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#24478 - You'll Be Hated - Acts 19:8-41 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bibles to Acts chapter
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19. We'll pick up where we left off
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last time in verse 8. Acts chapter 19, verse eight.
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And the title of our Bible study today is You'll Be Hated.
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A super encouraging title. You'll be hated.
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But we see this over and over and over again in the Bible,
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that your commitment and association with Jesus Christ
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will bring the hatred of the world to your doorstep.
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Jesus said as much. He taught us, if they hated me,
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Jesus said they will hate you. And today we see the phrase
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great wrath being used against Paul the apostle for the sole
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reason that he brought the gospel to the city of Ephesus.
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That's all he did and it drew out anger and animosity toward
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him. And you'll remember in Acts
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chapter 19, Paul met when he came to the city of Ephesus, he
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met these 12 disciples. He began to talk to them.
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They hadn't so much heard about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
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He began to teach them and and explain that to them.
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And they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the empowerment
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of God through his Spirit for all that God wants to do.
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And it was just the beginning of what God is going to do in
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Ephesus. And notice in verse 8, where we
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left off, it says, And he Speaking of Paul, went into the
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synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and
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persuading concerning the things of the Kingdom of God.
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But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil
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of the way before the multitude, he departed from them, withdrew
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the disciples reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus, and he
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continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the
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word of the Lord Jesus from both Jews and Greeks.
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For now three months, Paul is teaching in the synagogue.
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That was his model of how he would come to a city, find a
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synagogue, share the gospel because there'd be a lot in
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common already automatic bridges built with the gospel.
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They would know the Scriptures. Some would believe this was the
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pattern. Some would believe, most would
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resist and notice what happens here.
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It says in verse 9, some were hardened and this is just what
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happens when you share the gospel.
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Some receive and some harden their hearts.
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And I know it's discouraging. It's discouraging when you're
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loving someone, sharing with someone, telling them about the
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things of God, excited about what God's doing in your life
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and their response is anger and hardness.
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And notice with this hard heart stirs up all kinds of evil.
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Verse nine, they stirred up all kinds of evil because they're
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recognizing that Paul and bringing the gospel is
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disrupting this city. We learned earlier that leaders
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would look at the, the believers in Christ coming to town and how
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they would, how would they describe them?
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Oh, those guys, they, they're coming here and they're going to
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turn the world upside down. They've now come to our city and
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this is how the world views us today.
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And notice I love in verse 9. There's so much in these first
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few verses, but our goal is to finish the chapter and I know we
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will. But notice in verse 9 the church
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is described as the. Way I like that.
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They're not described as a denomination.
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They're not described by a church name.
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They're being referred to as the way that's what the church was
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known as. And it reminds us, doesn't us,
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doesn't it, of what Jesus said in John chapter 14, verse 6,
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Jesus declared. I am the Way, the truth and the
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lie, and there's no one going to come to the Father except
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through me. It's really unfortunate that the
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church isn't known as The Way today.
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The church is known as a lot of different things, but the Way is
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not high on the list as a group of people just following the
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Lord, trusting the Lord, elevating Jesus Christ, living
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in the agape love of God. And it would be good to get back
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to this, just be the way, just knowing that we're following
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Jesus. Well, they stir up evil.
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Verse 9. So Paul removes himself and he
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begins to teach during the day in the school of Tyrannus.
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Now remember, Paul was a tent maker.
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And history tells us that in the city of Ephesus and in that
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region, it would get so hot in the afternoon that the typical
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work day there would be working in the morning, take a long
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siesta break in the hot heat of the afternoon, and then they go
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back to work in the evening. So Paul's taking advantage of
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not only the work time, as he's building, he's building tents
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and he's taking care of his needs and what what is needed
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for him to live his life. And then during this time, he's
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like, OK, I'm going to take advantage of every situation.
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There's a lot of people around resting, hanging out, sipping
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their coffee. I want to teach them and take
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the opportunity, go to work, disciple, go to work.
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And I love that about that because it's good for us to take
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advantage of every situation to fill our time with the things of
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the Lord. I think that's a word for
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someone, just that phrase. It is good and wise for you to
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fill your time with the things of the Lord and to really pray
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that through that you know that God is going to bless this.
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Now, of course, Paul is evangelizing.
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He's planting a church. But it doesn't matter what we're
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doing that we might live with the consciousness of God in our
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lives. He continues now in verse 10 for
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two years and that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the
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Lord, both Jews and Greeks. This is so good.
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He's dwelling in Asia. And then if you want to turn to
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the page for me, it's turning the page, but go to verse 22.
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Notice it at the end, it says he himself stayed in Asia for a
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time. He ends up staying in Ephesus
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for three, about three years. But this phrase, he stayed in
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Asia for a while, it's so encouraging to me because isn't
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Asia the area where God said no to him earlier on?
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Isn't this where his heart was to go there?
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He had this on his heart all this time, but God said no.
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And yet in the perfect timing of God, he gets to hang out in
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Asia, He gets to serve in Asia, He gets to rest in Asia.
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It reminds us today, church, that God has a perfect timing of
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how He does thing in your life. And as He's doing things in your
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life, it's important that you learn how to wait on the Lord.
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Wait for His timing. Don't take things into your own
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hands. God has a plan He's working out
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in your life. And if he says no, listen.
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If God says no, there's a good reason for that.
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And for me, I think, you know, God's preparing the city, God's
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preparing Paul. God has all these people that
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Paul's going to meet and he's going to pick up along the way.
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And there's there's so much going on that we don't know
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about. It's important that we receive
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the weights and the nose of God because eventually God opens the
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door and he's in Asia and God's using them in amazing ways.
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Now these hardened people again back in verse nine.
