ACTS 19:8-20 HOW GOD DOES HIS WORK2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 19:8-20 How God Does His Work

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016.

And we're going to be here in Acts chapter 19 this evening, continuing our journey with the Apostle Paul in his third missionary journey and looking at his ministry to Ephesus. We went through verse 10 last week, and we're going to kind of review a couple verses. And so we'll start in verse 8 and work our way through verse 20. And so let's begin by reading through that passage. Acts chapter 19 verse 8 says...

And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks."

Verse 11, Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches."

Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus, and fear fell on them all.

And the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. And Jerry took a drink. I have them, thank you.

All right, so here in Acts chapter 19, again, we're with Paul in Ephesus as part of his third missionary journey. It's really kind of the first main stop. He went, you know, through the places he had been before, but then he kind of made a beeline to Ephesus and has been camped out there for a little bit. And there in Ephesus, he's planting a church, and it's from there, he spends about three years in Ephesus, that the gospel is reaching to all of Asia Minor, and

This happens every year. Okay. So the gospel is reaching out from Ephesus all around Asia and many churches are planted. In fact, the seven letters to the churches in the book of Revelation are

are churches that are all established in Asia Minor, which probably began through the ministry of the Apostle Paul here in this time in Ephesus, because it tells us that while he was there in Ephesus, that the word of the Lord spread through all of Asia. And so these churches are probably planted through this ministry as an outflow of the ministry that Paul is doing here in Ephesus. And so

It's a mighty work that's happening. It's a good work that God is doing, and God is reaching that whole region with the gospel through what's happening here with Paul in Ephesus. And so as we look at that this evening, I've titled the message, How God Does His Work. How God Does His Work. And as we look at this, again, I would ask us to consider and think about, do we want God to reach Ephesus?

our families? Do we want God to reach our community? Do we want God to reach our nation like the gospel spread, you know, from Ephesus to the surrounding regions? Do we want to have that kind of impact like the Apostle Paul there in Ephesus? Do we want to have that kind of impact on the world around us? And so if we do, there's some good insight for us

on how God does that work as we look at what took place here in Ephesus. And so there's four points that we'll walk through. Hopefully we'll get through all of them. And if we just kind of get to the middle and then it's nap time, then we'll just take a nap and that's fine, okay? All right, so point number one, God works through his word. As we talk about the work of God, the work of God spreading and impacting all of Asia Minor, how did that happen? Well, it happened here in these first three verses. We see specifically that God works through his word.

Again in verse 8, Paul says that he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. And so he right away does his normal thing. He goes into the synagogue and he's preaching, he's teaching, he's declaring the scriptures and proving that Jesus is the Christ from the word of God. And then in verse 9, he says,

It tells us this stopped when those who were hardened and did not believe, they spoke evil of the way before the multitude. And so then he left, withdrew the disciples, but he continued to minister, it says, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. And so we talked about that a little bit last week. I'm not going to get into great detail there, but

So he withdraws from the synagogue, but he continues to minister, and it's daily that he is ministering. It seems that he is working as a tent maker during this time, but during the day, he would be teaching at the school of Tyrannus, and the disciples would be coming together, unbelievers would be coming to hear the message, and he would be training up those who were believers while preaching the gospel to those who were unbelievers.

And then in verse 10, it tells us this continued for two years so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. And so this happened every day for two years. And the result was the word of God spread through all of Asia.

Paul didn't go to all of Asia. He was there camped out. He did this every day. But through that ministry of him being faithful where he was called to be and doing what he was called to do, the rest of that region was impacted with the word of the Lord. And so here is a good insight for us on how God does his work. He works faithfully.

through his word. And we know that Paul was really focused on the word of God here in Ephesus because a little bit later in Acts chapter 20, he's going to be departing from Ephesus in a little bit, but he comes back to Ephesus or nearby in Acts chapter 20 and talks to the elders. In Acts chapter 20 verse 26, he tells the elders, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men and

For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. And so Paul is saying there, while I was there in Ephesus, I made sure to declare, I brought forth the whole counsel of God. Everything that God has to say, you know, every important doctrine, every important point, everything that needed to be shared, everything that you need to know, I brought it forth when I was there in Ephesus. And so I'm innocent of the blood of all things.

