Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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We are studying the Book of
Acts. My name is Pastor Mark
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Howard. I'm here with my cohost
and brother Pastor Jim Howard.
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Jim, the last time we were
in the book of Acts we were
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studying in chapter 19 about...
Well several things in chapter
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19 but actually we were in
18 and 19. When we came into
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chapter 19 and we were looking
at a rebaptism. Before we look
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at that again, we're going
to just revisit that as we begin
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chapter 19, we're going to
ask God to bless our time in the
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study of his word. I'm going to
invite our viewers to bow their
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heads and pray with us now.
Father in heaven, we do ask for
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the promised Holy Spirit to
guide us into truth, to give us
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understanding in your word, and
we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.
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We had seen in Acts chapter 19
that there were some believers
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in Ephesus that had never heard
of the Holy Spirit. They had
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been baptized and when
questioned by the Apostle Paul
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into what they were baptized
they said they were baptized
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into John's baptism, that is
John the Baptist, a baptism of
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repentance. In other words, to
all the knowledge that they had
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they knew they needed to
repent of their sins and to live
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according to the will of
God, but they hadn't come to an
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understanding of the knowledge
of Jesus Christ as the way of
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salvation. So Paul preached the
gospel to them and they felt a
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need for rebaptism. Rebaptism
is something that maybe some of
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our viewers are unfamiliar with
or maybe are familiar with but
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didn't realize there was a
biblical precedent for that.
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Rebaptism is one of those
things where the Bible commands
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baptism. But the Bible doesn't
command rebaptism. Rebaptism is
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something that the Holy Spirit
may lay on the heart of an
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individual that in this
particular case for example
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feels that they have come into
a fuller understanding that they
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want to commit to
through rebaptism. Now when Paul
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rebaptized them the Bible says
here in Acts chapter 19 and I'll
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start with verse 5. When they
heard this they were baptized
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in the name of the Lord Jesus
and when Paul had laid hands on
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them the Holy Spirit came
upon them and they spoke with
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tongues and prophesied. Now
it says the men were about 12 in
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all. We've seen this before
this idea of when the Holy
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Spirit comes upon them we've
seen different ways that this
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has taken place. In this
particular case Paul lays hands
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on them and they receive the
Holy Spirit. But that's not how
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it has happened in every case in
the book of Acts. In this case,
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Paul lays hands on them and they
prophesy and speak with tongues.
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That's not how it happens in
every baptism situation or in
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every situation when the Holy
Spirit comes upon individuals.
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So we see that as we have said
before some of these accounts in
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the book of Acts are descriptive
rather than being prescriptive.
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In other words, they're not
telling us how it has to happen,
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but how it did happen and in
this particular case it tells us
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very little about what this
looked like and if we want to
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get a better picture we would
be better off going to different
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places in the book of Acts where
it actually fleshes out what it
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looked like when, for example,
they received the gift of
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tongues. So in this case, Paul
lays hands on them, but that
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didn't happen every time.
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Yeah. In Acts chapter 2, for
instance, we saw a very clear
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picture of the gift of tongues
in which they came from every
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nation under heaven and the
apostles preached with the gift
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of tongues and they heard them
speaking in their own language.
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It was very specific about
the gift of tongues. Here it's
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really not. It just says they
spoke with tongues and we can
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only assume that the clearer
passage is the way it actually
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appeared here, so we let the
clear passage inform the unclear
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when we're studying the Bible.
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That's exactly right and that's
an important point we've made
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before here that some people
will take passages of scripture
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that perhaps say things in a
way that they want them to be or
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that goes along with a certain
way of thinking, but that may
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not be consistent throughout
scripture. Furthermore it may
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be a little sketchy and if we
have a passage that really isn't
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very descriptive and we have
another passage that is more
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descriptive, we should always
interpret the unclear passage
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by the clear passage and not the
other way around. So as we carry
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on here in the book of Acts Paul
moves past the rebaptism here in
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verse 8 and it says, He went
into the synagogue and spoke
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boldly for three
months, reasoning and persuading
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concerning the things of the
kingdom of God. But when some
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were hardened and did not
believe, but spoke evil of the
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way before the multitude, he
departed from them and withdrew
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the disciples reasoning daily in
the school of Tyrannus and this
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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, both
Jews and Greeks. Now one thing
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we see here, Jim, is what we
looked at last time. The Apostle
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Paul isn't just spending
a couple weeks teaching.
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He's three months in the
synagogue and when he finds that
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he's not got a receptive
audience... This is very
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interesting to me because
I've seen this as a minister.
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When you have an audience and
part of your audience is just
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not really open, and resistant
and sometimes they even resort
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to making comments. They detract
from the ones who really want to
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learn. Well Paul sees the need
to withdraw after three months
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and then he spends an additional
two years or it says this
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continued for two years, it may
have included that three months,
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but the point is that he is here
for this period of time. I think
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in fact if we look at this
he was here for longer than two
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years, the three months were
in addition and there was some
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other time in reckoning that
and he taught during that whole
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period of time
discipling these new believers.
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That's right. Well we pick up in
verse 11. There's some exciting
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things that begin to happen here
in Ephesus. It says in verse 11,
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Now God worked unusual miracles
by the hands of Paul so that
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even handkerchiefs or aprons
were brought from his body to
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the sick and the diseases left
them and the evil spirits went
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out of them. Now the closest we
can probably see something like
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this in the life of Jesus was
when the woman with the flow of
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blood, she needed to be healed
and she couldn't get to Jesus
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because of the crowd and so she
just reached out and touched the
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hem of his garment. And
just from the hem of his garment
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virtue came out from Jesus and
brought healing to her. There's
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danger in looking at this and
seeing aprons and handkerchiefs
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and thinking that there's some
power in a relic or something
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like that. Exactly. Any time
there was healing regardless
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of how it came, whether it
was through things like this or
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without there were always a
couple clear characteristics:
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There was always Divine power
and there was always faith by
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the one who was being healed or
the ones, at a minimum, who were
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bringing the
person to be healed.
