Signs or Saviour | Disruptive Presence 31

In which John and David explore the arrival of the gospel in Samaria. Chapter 8 of Acts shows the church breaking through boundaries that might have even surprised them. As Jesus hinted in John 4, some interesting and challenging things will happen when the church allows the Spirit to disrupt more of their ideas and boundaries.

Episode 88 of the Two Texts Podcast | Disruptive Presence 31

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Transcript

 Transcript Autogenerated by Descript.com

[00:00:00] John: Wow, David, it's great to be back. And we left our last podcast on a just explosive moment of saying, Saul just go into overdrive against the people of the way dragging them. Out of their houses, male and female. Great point that you made. If you missed the last podcast, you must listen to it even for the last five minutes. 

[00:01:10] It was fabulous. That lovely, lovely thought. And Paul Saul, of course, as we see him here, who will become known as Paul Ravaging the church. And so we are, we're sort of picking up this, this sort of the result of this ravaging type moment that is happening. We know that the believers have been scattered or sewn into the locality, and it's like, now Dr. 

[00:01:34] Luke starts to give his commentary on that scattering from verse four. So do you wanna read from verse four into the, into the rest of the chapter? And, and and we'll see where. 

[00:01:44] David: Yes. I, I do. And, and I wanna say something just before I read it, John, because I, I, I think Luke is being wonderfully, wonderfully poetic to lead us into this story. So, If everybody, and you alluded to it just then, but just keep it in our minds. The end of verse three, of Acts chapter eight, going from house to house. 

[00:02:03] He dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. So hold that from house to house. Dragged off both men and women. Then the next, the very next verse that you have in, in. He reads like this. Now, there, those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word right. 

[00:02:22] And, and I just, I just wanna hold that, that lovely, lovely little, little contrast which I think is helping you just stitch the two things together. But one, one attempt to try and kind of close everything down and one attempt to sort of, open everything back up. 

[00:02:40] But let me read from verse four, then here of Acts chapter eight. It says, those I'm reading in the new international version this time. So those who had been scattered, preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he. 

[00:03:04] Fur with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city. Now for some time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed. 

[00:03:27] This man is rightly called the great power of God. They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his so, But when they believe Philip, as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized, and he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. 

[00:03:57] John: Oh, it's just simply fabulous, isn't it? 

[00:04:00] Simply fabulous. I, I, I tell you what struck me again as you were, as you were reading just, just the way we, we left off the last podcast talking about the zealousness and passion of Saul, and it's like we've got now the zealousness and passion of these scatter. 

[00:04:20] These Soun believes, it's almost like we've got now two forms of evangelism, two forms of mission 

[00:04:27] David: Mm 
 

[00:04:28] John: going on side by side, isn't it? It's, it's a, it's a lovely sense of in one form of evangelism and mission. There is, there is the attempt, I, I know those la that those words really. Aren't strictly fitting here, but there's one sense of mission is trying to shut something down. 

[00:04:46] And the other mission is trying to open something up. Isn't it just gorgeous the way Luke does that? And you've got two expressions of zealous mission here. One destroying, one building, one stopping. Sewing and, and there's almost a sense in which as we enter into Philip and Samaria, we're wondering who's gonna win the race here? 

[00:05:07] Who's, who's gonna, who's gonna win the battle between the people of the way and Saul, and the worldview that he represents against the people of the way? 

[00:05:18] David: No, I love that, John. And I think, I mean personally, I think that's exactly what Luke is wanting you to see. I think even with that sort of notion that, Sauls imprison England and the words being proclaimed, if you were to chart it, you've got these inverse trajectories and and of course, no spoilers, but Collision course is coming and Saul is gonna lose this fight quite spectacularly, 

[00:05:44] John: Yeah. Amazing. Amazing, 

[00:05:45] David: But, but in a way that nobody at this point in this story sees coming 

[00:05:49] John: Absolutely. It just, it, it's like one of those books you read or movies your wife say, oh, I did not see that coming. That's a surprise. And if, if you're just reading, if you arrive from outer space and you were just reading this as we go, you could never imagine what was about to come round the corner. 

