Garbage In, Garbage Out
My elementary school was very low tech.
As I think about this, I try to recall if I had ever seen a computer in my elementary school.
I do not remember a computer, not a single one--not even in the school office.
The fact that it was in the seventies, and I was attending an inner city school might have had something to do with it.
There was no such program as "no child left behind" in those days.
I went to visit an elementary school several years ago;
every single fourth graders had a macbook.
It was theirs, for them to take home.
It's a different world.
Anyway, I had never saw a computer, not one I could actually see up close and touch, until the seventh-grade.
When I went in to seventh-grade, they put me in a computer class.
I was interested in taking wood or metal shop, but they put me in computer class.
They taught us the "basics" of computer language.
A project we had to complete for our final grade, was to program the game of pong.
Don’t ask me, I don't remember much from what I learned.
Our teacher was sort of a nerdy-looking man, who would repeat the letters GIGO a lot
It stood for "garbage in, garbage out."
His point was computers are tools
They are not magic machines.
What you put in programming, is what determines the behavior, the response, of a computer.
You put garbage in, and the computer will give you garbage back.
Garbage in, garbage out.
What you put inside, determines what comes out
Do you know Simon?
Simon is an interesting man.
Read Acts 2; after the 120 receive the spirit, there is a great push toward Christianity.
They were adding 3000, 5000 members per day.
They were adding to their numbers daily, so they created a position called deacon to help manage the influx of these new believers (Acts 6).
Stephen, as you recall was one of these exceptional deacons.
However, Saul and others who were zealously guarding Judaism against Christianity killed Stephen (Acts 7).
And in the beginning of Acts chapter 8, there is the description of how these Jews were going door to door and dragging new converts of Christianity into the streets and into prisons.
So many Christians left Jerusalem--to avoid persecution.
But you know God.
God is incredible at seeing the positive admist the negative.
Yes, they were persecuted.
They were chased out of their city and their homes;
but this enabled them to go out to different cities and witness about the love of God.
So Philip goes to city of Samaria
(and I quite enjoy this description of Philip in the city of Samaria, because of how he is able to take over the city).
The city was already established.
Samarians had their religion in place.
They even had these magicians, such as Simon
and these people like Simon, were viewed with reverence
Simon was called Simon the great (Acts 8:10).
So, the city already had spiritual leaders who showed them magical things.
But when Philip went to the city of Samaria, and shared the message of God and his redemption plan, they were amazed.
And as Philip stayed with them and gave to them the message of God and showed them the power of God through acts of healing,
Philip and God's message through God was so impressive, even people such as Simon began to believe and convert.
Philip gathered quite a bit of number of converts who were baptized with water;
then the disciples were sent for.
Peter and John came
and when they saw Philip had already baptized them with water, they laid their hands on the new converts and gave them the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Interesting isn't it?
Baptism of Holy Spirit does not automatically come with baptism of water.
In the book of Acts, you see this to be true; baptism of water does not automatically bring baptism of Holy Spirit or vice versa. (Acts 10:47).
When Peter and John come to the city of Samaria and says, we have heard you were baptized with water,
but now let us give to you the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
And they began baptizing of the Holy Spirit
We can debate what receiving of baptism of water and Holy Spirit means, but whatever this was, it must have had visible effect on the people receiving the Holy Spirit, because Simon the Great saw something.
He asks Peter and John: how did you get this kind of power?
I want to be able to do what you are doing. (Acts 8:19).
If Simon had asked up to there, it would have been fine.
If that is all Peter heard, they would have been fine.
(and in some ways I wish that's all that Simon had said.
Because Peter would have been direct in his answer,
because that is how Peter is.
Peter would have laid down a direct path and said: in order for you to be able to give the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this is what you need to do.)
But Simon does not end there.
He does not say, “I want to be able to do what you are doing,” and stops.
He goes on to ask, “How much?” (Acts 8:18).
How much does it cost for me to obtain this power?
Maybe Simon thought this can’t be real.
Maybe Simon assumed the acts of the apostles to be similar to his, merely an act.
So he says, give it to me, teach it to me--whatever, just tell me how much it costs.
And Peter rebukes him.