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Now I want you to mark the word some it says in verse 9, but
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when some were hardened, there's always some that surround our
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lives that give great resistance to the gospel.
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I know it feels like everyone, sometimes everything's against
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me, everyone's against me, but it's usually not everyone.
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It's usually just some, just a few.
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Now they can do great damage, but it's always just some.
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Here you are progressing in the Lord, growing in the Lord,
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enjoying the all that God has for you, and all it takes is
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someone to mess. That all up.
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Someone to steal your joy. Some event, some.
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Thought. That we don't take captive to
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disrupt your peace and your joy. You can jot it down in
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Philippians chapter 4, verses 678 and nine.
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These are verses that are important to memorize.
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It's the verses you probably have heard over and over again.
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Be anxious for nothing, but in all things by prayer and
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supplication with Thanksgiving, make your request be made known
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to God and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will
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guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
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So important that you hide that in your heart because
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difficulties come and hardships come and you can't plan them and
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you can't even really be ready. You can't say it's going to
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happen on this particular day. You just have to have God's Word
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in your heart so the Holy Spirit can use it to prepare you and
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use it to strengthen you and use it to establish you when that's
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some event or that some person comes to.
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Rip you off. You can look to the Lord, abide
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in Christ and then in verse eight it says finally, brethren,
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whatever things are true and whatever things are noble and
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whatever things are just and whatever things are pure and
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whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good
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report. If there's any virtue in
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anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.
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Make sure your mind is. Filled with good.
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And then finally in verse 9, the things which you learned,
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received and heard and saw in me, these do and the God of
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peace will be with you. That's how you deal with the
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some things. That's how you deal with the
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some people. That's how you deal with that
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random attack. That random difficulty, that
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random e-mail, that random thing is an attack.
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A spiritual attack of the enemy and you want to be ready for it.
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Paul was ready for it. Now notice verse 11.
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Now, God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul.
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So I want you to answer this out loud, really loud, for everyone
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listening online on the radio. I'm going to ask you a question.
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Were these miracles usual? OK, you can do better than that.
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Were these miracles usual? No, we know that because the
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Bible says right here they're unusual.
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It's important you grasp this. I know it sounds simple enough,
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but this is something unusual. The reason why I'm drawing it
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out for you is because many false teachers have taken this
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verse and used it to take advantage of people.
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So let's notice what happens, these unusual miracles, verse
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12, so that even the handkerchiefs or the aprons were
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brought from his body to the sick, and diseases left them,
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and evil spirits went out of them.
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Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon
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themselves to call on the name of the Lord Jesus over those who
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had evil spirits, saying, We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul
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preaches. And there were seven sons of
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Skeva, a Jewish chief priest, who also did so.
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But the evil spirit answered and said, this is, this is so funny.
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The Bible is filled with humor. You know that Jesus I know and
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Paul I know. But who are you?
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And then the man in whom the evil spirit leaped on them,
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overpowered them and prevailed against them so that they fled
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out of that house naked and wounded.
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Don't you think that would have been an interesting sight?
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These guys thinking they can just call in the name of Jesus
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and call in the name of Paul and deal with the demonic realm?
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Now that's not something you take upon yourself.
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Notice it says verse 17 that this became known both to all
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the Jews and the Greeks dwelling in Ephesus.
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Fear fell on them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was
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magnified. This is amazing what God is
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doing these unusual miracles through Paul.
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Now mark the word handkerchiefs. That's the English word, but it
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doesn't really reflect what we're talking about.
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What we're talking about here is not the kind of handkerchief you
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would think you'd go in your suit pocket or in your back
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pocket. These are the work clothes of
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Paul. These would be the what we would
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probably refer to today as sweatbands.
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Like these are the stinky, sweaty, nasty sweat bands that
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Paul was using when he was out in the heat of the day making
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tents. So the the best thing that I
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could think of, I was thinking is when you're working out and
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you sweat really bad. I was just thinking that because
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that's why I sweat pretty bad when I'm working out.
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And you just take off your clothes that are all sweaty and
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you're throwing them on people and they're getting healed.
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That's what it's like. When's the last time you took
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off your sweat clothes and just threw them at somebody and say
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be healed? Never.
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So this is unusual. On top of that, his apron, now
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we think of apron like something we would use to cook in the
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kitchen. That's not what this is.
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Again, referring to his work clothes.
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This apron would be a dirty, smelly piece of leather that he
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would lay, he would wear while he's working with leather and
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working with leather is very stinky, very dirty, very
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difficult. So this was unusual that even
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the clothes associated with this man of God were being used of
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God to bring healing and health and help into a city that
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desperately needed it. We asked the question then, what
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made Paul's handkerchiefs or aprons or his sweatcloth so
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powerful? What made them so powerful?
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Here's the answer. There was absolutely no power in
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his clothes. None.
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The power to heal and the power to deliver resides with God and
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God. Alone.
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Give me an Amen on that. It's the same then.
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It is now. It's not in the clothes, it's
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not in Paul using them. It's not even in Paul.
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The power to heal, the power to deliver is not in a piece of
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clothing and is not in a man. It's in the Lord.
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He has the power. What God is doing through these
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clothes and through these aprons is giving opportunity for a
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point of contact to draw out faith.
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He's drawing out faith. You remember this is not an
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unusual thing in the life of Jesus.
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You remember that woman that was struck with that sickness for 12
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years and she wasted all of her money going to doctors, trying
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to find healing, trying to get delivered from this to no avail.
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She's unclean because of the issue of blood.
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So she has to be isolated and away from society.
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But in one moment she got in her mind, you know, Jesus is coming
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to town. And if I could just touch the
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hem of his garment? That's somehow there's, there's,
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there's nowhere in the Bible that teaches, there's nothing in
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the ministry of Jesus that teaches that.
