The Confronting Kingdom [LIVE] - 07/05/2026

Grace Way is so good to see you all. Happy Sunday. The Lord is gracious and merciful and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. Rejoice greatly. And again, I say rejoice greatly. Our King comes humble, bringing peace. We come with joy to worship the one who frees us. So let us worship the God whose mercy meets us where we are. We gather grateful and free. Do I have any free people in the room? Free in Jesus. Gentle and humble God, you see our weariness and the struggle within us. And you offer rest rather than burden as we gather quiet what is restless in us and let us hear your invitation. Teach us to set down what is heavy and to receive what you freely give through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Come on, everyone. Say it together. Amen. Whether you're viewing online or in person for the first time, welcome to Grace Way. It's time to worship King Jesus. Come on. Come on, sing it with everything in you. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. Because you healed my heart. You changed my name forever free. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. I thank God. Come on. Do we have any free people in the room? That's right. I cannot deny what I've seen. Got no choice but to believe. My doubts are burning like ashes in the wind. So, so long to my old friends. What's their names? Burden and bitterness. You can't just keep it moving. No, you ain't welcome here. From now till I walk the streets of gold, I'll sing of how you saved my soul. This wayward son has found his way back home. You picked me up and turned me around. You placed my feet on. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. Because you healed my heart. You changed my name forever free. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. I thank God. I thank the Savior. And because we're free, we can say this. Hail, lost another one. I am free. Hail, lost another one. I am free. Oh, I am free. Hail, lost another one. I am free. I am free. Hail, lost another one. I am free. Oh, the sun sets free. It's free indeed. Hail, lost another one. I am free. I am free. I am free.

You picked me up and you turned me around. You placed my feet on a solid ground. I thank the master. I thank the savior. Because you healed my heart, you changed my name, for out of the free, I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, I thank God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. You picked me up and you turned me around. You placed my feet on solid ground. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. Because you healed my heart. You changed my name for ever free. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. I thank God. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up, get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up, get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Come on! You picked me up and you turned me around. You paced my feet on solid ground. I thank the Master.

I thank the Savior. Because you healed my heart. You changed my name forever free. I thank the Master. Come on, you shout it out! I thank God. Come on and give the Lord a great big shout of praise! Come on church, let's keep worshiping right here. Psalms declares that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Let us sing together of His good plans for us. Come on, let us sing. The Lord is my shepherd. And He is everything I need. I will not worry. I will not fear the enemy. He said that He loves me. He said that He's with me. Even though I walk through the valley of shadow and death. And still I know He has good plans. Come on, sing it out. He has good plans for me. So I will take heart of deserts and gardens. He has good plans. He has good plans. I know my Father. I know my Father. Good plans. No weapon formed against me will prosper. Come on, the Lord is our Savior. The Lord is my Savior.

So why should I doubt my victory? Why would I question the rod and the staff that comforts me? He quiets the waters. He quiets the storm inside of me. So what could be better than walking with Him when I'm weak? He has good plans. He has good plans for me. So I will take heart of deserts and gardens. He has good plans. He has good plans for me. If I know my Father, I know my Father. He has good plans. He has good plans for me So I will thank God that I know my Father He has good plans He has good plans for me I know my Father I know my Father has good plans I submit to your plans God I submit to your plans God Exceedingly, abundantly I submit to your plans Surely, your goodness and mercy will follow after me So fear Him, not find me Cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God Surely, your goodness and mercy will follow after me So fear Him, not find me Cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God Surely, your goodness and mercy will follow after me So fear Him, not find me

Cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God Surely, your goodness and mercy will follow after me So fear Him, not find me Cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God He has good plans He has good plans for me So I will take my intensive diet He has good plans He has good plans for me If I know my Father I know my Father has good plans Good plans Say good plans if I know I know my Father I know my Father has good plans Has good plans He has good plans if I know I know my Father I know my Father has good plans He has good plans He has good plans for me So I will take my intensive diet He has good plans He has good plans for me I know my Father I know my Father has good plans Y'all give God a shout of praise for those good plans that He's got for you It is amazing Man, church, what an incredible thing it is to worship together today If I haven't met you yet, I'm Pastor Jeremy

I would love to meet you, especially if you're new here to Graceway Stop by Guest Central as soon as our service is done And if you are new here, there's a QR code that's going to hit the screen One of those little pockets in the seat back in front of you Or a card, if you're a little more analog Would love to have you grab one of those and fill those out Let us know that you were here We'd love to connect up with you And just share a little bit about what's going on here at Graceway I'm going to invite the ushers down for the offering As they come down, I want to again keep in front of you That one of the ways that you can give Would be giving to our student camp offering And yeah, student camp's coming up like in two weeks, y'all So there are still the possibility of you being able to send a student to camp There's a QR code right there on the screen You can hit that code Everything that you give goes straight to camp There's no administrative fees And look, it's an opportunity for a student Who otherwise would not have the chance to go To spend a week immersed in the love of God A week immersed in hearing the gospel And so I want to encourage you to get connected to that You can see different ways to give on the screen And the camp scholarship offering is listed there as well Let's go to the Lord in prayer as we prepare to give God, what an incredible thing it is to sing About your plans for us, Lord I was reminded this morning, God, that when I went to sleep last night

