Acts 19: Revival, Real Authority, and the Power of Jesus’ Name

In this episode of The Morning Charge, we walk through Acts chapter 19 and unpack one of the clearest pictures of revival in the New Testament. We look at the difference between repentance and a Spirit-filled life, the authority found in the name of Jesus, and what happens when the gospel confronts systems built on idolatry.

As Paul ministers in Ephesus, the Holy Spirit moves with power, false authority is exposed, repentance breaks out publicly, and lives are changed. This chapter reminds us that true spiritual authority cannot be borrowed from someone else’s faith. It comes from a real relationship with Jesus.

This is a bold conversation about surrender, holiness, courage, and the kind of revival that tears down idols and calls people fully back to God. If you’ve been hungry for deeper faith and fresh fire, this episode will strengthen and challenge you.

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- Real Talk. Real Jesus. Real Life. -

Transcript

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Welcome to the Morning Charge. This is your moment to slow down, breathe, and get your spirit aligned before stepping into the day ahead. Life moves fast, responsibilities pile up, voices compete for your attention. But before the noise of the world takes over, this is where we come back to what actually matters. This is a place for honest conversations about faith, life, purpose, and everyday battles we all face. No pretending, no religious performance, just the truth. Because following Jesus was never meant to be complicated. It was meant to be real. So whether you're driving to work, you're getting the kids ready, or simply taking a quiet moment for yourself, you're in the right place. This is real talk, real Jesus, real life. This is the morning charge. Acts chapter 19. Let's pray and jump in this morning. Father, I just pray right now, Holy Spirit, that you would come into this room. I mean, you're already here. Lord, I thank you for being here in this room this morning. Lord, that you're already bringing revival to people's hearts. Lord, you're already coming and restoring marriages and families just like Tim was praying for earlier. Lord, let us be ones that are afresh and anew right now. Lord, let us drop off the stale baggage of seasons past and let's run into all that you have for us. Let's run into this new season that you've called us into. Just in my spirit, the last few days, spring has sprung. In the natural. I mean in the natural it has, but in the spirit is what I mean. Spring has sprung. Spring is springing forth right now in us. We're marching forth into the things of the Lord. So, Lord, show us what that looks like. Father, I don't know about you guys, but I got my journal right here. I write in this journal. Some days it may just be the date and the day, and that Jesus loves me. But you know what? I say, Holy Spirit, speak to me. Holy Spirit, you guys get you one of these and start writing in it because God wants to give you some instructions, but you got to get yourself to the secret place to get the instructions that God wants to give you. Come on, I'm not perfect. My gosh, you know how many times I've missed it? That's why I'm intentionally saying, Lord, speak to me today. Speak to me today. Lord, come and speak to us today. Y'all keep loving on the new ones that are coming in this morning. Said, yes, to be a burning one, you can't be afraid to be caught up in the fire. We got to be caught up in the fire of the Lord. Because his fire comes to purify. It doesn't come to scort you, it comes to purify. And I want him to burn away all the things that need to be burned away to make room for the new growth. Come on, fire and water. That's why, that's why the Lord, when the Lord began to give me a download of Fire and Water Ministries, and if you want to find out more about us, you can go to the link in my BIO or go to fireandwater ministries.org. But when he gave me that, he showed me fire, like the foresters. You know, they do the control burns, and about this time of year, they're doing control burns everywhere. It's to burn out all the underbrush. And then fire and then water. After that, the rain comes and it begins to wash away the ashes and it settles the ground. And then when seeds fall, new growth can form. God's taking you through the fire so he can purify you and wash away all the old, so he can come forth and bring forth the new growth in you. Let him do it. Let him do it. Let him do it. There's somebody in this room this morning that needs to hear that. Let him do it. Like he's never done it before. Let this be a time that you allow him to come and just burn away a little more. A little more. God, I want you to take all of me. Refine all of me. Refine all of me, Holy Spirit. I'm feeling something new. Something new, something new, something new, something new is stirring this morning, y'all. Something new is stirring this morning. All right. Well, Acts chapter 19, if you will. Lord Jesus, I thank you, Lord. There's three major things we're going to really look at. And I'm so glad we're at this chapter, Amanda. I'm glad we're here finally at Acts chapter 19. We're going to see the difference between repentance and spirit-filled life. We're going to see the authority of the name of Jesus and what you can do by speaking the name of Jesus. And we're going to see what real revival does to an economy that has been built on idolatry. It tears it down. But we're going to see a lot of different things in here. All right. We're going to see a lot about Ephesus, especially Ephesus was not, I'm going to put it this way. Ephesus was one of the most occult-dominated cities in the Roman world. It was built on just nothing but idol worship. And it, I mean, this is deep, deep stuff, all right, that Paul is going to experience. So let's kind of dive into this this morning. Because he's really going to be, if we thought things were going to be buttonheads before, we're going to see it now. But there's some, there's, I mean, but I'm telling you, revival breaks out, and we're going to see that. So let's go this morning, see what God wants to tell us through his word. So Acts chapter 19, verse 1, if you're following along. While Apollos was ministering in Corinth, Apollos is still in Corinth. Paul traveled on through the regions of Turkey until he arrived in Ephesus, where he found a group of twelve followers of Jesus. Or he found some disciples here, all right? Verse 7 states there were 12, and this information is included here in verse 1 for the sake of the English