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But somehow it was impressed upon her.
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I don't even need him to talk to me.
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I don't need him to see me. I don't need him to touch me.
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I don't need anything. I just want to touch.
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If I could just get so close to touch him, I know that God can
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heal me. And it became a point of contact
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for her because when she did, everything stopped and Jesus
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healed her right on the spot. And that's what God is wanting
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to do in our lives. He's wanting to take passive
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faith and bring it active faith. You know, it's one of the
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reasons why we gather together one of the reasons why God
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created church, because when you get up and you set your day and
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you get ready and you come together and you face observe
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adversity. This coming to church, even
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being with believers becomes a point of contact for you that
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God wants to work. You hear the word of God, you
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hear a song, you have a brother or sister pray for you and
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you're like, yes, God is alive and yes, I do believe and you
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leave here stronger than when you came in.
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God doesn't want us to have passive faith.
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He wants us to be stepping out. Creative faith is going to be in
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creative miracles. Do you know what the Bible says?
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The Bible says that God is ready to do exceedingly, abundantly
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above all that we can think or ask.
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And our problem is, is we're just asking too low or not
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asking at all. Just asking God to touch our
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family, asking God to do great things, asking God to deliver
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our, whatever it might be on your heart to begin asking God
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for him to work supernaturally. You know what we've done in our
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rational culture, our logical culture is we've replaced a lot
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of the power of God. With human reason.
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With scientific discoveries, with logic, and we can just
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explain it away with some new finding and some new website,
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some new article that was written.
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No, we need to get back to the dynamic wonder working power of
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Jesus Christ in our lives. We need to be giving God the
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credit for what he's done. You know, you think about it,
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think about this, think about this.
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You, you have a financial issue, difficulty and, and out of the
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blue, you get a raise, you get to pay it off and you go, oh
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man, I can't believe it's so awesome.
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I got a raise No. God provided for you to pay that
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bill. Well, go ahead.
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I got a raise. God provided.
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See how easy we just. Go back to all the practical
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things. Well, you know, I worked really
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hard and my boss finally saw it and he called me in and you have
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the whole story. But the story is secondary.
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That's how God did it. God is at work and we need to
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get back to the place of giving him the credit, looking to him,
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praying, become desperate. Don't you think these guys
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filled with the evil spirits? Don't you think these women and
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men filled with evil spirits and sicknesses were desperate?
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I do. I think God met them in their
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desperation. You know, this is one of those
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passages and I, I don't watch so-called Christian TV all that
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much anymore. But there was season where I'll
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go back and forth. I remember these guys, they
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would be giving you these handkerchiefs or these pieces of
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cloth and they look through the camera and go, oh, here, if you
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just sow your seed into my ministry, if you just send your
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money to me, I will send you this piece of cloth and I've
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laid over it and I've sweat on it.
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And if you take this cloth and you give me the right amount of
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money, my anointing will be your anointing and nonsense.
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It's absolutely false, but here's what's happening and I
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want to warn you about it. I want it.
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I want you to get your eyes off the false teachers, to get your
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eyes back on the Lord. And here's here's how, because
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you have to understand because you're listening to me, right
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and going, I would never do that.
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I would never do that. But here's what happens.
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This is how people get taken advantage of, especially in the
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church. It starts with desperation.
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It starts with the situation where you become desperate for
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God to work. Your marriage, your singleness,
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your finances, the things that touch, the things that Jesus
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told us not to worry about are the things the enemy attacks
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over and over and over and over. Don't worry about what you're
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going to eat. We worry about it.
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Don't worry about what we're going to wear.
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Don't worry about your health. Don't worry, I'm going to take
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care of you. I have a plan for your life.
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We, we, we become desperate. And being in a position of
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desperation is not a bad place to be.
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It's a good place to be, but you have to understand what it
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brings with it. Desperation, on the one hand,
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brings with it listen, vulnerability on the other hand.
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Desperation makes you vulnerable to people taking advantage of
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you. If you don't come to God with
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your desperation, there's always a man or a woman that's ready
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for you to come to them. And there's always a price to
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pay church. When you go to men or women
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instead of going to the Lord, there's always a cost.
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When you come to the Lord, it's always free.
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Did you know that the blood of Jesus Christ, the grace of God,
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it's always free. But there's always a guy or a
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gal on TV on YouTube that says, you come to me.
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I have special anointing. I have special teaching.
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I, I think of even those that have dreams, you know, and you
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have this troubling dream and, and there's always somebody, oh,
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I brought a book on dreams. Don't buy it.
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They have no idea. They have no idea what your
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dream means. They will never have any idea
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what your dream means until if ever God decides to reveal it.
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Remember what Joseph said. Joseph said I don't have the
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power for to interpret dreams, but God does and let me go to
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God about. So be careful, Church, because
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desperation leads to vulnerability, and vulnerability
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leads and can lead. To a lot of bad decisions you
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have to go to the Lord and so if somebody's saying you know come
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to me I've got some sweaty handkerchiefs that will heal you
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you just keep on walking you can keep on walking because these
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guys remember here now in verse 13 the Jewish exorcist thought
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they could do it and. They're not able.
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They're calling on the name of someone they don't know.
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Verse 13. Then those sons of Skiva, the
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Jewish high priest, I mean, the demons just called him out for
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that. Hey, we know Jesus, we know
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Paul, but who are you? Who do you think you are?
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And then beat him up and sent him out naked and wounded so
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that forever they would understand that they're exposed
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for the false people, teachers that they are.
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They're exposed and they're wounded because they're messing
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around in the demonic realm when only God has the.
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Power over the demonic realm. Only God is able to break you
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free. Only God is able to take you out
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and remove you from the bondage of sin in your life.