Man, it's kind of a callback to Ezekiel, right? Where God called the watchman and he said, hey, you're going to be accountable if you don't deliver the message that I give you to deliver. Paul says, I was faithful during those three years that I was there to deliver the word of God. And so every day,

He is there ministering the word to the people. He's there preaching to the unbelievers. He's there teaching and building up the disciples. He is being faithful in the word of God. And I bring this up, even though we kind of talked about it last week, it's kind of that time of year where I usually begin to give you some exhortations about being faithful in the word of God.

This is something that is so important for every one of us as believers. Again, you'll notice that Paul didn't have to go to all of Asia to get the word of the Lord to all of Asia. He camped out in Ephesus and there being faithful in the word there, the word spread to all of Asia. And the same thing is true today.

for us that, that our main priority is not necessarily to go to specific places or to, you know, the people that we want to reach. Perhaps the main thing that we need to do to reach them is not run around, but to sit down and get into the word of God and, and be faithful consistently in the word of God. And it's in that faithful consistency that Paul is there in Ephesus and

that the word of God spreads through that. And we see that pattern throughout the scriptures where we be faithful where we're called. We walk with God and we dig in where God has us. And the impact of that is much greater than if we tried to run around and accomplish that same thing by some other means. And so, you know, as we come to the end of 2016 and head into 2017, it's a good time for us to kind of evaluate that.

our time, our priorities, the pattern of life and the lifestyle that we're living and evaluate and consider as we head into this new year, do you want this new year to be like this past year? Do you want to live the same way that you've lived this year? There's a saying that you live your life the way that you live today.

So you think about today and the priorities that you had today, the decisions that you made today, the choices that you made today, the way that you were, you know, focused on things and evaluating things, that's probably not necessarily, you know, exactly in every circumstance, but generally speaking, that's probably a very good picture of your whole life. And so if you got up and you went through about your day and this is the first time you've opened up the word as we get into service tonight, that's probably how your whole life is, not different.

You know, that we always think of today as the exception, right? Well, normally I would, or we have great intentions. But how I live today, generally speaking, is how I live my life. And it's time for us, it's a good opportunity for us to reevaluate our priorities and to come back and remember that God works through His Word. As I was sharing that in my prayer, you know, in Isaiah,

God says that his word will not return void, but it will accomplish that which he set it forth to do. And we need to be reminded of the importance of the word of God, the value of the word of God. And our investment in the word is so important. But of course, there's a challenge to that because it's not always super exciting. We're going to talk about in the next point, the unusual miracles that happen. And those, I mean, that's exciting stuff, right?

But the daily is, well, it's very difficult. And we kind of get tuned out and burned out. We get bummed out, you know. And that faithfulness in the daily is so important. And that's why every year I take this opportunity to remind us about the importance and the value of God's word. And the reminder, hey, let's recommit in our time and our priorities and our passions to

to a great priority on the word of God. I'd like to remind you what the author of Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 13. He's rebuking the Hebrews in this chapter, in this book really, for departing from the Lord. And he narrows down the real issue in their departure from the Lord. He says, you guys are babes. You're babies in the Lord. And that's why you're

you know, wishy-washy and turning away so easily. He says in the previous verse, you should be teachers by this time, but you need someone to teach you because you're just babes. And in verse 13, he says, for everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. And the idea of milk is, you think about milk, it's pre-processed food, right? It's all the nutrition you need, but it's already been processed for you.

And that's things like what's happening here tonight. You know, teaching and being involved and being taught is important for us as believers. We need the milk of the word. But this is the scriptures as I've, you know, spent time chewing on them and seeking the Lord, you know, for application and for understanding and for what God has for us. And that's good. That's important. And you need to hear that. And that's why God has you here.