narratives. Verse 2, the first thing he asked them was, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers? All right, so these were followers of Jesus. All right, this was a known thing. But the first thing that Paul asked them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers? Their reply, No. We've not even heard of the Holy Spirit. Paul asked then, then what was the meaning of your baptism? They responded, It meant that we would follow John's teaching. Okay. All right, so you have some of the story, but you ain't got all the story, okay? Verse 4, Paul said, John's baptism was for those who were turning from their sins, and he taught you to believe in and follow the one who was coming after him, Jesus the anointed one. All right, these were for all right, for your sins. John's baptism was a baptism of grace to the people. When they understood this, see, there had to be an understanding. Paul had to make sure, all right, do you know that you know? And when they understood this, they were then baptized into the authority of Jesus, the anointed one, or in the name of Jesus Christ, which means they were baptized, what? Into the authority of the name of Jesus who was greater than John. All right. John was great, and he had a great message, but he was talking about the one who was coming. Well, he's already came. So we got to get the story straight with you guys. We appreciate what you're doing, but you've got to get filled with the Holy Spirit to be so effective. You're being effective, but we got to be so effective. So they understood it. They were baptized in the authority of Jesus. And when Paul laid hands on, on uh well, when Paul laid his hands on each of the twelve, the Holy Spirit manifested, and they immediately spoke in tongues and they began to prophesy. They were speaking in supernatural given languages. And then they began to prophesy. All right, the Aramaic says they spoke tongue by tongue and they gushed out prophecies. The Holy Spirit now resting upon them. The impartation of the Holy Spirit and his gifts are here being transferred from Paul to these believers. There was a transference. That's why this importance, the laying on of hands, if you will. Because Paul was already walking in and knew something. He said, I've been walking in this, and now I impart to you. And the Holy Spirit met them, met them in that place, and they begin to prophesy. Jesus taught us that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, it is to impart power for our lives and for our ministries. Well, Josh, I don't stand in a pulpit. I don't sing from a platform. Josh, I don't, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. What see, we we got such a warped, a warped view of what ministry is, and we think we leave all this stuff to the pastor. No. This is for the Holy Spirit. He said, I'd pour my spirit out on all flesh. When I say ministries, that means your ministry, you. How you, what you do at home with your family, praying with your family. When you go into the workplace, don't be just a Christian that goes to work. Y'all hear me talk about this all the time. Ministry is everyday life wherever you go. That's right, Brandy. All right, and that's and look, that's my lovely wife right there. She usually does the chat thing unless the Holy Spirit prompts her to say something. So y'all make sure to give her some love, okay? But your ministry, your lives, see, to impart power to your lives and to your ministries. Don't just be a Christian going to work. Open up your mouth when God gives you an opportunity to minister to somebody. If you're going in there cleaning people's houses, if God wants you to open up your mouth, open up your mouth and begin to minister to people as he leads you. Amen. Verse 8: for three months, Paul taught openly and fearlessly in the synagogue, arguing persuasively for them to enter into God's kingdom realm. He's talking to them or about God's kingdom realm. All right, it's a big step for both Jews and Christians to come out of their religious identity and focus on the reality of God's kingdom realm. All right, you're stuck in your religious, all right. You got, you got, you got partial truth, but you're stuck in your religious mentalities. Jesus has come. Our Savior has come. Will you get that? Will you get that Jesus is here? We've got to break out and we've got to, we've got to focus on the reality of God's kingdom realm. That's that's the true reality. His kingdom come, his will be done on earth, just as it is in heaven. Not by a big ministry I'm gonna build and then ask him to come and bless all of this stuff that I'm doing, all this good stuff. Lord, look at all the good stuff I'm doing. I'm doing this good stuff and that good stuff and this good stuff. And and Lord, will you just come and bless it? Will you come and move? And and and God may be saying, Well, well, what are you doing? That's not what I you you kind of did what what you felt like and what you thought and what you've seen everybody else do. We got to stop doing what we see everybody else do. Yes, you know, there's an old story. There's a there's an old story, I can't remember the the full extent of it. But there's an old story about how I don't know, I'd have to pull it up. Anyway, the daughter was cooking something, and she did it a certain way, and she wound up cutting part of it off and throwing it away. Oh, that's that was it. Yeah, she she baked bread in this pan and she used her mother's recipe. I got it now, thank you, Lord. She was cooking a bread recipe and she baked it, she got it out of the oven to cool, and she cut a fourth of it off and tossed it, and then she stored it. And her husband's like, what are you doing? Actually, this was the granddaughter, the granddaughter, the grandmother's recipe, okay? What are you doing? Well, I'm just I I just I cut the bread off and I put it. Well, why would you, why wouldn't, why would you do that? Like, that's insane. Why why would you throw some of the bread away? It should all be good. She said, I don't know. My mom's always done that. I mean, she would cut it off and then she would store it. So she calls her mom, hey mom, why do we cut the end of the bread off? And then store it. She started thinking, she's like, Well, I'm not really sure. She said, Let me ask my mom, which was the girl's grandmother, let's let's let's try to let's try to find out why. So she gets in touch with the with her mom at this point, the grandmother of the of the girl, and says, Hey, you know that bread recipe you got? It's like, yeah, oh, it was a ham. Look at you. Look at you. It was a ham. Why do you cut the ham