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Only God. You've got to look to Him
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solely, completely look to Him and take those.
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Opportunities even as we had last time remember we called for
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a time hey, if you want to receive the baptism Holy Spirit,
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let's respond and then what happened We all got up and we
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laid hands on one another why because the laying on of hands
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becomes a point of contact where you just like you got somebody
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like oh man when I started announced that somebody was like
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I didn't sign up for this I want somebody to touch me what do I
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like it was hard enough just to get in the room and now you've
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got all these people around me talking to me praying for me and
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then some of. You though, Some of you, you
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heard somebody praying for you and the Lord said, I have not
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forgotten you and you're like, oh man.
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And you felt somebody's arm on your shoulder and you sensed in
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a real way that you're not alone in this world.
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It's a point of contact when you open your Bible.
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It's a point of contact when you start praying.
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It's a point of contact when you're talking about.
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The things of the Lord God is calling us from a passive faith
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to an. Active faith for the sake of the
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Gospel. Don't ever forget that it's
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always and going to be about the gospel, the good news that God
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is still saving many today. Otherwise, you're going to get
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beat up and you're going to run out naked calling on a power you
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don't have, trying to take on the demons yourself.
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Just cast your cares upon the Lord and He will take care of
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you. Why?
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Because He cares for you. Now I look back at the text in
23:05
verse 17. This testimony is going around
23:08
because the other reason I believe this is unused, these
23:11
gods using unusual miracles, is because Ephesus is stuck.
23:14
In the demonic, they're very idolatrous men and women living
23:19
in the occult, in the dark side, living with the deep, living in
23:23
the demonic realm involved in magic and witchcraft.
23:29
Notice. God is preparing the city for
23:32
what He has for them. Verse 18.
23:35
Many who had believed came confessing and telling their
23:38
deeds. And many of those who practice
23:40
magic brought their books together and burned them in the
23:44
sight of all. And they counted up the value of
23:46
them, and it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver.
23:51
I mean this is a dramatic amount of money.
23:54
And notice the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
23:58
So this episode of unusual miracles God is doing for the
24:02
sake of someone else. He's using us for the sake of
24:05
reaching someone else, and He's preparing them.
24:08
And dramatic life change came to this city.
24:12
By the way, this is the same city that when you open up the
24:16
Bible and you read the book of Ephesians, the book of Ephesians
24:20
is written to these people that burn their books of magic.
24:23
These exact people are the ones that receive the letter later on
24:27
known as Ephesians. God is doing a great work among
24:30
them and many who practice magic brought their books and it's
24:34
like this. This is something if you were
24:37
able to see. This, this would be amazing.
24:39
This was something that the Bible.
24:40
Would refer to as the fruits of repentance.
24:44
The fruits of repentance. Listen, church repentance, the
24:48
act of turning away from your sin is observable.
24:53
It's observable. Well, we will see your life
24:56
change because of your commitment to Jesus Christ,
25:00
which means if you don't see life change, you need to go back
25:03
and say, hey man, am I really born again?
25:05
Am I really born again? Because I really, I'm not.
25:08
I responded to the gospel. I'm in church all the time, but
25:10
my life hasn't changed all that much.
25:13
Or at all. Because when there's true
25:16
repentance, there will be true change so much so that people
25:19
won't like it so much so as I can't believe it.
25:21
What have they gone into? What are you doing?
25:23
You're, you know, you're a Jesus freak and you're just all in the
25:26
Bible and church all the time and and you're not who you used
25:29
to be. To which you say, I'm going to
25:30
set you up right. Here's what you say.
25:32
Thank you very much. Thank you for noticing my
25:36
relationship with Jesus is real and I know who I was, but I'm
25:40
not that anymore. I know who I you know who I was.
25:44
I'm not that anymore. I'm a new creation in Christ.
25:48
Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become
25:50
new and you want to continue to walk in the fruits of
25:53
repentance. Just like a tree.
25:55
It's a simple illustration. It's just like a tree.
25:57
You want to know what kind of tree it is, look for what kind
26:00
of. Fruit it has if it's got.
26:01
Apples on the on the branches. Then it's probably an orange
26:04
tree. No, it's not.
26:06
It's an apple tree. It's anybody, even kids could
26:08
figure that out. And that's how simple God has
26:11
made the gospel. And this is real fruit of
26:13
repentance. I like that.
26:14
Baptism, our baptism, you know, we had four baptismals set up.
26:19
If we were in the reservoir, all the pastors would be in the
26:21
water together. But here in the building, we can
26:23
only have four. We have them all set up here,
26:26
and the lines to be baptized are all around the wall and around
26:29
the corner and down this wall and around the corner.
26:31
The room is filled with people. It's exciting, it's amazing.
26:35
One after another after another for almost 2 hours.
26:37
We're baptized and we're baptized and we're baptizing.
26:40
And as I'm walking, because we're all taking turns.
26:42
As I finish my turn and I'm just walking up here, I pass by the
26:46
baptismal where there's a young lady there and I stop.
26:50
I stop because I just spoke to this young lady a couple weeks
26:53
ago and she shared her story with me.
26:56
This this young lady? I was grew.
26:59
Up in a home where her mom was a witch and that's all she learned
27:03
was how to be a witch. So what did she?
27:05
Become in her life, she became a witch, a real.
27:08
I mean, this stuff is real. This is the dark.
27:11
The darkness of this world is real.
27:15
And she's spent her life involved in the darkness of
27:18
witchcraft and magic and all the weird stuff that the demons and
27:22
the demonic realm are stirring up until she repented and
27:27
received Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.
27:31
And there she is in baptismal #2.
27:34
Going down under the waters, associating and identifying with
27:38
the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
27:41
God is still doing that today, friends.
