The Gospel Spreads to Judea and Samaria

OBJECTIVE

In this module, we will take the children through the journey of the Acts of the Apostles. Specifically, we will see how the Word of God spread from Jerusalem to the entire world through the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His apostles that "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8. In the next few weeks, we will study how the disciples did, in fact, spread the message of Gospel as Jesus said: Week 1- In Jerusalem, Week 2- In Judea and Samaria, Week 3 - to the Gentiles, Week 4- to Asia Minor.

INTRODUCTION - 10 Minutes

Last week, we saw how the Church, the Body of Christ, was growing in Jerusalem. From the time of Pentecost, there were 120 believers, then 3000 believers, then new people were added to the community daily Remember this new revolutionary community was built on Christ's love and the sharing of talents, gifts, and resources. The original apostles were the ones responsible for delegating where resources would go and how the community was run. As the community grew, so did the responsibility of the apostles. This started to take time away from them being able to teach the new community about Jesus. They decided to appoint seven men of good reputation and full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to be deacons that could help them. Acts 6:1-7. The first of these deacons was St. Stephen, the Archdeacon, who was full of faith and power.

Then, envy arose from the local Temple leaders who did not have God in their hearts. They could not stand the thought of people leaving the old traditions and following the new teachings of the apostles. They began to tell lies about St. Stephen and the Apostles. St. Stephen delivered a great speech detailing the history and work of God leading to the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He revealed how wrong they were. As a result, they cast St. Stephen out of the city and stoned him to death. Acts:7:1-60

From this moment on, "a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." Acts 8:1.

It seems that this is the end of the story, however the Lord chose to use this dispersion for the good of His church. Let's see how...

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 10 Minutes

Memory Verse "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8

READ TOGETHER THE FOLLOWING PASSAGES:

Acts 8:4-8 "Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. 5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city."
Acts 8:14-17, 25 "Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit." ... "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 Samaritans."
Acts 8:26-39 "26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot." 30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" 31 And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth." 34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, "I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?" 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" 37 Then 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." 38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing."
Acts 8:40 "But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea."

CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 10 Minutes

If you recall from the story of The Good Samaritan and event of The Samaritan Woman, the Jewish people did not get along with the people of Samaria because they did not fully follow all the prophets and traditions of the Old Testament. For St. Philip to venture to the area of Samaria was a very brave and bold move. The Lord knew that the people of Samaria needed Him and were ready to receive the message of Christ's salvation.

The Lord in His goodness, sent St. Philip around 200 km (124 miles), for one single person, the Ethiopian on his way to Jerusalem. During the same moment of their meeting, The Ethiopian was reading the Old Testament, specifically a passage from Isaiah 53:7. This passage is a very specific prophecy about the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ written around 700 hundred years before Christ

Miraculously, St. Philip was transported from the Ethiopian near Gaza around 40 km (24 miles) north Then he continued preaching the Gospel in all the cities along the coastline of Judea.

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 5 Minutes

The evil of the world intended to break apart the amazing new community of Christians by persecuting them and splitting them up. How did God use this split to benefit the Church? How does God use bad things that happen to the Church for good today?

How did St. Philip become brave to enter into areas he was traditionally supposed to avoid, like Samaria? The Holy Spirit gave him power and bravery to do the work of spreading the Good News. He also followed the example of our Lord Jesus during His life and ministry.

When we live by the Spirit, we realize that there is no such thing as "coincidence". The Holy Spirit leads us to meet and interact with people we are meant to meet in order to spread God's love to them.

LIFE APPLICATION (Action) - 5 Minutes

How can we listen to the Holy Spirit daily in order to be Salt and Light in the world and spread the Good News of the Gospel? We need to treat everyone equally, regardless of their differences, as Christ teaches us.

ACTIVITY - 5 Minutes

Questions:

Who initially told people outside of Jerusalem about Christ? ANSWER - The followers of Christ who were scattered (Acts 8:4 "Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.")
Who was the first apostle to preach outside of Jerusalem? ANSWER - St. Philip (Acts 8:5)
What city did St. Philip preach in? ANSWER - Samaria (Acts 8:5)
Which two apostles went to Samaria after Philip? ANSWER - St. Peter and St. John (Acts 8:14)
Why did they go? ANSWER - So that the new believers may receive the Holy Spirit through the laying of hands. (Acts 8:15-17)
Where did St. Peter and St. John go after Samaria? ANSWER - They returned to Jerusalem after preaching in many Samaritan villages. (Acts 8:25)
Where did Philip go after Samaria? ANSWER - South towards Gaza, along the desert road in the region of Judea (Acts 8:26)
Who told St. Philip to travel to Gaza? ANSWER - An angel of the Lord (Acts 8:26)
Who told St. Philip to overtake the chariot of the Ethiopian eunuch? The Holy Spirit (Acts 8:29)
What do you think the Ethiopian eunuch did after his conversion? ANSWER - He spread the Good News to Ethiopia.
Where does Philip go after his encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch? ANSWER - The city of Azotus (modern day Ashdod), and continues to preach in all the cities up to Caesarea. All in the region of Judea. (Acts 8:40)

Color the map and trace the route of St. Philip.

RESOURCES

Great videos to show after class or send to parents.

BibleProject Overview Acts Ch. 1-12

BibleProject Acts Ch. 1-7

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

In this module, we will take the children through the journey of the Acts of the Apostles. Specifically, we will see how the Word of God spread from Jerusalem to the entire world through the work of the Holy Spirit. Week 2 covers the spread of the followers of Christ to Samaria and Judea This occurred after the martyrdom of St. Stephen and the dispersion of the followers to the surrounding regions.