Storming The Gates Of Hell

Well, we're going to look to the Lord, word of the Lord this morning from the book of Acts. I'm going to read from two passages of scripture and then I'm probably going to cover a few more than that, but let's begin in Acts chapter 8 verses 9, starting at verse 9. It says this, "But there was a certain man called the Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery." So obviously this isn't Simon Peter, this is another Simon. "Which before time used search sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one.

To whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest saying, 'This man is the great power of God.' And to him they had regard because of that long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, this is verse 18, he offered them money saying, 'Given me also this power that on whosoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.' Well, let's turn over to Acts chapter 13 and I'm going to begin reading at verse 6.

"And when they, that's Paul and Barnabas, had gone through the isle of Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus, which was with the of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, Barjesus' name by interpretation, withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.

Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him and said, 'O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, will thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.' And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.

Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord." And then from Matthew 16:18, a very familiar verse, "And I say unto thee also," Jesus' words, "that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." We're nearing the completion of our series on the distinctives of the book of Acts church, and I've titled this lesson storming the gates of hell.

Next week, in preparation for Easter, we'll conclude this series by looking at the importance of the resurrection and the power of the resurrection through the book of Acts and in our lives. So, in our lesson a few weeks ago on the church's foundation and methods, we saw that the church was planted by God. This isn't man's work, it's something that God has done and God is doing.

And so we studied the last verse of our text that we just read, where Jesus said, "Thou art Peter, upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." We studied that verse and we observed that when Jesus spoke those words, he was near the base of Mount Hermon, he was in Caesarea Philippi in that region, where which was the abode of many false gods.

And we pointed out that he not only was talking about the church was going to be battling against the spirits of the devil, but also that he was declaring war on the powers of darkness all right at that moment that he was saying, "Right here at where people looked to as being There was a temple of Zeus on that mountain and and these kind of things they even sometimes called it the gates of hell.

It was a place of lot of false worship, and he said, 'Right here, I'm going to build a church.' And so what began on that day was a battle that will continue until the time that we read of in Revelation 20, where the Bible says, 'I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of a bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years would be fulfilled, and after that he will be loose for a little season.' Although Jesus won the victory and the ultimate victory at Calvary, it's only going to be completely realized on earth when Satan is bound.

It's only all it's So, what that amounts to is we are still facing a spiritual enemy. We still face the works of the devil. And so the Bible provides us four tremendous examples in the book of Acts. We read through two of them. As the church had begun to advance as the book of Acts is laid out from Jerusalem and Judea, so there in Israel, unto Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the world. And we read two of those in our opening text. We see that they continually confronted spiritual darkness.

Every time they would go forward to some different area, different place, they would they would battle spiritual battles. So we're going to look briefly at all four of the stories that are there in the book of Acts, and then we'll see what we can glean from them will help us today. The first encounter came in Samaria. It was our first text, and it's here we encounter Simon the sorcerer, who had controlled the minds in the people there in Samaria before Philip the evangelist came and arrived.

Bible told us as we read, "There was certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city he used sorcery. He bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that he was some great one." That last phrase there, another translation said this, saying that he himself was somebody great. So he was puffed up in his ideas. I'm really something because I'm working all these these powers. And his bewitching power gave him influence over all the people.

It said from small to great, all these people, both he and the city dwellers had eventually come to believe that he was the great power of God. Well, there's nobody like Simon. He had just has this great power that that that he can do. And so the stage was set for the first storming of the gates of hell, if you will, in the book of Acts. And so Philip comes down to the city of Samaria in verse 5, and he preached Christ unto them. I like his approach. He didn't preach that he was great. He didn't preach that I'm the power of God.

No, he preached about Jesus. Aren't you thankful that's where the power lies? It's not in you and I. It's it's not in what we can do, it's what he can do. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, and hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with palsies and that were lame, and they were healed. And there was great joy in the city.

So there was some miraculous things happening as as Philip begins to preach and he's baptizing them and he's he's preaching and doing miracles and God is doing a great work, really. Uh Just as in the ministry of Jesus, when these miracles would happen, he began to show power over the enemies of darkness and over the spirits and the things of those worlds and and Philip preached, he had preached Christ rather than his own power and authority, and his preaching and his prayer resulted in miracles and causing these people to believe and and to be baptized.