27:44
He's still doing that today because it's easy.
27:49
It's easy to read the Bible. And say, well, I've never seen
27:52
that before. I've never seen, you know, you
27:53
know, we like we look at Rahab the harlot, right?
27:55
All her, her past in the sex world and giving herself to men
27:59
and, and living that way and bonafide, absolutely born again.
28:04
Well, you know, I've never really seen that.
28:05
No, God's still doing that today.
28:07
He could do that in your life where you've just lived your
28:10
life so far from God, giving yourself to men, giving yourself
28:14
to women. Maybe you're giving yourself to
28:16
thievery. Maybe you've given yourself to
28:19
dishonesty. And you're like, there's no hope
28:21
for me, there's no hope for me. Oh yes, there is hope for you.
28:24
If you come to Jesus Christ today and repent of your sins,
28:27
you will see fruit of repentance.
28:29
You go, what is next? What is next?
28:31
Well, all that's next is follow God with your life because he's
28:35
ready to forgive you if you'll come to him.
28:38
Today the city of Ephesus is upside down.
28:41
It reminded me as a new. Believer, I was so zealous.
28:45
I was such a zealous. Guy I mean I want to do
28:47
everything I possible I wanted to get so far away from my past
28:50
that I could and one of the things that came up in my life
28:53
as a new believer was the music I listened to the music I
28:56
listened to was not good not glorifying, not honoring God at.
29:02
All. Heavy metal and rock and all
29:05
this stuff and I'm just like, I can't be singing this stuff
29:08
anymore. It's, it's coming against God,
29:10
making fun of God, and I just can't.
29:12
So I'm like, I got to get rid of this stuff now.
29:14
I didn't set a bonfire in my backyard, but I do remember
29:19
going out to the. Back of our little apartment
29:22
where we had that big trash can that we all shared and 1 by 1
29:27
destroying each cassette. Do you guys remember what
29:30
cassettes are? I had a couple cases of
29:32
cassettes, 1 by 1, because, you know, I'm also frugal.
29:35
So I was thinking, well, maybe I can sell them to friends or
29:37
because all my friends are still unbelievers.
29:39
That'll be a good witness to them, huh?
29:41
Hey, believe in Jesus Christ. Do you want to buy my casino?
29:43
I want to buy my junk but I felt.
29:46
Convicted. No way.
29:47
I don't want anybody else to share in this.
29:50
So if it means hundreds and hundreds of dollars going in the
29:52
trash, that's what it means. I got to get rid of it.
29:55
I got to bring it like these guys, but we got to get rid of
29:57
this stuff, man. I don't want it in the house.
29:59
I don't want it in the car. I have got to come clean.
30:02
And so I remember some of them, I broke some.
30:04
I broke the tape one by one in the trash, 1 by 1.
30:07
So that even if somebody was coming around looking for things
30:10
and recycling or whatever, if they pulled any of that out,
30:13
it's gone, man. It is gone.
30:16
That's what they're doing here, and I wonder.
30:19
How many of you have not gone all the way and what God's
30:22
called you? You know nobody here is going to
30:25
tell you how to live your life or what that looks like, but the
30:28
Holy Spirit already has. And I wonder how many of you
30:31
have gone so far, but you haven't gone all the way.
30:34
You've gone so far, but you haven't gone all the way and God
30:37
is calling you. Keep going.
30:39
Why haven't you? Why, if you were in Ephesus and
30:42
you were involved in all this stuff, why haven't you come and
30:44
bring your books? Why aren't you joining everyone
30:47
in the revival? Why are you holding back?
30:51
What? What is it that you're gaining,
30:53
holding back and living in two worlds?
30:55
Look, you don't want to live with one foot in the world and
30:57
one foot in the church. You want to live completely in
31:00
the Lord and powerful in the world, not compromised.
31:05
Man, I don't know. What it is for you?
31:06
It could. Be something small, it could be
31:07
something big. But God is calling for you to
31:09
respond with zeal and obedience. He's wanting you to grow in
31:14
grace. I mean, seriously, church,
31:16
listen, please, you guys listening on the radio to me,
31:19
watching online, please listen. If you do not see yet the
31:25
condition of the world in which you live and the necessity of
31:29
God through His church to reach the lost, I don't know what else
31:34
to show you. I'm at a loss with all my
31:38
resources that you don't wake up into the morning.
31:41
Some new tragic thing. You don't wake up in the morning
31:44
to see governments take advantage of people.
31:47
You don't wake up in the morning and see wars increase and death
31:50
increase. If you don't wake up like I and
31:52
and what that and and let the Holy Spirit move you to
31:55
spiritual action so that you're like, you know what?
31:59
I don't know why I'm messing around with this magic like this
32:02
is not my life. I was safe from this.
32:05
I need to get rid of this stuff. I need to stop messing around.
32:09
I need to give. Myself to the Lord, I've got to
32:12
stop. Doing my own thing and calling
32:15
it God. I need to.
32:16
Get along with the program of what He's called me to do and
32:19
what he wants me to do within the life of the Church.
32:23
So there's true fruits of repentance here and notice now
32:26
in verse 21 it says when these things were accomplished that
32:30
Paul purposed in the spirit that when he had passed through
32:33
Macedonia in a Ki. To go to.
32:35
Jerusalem saying after I've been there, I must also see Rome.
32:39
And so he went in to sent in to Macedonia two of those who
32:42
ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus.
32:45
But he himself stayed in Asia for a time.
32:48
And about that time, that time of rest, the time of
32:52
preparation, the time of thinking ahead of how God's
32:55
going to use them, about that time there arose a great
32:57
commotion previously. It was a.
33:01
Small commotion. Now it's a big one against the
33:05
way. And notice this certain man,
33:07
verse 24, named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver
33:11
shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the Craftsman.