off? I thought it was bread. Okay, so yeah, it was a ham. Look at y'all helping me with stories. Why do you cut the ham? It was ham and then put it in the pan to bake it. Why are you cutting the ham off? Isn't that part good? Well, I don't know. So then they go back to the grandmother. Hey, why do you cut the ham off before you put it in the pan to bake it? She said, I did that because the pan that I had was too small for the whole thing to sit in there. Now, what I want you to understand, even though I butchered that story from one side to the other, are we doing what we're doing because it's what we've always seen done and what we've always heard done by other people? Or are we doing what we're doing because it's Holy Spirit led and Holy Spirit breathed? See, most people want to start and they want to jump out into a ministry. Well, if I think I'm called to ministry, well, then I gotta go, I gotta go find a building and I gotta do the thing, and we gotta meet it this time, and we gotta do it like this, and we gotta do it like that. And well, well, you're you're following the patterns of everyone else, which I mean, you know, is what it is. But what if that's not what the Holy Spirit was calling you to do? What if there was something different with your ministry? You know, uh Francis Chan, a powerful, powerful minister. Uh, I'm sure most of you guys have probably heard of him. But he, you know, the Lord called him to ministry. So they went out and they they built the they found the land, they built the building, they, they, they designed it, they did all these things. They were coming up on their their opening service, their opening service. That's that first Sunday morning they were going to have their service. He was praying before the Lord. And the Holy Spirit broke him and said, It said, Why did you build all that? He said, Well, Lord, you called us to ministry. He said, Yeah, but I didn't call you to do all this. He said, Why did you do all this? And he just began to weep before the Lord. All this good stuff, all this nice building for people to all this, I mean, all of it was good. There was nothing wrong with it. There's nothing bad. And that's the thing with how we do things over in the Western culture. There's nothing bad about any of it. But is it the thing that the Holy Spirit has spoken to you about? Your ministry may be out on the back 40 of your 50 acres around a bonfire with an acoustic guitar, ministering to young adults, ministering to families. It could be anything. What is it that's going to be most effective for your life? Okay. Paul is going around. See, they they they had they had their ideas and their things. Not saying any of it was inherently like bad, but he's breaking down the religious system because it didn't have it as a part of it. In other words, it didn't have Jesus as a part of this religious system. And so he began to break it down and asking them to come out of their religious identity because remember, a lot of them, a lot of them identified with what they did, not with who they were. See, we can't identify with what we do, we have to identify with who we are, which are sons and daughters of the Lord Most High. Okay? So he was breaking their religious identity and causing them to focus on the reality of God's kingdom realm. His kingdom come, his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What is God doing with you? I want you to ask yourself that question. And only you and the Holy Spirit can deal with that. Only you and the Lord can deal with that. I don't know. But get before the Lord before you start solidifying some things. Don't do it because it's what everybody's always done. Do it because it's something that the Lord is calling you to. Amen. After this point, let me get back where we are here. Three months, Paul taught openly. There we go. And he wanted them to enter into God's kingdom realm. Okay, verse 9. But some of them hardened their hearts and stubbornly refused to believe. They were so stuck in what they were doing, they just hardened their hearts and they refused to believe it. When they spoke evil of the way in front of the congregation, Paul withdrew from them and took the believers with him. Now they're speaking evil. They cursed the Christian way of living. That is the way. Followers of Jesus, when you hear them mention of the way, that is the way of Christ. But they cursed that way of living in front of the entire congregation. Paul then began to withdraw from them and took the believers. Paul wasn't worried about being liked by people. He was concerned with delivering the message of Jesus at all cost. I mean, let's go back where it said that he was now teaching openly and fearlessly in the synagogues. He wasn't holding anything back. He's like, here's the truth. Here's the truth about Jesus. Now, if we look at verse 10, every day for over two years, so every day the Greek manuscript adds from the fifth hour, that'd be about 11 a.m. to the 10th hour, about 4 p.m. So every day, from about, if you can think in your mind, all right, that thank you, scholars, for helping us put this together, from about 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day for over two years, every day, for two years. He taught them in the lecture hall of Tyrannius, all right, years counting the three months of focusing on ministry to the Jews. Paul's entire stay in Ephesus came to about three years, which it would have included a short visit to Corinth during this time. But anyway, regardless. So now he is in the lecture hall of Tyrannis. All right. This was like a this was like a college. Or if you can kind of think of that, like a lecture hall, if you've ever been to college or school like that. Or it was kind of like that, or Tyrannus, a tyrannus, however you say that, it its name means sovereign, okay? It was most likely like a a philosopher or lecturer who had disciples whom he taught. So it was like having students in a classroom and you're and you're teaching them. All right, but they apparently welcomed Paul after he left the Jewish congregation and brought him into their school to teach the students. All right, those that have searched out history. All right. You're and you know what? You're not welcome. Mm-mm-mm. You know, there's some places Jesus ain't even welcome in the church. Because they got their own systems, their own programs, they got it all together. Why should Jesus be there? They have it all laid out. Why should they have a why should they have an encounter with Jesus? They got it all together. Looks like your little programs and things are going okay. I mean, but but do we want