But if you only partake of that, he says, you're unskilled in the word of righteousness and you're a babe. You're immature in the Lord because you only receive what others give you from the word of God. But then he goes on in Hebrews 5, verse 14. He says, but solid food belongs to those who are of full age. That is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

So it makes the contrast between milk and solid food. Solid food is different. It's not pre-processed. You have to chew on it. You have to work on it. You have to break it down and be able to make it palatable or swallowable. You have to do the work of chewing on it, cutting it up, and consuming it. And that is something that every believer needs to learn how to do. Because that's the only way to become mature as a believer.

is for you to learn how to divide, to rightly divide the word of truth, how to chew on it yourself, how to receive from the Lord, from the word. You need the milk, but you can't live on the milk. You'll just continue in infancy the whole time. And so you need to be in the word of God and digging in in a way that you're chewing on and you're receiving from the Lord and

from His Word ongoing. And again, that doesn't mean that it's always exciting. It doesn't mean that it's always, you know, earth-shattering or groundbreaking. It should be, you know, every time the Lord speaks to us. But sometimes it just kind of gets...

We have to be faithful. We're going forward and being faithful to dig in and to understand the Word of God, and then He breathes life into it, sometimes right at the moment that we're reading it, or sometimes later on down the road, but He breathes life into those things and uses them to accomplish His work in our lives. And so this year, again, it's coming to an end. We're heading into the new year, and I want to encourage you to be thinking about, what do you want next year to be like?

Do you want to live at the same maturity level in 2017? Do you want to have the same walk with God? Do you want to have, you know, a better walk with God? What do you want to have? And the weight of maturity this coming year is to a priority in the word of God. And it comes from that consistent faithfulness. Again, Paul did this every day.

Every day he taught at the school of Tyrannus. He worked, he provided for himself, but he also was faithful to be involved in the word of God, to be teaching it to those who were believers, to be preaching it to those who were unbelievers. And it was that consistent faithfulness that was so necessary. And I like that Hebrews gives the illustration or uses the example of milk and solid food. You know, food gives us a really good

illustration for us to consider about these things because your spiritual life is very similar in some ways to your physical life and that physical food is a great parallel to the word of God and that's what nourishes you spiritually. Now if you think about that comparison for a moment, listen, I'm not chubby because Thanksgiving is once a year and

Right? That's not the problem. It's not that, well, we have this feast day, and if we quit that feast day, then I wouldn't be chubby anymore. No. Let me tell you the problem. Fireboys is right across the street, and refills are 96 cents on soda, and so I'm chubby because that's part of the pattern. That's part of the routine. That's the consistent faithfulness, you know, and that impacts me. That impacts me physically, right? Right?

In a similar way, what I do spiritually, it's not about one time a year. It's not about twice a week. It's about the daily. And that's what impacts me spiritually. That's what really affects my growth. And so we can be excited about, you know, big events or special occasions. And we get really excited and fired up for the Lord. But we got to come back to the daily. It's the daily relationship with God that you have.

that really impacts your relationship with God. Let me give you another example. I'm going to get all the details wrong, and so Kim can correct it later, but it was a couple years ago, we got back from a cruise. We had glutted ourselves and eaten everything, had, you know, multiple of everything, and just enjoyed ourselves immensely. And Kim decided, you know, I'm stuffed, and it's time to go on a three-day juice fast. And so we did this juice fast, and

I love my wife, and so I agreed to do it with her, and I tried not to complain too much. But it was horrendous, man. I mean, it was just like horrible. And after the three days were over, I was like, I can't wait to eat regular food. You know, I got to get rid of the milk. I got to go back to solid food. I need it.

But she felt differently. And it was at that time, it was through that process that we learned that she was allergic to gluten. So she felt great at the end because she hadn't been partaking of that thing that she was allergic to. And so she felt great. I didn't. But let me tell you, okay, so that three days we ate only juice, but I'm still chubby today, right? Why? Well, because I didn't continue that pattern anymore.

I went back to eating like I normally eat. I went back to drinking like I normally drink. I went back to my normal routine and that's what my physical body reflects, right? And in the same way, Kim, after that, went on to remove gluten and so her body stopped being affected by that and she's way different. Not because of those three days, but because of how she decided to live after those three days, right?

