The Book of Acts - Naked & Wounded (Acts 19:11-20)

Hey man, good morning. Welcome to church. You look great. Grab your Bibles. We're gonna be in Acts chapter 19 Acts chapter 19 We're starting a brand new series But before we do all that, I just want to honor a very special guest that we have here this morning My mom Linda Randolph is right here on the front row. Thank you mama for being here I Know it is miraculous to come and hear your son preach not because of the preaching but because the backstory That you know would rule me out from doing this. So thank you. All right, that's chapter 19 We're beginning a brand new series this morning called the church at Ephesus and I Mean, I'm I'm so stoked about this passage that we're gonna preach all night since the day we started in the book of Acts We we will have been in the book of Acts for a year and a half by the time we get through it The book of Acts is the story of the early church and how it got going and what the Holy Spirit did Through the early church and I thought you know Since we're a new church that it would be a great idea to just walk through the book of Acts and see what God says To us through the book of Acts and and in when I knew I knew when we started that one day We'd get to Acts 19 and I love this passage. You'll see why it includes violence and nudity and so it's awesome But even in that what we're gonna do for the next four weeks It's called the church at Ephesus because Paul is planting the church at Ephesus and it's an incredible church The way we study acts the way we do Bible study a lot of Bible studies, you know We're way up close and personal we take one verse and spend a lot of time on it or unpack one word or it might Take us a month to get through one chapter well sometimes what you need to do in the word is you kind of got to back it up a little bit and maybe try to Palm it and get an idea of what's going on in some other places, too. So This church that gets started in Ephesus. It's kind of a big deal In fact, there's an entire book of the Bible called Ephesians written to the church at Ephesus And I know we think our church is awesome because we transformed to Walmart But this we're gonna find out next week that the church at Ephesus transformed an entire city the entire socioeconomic structure of the city of Ephesus Which was a major metropolitan city gets turned upside down because what the church is doing that's next week One of the things that that is amazing about this too is the staff at Ephesus

Like I think we have an amazing staff, but the staff at Ephesus. I mean Paul was the planter of the church That's a big deal. He wrote a bunch of the New Testament. That's a big deal Um, the the pastor at the Church of Ephesus is a guy named Timothy When you get two books of the Bible named after you first and second Timothy that makes you a big deal Okay, the closest you got we got Job in the Old Testament That's as close as we get to Job did work out great for Job. Okay, my name means afflicted by the way Thank you very much. All right So so Paul plants it Timothy's the pastor and we've got I mean our Elder Board is legit if you were here for the Tuesday night for the elder led prayer meeting you understand that our elder elder board is legit But the Apostle John is one of the elders at the Church of Ephesus So Paul planted it Timothy's the pastor of it and and and the Apostle John is one of the elders So what happens here is amazing So what we'll do for four weeks is we will look at the life cycle of this church We're gonna see it get planted really last week when those 12 guys the religious guys get saved that was when it started But tonight over today is when it really begins to take off and we'll see this unbelievable growth We'll see it kind of apex. It was gospel centered It was it was going strong and then in the fourth week We'll be in the book of Revelation where Jesus actually sends a letter back to the church at Ephesus so acts 19 beginning in verse 11 and God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. We got to stop there. So that's why it takes us so long. That's okay Who is the subject of the sentence? God and God was doing extraordinary miracles not the church staff at Ephesus Luke wants us to know the Bible wants us to know that God is the initiator and the activator He can use all kind of different tools But you're great praise God and you should be grateful for the people that God uses in your life But Paul's not doing the miracles. The church is not doing the miracles. God is doing the miracles God has done miraculous work at the Church of 1122 since the day we opened September 23rd 797 people have surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Amen. Praise God. Yes, and amen and God that means that doesn't mean the staff did that that means God saved 797 people. All right, and so

Don't don't get confused just because God uses certain people in certain organizations. You say, thank you You should be grateful, but it all praise and all glory goes to God and God alone and he He's doing extraordinary miracles. These aren't even just average, regular, run-of-the-mill miracles. That word in Greek for extraordinary can also be translated as unique or one-of-a-kind. So the Bible wants us to know, even in Paul's ministry, the miracles that are happening in Ephesus are kind of extra special, one-of-a-kind, one-time-only sort of miracles. And that means something, right? Because Paul's pretty miraculous. I mean, that dude sings some hymns in jail and the doors fall off, so he's got some stuff going. This isn't his only healing. And so we know here that this is gonna be special. So God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, verse 12, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. That means Paul's accidentally healing people. Can you imagine that? Like, I tried to heal people on purpose and can't do it, and he didn't even mean to. He's just at a party, blows his nose in a handkerchief, throws it on the ground, somebody picks it up, goes and rubs it on Nana,

and she doesn't have lupus anymore. I don't know what that is, but she gets cured of it and walks out. That's where holy snot came from. I don't know if you know that. That's where we get the phrase holy snot. It's in the Bible. And that's what's going on. I mean, this is some kind of special. This is a different level of ministry that Paul has going on here, because we pray for healing in this place all the time. We pray for healing. Why? Because the Bible tells us to. And my own experience is not exactly Paul's experience. Sometimes I flip through the channels and watch a little Christian TV, because those are kind of my brothers in the ministry, and maybe they're like at a family reunion. You always got that cousin, and you're going, dad, he's in the family. Like, yeah, we gotta love him too. He's in the family. It's kind of how I feel about my brothers on television mostly. And so you see those guys pray for people, and they'll just be like, pray, and people go, boom, and fall out. It's not my experience mostly.