[00:06:05] One, one of the lovely little things that touched. In, in meeting Philip was again, I saw a beautiful contrast as you were reading and heard it again as you were reading. A lovely contrast between verses four and five. In verse four, you've got this idea of the believers, the men, and the women's scattered. 

[00:06:25] So Alo, we leaned in the scattered. So on idea, there is a, there is a sort of a randomness here, isn't there? There's sort of, they're just, they're just scattered like, like the seed in the Soar is just scattered out. But I love what it says to Philip. We're introduced to Philip this way. Philip went down. 

[00:06:43] David: Mm 
 

[00:06:43] John: I like that. 

[00:06:44] I like that sort of sense of intentionality. Philip went down to a city in Samari. Now there's no doubt that Philip is going down because he's part of the scattering. He's, he's one of the seven that we've already met in chapter six of Acts one of these amazing appointed people. That's there. And as we've reflected on earlier, only Philip and Steven get mentioned in dispatches post chapter six, but my goodness, what incredible mentions they get. 

[00:07:13] But I love this idea of, it feels to me like, like Luke is saying, okay, everybody got scattered, but Philip really deliberately, intentionally headed in a certain direction. He's going somewhere specifically, and of course, where does he go? A. In Samaria and proclaimed Messiah and in the Lucan corpus. I mean, Samaria is such an important and powerful picture and conversation in the, in the, in the narrative of Jesus himself. 

[00:07:45] David: Yes, absolutely. And I was thinking about what you were saying there in, in, in the intentionality of this, there's, there's a beautiful line in Willie James Jennings commentary on acts where he says, the disciples are yet faithful in the midst of the scattering, the scattered, preach the word. 

[00:08:03] So, so there's this kind of beautiful double level. Again, we talked about the, the, the one level of the closing down, the one level of the open and up. We've got the level of the randomness and the level of the intention. So it's like this seed is scattered but then chooses to grow where it lands. 

[00:08:20] It's it, it's, I mean, yeah, Luke just feel like he's just channeling through a lot of ideas that he's, if you've been reading his gospel and now you're reading acts, you're feeling resonancies, aren't you? 

[00:08:32] John: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It really does feel, and, and of course later on we understand Philip. Becomes a sort of a named evangelist. In fact, as far as I can tell David, and I could be wrong, he's the only sort of explicitly named evangelist in a sort of an Ephesians four 11 cent in the New Testament. 

[00:08:56] And, and it's, it feels like, okay, this is a guy that served at tables like Steven filled with a sperm with wisdom, but here he is and it feels like this is his. This is his thing. Okay. I am now off and running. It's like he's been released from the traps and he is off and he really does go for it. 

[00:09:16] He proclaims, preaches this, this gospel as a herald. So there's this general. Communicating of the gospel in verse four, this sort of bringing of good news, the, the, the, the, the, the scattered people are doing. But, but when, when Luke refers to Philip here in verse five, he, he says he preaches, he heralds, he proclaims that. 

[00:09:43] It feels, it, it feels to be more personal, more intentional, maybe more in line. Who, Philip, what Philip believes he is. Again, I could be overreading that, but there is that lovely little contrast. And in, in the English it doesn't work. But there's a nice little shift, verse four. The, the, the people preached in this sense of general proclamation of the good news, young. 

[00:10:11] Phillip preaching and you've got this sort of Caruso sort of pro proclaim feels a wee bit more, feels like we're, feels like we're being introduced to someone who, who seems to know what they're doing and really wants to do this and, and, and his experience seems to, to sort of lay that out. 