to encounter more programs and more committees and more all of this, that, and the other, or do we want to encounter Jesus? They ain't Paul wasn't welcome in the in the church anymore. But you could but the college down the street said, Hey, why don't you come speak to our students? We want to hear more about what you got to say. We we about living in the time in these times now. Where Jesus is just about Big C. I ain't talking about nobody's local church. Now, if you got Jesus in there and you have encounters of the Holy Spirit, praise God. But Big C, we've fallen asleep and we just we just kind of just going through the motions of our little religious system we've set up. Okay, and I ain't saying Sunday church is bad, okay? So stop. Josh said that. No, he never said that. I said if we're not careful, our religious systems that we have put together with these hands are taking precedence over the over the over the presence of Jesus meeting with us as a body every time we come together. If the Holy Spirit ain't meeting with us when we're coming together, why in the world are we showing up? Is it a social club only? Ain't nothing wrong with fellowship. I love it. Let's have a meal and let's break bed together, but I want Jesus sitting at the table with us while We're doing it. But if we get to a point where the church has just pushed Jesus out because we got our religious systems all together, they're going to be places where God's going to begin to show himself. And Jesus is going to begin to appearing. And he's already begun appearing on college campuses. And I'm telling you, with what I'm hearing from other evangelists and other people who are traveling in this season, like Brandy and I are doing, God's going to meet us in a town that's got a 140-something people in it. That's Prem, Kentucky. I dunno look to y'all census. What 141 people? That's Freeman, Kentucky. No, not 141,000. Not 1,410. No, 141 people. In a lunch room of the lunchroom at the elementary school, God's going to show up. I I hello. God is going to show up. I can promise you that. If you can get yourself there, I'm telling you, get yourself there. And I mean, and it ain't nothing special about me or Brandy, and anything special about Matthew and Amanda or any of the people that are coming, but what makes it is what there's a body of believers that are coming together in one accord nights is what it's called. We're coming together in one mind and one accord and one like spirit. And we have a heart to just see Jesus come and do what only Jesus can come and do. He's looking for a place that he can inhabit. He's looking for a body of believers that just show up and have no agenda so he can inhabit. Yeah, that's it. We ain't coming with anything else, just the Spirit of God. We're yielded vessels looking. Well, I know the Spirit of God is here with me, even now. But coming together with other people, they're a power in numbers. The Bible shows us this over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Yeah, we're praying, we're fasting for a fresh outpouring of the of the Holy Spirit. Come on, y'all. He's breaking down what we've what we feel like we have always known. Like the ham story. Stop cutting off the edge of the ham to put it in the oven because that's what grandma or great-grandma did because her pan was too small. Just because it's the way we've always done it, don't mean that's the way he wanted it done. Oh, come on, somebody. Just because it's the way we've always done it, don't mean that's the way he wanted it done. Let's be careful with what he is. When you have holy things in your hands, you better be careful with what you're holding. Be careful with what you're holding. You know what I'm saying? Amen, Cody. And you keep on ministering to people. God's going to pour into you as you pour out to others. Pouring in as you're pouring out, pouring in as you're pouring out. Amen, bro. Keep on encouraging, keep on going, keep on believing. God's got you in your situation. Amen. But every day for over two years, Paul shows up at this college, this lecture hall, which resulted in everyone living in the province of Asia. All right. So this school of ministry, as we see it here, exploded. As many came to hear Paul and then went out to preach. They were expanding the reach of the gospel into all the province of Asia. Now they're going out. This is more of a school. This is not in the synagogues now. It's more of a school of the spirit, so to speak. The teachings here are now resulting in the expansion of the of God's of God's kingdom realm. Oh, this is. This is right where we're at today. This is right where we're at today. And yeah, we have been asking the Lord, remove everything that's not of your Holy Spirit. Come on. Two big wheels and a board tried, once tried to carry the Ark of the Covenant, and that didn't go so well. Be careful. When the Lord entrusts you with holy things, you had better be careful what you're building. Because I've seen it way too many times that man builds it the way they've always seen it built, and then they begin to build it their way. And the holy things that they're holding in their hands slip right on through the cracks. And now we see so so such crumblings and such corruption. Come on, y'all. Jews and non-Jews hearing the prophetic word of the Lord at this point. And you know, the word of the Lord, that's a phrase that's used. It's a Hebrew expression that's consistently used for the prophetic utterances given by the prophets. The word of the Lord, the utterances that the prophets would give. And they're hearing the prophetic word of the Lord. That doesn't mean they were just hearing the word of the Lord. They were hearing the uh the the the right now word of the Lord. The right now word of the Lord. Jews and non-Jews. It's interesting that's the way they list that here. They're hearing the prophetic word of the Lord. The right here right now word. We got to get back to the prophetic word of the Lord. Hearing the voice of God right now. Hearing God for yourself. Yeah, the Rhema word. The right now word from God. So we got all this going on. Paul coming against the grain, but yet being accepted in worldly places to expand the kingdom. God can use what he wants to use to get it done. You know what I mean? Yeah, Nelson, just reading the word is it's a blessing. And we've got freedom in our country to sit here and read this over a cup of coffee. Look at this. We just we kick back here on TikTok live with our coffee and our Bible. Oh man, we're just, I mean, we're just cushy as can be. And there's people overseas that are having to tear out pages