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Acts 8

Saul Persecutes the Church

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 aSaul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.

And on that day a great persecution  1began against  bthe church in Jerusalem, and they were all  cscattered throughout the regions of Judea and  dSamaria, except the apostles.

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Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.

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But  aSaul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and  bdragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.

Philip in Samaria

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Therefore, those  awho had been scattered went about  1 bpreaching the word.

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 aPhilip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming  1Christ to them.

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The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the  1signs which he was performing.

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For in the case of many who had  aunclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been  bparalyzed and lame were healed.

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So there was  amuch rejoicing in that city.

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Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing  amagic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria,  bclaiming to be someone great;

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and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, " aThis man is what is called the Great Power of God."

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And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his  amagic arts.

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But when they believed Philip  apreaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being  bbaptized, men and women alike.

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Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed  asigns and  bgreat miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.

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Now when  athe apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them  bPeter and John,

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who came down and prayed for them  athat they might receive the Holy Spirit.

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For He had  anot yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been  bbaptized  1in the name of the Lord Jesus.

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Then they  abegan laying their hands on them, and they were  breceiving the Holy Spirit.

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Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money,

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saying, "Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."

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But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could  aobtain the gift of God with money!

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"You have  ano part or portion in this  1matter, for your heart is not  bright before God.

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"Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that,  aif possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.

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"For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in  athe  1bondage of iniquity."

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But Simon answered and said, " aPray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me."

An Ethiopian Receives Christ

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So, when they had solemnly  atestified and spoken  bthe word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were  cpreaching the gospel to many villages of the  dSamaritans.

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But  aan angel of the Lord spoke to  bPhilip saying, "Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to  cGaza." ( 1This is a desert road.)

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So he got up and went; and  athere was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he  bhad come to Jerusalem to worship,

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and he was returning and sitting in his  1chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

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Then  athe Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this  1chariot."

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Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

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And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

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Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: " aHE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.

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aIN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL  1RELATE HIS  2GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH."

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The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?"

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Then Philip  aopened his mouth, and  bbeginning from this Scripture he  cpreached Jesus to him.

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As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, "Look! Water!  aWhat prevents me from being baptized?"

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1And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."]

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And he ordered the  1chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.

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When they came up out of the water,  athe Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him,  1but went on his way rejoicing.

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But Philip  1found himself at  2 aAzotus, and as he passed through he  bkept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to  cCaesarea.



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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:24:18 2007)

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