There's one guy, I saw him one time, he took off his jacket, and he prayed up his jacket like a Holy Spirit grenade, and then he swung it around like this and tossed it out into the crowd, and it was like a Holy Spirit grenade, and a whole little crowd kind of fell out. And then on YouTube, somebody took the song Let the Bodies Hit the Floor and overlaid it to that, and it's let the bodies hit the floor. People were like, what? So, maybe that guy's full of the spirit, and I'm the legalist, I don't know. I don't know if he's the heretic, or I'm because I'm making fun of him, or it was the YouTube song guy. I'm not sure who, but it's not always my experience. People come down at the end of the service, and I will pray in Jesus' name that the Holy Spirit will move and that you will be healed, but most people don't fall down, or actually, nobody does. They just say, thank you, pastor. We'll see you next week, and they walk away. But sometimes God does the extraordinary. I found out recently that months ago at the end of a service, a guy comes down, wasn't even sure why, just needed to be released from addiction. He was addicted to heroin,

and it was one of the bring your, I had some oil with me, all right, and the reason is because the Bible says anoint with oil. Again, I grew up Southern Baptist, so we didn't anoint anything, but I did, just trying to do what the Word says, and I anoint the guy with oil, and I pray for him, and then he describes just this overwhelming experience that he had no words for, and from that moment on, he was set free from addiction. His marriage was restored. He's gainfully employed now. I mean, it's miraculous, right? But not every time. I pray for every prayer card that you fill out, every single one, and in this moment, Paul's ministry is just different. I mean, he must have, you know, he liked to cook out, and he'd take his apron off, and people would take his apron and go lay it on the sick, and those sick people would be healed, so people began to know about Paul, verse 13, and then, I love this, and then some itinerant Jewish exorcists. I didn't even know that was a job, but apparently, in the first century, on their W-2, what do you do? I'm an itinerant Jewish exorcist, so some itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus

over those who had evil spirits. This happens all the time, not exorcism, but these folks, they see what God is doing through this man, Paul, and what they want is they want the blessing without knowing the blesser. They want the gift without knowing the giver, and so, essentially, they play church. They say, hey, we're gonna try to do what Paul's doing, and so, we'll just kind of borrow some of his tips and tricks, and then, they go out to find a demon-possessed person, which, we live in Jacksonville. That wouldn't be that hard. You know, go to the game at one, and so, they undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus. They actually find a demon-possessed man, saying, here's what they say, so they're staring eyeball to eyeball with this demon-possessed guy. I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims. So, they're gonna confront this demon-possessed man, kind of riding on the coattails of Paul's profession of Jesus, so we don't know, I don't know Jesus, but I've heard that guy do. and maybe there's something magical just about uttering that name. And so they say, I adjure you by the Jesus who Paul proclaims.

Verse 14, seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15, but the evil spirit answered them. I love this. Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize. But who are you? If any of you are gonna go exercise some demons after the service today, if the demon starts talking back to you with a mob-like attitude, it is not gonna go well for you. And I love their answer. First of all, we know Jesus, okay? I don't know if you are aware of this, but do you know that the group of beings that were the most theologically and doctrinally accurate in all of the New Testament were demons? Every time they encountered Jesus, they got it right. They knew who he was, they knew where he was from, they knew what he was gonna do, and they knew he was gonna win in the end. They know it every single time. So they say, Jesus we know. The religious leaders didn't get it right. The people that knew their Bible the best missed Jesus, and the son of God was having dinner with them, and they didn't even realize it. The disciples were the crappiest Christians ever until they received the Holy Spirit. Do you realize that?

That they were horrible. If you're kind of a crappy Christian, you'd make a great disciple. I hope you realize that. You just gotta study the word, lean into the spirit a little bit. Peter, who Jesus put in charge of the whole thing, he denies that he even knows Jesus, and right after Jesus calls in the rock, you know what he tries to do? I mean, Jesus says, upon this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The next section of scripture, Peter, the main disciple, is trying to talk Jesus out of going to the cross. I don't know if you picked up on this, it's kind of the point of the whole story, all right? And he's like, you really shouldn't do that, that's a bad idea. Those guys, doctrinally, were all over the place. They were all jacked up, and the demons get it right every time. They know him, they know who he is, they know what he's about, they believe that he's gonna die on the cross for the sins of all mankind. And the Bible says they know him, but they don't know him. I hope you get this. There's like, to know, and it's important. It's important to look rightly upon God