of this thing and shove it in their pocket, hope they don't get found because they'll be as soon as it's found. I mean, do we do we ever just sit and ponder upon the moment of the seriousness of the word of God? If there wasn't power to this, there wouldn't be such persecution over it. You ever think about that? If there was such power in the word of God, there wouldn't be such persecution over it. It'd just be another book. People are like, ah, it's just a book. No. Well, Ronald, we just pray for Courtney that if she goes in to take her final for nursing, I think that's the rest of that nursing school. Lord, that you'd be right there, Father, Lord, whether it's digitally or a pen on the on the scantrons like we used to have back in the day, Father, whatever it is, Lord, that you would bring answers back to her mind. And Lord, that she would go forth to do everything you've called her to in that field. And we just pray a blessing over her right now in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen, my friend. Amen, buddy. Good to see you this morning. Braz Amanda, we are spoiled here. We take it for granted. A lot of this song, you know, Josiah Queen made that song is Dust on the Bible. Well, I mean, that's kind of true. We leave it sitting there. Then we leave it at home when we go to church on Sunday morning because the pastor will say everything and they'll throw it up on the screen. I don't, I don't even have to pick this thing up anymore. It's all digital, just all over the place. No, get you a good book and keep get it at home so you can pick it up when the Holy Spirit tells you to pick it up. You never have to plug it in, you don't have to charge it. And there's just something about holding a book in your hands that brings more weight to it when you read it. Amen. Now I got my Bible app in my iPad. I put all my sermons together in notes and whatever the Lord is speaking to me. I am a digital guy, okay? I worked in with technology for years. But there's something about this book. I just want to be able to hold it in my hands while I'm reading it and going through it and feeling the weight of what the apostles went through, what the disciples went through. Amen. Oh, yeah, we got that keyword study Bible coming in. That's gonna be good. I can't wait for that. Amen. Yeah, that's it. That's it. Yeah, oh the enemy ain't scared of now, he uses that device. Because what happens, you're on the Bible app and you get a notification of something else, and you go, oh, what's that? You click on that, now you're lost for two hours, and you're like, oh, where'd that two hours go? Even the thing we're on right now, we got to be careful how we use the tools we have. Amen. Be careful how to use the tools that you have in your hands. Amen. All right, y'all. Verse 11, Acts chapter 19. Good morning to you. Thanks for jumping in if you're just jumping in with us. All right. God kept releasing a flow of extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul. Once again, he's holding holy things. He's holding holy things in his hands. What are you holding in your hands? Because of this, people took Paul's handkerchiefs and articles of his clothing, even pieces of cloth that had touched his skin, laying them on their bodies, laying them on the bodies of the sick, and diseases and demons left them and they were healed. They were taking just, I mean, he was so saturated with the Holy Spirit and the message of Jesus. I mean, he could have just took his shirt off and laid it on somebody, and they've been miraculously healed. Come on, this is here in the Bible. But Paul knew what he knew who Jesus was. He knew how to follow Jesus. He knew what to say by way of the Holy Spirit, and he was not afraid. He was fearless in the synagogues. He was open to them. And I imagine he was fearless and open even in the lecture hall. Now there were seven itinerant Jewish exorcists. Verse 13. Sons of Seva, the high priest, who took it upon themselves to use the name and authority of Jesus over those who were demonized. They would say, We cast you out in the name of the Jesus that Paul preaches. One day, when they said those words, the demon in the man replied, I know about Jesus and I recognize Paul, but who do you think you are? Oh my gosh. This is good stuff today, y'all. I mean, all this has been good going through Acts. I'm going to read this again. Let's see if we get this. Do we just know? Oh my God. You know, there's so many people in the church. They got so much junk going on in their lives that demons can stand there and call it out and laugh at them while they're standing up there trying to be all holy, thinking that they got holy hands, clean hands and a pure heart. Yeah, man, they're trying to piggyback off of someone else's faith. But why do I say when you're holding holy hands, what are you doing with these hands? I mean, just get just get real and get honest with yourselves. Let's get honest with ourselves today. There's some things we need to assess because if you're going to step into this type of level of walking with Jesus, well, you begin to say we're going to cast you out in the name of Jesus that Paul preaches. We've seen this happen, so we're just going to say it. That demon's going to look at you and say, I know Jesus and I know Paul, but who do you think you are? You ain't got no authority over me. I know people that have been in deliverance sessions praying deliverance over somebody, and a demon call out through somebody, I know what you did, and then begin to release their junk out into the atmosphere. Don't you think that what you do in private nobody knows about? Because I'm telling you, in the spirit realm, all is revealed. It's like walking around in a glass house. Your friends might think there's something going on with you, but they don't know. And you think, oh man, it's hidden. It ain't hidden. All of heaven knows. And even in the demonic realm, they know. Because you keep opening up doors to this mess. And then you go out in the name of Jesus and trying to do ministry. You want to go forward in real power and real might of Jesus. What are you doing with his hands? What do you got in this heart? Okay, that's not just a cute song that we sing, you know, clean hands and a pure heart. No, purify us, O Lord. When we say purify us, we we should mean purify us, O Lord. You going on a mission trip, you're going to be, you the Lord has called you to deliverance ministry. I mean, you're going to be just a pastor of the whatever. Get rid of your junk. This is a season to get rid of your junk and get back to God again. We are not perfect. And I'm not