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That's right and faith in the
person of Jesus Christ and not
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in an article of a magic charm.
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That's right. Excellent. Yet
when we talk about this we're
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going to see that faith is
the important element that some
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people don't understand and
those that we're about to read
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about didn't seem to understand
it. And you keep reading in
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verse 13, it says, Then some of
the itinerant Jewish exorcists
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took it upon themselves to call
the name of the Lord Jesus over
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those who had evil spirits. So
these were some who were going
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around trying to mimic what
the Apostle Paul was doing in
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calling evil spirits out and so
they speak and say, We exorcise
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you by the Jesus whom Paul
preaches. And it says, Also
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there were seven sons of Sceva,
a Jewish chief priest, who did
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so. Now you get a picture
here that they're seeing this
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incredible power and they're
thinking, Hey, maybe we can
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get the benefit of this power.
They wanted to use this power.
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It brings to
memory a guy named Elymus.
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Yes, exactly. We had a sorcerer
who was doing that previously
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and we have examples like Simon
trying to buy the Holy Spirit.
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That's right. We have Ananias
and Sapphira who were wanting
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the benefits of the common pool
without having to sacrifice in
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commitment of actually
surrendering the full costs back
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in chapter 5 when we studied
that, of their land that they
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had sold. So we recognize
from this a couple of things.
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First, they wanted the benefits
of the church without the
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commitment. You can't have the
benefits of the gospel without
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the commitment and the surrender
to Christ. And secondly, they
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wanted to use the Spirit instead
of being used by the Spirit.
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That's right. We've got to
understand that the Spirit is
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not a tool that we wield but the
Holy Spirit is the power of God
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who is God Himself who wants to
use us and we need to go as the
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Spirit directs and that's not
exactly how this was. I'm sure
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that the sons of Sceva who were
here wanting to cast out this
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spirit if the Spirit of God
would actually have given them
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the power to do that, I'm sure
that they would have been happy
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about that. But then if the
Spirit of God would have told
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them to go, as Paul did, into a
town where they would be dragged
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out and stoned, they probably
wouldn't have done that.
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And that's the difference. See
we can't pick and choose where
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God will use us. We need to
be willing to go where God will
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lead us. So as a result
they didn't have much success.
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It says in verse 15, The evil
spirit answered and said, Jesus
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I know and Paul I know but who
are you? The Greek in this says
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Jesus I know meaning and
the word for know is different
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between Jesus I know and Paul I
know. It's Jesus I know meaning
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I know the authority, I
acknowledge and recognize the
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authority. Paul I know in a
sort of acquaintance way, I'm
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familiar with Paul and then
literally it's but you who are
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you? So you get this picture
that if it were Paul who was
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claiming the name of Jesus,
the spirit would have responded
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differently. But just like
Jesus could tell the difference
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between someone who had faith
and someone who was without
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faith but was just trying to use
the gospel in some way for their
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own benefit. In the same
was this evil spirit here can
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clearly see that there's a
difference. There's no real
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power here. The spirit knows
that there is no power when
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there's no faith. And I go back
to that story of the woman with
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the flow of blood and how all
those people were pressing up
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against Jesus when she reached
and touched his garment and they
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didn't receive the virtue
and power that came from Jesus.
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But her faith made it effective
and she was able to receive the
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power of Jesus because of that
faith. The sons of Sceva didn't
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have that faith. They
thought that they could have the
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benefits of the gospel without
having that type of living
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active faith and as a result
they were very embarrassed
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because in verse 16 it says,
Then the man in whom the evil
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spirit was leaped on them,
overpowered them and prevailed
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against them so that they
fled out of that house naked and
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wounded. And very
embarrassed I'm sure.
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Wow, amazing! There's a lot in
this. In fact, the first thing
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that grabs my attention is Jesus
I know and Paul I know but who
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are you? These are people who
are not committed to the Lord.
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And Jesus said there are
only two masters, you're either
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serving one or the other.
If they're not serving the Lord
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they're serving the other master
and the other master doesn't
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even know the names of his own
servants but he sure knows the
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name of the Lord's servants.
That's interesting. And then
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furthermore these guys are using
the name of Jesus like a good
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luck charm. They think they
can just take the name of Jesus
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whenever it suits them, as
you've touched on a little bit
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here and I wonder to myself how
many Christians use the name of
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Jesus as a good luck charm,
something that gains us some
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kind of benefit. I can't help
but think about an experience
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I had once where my wife
and I were looking to have some
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service done and we looked in
the phone book and there was an
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ad for a service contractor with
a little fish symbol which is
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something that Christians
use on a fairly regular basis to
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advertise that they were
Christian. The idea is, I'm a
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Christian so I'm going to
be honest and what have you.
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Well that just wasn't' the case
when we ended up... You know
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I had to think after the fact
that this person wasn't much of
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a Christian. Why are they
having this symbol? Because they
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figured if I put that in
there I'm going to gain people's
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confidence because they're going
to think I'm an honest person.
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This particular business was
using the name of Jesus to suit
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their own purposes. So
were these itinerant exorcists.
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We're going to see a little bit
more about that but we need to
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take a break and when we come
back from the break, we're going
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to come back to Acts chapter
19 and we're going to look at
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what the Bible goes on to
say about this work in Ephesus.
00:14:13.05\00:14:16.87
So stay with us.
We'll be back in a moment.
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