Again, the point I'm trying to make here is it's not about the big events, the once or twice a week at service. It's about the daily. What are you doing daily? And God works through his word. If you want God to reach your family, you need to be faithful to be in the word of God yourself.

First and foremost, not so much that you have to like pound the word of God into everybody else around you, but the way that God works is through you as you are consistent and faithful to spend time with God in his word and how you apply it to your life on a regular ongoing basis is your spiritual life.

It's not about if you serve once a month or contribute to this or attend that or have this great experience once in a while. It's about the ongoing, the daily. And Paul did this daily, steady, faithful, spending time in the word of God. And so that's the first thing we see here in Acts chapter 19, that God works through his word. He reaches out and impacts the world around you as you invest in

Time with God in his word. Well, moving on to point number two, it's verses 11 and 12. God works miracles through people. Now, going back to God working through his word for just a moment, even when the word of God is presented in a very basic, as much passion and animation as I can give as a sick guy struggling to breathe, I don't have to worry about that. I don't have to worry so much about my presentation being

Because it's the word. And again, that's the point. It's the word of God. It has such great value. And so we need to be invested in it. Well, God's work also happens through miracles. And he works miracles through people and emphasize the word people. It says in verse 11, now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick and the diseases left them.

So I wish Paul was around so I could have a handkerchief and then I wouldn't be sick, right? So this interesting experience is happening. Now, it says, it describes it in verse 11 as unusual. And I think we could take that a couple ways and probably both apply, right?

unusual in this idea of sensational, exceptional. You know, out of the ordinary, it was like, wow, these amazing miracles were happening. That's one way to understand unusual. Another way to understand unusual is occasional. That it wasn't every day, it wasn't the daily routine, but from time to time, on occasion, there would be this exceptional, sensational, miraculous work of God that would take place.

And I think that's important for us to understand. Again, notice the contrast. It's unusual. It's sensational. It's exceptional. It's out of this world as opposed to the verses before, the daily reasoning from the scriptures, the daily preaching of the word of God, the daily time in the word of God. That was common. That was ordinary. That was scheduled. That was every day, every day, every day, every day, every day. But then every once in a while, there would be this

Out of this world, amazing, sensational, supernatural, miraculous work of God. And someone would take a handkerchief from the Apostle Paul or one of his aprons. And the implication seems to be here, again, Paul's tent making. And so he's working. This literally, these words, it refers to his sweat rags. So when I'm doing some housework, I have sweat.

I don't know what they're called, and Kim can tell you later, but these little bands, not a sweatband, not like a 1980s jogger, not like that, but like the t-shirt cloth ones. And so I wear that, and people laugh at me.

if they see me, because it helps me not sweat all over everything I'm trying to clean. And so that's kind of, you know, the idea there. So if you took that and then, you know, put it on Dave Burr and suddenly he's healed, you know, that'd be like, whoa, that's pretty amazing, right? That's pretty radical. That's what was happening. So people are kind of taking these sweat rags from the Apostle Paul and

It doesn't give a lot of clarity on whether this was Paul's idea or whether people were just kind of like, let me just, you know, snag that and go see if this will work, you know, but it was a miraculous work and it would happen from time to time that the sick would be healed and that evil spirits would be cast out of those who were demon possessed. And so these unusual sensational works of God were happening from time to time. Now,

And as we look at that, I would just want to make sure to point out that God still does these kinds of works. Not necessarily in that same formula, so not necessarily a sweat rag, but God still does work miraculously. He does still heal people from diseases, big and small. He does still deliver people from demon possession, right?

And he did this and he does this. It says in verse 11, God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul. The wording there is very important. It doesn't say Paul worked unusual miracles by the power of God, but God worked. And so the driving force here was God. It wasn't that Paul was trying to do something unusual.

