Miracles | Midyear Prayer, Fasting, and Consecration (Family Devotional)Esimerkki

CONNECT

Pass the Message

Let the whole family form a straight line. The goal is to pass the message from the first person to the last person. Your message may be a quote, a Bible verse, or something that you can repeat out loud after hearing it a few times. See if you can successfully pass the message all the way to the last person.

In our story today, the believers were also passing a message. Let’s see what happened after they did it.

READ THE WORD

. . . On that day the church in Jerusalem began to be attacked and treated badly. All except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly Jews buried Stephen. They mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. He went from house to house. He dragged away men and women and put them in prison. The believers who had been scattered preached the word everywhere they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria. There he preached about the Messiah. The crowds listened to Philip and saw the signs he did. All of them paid close attention to what he said. Evil spirits screamed and came out of many people. Many people who were disabled or who couldn’t walk were healed. So there was great joy in that city. A man named Simon lived in the city. For quite a while he had practiced evil magic there. He amazed all the people of Samaria. He claimed to be someone great. And all the people listened to him, from the least important of them to the most important. They exclaimed, “It is right to call this man the Great Power of God!” He had amazed them for a long time with his evil magic. So they followed him. But Philip announced the good news of God’s kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ. So men and women believed and were baptized. Simon himself believed and was baptized. He followed Philip everywhere. He was amazed by the great signs and miracles he saw. Acts 8:1–13

Imagine this: the church was being persecuted and many of the believers were scattered to many different places. In spite of this, many disciples boldly preached the good news about Jesus wherever they went and many people believed. Philip was one of those who preached the gospel to Samaria, an unlikely place that no Jew would go to because of their differences in their cultures. In fact, the Jews looked down on the Samaritans because they were mixed with other races and were not of pure Jewish blood. God wanted them to experience the saving power of Jesus. When Philip preached and performed signs and wonders, people paid attention. Even the most unlikely people, like Simon the sorcerer, believed and he was baptized.

This is the power of God. When God’s people move, the results can be exponential. It can surpass persecution, it can reach unlikely people, and it can transform lives.

HUDDLE

Parents to Kids

2–6 years old

• Do you know how to tell your friends about Jesus? What will you say to them?

7–12 years old

• What are the things you usually talk to your friends about? Do you talk about Jesus?
• What are some things about Jesus you would tell others?

Kids to Parents

• How do you tell others about Jesus? What if they do not believe or what if they reject what you tell them?

Today, we can also find ourselves in unlikely places or situations. But God is not limited by this and wants to be known by others. Now is the time to boldly speak up and tell others about Jesus. Let’s do our part and believe that God will do a mighty work in their lives!

PRAY

Dear God, thank You for giving us Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. We pray that You will help us tell others about Him because they need to hear Your message. We pray that they will believe and just like in the story, they will also be baptized. In Jesus’ name, amen!

DISCOVER

There are actually two Philips in the Bible!

The more popular Philip is one of the disciples of Jesus. We see him in the Gospel of John:

• Jesus calls Philip to follow Him (John 1:43–44)
• Jesus feeds the 5,000 (John 6:1–15)
• Jesus tells of His death and resurrection (John 12:20–22)
• Jesus and the Father (John 14:8–14)

The Philip we have seen in today’s passage is a different Philip. He is usually referred to as Philip the Evangelist or Philip the Deacon, to distinguish him from the apostle. He was one of the seven appointed by the disciples to serve the people. And his stories are mainly found in the book of Acts:

• Philip is chosen as one of the seven leaders (Acts 6:5)
• Philip in Samaria (Acts 8)
• Philip offers his house to Paul (Acts 21:8)