And and it's interesting because the Bible tells us Simon's initial response was to join in what was going on. Says in verse 12, but when they believed Philip in preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized men and women there in Samaria. Then Simon himself also believed and when he was baptized, he continued Philip and wondered beholding the miracles and the signs which were done.

So he he joined if you will and and continued with and followed Philip around looking at the miracles seeing the things he said yes I I'm he got baptized. I think it's it's fascinating that the Bible says he believed and that he was baptized. Now what exactly he believed I don't know. Not real sure what his total belief system was there. Perhaps he was convinced that this praying in Jesus name was some new kind of magic that he could do and and maybe he just wanted to learn how it was done and that he could work this same power to his own benefit.

That would be the obvious thought when we consider the rest of the story. Because when the apostles came and laid hands on the people and they begin to be filled with the Holy Ghost, Simon suddenly things kind of changed a little bit. I've seen the miracles. People have looked to me as being the great power of God. I've I've bewitched them. I've I've fooled them. I've done all these things for so many years and they look to me as being someone that's powerful, but I can't do that. I can't lay hands on and see the Holy Ghost come upon people.

The miracles of God got his attention enough to join the crowd and baptism, but they did not fully represent what was going on and when the Holy Ghost came into people's lives and they begin to turn from their wicked ways and begin to be filled with the power of the Holy Ghost with God in their lives. And this begin to happen. Simon decided you know what? I need some of this. This is what I need to be doing and when he saw that through the laying on of the apostles hands in verse 18, the Holy Ghost was given. Pulls out his wallet. He offers them money.

Said give me also this power. This is what I need. I want to be able to do this. That whoever I lay hands on he may receive the Holy Ghost. Peter looked at him and he said your money perish with thee because you thought the gift of God may be purchased with money. You have neither part nor lot in this matter. Your heart is not right in the sight of God. Now he could say well wait a minute. I was baptized and I'm a believer. Now you have no part in this because your heart is not right.

And so he said repent of this wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou are in the gall of bitterness. You were bitter because someone was taking your position and your place. And and you are in the bond of iniquity. So you're wrapped up in in your sin and fear what God might do. Simon cries out in verse 24, pray you to the Lord for me that none of these things that you have spoken come to me. Round one goes to the church. Simon is defeated.

Satan is thwarted and many in Samaria receive the gospel. Round two opens in Acts chapter 13 and through the church of Antioch, we know that story. That's where in Acts chapter 13 they're first called Christians there in Antioch and and things are happening. The spirit's moving and the spirit talks to them there in the church and says separate me out some of these to to the work where into I have called them so separate separate Paul and Barnabas send them on a missionary journey. And as with new spiritual endeavor, they immediately faced opposition.

So the gospel had been pretty much confined to Antioch. It had been confined to Judea. It had gone into Samaria where it faced that first battle with mysticism and with with magic and those kind of sorceries and those kind of things. And now Paul and Barnabas are getting ready to take the gospel beyond Judea, beyond Samaria to some of the other parts of the world. And so as with any new spiritual endeavor, they're going to face some opposition. Here's what we know.

If a spiritual journey or for what God calls us to do doesn't meet with opposition, then the power of God's probably not working in that effort. The devil is always going to resist when the power of God moves. When we go into a new area, when you go into a new neighborhood, when you go to into there's there is going to be opposition. Because the devil doesn't like it when he sees the gospel spreading to other areas. And so Paul and Barnabas they set sail in verse four and in verse six, just two verses later, they meet the enemy.

When they had gone through the aisle of Paphos, they found a sorcerer there, a certain false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus. Of course he was not alone. He was a sorcerer. He was an adviser. If you will, maybe a court sorcerer for the deputy of the country Sergius Paulus. And Sergius wanted to hear the gospel. And so he asked Paul and Barnabas, can you come? Called them. I want to hear the word of God. Immediately, the enemy gets upset. Elymas says is hearing this word of God.

