Global Warming -- Thinking Green -- Acts 8:4-25

Introduction
Lately when we hear the term thinking green, we associate it with the idea of being environmentally minded.
We ask political candidates what their green initiatives are.
We want to see a company’s green policies and they even make a big deal out of those policies.
We even have slogans like think green.
But, before our current notion of thinking green, there was another idea of what it meant to think green.
Grenn is the color of money isn’t it.
Thinking of green was what Rev Ike was famous for doing with slogans like “You can’t lose with what I use.” And, “The lack of money is the root of all evil.”

Describing the Biblical Text
In our text, we have such a thinker.
He is looking for ways to buy the power of the Holy Spirit in that he could bestow that power on people.
But as an immature follower of Christ, he did not understand that the giving of the Spirit is a sovereign act of God that no man has the authority to give or withhold.
There is something interesting about Peter being herewith these Samaritans.
Let’s remember the instructions that Jesus gave in Acts 1:8.
You will be witnesses in Judea Samaria and the utter most parts of the earth.
The Judea part of the assignment was in Jerusalem.
The Holy Spirit came in power and Peter preached leading thousands to the Lord.
Peter is her is Samaria when the Holy Spirit comes in power.
In Acts 10, Peter Goes to Caesarea and the witnesses to a gentile of the uttermost parts of the earth and the Holy Spirit again came with power.
It is not accidental that Peter was there every time the spirit was poured out in a great move of God to expand the churches place on the earth.
When Jesus told Simon that his name was Peter and that on this rock he would build the church, he was pointing to Peter’s later usefulness in the process of build the church on earth.

Narrate the Contextual application
As we look at this text we see that the church was scattered.
Stephen was just martyred and followers of Jesus scattered to places like Samaria where Philip wound up.
The martyrdom of Stephen, though tragic, was essential in seeing the great commission fulfilled in the early church age.In Samaria, a number of people hearing the preaching of the gospel of Jesus believed.
There was even a man who had been known as The Great power of God because of his ability to do magic.\
I believe that this illusion could lead someone to desire “the real thing” when it comes to power.
If you live in the spotlight as a pagan, it is easy to seek the spotlight as a follower of Christ.
This is what Simon the sorcerer was experiencing in this text.
He was just thinking green like he had always done but now Peter was about to give Him a new lesson.

Life Application (thesis)
These followers of Jesus had believed and had been regenerated but the spirit had not yet fallen on them in power.
What is normative in conversion for us had not yet become the norm as it would in the fulfillment of the great commission.
Now, we receive the Holy Spirit as a result of the Grace of God leading to our mindful conversion.
When we receive Him, we receive the power of God.
Like Simon the sorcerer, our maturity hinders our recognition and our understanding of the Spiritual presence in our lives.
Why do we receive the Spirit?
There are some things we can name from the scriptures such as the earnest of our inheritance, the power of sanctification, or the, gift of our service but the ultimate answer is that when we receive the Holy Spirit, it is to Glorify the Lord.

SO WHAT!! (Outline)
There is one thing that green thinkers like to do and that is to protest.
As we consider what a spiritual life looks like, there are some things that we could protest as well.
We will discuss three of them here today.
We must protest the temptation to remain silent.
There is an old saying and a four season’s song that reminds us that silence is golden and even encouragement in proverbs that tells us that even a fool is counted wise when he remains silent.
Yet, there is a time to speak and that time is when the gospel is being shared with the lost pagan world in which we live.
Saul of tarsus and the boys who were out to stymie Christianity wanted to silence followers of Christ when they despicably murdered Stephen the Deacon.
Yet here is Philip in Samaria and he went looking for a hideout in which to stay until he could quietly sneak back to Jerusamen.
No Pastor Charlie, that is not what happened.
Look at verse 5.
Philip immediately started to proclaim Christ.
The murder of Stephen had to be in the front of His mind but so was his new faith in the Lord Jesus.