asking anyone in here to be perfect, but I'm telling you, dump the junk and keep your eyes on Jesus. He is your way to holiness. Whatever you got to get right today, you better get it right today because tomorrow, you never know. And there's so much corruption in the church right now. Smoke and mirrors, smoke and mirrors. Where is the Holy Spirit? He has spoken that to me before. What you see is smoke and mirrors. This is not of me, but this is man's putting together. He's spoken that to me in the middle of a worship set somewhere one time, y'all. I could barely even make it through where I was in that moment in time. He said, This is smoke and mirrors. You need to release yourself. I'm like, right now, in the middle of I mean, we got through that, but we released ourselves. I'm telling you guys, get yourself right and be in the right place. So who do you think you are? The demon cried out. Verse 16. Then the demonized man jumped on them and threw them to the ground, beating them mercilessly. It wasn't so bad that they called them out and knew who they weren't. But this demon done come through this man, threw him to the ground and beat them mercilessly, it says. True authority comes from relationship with Jesus, not just using formulas and little techniques we've learned along the way. I'm going to give you a little manual and you follow this little manual. Doesn't matter who you are, get them to pray these little things, and you pray these little things and take a little rest break and then demons don't care about that. Now, while I think it's good to be trained in the Holy Spirit and allow God to show you the best deliverances I've ever seen wasn't something scheduled. It's when you stepped out in the middle of service and be tonight is your night of freedom in the mighty name of Jesus, and you take care of business right then and there. Demons aren't, they don't, they don't, they don't play with your cute little formulas and different things. This thing threw them to the ground and beat them mercilessly. Because it knew who they weren't. It knew who they were and it knew who they weren't. It says, it then goes on to say he overpowered the seven exorcists until they all ran out of the house naked and badly bruised. They ain't got no clothes left. That thing done ripped them all off, and they've been beat, beat, beat, beat. That thing didn't give up. Seven of them couldn't take them down. One dude, I'm telling you, if you ain't never seen deliverance before, you don't know how real it is. Y'all think it's the kind of hokey stuff. Oh, I've seen that movies and all that. This is real. The spiritual realm is real. It's not a battle of flesh and blood, but it's the principalities of darkness that we are up against here. This is nothing to play with. This is nothing to pray, this is nothing to play with. All of the people in Ephesus were awestruck, both Jews and non-Jews, when they heard about what had happened. Great fear fell over the entire city, and the authority of the name of Jesus was exalted. Many believers publicly confessed their sins and disclosed their secrets. Well, I bet they did. I bet I'm not going to be next. I'm going to dump all this out right here. We're following Jesus. I'm just not going to say in the name of Jesus that this Paul preaches about. I'm going to say in the name of Jesus that dwells within me, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, out you come now. That's. Woo. Yeah, man. If you don't know the word, you can't. There is no, there is no fight. You're going to be, you're going to be beaten mercilessly. Get this etched upon your heart. But now we got Jews and Gentiles, and everybody has now come to the to they've that Jesus is being exalted, and they are public. Hey, I've been there doing this, and I'm in that, and I still got this going on, and I got to release this. I mean, they're letting it all out, disclosing their secrets. It didn't matter at this point. Lord, come and wash me, cleanse me, make me whole. I will confess my sins to my brothers and sisters. Because you know what? Life goes beyond the sins. And a lot of people, a lot of, a lot, I'm sorry, the enemy will keep a lot of people in their sin due to shame and condemnation. Well, if I say that I've been struggling with this or I've been going through this, they're all going to judge me. I'm not going to have no place. No, confess your sins one to another. That's what the Bible says. And yeah, there's probably going to be some people talk about you and gossip about you, but it ain't about them. It's about releasing what's been going on in your life so that people can pray with you, so the Lord can bring healing to you, so He can bring wholeness to you. So then you can arise and you're going to know who you are and whose you are in that moment. These people saw this happen. I guarantee you, if you saw that event happen, you'd be running out into the streets letting it all fly too. Here's what I've had going on. Sha ta bata yay day. Just get rid of this right now by power of the Holy Spirit. Verse 19: large numbers of those who had been practicing magic took all of their books and all of their scrolls of spells and incarnations and publicly burned them. They didn't just say, I've had all this secret sin going on. They said, We got all this, needs to go, and we got all that needs to go. And there's something funny I've been feeling about this. And then, you know, sometimes you well, we ain't throwing you out, but sometimes you may have some things in your house that you've been feeling. I got to get rid of this, I got to get rid of that, I got to get. I've been, and I've had several conversations with people lately who are going through different things, they're experiencing different things. The enemy has just been on it to win it. I'll get you in a minute, Chelsea. They've been in it to win it with the Lord, but yet the the the the enemy has been coming against them. And the first thing I tell people now, I'm like, what open what open doors do you have? Because he's got access to you somehow. That don't mean you're blatantly sinning, but you may have something in your house that was given to you by somebody which looked all nice and good and sweet, and it wasn't. I've had conversations with people who it's gone back to, they've had pictures from people come down to taking the nail out of the out of the wall to get rid of that nail too, get rid of the tack that that thing was hanging on. We think this is hokey stuff. A lot of people, that's just weird, Josh. That's just okay. Well, I tell you what, you take it before the Holy Spirit and have him deal