Acts 8
Scripture Verse: Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
Main Truth: Jesus is our strength.

"Leave!" 

"We don't want you Christians here!" 

"Stop telling us about your Jesus and leave!"

	There was a man named Stephen who was just martyred. Stephen loved Jesus and was telling people all about Jesus, so they killed him for his faith in Jesus Christ. After that all the believers except for the disciples left. There was an angry man who did not like Jesus at this time. So he thought he had a great idea. "I'm going to go from house to house and throw all the Christians in prison. That will get rid of this Christian problem!" This man thought he could just get rid of faith in Jesus, but we all know that was a silly plan. The man thought he scared everyone out, but what really happened was it made the Christians go out and spread the Good News about Jesus!
	So this brings us to Philip. Philip was a believer in Jesus. Philip had the Holy Spirit inside of him. Philip had Jesus living inside of him helping him to do things. We cannot do things in our own strength, we need Jesus. Jesus is our strength. Philip was in the city of Samaria telling everyone about Jesus. Everyone was listening and excited to hear about Jesus and to see the amazing things Jesus was doing through Philip. Many sick people were healed during this time. Jesus worked through Philip and healed many people. This was an exciting time in Samaria! Philip was doing the will of God!
	Well, Simon who was a sorcerer, he had been amazing both babies and grown ups in Samaria for years with his many signs and miracles. He thought he was pretty great stuff. Simon was missing something big though. He didn't have Jesus! Every single "amazing" thing he did was not from God. Simon was not doing the will of God. Simon was doing things in his own strength and not in Jesus'. When we do things in our own strength, its telling God we don't need him. Jesus is our strength. We need Jesus to lead and guide us in all that we do. The people of Samaria listened to Simon though because they thought he was so great, until Philip came along.
	Philip came in spreading the Good News about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ and as a result many people came to believe in Jesus and were baptized! Simon himself even believed and was baptized. Simon started following Philip around everywhere he went. Simon was amazed at the great signs and miracles Philip was performing through the power of Jesus.
	When the disciples in Jerusalem heard the news that the people of Samaria believed God's message they sent Peter and John. Now Peter and John went to Samaria to see if the people were truly becoming belivers. These Samaritans were not full Jewish, so Peter and John weren't sure if they could have the Holy Spirit, Jesus living inside of them. But Jesus is for everyone! And they soon figured that out.
	As soon as Peter and John got there they started praying for these new believers. Peter and John realized that the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon them and that they had only been baptized. Jesus gave Peter and John a temporary gift and they laid their hands on these new believers and they recieved the Holy Spirit. They finally had Jesus living inside of them! How exciting! 
	When Simon saw what Peter and John were doing he thought, "Wow!! I want to do that too! I want to lay my hands on people so they can have the Holy Spirit! How much do you want?!" 
Simon  tried offering Peter and John money for what he thought was a special power, but this was a gift. Peter and John weren't doing this in their own power. They had Jesus living and working through them. They were able to do this through Jesus' strength.
	So Peter says, "May your money be destroyed that you think God's gift can be bought! You will have nothing to do with this because your heart is not right with God. You need to pray and ask God to forgive you of all the wickedness and evil thoughts you have, and maybe God will forgive you. I can see you are full of jeaousy and sin. You are doing things you want and not what God wants."
	We can try to do things in our own strength, but we will fail. Simon was trying to do his will, but Philip did God's will!  We need Jesus to lean on. Jesus doesn't want us doing things on our own anyways. He wants us to trust Him! Jesus will always lead and guide us if we let him. Jesus is our strength.
Q/A
Why did Stephen die? Because of his faith in Jesus
What did the angry man try to do? Put the Christians in prison, drive them out
Why was Philip in Samaria? Spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ
Who was living inside of Philip? Jesus
Was Simon doing God's will or his will? His will
Who is our strength? Jesus
What did Simon try to buy? The Holy Spirit
Is that possible? NO
How do we recieve the Holy Spirit? By faith in Jesus Christ

Toddlers
	Philip was a believer in Jesus. Philip had the Holy Spirit inside of him. Philip had Jesus living inside of him. Jesus was his strength. Philip was in Samaria telling everyone about Jesus. Everyone was listening and excited to hear about Jesus. Through the power of Jesus, Philip was even able to heal sick people and many people were baptized. This was a very exciting time!
	Simon, who was a sorcerer, had been amazing people for many years with his signs and miracles. He thought he was pretty great, but he didn't have Jesus. After Simon had seen Philip performing miracles through the power of Jesus, he wanted to follow Philip everywhere.
	Word got back to the disciples that the Samaritians believed in Jesus. So Peter and John went to Samaria to check it out. Peter and John soon realized that these new believers didn't have the Holy Spirit. So through the power of Jesus, Peter and John laid a hand on them and they recieved the Holy Spirit. They finally had Jesus living inside of them!
	Simon said, "I want to put my hand on people and give them the Holy Spirit? How much money do I need to pay you so I can do that?"
	Peter told Simon,"I hope your money is destroyed because you think God's gift can be bought! You need to pray and ask God to forgive you"
	Philip, Peter, and John all had Jesus living inside of them. Jesus was their strength. We can't do things on our own we need Jesus.