There are a lot of things in this life that can tempt us to shut down our sharing of the Gospel.
Yet, in all of life there is nothing that we have that is any more important that we communicate.
Probably one of the reasons that we don’t communicate the gospel is because it has been modeled for us incorrectly for so long.
We have been driven by decision based evangelism rather than by conversion based evangelism.
I recently read a book by Walter Chantry called Today’s Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic.
Decision based evangelism is really not the preaching of the old rugged cross.
It is selling someone a fire insurance policy.
The true Gospel calls for the wretchedness of the sin that condemns the sinner to be replaced with the grace of God accomplished in the death Burial and resurrection of Jesus that redeems the Sinner.
The gospel message has become so much like a self-help Oprah type feel good about yourself quick-fix that it gets lost in the myriad of other messages out there.
This almost deflates us because we subconsciously tell ourselves that it won’t make any difference in someone’s life so we remain silent.

Or, we fear what others might think.
Could you imagine what the Lord Jesus’ ministry would have been had he been concerned about peer pressure and the opinion of others.
That was not a consideration for Him.
Here is Philip in a strange town with strange surroundings, a place hated by the Jews and he would preach Jesus.
Whatever reasons we might have for not telling others about Christ just don’t cut it.
They all fall pale beside the example of our Lord and example of the early church.

We must protest the temptation to use our faith for our personal gain.
Maybe for us this is not really a temptation but for Simon the sorcerer it was.
And, if we are not careful we could get caught up in the nothingness of some current TV preachers who think feeling good is the gospel message.
The gospel is not about prosperity.
Salvation is not about personal security or unlocking God’s ability to give you your best day now.
The gospel is about the power of God for salvation to all who believe.
The gospel changes lives not by making us feel better but by making us better in that our lives begin to be conformed to image of God.
Simon just wanted to continue to be known as the great power of God by being able to call the Holy Spirit down on people.
That is the same message that all the “speak or create your own destiny” preachers.
You have the power over God to determine life’s outcomes and attitudes and you can tell God what he has to do for you.
We are the master and God is our servant.
That’s an enduring gospel … not!

We must protest the temptation to think we are done.
In the 1970’s things began to change in the world of candy. M&M Mars and Nestle began to grab a lot of the market share from the perpetual chocolate champion, Hershey. Things like, “N-E-S-T-L-E-S Nestles makes the very best Chocolate,” and “The milk Chocolate melts in your mouth and not in your hands,” began to pull people from the perennial leader. Hershey had to make a decision. Would they continue to let Nestle and Mars gain or would they spend some coin on advertising. They chose to advertise and came up with a simple but true yet very effective jingle, “Hershey’s is the great American chocolate bar.” But, it was not until the 1970’s that Hershey’s chocolate began advertising.
They were content to have chocolate and to sell chocolate but they did not want to market their chocolate.

We could be like that.
We could be content to have Christ and to even to grow in Christ but do we want to market Christ.
Do we want to tell others about Him?
You see, there are some here who went through the heyday of this church in 1962 and they think they are done.
There are some who have simply become content with knowing Christ and they think they are done.
There are some who are very busy doing everything under the sun and they just want to be done.
The truth of the matter is we are never done.
Look at verse 25
In returning to Jerusalem, the disciples of Jesus simply went back home and unpacked and got on with life.
No, they stopped in every little village and town and did what?
They preached the gospel.
They were fulfilling what Jesus told that woman at the well.
The hour had come when Jerusalem did not matter any more.
The gospel was to preached to all people and the word was to be spread to the uttermost parts of the earth.

How are we doing?
Have we made that our mission?
We are not done and we can prove it by simply obeying Christ.
The 1960’s were just that, the 1960’s.
The 70’s, 80’s and 90’s were decades of decline but if we were faithful to make converts then we cannot call those years failing years. And even if we numerically increased until 1962, if those were decisions and not converts, we cannot call those years successful.
Our job then is to live the life empowered by the Holy Spirit to the Glory of God seeking to convert people to faith in Jesus Christ.