 Okay. Good morning and welcome. Let's begin with the word of prayer. I want to request any of us to please lead in prayer. So feel free. Am I audible? Yes, ma'am. Am I audible? Okay, sure. Okay, let's pray. Our great family, Father V, thank you for this beautiful day and beautiful morning, Father God. You include your presence, Father God, towards us. Father God, this time, we just to praise you, just to worship you, Father God. We choose to give thanks to you, Father God, for all of us, Father God, for all our lives, Lord. As we are going to, this time, as we are going to learn your word, Father God, from Book of Acts, Lord. We pray that, Lord, just the Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us, Father God, so that we will learn the deeper things, Father God. And we will go deep and take, Father God, in your truth, Father God, and we will pursue more of you, Father God. We will know you in a more, in a more way, Father God. And we ask you, Lord Jesus, Father God, you move around us, Father God. We commit all this time to your mighty hand, Jesus. Please submit, Father, to your mighty hand, Father God. Let's use her in a mighty way, Father God, so that whatever the world will come, it will come through the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Jesus. We commit all things to your mighty hand. And we ask this prayer in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Abinash. As we are aware, we've been, you know, looking at the Book of Acts and covered up to Acts 7. So today we are going to do Acts 8. We'll do it slightly differently. And by that I mean, we will read through the entire passage. And then I will kind of, you know, share from it. Not that I'm going to summarize it and make it very short. But wherever the emphasis required, scriptures in those places, there'll also be an emphasis. The easy part about Acts 8, 9 and maybe even 10 is it's more like it's already, you know, been narrated like a story by Luke. But more so in these passages, we can see different events unfolding. And so it's easier to follow. So I again require volunteers. It's a rather long passage, Acts 8. So maybe one of us can read, you know, Acts 8 and verse 1 to 20. And the next person can read from verse 21 all the way to verse 40. A little slowly so the class can understand what is going on. So, yes. Now Saul was sent into his death. At that time, a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the region of Julia and Samaria, except the apostles. And the divine man carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As Saul saw, he made havoc of the church and drained every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore, those who were scaring them everywhere, preaching the word, then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing miracles which he did. Some Korean spirits crying with love came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was a great joy in that city. But there was a certain man called Simon who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave his place to the greatest, saying, this man is a great power of God. And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip, as he preached the good, as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. And since Simon himself also believed and when he was baptized he continued with Philip and was amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles who were Jerusalem heard us, Samaria had received the word of God. They sent Peter and John to them, who when they had come, then prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet he had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that she was delaying on one of the apostles, hence the Holy Spirit was given. He offered them men saying, give me this power also that anyone on whom I already have may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him, your money perished with you because you thought the gift of God could be precious with money. Thank you Asha. We would require another volunteer to read from verse 21 till verse 40. Can I go? Yes please Charles. I'm using another version. 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 father programmed the word of the Lord and disfied about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages. Now an angel of the Lord said to Phil, go forth to the Lord, the desert Lord that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he started out. Then his way, he made an Ethiopian innock, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake, which means queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship. And on his way home was sitting in his chariot, reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The spirit told Philip to go to that chariot and stay near it. Then Philip returned to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. 