must receive the answer of specialization through their studies, because their specialization must be related to their field and saving the field. Students must prepare their specialization, praying about the field they will save in their future. They must also go forward, thinking about the system to create to continue that salvation.
It’s the same thing for prayer, 300%. In the morning, you concentrate and receive strength through prayer, and next, the prayer that discovers God’s blessing through all of your work and the people you meet, and in the evening, it is a prayer that is able to make a masterpiece with all of the people whom you’ve met. I believe that God has prepared these answers of 300% and will guide us towards that.
Conclusion
1. Persecution is God’s way of going to other cultures
In conclusion, the persecution and the problems and crises that we cannot even imagine are God’s method for us to go into a different culture. That is where God uses those who are filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with faith, those who are scattered.
2. Those who are scattered, filled with the Holy Spirit, and full of faith
If the direction of our life is aligned with proclaiming the gospel to the regions that have never heard the gospel, then we will be led by the Holy Spirit. I am a scattered one; God has sent me as a scattered one to spread the gospel where I am. If we study and work and plan within the field that has no gospel in order to proclaim the gospel there, then we will be aligned with God.
3. Preaching the gospel in places that do not have the gospel
Even right now, God is guiding us to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth, exactly according to His promised covenant. If you look at yourself, our church, this region, from the perspective of the fulfillment of the covenant, you will see the time schedule accurately. I bless you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you will enjoy the greatest blessing of the scattered one throughout the week.
Message Prayer
Let us pray together.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we pray You will give the blessing of 30-, 60- and 100-fold upon the offering we have given, and everywhere this offering is used, the gospel may be spread. We sincerely desire that everywhere this gospel is spread, the forces of darkness and Satan may be broken down and the Word of God may bring true joy into this world. We pray that You will bless this offering so that wherever it is used, the gospel will spread like a river flowing into the field, to bring true life and true joy. We pray all of this in the name of our living Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Announcements
Local Church News
1. Please continue to pray for the purchase of our church building.
2. Departing from Korea on July 28 and arriving in the U.S. on August 8.
3. Church Supplies Purchase – Hyojung Lee, Deacon Esther Kwa
4. Kitchen Gas Purchase – Elliott and Cameron
5. Church offering (Venmo): @Antiochmissionchurch
PARA News
1. WRC- Korea, July 29 – August 6
2. Three adults and three Remnants participate.
3. We had a Remnant Day.
Closing Prayer and Benediction
The Lord’s Prayer