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Join us each Sunday from 10:10am to 10:50 in rooms 207-207 of the Payne Education Center for our Fall season. We have coffee, donuts, fellowship and the Book of Acts waiting for you.

Houston is getting back to normal after some interesting weeks of tropical weather!

Henny Penny, our Good News chicken, is getting quite fat this year. For a $1 donation to the chicken you get the floor and can bring us Good News about what's happening in your or your family's life!

Max Kech, our caring prayer person, donated $20 to Henny for good news in the future! Max's work is taking her to Colorado until the end of the year, and she is looking forward to going. Especially because one of her daughters lives there.

Gayle Ferguson was happy to tell us she is off the disability list at work!

Christians Without Borders.

Today we have two vocabulary words. The first is simony, the buying or selling of ecclesiastical pardons, offices or emoluments, coming from the sorcerer Simon in our reading for today, who tries to buy the power of the Spirit from the apostle Peter. This leads to the other word, magic, the use of means believed to have supernatural powers. It is not until the third dictionary definition that you find the one we think of today, the art of performing illusions.

Skip Maryan began today's lesson with a "prequel", the verses in Acts after the stoning of Stephen, but before before today's reading about the sorcerer Simon. (Acts 8:1-3)  1 And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

Our reading for today picks up with the scattered people preaching and performing miracles everywhere they went. In other words, in attempting to destroy the new Christian Church, Saul began the process of spreading the Good News everywhere.

Next we have the sorcerer Simon, a man who made a name for himself performing magic tricks. When he sees the miracles performed by Philip he wants to become part of this and is baptized. The story goes on to provide evidence of more and more people getting the Good News.

Teacher Skip led a Boy Scout troop for four years in Washington, and one of the things he did was to buy some magic tricks to keep their attention. I guess he figured that some things never change as he performed those tricks for us. Check out the photo on the right of the disappearing water trick he did with his lovely assistant Caroline, I mean his wife Caroline!

And now, as Paul Harvey would say, for the rest of the story. Simon wanted to perform his own real miracles. (Acts 8:18-24)  18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money 19 and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."

   20 Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin."

   24 Then Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me."

Power and achievement come from God, and the fire of the Spirit comes from within, and can't be bought like a piece of meat.

Max Kech, in her last duty for the class until next year, then led the class in our healing prayer.

Prime Timers Contact names and numbers

Mentor

The Rev. Maurice L. "Rusty" Goldsmith. D.D.
713/985-3831
rgoldsmith@stmartinsepiscopal.org

Leader

Teacher Skip Maryan and The Rev. Rusty Goldsmith, Prime Timers mentor, prepare for the class.

A joyful Gayle Ferguson reports she is off the disability list!

Caring prayer leader Max Kech contributes $20 to the chicken for Good News in the next couple of months. Max's work will take her to Colorado until the end of the year.

"Long suffering assistant" and wife Caroline Maryan prepares for the worst while Skip Allen pours water for teacher Skip Maryan's magic trick. Everything worked out all right!

 The Lesson for Sunday, October 16th is titled "Interpreting the Word"

Key Verse:  Acts 8:35

Focus of the Lesson:  People need help in understanding and applying the Scriptures. How will they receive the help they need? The Holy Spirit sent Philip to help an African official understand how Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies he was reading, and the same Spirit calls Christians today to help explain God's word to others.

The reading is Acts 8:26-36, 38. This text is from the New International Version.

   26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."

   30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.

   31 "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

   32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:
    "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
    and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
   33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth."

   34 The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

   36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

NIV®