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. This is the passage of the scripture the innock was reading. He was a little like a ship to the slaughter and as a lamb before its share is silent. So he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation, he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth. The innock asked Philip, tell me please, who is the prophet talking about himself or someone else? Then Philip began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news about Jesus as they tripled. Along the road they came to some water and the innock said, look, here is what the heart can stand in the way of my being baptized and he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then Philip and the innock went down and put the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the spirit of the road suddenly took Philip away and the innock did not see him again but went on his way releasing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea. Amen. Amen. Thank you Charles for reading the remaining portion of Acts 8. So we will get started as we have already seen the events continue from the death of Stephen. So we saw earlier on in Acts 6 that there was a selection of seven volunteers to serve the church in their time of need. The challenge which the apostles had was the distribution of food to the Greek speaking widows and so they picked people who not just had the skill to meet the need but they were also people with spiritual capacity so we saw that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. There was a good report and these were people of wisdom and so eight of these people were chosen and the situation was taken care of. And later on, while the church is growing, something else that we are noticing is that the opposition against the people of God is going to the next level. Earlier the apostles, we saw from the healing of the lame man at the gate, beautiful, we saw that there was opposition after opposition against the apostles. Earlier it was Peter and John and later it was all the apostles who were questioned but God had his own way. Initially they were threatened and they were left. The second time there was a word from a learned man called Gamaliel and that was well received by the council. And so they decided that if this is a work of God then nobody can stop it and which is how the apostles were actually let go. And we saw that from that time onwards the persecution is becoming sort of stronger against the believers. Stephen, he was questioned, he was accused wrongly and he gave a defense for himself and we saw the wisdom of God upon a man like Stephen that even the people who were questioning him, they couldn't say anything and which is why they got frustrated. And they made this choice to kill Stephen, so they killed Stephen. So that's where we stop. Now after the death of Stephen there seems to be the mention of a man called Saul who apparently was leading the killing of Stephen. So here again in Acts 8 verse 1 it says, Saul was consenting to his death. So it shows us that this man Saul, we've seen that he was part of that entire team that questioned Stephen but also that whatever Saul did he did it very willingly. So he was consenting to the death of Stephen. It wasn't a forced thing so it just goes to show us how zealous Saul was for the things that he believed in. So obviously he believed that Stephen and the people of his congregation were against the Jewish God and the Jewish traditions and that's why Saul was very angry and you can see that even in the rest of this verse 1 till verse 3 you can see that because we are told that this man Saul was consenting to the death and he was part of a great persecution that arose against the church. Now when persecution arose we might think that the work of God will stop but see the mercy of God and the goodness of God even in tough times scripture tell us that from Jerusalem what happened persecution started people probably fled that place to save themselves but they ended up being scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. So the apostles stayed back in Jerusalem but the believers spread across the regions of Judea and Samaria and therefore what can we expect we will see as we go forward that these believers took the gospel with them. So the gospel was not limited to Jerusalem but it spread across the entire region. So we thank God that persecution in itself is not the end of the gospel. All this happened 2000 years ago and here we are today. We are all people of different nations, different tribes, different tongues continuing to speak the truth of Jesus talking about the redeeming work of the cross because no persecution that has ever risen against the body of Christ has been able to put a cap on the gospel the way Jesus commissioned the believers and said go into all the world and preach the gospel even up until today the gospel is being shared. And as Gamaliel said if this is the work of God nobody can stop it. So even persecution could not stop the work of God. People would have thought the council and the authorities would have thought that they can threaten the believers and that will stop their enthusiasm but it was not a human enthusiasm but it was really the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the believers that they got scattered but that resulted in the blessing of the church anyhow. So even persecution in a way led to the spreading of the gospel and thereby a blessing to the kingdom of God. So now believers are in Judea, they are in Samaria, there are open doors in new places to talk about Jesus and then later again we continue to read it says devout men carried Stephen to his burial. So there were some Jews who probably understood what Stephen was sharing. So not all Jews were against Stephen or maybe even the believers but there were some who were against, there were devout Jews who helped in the burial and they were quite sad about the death of Stephen. Once again there's a mention of Saul and it says he made havoc of the church. So the zeal of Saul, you see again the zeal of Saul against the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul later on makes mention of the zeal of his in Philippians 3, I think it's verse 6 and by nature, by personality seems to be somebody who's passionate no matter what is on his plate. So earlier he was a passionate persecutor and later he was a passionate apostle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. How