I think many of us, at times think of Christianity similar to Simon.
We seem to look for something magical.
We think of something automatic, methodical, and maybe superficial.
But, as we see in the book of Acts, water does not bring spirit and spirit does not bring power
Not automatically.
We have been baptized.
It is an important component.
We need to be baptized with the water.
Whenever the disciples converted people, they started with baptism with water.
But it does not end there.
It is not a magical moment when you come of the water, after baptism, you are not automatically a saint, although it would be awesome if true.
Also, as we see from these passages in Acts, baptism of water does not automatically bring baptism of the Holy Spirit.
These people have received baptism with water by Philip, but have yet to receive the Spirit until Peter and John comes.
And, as we go on to read, baptism of the Holy Spirit does not bring spiritual power.
Its not a magic formula--although we wish it was, as Simon.
If we go back and look at Peter's rebuke to Simon, we see Peter give an answer to Simon's question that Simon never asked.
How do you receive spirituality; spirituality enough for you to give the baptism of Holy Spirit to others?
We go back and read Acts 8 verses 20 and onward...
But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought! You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God. Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts, for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.” (Acts 8:20-23 NLT)
When Simon asks how much, Peter says you cannot have a part in this because your heart is not right with God.
And what Peter is saying is, if your heart is right with God, then it may become possible to do this
How do we make our heart right with God?
Peter says Repent.
Pray.
Then we may receive forgiveness of our evil thoughts.
And our hearts full of bitter jealousy will be forgiven.
It is when you open yourself to the Spirit.
It is when you hear the Spirit, and you let the Spirit come in.
When Jesus comes and knocks on our hearts, let him come and sup with him, then we will be changed.
Unless we repent of our sins and pray to God, our hearts will not be right with God.
You can be baptized with water.
You can be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
But these are not magical formulas that enable us to change.
We must repent and pray to The Lord.
Our hearts must be made right with God.
Our hearts are full of jealousy,
we are held captive by sin.
Even when we come to church,
do you notice how we are full of jealousy?
How we are held captive by sin?
From those of us that just started our lives in faith, to those of us that preach and teach--we are still held captive by sin.
We wonder:
why is it that when I pray in the mornings?
when I have my devotions in the mornings?
when I pray before my meals?
when I pray before I go to bed?
when our families have worships at nine o'clock at night?
when we read the Great Controversy at our family worship?
when we do all these things,
why is it that when I/we do these things, we are still held captive by sin and full of jealousy?
Repent and give your heart to God.
You can have water baptism,
but you need to have the Spirit baptism.
We need to repent before God
and give our hearts to God in prayer,
How do we receive power in Christianity?
This kind only comes by prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29).
Garbage in, garbage out.
It's true some of us have our morning devotionals and our evening family worships, religiously.
We may pray before we eat and pray before we sleep.
But everything in between that is garbage, isn't it?
We are stuck to our internet and tv, are we not?
These portable devices are great.
Even when we do chores such as dishes, and go through our daily activities, such as sitting on your throne in the bathroom, you don’t really need to be unplugged
What did we do before wifi?
How did we manage to live?
Garbage in, garbage out.
We are feeding our brain, our soul all that we can handle.
We are filling our brains, up to the very tip, with the world.
How do we expect to magically turn on spirituality?
Computers do not work like that
Humans do not work like that either.
This kind only comes by prayer and fasting.
Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts, for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”
In the Great Controversy, when we read about the reformers, as groups or individuals, we notice something:
these reformers were not all contemporaries.
They were not all from the same geographical areas.
The one thing they had in common was, they studied.
All of them were devout students of the Bible
They searched the Bible diligently.
Then they searched their hearts, through meditation and prayer, according to their study.
The reformers were men and women of study.
They were men and women of prayer.
And they were mighty.
When you go visit the Miller farm in Vermont, the guides share with you the stories of William Miller.
He studied the Bible for seven years before he started to share what he had learned from the Bible.
After three years, Miller was sure of the message but it took him four more years of soul searching to make his heart right with God.
How?
How do we obtain spirituality?
By repentance.
By prayer.
By asking for forgiveness.
By making our hearts right with God.
Only by praying and fasting.