He wasn't trying to come up with something unique. He wasn't trying to come up with something sensational. He wasn't trying to be creative and heal people in different ways. He wasn't, he wasn't, he was, his focus was on the daily. That's, that's what he was called to do. That's what he was focused on doing. And God on his own decided I'm going to do something unusual and do something different. And so God works these miracles by the hands of Paul.

Paul's just the human instrument that God chooses to use to do this work. And I point that out to remind us all, God is still the same. He still heals. He still is able to do these miraculous works when he chooses and he can use any of us. He didn't use Paul because Paul was, you know, super by far superior than you. Paul didn't have greater access to God than you do.

Paul has the same access to God as you do. That we have the same access to God by faith in Jesus Christ. We stand before him righteous. And so it was not his amazing righteousness that caused God to do this, but it was his availability and his faithfulness to be in the word and to do what God had called him to do. And so I want to encourage you to be open and be looking and inviting God to

to do the miraculous as he chooses. You don't have to like chase after it or try to drum up it or come up with some sensational thing, but you be faithful in what God's called you to do and let God do something unusual if he decides to do it. And so that's unusual in the idea of sensational, but there's also the other implication there, unusual in the idea of occasional. And again, this is in contrast to the daily process.

steady. He was every day teaching and reasoning, preaching the word there in the school of Tyrannus. But there were these unusual events, unusual miraculous works. These were not daily. These were not, you know, every day he just expected. He just knew, okay, you know, the sweat rag today is going to be used in this way, and this one's going to be used tomorrow. And he, it wasn't every day. He

Although, you know, we can get kind of caught up in the sensational. It's exciting. It's like, wow, it's fascinating. But don't get distracted or disappointed when every day is not that kind of miraculous work. You understand what I'm saying? That this was the normal. It was the normal everyday routine. And then every once in a while, God would do something crazy. And I would suggest we have that same pattern today. Sometimes we

We look at the book of Acts and we say, why don't we see miracles like this today? Now, I would suggest that we do. We do see miracles like this today. God does healing works. And I would suggest it's probably at a very similar rate to what we see recorded in the book of Acts. Think about it this way with me. The book of Acts is 30 years of church history, right?

We start in 32 AD when Jesus is resurrected. He ascends to the Father. He tells the disciples, wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit. It's just a few days later, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them. That's 32 AD. It ends in 63 AD with Paul in prison waiting to see Caesar Nero. And so 30 years of history is covered by the book of Acts. Now you think about this church.

This church established in 91 has 25 years of history. And I could look back through the years. I have a terrible memory, so I don't have all the records of the miracles that God has done. But I can tell you for a fact, absolutely for sure, we've seen people healed. We've seen miraculous works take place. God has done amazing things just here in this place. But here's another factor to consider. The book of Acts not only covers 30 years of history, but it covers the whole continent of Europe.

the church across all of that region. And so it's a record of a big area, a lot of churches, and a lot of time. And I would suggest as you look across a geographic region like that over the last 30 years, I would suggest you could find probably the same rate of miracles taking place. Now that's not a scientific formula or anything, but I'm just saying generally speaking, God still works this way.

He still does miracles, but they're not meant to be the norm. They're not meant to be every day. You know, there's some earth shattering. It changes your life. Again, going back to the daily routine of your walk with God is your spiritual life. And so sometimes we kind of look at those highs and we wish, we want every day to be like those crazy, exceptional, awesome days where there's just miracles happening left and right constantly. And,

but that's not really the life that God has set before us. The life that God has set before us is the daily routine of walking with him. And it requires diligence on our part to be faithful, to be walking with him and to keep that a priority. And then as we do, he gives us these highlights and he does these occasional works that are just miraculous and that blow our minds and we're excited and it's great to be part of.

And so here's the main point that I'm seeking to make in all of this. Don't chase after the sensational. You don't have to chase after it. It's not meant to be daily. Focus on investing your time with God and developing your walk with God and spending time with him. Let that be your focus. Don't chase after the sensational, but also be open to God using you. And don't discount and think, well...