passionate was he in the persecution? It says dragging of men and women committing them to prison. So generally even when it comes to punishing those who believe contrary to the authorities, they would have some compassion on women but you notice Luke writes dragging of men and women. That tells us that Saul was brutal in his persecution. He believed fully in what he was doing. He didn't care what gender you are, who you are, maybe even the age but it shows us that he was a very convicted persecutor. It also says house to house, entering every house, entering every house. So then you see how passionate he was about dealing with those who believed in this Jesus. So that's a little bit about Saul and later we have the introduction of Philip as a minister of God. Earlier also the name of Philip is mentioned in Acts chapter 6. There we see him as one of those volunteers. So our idea about Philip is he is a godly person that he is a committed person in the church. No wonder he was chosen to serve in the distribution of food. But after that there's a little bit more that we learn about the volunteers. We learnt about Stephen, what a testimony. He is just a volunteer. Nothing more is mentioned in the Bible about Stephen. Similarly at this point Philip is a volunteer. So what is Philip doing? We will read about that. Verse 4. Now again it says those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. See the flip side of persecution. It caused people to go everywhere. Wherever they went they preached the gospel and Philip chose to go down to the city of Samaria. And what did he do? He preached Christ to them. So notice how preaching Christ or sharing the truth of Jesus was so integral to every believer. Earlier it says those who were scattered. So our assumption is there must have been hundreds, thousands of believers who probably got scattered. But it was just part of their lifestyle. Wherever they went they preached the word. And similarly Philip being one of those believers he went to Samaria. He preached Christ to them. And scripture tells us multitudes with one accord he did the things spoken by Philip. So people in Samaria heard the word of God. What else happened? They also saw miracles it says. So hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. So Philip began to, I wouldn't say began the ministry in Samaria. Other people may have gone ahead of him and done some ministry work. But there was some prominent work which Philip did in Samaria. Now what is the importance of this place called Samaria? Samaria was known as a lower community of mixed race Jews. Because apparently the Assyrians had taken over and they had intermarried. So the Samarians were no longer respected by the pure Jews. So even at the time when we read about the Lord Jesus walking past Samaria and meeting the woman at the well in Samaria. There was an inhibition that Jews generally had towards the Samaritans. So this was the inhibition that they were not a pure breed so to speak. Among the Jews there were all these classes and ways of honoring or dishonoring groups of people. So the Samaritans were a group which was not well respected. But see here what did Jesus say? In Acts 1.8 you shall receive power and the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. So you notice that God promised for the Gospel to touch the ends of the earth. God promised that beyond the Jews the Gentiles would hear the Gospel, others would hear the Gospel. And it's beginning to happen, it's actually beginning to happen. This was not an easy thing before the Lord Jesus' death and his burial and resurrection. But after the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus we see that the covenant was opened up to the non-Jews as well. So it's a very beautiful thing that ministry is being done in Samaria. Samaria which was a so-called rejected community of people as far as the Jews were concerned. But for God there's no rejected community. All are created in his image and God loved the people of Samaria. So no wonder people when they were preaching Christ to them and Philip went in and did some prominent ministry. So what was part of his ministry? Just like Jesus, remember earlier in Acts 1 he said Jesus began to preach, teach and he also performed his healing ministry. So there was a preaching and a demonstration of the work of God. So that was the proper kind of ministry which Jesus did and the apostles followed in the same method of doing ministry. So what is Philip doing here? Philip preached Christ to them and then it says what the multitudes he did him, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. So Philip is preaching but Philip is also demonstrating the kingdom of God and then we read on verse 7. Unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed and there was great joy in that city. So notice how the ministry is so similar to the kind of ministry that Jesus was doing. Preaching, demonstrating, part of demonstrating healing, deliverance. Philip's ministry is very very similar and people are experiencing what is being done by the power of God. And notice verse 8 over there, very beautiful verse it says and there was great joy in that city. So how does the gospel impact cities of the world? How should it impact cities of the world? When the gospel comes firstly the truth of God's word reaches us, reaches our every part of our being that now we are redeemed because of the work that Jesus has done for us. We are saved, we have salvation in Christ Jesus and not only that the release of God's power there must have been people who were sick and bound by sicknesses. There must have been people who were oppressed