with you on it. You take it to the Holy Spirit. You don't have to take my word for it. If you don't remember reading Rainbow, LeVar Burton used to say that, but don't take my word for it. Don't take my word for it. We have gone through our 300 square feet multiple times and we still go through and find things. Yeah, Brandon said, call it what you want. It's weird, whatever. It happens. That's real stuff. This is the truth. Yeah. Pray and fast about it. Get before the Holy Spirit and have him lead you and guide you on it because there may be something you need to get rid of. But these guys right here, they weren't playing anymore. They took everything out, their books, their scrolls, their spells, their, I mean, everything that they had and they burned them. Get rid of it. I know people that have burned pictures and heard screams come out of them and turn all kinds of wicked, nasty colors. But as soon as they got rid of that picture and they burned it, their house had peace again. Check your environment. What is in your environment? What is in your environment? Thank you, Jesus. When the value of all the books and scrolls was calculated, it came to several million dollars. Or 50,000 silver drachmas was their currency then. Some historians have said that one lamb would be sold for one silver drachma. You could buy a lamb for one. The price of an ew lamb today is about 150, you know, a baby lamb is about 150 bucks USD. A drachma was one day's wage for most people. And 50,000 drachmas would be, would be 100 years worth of wages. The value of the books could have been millions and millions of dollars. The power of God caused the word to spread, and the people were greatly impacted. They were only impacted because. They did what the Holy Spirit was telling them to do. And they got rid of million dollars. Are you willing to get rid of millions of dollars worth of stuff if he said get rid of it? It did not matter the value that was on that thing. What mattered more to them was the value of Jesus Christ in their lives. Do we value Jesus that much? Do do we? These are questions we ask our. Do we value Jesus that much? So that kind of took care of business. Revival's now breaking out in Ephesus here. And now in verse 21, Paul has it on his heart now to go to Jerusalem and on his way there to revisit the places in Greece where he had ministered. So he's doing a little backtracking. He's going to Jerusalem. Alright, he's going to go through what? Macedonia, Akai. Alright, the implications that Paul wanted to revisit the areas of Greece he ministered in, and he made and it's made explicit here in the translations that he went back through there. So there was significance to noting. Paul was good about that, writing letters, coming to see people in person. Let's just make sure everybody's good. Right? Because he truly is an apostle. Apostle means sent one. Paul was sent, and he's going and he's apostle everywhere he goes. But Paul has it on his heart to go back to Jerusalem now. And after that, he said, I have to go to Rome also. So he sent ahead into Macedonia two of his ministry assistants, Timothy and Erastus, while he remained in Western Turkey. He's got a traveling team. Praise God for people that come alongside you to help you do what you're doing. You can't do it all by yourself. I just want people to know that. Never do anything in isolation. It takes a team to do all things. Amen. It does. All right. At that time, a major disturbance erupted in Ephesus over the people following God's way. Oh boy, here we go. Paul's left, and now there's a thing going on for people that are following the way. That's the followers of Jesus. It began with a wealthy man named Demetrius who had built a large business and enriched many craftsmen by manufacturing silver shrines for the Greek goddess Artemis. All right, here we go with Artemis again, also known as Diana, by the way. She was venerated as the daughter of Zeus and the sister of Apollo. Remember, all these all these Greek gods, all these false idols. All right, Demetrius called a meeting of his employees, along with all the various tradespeople of Ephesus, and said, You know that our prosperous livelihood is being threatened by this Paul, who is persuading crowds of people to turn away from our gods. We make a good living by doing what we do, but everywhere Paul goes, not only here in Ephesus, but throughout all of Western Turkey, he convinces people that there's no such thing as God made with hands. The economy of their place was tied to these false idols and these false gods. Could people throw money to these false gods? They were giving sacrifices and money and all of these things. But he's but Demetrius is like, hey, we got to talk about this because memory said Demetrius called a meeting of his employees. They've made a corporation out of this thing. This is big business for us. And this Paul guy is saying, stop this. This is not good. Our businesses are in danger, verse 27, of being discredited. And not only that, but the temple of our great goddess Artemis is being dishonored and seen as worthless. So now he's throwing some manipulation in there to his employees. He's like, Well, we know, you know, this is our great goddess right here, and and she's being, you know, she's being dishonored and being seen as worthless. She is the goddess of all of Western Turkey and is worshipped in all of the world. But if this outrage continues, everyone everywhere will suffer the loss of her magnificent greatness. Now he's pulling on the heartstrings of those that are emotionally attached to this mess. All right. The temple of Artemis or Diana is one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. We must never put buildings or temples above the true worship of God. The Ephesians valued their goddess and economic standards more than their truth. Can I tell you something? In our lovely little Western world churches, we value the buildings and the properties more than we do the Lord that is supposed to be inhabiting. When we come into worship, are we worshiping all the big grandiose things in these wonderful, nice buildings? Or are we coming to inhabit the Lord? What are we doing? Are we very proud of our buildings and things? Because see, pastors have a lot of pressure on them to continue to bring in all that money to pay for all of these buildings and all the stuff that's in it. I mean, we're millions of dollars in debt, but we got all these great things. So we got to keep the people coming in. We got to make this mortgage payment this month. So let's keep this going in. Let's get into more debt so we can do this. Yuck!

