Sandusky Life Church
Sunday, August 16

      • Psalm 119:169–176ESV

  • God Of This City
  • No Hay Lugar Más Alto
  • Jesus You Alone

  • Light to the world: How to share the gospel to world around us.

    Bible Passage: Acts 19:10-41

    Light to the World Series

    A. Recap

    Last week I pulled out something that is truly a thread throughout all of this series: To be light our efforts should draw out the idols within a person’s heart. We see that all other beliefs are idolatry.
    Light to the Religious (Acts 13:14-43)
    Make an idol out of the true God.
    Light to the Pagan (Acts 14:15-19)
    Make an idol out of the created gods
    Light to the Intellectual Skeptic (Acts 17:16-34)
    Make an idol out of themselves
    4. Why we need special attention to Occults even though it technically a form of Paganism.
    Astrology in partner selections, gambling, job matches
    Aura cleanses and stone healings.
    Feng Shui - moving furniture

    B. Background

    Paul leaves Athens and gain friends in Corinth.
    Paul leaves friends in Ephesus for 2.5 years returns to Jerusalem
    Paul arrives back in Ephesus and encounters disciples of John who had not yet heard the full revelation of Christ.
    He is baptizing them and they receive the Holy Spirit and then he brings them along and continues his pattern of starting at the Synagogue and working his way out.

    C. Exposition.

    Acts 19:10–20 NRSV
    10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord. 11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them. 13 Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. 17 When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck; and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised. 18 Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices. 19 A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins. 20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

    a) God’s power is greater than counterfeit power.

    (1) Backdrop

    (a) The City of Ephesus
    (i) One of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. Not the biggest but similar to a Chicago or Houston.
    (ii) Home to to The temple of Artemis was 4x the size of the Parthenon (The temple of Athena in Athens). It would be about triple the height of a Walmart Supercenter.  It was considered one of the seven wonders of the world.
    (iii) This “god” Artemis
    (a) Known as the “Virgin huntress”
    (b) The protector of child-birth and fertility.
    (c) Connected as a “moon goddess” who was the goddess of witchcrafts and was vengeful”
    (d) They would sacrifice to her, offering wealth, slaves, parties, the abuse of children, the sex trade.
    (b) Why does all this matter?
    (i) What God accomplishes through Paul is not only evangelistic but it statement of power by God toward all these false gods.
    (c) God performs extraordinary miracles. (The original language implies miracles that were not common or done by chance). These miracles tell a story.
    (i) They were a work of God, not man.
    (ii) They were not tied to Paul physical location
    (iii) They were contrary to the magic powers of the Mediums, Witches, and Sorcerers.
    (iv) God’s power is not comparable to the magic or dark forces of the world.

    (2) True Power comes from God and is for his Glory

    (a) The miracles are an apologetic or defense that God is the one true God.
    Psalm 62:11 NRSV
    11 Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,
    (i) This is important because occult practices, whether chakras, auras, or tarot cards, claim access to supernatural power. But that power glorifies self, another being, or another name instead of Jesus.
    (ii) Another account of the church dealing with the occult is the story of “Simon the Sorcerer” or Magician found in Acts 8. Look what its says here. Acts 8:9-11
    Acts 8:9–11 NIV
    9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.
    Simon was a person who saw divine power as a means of gaining notoriety and status.
    In Scripture, when anyone person of God who performs miracles, they do so in the name and authority of Jesus. Even in the Old Testament, no prophet acts by his own authority. They call on God to do the miraculous. Human beings are merely channels of God’s power, never the source.
    This is why much of the modern miracle movement in Christianity can look more like witchcraft than biblical Christianity. Online, false pastors, evangelists, and televangelists sell healing while drawing glory to themselves.
    As believers seeking to be light, we must not partake in or glorify anyone claiming divine authority and power especially if that person is doing it for their own Glory and not the Gospel and Jesus’s Glory.
    Some may say, “Well, if it brings healing or prosperity and is good for me, who cares what name is attached? God must be involved.”
    That drives the next point.

    (3) All displays of power not from God are counterfeit.