so you can respond rightly to God. It's very important. We're gonna preach doctrine and theology here all the time. But there's knowing, and then there's knowing. Like, you really know in your heart. I mean, you know him, like an emotive, passionate, surrender your life to Jesus kind of level. And you know what I'm afraid of? I'm afraid that there's some of you in this room, you're like the sons of Sceva, or even worse, you're like the demons. You might even be theologically accurate because you know about him, but you don't know him. You don't know him, you've never surrendered your life to him. And it's different than just knowing about. The Bible uses the word know sometimes like this. Adam knew Eve, and they bore a son. There's knowing, and then there's knowing. You understand? And so the demons, so they say, Jesus, I know. And what they're talking about is we have a cognitive knowledge of who Jesus is. And then, and Paul, I recognize, which I just gotta tell you, I love that they recognize Paul. I love that the demons are going, oh yeah, we've heard of him. I have a cousin that got cast out by an old hanky

because of that guy. So this isn't about me, but can I just, on a little side note, I hope and pray that God might be so gracious to use me to push back the kingdom of darkness enough that there's a group of demons out there somewhere that they go, oh yeah, we know that guy, okay? We know Jesus, we've heard the redneck from Dylan, yeah, we've heard of him, all right? That God has used what's going on there to make a dent in what we're doing. In fact, one time, one of my cousins got cast into a pig and then he shot him with his bow and arrow, amen? So Jesus, I know, Paul, I recognize, but who are you? And you gotta understand, this is not a Sunday school story. This is an actual event. So the demon-possessed guy, he's speaking with a little inflection. You know there's a little like, and who are you? Like, you talking to me? It's one of those kind of things. The demons are calling out the sons of Sceva. Jesus, I know, Paul, I recognize. Who are you? Verse 16, it's one of my favorite little passages ever. You'll see why. And the man in whom was the evil spirit left on them, mastered all of them, overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

So they call out, demon, come on out, by the Jesus that Paul preaches. And they go, we know Jesus, we've heard of Paul. Who are you? And then they jump, the demon guy jumps and beats the seven dudes up naked and wounded. The Bible says they're running away naked and wounded. Let me just tell you, I've been in a lot of fights. A lot. More than you would be comfortable with as your pastor. Okay, I'm just confessing. More. I've won some and I've lost some. I've been on both sides of this exchange. I have never punched someone so hard, nor have I ever been punched by someone so hard that I got hit and went, where's my pants? My shoes fell off and I'm shirtless, okay? Never. So if you get beaten naked and wounded, that's a different level of a wound, okay? There's wounded, like you've got a black eye, but if you're a dude that gets the pants beat off of you, then that's like a emotional, relational, social wound that it's gonna require counseling, maybe even some medication later in your life that you're not gonna wake up from that, okay? In fact, a bunch of us like to watch UFC fights all the time in the name of Jesus. We like to see people try to kill each other

because we like it. And if you don't, that's fine, just don't come with us. So we watch them. And if there's a knockout, the victor is clear, right? If the guy laying on the ground unconscious, he lost, and the guy standing there with his arms up, he won. But if it goes to a decision and the judges are deciding, then sometimes we'll argue that I think this guy won because his standup game was better. Like, no, I think this guy won because his ground game was better. But I can promise you this, if you start the fight with pants and you end the fight without pants, you lost. Nobody's arguing that, no, I think you had that demon in a headlock for a minute. No, you're running naked back home. So they fled out of the house naked and wounded, verse 17, and this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. That means for the rest of their life, people are standing in line at Chick-fil-A going, is your last name Skiva? Y'all the dudes that got your pants beat off by that one dude, right? You see why I love it? You people should read the Bible more. Stuff like this in there. Now, here's the problem. Is that without Jesus, that's you.

You play church. You play church. That's you. You try to just borrow some tips and tricks from church. You try to do things even with a Christian label. You can even throw Jesus' name around him, but you don't have the power of the Holy Spirit living in you, because you haven't surrendered your life to the Lordship of Christ, and you stare down the things that you deal with in your world, and let me tell you what will happen. You'll be mastered, you'll be beaten naked, and you'll be wounded. You'll be standing there. What happened? You'll be embarrassed. See, the point is this. I put it in your notes. Operating with the name of Jesus without a saving knowledge of Jesus will leave you naked and wounded. It's why we don't preach self-help sermons. It's why we don't do five steps to make you a better version of you, because without the power of Christ living in you, it's just an exercise in Christless futility. You stand against whatever that thing is that you're trying to stand against,

and you just try to grab some techniques to beat it, it's gonna beat you naked and wounded. You'll be vulnerable and embarrassed, and it will not go well for you. Like, you try to recover your marriage in your own light. You don't have a chance. I mean, you can watch all the Oprah and Dr. Phil and read you a dating book. It'll be awesome till halfway through the date when you don't know how to love your wife. It's why Ephesians 5.21 says, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Submit to one another, not because you're submittable to, because neither one of you are. Everybody marries a fixer-upperer. But when you know Jesus, wives, submit to your husband as unto the Lord. If you don't know how to submit to Jesus, if you haven't submitted to Jesus, he loves you perfectly, he is perfect, his divine power has given you everything for life and godliness, then there's no way that you can submit to that imperfect man that you're married to. He barely qualifies to live indoors. I understand, I'm one. He's selfish, he's prideful, he gets more excited about the Jaguars winning a game than he gets excited about you. I know, that's tough to submit to.