33:17
Diana's also referred to as Artemis.
33:20
The Ephesians were great idolaters.
33:22
They worshipped Diana. There is a big statue of Diana
33:26
that they carved out of a meteor that fell to the earth that they
33:30
claim came from Zeus, and they made it into a multi breasted
33:33
idol that they worship through all kinds of weird magic and
33:37
sexual immorality. And now we've got Demetrius.
33:41
He's been making money off of sin, which is why, you know, by
33:45
the way people get mad at the church because when the church
33:48
comes and steps into people's lives, people are saved and they
33:52
don't make money off of sin anymore.
33:56
That's why people get mad. You know, I think of one big
33:58
industry that's super angry at the church right now.
34:01
That's the abortion industry. They make a lot of money off of
34:05
the sin of people. They make a lot of money taking
34:08
advantage of vulnerable young women and men.
34:11
They make a lot of money off of people that want to live an
34:13
immoral lifestyle but don't want to have the responsibility of a
34:16
pregnancy. They make a lot of money off of
34:19
people and their sinful behaviors.
34:22
And when the church steps in and says no, that's a life in the
34:26
womb. When the church steps in and
34:28
begins to minister to their neighbor, just on a small scale,
34:31
not protesting, not going to the Capitol, just going next door
34:35
and finding out that there's a a hurting family next door.
34:38
And part of the reason why you're not seeing him anymore is
34:41
their daughter's pregnant and they're thinking about having an
34:44
abortion. But they know it's not right.
34:45
But they think they have to do it.
34:46
And what about the future? And you step into their life and
34:49
through the love of Jesus Christ, convince them that
34:52
there's a life in the womb. Oh, you know, the enemy gets mad
34:55
at that. He gets really upset.
34:57
Look what Demetrius does. Making his money off all this
35:00
idolatry, notice he calls together the Craftsman in verse
35:04
25, all the workers of similar occupation and said, men, you
35:09
know that we have our prosperity by this trade.
35:11
Moreover, you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but
35:15
throughout almost all Asia isn't that great?
35:18
The gospel has gone through all Asia.
35:21
The closed door ended up being a tremendous open door in all
35:26
Asia, which is, by the way, the church planting method in the
35:29
book of Acts. Is to go to a large city, plant
35:32
a church and send churches out and men out from the large city
35:35
to the smaller cities and that's what Paul did he went from large
35:39
city to large city so now all of.
35:40
Asia is filled notice, it says, and this Paul has persuaded and
35:46
turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are
35:50
made with hands. So not only is this trade of
35:53
ours in danger of falling into disrepute, the great goddess
35:56
Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed whom all
36:01
Asia and the world worship. And when they heard this, they
36:05
were full of wrath. Hatred, deep seated hatred
36:10
toward the. Church full of wrath, and they
36:13
cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians, Great is
36:17
Diana of the Ephesians. So the whole city was filled
36:20
with confusion, rushed into the theater with one accord having
36:24
seized Gaius and Aristarchus. Now they're hurting people.
36:27
Now they're going to harm people.
36:29
This mob mentality, this riot. And the Macedonians, Paul's
36:33
travel companions, verse 30. And when Paul wanted to go into
36:37
the people, the disciples would not allow him.
36:40
Paul reminds me of a first responder here.
36:42
You know, first responders are trained to go into crisis, not a
36:46
run away from it. And so Paul here, this is out of
36:49
control. This is an amazing.
36:51
People are confused. They're yelling, screaming, mad,
36:55
upset. And what does Paul say?
36:57
You know what, I think this would be a great opportunity to
36:59
go share the gospel with him and he's going to run right in.
37:02
But there's wisdom because even though our desire to follow God
37:06
could be zealous, it's not always wise.
37:09
That's why. Prayer is so important just
37:12
because you want to do. Something for the Lord doesn't
37:14
mean it's the wise decision, doesn't mean it's what God has
37:19
for you. So here he wants to go in and
37:21
share the gospel, but notice some of the officials, verse 31
37:25
of Asia who were his friends sent to him.
37:29
Pleading that he would not venture into the theater so
37:32
therefore someone. Some cried one thing and
37:34
another. Verse 32 and the assembly was
37:37
confused and most of them didn't even know why they'd come
37:39
together. And that's a mob mentality.
37:41
I mean, that's when you get a group together.
37:43
We know God's not in this because God's not the author of
37:46
confusion. And they don't even know why
37:47
they're there. They're just there because it's
37:49
like the thing to do and like everybody's.
37:51
Destroying things and everybody's breaking things,
37:53
everybody's hurting. Let's go do it.
37:54
They don't even know. And they drew Alexander verse 33
37:58
out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward.
38:01
And Alexander motioned with his hand and wanted to make his
38:03
defense to the people. But when they found out he was a
38:07
Jew. All with one voice cried out for
38:11
about two hours. Great is Diana of the Ephesians
38:19
a lot going on in Ephesus, a lot going on.
38:22
There's a lot of activity here, but this is.
38:24
What's happening in the? Spiritual realm, you ready?
38:27
God is going after the souls of men and women, and it doesn't
38:31
come easy. The devil will always put up a
38:34
fight. People will always put fight the
38:38
gospel. There will always be people like
38:40
Demetrius. They go, who do you think you
38:42
are coming and talking to my family, you know, because
38:45
sometimes family gets upset. You go home and you tell them
38:47
about your new found faith and you go, what's wrong with that
38:49
church? And they come in and say,
38:51
where's Pastor Ed? And they come to me.
38:53
Where's? Pastor Ed, he's over there.
38:56
Go talk to him over there. They get all.
38:59
Upset at the church, at the gospel, because there's such a
39:01
change in your life. I remember.