[00:10:32] David: Yes. No, absolutely. I mean, I think if you were reading John's gospel, you'd maybe see it in a different lens, but in Luke, yeah. So you've got this kind of, they, those who are scatter. Gospel the word or evangelized the word or, but then you've definitely got this very, I mean, I, I read this bit here and I just feel Paul all the way through. 

[00:10:50] I think of Paul in first Corinthians 15, but you know, they. Philip went down and proclaimed the Messiah to them. Right. It's it is, I love, I mean, this is real gospeling. Now a gospel is the news which is heralded by, here, I'm here to tell you. So I wonder, let me just uh, go back to my. 

[00:11:09] to my New Testament context classes that I used to teach. When, when you were, you were my boss back in back in those days when we were in in, in Bible college and, and seminary work together, the, I taught a, a class on, on New Testament context and one of the things that, that I used to teach my students, which you can find again a quick Google around. 

[00:11:29] So if, if . If a new Caesar came to power, a new king comes to power, what would happen is Harolds would be sent out all across the empire. And so imagine you're in Ephesus or Philip, I, or one of these places, Siki or something. And and, and all of a sudden A Herald would walk into the town square and, and actually, I mean, British listeners will have seen some of these things happen just recently with the appointment of King Charles, and you'll see some more of them at his coronation as well. 

[00:11:59] Somebody will come in and they will basically make an announcement. There is a new king, there's a new Caesar. Now you must worship him. And then there'll be a series of kind of changes that have to be brought in. This is the language that Luke is using here. This Philip has appeared in Samaria and he's like, I'm here to proclaim. 

[00:12:19] There's a new king . And but just following on your theme a little bit, John and a couple of weeks ahead from where we are right now. But just notice this intentionality continues by verse 26, right? So you have those who were scattered, went from place to place, evangelizing the word, Philip, went down to Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah. 

[00:12:41] And then in verse 26, an angel comes to Philip and says, go south.  

[00:12:46] John: Yeah. Lovely.  

[00:12:48] David: And, so, so there's real, like this, this goes from, again, sort of forgive me, random to intentional, to commissioned  

[00:12:58] John: absolutely. and, and I think, I think that Beautiful comparison shows that there is behind all of this, a strategic move of the Holy Spirit. So what we've seen a lack of up to X chapter eight is a lack of strategy to the gentile world, a lack of strategy to Samara. So there, without being unkind to, to these wonderful believers in Jerusalem and the apostles, they were not thinking strategically. 

[00:13:25] So it is the, it is the execution of Stephen that is the catalyst of this moment of scattering. And then you see this, it's almost like, okay, so Philip decides to go down to Samaria or, or up to Samaria technically, but he goes up to Samaria. But then you get this lovely moment of the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit and I, as far as a Gentile is concerned, is bringing a strategic word. 

[00:13:47] He's telling Philip to go strategically to a specific place at a specific time to meet a specific person. And it feels like this is a layup to the strategy that we're gonna see later on. And there is a definite strategic development of mission across the gentile world that ironically, of course, Saul, who becomes, Paul is very much at the heart of, so what feels like a random. is now moving rapidly to strategy. And it's interesting that Philip represents both. He represents alright, well if we're all scattering, I'll go to Samaria. It seems like it's his choice. And then it, halfway through that story, the holy, the Holy Spirit, or the Lord speaks to Philip and strategically pinpoints him to go. 

[00:14:34] And then what's interest is after that, and I know we're jumping ahead a little bit, but then Phillip makes his way from Gaza all the way up to Caesar. And that seems to be his choice. That seems to be what he wants to do again. So it's just really cool mix of, oh yeah, look, there's loads of gentiles, loads of sinners, loads of people outside the kingdom that's going any direction. 

[00:14:55] We're gonna hit one. And then you get the Holy Spirit say, no, no, there's one in particular I really want you to get. And you get this gorgeous blend between the, the, the freedom to go where you want with the gospel and then the strategic, IM impetus of the holy spread. 