unknown 49:14

Let's keep this going in.

SPEAKER_00 49:16

If we're not careful, we can be a whole lot like them. So what God are we serving? Are we serving uh the the are we serving the things we've built with these? Are we serving the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? Who what are what are we worshiping? Now I'm I'm not saying there's anything wrong with a good sound system, and you know but what is the main focus? We have to be so very careful. And he's pulling on the heartstrings of these people. Now he's coming against her. When the people heard this, they were filled with boiling rage because Demetrius has done his job in pulling on them and getting them angry. They shouted over and over, Artemis, the great goddess of the Ephesians. The entire city was thrown into chaos at this point as everyone rushed into the stadium together. See, the stadium of Ephesus had recently been discovered, and is estimated to have held twenty-four thousand spectators. Twenty-four thousand people. That's a lot of that's a lot of people. But they shouted over and over, and the entire city was thrown into chaos, and and everyone rushed to the stadium, dragging with them Gaius and Aristocras, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia. So we've got these guys here. Gaius. His name is a variant form of Lord. There is speculation that he could be the man to whom the apostle John wrote about in his third letter over in 3 John. Aristicus, his name means best ruler. He was a native of Thessalonica and he traveled often with Paul and is also mentioned in Colossians 4 and 10. Just giving you a little backstory on who they are. Might as well know the people we're actually talking about. When Paul attempted to go in and speak to the massive crowd, the disciples would not let him in. Some of the high-ranking governmental officials of the region, because they loved him, sent Paul an urgent message and said, Whatever you do, don't step foot into that stadium. We love you enough to tell you do not go in there. They knew it was not going to end well. All right, that was verse 30, Nelson. Verse 30 and 31. Now we're on to 32. The frenzied crowd shouted out one thing, and others shouted something else until they were all in mass confusion, with many not even knowing why they were there. Ah, we're rioting. Yay! Why are we rioting? What's my sign say? What are you standing up for? Do you even know what you're standing up for? We say that we're standing up for Jesus. I'm standing up for Jesus. Do you know Jesus? Do you know Jesus like you should? Because there's a lot of people here who were following their way. They didn't even know why in the world they were there. Some of the Jews pushed forward, a Jewish man named Alexander to be their spokesman, and different factions of the crowd shouted instructions at him. He stood before the people in motion for everyone to be quiet so he could be heard. But when he began to speak, they realized that he was a Jew, so they shouted him down. For nearly two hours they shouted over and over. So the high priest in the big temple who have built their own things and still a part of the religious system, they didn't care to hear what he had to say. Not as powerful as we thought. Verse 35, eventually the mayor of the city was able to quiet them down. He said, Fellow citizens, who in the world doesn't know that we are devoted to the great temple of Artemis and to her image that fell from Zeus out of heaven. Since no one can deny it, you should all just be quiet. Calm down and don't be don't do anything hasty. For you have brought these men before us who aren't guilty of any crime. They are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. So if Demetrius and the men of his trade have a case against someone, the courts are open. They can appear before the judge and press charges, but if you're looking for anything further to bring up, it must be argued before the court and settled there, not here. Don't you realize we're putting our city in danger of being accused of a riot by the Roman authorities? There's no good explanation we can give them for all of this commotion. After he said this, he dispersed the crowds and he sent them away. So the mayor here has dispersed everybody and sent them on. And it's pretty much stated the case. We really don't have much more to do here. If you're looking for anything to bring up, though, it's got to be argued before the court and settled. They are not here. This is not the place for this. So Demetrius calling his employees in created this major disturbance. All it took was a wealthy man who had built a large business. He was creating all of these false gods, and it was putting his business at risk for what Jesus wanted to do. We gotta be willing to stand up at all costs. No matter what it put it puts at risk. Are we willing to stand up for Jesus no matter what it puts at risk? Are you? I mean, idols and things look different over here. Puts many different industries at risk, the more that Jesus is exposed here. And there's many different industries that I'm sure would want to squash the true gospel of Jesus. But can I tell you this? There's a lot of churches today that are trying to blend in with them very industries. They want to look like them and smell like them because we want to make a difference. But yeah, we get caught up in all the things of the world. We look like the world, we sound like the world. We have to look different, we have to sound different, we have to talk different, we gotta be like the Apostle Paul. He did not care he was fearless for Jesus. He didn't care who it was bringing down. He's like, this ain't a people thing. This ain't a man thing. Are we willing to do that at all costs? Are we? Are we willing to do that at all costs? That's today's morning charge. Before you move on with your day, take a moment and let what you've heard settle into your heart. Faith isn't just something we talk about, it's something we live out in the ordinary moments of everyday life. Wherever today takes you, remember this. You don't walk into it alone. God is already ahead of you, working in ways you may not even see yet. Stand firm, walk in wisdom, lead with love, and don't forget who you belong to. Until next time, keep your heart anchored, keep your faith strong, and keep living out real talk, real Jesus, real life. We'll see you on the next morning charge.