And so you come in here with just your own power. Oh, I think I'm gonna do this. Oh, I get a Cosmos, it says 50 ways to please a man. What? Name a three, I don't know what the other 47 are, okay? Futility is what that is. The problem is not technique, the problem is it's a heart and soul issue. It's just a Christless exercise in futility when we try to run this life from the outside in. Husbands, love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. That is not about trying to get her to do what you want her to do. If your marriage is defined by compromise. To try to get along, I'm telling you, that is not what Christ created you to do. That your marriage should just point to the cross. It should be mutual submission, out of reverence for Christ. And then, if you really understood the gospel, if you were filled with the Holy Spirit, you would understand what a wretched, black-hearted sinner you used to be, and that Christ, even though you did not deserve it, pursued you in spite of you, and did whatever it took to pay for you, to value you. And when you begin to see your marriage at the foot of the cross, it'll change everything. It'll change everything. But you try to do it on your own. I'm telling you, you'll be mastered, naked, not the good kind of marriage one either, like the embarrassed and beaten down and wounded. Or your finances. Look, take a Dave Ramsey class. We're going to teach Dave Ramsey classes. But you do that without Christ as the center of your life?

It ain't about balancing a checkbook and making wise investments. It's a deep-rooted soul issue, because you think new pants are going to do something for your soul. I mean, whatever it is. You got a self-esteem problem? It's because you don't know what Christ did to value you. You were not your own. You were bought at a price. And so, I'm afraid. I'm telling you. I know there are thousands of people sitting in church right now, in Jacksonville, that are living a Christless Christianity, as opposed to being in that right relationship with Jesus Christ. And they're just enduring things by the Jesus that I heard preached about today. And so, you try to walk in that, mastered, naked, and wounded. Look, there's some scary verses about this stuff in the Bible. I don't know if you take your Bible very seriously. I take it very seriously. In Jesus, in Matthew 7, 21, He says crazy stuff like this. Listen, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. That can't be talking about everybody else. That there might be some people in this room today, and you say, Hey, I say, Lord, Lord, and you're not going to heaven. And you go, Hey, who do you think you are? I'm not your judge, but here's what the judge says. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, that means on judgment day, many will say to me, not a few. There's a lot of people that will be in church, and they're not going to get in. And many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?

They're saying, Jesus, we cast out demons in your name. You ever cast out a demon? I never cast out a demon. That's like varsity-level Christianity, I would think. I sent a seventh grader home from middle school camp once. That's the closest I've ever come to casting out a demon. Right? Smoked cigarettes on my trip. Home to you, okay? So there are people in line for heaven, about to be judged, and they're going, This is going to be awesome. I heard about this in Sunday school. Yeah, plenty of food. There's mansions, streets of gold. It's going to be awesome. And then they get there. Nope. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. You're going to have to recheck that lands, but like Jesus, because I cast out a demon. I prophesied, right? I did many good works in your name, verse 23. And then I, that's Jesus, will declare to them, I never, here's the word, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. See, there's knowing, and then there's knowing. Like, do you know him? Do you know him? Do you really know him? Like, have you surrendered your life to the lordship of Jesus? And then, if you're casting out demons, praise God. Maybe that's what God's going to use you in his kingdom for. But if you think doing that stuff earns you a spot, you're a son of Sceva. And it's just, at some point, it's going to beat you down. It's going to beat you down, or maybe even worse, maybe you would say, Well, you know what? My life, I don't believe in Jesus. I've never surrendered my life to the lordship of Christ, but my life seems to be going okay. Oh my goodness, that could be God's wrath upon you, to just turn you over to your own desires. That's what Romans 1 says. Did you know, if you are at the point where you realize that you being lord of your own life isn't working, that's actually God's grace and mercy? That you would realize that you need a savior, and you're not him?

And so you try to walk through this life playing church a little bit, just trying to borrow some principles that you hear, and kind of do some Christian sort of things without knowing him. I'm telling you, that Christ-like existence, even on this earth, you'll be mastered, beaten naked, and wounded. But there's an alternative. There's an alternative. The alternative is knowing him, being friends with him. Those are Jesus' words. Yes, Master, Lord, Savior, yes, yes, yes, but he also wants to be our friend, that we could know him, that we could be in a relationship with him. And so, if this is not the direction that we wanna go, this kind of just playing church from the outside in, but actually knowing him here and letting Christ work our salvation from the inside out, the alternative is to know him. In John chapter 15, Jesus talks about it this way. He says, abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I'm the vine, you're the branches, whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit apart from me, you can do nothing. Abide is just a Bible word for stay close. It's just a relationship word. So Jesus said, here's the trick.