[00:15:08] David: But also, let's not forget as we look at this text that this is Samaria , like this is, so, so I was just like, look at, let's just jump to a different gospel for a second. So not part of the lukin corpus, but you know, just in case this doesn't immediately spring to mind as you're driving your car or. 

[00:15:28] Doing whatever you do when you listen to John and I explore these things. John chapter four, verse seven. A Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus said to her, will you give me a drink? And the Samaritan woman said to him, you are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink? And then John gives you this little insight in case you're not tracking what's going on here. 

[00:15:51] Jews do not associate with Samaritans, right? . And then you get this gorgeous line, which I have to read, and Jesus said, Terry, if you knew the gift of God and who it is to ask you for a drink, you would've asked him and he would've given you living water. 

[00:16:04] John: gorgeous. It's gorgeous. Come on. And I, I love the fact that John nicknamed by Jesus son with thunder, partly because of his attitude to Samaritans. There is a, there is a bit of a moment where John and his brother James, like, want to toast a group of Samaritans in the power of God. And I love it. I love the fact it's John dropping those bits of. 

[00:16:27] I, I just think that is just gorgeously. Redemptive. And John is the one who just, well, let me remind you of this. And, and he includes that when, and it would've been easier for him to keep that out of the story, but he includes that in be because maybe something radicals happened in him as well in attitude towards the Samaritans. 

[00:16:46] David: but there's something then fascinating. I'm just, and I'm just being playful here and I, I mean that in a theologically, hopefully right way. So, so the conversation continues, right? And, and please go and read John four at some point after John and i's conversation today. But the woman says to Jesus, or, or depending on how you, how you want to translate that, Lord. 

[00:17:07] I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim the place where we even worship is in Jerusalem. now. So remember, let me just, I'm gonna drop back over. The gospel has just headed towards Samaria and acts that we're reading here, but listen to this from John four Woman, Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the father neither on this mountain nor in Jeru, Jerusalem. 

[00:17:33] And , and then he, he goes to this, this longer reading, you Samaritans do this, Jews do that. But then he gets to this. Time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth, for they're the kind of worshipers the father seek. God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in the spirit and truth, and I just can't help. 

[00:17:55] But if we take the, the witness of Jesus that we've got in John's gospel here, you can't help but see this is it happening, this is it. This is what John, what we, we've, you know it, it's there, isn't it? It's there. 

[00:18:09] John: it to, it totally is. And, and in fact, if you track the gorgeous John four story, right to the end, we're told many Samaritans from that town believed. 

[00:18:20] David: Mm 
 

[00:18:20] John: Because of the woman's testimony, but then it progresses that actually they didn't just believe. We no longer believe just because of what you've said, speaking of the woman, but we now have heard for ourselves and know that this man really is the savior of the world. 

[00:18:36] Wow. The Messiah. So, so you've got actually at some level, Some sort of ground is being prepared as well. Jesus himself has modeled this going and, and, and, and of course to, to link it to Philip. I think there's something gorgeous here. David, John four four said that he needed to go through some area and actually he didn't. 

[00:18:58] At, at a technical sense, Jesus could have gone the Galilee and avoid Samaria and most good Jewish boys did. So there's at least three routes to Samaria to, to Galilee from Jerusalem. And only one of them takes you through this territory. So they could have gone two routes that avoided Samaria. 

[00:19:16] So the idea that he has to go through Samaria means in the language of Jesus. There's a strategic dynamic to this. There is someone. He has to meet, and I love that little gorgeous hinted connection to Philip. Phillip went. Down to this city. He, there's there, well, you don't need to go there, but he, he feels no idea. 

[00:19:37] I do need to go there. And maybe Phillip is benefiting from that sewing that Jesus puts into the ground. Maybe there is a belief conversation that's ready to harvest in a. Dynamic way that Jesus is now referred to hearing this story. And of course we, we know that there is great joy in the city because the people receive the word from Philip. 

[00:20:01] But could some of that have been prepared by Jesus himself with these amazing words and perhaps the woman that he led to freedom that day. 

