TITLE: Faith on the Fringe (Acts 8) The Fringe of Samaria (8: 4-8,12,14-17, 25) • The Samaritans had the wrong Scripture and wrong Messiah. • The Apostles had a wrong heart towards the Samaritans. • The Apostle John wanted to burn down a Samaritan city (Luke 9:54). • Peter and John go to Samaria to inspect and confirm their faith. • After prayer, the apostle's witnessed a “Samaritan Pentecost!” • Jewish Christians and Samaritan Christians were brothers/sisters in Christ. • The Samaritans needed to affirm that true salvation was through Jesus. Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, predicted in the Jewish Scriptures. How do you know if a group is a cult (or new religious movement)? IF the group denies one or more essentials of the Christian faith. IF the group’s leaders are not under the authority of the Bible (or have their own Scripture. The cults are the unpaid bills of the church. When the church does not disciple believers in Christ, believers can be easily lead astray by the cults. The Fringe Magician (8:9-13, 18-24) • Simon, the “Great one” was sorcerer/magician. The people may have thought Simon was an incarnation of God! • Simon “believed” and was baptized, but his belief was in Philip’s power to do miracles – not in Jesus. • “Simony” is using money to buy church authority. • The Bible condemns sorcery, witchcraft, and magic. • 2 Corinthians 6:15, “What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?” • Simon never repented, and went deeper into the dark side of the occult. • Peter stopped Simon, and did not permit the early church to be led astray by a magician. • Tradition says Simon became a leading gnostic heretic. What is sorcery or the occult? Every branch of the occult teaches three lies: Be your own God. Create your own reality (using the force). There is no death. These are the same old lies of the devil in Gen. 3. The Fringe of Africa (8:26-40) • The eunuch was a treasurer/diplomat who worked for an African Queen. • He was from Ethiopia (ancient Cush). 750 miles from Jerusalem. • Philip sat with him in his carriage and explained that the prophet Isaiah was talking about Jesus. • Tradition says the eunuch shared the Gospel and started the African Church, until he suffered martyrdom in Arabia. • In The African American Guide to the Bible, Harold Felder says, “There were black Christians in the body of Christ from the very beginning of Christianity.” • Some people we run into, just need someone to sit with them and explain the Gospel. CONCLUSION • God used persecution to take the Gospel out of Jerusalem to people on the fringe. • Thanks to the Holy Spirit filling Philip the Evangelist, the early church is now Jewish, Samaritan and African. • Thanks to Peter’s strong rebuke, the church is protected from magicians. Real miracles will continue. No magic was allowed. • The early church defeated two of the leading works of the devil – the evils of racism and sorcery.