1. Acts 5:1-11. Why do events such as these not happen in our day? Or do they?

The entire history of the church has never been written. Perhaps there is a little “Book of Acts” in every new place the church goes. Casting out of demons. Healing the sick. God doing the disciplining. But eventually He creates an order of things that is meant for us to share. The principles have been laid down. In this case, the principle of lying to the Holy Spirit. The people know the truth now. And there will come a day when all the secrets of men’s hearts will be judged by the One Whom God has appointed.

2. Acts 6:15. If he looked like an angel, how could they come against him?

A good question, and one whose answer is more stupendous, perhaps, than that of a man seeming to be an angel.

We see instances in the Old Testament however, of men in touch with God yet still behaving in a beastly way. Kings who killed prophets, or tried to. Ordinary men coming against anointed leaders.

And was ever one more angelic then our Lord, yet the Council sentenced Him to a Roman execution, far more inhumane than the stoning which these men would now enact.

3. Acts 8:13, 21-22. What is missing in Simon’s conversion? Was he a saved man?

It comes out later in the story. The missing ingredient was a changed heart, a repentant heart. He was bitter, angry, jealous of this new power in town, and got himself baptized only to get close to the power he thought would soon be his.

Oh, he believed. He was totally convinced that this Jesus thing was the real deal. He saw it with his own eyes. This was no fakery. He was excited about it all and enthusiastically made his way to the front of the auditorium – as it were – to “get saved.” But deep in his heart were issues that had not been resolved, and Peter had to bring it all out in front of the whole crowd.

He regretted that expose, but we don’t know whether he ever truly repented.

4. Acts 8:14. Why couldn’t Philip pray for the Spirit to come on the new disciples?

Philip was an evangelist. He preached Christ crucified, whether to the crowds in Samaria, or to one man sitting in a chariot. He loved and desired preaching Jesus. That’s not all he did. He had a “miracle ministry” too, that drew the crowds to the Lord. Many gifts!

Now, whether he was not fully schooled in the impartation of the Holy Spirit, or whether that was simply not a ministry gift that God desired for him, the Lord arranged for the apostles to take over here.

You will notice that Philip is not the one who arranged this. He was busy preaching and working miracles when the word got back to Jerusalem of some exciting things going on in the next province. An administrative decision was made to send Peter and John to see what was going on. But even they did not have the imparting of the Spirit in mind. Samaritans? We’ll see about that…

But when Peter and John got there, they took one look and started praying for Samaritans! Their own gifts were put into play, and the church in Jerusalem could now be a part of the movement of God.

5. Acts 8:16. Is it possible to be baptized in water, but not have the Spirit?

All too possible. How many people do you know that have been baptized in water but bear no resemblance to Jesus Christ so far in their lives?

6. Acts 8:32. Is the Bible enough for a man to be saved?

The possession of a Bible, no. The reading of a Bible, no. It’s all just a religious activity until the Spirit of God imparts knowledge to the person concerned, and He often does this through another believer.

7. Acts 9:7, 22:9. Harmonize these accounts.

Not a serious matter. And we know that there cannot be a contradiction here, because all of it comes from the pen of one man (Luke), about one incident in the life of Paul, who no doubt shared that experience with Luke.

So how is it that 9:7 says that the men travelling with Paul heard the Voice that Paul heard, whereas 22:9, Paul’s public defense, states the opposite, that the men did not hear it?

If you have a New American Standard Bible you’ll see that the problem has already been resolved. Yes, as Luke says, they did hear something. They actually heard a Voice, although they didn’t know it was a Voice from heaven. In fact, they couldn’t understand it at all, and so never heard the actual words that Paul heard very clearly.