because of the works of demonic powers but here is Philip coming and preaching the truth. So the truth has hit them and not just that the power of God has hit the city. So what is the result of that? There was great joy in that city. So whenever we think of missions, whenever we think of preaching the gospel somewhere, remember this. As Philip ministered in the region of Samaria there was great joy in that city. So our ministry brings about great joy when we preach Christ and we demonstrate the works of the kingdom of God. So as these things are happening we will see the response of an individual as well. And scriptures point out that there was a man by the name of Simon. So what is so special about this Simon? We are told in verse 9, he practiced sorcery in the city and how well did he practice sorcery? He was not just any sorcerer, scripture also tells us astonish the people of Samaria claiming that he was someone great. And here is Simon who is probably one of those ace sorcerers doing his black magic, witchcraft, depending on the demonic powers for his supernatural works. So he is doing it at a great level and his impact seems to be really great because we are told he astonished the people. So demonstrations of the supernatural through the life of Simon, it was incredible. To what extent was it great? Verse 10 we are told that they all gave heed from the least to the greatest saying, this man is the great power of God. This happens isn't it? So when people see supernatural power in and through somebody's life, they don't just honor that person. They might call that person God, they might call that person, you know, you are a force of God or you are the ability of God. In this case they have named him the great power of God. Man is the great power of God. So in Samaria, Simon is an influential, if you want to say, you know, religious or spiritual, spiritual, individual. Now what happens to Simon? But when they believed Philip as he preached verse 12, so Simon is doing all these wonderful things. But Philip comes and he preaches and when Philip preaches, okay, and scripture also says that both men and women were baptized. So his ministry was quite effective. People heard him and they came to faith in Jesus and that is why men and women were baptized. So Philip is doing good ministry. Verse 13, then Simon himself also believed. Now think about this. Here is a man who is, you know, who is exercising and practicing spirituality and so much in touch with the supernatural, you know, out of the wrong source. Of course, you know, we know that. But even such a man who is exposed to the supernatural believes Philip for the word that Philip brings. Okay. And what else do we see? Simon was baptized and he continued with Philip. That goes to say that Simon was born again. The sorcerer was born again. The sorcerer also wanted to become a disciple, which is why he continued with Philip and notice the last part of verse 13. What did we say about Simon? He was so well-versed in the supernatural that he was called as the man, the great power of God. But last part of verse 13 says, Simon was amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were done. So something for us to learn here. You know, many times we look at supernatural demonstrations and some of them we know are in the name of Jesus. Some of them we know are from the kingdom of God. But we also look at the supernatural demonstrations which come from the kingdom of Satan and, you know, the demonic world. And we say, look, even Satan is able to do miracles, even Satan is able to do the supernatural. But there is something greater about the supernatural which is released from the kingdom of God. Why am I saying it? From Simon's story, from Simon's, you know, the way Simon reacted to what he observed, he was already great in the supernatural. But after he becomes a believer, he sees Philip moving in miracles and he was amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were done. So the power of God is so much greater than the power of the demonic world. Yes, the demonic world can demonstrate a little bit here and there, but that's about it. You know, it can never compare to the supernatural power of the Almighty God. So that is something, you know, we must recognize. And this is nothing new because even when we see the example of Moses, do you recall? He went back to the palace of Pharaoh and the sorcerers competed with him. But in the end, what happened? The snake which came out of the rod of Moses, it ate up all the other snakes of the sorcerers. Just to show that the power of God is way greater than anything that the demonic world can produce. So here is a sorcerer who is touched by the gospel. Okay, so from now on, we'll also begin to see different kinds of people. You know, some influential, some very simple, some in, you know, government offices and, you know, some in business. So people of different strata of society responding to the gospel and how the gospel is not limited to only one class of people. Right, we already saw that it's gone to the Samaritans. So that is a big deal in itself. Okay, and also various kinds of people being touched by the gospel. So in this case, Simon, an influential spiritual man becomes a believer. He himself is amazed by the supernatural that Philip demonstrates. Okay, now move on verse 14, what happens? Now Simon, we said, is he a believer? Definitely because he believed so clearly Luke wrote and then what does he say? He was baptized. Okay, and he follows Philip wherever he's going. So he's growing in the things of God. Now what happens to Simon and his faith? That is what we are going to read. Just before