After Stephen was killed by stoning, open persecution broke out against the Church and most of the believers scattered into Judea and Samaria while the apostles remained in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem church was the first church plant in history and it became the model for every church planted since that time.

The Hellenistic Jew Philip, one of the first seven deacons, was also the first serial church planter in history. His first success was in a city in Samaria. The Holy Spirit enhanced Philip’s preaching with healings and deliverances – useful in Samaria where people put a lot of emphasis on the supernatural.

Before Philip arrived in Samaria people followed a sorcerer named Simon who amazed them with his magic tricks. They actually called him The Great Power of God, and Simon accepted it even though he must have known that God had nothing to do with his sorcery.

Philip healed and delivered people, but he also led them to Christ.

“When they believed 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.” Acts 8:12-13

The Church is Planted in Samaria

Philip opened a whole new field to the Gospel in Samaria. When the apostles heard about it in Jerusalem, they sent Peter and John to see what was happening. They found sincere converts who loved Jesus, but hadn’t experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit yet. “Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” Acts 8:17

Simon, the former sorcerer, wanted the ability to impart the Holy Spirit to people too, so he offered to pay Peter and John to teach him how to do it. Peter rebuked him for thinking he could buy this gift from God.

“Peter answered: ‘May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! . . . 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.” Acts 20-23

The Holy Spirit gave Peter the gift of discernment and he was able to perceive the sin that motivated people. He saw Ananias and Sapphira’s secret deceptions, and he saw the sin in Simon the Sorcerer’s heart. Fortunately, Simon quickly repented, confessed, and asked for deliverance from his wickedness.

“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.” Acts 8:25

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

While Peter had the gift of discernment, Philip definitely had the gift of evangelism. No sooner had he gotten the church in Samaria underway than God deployed him to a new location to meet with a man who was traveling back to Africa from Jerusalem.

The apostles and evangelists probably walked everywhere they went and it was often twenty to a hundred miles between destinations. The Holy Spirit timed Philip’s journey so perfectly that he was able to meet a man riding in a chariot at exactly the right moment.

“Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Philip asked.

‘How can I,’ he said, ‘unless someone explains it to me?’

So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him” Acts 8:30-31

The Ethiopian was reading the description of the Messiah in Isaiah 53. He asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Acts 8:34

Philip began with that very Scripture and told the man the good news about Jesus. He told him about baptism, too, and the Ethiopian wanted to be baptized right away. When they drove by some water, the Ethiopian stopped the chariot and stepped into the water where Philip baptized him.

Philip and this African man might never have met if it had not been for Jesus. But because of the Savior, Philip the Jew embraced an Ethiopian Gentile in the waters of baptism.

Saul Meets Jesus

The young Pharisee Saul was fired up and “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” after Stephen’s death. (Acts 9:1) He went to the high priest and got letters permitting him to visit synagogues in Damascus, Syria, and find Christ followers who had fled there to escape persecution. He planned to arrest them and bring them back to stand trial before the Sanhedrin — with a death sentence the likely outcome.

“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’” Acts 9:3-4

Saul knew the Lord was speaking to him, but what a shock for Saul when he learned that the Lord’s name was Jesus! And it was an additional shock to realize that the believers Saul was persecuting were part of Jesus’ body on earth.

Jesus didn’t say, “Follow me” to Saul; he simply gave him his first assignment and Saul obeyed. In that moment Jesus got his twelfth apostle, the one who filled the place Judas Iscariot left empty.

Saul’s Conversion

Saul was struck blind for three days by this encounter with Jesus, and he spent the time in Damascus fasting and praying. Meeting Jesus had turned Saul’s life upside down.

As he prayed Saul saw a vision of a man named Ananias who was going to put his hands on him and restore his sight. Saul had to wait and hope for Ananias’s obedience because Ananias had every reason not to help a man who had come to Damascus to arrest him.

Ananias hesitated to go to Saul, but the Lord said, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” Acts 9:15-16

Ananias obeyed the Lord and went to find Saul.

“Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord – Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here – has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.” Acts 9:17-19

Saul Begins to Preach

Saul’s faith in Jesus was new, but with his deep knowledge of the Scriptures he was quickly able to prove that Jesus was the Messiah, so he began to preach the good news about him. The Jews in the Damascus synagogue were furious with Saul for following Jesus and wanted to kill him, but with the help of some friends he got away.

“His followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.” Acts 9:25

He traveled back to Jerusalem and tried to join the church, but the disciples were afraid of him. They didn’t believe Saul had really become a Jesus follower – until Barnabas took some time to learn the story of his conversion and hear about his preaching in Damascus. On Barnabas’s recommendation, they let Saul stay among them, and he began to preach in Jerusalem.

It wasn’t long before Saul made enemies by talking and debating with Hellenistic Jews. They tried to kill him, so the believers took Saul to Caesarea where he caught a ship back home to Tarsus.

“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.” Acts 9:31

Peter Heals and Raises the Dead

There were soon small churches all over Judea and Samaria, and Peter traveled often to visit them. In the town of Lydda God used Peter to heal a paralyzed man named Aeneas, and in Joppa Peter raised a dead woman back to life. These miracles in Jesus’ name led many more people to accept him as their Savior.

God did extraordinary numbers of miracles from time to time throughout the Bible. We read about them in Exodus, when he brought Israel out of Egypt, and again when we read through the lives of the prophets Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings. The Lord chose to perform many, many miracles when the Church was born, and sometimes people wish he would do that today.

God still does miracles, but perhaps not as frequently as he did in the early church. Believers today have the biblical record of God’s miracles and the Lord expects us to believe what we learn about him there. We walk by faith, not by sight, and the Lord loves us for that because,

“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for . . . And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:1,6