You don't just do stuff in my name like Paul did, but you've gotta know me, you gotta abide in me, you've gotta stay close to me. We've gotta know each other. And this illustration that he gives about a branch and vines, it's a, obviously it's a gardening kind of illustration. So what you do to get that thing to grow is you've just gotta tend that garden. You gotta put yourself in the kind of environments that grow your affections for Jesus. That when you do those things, it doesn't earn your relationship with Jesus, but because you surrender your life to him, understand that he has purchased you, and there are things that we do that stir our hearts for the Lord. There are things that we do that draw our affections toward him. And what we're gonna see here in Acts 19, the rest of the passages here, 17 through 20, is we're gonna see the things that the church at Ephesus did early on that stirred their affections for the Lord. And we as a church, you as individuals, me as an individual, should also have a lot of those same kind of environments that we're planting ourself in so that our hearts or our affections for the Lord are stirred. I'm gonna give away the fourth week now,

but when we get to the book of Revelation and Jesus is talking about the church of Ephesus, it's about 40 or 45 years later, and he says, you've lost your first love. Repent and return to the things you did at first. And here is what they did at first. It's five things. This church did five, put themselves in five environments that stirred their affections for the Lord. It says, this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. That's one. And many of those who were now believers came, insinuating they came together. That's two. Confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. That's three. And they counted the value of them and they found it came to 50,000 pieces of silver. That's four. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. That's five. That's how they abided. What we have to do, what you have to do, if you want a growing relationship with Jesus,

if you don't wanna be the sons of Sceva that this is happening from the outside in, but you wanna be a friend of God, then, this is not to earn it, this is a result of him purchasing you and pursuing you, then you gotta put yourself in these kinds of environments that grow your affections for Jesus. The first thing they did is this, is, and fear fell upon them and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. You worship Jesus. You worship Jesus. That worship around this place is a big stinking deal. That we take it very, very seriously. And when we gather in this place, we gather in this place to glorify God in worship and word. It's what we do. And listen, for those of us that know him, or at least for me, I'll speak for me, it's emotive, it's emotional. I can't tell you the deep burning desire I have in my soul for my Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ. And when I get in here together with you, I mean, more than a thousand brothers and sisters, and we just gather to lift up his name, I'm just reminded of that big old cross right there and that I was a wretched black hearted sinner worthy of nothing but death and destruction, and he saved me and he reached down and saved me. And so when I just realized that

and worship just stirs that up in me, I just wanna extol his name and I wanna lift up my hands. Look, when I get excited about stuff, I lift up my hands. Yesterday afternoon, I was a lot of hand lifting in my house, okay? Hopefully by God's grace, in an hour, maybe some more hand lifting. All right, I get excited about that. And that silliness compared to what I wanna do to lift my hands to Jesus and say, I extol your name, it's a big deal. And if you come in this place and you think it's a little bit weird, look, I understand, okay, I understand. We want this to be the safe place for you to hear the most dangerous message ever, okay? But you gotta hear this. If there are people around you with their hands up and they're crying. and they're singing loud and they can't even sing, it's because they really believe this stuff. They really believe Jesus came and died for our sins. It's not just a belief system. We're not just going to church, but we're extolling the name of Jesus. And so we want you to feel greeted. We want you to feel welcomed. We want you to understand that God doesn't love some future version of you, but he loves you right now. We wanna teach the word in such a way

that you can understand what we're talking about, so we're not just playing church. We don't wanna confuse you with a bunch of traditions that aren't your traditions. We don't wanna do any of that. We want you to be welcomed and be able to understand. But if you get in here and you say, well, I didn't really like that song. I don't really care, because we're not singing to you. We're singing to him. So you can either join us or stay in there quiet, but you ain't bothering me, because I'm going for it. Look, I'm an emotional dude. I get fired up and emotional. In fact, when I sit down face to face with Gretchen and just tell her how much I love her and how much I appreciate her, and I can get a little squeaky. I can. I can start off and be like, baby, I know. And it just happens, all right? I don't know why. It just happens. Sometimes stuff gets in my eye, and I mean, it's tough. And if you were to walk in on that, if you were to walk into my house, and we're sitting at the kitchen table, and I'm just crying and talking to her about how much I love her, and you were there, you'd be like, ooh, this is awkward.

Yeah, because you walked in to like an intimate, personal moment. And so if you don't know Jesus, and you're looking at the guy next to you just having a moment, and you think, well, that's awkward. Yeah, maybe for you, but not for that person. They're extolling the name of Jesus. And so we hope you feel like you belong even before you believe, but if you believe, then what we do is we don't extol the name of Jesus just by standing still. That we extol. We lift up the name of Jesus. Worship is a big deal. Worship fuels our hearts to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ. And so that's what they did at the Church of Ephesus. I mean, the whole place. They extolled the name of Jesus. The second thing they did is they came together in fellowship. It says, also, many of those who were now believers came, insinuating they came together. Fellowship is a vital part of what it means to be a Christian. There is no such thing as a long-ranger Christian. That idea is foreign to the New Testament. Foreign to the New Testament.

The Bible calls the church the body of Christ. That the body is supposed to be connected. Connected. In fact, if you were to walk out today on the way to your car when we get finished and you found a body part disconnected from the body, what would you think? You wouldn't just see a foot by your car and think, well, that foot doesn't need a body. All right? That foot isn't into organized bodies. It likes to be its own foot. It just wants to do what feet do, just alone. No! You would look at that foot and go, first you would go, that's gross, because even feet attached are kind of gross, and one detached is super gross. And if you found a foot, you would go, something has gone horribly wrong here. I don't know what happened while we were all in church, but there's a foot. It's just a foot. Not only is it bad for the foot, I'm gonna go out on a limb, it's bad for the body also. There's a body problem and there's a body part problem. We've got problems on both sides. And what's the future of the foot? Health, vibrancy, Olympics?

