Listen Now!
July 19, 2019 Acts 8:18-25 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.
CONSIDER THIS Yesterday we met Simon the Sorcerer. He provides us a good case study. Here’s what most interests me about today’s text. He thought they wanted or needed his money; that he could buy the Holy Spirit. He didn’t realize God wanted his heart. Watch Peter’s response:
Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”
The late great Methodist revival leader, E.M. Bounds once said, “The Church is looking for better methods. God is looking for better men.” (better said, “better people.”) Simon the Sorcerer was in search of a better method for his sorcery. God was in search of a better man in Simon.
For the past twenty years I have served the mission of Asbury Theological Seminary. We have a very unusual and unique mission. We are “a community called to prepare theologically educated, sanctified, Spirit-filled men and women to evangelize and spread scriptural holiness throughout the world through the love of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit and to the glory of God the Father.”
Look at the progression—theologically educated, sanctified, Spirit-filled. While it is not a neat and tidy process, there is a sequential dynamic of being informed, reformed, and infused. We tend to want to skip the middle movement of being sanctified, or re-formed. The Holy Spirit wills to do his work in us before he does it through us. We must grow in a mature expression of the fruits of the Spirit, which is the work of sanctification, before we can move into a mature expression of the gifts of the Spirit, which comes through continually being filled. All of this works to the end of the Spirit’s work, which is to evangelize and spread scriptural holiness throughout the world.
Did Simon the Sorcerer get with the program and become Simon the Servant of the mission of Jesus in the world? We don’t know, but because of Peter’s bold invitation to repent and reform his way, we know he had a shot at it.
Theologically trained, sanctified, Spirit-filled—this is the sacred ambition of the Word of God and may I dare say, the bold ambition of the Daily Text. It’s our way of bringing the seminary to you. After all, the little known meaning of the word seminary is . . . wait for it . . . Seedbed!
THE PRAYER COME HOLY SPIRIT!
THE QUESTIONS How do you see this sequence of the Spirit’s activity in your life—informed, reformed, infused? Does it ring true to your experience?
For the Awakening,
J.D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com
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The post The Church Searches for Better Programs; God Searches for Better People appeared first on Seedbed.
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