39:03
One time. A mom was so mad at me.
39:07
She was so. Angry, she came here and found
39:09
me. And she wanted me to.
39:11
Know that she was very upset that her son is saved now and
39:13
sober and she's yelling and upset and she's really upset and
39:18
literally out of a mom's mouth said she said I liked him better
39:23
when he was drunk. The wrath of man gets.
39:28
Stirred up with the gospel, it's a byproduct.
39:34
People aren't happy when God changes a life.
39:38
But our eyes, we just need to. Stay focused on the Lord.
39:41
Don't be afraid. Just remember God is not giving
39:44
you a spirit of fear and. Also be reminded.
39:48
That God doesn't want. Like if you're a believer,
39:51
listen to me. Carefully, if you're a believer.
39:53
You must be careful that you don't get involved in any mob or
39:57
group of people that are just destroying other people's lives.
40:02
We preach a gospel. Not of physical violence, but of
40:06
spiritual violence. That's the gospel that we have.
40:10
We we step into the spiritual violence against the enemy
40:14
through our prayers and our obedience to the Lord.
40:17
It's through our. Faith.
40:19
That strongholds are. Taken down.
40:22
It's through our faith and through our obedience, It's
40:25
through the spiritual violence of faith that we claim every
40:29
soul, every son, every daughter, every mom and dad, every
40:33
prodigal, every lost person connected to us that God might
40:36
deliver them, heal them, and save them.
40:39
This is a spiritual battle church.
40:42
And I know it's easy. To get riled up and go, I'm
40:44
going to join the crowd, I'm going to join the crowd.
40:46
Listen, you can do a lot more praying in your prayer closet
40:50
than you will ever join a mob. And you see.
40:53
What's happening here? It doesn't do anything but make
40:55
things worse and harm people. It's a convenient way.
41:02
To sidestep your spiritual responsibility too, where you
41:06
can say and feel like you did something, but you actually did
41:08
nothing. There was no eternal good.
41:12
You can do that on a small on a large scale or even on a small
41:15
scale when God is just asking you to step into people's lives
41:19
by obedience. Well, as we close here, get
41:22
ready to take the elements of communion.
41:24
Notice verse 35 when the city clerk had quieted the crowd, he
41:28
said, men of Ephesus, what man is there that doesn't know that
41:31
the city of Ephesians is the temple guard, temple guardian of
41:35
the great goddess Diana and of the image that fell down from
41:38
Zeus. Therefore, since these things
41:41
cannot be. Denied.
41:41
You ought to be quiet and do nothing.
41:44
So even. This unbelieving city clerk said
41:47
stop this nonsense. Stop it, it says in verse 37.
41:52
You have brought these men here, who are neither robbers nor of
41:55
temples, nor blasphemers of your goddess.
41:58
Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsman's really has a
42:01
case, the courts are open. Let them go to the pro councils,
42:05
let them bring charges against one another.
42:07
But if you have any other inquiry to make, it shall be
42:09
determined in the lawful assembly, for we are in danger
42:12
of being called into question for today's uproar.
42:15
There being no reason which we may give to account for this
42:18
disorderly gathering. And when he had said these
42:21
things, he dismissed the assembly.
42:23
This unnamed unknown city clerk was used not only to save the
42:28
city from the because really what he's saying is, hey, if
42:31
Rome hears about this. They're going to come and shut
42:33
it down. So shut it down now.
42:36
We don't want the Romans coming here.
42:37
We don't want them even showing up.
42:39
We don't want to deal with the Roman government.
42:40
So shut this down right now. But he's also at the same time,
42:44
this unbelieving, unknown, unnamed city clerk is being used
42:48
to save Paul's life. And it reminds me, you just, I
42:54
just don't know who God's using in my life.
42:57
I don't know, I. Don't know what's happening.
43:00
Behind the scenes and that frustrates me.
43:02
Does it frustrate you Church Yes.
43:04
No, it frustrates me because I think if I could just get.
43:07
Involved and work this out and work this out, it'll all be
43:10
fine, but I don't know what God's doing.
43:13
I need to discover it, and while I'm learning and discovering
43:16
God's will, I need to live a life of obedience.
43:19
Just simple, quiet obedience. Which isn't glamorous.
43:24
It isn't often posted on Instagram.
43:26
Nobody's going to really know about your simple, quiet
43:28
obedience. But the Lord, he knows, and
43:34
you're making differences in people's lives.
43:36
You're planting seeds in that life, you're watering seeds in
43:39
that life, and then you're going to see the increase.
43:42
God can use even your boss, the city clerk, in your life, He.
43:48
Can use the unsaved. The unknown God is working
43:52
behind the scenes. Remember what he told Elijah?
43:54
Elijah was so discouraged. He felt he was like, so alone.
43:57
And God told him, hey, look, bro, you're not alone.
43:59
I don't know if he said bro, but hey, look, you're all right.
44:02
You're OK. I got thousands of people here.
44:05
You don't know anything about and the.
44:07
Same could be true for you and me.
44:09
There are thousands of people we don't know anything about that
44:12
God's working and moving and putting things into place for
44:16
the sake of his gospel. Why did he save Paul's life?
44:19
It wasn't just merely the value of life, although that is true.
44:24
Paul's life was valuable, but he was saving Paul's life for how
44:29
he would use him. In the future.
44:32
Why are you alive today? Because God.
44:35
Has something for you to do today, that's why.
44:40
He isn't needing wait for you. To clean your life up and throw
44:43
all your cassette tapes out or whatever.
44:44
He's not waiting for that. God has something for you today.
44:48
Today is a day of salvation. Now, in this moment Church, you
44:53
see the. World Be the church, step into
44:56
people's lives, check in on your neighbors.