And it says but Elymas the sorcerer, for so his name is, withstood them. Seeking to turn the deputy away from the faith. When the spirit of God goes for you know here here's one thing we have to understand. When we witness, when we give out the word of God, when we reach out to others and there's opposition, sometimes we look at the people. It's because the devil is upset. Don't blame people when they get upset when they hear the gospel. Blame the enemy and pray against that enemy that God's word and God's spirit would have its way.

And so the gift of discernment begins to work through Paul and he identifies that source of spiritual opposition. And the spirit of God moved upon Paul to confront him. Notice he didn't mince words. I I read that earlier, but but his words he looked at him, you are full of all subtlety and mischief. You're a child of the devil. Now I'm not going to recommend that you go do that unless the Holy Ghost is really moving on you and telling you to do that. But he understood that he had to nip this in the bud.

They were going into a new territory, new place to share this gospel and he said you are the enemy of righteousness. I find it interesting that when that first verse said that he was a false prophet, but he was also a Jew. He was part of God's chosen people at one time that was there. And yet he had fallen into this other thing and he said you're a child of the devil. You're an enemy of righteousness. Jesus had to say the same thing to the Pharisees, didn't he? Very similar. He said why do you continue?

Will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? As a Jew, you should know these right ways. You should know how you ought to be living. And instead you're involved in all these other kind of things and you're using sorcery. And he said now behold the hand of the Lord is upon you and you're going to be blind. There fell on him this mist of darkness. Now what was the result of that confrontation? What happened? Verse 12. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, he believed being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Victory over the enemy.

Round two, who's it go to? Went to the church. When we get to Acts chapter 16, Paul begins a second missionary journey and the purpose of it was he said let's go go and visit all the churches that we founded in that first missionary journey. And so we're going to go do that and strengthen those churches. And so the first five verses tells us that Paul visited the churches that he went through all the all the different places that he'd gone on his first journey.

And verse five says this that so when the churches were established and so were the churches established in the faith and they increased in number daily. So he went and got everything set up, got ordained ministers and people in the areas and got things all running good. And then in verse six and eight, Paul looks at everything he'd done. Okay, I've I've visited the those that I went to first. Let's go somewhere else. And so he he wants to go one direction. Let's go into Asia. No, the spirit tells him no. Well, let's go over here and the spirit said no.

And Paul's just where am I going to go? I want to spread this gospel. I've I've strengthened all these churches that we've started and things are going good and the Holy Ghost is working and the churches are growing. We need to take the gospel somewhere else. And so in verse nine, he has a vision that directs him to go into Macedonia, into a new area. And it's interesting because once again as he enters a new territory, he immediately faces an enemy. He faces the power of Satan. It says in verse 16 and it came to pass as we went to prayer.

And so they're there seeking God and a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us which brought about brought her masters much gain by soothsaying or fortune telling. And the same followed Paul and us and she cried, these men are servants of the most high God which show us the way of salvation. Again, I find that interesting. Notice the devil is not afraid to meet the church on its own territory. You can be in a red hot Pentecostal service and the devil will show up if he thinks he can pull somebody away.

Just because we're worshiping and praising God does not scare the devil away. If he thinks that you know what? I can sow seeds of doubt and unbelief and I can work in lives and and I can cause confusion. He's not afraid. And so, Paul is there ministering the word of God and they're going to prayer and they're seeking God and all of a sudden this possessed girl begins to cry out, "These are the men of the servants of the most high God. They're showing us the way of salvation." Now, Paul could have said, "That that's great. You're right.

Keep preaching it." You know what they say in our language, which there's no such thing as bad publicity? Companies go through things and disasters happen and and they're in the news and they say, "Well, just let it play out because it's it's all good publicity. It's it it gets our name before people." Paul wasn't pleased when the right message came from the wrong source. Perhaps by hearing this proclamation from no one known to have this spirit of death divination or fortune-telling, Paul felt the gospel would be compromised.

And so, those that were comfortable with with what that girl was doing and the things that were happening there would think, "Well, this is just another part of it." And then and they really wouldn't grasp that God was tearing down the strongholds of Satan in their area. And so, the Bible said she did this many days. Just kept doing it day after day. Every time they'd go to prayer, every time they were around, she would begin to cry out, "These are the servants of the most high God.