I'm not that spiritual. I'm not that amazing. So God can't use me. When God prompts your heart, you be open to that. And so if God calls you to pray for somebody, you pray for them. If God calls you to take a step of faith, you take a step of faith because all of his miraculous works are not done on the merit of our faithfulness, but on his faithfulness. And so it's not going to happen every day, but from time to time, you know what? God's going to want to work miraculously in your life and through your life.

And so you don't have to chase it, but just walk with the Lord, be faithful in your relationship with God and then be available and let God do the miraculous when he wants to do it. Something important to understand about miracles is you got to take a drink of water first. Miracles don't make people believe. One of the things that we think about oftentimes as we look at miracles in the

Bible is, wow, if we only had that happening, there'd be so many more people who would turn to the Lord and believe and all of that. But remember in Luke chapter 16, Jesus gives the story of the rich man and Lazarus. And he tells Lazarus, when Lazarus says, hey, send someone back, send Lazarus back to tell my brothers that this place is real so they don't come here. And Abraham tells Lazarus,

He says, look, if they don't hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded that one rise from the dead. Even with the resurrection from the dead, that's not enough to persuade somebody. That won't convince somebody. That's not going to cause them to believe if they're not already open to receiving the word of God. And so again, it comes back to the importance of the word of God. The miracles go along with that work, go along with the word of God.

That's always been the pattern. As Jesus was delivering the word, the miraculous works went along with that. But the miracles themselves don't help people or don't cause people to believe. They first need to be open to the word of God and receiving the word of God. And the miracles go along with that and are used by God in that process. But in and of themselves, they don't convert people. They don't cause people to believe.

So point number two is God works miracles through people. Do you want God to reach your family? Do you want God to reach your community, your nation? Then be not pursuing the sensational, but be open to it as you are pursuing your daily walk with God and understand and know that God can use you at any time to work the miraculous in the lives of the people around you. One last thought just to throw it out there, 1 Kings 19.

Elijah is there in the cave and God says, wait here, I'm going to come to you. There was an earthquake. There was a fire. There was a mighty wind, but God wasn't in any of those things. He was in the still small voice. And so again, the sensational, the exciting, the wow, those are part of God. Those are part of our relationship with God.

But it's the still small voice. It goes back to that ongoing, that normal, daily relationship with God that is so crucial for us. All right, moving on to verse 13 through 17, we have point number three. God works even through evil spirits. All right, in verse 13, it says, then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call on the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits and

saying, we exercise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches. There's a lot of details in here that I'm not going to get into, but so there were Jews who were trying to deal with demon possession already on their own with their own resources, and they had their own mystical approach to it that was not anything biblical, even as far as the Old Testament was concerned, but they had their own like, you know, mystic rituals that they would do to try to cast out demons. And so,

But they see the effectiveness of the Apostle Paul's ministry. And so they start saying, well, he's got a better technique. So let me try to rip off that technique. And they start trying to cast out demons in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches. And it gives an example in verse 14 through 16 of the sons of Sceva. And that they tried this one time. They encountered some demon-possessed person. And they said, hey, get out of there.

in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches. And very interesting, the evil spirit responds in verse 15 and says, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? Now, as we look at these things, again, I would say, like the miracles, demon possession is real, and it still goes on today. It's still a reality. We don't see it a whole lot here in our society and in our culture and our environment, but it is a reality, and it is there today.

it is perhaps more evident in other places and other cultures around the world. And it might become, you know, as evident here around us once again in the future. And so these are realities that we need to understand and know about, but like the miracles, I would say we don't have to pursue and chase them. But, but to understand, you know, what's going on and that it is a real thing that takes place. And so this evil spirit says, I know Jesus and I've heard of Paul and,

But who are you? As they try to cast out this demon in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches. And so this guy who's demon possessed now jumps on these seven brothers, initiates them into the gang, beats them up, rips their clothes. They run away naked and wounded. I mean, it was a pretty serious thing that took place there. And this one guy is able to do that because of course he's demon possessed. And so there's this supernatural strength that is going on.