45:01
Find yourself going into the office and being open to a work
45:05
of the Holy Spirit. I mean you could go into.
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Office. Tomorrow morning, I hate my job,
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I hate my job, I hate my job, I hate my job.
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And everyone in the office, you know what they're going to say.
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We know you hate your job. Or you wake.
45:18
Up in the morning you go, Lord, you know, You know I'm not
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really. Happy about this place, but I
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thank you that you provide for my family or you.
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I thank you that I could pay my bills.
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I thank you that you've put me around all these people.
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How are you going to use me? Lord, I want to be used.
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I want to. Make a difference.
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And you put me in this place for this day, for this season, and I
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want to be obedient to you. It'll change your life.
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It'll change your life forever as God uses you.
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Because when you're faithful with one, he'll give you 2.
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When you're faithful with two, he'll give you 4.
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When you're faithful with four, like who knows what God has in
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store? I think of the baptisms again.
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I really want you guys to come to baptisms even when you're not
45:56
being baptized because the place is electric, man.
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It's unbelievable the thickness of the Holy Spirit.
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It's unbelievable the changes, the Holy Spirit coming upon
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people, the smiles, the tears, that life change that you get to
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see with your own eyes. And I just thought as I was
46:16
looking. And walking through and
46:17
baptizing a few and then getting up and walking a few and
46:20
watching just generational change, generational change,
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generational change over and over.
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And. Over and over again, marriages
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saves singles, pure kiddos. Kiddos, you know, they're brand
46:33
new believers as kids wondering what in the world do you have in
46:36
store for this kid? What are you going?
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To do Lord. What are you going to do?
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And then of course. You don't know all the stories I
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know. I know a few more stories than
46:45
you do. But you know, you know stories
46:47
well. You know that I was here with my
46:48
neighbor. You know how many times I've
46:50
been sharing? I can't believe my neighbor was
46:51
here? Yes.
46:53
Yes, that's the church. And so this is a great chapter.
47:00
God wants to do an Aurora what he did in Ephesus.
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He wants to do it in Denver. He wants to do it in Watkins.
47:07
He wants to do it in Lakewood. God is on the move today.
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Church, we just need to. Be a part of it.
47:12
Amen. He is a part Lord.
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Thank you for this section of. Scripture we're.
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Grateful. We want to be.
47:19
Used to view in these last days and I'll prepare our hearts for
47:21
communion that we might draw near to you, grateful and
47:25
appreciative of all that you've done in our lives.
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But before we do, if you're here today, you've never given your
47:30
life to Jesus Christ. I want to invite you to do just
47:32
that, that today you would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
47:37
for the forgiveness of your sins.
47:38
If you have never done that before and you want to receive
47:42
the love of God, would you just stand to your feet as you
47:44
respond to the invitation to follow Jesus Christ?
47:48
The Bible says that God so loved the world that he gave His only
47:52
begotten Son, that whoever. I don't care what your
47:56
background is. I don't care if you've been
47:59
involved. In witchcraft, since you have
48:01
been the youngest, it does God wants to deliver you.
48:04
He wants to deliver you from alcohol.
48:06
He wants to deliver you from drugs.
48:08
He wants to deliver you ultimately from yourself.
48:12
From. Yourself, I was thinking.
48:14
About this, as I'm watching the church this weekend and I'm
48:18
walking back and you saw me going back between services, I
48:22
got to go use the restroom very quickly.
48:23
That's where I go and I'm talking to the brother walking
48:26
with me. We're just talking about
48:28
testimonies and I'm like, hey bro, you, you don't understand.
48:31
My testimony is worse than even what I share.
48:35
That's what God saved me from. Like, I don't even want to
48:38
share. I don't even remember it all.
48:39
It was so bad. But God is so good.
48:43
And so it doesn't matter where you come from and what you're
48:45
into. God wants to deliver you and
48:48
draw you to himself. He wants you to embrace his love
48:51
for you. And so if you're here today and
48:53
you say, Ed, that's me, I want to follow Jesus with my life,
48:57
would you just stand to your feet?
48:59
We want to pray for you. We want you to publicly
49:01
acknowledge God. Bless you in the back.
49:03
Who also would say that's me today in this moment?
49:09
You watching online or? Listening on the radio right now
49:12
or downstairs like God is working.
49:16
He's working in your heart, working in your mind, working in
49:22
your spirit right now, recognizing you know what, I'm
49:27
not following God. He doesn't have it all.
49:32
I'm still living my own. Thing I'm so grateful you're
49:36
living your own thing in church. I'm grateful for that.
49:39
But don't confuse being in church as being in Christ.
49:43
It's not the same. Would there be anyone else
49:47
before we pray that you would make and then you get to take
49:51
communion for the first time as a believer.
49:53
That's pretty special. Where you remember the broken.
49:57
Body of Christ and the blood that was shed.
49:59
The forgiveness of your sins. And so pray with me.
50:06
Pray to God, talk to God where the Bible says if you confess
50:09
with your mouth to Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that
50:12
God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved.
50:15
And so I want to help you confess to God, so you could say
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God I. Come to you and ask.
50:20
You to forgive me of my sins, I. Believe in.
50:25
Jesus my Saviour, I want to live for him.
50:30
As my Lord. And I renounce.
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And repent of my sins. And I choose to follow.
50:40
You with my life starting today and God bless those that would
50:48
come to you today. Pour out your spirit of.
50:51
Power upon them. And.
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Be used in a mighty. Way in Jesus name, Amen.
50:59
We pray that you've. Been encouraged by this Bible
51:02
study delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
51:05
prayer. Call us at 87730 Grace that's
51:10
877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
51:16
integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
51:20
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
51:25
Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
51:28
this week.