You knew who I was And you didn't forget me God, you didn't forget about me. God, you didn't forget about us overnight. And when we woke up, you knew our names. When we woke up, you gave us new mercies. And God, whether it's today, you've got good plans for us. This week, you've got good plans. This month, Lord, you've got good plans for us. And so, Lord, I pray that you'd help us to walk out the truth of what that means. As we prepare to give, God, we thank you for the opportunity. We have to do that, Lord. We have the opportunity, God, today to send students to camps. So, Lord, would you just lay that on someone's heart today to be able to do that for a student? Lord, thank you for what you're gonna do in this service. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your presence in this place. Lead us and guide us as we worship you today. It's in Jesus' name we pray. And all God's people said, amen. Amen, church. We just sang Psalm 23, six. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow you all of the days of your life. So, let's continue singing about God's goodness. ♪ I love you, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, your mercy never fails me ♪

♪ All my days I've been held in your hands ♪ ♪ From the moment that I wake up until I lay my head ♪ ♪ I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ All my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ All my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am made ♪ ♪ I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ I love your voice ♪ ♪ You have led me through the fire in darkest night ♪ ♪ You are close like no other ♪ ♪ I've known you as a father, I've known you as a friend ♪ ♪ And I have lived in the goodness of God ♪ ♪ All my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ All my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am made ♪ ♪ I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ With my life laid down, I'm surrendered now ♪ ♪ I give you everything ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ With my life laid down, I'm surrendered now ♪ ♪ I give you everything ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ All my life you have been faithful ♪ Come on, that's my testimony and it's yours. ♪ All my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able to breathe ♪

Sing it out. Come on. ♪ All my life you have been faithful ♪ All my life you have been so, so good With every breath that I am able I will sing of the goodness of God I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God I thank you Lord that there has never been a morning that I have seen that your mercy was not new And I thank you Lord that in your grace and in your kindness and in your favor Goodness and mercy have been following me all the days of my life Lord I pray for people within the sound of my voice right now who say no, God has abandoned me Nope, God didn't keep his word. Nope, God didn't care And I pray right now Lord that your Holy Spirit would speak to them And he would say baby even when you were in the valley of the shadow of death, I was with you Even if you ascended to heaven, I would be there and even if you made your bed in hell, I would be there too Lord I pray that we would both believe and feel and experience your presence today No place like it because there's no one like you We thank you Lord that you would see fit To make yourself available to us, to be present with us, to speak to us To comfort us, to challenge us, to bless us and we ask you now that you would We need it Where else would we go Lord you're the one who has the words of life And so we come to you with all of our needs, with all of our doubts, with all of our fears With our hustles and our traumas With our ambitions and our idols We say Lord would you lead us, would you be present with us We thank you God, we love you, we praise you In the name of Jesus all God's people said amen and amen Hey welcome to church, so good to see you, so good to see you Take a couple minutes, pass some peace and then grab your seat

Hey, hey, okay, okay, okay Alright family how are you today? So good to see you Man I loved worshipping with you today, what a blessing it is to come to the house of God And worship with God's people Hey happy 4th of July to you We are grateful, grateful, grateful for the country that we get to live in She ain't perfect and we're just grateful Lord that your kingdom is one day coming But we do want to celebrate the privileges that we have And we do want to honor those who have served in our military Who serve on law enforcement, fire department, all of those Come on keep praying for our country, keep praying for our leaders That's what God tells us to do And keep your eyes on Jesus Good weekend this weekend Y'all turned my neighborhood into a war zone for the 4th of July Unbelievable, I didn't know the HOA let y'all do that But hey if you are a guest and I haven't had the chance to meet you My name is Tim, I'm the lead pastor here Man we're honored that you're here right now Come on church say hello to our first time guest We appreciate you being here, thank you so much If you're watching us online, maybe you're traveling Man I hope it's beautiful, I hope your toes are in the sand on the iPhone and you're just enjoying the goodness of God, but if you are not, hey, still God bless you. Throw a comment in the comment section. Come on Grace Way online. Let us know where you are, all right? And let us know how we can pray for you.

And then finally, fellas, brothers at Crossroads and at Ozarks, we love you. We love you, we love you, we love you. And hey, let me talk to you. Keep that camera right on me, all right? Hey, if you are watching this on the Pando app right now, literally millions of you have watched a Grace Way service. And I just want you to know, man, we are excited about what God is doing in the correctional facilities around our country. And we would love to put a church in your correctional facility. And so if you have been watching us online and you say, I need a church up in this prison, we agree, all right? So talk to your chaplain and tell them to go to www.visitgraceway.org backslash prison ministry. He can fill some information out. We can either get you a good partner that can come to your prison, but we would like to come ourselves, all right? Church, do you wanna see some more churches and prisons? Come on, talk to your chaplain. It's gonna be a blessing. We love you fellas, believing for incredible things. And speaking of the fellas, jot down August 29th, August 29th, men's conference. Kansas City men's conference coming up. So excited about this. And ladies, let me talk to you. You know I love you, you know I love you,

but you also know that I'm aiming at your man. And the truth is, if I get your man, that's gonna be a blessing to you and your kiddos. The opposite, as much as I love you, isn't true. And so you want a better city, we need better men, don't we? And so this conference, I'm so excited about this. Pastor Brandon Estelle is gonna be back leading some worship for us. It's gonna be awesome. He's been working with Leshia. That's gonna be a banger. You already know the incredibly handsome one next to him. Dr. Chris Harper is the CEO of Better Man. You have seen him, met him, love him. And then new to Graceway, Dr. Charlie Dates is gonna be here. If you are not familiar with the good Reverend Charlie Dates, he is the senior pastor of both Salem Baptist and Progressive Baptist in Chicago. He is a gangster, all right? My guy can preach. And so I'm so excited. And let me just tell you why. I know that I'm on the clock here. I'm very, very, very concerned about where our country is going and where the church is following. And I want this to be a house that looks like heaven. And so anytime that we have the opportunity