[00:20:12] David: And even the fact that at some level, We have to explain this part of the story as kind of neat. If you actually read the story, just as Luke tells it here, there appears to be no boundaries at all to going to Samaria. 

[00:20:33] John: Indeed, 

[00:20:34] David: know, Philips, there's no internal dialogue of Philip going, oh my goodness, well this is gonna be tough. 

[00:20:37] I suppose I better go there cuz Jesus called me to, which almost speaks to the power of the Holy Spirit transforming lives. It's not just that we know we have to go there, that we actually go there with almost no fanfare. It's just, Hey, this is where we're going. The Holy Spirit has actually done that healing division, the, the crashing down of those boundaries. 

[00:20:58] It's, it's 

[00:20:59] John: sure, 
 

[00:21:00] David: yeah, 
 

[00:21:01] John: and, and, and I think too, David, there might be something in the fact that it's Philip. know, we have reflected on the fact that these guys, this, these seven in chapter six, were all from a Greek context, are more comfortable perhaps with a non or an exclusively Jewish world, let's say. And isn't it interesting? 

[00:21:23] And, and later on we'll meet. A man called Barnabas in the context of Antioch. We've met Barnabas already in chapter four, but we'll meet him in the context of Antioch. And of course, Antioch is a stones throw from Barnabas's home island of Cyprus. And you think. Was Barnabas the, actually sent there and went there because he's the right type of person, is the Holy Spirit. 

[00:21:47] In the midst of this randomness and chaos is the Holy Spirit sewing Philip the Samaria because Philip is in fact the right sort of person because he doesn't maybe have some of the hangups that other people may have had in just it seems without fear, without. Without hesitancy. He goes in, it's almost like Philip has been sitting on the blocks ready to go on the gun banks and he's off. 

[00:22:15] It's like, you doesn't have to think about it. So, so I, I love that idea, which links into yours that there doesn't seem to be any barriers from the Samaritans, but it seems like there's no barriers in Philip either. Philip has no internal prejudices against this group that he goes to, and there's absolutely no hint of it in the way he, he, he behaves and preaches. 

[00:22:38] David: yes, yes. No, absolutely. I I, I think that's, that's quite quite brilliant actually. And, and that then maybe is, it allows just to jump into them what they meet when they arrive in Samaria, because on one hand we have. Verse seven and eight, which sounds quite familiar to us, we've actually seen this in the ministry of Jesus. 

[00:22:58] The advancement of the kingdom of God causes, forces of darkness and illness to be cast out. That's, Actually completely in lining with this idea of the proclamation of the Messiah. The new king has come, ergo, old kingdom stuff has to end. And so, so this is, at some level we could, we could spend some time talking about this, but our whole series that we did on miracles actually speaks to a lot of what's going. 

[00:23:30] In this, I wonder if, what's interesting for us to engage with just here is this subtle contrast. We then get around this character, Simon, who has previously been doing great things and and yet the arrival of Philip creates a sort of contrast between what we used to say about Simon and now what we see about Philip. 

[00:23:52] Do you, it seems like that's what Luke's setting up for us, isn't it? 

[00:23:56] John: It, it absolutely is. And I think it's even reinforced just slightly before when the crowds heard Phillip and saw the signs. So, so, six and seven give us the detail, but I love that. Heard and saw. Heard and saw, and of course that's exactly what you're getting with, with Simon. So, he practiced so serenity and amazed all the people and they gave him their attention. 

[00:24:24] So there's a sense in which there's a hearing and a scene as well. Being set up there. And there's a lovely play on the idea of, of they were amazed by him and he ends up being amazed by something a little bit, sort of later on in the story. So I, I, I love this. And, and of course it, it's sort of that, that comparison seems to climax in verse 13. 

[00:24:47] Simon himself believed him as baptized. Now there's a conversation we probably need to have, and he followed Philip everywhere. 