that, we see in verse 14 that when Peter and John or the apostles in Jerusalem heard about the ministry of Philip, they sent Peter and John. So the apostles heard and they sent Peter and John. So again, you see this as a pattern in the book of Acts, you know, wherever there are believers, it's great. It's wonderful, but something more needs to be done. Remember in the Great Commission, we've been asked to make disciples of all nations. So even as a young believer for me, the only thing that I used to want is to see people saved. So I'll be very happy when I hear, oh, so and so has accepted Christ. So and so is now a believer. They are now saved. And that seems to be the end of what we expect of people. But in the Bible, just when people get saved, the apostles seem to look at it as the beginning. It was never the end. So when we go somewhere and there is an evangelistic work which is done, evangelistic ministry takes place. That's not the end. It's the beginning. So here is Philip in Samaria. The report would have gone to the apostles in Jerusalem that people in Samaria have accepted Christ. Now they would have said, oh, great, wonderful, you know, clapped and all that. And what did they do? Did they just sit back and relax and stay on in Jerusalem? No, they realized that they have more work to do. So the apostles now sent Peter and John, two more apostles so that these new believers in Samaria can now be discipled. So you will see throughout the book of Acts that as much as evangelism is important, discipleship is also equally important. We will also see the deliberate effort of church planting. So this is technically the beginning of the church in Samaria. So generally, they would just call the church of a region. So church planting is taking place. So where do we get all these principles that we practice today? It's coming from the practices of the early church, the early believers. So as soon as they heard that in a given region there are believers, that was the beginning of the journey of the church of Samaria. So what did the apostles do? Come on, Peter and John, get ready, take your bus flight, whatever, go there. Verse 15, they came down, Peter and John, they came down to do what? It says, they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. So do you see a pattern here? Very much because every time somebody accepted Jesus Christ, they would be led into water baptism. We saw that earlier also, whenever Peter preached, water baptism was a common thing. And we are going to see from now onwards that Holy Spirit baptism, though before this it's not mentioned in a very specific manner, it's understood because when you read about Stephen, a man who was mighty, performing mighty signs and wonders, and Philip who was also moving in the supernatural, it's understood that they were also baptized in the Holy Spirit. So this is a pattern in the early church that you become a believer, be baptized in water, be filled with the Holy Spirit. So why did Peter and John come all the way from Jerusalem to Samaria so that the Samaritan believers may be baptized in the Holy Spirit? So verse 15, who when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit for as yet he had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So verse 17, how do they minister the baptism in the Holy Spirit? So here we see, then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. So sometimes today, we practice this when we are praying for people for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We lay hands on them. Why are you laying hands on them? Because we see this done in the Book of Acts. Now do we always have to lay hands on people for them to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit? Not necessarily because in Acts 10 we will see that Cornelius and his household were baptized without the laying of hands. But there is a common practice which we observe which is laying of hands. So Peter and John came, they prayed for these new believers, laid hands on them and they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. So this is all happening in Samaria now. What else do we see? So Simon is observing what is being done by the Apostles verse 18. And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the Apostles hands, the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money. Saying, give me this power also that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit. So Simon as he is watching all this, one inference that we can come to is there was something supernatural about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. So maybe when people were baptized in the Holy Spirit, one we know earlier they spoke in tongues. So probably they would have spoken in tongues which Simon viewed as something supernatural that could have been healings, that could have been deliverances. You know something has happened that impressed Simon. Now we know about Simon's background. He was into sorcery. So he has seen the supernatural from the negative side. But if Simon is impressed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit to the point that he's saying, I need this. Even if I have to give money, you please give it to me. It shows us that there was something supernatural that took place at the time when Peter and John were ministering the baptism of the Holy Spirit to the people. If this was not so, why would Simon say, I will give you money? I want this power. Definitely he saw something supernatural. That is why he's desperate to get that power. And he says in verse 19, give me this power also that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit. So what Simon asked, we might