to honor good brothers and sisters from other traditions and backgrounds, man, we wanna do that gladly. But I will tell you, Pastor Charlie Dates is a brother from another mother. All right? And so fellas, put that graphic back up for me if you would. See that QR code down in the bottom right? I need to see a lot of phones out snapping that thing. Get signed up for that if you would. Leave it up for a couple seconds, team. And I need you to send invites to every man that you've ever met in your entire life, okay? Let's make sure that we get this house filled up. We're gonna have some great worship and nothing like hearing a bunch of men sing badly together. Is there? That's a beautiful sound. It's a beautiful sound. So excited about that. If you have a Bible, get over to Acts 19. Let me pray for our time and we will get to it. Let me also just real quick, been traveling a little bit, little vacation, little work. Just wanna, you know, sometimes church folks say, you know, I used to like the church and then pastor started to travel, blah, blah, blah. I just want you to know whenever I'm traveling, I wish I was here.

All right? I love, love, love being with you all. Thank you for giving me the space to do things that I feel called to do. But you're my favorite forever and ever and ever. So, so happy to be back with you. Let's pray and we'll get back to it. Lord, we love you. We ask you now to speak in power and authority and glory. We ask you to move our hearts. We ask you Lord to make much of Jesus. We look forward to what you're going to accomplish. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen and amen. Every city has two skylines, two skylines. The first is the one that you see. It's the, it's the buildings, it's the roads, it's the businesses, it's the neighborhoods, it's the stadiums, it's the bridges. It's the visible architecture of the city. But I want to propose to you today that every city also has another skyline. It's the one that you can't see. It's the one that is what people worship, what they trust, what they fear, what they believe will give them security or happiness, identity, and hope. I think the Bible teaches us something that our culture often overlooks, that the most powerful force that shapes a city isn't its politics. It isn't its economy, its education, or its technology, it's what it worships. Every culture is built around objects of worship. Whatever a society treats as ultimate eventually shapes everything else.

I've said to you before, and I'll say to you again, in these United States of America, 250 years young, we worship three gods, money, power, and sex. And if you want to know why our country is where it is, it's because we have been being shaped by those three gods for a long time, money, power, and sex. You see, worship determines our morality, our economy, our politics, our family, our priorities, and ultimately our future. Worship is never private. I need you to understand this. Some of y'all, I don't know, I just don't like to be out there with my worship. Well, we can see your worship whether you want us to see it or not. Because worship always creates. Worship can never be held back. It's never private. It's true about you, and it's true about our city. If you want to know what Kansas City worships, just drive around and pay attention. This would have been true for Ephesus, the topic of Acts 19. If you had stopped in Ephesian in AD 55 and say, what makes this place great? Tell me. They would not have pointed to the harbor, although it was magnificent. They would have not pointed to the wealth, although it was significant. They would have not even pointed to Rome. They would have walked you to the temple of Artemis. It's going to pop up here behind me. Artemis was the one that they looked to. Artemis was believed to protect the city, to bless the businesses, to provide fertility, to guarantee prosperity, to secure the future of Ephesus. The culture revolved around Artemis. Tourism revolved around Artemis. Civic identity revolved around Artemis in many ways. Artemis was not just the primary religion of Ephesus, it was the invisible architecture

of Ephesus. Ephesus was an interesting place. You can take it down, y'all. Ephesus was an interesting place. In fact, one of the more interesting places in all of the Bible. There is a book that is given to it, the book of Ephesians, and Ephesus was the place that Paul spent the most amount of continuous time. Last week, Pastor Brandon talked to you about Corinth. Paul spent 18 months there. He doubled that in Ephesus, three years in Ephesus. When he left to go to other places, he left the church to one of his most significant protégés, a guy by the name of Timothy, who was given two books in the Bible, first and second, Timothy. Timothy was its pastor until he was likely martyred in Ephesus. And then its next pastor was a man by the name of John, the Apostle John, who wrote the Gospel of John, first, second, and third John in the book of Revelation. He settled in Ephesus after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, probably, we believe, with Mary, the mother of Jesus, in tow. You remember Jesus on the cross says, mother, behold your son, and son, behold your mother. And history tells us that John made good on that, and that Mary was with him for the duration of his and her life. They are both buried in Ephesus. And so John oversaw the churches in Asia Minor until he was exiled to Patmos during the reign of Demetian. And while he was in exile, he received a revelation from the Lord. We call it the book of Revelation. When Demetian died, John returned to Ephesus where he continued to pastor the church until he died. Ephesus is a place, if you read the book of Ephesians, that Paul said, this is the reality of the Gospel.

This is who God is. This is what He makes you. This is the supremacy of Jesus Christ. There's no one like Jesus. So walk worthy. Abandon your pagan ways. See the church as the new temple with Christ as the cornerstone, and maybe most significant, see past flesh and blood. Those aren't your enemies. If you can see it, it's not your enemy. Behind it are principalities and powers, and he taught the church at Ephesus how to engage in spiritual warfare, and not by accident. Not by accident. Ephesians, Ephesus was the capital of Roman Asia, had up to 300,000 people. which made it the largest city that Paul ministered in. It was the commercial crossroads of the region, the center of emperor worship, not just a voting block for the emperor. No, this was a place where Demetian was worshiped as God. And so when Paul comes along and says, Jesus is Lord, he's being a little cheeky because the statement at the time was Caesar is Lord. And it wasn't about we like him and his policies. No, they had deified Caesar. And in Ephesus, they had deified Demetian. And it was the home to, as I said before, the temple of Artemis, that building that I showed you is one of the seven wonders of the world. Every Ephesian grew up believing that Artemis protected the city.