    (a) Acts 19:13-14 If you go back to main passage the “Sons of Scheva” make an attempt to use the power of God to achieve the same results.
    Acts 19:13–14 ESV
    13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.
    In the passage it says, “they attempted to invoke”. This invoke means to incantation or magic spell done in  a specific formula to get a desired result.
    We see the same of crystals, sage even in Yoga (as a spiritual practice not exercise.) If I say a phrase in this way. Have this type of crystal, burn this incense for this type of emotion. If I follow this method, I get the outcome I want. But if I get what I want what’s wrong? The issue is that all of these practices are attempts to access the power and peace of God apart from the will of God.
    We are go to Jesus for Peace (He is our Peace Eph 2:14). Nothing can be granted to us apart from his will. 1 John 5:14
    1 John 5:14 NRSV
    14 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
    Using these attempts at power are all ways to circumvent discomfort.
    (b) This is contrary to Scripture because discomfort can be part of God’s will. Pain and sickness may humble us, certain ailments may deepen our dependence on God, and financial problems may result from poor choices.
    (c) This is why what I call the “Charismania movement,” not to be confused with sound biblical continuationists, is closely related to witchcraft. They claim you must pray a certain way, perform a ritual, or follow specific steps before God will answer or bless you.
    Here the New Testament formula for pray:
    Matthew 7:7 NRSV
    7 “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.
    If it’s in God’s will God will hear you when your upset, when you struggling in faith, when your articulate or don’t how to pronounce articulate. According to Romans 8:26 He’ll hear us even when where groaning in anguish.
    If our children came us in desperate need of help, would we only answer or give them good, if they said it a certain way? No that would be cruel. “11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
    In the words of Alastair Begg the Seven sons of Scheva left the Seven streakers of Scheva. They got their buts whooped by demonic forces because they didn’t have the relationship with God but wanted the benefits of God.

    (4) The last part of the passage tells us something very import. To be light there needs to be clear separation from darkness.

    (a) The text says they collected books & burned the book publicly though they were estimated a million dollars in value.
    (b) The people responded to the truth with repentance.
    (i) Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary defines Repentance as: In its fullest sense it is a term for a complete change of orientation involving a judgment upon the past and a deliberate redirection for the future.”
    Their full repentance meant acknowledging that their past actions and beliefs were wicked, while trusting their new foundation in Jesus to transform their future actions.
    We must preach and live a Gospel free from this world’s wicked practices, calling people to total repentance and devotion to Jesus.
    Hip-hop music was an idol for me. I remember God calling me to throw away and burn my entire music collection, not sell it for profit. I had to discard the old mindset and establish a new walk with Jesus.
    Acts 19:21-41
    Acts 19:21–41 NRSV
    21 Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.” 22 So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia. 23 About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way. 24 A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans. 25 These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, “Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business. 26 You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods. 27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.” 28 When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 The city was filled with the confusion; and people rushed together to the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s travel companions. 30 Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him; 31 even some officials of the province of Asia, who were friendly to him, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater. 32 Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33 Some of the crowd gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours all of them shouted in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 35 But when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Citizens of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven? 36 Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. 37 You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. 38 If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges there against one another. 39 If there is anything further you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly. 40 For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” 41 When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.
    This is a larger swath of verses but I’m only have one major point.

    a) Being a light disrupts the cultural standards

    (1) Idol worship, magical practices and healers and mystics, sex slaves, were big business in the ancient world and still is today.
    (a) Preaching the Gospel directly impacted their ability to make a profit from the pagan occult practices.
    (2) The denouncing of evil, would stop worship of their god Artemis.
    b) Here’s a couple of stories
    (1) I remember setting up our prayer table way back when at a county fair for our church. We didn’t pick spots, but soon after we set up a table of fortune tellers parked right next to us. They were young and joked, “this seems a bit awkward.” Shortly after I noticed a cross around her neck and mentioned to her did she know what It meant? She nodded yes, and said, “It stands for Jesus”. I dialogued about the Gospel. And we were out there for a few hours and she spoke. I think your booth is going to make our day a bad one.
    (2) In the second story a church decided to open a bible study in a bar. They got permission from the owner and they said now we warn you, “This may impact business”. He was fine. Later the bar closed because patrons started coming to the Lord.
    c) If light we preach is not upsetting the darkness then their chance it might not be bright enough.
    d) As we preach the gospel, idols will be exposed as non-factors they are. Demonic forces that answer to the one true God Jesus.
    (1)
    1 Corinthians 8:4–6 NRSV
    4 Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
    (2) 1 Corinthians 10: 19-21
    1 Corinthians 10:19–21 NRSV
    19 What do I imply then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
    Ephesians 1:19–23 NIV
    19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

      • Acts 19:10–20NBLH

      • Psalm 62:11NBLH

      • Acts 8:9–11NBLH

      • Acts 19:13–14NBLH

      • 1 John 5:14NBLH

      • Matthew 7:7NBLH

      • Acts 19:21–41NBLH

      • 1 Corinthians 8:4–6NBLH

      • 1 Corinthians 10:19–21NBLH

      • Ephesians 1:19–23NBLH

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