think, wow, this man desires the Holy Spirit. Isn't that good? We might think that, yeah, that's so good. But again, by the discerning of spirits, you could say earlier in Acts 5, when Ananias and Sapphira, they sinned in their hearts against the Lord through a word of knowledge Peter knew. And he said, why have you lied to the Holy Spirit? Similarly, Peter in the Spirit recognizes that Simon's motivation is not correct. He's asking for the Holy Spirit to be able to give it to others, which even we desire. Normal believers, we must desire that. But the motivation, the attitude with which Simon desired the Holy Spirit was so wrong. So in verse 20, Peter said to him, your money perish with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. So you see, as scriptures tell us, God sees the deeper things. Man sees the outside, but God sees the heart. So for us as believers, our inner attitudes, the way our heart is, when our heart is good ground, when our heart is aligned and is obedient to God, God is pleased about that. But when we step out of that zone, God knows. And that's what happened in this case. Simon did not carry the right heart before God. He was trying to buy, what did Peter say? You want to buy the gift of God? How can you buy the gift of God? Is that the reverence that you have placed on the gift of God? So he rebukes him and he even sort of, it's almost like a curse. Yes, he says that, gift of God purchased with money, you have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Earlier he said, your money perish with you. So very strong words coming from Peter. But Peter also adds in verse 22, it's God's grace and mercy somehow towards Simon, where Peter says, repent therefore of this, of your wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. So God offered Simon forgiveness. And Peter is able to discern the spirit and the heart of Simon. So in verse 23 he says, for I see that you are poisoned with bitterness and bound by iniquity. So there was something spiritually wrong with the attitude that Simon carried. How is this possible? How can a believer, how can a believer, a disciple, a follower of the Lord Jesus be poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity? But scripture tells us that we must not open the doors to Satan. We have to shut the doors on Satan. But when we open the doors to Satan through our wrong patterns of thinking, through sin in our lives, through the works of the flesh. We are entertaining Satan. When we do things like this, what happens? Satan can come in. And we can be distracted, worse still. We can be derailed from the path that God has for us. So it's a warning. It's a warning. Simon is a believer. He definitely is a believer. But his attitude is not correct. He's not humble and submissive before the Lord. He's not obedient to the Lord. He has become poisoned by bitterness. So why did he ask for the gift of God and try to purchase it with money? Maybe competition, jealousy, envy. They have it, I wanted. I can become a big man. Or maybe you could even say that he did not fully deal with the pride of his past life. He was considered the power of God among the people. But maybe he was missing the feeling that being called the power of God meant to him. And now nothing. Once he started following Jesus, he has none of that. But suddenly when he sees the supernatural being demonstrated through Peter and John, he becomes hungry. He becomes covetous. His pride kicks in. And he says, even if it takes money, I'm going to buy this so that when I lay hands on people, that these kind of supernatural things will take place. And so Peter rebukes him. Peter also calls him to repentance. And he speaks forth what he sees in the spirit about Simon verse 24. Thank God Simon responded positively. Then Simon answered and said, pray to the Lord for me that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me. So he humbled himself, Simon humbled himself. And he prayed, he pleaded and said, please, whatever you have said, let it never happen to me. And in this, we see that Simon probably went ahead and walked the path of repentance. Now what actually happened to Simon? Because it's not recorded in the book of Luke or elsewhere in the epistles. It's very hard to say. There are people, you know, extra biblical accounts where people say, yes, Simon repented and he was a faithful believer of the Lord Jesus throughout. And then there are extra biblical reports that say that no, he didn't fully repent. He carried on with his pride and, you know, he wasn't a strong believer up until the end. So we don't know. These are all speculations. So we don't know what happened to Simon. But he had a good response. Please verse 24. He says, pray to the Lord for me that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me. So he recognizes the authority, you know, of God, the kingdom of God and the apostles of God, you know, at this point. So verse 25. So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritan. So mission strip is over. Okay, so basically they've taken the journey back to Jerusalem. These apostles that intention was Samaritans be baptized in the Holy Spirit. So they came, they did that. They went back to Jerusalem. But how did the mission strip come to an end along the way, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. So they did not limit themselves only to the place where Philip preached. But everywhere they went, come on, let's make it a, you know, a missions program, preach next, preach. And that's how they carried on. Okay, so let's pause here. We'll come back and we will pick up from verse 26. Okay, so thank you everyone. 10 minute break for now.