Rejecting Artemis was construed as treason. And so if Jerusalem is the center of Judaism and Athens is the center of philosophy, then Ephesus is the spiritual capital of paganism. And so Paul comes into the city and long chapter, I'm gonna tell you this story. I want you to go back and read it, but we begin to see how Paul enters into the city. We know that when Paul shows up, this is verses one through 10, that he bumps into about a dozen men and they are apparently disciples of John the Baptist. And it becomes clear that they had not received the full gospel. You have to understand that the gospel, according to John the Baptist, was baptism for salvation, baptism for repentance, not baptism after repentance. When we baptize people, like we're going to next week, those aren't people who are repenting as they're getting baptized. They have repented as that's why they're getting baptized. And so John the Baptist had a different, I'm gonna put in quotations, gospel, than the gospel is now that Jesus has defeated sin and death and the tomb is empty. Say amen if you're with me. And so Paul asked them a question. He says, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe? Now, if you come from a Pentecostal background,

let me help you. He's not saying to them, did you have a second baptism or receive a second blessing? That's not the question that he's asking. That isn't something that you see patterned in the New Testament. Whenever God saves you, you get all of God because he gets all of you. There isn't a second, third, fourth, fifth baptism. There is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You receive all of him. You are put into the membership of the church in a very mystical, beautiful, miraculous way. You get all of it at the same time. And so Paul isn't saying, did you receive a second blessing? Paul is saying, did you receive the gospel? Did you ever get the whole meal deal? Or did you just get parts or mirrors or shadows that point to the real thing? And listen to what they say. They say, we've not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. They're basically Baptist. Ha, ha, ha, ha, oh, no, seriously. They're basically, okay. I'm back, y'all. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. We've not even heard. Now, we're gonna talk a little bit about this later, but listen, we all have areas.

We all do, that we're sincere about, but we have incomplete or misunderstanding about our theology. And the thing that I love about this is that the disciples of John the Baptist are humble enough to keep learning. Paul comes to the disciples of John the Baptist, and they're not like, what's you know, bro? We're disciples of John the Baptist. Paul says, have you received the Holy Spirit? And they're like, tell us more. And so they receive the gospel. They receive the Holy Spirit. It's a beautiful, beautiful picture for us. Paul then goes about apparently renting a lecture hall of Tyrannus, which is henceforth what I'm going to rename this church, Tyrannus Church from now on, all right? This is something that would have happened in Ephesus, and some manuscripts talk about Paul teaching from the fifth hour to the 10th hour. This is 11 a.m. to four p.m., and this is during the time where people are starting to get off work, and they're just going straight to the classroom to be discipled by Paul. Paul subsequently, his day, his schedule, looks like he gets up very early in the morning, does his what we would call nine to five. About 11 a.m., he goes to the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

He teaches for five hours, and then after he does all that, he ministers to the church. He does this for two years. You think you're busy. Some of you are like, Pastor Tim, I can't get discipled. I have a job, to which Paul would say, yeah, me too. Paul does this for two years, and then listen to verse 10. This led to all of Asia hearing the Word of the Lord. Just a guy making disciples in a little lecture hall after he got off work. Every day, simple, monotonous, ordinary obedience to make disciples. And God uses it to reach a continent. I ain't talking about neighborhood. I'm not talking about make it hard to go to hell in Kansas City. I'm talking about make it hard to go to hell in North America. I feel like I've been thinking too small. I feel like I've been putting in front of you a too small vision, just talking about make it hard to go to hell in Kansas City. I should have been saying the whole time, let's make it hard to go to hell in North America. From the city, the great city of Kansas City. This is an incredible thing. Paul is just ministering. He's doing the things that we put in front of you to do, and God is blessing it. In verse 11, all the way to the end of the chapter, we see the spiritual darkness of Ephesus. Ephesus is known for the occult, for magic. I don't mean hocus pocus. I don't mean smoke and mirrors. I don't mean Harry Potter.

I mean witchcraft. I mean demonic. I mean Wicca, voodoo. All of these things. In fact, Ephesians is known for a document called the Ephesian letters. It was a famous collection of sacred words, names, formulas, believed to possess spiritual power. And so people would purchase curses and healing spells and fertility rituals and protection claims or charms and exorcisms and amulets. Why? Because the world was scary. And because I need somebody bigger than me to take care of the things that feel too big to me. And so Ephesus monetized the demonic. This magic wasn't about evil to these people. It was about safety and security. And let me help you here because the difference between the occult and Christianity is that the occult seeks to use gods, little g, manipulate gods to get what that person wants. In other words, if you are in the occult, you are trying to be God by telling a god what you need and getting it from them. That is not a Christian. Whether I'm talking about Wiccan, voodoo, manifestation, new age, all this nonsense that we think is new and slick is very old and demonic. And all it is is you trying to turn a god into an ATM machine. I'll put in these numbers and out comes what I want, which makes not them God, makes you God. A Christian is somebody who says, God, I'm not going to try to use you. I'm going to submit to you. Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give me this. You're in charge, bro. And you can't mix self-deification and God glorification. You can't do that. And so some of you right now who are calling yourself Christian and you're messing with stuff, frankly, that you don't even know where it comes from. And you're wondering why what's coming out in the recipe doesn't smell right. Let me tell you why. Because this is a very old demonic pursuit. And in the context of this, verse 11, God began to do extraordinary miracles. Now, it's interesting for Luke to say God started to do extraordinary miracles because God seems to have already done pretty extraordinary miracles. So Luke is saying in the context of Ephesus, God rolls up his sleeves and starts flexing on everybody. That's what he's saying. Even for Acts, God starts doing crazy things. And Luke lets us know that Paul is healing people with handkerchiefs and aprons. That somebody touches Paul. And I said in the first service, and it's a little crass, but it is this crazy. Paul wakes up with a cold. He blows his nose. He throws the handkerchief on the ground. Somebody walks by and picks it up and goes, what happened to my knee? Drops it. Knee comes back. Picks it up. Knee goes up. Right? In the context of pagan mysticism, God starts doing miraculous works. And Paul becomes his humble and irrelevant.