[00:24:55] David: Mm-hmm. 

[00:24:56] John: Astonished by the great signs in miracles he saw. 

[00:25:01] David: Mm-hmm. 

[00:25:02] John: So, so you, you do get this hearing and seeing idea that Philip is bringing in a proclamation and demonstration, which seems to Absolutely set up some sort of either conflict or, or contradiction of Simon's behavior of something he's saying and something he's doing. 

[00:25:23] David: I want to be . I wanna be kind to Simon and we're gonna talk to him. Oh, just be clear. Not that you're being unkind to Simon. Sorry. But I've, I've heard, I've heard a lot of sermons where Simon is really, sort of set up as the bad guy. As if, as if he's the first person and only person in history who thought I could make a bit of money out of Jesus. 

[00:25:45] Right. , so I, I wanna be kind to Simon because it definitely appears to me that Simon is caught up in the gospel, right? He, he believes and is baptized. There's there, there doesn't. There's no, there's no caveats attached to that, where that wasn't really a proper baptism or it wasn't really a proper belief. 

[00:26:02] I think what we might find when we come to talk about the situation around Simon is that he, like many of us, just hasn't quite fully plunged the depth of what God is trying to do in that situation. But, but I, I think that, The Simon story becomes quite an interesting one for us of, of what we've seen continue of, of laying down power, that boundaries are being broken religious convictions are being changed all through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

[00:26:31] And ultimately, I don't know, John, when I, when I read this Simon story, I hear my own journey in it, of this constant need to think, yes, we do have our own powers. But they're going to come face to face with the Messiah, and we then have to decide what we're gonna do with them. Are we gonna hold the boundary between Jew and Samaritan? 

[00:26:51] Are we gonna hold the boundaries between men and women? Are we gonna hold the boundaries between my power and the power of the Holy Spirit? And I don't know if that's what Luke's intending to do, but I always find myself devotionally challenged by this story because I think, my goodness, who, who amongst us. 

[00:27:09] Hasn't struggled with laying down and sacrificing what we have to God. Do  

[00:27:14] John: Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. For sure. And, and, and with that, the sort of propensity to perhaps lean into the idea that if, if, if there's a, an expression of something beyond our, our powers, a supernatural expression, that we, we often fall into the temptation or it's possible to fall into the temptation of, because something is amazing, it must be. 

[00:27:43] David: Yes. 
 

[00:27:45] John: And, and, and I do think there's an Lucas is setting up another gorgeous little contrast there because the people are amazed at Simon. They, they are paying close attention to what Philip is saying and what they see. And there's great joy because of that. And yet, yet actually Simon, whatever Simon has said and undone the people have been amazed by that as well. 

[00:28:15] And there seems to be then Luke showing us the power of. The demonstration. Absolutely. We've seen a lot of that in the book of Acts already, but also the proclamation that if the, it is the proclamation, not just the demonstration, it ultimately sets the message of the church aside. And apart from Simon and, and, and for me, this is always a little reminder, especially as someone who's come from a Pentecostal background 

[00:28:43] David: Mm 
 

[00:28:44] John: that amaz. 

[00:28:46] Our signs are not always evidence of truth and amazement in signs aren't enough without the truth. 

[00:28:56] David: Mm 
 

[00:28:57] John: So like, do we need more Am amazement in signs? Absolutely. Let's have more of that. But, but actually the, the, the Book of Acts all along the journey has intertwined proclamation with demonstration proclamation with demonst. 

[00:29:10] and it, it, the demonstration is always about taking them to a proclamation or the demonstration follows a proclamation, and Philip is following the same pattern. And, and, and I love your, your thought, which you, you nuanced out of, out of the last podcast as well. This sort of sense of he's a herald of a new king, and of course they, they refer to Simon in, in sort of the most amazing, amazing way, don't they? 

[00:29:39] This man is rightly called the great power of God. Wow. 

[00:29:46] David: Yeah. Wow. 

