Even Bad Recognizes Good

Acts 19:13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. 14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? 16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.[1]

I.   Part

     A. Waded In

     B. Fully In

II. Proven

     A. Reputed

     B. Reputable

III. Publicized

     A. Exposed

     B. Exhausted

Introduction:  We continue in the season of celebration of the Holy Spirit’s empowering of The Church.  Today we will discuss our pursuit of God.  Those who seek Him shall be found by Him and He will allow or cause things which we cannot imagine to bring us to a place of surrender.

When we finally do surrender, which is especially hard for us men, that is not when we give up the strength or power to take care of ourselves and others.  That is when He will strengthen us to be the powerful, full of power, church that He will use to profit us His church.  Churches profit increases as new believers increase.

What is a new believer?  You are a new believer!  We read in Revelation 21: “ 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” [2]  Every day every breath every thought is new because God makes all things new.  Every day that comes no matter how long you have been on this planet, if you are a believer, you are a new believer.

There are many out there who think their local church thrives by making people convert by joining themselves to only their local church.  They want people to follow only them so much that they use all sorts of things to entice others to follow them in their place of comfort.  That place of comfort might be another church but it could just as easily be support of a different team or lifestyle.

People who are hurting have only one real necessity and that can fulfill all needs.  We often see others receive credit for relieving someone’s predicament and we want to be in that place where people see us as the one who restores.

Today we will hear about a group who were partly in but thought they should be totally credited because of what they witnessed others do, which people believed they should be able to do.  They were in but they weren’t fully in.

Scripture:  The scripture is Acts 19:13-16.  When you have found it please rise to your feet for the reading of God’s written word.

Prayer: Please be seated

Message:  Today we heard from Paul’s companion Luke about a very strange thing that happened.  We have been discussing our need to accept what the Holy Spirit has for us in this time, in this place.  God wants to do a mighty work here and He has and He will but we must seek Him.  When we do, He will find us.

Earlier this week as I was having my devotional time, I came across a text that led me to that last statement.  When we seek Him, He will find us.  That is surely Biblically true but I asked others who have a regular study regiment to help me find that text again.  I still can’t find it but that’s OK because searching brought me to find other wonderful things in His written word.

This is one text that I did find.  2 Chronicles 15:3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. 4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.[3]

We so often demand that we see God when we need Him.  He is God and I am not.  When I seek Him and He allows me to, I will find Him.  It is all up to Him.  What He does or does not do does not depend on anything that I do.  But if we search and He allows us to find us, He will use us for His glory.  Not to make a name for ourselves but that His name might be given to us.  Christian!

If we attempt to play church without Him, bad things will happen.  The church in this world today seems to be dedicated to many things that we want and we don’t even know how to want what He wants.  What a mess!  What are we?

Who were they?  Vagabond Jews, vagrants, those who have no desire to settle down and accept that which they are meant to be.  These were Jews but were using their ability to bring temporary satisfaction to themselves.  They were Jews but they were not fully committed to be what God had made them to be.

The other day we flew over the water to land on an island.  It took a short time to get there and we saw everything from a distance.  There were many others who came to that little island but they were more intentional because most of them came by boats and it took much more time to get there.  They made a bigger effort to experience the island.  We met some of my friends who live there.  The locals there stay there through hurricanes and whatever else that comes.  There is no hospital so if you get sick the little clinic is the only place to go.  No McDonalds, Burger King, not even a Food Lion.  You have got to be dedicated to be an Ocracoker and live on Ocracoke.

A fellow named Sceva had seven sons who were thought to be exorcists or people who can conjure evil demons and spirits out of people.  They were Jews but they were not dedicated seemingly to anything except making a name for themselves.  We don’t know by reading here if they had been successful at gaining a following of people but apparently they were because they were reputed to be exorcists.

They might have been thought to have the ability to cast out demons but they certainly weren’t very reputable, and the demon, though he didn’t know them, knew they weren’t what they said they were.  This particular time, they probably saw or heard about Paul ridding someone of an evil spirit so they tried to follow Paul’s example.  They were not led by The Holy Spirit.  They were led by wanting to have others see them successful at their so-called profession.  They must have heard something about calling on someone else’s name so they tried it.

Let’s go back and see how this worked out when they took it upon themselves to call on the name of Jesus without proclaiming Him Lord. They said that they were adjuring, or commanding, the spirit to come out of the person in the name of Jesus by whom Paul had preached.   “15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”

Who are you?  Who do you think you are commanding an evil spirit?  Yes the demon absolutely did know Jesus and Paul but he had no respect for this group.

It backfired!  They wanted a public display.  They wanted their business to be publicized as one that works so they tried something that they had known Paul to be successful in but they were not the ones for the task and it was obviously exposed in no uncertain terms.

That demon didn’t come out of the person.  No, that demon took over the man and the man jumped on those so-called exorcists with both feet and beat them until they were exhausted.  They got publicity all right but not what they wanted.  Naked and wounded, they ran out of that place and I don’t know this, but I expect they never tried that again!

If you are not gifted and you are not called and there is not that one with that specific need that God has placed for His glory, you do not have the necessity required to fill their need so you better not try it on your own.  Bad things happen when you attempt Gods work when He has not equipped you.  This is especially true if you are performing for an audience for your glory.

Remember, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are real.  The Holy Spirit’s purpose here now is to give witness and glory to Jesus Christ.  Any other reason for using Spiritual gifts will surely fail and could cause the person or persons attempting to perform much damage.  And they will always be found out…

Prayer:

Invitation: The only way to accept Him is to look for Him so that He will find you.  His will is not to experience you.  His will is that you experience Him.  We call and call in the name of Jesus that He will fulfill our request.  As a Christian, don’t you think it’s about time to fall on your knees and ask what is His will for your life?

His will is for me to have a real relationship with Him!  Jesus came and died to rebuild that relationship.  He has real things that He has instructed the Holy Spirit to gift you with to provide for His church, and you are His church!

Are you ready said the master?  We must accept the truth that we are crucified with Christ before we can live for Christ as a new believer; every day a new believer in Christ.  Don’t you want that?  Respond as we sing…

[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (1995). (electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version., Ac 19:13–16). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (1995). (electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version., Re 21:5). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (1995). (electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version., 2 Ch 15:3–4). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.