Don't look at Paul. The point isn't Paul. The point is the power behind Paul. And can I tell you, this is for free. Some of y'all get on to YouTube and other things, and the point of the story is the person. That's how you know it's demonic. Because the enemy will let you look at anybody else so you don't look at Jesus. So you go to any church, you go to any healer, you go to any speaker, and you walk out and go, that person likes themself. Run. Run. Because the job of a Christian anything is to get you to Jesus, not get you to me. All right? And so in the context of this, Paul begins healing people, and there's some guys by the name of the sons of Sceva. The sons of Sceva. Sounds like a skin disease, right? And they are a part of a family of priests. Jewish priests. And verse 13 says, then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists. What's your side hustle? Oh, you know, I do exorcisms on the side. Okay. Fair enough. They undertake. Now listen to the phrasing here. They undertake to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus, who had those who had evil spirits. So they see Paul doing his thing, which is really God doing his thing. And they go, we want in on that. Not we want to heal people. They're trying to monetize and create a platform for themselves. And the way that you know that is listen to the words that they say. They talk to the demon, and they say, I adjure you by Jesus. Now watch. Who he talks about. Who Paul proclaims. So the ancient magic knew how to use and invoke powerful names. The sons of Sceva just add Jesus to the list. And then something terrifying happens. You know, I've heard preachers preach this text, and the punchline is, make sure the devil knows your name. I don't think that's the point. I don't think that's the point. So what is the point? The sons of Sceva begin to talk to the demon, and something awful happens. The demon talks back. Some of y'all don't know who's on the other end of the line. And the demons talk back, and they say, Jesus. We know Jesus. There's no name like Jesus. We all know Jesus. And Paul, Paul ain't like Jesus. So we don't really know him, but at least I've heard of him. Don't ever think that you can come into the presence of evil under your own name. Don't ever think that you can tear down strongholds in your own cred, in your own intellect, in your own education. You are far beyond your pay grade, my friends. And the worst thing for you, maybe the best thing for you, would be for you to pick up a line that you don't know who's on the

other end and find out, oh my goodness, there is somebody on the other end in the spiritual, and they aren't for me. They're against me. And so the sons of Sceva say, we cast you out in the name of who that dude's talking about. And the demon goes, we know who he's talking about, and we know him, but y'all, we don't know you. And this is the point at which some preachers say, the devil needs to know you. That is not the point. The point is, listen to me, these men wanted the power of Jesus without belonging to Jesus. These men wanted the authority of Jesus without coming under the authority of Jesus. And here's the point, without the covering of the name and power of Jesus, there is nothing to stop the demonic from attacking you. Here's what the demons say, Jesus we know, we ain't messing with him. Paul we recognize, he's with Jesus, so we ain't messing with him. You, you're fair game. Can I tell you that some of you, some of you, you don't understand the spiritual. And the reason that I know that is that you have things that you know doggone well aren't under the authority and name of Jesus. And you think you can trifle your way around and nothing's going to happen. Here's what I need you to understand, wherever the name of Jesus isn't, you are vulnerable to the demonic. And so you say, I can run my money how I want. Okay. I can run my relationship how I want. Okay. I can do what I want, act how I want, feel how I want, show up on Sunday and act completely different. Okay. But just notice that the demon said, Jesus I know, I ain't messing with him. Paul I understand, I ain't messing with him because he's connected to Jesus. But whatever isn't bolted down by the name of Jesus. Be careful, be careful. And can I tell you the worst thing you can do is be fractionated. Have some things be under the name of Jesus and other things not in the name of Jesus. Play church on Sunday and act pagan on Monday. And so the demons, they attack the sons of Sceva and they rip their clothes off and they beat them. And seeing what happens, the Ephesians, they freak out. You have to understand that in the spiritual, it's all about hierarchy. Who's more powerful? And at this point, the sons of Sceva, who seem to be tapped into all the hierarchy, are finding out, woo, there's a hierarchy we didn't know about. And the Ephesians freak out, and in fear, they start to repent, they start to renounce their beliefs, their practices around the occult and the dark magic, and they start burning their books, their magic books, with the Ephesian letters and the amulets.

And Luke says that it's up to 50,000 silver pieces, which means nothing to us, so let me quantify it for you. A day's work was one piece of silver. This is 50,000 work days. This is a lot of money. They didn't simply confess Jesus, they understood the need to remove things in their life that pulled them back to their old life. Come on, let me help you today. Some of you, you gave your life to Jesus, but you're still out here messing with stuff. What's your name? What's his name? Where'd you get it? How often are you watching it? You say you're being legalistic. No, you're being foolish. You can't mess with the old life and not think that the old life has the intent to pull you back to it. You're gonna have to cut some things loose to follow Jesus. You're gonna have to burn some books. You're gonna have to say to him, lose my number, and then you're gonna have to make sure that you lose theirs too. Listen, faith that is only intellectual is pretty worthless. It's pretty worthless. We repent. Cool, burn your books and walk away from that life. Verse 20, then the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily, mightily. About that time, verse 23, about that time, about what time? About the time that the word of the Lord is prevailing and increasing mightily. Some of you, let me help you today, you think I'm in this season because God has abandoned me.