So what happened? Why didn't this work? Well, they made two mistakes. Mistake number one, it tells us in verse 13, they took it upon themselves. When dealing with demon possession, never take it upon yourself. That is, never just decide you're going to be the one to handle demon possession. It says in verse 13, some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves. They decided, hey, we've got a good idea how we can do this.

They decided, I'm going to be involved in this ministry. I'm going to be involved in this work. It's not a good idea to go up against real forces of darkness just by your own decision. Again, not every one of us is going to face this. Maybe in your lifetime, you might go through your whole life and never face an issue of demon possession. It's not for everybody. So don't take it upon yourself. Now, Jude warns against those who kind of like rail against this.

demonic authorities and powers. And again, that idea of chasing after that, that's not a good example. That's not a good idea. And so they made this mistake. They took it upon themselves. They decided I'm going to be involved in this. And it wasn't a calling of God in their lives. Well, mistake number two goes along with that. They had no relationship with Jesus. So they said, we exercise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches. And

They didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus. They didn't know Jesus. They were using magic words. You know, they were using this magic formula with no actual relationship with God, with no faith in Jesus. They were talking about a Jesus whom Paul preaches or somebody else preaches. And that is a bad mistake because now they're going up against these spiritual forces in their own power because they have no relationship with God. And so let me say it this way.

If this kind of situation should present itself to you, where you encounter someone who's demon-possessed, again, it's a reality and it could happen in your life. You have, as a believer, everything that you need to handle that encounter with a demon-possessed person. You don't have to chase after it. You don't have to seek it out. But if the Lord puts you in a place, you have everything you need. In Matthew 10, verse 1, Jesus called his disciples together and

And he gave them power over unclean spirits. We have a power as disciples of Jesus. We have an authority as disciples of Jesus over unclean spirits in the name of Jesus. But it can't be, you know, the Jesus who Paul preaches or Jerry preaches or Dave preaches or Richard preaches. It can't be somebody else's Jesus. I mean, we have to have our own real relationship with Jesus, right?

You have to have the right to call on the name of Jesus and to speak in the name of Jesus in order to have this authority from Jesus. And so again, it goes back to point number one, the daily walk with God, relationship with God. That is what you need in order to handle this kind of situation. He gives his disciples authority. And we see the pattern, Paul the Apostle in Acts 16, verse 18 says,

Dealing with a girl who is demon-possessed, he did it even in what you might not classify as a very spiritual way. He was greatly annoyed with this girl, and so he turns and says to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and he came out that very hour. When we see demon possession handled in the scriptures, that's the pattern. The demon is commanded to leave, and

in the name of Jesus. And so there has to be that real relationship, that real connection to Jesus in order for us to have that authority. And then just as one other point, Jesus told that parable of the house being swept clean. And then the demon comes back and sees, hey, it's nice and clean, and then brings others with it. And so the end result is, you know, someone who's worse off than they began. That would be the case with these people that were

freed from demons by these Jewish exorcists. They were set free perhaps, the house wasn't filled, it was empty, and so they were vulnerable again for a worse condition of demon possession.

And so what needs to happen after someone has been freed from demon possession is there needs to be a conversion and acceptance of Jesus Christ so that greater is he who is in them than he who is in the world. And Christians cannot be demon possessed. And so that prevents that from reoccurring. But if there's not a turning to Jesus, then there's a great vulnerability to be worse off in the end if someone is demon possessed, set free, and they don't turn to Jesus.

Well, verse 17, this became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus and fear fell on them all. And the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And so here's where I get the point. God works even through evil spirits. This wasn't the work of Paul. This was people trying to imitate Paul. This wasn't someone who was delivered from an evil spirit. This was someone who the evil spirit had the victory and beat up the people and

But the end result is that the name of the Lord Jesus is magnified. And so it's something that we can rest in. No matter what happens, we can go back and fall back to the reality that God is on the throne. And that even when there seems to be defeat and failure, that the Lord Jesus will be magnified. That he can work even through evil spirits. He is going to accomplish the things that he desires to accomplish. Finally, point number four.

