In verse 1 we are told that Stephen’s death triggered violent persecution upon the church.  As a result the members of the church were scattered through out Judea and Samaria.  Amazingly the Christians wherever they were scattered preached the Gospel of Christ and the Gospel spread throughout all the regions.  Their faith and evangelism became real.  The promise of Acts 1:8 was being fulfilled.  God brought this verse into fulfillment by His own plans and leading.  Today let’s look at the people who were scattered.

I.                The people that were scattered (vs.1-4)

“That day” refers to the day that Stephen was martyred.  That day violent persecution fell upon the Jerusalem church. Except for the apostles, the members of the church were scattered through out Judea and Samaria. In God’s plan this was so that the Word of God would be preached. 

When we look at this passage we can see that the bitter things that happen in life are just one step in the fulfillment of God’s plan in our lives.  We sometimes wonder why things happen to us and why God doesn’t seem to care about us, but God wants to use the situation that we are in so that the Gospel can be spread. We need to believe that that is the reason that we are in the situation that we are in now and think about how we can use the situation to share the Gospel.

Except for the apostles, the members of the church were scattered.  The people who were scattered weren’t special people, but everyday laymen.  Even so they preached the Gospel.

In verse 14 we are told that the 12 apostles heard that the Samaritans had believed in God so they sent Peter and John to them.  A similar event takes place in Acts 11:19-22.  Those who were scattered brought the Gospel to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and to Antioch.  In Antioch the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles too and many people turned to Christ. Therefore, the apostles sent Barnabas there.

Often the church takes an attitude of the Samaritans would never believe in Christ anyway.  It’s not necessary to evangelize the Greeks, etc., but the early believers didn’t think that way.  Wherever they went they found new people to share the Gospel with and opened the door to a new evangelism. The growth of the church is based upon the energy of each believer.  God used each believer to share the Gospel and widen the evangelistic fields.

II.              The evangelism of Philip in Samaria (vs. 5-11)

An example of evangelism by laymen is Philip who evangelized in Samaria.  Philip appeared earlier in Acts 6.  There had been complaints that the Greek speaking Jewish widows were not getting their portion of the daily distributions.  Therefore Philip was one of the seven men chosen to help with the distributions.   That was his main responsibility, but he also like Stephen preached the Gospel.  When the believers were dispersed, Philip went to Samaria.  Samaria was conquered by Assyria in 722 B.C. The Jews that were living there at that time intermarried with non-Jews. Jews valued pure Jews so they couldn’t accept the Samaritans.  Also the Jews thought that Jerusalem is the Holy City.  However, the Samaritans built their own temple and worshipped there.  Therefore, the Jews could not accept the Samaritans at all.  

Philip preached the Gospel in Samaria telling the people that Jesus was the Messiah that they were waiting for.  However Philip didn’t just preach the Gospel, but also cast out evil spirits, and healed the sick. They did the same type of work that Jesus did and showed that people that God’s kingdom had come.  This caused the town to be full of joy. 

Philip was able to do such a great work because he preached Christ.  He didn’t talk about his own thinking, or use some kind special technique.  He just preached about Christ. This Christ saved people, changed people, and made them stand up.  Christ’s Gospel has that strength.  This is the big difference between the Sorcerer Simeon who appears in verse 9.  He performed sorcery and surprised the Samaritans and spoke like he was a great person.  However, Philip didn’t perform magic, but only preached the real Savior, Christ.  Through Christ a person can have a new live and become a new person.

III.            Trust in Christ (vs.12-13)

Until Philip came everyone was interested in the Sorcerer Simeon. However, when Philip came and they heard about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, and next they believed in Christ.  Both men and women were baptized. Not only that but Simeon himself accepted Christ and was baptized and followed Philip. This is because the joyful news that Jesus is Christ, the Savior changed people’s lives and is the strength of God.

I Cor. 1:18

Simeon heard Philip’s Gospel message, saw his ministry of healing, and saw many miracles and Simeon realized that this was the real thing.  The Gospel has this much power.  If the Gospel has this much power, then it is important that we live by this Gospel.  We need to just believe in Christ.

Philip preached this Christ. This Christ changed people, healed people, and made people stand up, and brought joy to the whole town.  The Word of God has power to save people, build them up, help them, and encourage them.  If that’s the case then we need to trust in the Word of God and Christ.

Acts 20:32

Faith in the Gospel gives us strength not to live for ourselves, but for Jesus Christ.  This faith in the Gospel gives power for people to be saved from sorcery.  No matter where we are scattered to it gives us power to share the Gospel there.