You are not. It's just about that time. What does that mean? It means that the enemy always responds to what God is doing. It means that he's always second because he's stupid. And it means that if the enemy is showing up, it's that he knows something that apparently you don't. And so when you say to yourself, God, why are you doing this to me? He says, baby, I was doing this for you, and then this knucklehead showed up. But don't take that to mean that I'm leaving, take that to mean that I'm here. About that time, God's at work in your life. Let me help you. During 21 days of prayer, you're gonna say, I'm gonna pray every day. About that time, some of you say, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go home, I'm gonna repent, I'm gonna talk to my wife, I'm gonna apologize. About that time, some of you say, I'm gonna take the generosity jump, I'm gonna start About that time, some of you say, I'm gonna do D1, I'm gonna do small group, I'm gonna go to graduate school. Doesn't mean God isn't here, it means he is. He is. Come on, you just sang it. You just sang it. About that time, there arose no little disturbance concerning the way. What's the way? Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And I like this a lot more than Presbyterian, Methodist, Evangelical, we're just followers of the way. What does that mean? We just follow Jesus. There arose no little disturbance concerning the way.

Don't you wish, this is for free as well, have, have you not noticed that there's not much disturbance around the denominations, but there is a large disturbance around the way? Why do you think that is? I don't know. I'm not a food for thought. About that time, there's a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis. And he brought no little business to the craftsmen. In other words, my dude's making it rain, right? And the problem is that the, the way is taking money out of his pocket. And so he, he starts a union. He gets all the craftsmen together, and he says, these Christians are messing up our hustle. And he elicits a riot. Now notice, the defense isn't around Artemis or theology. The defense is around their pocketbook. This happens again and again and again in the book of Acts. I want you to get this into your head. Your money is not about your 401K. It's not about crypto. It's not about the stock markets. It's not about green paper with dead guys on it. It's about worship and idolatry. That are, that's the only two categories. If I look at your budget, I know what you worship. And we've got to stop believing the way that the world looks at it. Every time God starts to move in the book of Acts, about that time, it's not about God, it's about cash, why? Because cash is God.

It's a demonic, idolatrous uprising of the invisible architecture of the city. What happens when you mess with somebody's money in America? They start worshiping loudly. You're gonna have to grapple with this. And when they start pushing back, they don't say, my idols are being threatened. Do they? No, no, no, they get anxious because the circumstance around money puts them in a position where their theology and their heart aren't the same. So you find yourself in a spot where there's more money than money. And the truth is, your theology on Sunday is God is my provider, but not on Tuesday. And what happens? You don't say to yourself, my idols are being threatened. No, you just freak out. And you get anxious and you say, God, how dare you? God, why would you? God, you've abandoned me, why? Because money is your idol. And so you say things like, Pastor Tim, that's just not how the world is today. I know. You say things like, this just isn't who I am. I know, I know. You get agitated and anxious to expose to your heart the internal architecture of it.

Are you with me? Yes. So Ephesus is probably the largest church that Paul ever planted. It's certainly the most significant, the most influential, the most strategic. The only other is Antioch, where Paul was sent from. And so Antioch is a sending church. Ephesus is a training church. And Ephesus becomes a hub for all of Asia. I wanna read it to you again. This is mind-blowing to me. Acts 19, verse 10. All the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jew and Greek. Remember that God had said to Paul when Paul was trying to go to Asia and Bithynia, you're not going there now, go to Macedonia. I had somebody come up to me in between services and said, that really bothered me because it felt like God was leaving Asia out. God never leaves anybody out. And so he goes to Macedonia and then he goes to Corinth and then he goes to Ephesus. And from Ephesus, he reaches every resident in Asia. It's an incredible thing. No other church, no other city in the Bible gets this description. So the church at Colossae, Laodicea, Hierapolis, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia,

all connected to Ephesus. When Jesus addresses the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, he starts with Ephesus. But Paul never set out to change Ephesus. I need you to understand this. Paul never set out to change Ephesus. He doesn't attack the Temple of Artemis. He doesn't organize a political movement. He doesn't start a YouTube channel, right? Watch what he does. He preaches Jesus, he makes disciples, and he taught people how to live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And hearts changed. And as hearts changed, the city began to change. The invisible architecture of a city changes when the invisible architecture of the people who call it home, hearts, begin to change. What would happen today if a couple thousand people in the building, a couple more thousand people online all walked out of here agreeing on one thing? Jesus is king. Jesus is king. What if I could simplify your invisible architecture enough to say the gospel changes everything, Jesus is king. This is what happened in Ephesus. The gospel didn't create converts, it created a brand new people. People to whom Jesus was king, and Jesus being king meant that their marriages had to change,

meant that their families had to change, meant that their finances had to change, meant that their work ethic had to change, meant that their view on justice had to change. Why? Because Jesus is king. And this new people reorder the entire city, and this is still how Jesus changes the world. One surrendered heart at a time until the entire city begins to feel the reign of its true king. The question is how? It's simpler than you think. I'm gonna help you today. How did Paul, what did Paul do going into the largest city he'd ever been in to effect change and to turn that city, not the church, by the way, the city, into a hub for the continent. He did three things. Are you ready? Okay, I wanna raise the bar here at Graceway. In most churches, the bar is you're a Christian. And obviously, I want you, if you're not a Christian, to become one. But can I tell you, becoming a Christian is not the finish line, it's the starting line. And too many churches, too many churches make the line, okay, you're a Christian now. Go to heaven when you die, won't go to hell.