No. No chance. It's gonna stink, shrivel, and die. Call yourself a Christian, be detached from the body. You're gonna stink, shrivel, die. I believe heaven looks at you and says, that's gross. That is not how you were intended to live. All throughout the scripture, biblical fellowship, it's synonymous with discipleship. I don't know the long range of Christian that I wanna emulate their walk with Christ. I don't. At the Church of 1122, I know we have a ton of people, okay? We want you to get connected, that's why we built the Connect Center. See how easy it is? Everybody look over there. See where it says Connect Center? That's the center where you get connected. There's actually people over there that will help you get connected, figure out what part of the body you are and get plugged in so that you don't stink, shrivel, and die. You've gotta have legitimate biblical accountability in your life. Who do you have in your life that is legitimately saying to you, how you doing this week? Who do you have in your life that's actually praying for you

other than me reading a card in my office on a Wednesday? But somebody actually is praying for you. In Ephesus, they did this and it stirred their affections for the Lord. You need it in your life. And those groups. It's like whether it's a disciple group or a serve team or you go on a mission trip Whatever it is to be connected in true authentic biblical fellowship Do you realize that that group or we as a church are missing something if you're missing? That the foot in the parking lot doesn't just affect the foot. There's also a body problem and If you're missing then there's a problem So they had they stole the name of Jesus they come together in fellowship This next part's cool, they didn't just come together and read Kay Arthur quotes and eat guacamole they did stuff look Confessing and divulging their practices and a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together And they burned them inside of all I'm not for book burning But what they did is confess sin and repent of evil practices. They confess sin and they repent They confess sin and they repent. The first thing is they confess sin The church of 1122 is a place where it's okay to not be okay You can quit faking it You don't have to fake it here. The fake you is doing just fine So you can wipe the church smile off and you you've got to have some people that you're authentic with That you can honestly say, you know what? It's jacked up. My life's jacked up last night You know, I was just tempted to go right back to all the stuff that I wanted to do, right? I wanted to go back to the dealer and I wanted to look at naked women online And I wanted to do all this crazy stuff. I need a little help and We won't shun you in fact You know why we want because the cross is already out of you The cross is the empirical evidence that you're screwed up and I am too It's why he died on the cross because you're a wretched black-hearted sinner like me all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God But God demonstrated his love for us in this that while we were yet still sinners Christ died for us

So it's okay to not be okay, but it is not okay to stay there Authenticity. Yes, and amen The guy's not in love with a future version of you. He loves you right now, but love does not let you just waller in that sin The prophet coach bully said if you don't want to fall down don't walk in slippery places So not only is there confession and vulnerability, but there's also repentance of sin We do not take sin lightly. You know why God did not take sin lightly You know how bad your sin and my sin is it killed the Son of God? That's a big deal It is not just a church where you can show up and be like, yeah. Well, I'm sinning again I'm cheating on my wife. So if we could just all pray and everybody goes, well, you know, everybody's a sinner Nobody's perfect. God doesn't love a future version of you. Let's pray for Ted. You're dead Please love your guy. Please love Ted Come back next week. How you doing? Well, I'm still cheating Anybody else cheating? Oh the whole group now. Okay, great. No Jonathan Edwards said You're either killing sin or it's killing you We war against the things that defame the name of Jesus So there's confession and there's repentance I hope you are repenting of your sin You are confessing it. You got to confess it gross stuff grows in the dark and then and then With some grace driven effort doing whatever it takes to turn from that One of the things the highlights of my summer was I spoke at a high school camp in in South Padre Island, Texas, and I took JP with me my son seven years old so a part of the way I wore against sin is I've got some pretty legalistic guidelines in my life Surrounding fleeing sexual immorality, so I'd never traveled alone So if I go get on an airplane to go somewhere somebody's coming with me and it's it's cumbersome. It's expensive But it's worth it. And so JP was my travel companion to this camp this summer and and I was like buddy Roe is that you get to pick out the rental car and we can eat whatever you want to eat for dinner You need ice cream in the bed. I don't care. You can watch anything on TV watch zombies kill zombies the whole time

I don't care whatever you want. I just want to have you know us to have fun together And so we picked out a convertible Mustang. So that's what we're riding around in all week You know convertible me and a little man and then and then one of the things that That he wanted to watch we're flipping through the channels a lot of zombie stuff zombies top of the list But second of that was when animals attack He likes that show. He likes to see anything attacked and killed. All right, and so you guys watch the animal attack show so The crazy thing about this show is none of the people that they're showing were attacked by wild animals They were attacked by wild animals that they tried to tame and And I could see that JP didn't even have a frame of reference for this Like the third person that had been attacked by a pet bear. He looks at me. He's like dad. Why would you pet a bear? Right? Because they all kind of go the same way and it doesn't take long and you're rooting for the animal Are you not you're rooting for the animal because there's some little model trying to sell some honey and she's just is pettin' Fluffy the grizzly on the head with some, hi, this is Fluffy, and you should, Big Gentle Ben, remember that show? And they love honey, right, and everything's great, and then at some point, Fluffy gets hungry and just bites the model in the head. And then they interview the trainer afterwards, and he's like, I don't know what happened. He's been so kind for so long, we fed him kibbles and bits, and God just made him a muscle with teeth and claws that just eats food. And so if the food is a salmon, great, and if the food is a little blonde model