Almost there. 30 second nap. Okay, we're good. All right, verse 18 through 20 gives us point number four, and that is God works through repentance. In verse 18, it says, and many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

So again, as the Lord was magnified, as the account of this demon possession encounter took place, people were turning to Jesus. They were believing and confessing. I kind of summed that up into this word repentance. To confess, it means to agree with God. It's

in repentance. Repentance and confession go hand in hand, that I agree with God about my sin, and I'm turning from my sin to follow Jesus. So believing and confessing is repentance, and repentance is believing and confessing. Now, it's not just the telling of their deeds, the admitting that they've done wrong or practiced magic. In verse 19, you see the real heart of their repentance is

is they bring all the books from their magic practicing, and they burn them. So it's not just a confession in the sense of, this is what I did, taking steps in their life. I'm never going back to that. I'm turning from it, and I'm not going back. And so they brought all their magic books, and they burned them. Now,

this was something specific to that place, that culture, where they were, and specifically related to the demon possession. It was all related. The practicing of magic was related to this demon possession and the things that were going on. So it doesn't have to be magic books that have to be burned. But the idea is whatever sin that we're caught up in, whatever sin that was a part of our lives, repentance is...

throwing that in a pile and burning it. It may not always be books, you know, but you get the point that you're taking steps to stop practicing that and to put yourself in a position where you're not going back. That's what repentance is. And it's really a full surrender to God, but it's in that full surrender that we find victory. It's in that full surrender that God accomplishes the greatest work. It's not in our

determination or in our discipline. It's in our repentance. Notice in verse 20, so the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. It's a direct result. They believe they confessed, they turn from their sin, and so the end result was the word of the Lord grew mightily. People are delivered and set free and

through repentance, not through determination or discipline or laws and regulations. People are set free through repentance, believing and confessing and turning from sin. They're set free and the word of God grows mightily. The enemy is defeated through repentance, through humility, through confession and turning from sin.

The enemy is defeated. Victory is accomplished by believing and confessing. Do you want God to reach your family? You want the word of God to be magnified and blown up and for God to do a great work? It happens through confession. Now, I'm not talking about you forcing other people to confess, but you confessing, you repenting, you throwing your sin in a pile and burning and turning from sin to follow the Lord.

And it's through that process of repentance that God is able to work and he's free to work. And so you want God to reach your family? You want God to reach your community, reach your nation? He works through repentance. He works through his word. And so we need to have that daily, steady, faithful time in his word. He works through miracles. It doesn't mean we have to chase after them, but we need to be available to

and allow God to use us miraculously as he leads and as he desires. He works even through evil spirits, so even, you know, the worst situations and things we're not in control of, we can just let that in God's hands and know he's still working in our family, he's still working in our community, he's still working in our nation. He's able to do that, but for our part, faithful in the word, available for God to work miraculously and through repentance.

By dealing with sin in our lives, not allowing it to continue, not putting up with it, not compromising with it, but by putting it in a pile and burning it, saying, we're not going back. Turning from sin to follow Jesus. I want to finish up this evening with a quote from Ironside. He says, give God's own word the first place in your life and then surround it with the books, and you can replace books with anything else, with everything that

that helps you enjoy that word more. Books that tend to give you a deeper understanding of the ways of God with men, and you will find real edification. In other words, if you want to grow, if you want 2017 to be a year of maturity for you, make God's word a priority for your life, and then fill your life with things that help you appreciate and enjoy the word of God more and more. Let's pray. God, thank you for

Your word, the power of it, and Lord, the simplicity of your work in our lives by us spending time with you, surrendering to you, and Lord, inviting you and allowing you to do the work that you want to do. I pray that you would help us, God, to not get caught up in the sensational, Lord, trying to just meet those emotional highs, Lord, or achieve those once in a while things, but Lord, help us to be faithful in the day-to-day, Lord, recognizing that

How I live today is how I live my life. And so, Lord, may I live my life in a relationship with you by living today in a relationship with you. Help us, Lord, to have that mentality, to keep you at the forefront of our hearts, to live in a relationship with you in response to your great love towards us. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.