All right, see you next Sunday. And can I tell you, you being a Christian doesn't change Kansas City. It barely changes you. And so if we want to make it hard to go to hell in Kansas City, or the new line, make it hard to go to hell in North America, it doesn't roll off the tongue quite as nicely, but we'll work on it, we'll work on it. And there are three things that have to be true about us. Number one, once God saves you, you have to be formed. In other words, you have to be discipled. You have to be discipled. In the book of Ephesians, Paul said, hey, walk worthy. Now that you know who Jesus is, walk worthy of it. Says to the church, hey, organize yourself in one spirit. Says to the leaders, hey, equip the saints for the ministry. So here's the question, God has saved you, how do you walk worthy, how do you walk in unity? What's the ministry that God has called you to do? And if you don't know the answer to that, you need to get discipled. You need to get discipled. If you're a Christian in here, and God has saved you, who discipled you? You say, I don't know anything about that. Today's your day. Sign up for D1 at the Next Steps desk, and let somebody begin to shape you

into the image of Jesus. We need some fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, aunties and uncles to get their arm around every person in this building and say, come on, man, come on, let me show you how to do this. Let me show you how to follow Jesus with your money. Let me show you how to follow Jesus with your marriage. Let me show you how to follow Jesus with your purity. You clearly don't know how, and I'm not judging you. You need somebody in the family to get their arm around you. D1 is the place that that can occur for you, somebody to love you, who loves Jesus, and help you walk with this thing. If you have been discipled, who are you discipling? Who are you discipling? You say, Pastor Tim, I got a job. So did Paul. You say, Pastor Tim, the World Cup's on. Come on, I feel like I've heard every excuse for you to not do what Jesus calls the Great Commission. Jesus didn't say, go into the earth and make converts. He said, go into the earth and make. And so in every service, this service, you're gonna have the opportunity to give your life to Jesus. And for those of you who do, I am thrilled, but you're just starting. And for those of you who are sitting, hey, wake up. Jesus didn't tell you to come to church.

Jesus didn't tell you 2.2 times out of the month come to church. Jesus didn't tell you, vote the right way. Jesus didn't tell you, don't say naughty words or go to movies that have them. Jesus said, make disciples. And this is how you change a city. It is not by building a bigger auditorium. It is not by getting my sermons out further. It is by you making disciples. I ain't even talking about the continent, not yet. I'm talking about Kansas City. I'm talking about Kansas City. The problem isn't that you don't have time. The problem is that you have competing priorities. Number two, if God has saved you, you need to be formed. And then number two, you need to be grounded. What does that mean? You need to be taught how to fight. You say, I know how to fight, not like this. I see some of y'all walking around. You fist balled up. We ain't talking about that. We ain't talking about that. Let's listen to what Paul said in Ephesians chapter one. Remember Ephesus. Paul says to the church about Jesus, far above all rule and authority and power and demeaning above every name that is named. Who's he talking about?

Artemis. Jesus is bigger than her. Demetian, bigger than him. Give me any name. Jesus is greater. Ephesians one and verse 19. God has given you immeasurable power. That amulet you have around your neck, that manifestation that you've been doing, the things that you're grappling with and dabbling in right now, you have more power in God than you do in that. That's why I say to you, don't trip every four years. God has given you immeasurable power. You don't need to worry about who gets elected. I'm not dependent on them for my safety. I already have. Grab the power of God, whose name is above every name, all authority, dominion, and power is in Jesus. I'm good. Trust me. And Paul says to the church at Ephesus, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is yours. It's in you. So the question is, have you been discipled? If so, who are you discipling? The next question is, are you engaged in spiritual warfare? Are you engaged in spiritual warfare? And can I tell you, if your answer is, I don't know, just take the I don't off. It's just no.

Because if you're involved in spiritual warfare, you know. And some of you, some of you aren't because you don't know how. This is the reason, by the way, that we do two prayer seasons every year, 21 days of prayer. We're going to finish this book July 19th. We're going to start 21 days of prayer on July 26th. That morning in our weekend services, I'm going to teach you how to fight. And then we're going to practice for three weeks. Not just for 21 days of prayer, I'm going to teach you how to win in the spiritual. Because what does Paul say to the Ephesians? If you can see it, it's not your enemy. If you can watch it, it's not your enemy. If it's flesh and blood, it's not your enemy. Undergirding that are principalities and powers, and we don't war with them in the flesh, we war with them in the spiritual. But you've got to know how to do that. You have to know how to bring everything under the authority of Jesus, and I'm going to teach you how. But can I tell you, you want to affect change in a city, make disciples and win in the spiritual. Make disciples and win in the spiritual. You know, a lot of churches in America are trying to become the biggest church in their city, and I'm not opposed to that. But you know what I really want us to be? The most powerful and the spiritual in the city. I want to be the most praying and fasting, the most breaking of strongholds, the most calling the claims and name and promises of Jesus to this house. And if that makes us the biggest, that's fine. But watch, if you really want to make it hard to go to hell in Kansas City, it's not about evangelism and tracts. It's about winning in the spiritual.