on the set of a TV show, great. He's an apex predator, that's what they do. If you put a thing of chicken wings right here, I might not eat it during the service, but soon there are no chicken wings, because I, too, am an apex predator, and I will attack and devour the chicken wings. Flirt with sin, it will attack and devour you. You cannot domesticate the sin in your life. And so there's confession, and there is repentance. Martin Luther said it this way, when our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, repent, he called for the entire life of the believer to be one of repentance. The repentance isn't that thing you did just when you became a Christian, but it's an ongoing part of our lifestyle to confess our sins. It's an ongoing part of our lifestyle to confess and then turn from our sin. Jesus said, I think this is what he was talking about when he says, take up your cross daily and follow me. So there was this environment of true confession and repentance. The fourth thing they did is they gave sacrificially. It says, and a number of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of it all, and they counted the value of them, and they found it came to 50,000 pieces of silver.

Today, that'd be like $7 million. So when they confessed and repented, the other thing they did is they gave sacrificially. They toppled the idol in their lives. You know what Jesus said the number one competitor for your heart is with God? He said it this way, no one can serve two masters because he'll hate one and be devoted to the other one. No one can serve both God and what? Money. Hear how he said it all reluctantly? Money, crap. Because it competes for our hearts. We try to take possession of things and the things take possession of us. I don't know the mature, growing Christian that I look at and say, I'd like to be a Christian like that Christian that isn't a generous giver. The people that I hear push back, say, oh, the church just wants your money. Jesus wants your heart. Where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. It's the number one competitor. The people that say those kind of things, every time I've gotten to sit down eyeball to eyeball and talk through finances with them, they are owned by their finances, they don't own their finances. They're just greedy and nobody thinks they're greedy.

Greedy people say things like this, I'm not greedy, I just like nice things. Who doesn't like nice things? Everybody thinks they likes nice things. Whether it's cheap wine or great wine, you think you like nice things. But the reality of it is, is that somebody sitting on the throne of your life and it ain't Jesus. No one can serve two masters. These folks were not okay with just taking the things that cost them something and sitting them on a shelf, but they actually came and surrendered it. That's why you don't give, you bring. God gave you everything. You think he gave everything that you have for you? If you do, then you don't know him. You don't know what he's like. Because the Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave. And you say, oh, I wanna be like God, so I'm gonna keep. It's not like him. Or sometimes I'll have some folks and they think they really found a loophole and they go, well, actually, pastor, the New Testament doesn't talk about tithing. Tithing is just a Bible word that means 10th or 10%. And they go, yep, the New Testament doesn't talk about tithing,

therefore I don't think we should tithe. I go, okay, you're right. The New Testament, you know what it says? They sold it all and gave it away. So you can go that plan. I'm trying to save you 90%. It's on you. But no one has ever come with that kind of biblical argument trying to figure out a way that they could be more generous. I've only heard people do that in a way that they could keep more for them. In the Crusades, when soldiers would be baptized before they would go out and kill in the name of Christianity, they would baptize them and everything would get baptized except they would hold their sword out of the water. The modern day equivalent is there's people in this room and you've been baptized, but instead of a sword, you've got your wallet. And if he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. And look, if you don't trust me or this church, then give generously somewhere. So give to the Billy Graham Association, all right? Legit. Give to Pastor Stokes. of all wings and celebration church. They've been around 15 years. They lead a lot of people to Jesus Get a pastor Jerry sweat in that church. All right, they launched us they do good things. I Don't know the person That is abiding in Jesus

That isn't a generous giver isn't a good steward not just a 10% but of all that God has done for them So they gave Sacrificially and then the fifth thing is they were rooted in the Word of God I mean really rooted in the Word of God. So the Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily The Bible says this in Romans 12 to do not be conformed to the pattern of this world But be transformed by the renewing of your mind in Ephesians chapter 6 The Bible says that the only offensive weapon in our spiritual warfare is the Bible So what the church at Ephesus did and what we need to do is you got to begin to take off some of the old things Don't be conformed to the pattern of this world and in the transforming of our mind. You got to put on some new That means if you want to grow in your relationship with the Lord if you want to abide in him you've got to identify those those areas of Trouble in your life and not be conformed to the pattern of this world So fellas when you're about to sit down and log on to the next porn site What'll begin to happen is you'll begin to conform to the pattern of this world I said, well, everybody does it and it's just natural and it's not hurting anybody And the problem is it's just it hurt Jesus It's decaying your soul. If you're married, it's ruining your marriage. It's adulterous And so you better be rooted in this word Maybe you need a little Job 31 one I have made a covenant with my eyes that I would not look lustfully after a woman Do you know why Job made a covenant with his eyes because he had a lust problem I've never made a covenant to not do cocaine because I didn't honestly I don't think I've never even seen it Would know where to get it or anything close to ever seen it as Miami Vice shows back in the day So I don't have to make covenants about that stuff Didn't take me long to get to 31 one though first Corinthians 6 Flee sexual immorality for all other sins a man commits are outside his body But he who sins sexually sins against his own body. I want to stay married to that girl forever and ever Amen. All right till death do us part. I don't want to disqualify myself in front of my kids