They're going to show us the way of salvation." And Paul, the Bible says, was grieved and he turned and said to the the spirit, "I command thee in the name of Jesus, come out of her." And he came out that same hour. He confronted the power of the enemy. Guess who won round three? Yeah, it was the church, of course. Now, we understand that those who previously profited from the girl's fortune-telling, those owners that had her, had Paul and Silas beaten, had him thrown into prison. But the story didn't end there.

The night ended as they began to sing and worship God of the prison bars being opened and them walking out and the jailer and his household being saved. So, God still won. God still did a work. The final confrontation with the powers of darkness that we read in the book of Acts comes in chapter 19. Paul, as we know, had gone to Athens on the journey and then he went to Corinth and he spent several years there and then he left Corinth and he come to Ephesus Ephesus and he spent two years there.

Acts 19:10 says that they all which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. And so, there was a a great outpouring of the Holy Ghost in Ephesus and it went throughout Asia at that time. Asia, where he had been forbidden to go previously. And now he he is there in Ephesus, where the great temple was to the goddess Diana, a lot of false gods, false religions, powers of darkness there. And so, the Bible says during that time in verse 11 that God wrought special miracles by the hand of Paul. So, the power of God was working.

It was encroaching on that area of the enemy. So, that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs of aprons. And the diseases departed from those that those aprons were taken to and the evil spirits went out of them. An interesting thing is exorcisms among the Jews were common rituals, but they never really rose to the level of command over evil spirits as Jesus would do.

Jesus could walk into Gadarea and see the man that's living in the cave and command the spirits to leave and he could just send them send them on their way and they never had seen that. Nobody Paul's action caught the attention of some of those that practiced the rituals and the types of exorcism they did uh that the Jews would do. And so, we read about it in Acts chapter 19. Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon themselves upon them to call over them which had evil spirits in the name of the Lord Jesus.

So, they saw Paul doing it and they said, "Well, if it worked for him, it ought to work for us." Again, much like Simon, "Give me this power. You know, he's doing it, so I should be able to do it, too." And so, they came but upon this man that had evil spirits and they said, "We adjure you by the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches." And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew and a chief of the priests, which did so.

So, these seven sons of this Jewish priest came up to this person and they called out and they said, "We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches." And the evil spirit said, "You know what? I know who Jesus is and I know who Paul is, but who are you?" And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them and overcame them and prevailed against them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. Here's what we know, the power of the enemy is real. However, we don't have to be afraid of the power of the enemy, church.

Because greater is he that is in you, we learn, than he that is in the world. A couple decades ago a songwriter wrote a song. He asked this question, "What would the devil say about your life? Do they know you in hell like they know your Christ?" And I have to think that's exactly what was going on here. They thought, "All we have to do is call on Jesus. We don't really know who he is, but we know what he did, so we'll call on him." Paul, we heard him preaching it, so we're going to do it just like he did.

For sure, hell did not know those sons of Sceva like it knew Jesus and like it knew Paul. Did not know them. But the the story doesn't end there because while they went out disgraced, God used that incident to further the gospel. Acts chapter 19:17 tells us this, "And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks that were dwelling at Ephesus and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified." Now, isn't that interesting?

He called in Jesus' name, the sons of Sceva did, and they were defeated, but fear fell on all these and the name of Jesus was magnified. It was lifted up. They couldn't have looked It wasn't that they looked upon what happened and said, "Well, that failed.

Maybe it doesn't work." No, they understood, "You're not approaching it right." And many that believed came and here's the interesting part, "And confessed and showed their deeds." Bible doesn't say exactly what that meant, but it does this also says this, "Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all men." In other words, there were a lot of people practicing the same kinds of things sons of Sceva were. They were interested in magic. They were interested in crystals.