You have to grapple with the invisible architecture of the city to see it change. And then lastly, are you all still with me? Lastly, formed, grounded, and sent. You have to confront the idols that are in that culture. Paul said to the Ephesians, covetousness is idolatry. This is what I said to you about money, not about green paper, it's about God's. It's about worship and idolatry. Paul says, covetousness, which is what, wanting something that isn't yours, is idolatry. Paul puts a spiritual spin on everything, and what he's trying to say is, you have to grapple with the gods of a city to change the city. You have to rename what people think is normal and fleshly and see it in the spiritual. You've heard me pray, God, give us eyes to see and ears to hear it as it is. Why? Because you can't speak about something you can't see. And so Paul shows us in chapter 6, stand firm in spiritual warfare. Know what you believe. Get ten toes in the ground. Be shaped and formed and grounded. Know how to fight. And then when the time comes, speak up. Say amen. Y'all, I'm preaching like 73% better than y'all are responding right now. We have to confront the idols of Kansas City. We have to win in the spiritual. We have to commit ourselves to the discipleship of those who come here. But here's the thing that I need you to understand. Before you can confront Kansas City's culture, you have to let the Holy Spirit confront yours. As it were, books are you burning in your life right now. What are you throwing into the incinerator of your past because Jesus is now your king? I say to you all the time, I'm less interested in what you believe and I'm more interested

in what you worship. I'm less interested in big heads of theology than heavy feet that keep us slow to obey Jesus. This is my diagnosis of the American church. We're big headed and heavy footed. We like knowing stuff. We just don't like doing stuff. And the church at Ephesus, as soon as they saw, whoo, Jesus is big, I better go get my books and burn those. Throughout the book of Acts and Acts 19, Luke asks a simple question and I'm going to ask it today. Who's the king? That's really what the book of Acts is about. 619, the disciples of John had to answer. The sons of Sceva had to answer. The magicians had to answer. Demetrius had to answer. Then the entire city had to answer. And at the end of the chapter, the answer is clear. And it's not Artemis. It's not Caesar. It's not magic. It's not money. The king is Jesus. And that's the question that Luke leaves with us. He does not say, do you believe in God? He does not say, do you go to church? He does not even say, have you walked an aisle, prayed a prayer at an altar? He says, is Jesus the king or not?

Who actually sits on the throne of your heart? Every life is organized around something. And whatever occupies the throne of your life, please don't miss this, will shape your loves, your fears, your decisions, and your future. Show me what you love now and I'll show you where you're headed. Show me what you love now and I'll show you what you're afraid of. Show me what you love now and I'll show you why you do, what you do, when you do, with who you do. Jesus did not come to be one of your priorities. Jesus did not come to put himself on the pantheon of other options. Jesus did not come to partake. Jesus came to take over. And the way you change a city is that more and more people say, there came a day where Jesus took over. What did he take over? Everything. He took over everything. He's in charge of everything. I want everyone to close their eyes. I wanna give you a moment here to talk to God. If you're a Christian, maybe you have given your life to Jesus and you have surrendered your heart to Jesus. Here's my question. Is he still the king?

I know there was a point in your life when you made him the king. Is he still? Because if you're anything like me, you very clearly understand that old hymn, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. The gravitational pull of royalty in your life is not toward God, it's toward other gods. So maybe you say, God, I love you, but the truth is when it comes to my money, you're not the king. When it comes to my marriage, you're not the king. When it comes to my dating and my purity, you're not the king. When it comes to my testimony at work, you're not the king. When it comes to what I think about and what I watch, you're not the king. And right now you've got a great opportunity. To repent. And repentance isn't changing what you believe, it's changing what you do. I want you to take some time and I want you to take some inventory and ask the Holy Spirit, God, show me where you want the king. And if you're not a Christian, I wanna talk to you real quick. And I wanna give you an opportunity to make Jesus the king of your heart. I'm gonna pray a prayer.

I just want you to pray the prayer with me. It goes like this. Jesus, thank you for creating me, for loving me and for never giving up on me. I confess that I have sinned against you. That I live my own way instead of yours. And I need your mercy. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and that you rose again in victory over sin and death. Jesus, you are the risen king. The Lord over heaven and earth. And you alone have the right to rule my life. Please forgive my sins and make me new. Today, I turn from living for myself and place my trust in you. I surrender my life to you as my savior and my king. Help me to follow you, to obey you, to become more like you every day. Thank you for welcoming me into your family and giving me the gift of eternal life. With every head bowed and every eye closed, I wanna encourage you to take your first step of boldness around your faith. And if you prayed that prayer with me, I want you to raise your hand. No one else is looking around. What's gonna happen is somebody from our team is gonna come by. They're gonna put a Bible in your hands. Inside of that Bible, you're gonna find a resource

called You Said Yes. Inside that resource, you're gonna see some next steps around your faith to kind of get the ball rolling in the right direction. You're also gonna see what we. Call Connect card, I'd love to have you fill that out. I'm not gonna bug you, not gonna spam you, not gonna sell your stuff. We just wanna celebrate God saving you. All of those are bookmarked to the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John was written by Jesus's best friend. We talked about him today. I want you to start reading one chapter a day, the Gospel of John. Begin to introduce yourself to Jesus. Begin to get to know who he is. He's changed so many of our lives and we can't wait to see what he does in yours. Come on church, let's celebrate God saving people today. It's awesome. Why don't you stand up. Prayer team, come on down. Growth track step one happening in the next service. Giving boxes in the back. Fellas, sign up for the men's conference. Let's raise a hand, let me pray for you. Jesus, we declare that you are the king. We declare, Lord, that you are worthy of everything. And as best as we understand, Lord, we give it to you today. Sustain us, lead us, guide us, correct us

for your glory and our good. In Jesus's name, all God's people said, amen and amen. I love you, fam. See you next Sunday.