[00:29:48] John: So, so, there, there is a, there, there is a definite feeling in this story of a, of a, there's a new God in town, there's a new Messiah in town, there's a new message in town, and Simon is the representation of that old way. And, and this new way is now, is now invaded in his territory. 

[00:30:09] David: And I think, and this is what exactly, this is what I love about, not about his devotional impact in my own life. Not that anybody has ever called me this one is the great power , just to be clear, but. But by goodness don't, some of us think that way in our own hearts sometimes, that Hey, I'm, I'm the, I'm the thing. 

[00:30:29] And, and, and I wonder if that idea of this contrasting power, right, that a new king is in town, it's time to worship him. And Simon believes that is baptized into that, but maybe like all of us struggles with the full implications of that and struggles to direct himself appropriately because I wanna do something. 

[00:30:49] I've been, I've been excited about this since I spotted this. I think about. Four months ago and I thought eventually a moment will come and I'll get to talk about this on two texts and that moment has arrived . So, but, but there's this in the theme of what you've just raised here, right? There's this fascinating little bit, John, where it says, after being baptized, he stayed constantly with Philip and was amazed when he saw the signs in great miracles that took place, right? 

[00:31:21] John: I knew I, I knew you were going there. I knew you 

[00:31:23] David: Because I've told you about in other conversations about my love for this word, but, but the Greek word is proscar. That's there. Right? And now this word is used just a handful of times in the New Testament, right? A couple of times of. , almost like it's just used colloquially of like it means to be, it means to stay close. 

[00:31:43] Let me explain that better. First, it means to stay close to something. So at one point, like in Mark, the only time it's used in the gospels, Jesus tells the bi, the, the disciples to keep a boat close to them. , right? There's, there's one point in Acts where it talks about a soldier whose soldiers stayed close to him, right? 

[00:32:01] Paul uses. Three times. One to talk about the government staying close to the tracking of taxis. In Romans 13, the two other times that Paul talks about it, he uses them about prayer. So Romans 12, persevere in prayer, is stay close to prayer. Colossians four, he says, devote yourself in prayer. Stay close to prayer. 

[00:32:21] The rest of the time that these words, this word is used in the New Testament, is in acts. So Luke obviously likes the word, but here's what's fascinating, right? Acts one, verse 14. They were constantly devoting themselves to prayer. Right. So, oh, interesting. Fascinating here. That, that, look at what they're, they were devoting themselves to each other in prayer, right? 

[00:32:43] Acts 2 42, 2, they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship. They cross criteria. They stayed close to the apostles teaching in fellowship, right? Acts 2 46, right? Has them staying close to each other in the temple and breaking bread together, right? Act six when they. Philip, it's that we're gonna hire these people to wait tables and we are going to stay close to prayer in serving the word right. 

[00:33:11] And then the final time that it's used is here in Acts chapter eight. But the fascinating thing is that in all the other places, the focus is on teaching prayer, the word, and Simon stays close to Philip and is amazed. By the things he does. And I just love that Luke uses this word all the time for stay close to prayer, stay close to the word, stay close to the devotion of, of, of what God's called us to. 

[00:33:38] And I think Luke's just hinting at to us, Simon, stay close to the wrong thing. He does believe in Jesus. He has been baptized, but he thinks. Because of perhaps of his background that Phillips, the thing he needs to stay close to. And I think what we'll see in the next episode is that unveils a deeper problem that Simon hasn't yet been able to deal with. 

[00:34:02] John: Absolutely fantastic. And I actually, in my notes I had made for our podcast today, I, I, under verse 13, I had, is he following the savior or the signs? And, and I think that's absolutely tracks with, with my understanding, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. So he's sticking close to Philip, not maybe because of the savior. But because of the signs and the miracles and the stuff that's, well, it's always been part of his world and maybe wants to, to keep that. So I love that. Is he following the savior or the signs? Great thought, David. Great thought. 

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