The last thing the world I want to do is run this church in the ground How many pastors have done that so I flee I'm rooted in the word the word tells me to flee Whatever it is, whatever you're struggling with don't be conformed there, but be transformed by renewing your mind you identify those areas Some of you struggle with your finances because it's got a grip on you you might need to memorize them No one can serve two masters. So the next time that begins to happen, then the Holy Spirit begins to stir up some word in you You look in the mirror and you hate what you see Psalm 139 14 God I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made your works are wonderful. I know that full Well, I pray that every night over my three-year-old little girl because I am scared to death of what this world's gonna tell her when She's 13 or younger So I want to plant the the the Word of God deep into her soul. You got to do the same thing. Whatever that arena is Philippians 2 14 do everything without complaining or arguing. You know why I memorize that because I work with teenagers for 15 years Okay, Lord y'all complain about everything. Look there's a verse in the book about it. Let's go over this do everything without complaining arguing You know what begins to happen every time I want to complain now that verse goes boom It's in my head. I have to go. Is this in the everything category? Well, look there it is That's what it means to be rooted in the Word of God Did you every at least? It's either every week or every series. We do scripture memory verses You're gonna be serious about your relationship with Lord memorize it and don't come to me about why I have a hard time memorizing No, you don't You know how many yards Tebow passed for in the fourth grade? All right, so don't tell me you can't memorize stuff You memorize what's important to you. That's what you memorize so the Church of Ephesus in this abiding with Jesus They worship Jesus they came together in fellowship. They confess sin and they repented they gave sacrificially They were rooted in the Word of God and they didn't do that to manufacture a relationship with Jesus They did that to stay close to the one that could produce that full life that he had created them To live in and walk in. So what are you doing? Are these things evident in your life?

So even look at this service we worship Jesus we extolled his name we came together we do it every week we come together We give you an opportunity to bring your tithes and offerings to the Lord all around the place every week We're rooted in the Word. We go verse by verse. You know what one I can't do for you confession and repentance Confession and repentance. I believe what God wants to do in us as a church, and it's kind of in partnership with this fast that many of us are a part of, is to confess and to repent. The way we're gonna end the service, sort of the way the church emphasis got started, is we're gonna divulge our evil practices. We're gonna confess and we're gonna repent. When you came in, you got just a blank white card. And there is something about shining the light of God's glory and grace on the dark and shameful places of our own life. And please hear this. If you understand the gospel, if you understand the cross, then you'll understand that the cross is the invitation to run to God when we sin and not from him. You don't have to run from him. That what this is, if you're saved, if you know Jesus, you're just saying, all right, put this on my bill, Lord. You've already paid the bill. I don't wanna hold on to it anymore. I don't wanna try to hide it. I don't wanna have to make up excuses for it. God, I just confess it and then I lay it down and I'm gonna, just like you're physically gonna lay it down on these steps

and you're gonna turn and walk the other direction, that's what you're saying. I'm ready to lay this down. And by the power of the blood of Jesus on the cross, I'm gonna turn, I'm gonna walk away from it. And it's a part of what we've gotta do as a church just to abide, to stay close, to stay rooted in him so that we can know him, to just declutter our lives, to get the sin out, to get the junk off and out. And really what you're confessing, if you're a Christian, you're confessing that it's already been forgiven. In James chapter five, it says this. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. So that's how we're closing, you're gonna confess. And listen, there's more than 1,000 people in the room. It's hard to get 1,000 people right down here. It was probably hard for them to get $7 million worth of books in Ephesus. You take your time, you confess, and then you come on down and you lay it at the cross as a part of putting yourself in those environments that stir your affection for the Lord. And you can put them on the steps or you can put them on the altars or you can put them on the stage or wherever, okay? And just give everybody a little bit of grace as we make it down. And then the band's gonna come and they're gonna sing a song over us. They're gonna sing a song over us.

And then when you're done with that, you can return to your seat. But this is a big deal. James 4, eight, God says, draw near to me and I will draw near to you. That we are only as far away from God as we choose to be. And a part of that, a part of that drawing near to God is confession and repentance. So let me pray and then we'll do this. Dear Father in heaven, God, thank you that you are our Father, that by the cross of Jesus Christ we can run to you, not from you. God, I hope and I pray by the power of the Holy Spirit this is always a place where we extol the name of Jesus, that we all come together. And God, that we individually have some people that we can come together with and just be authentic with, that we can be connected with. God, that this would be a place of daily confession and by the power of the blood of Jesus, repentance. God, that this would be a place that we are image bearers of you and that you loved us so much that you gave. So we would give sacrificially. We would understand that you own it all. We would be good stewards, conduits of your grace and your blessing to a Christless world. And that God, we would be so rooted in your word. We would be so rooted in your word that we would know that you demonstrated your love for us, that while we were yet still sinners,

Christ died on the cross. That we would know that you have called us your own. You have lavished your love upon us. So Holy Spirit, would you stir? Lord, would you just remind us that there is no condemnation for those who were in Christ Jesus. God, would you remind us that when we confess our sins that you are faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. So God, I pray for our Holy Spirit cleansing in this place. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. So confess, repent, and bring.