They were interested in whatever, all these things that that we see today even in our society. And so, they were doing these things and yet they were still proclaiming to believe in Jesus Christ. Well, they begin to understand here, that's not what it's about. The power is in Jesus, not in magic, not in these other things. And so, they burned their books and the Bible says so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

When people got a right sense of who Jesus was, when they got a right sense of the power of the Holy Ghost and understood that what it was about, God had victory. The church had victory. As with the other three events in the book of Acts, great revival came from what looked like negative circumstances. Even when others misuse Jesus' name, great things can happen for those that believe. Evidently, some of the believers in the church had not given up their participation in pagan and occult practices and other things.

But after witnessing the power of God over the efforts of demons, the believers burned their collection of those things. Round four, the church wins. The devil lost again. So, we we see these four stories, these four scriptural examples. And from those we're able to get a variety of valid truths and of spiritual warfare. Remember the Bible tells us that we're not wrestling against flesh and blood. A lot of times that's what we see and so, that's what we wrestle against. We get crossways with people.

We get crossways with things that happen and and we get upset and what That's not where the battle is. The battle is in what's going on behind the scenes. It's the power of the enemy. And so, he said, "You are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Those are what we are fighting against, church. And we have to understand this. And those who face the enemy in the power of the spirit, here's what we know, we can expect victory.

But it has to be done God's way, not man's way. So, so let's look at some things that will help us. Number one, we need to understand that yes, power from evil exists as a real force. I heard other people say, "You know, some another person wrote a song some years ago. Said, 'No one believes in me anymore.'" Talking about the devil. Said, "No one No one believes him. We don't talk about it. We don't want any part.

We'll just kind of go on worshiping God, have our own and just forget about the fact that there is an enemy." And and so, if we're not careful, we Christians could we could exhibit two extreme errors when faced with confronting spiritual evil in our world. On the one hand, sometimes we don't even recognize it because we're not looking for it or we're not seeing it. Particularly people in North America and in Europe, these two continents, America founded on ideas of Christianity and and so much of it that had spread through Europe before that.

And on the we often view problems and we look at situations and we we view it as lack of money or political misuse of power, personality disorders or or many different things and while these sources of problems often have spiritual component that that's realm of spiritual wickedness and evil is it's far more complex than just what we're seeing on the surface. There's an enemy that wants to control every nation, every municipality, every city, every person, every neighborhood.

It wants to take over that and and perhaps it's because Europe and North America have really been those Christian nations. We failed to grasp, I think sometimes, the source of the evil that exists around us. In other parts of the world, spiritual darkness is much more well known. And so I have to ask, is it possible that as evil men and seducers wax worse and worse that we fail to recognize that it is the power of darkness encroaching upon our nation or upon our families or whatever it is.

We need to understand that this is a real battle that we fight, church. Moreover, when when we simply dismiss spiritual evil as a result of societal issues or and we fail to recognize or deal with the true source of evil. If we're not careful, we must combat evil with an awareness of the power of sin. We must come against it.

We see in other parts of the world and we're seeing more and more of it in America where there's shamans and witch doctors and voodoo priests and spiritual practitioners of all different kinds coming into the country or being practiced around us. We need to understand there's forces of evil behind that. It's not the work of God. It is the work of small g o d gods. You need to understand that the other extreme that is equally damaging for the church is too many Holy Ghost filled people fear the authority and the power of Satan and his demons.

I don't think we should carelessly go around in Jesus' name rebuking everything. We need to be careful. We need to live and operate in the power of the spirit and the discernment of the spirit. Members of of the body of Christ, members of the church must boldly and skillfully use the authority that has been placed in them. You know, Paul waited several days as this damsel followed them around before he finally decided it's time to take care of this situation.

I just find it interesting when people get up and say, "I bind every spirit in this place." You know what? You probably haven't. Unless it was a real hot prayer meeting and you came in here full of the Holy Ghost and you did it in Jesus' name, but even then you never saw Jesus address a whole crowd of people and say, "I'm binding everything before I ever start." No, he would they would bring one to him and they'd bring another one to him. He'd cast out devils. He would do this kind of things.

He never just blanketly said, "We're binding it." You know, you don't walk into a city and say, "Well, I'm going to bind every spirit in this city and from now on I I'm free of that there's no more power there." You're going to see it different places. It's specific and you need to reach specifically to those things. We need to recognize it but not be afraid of it. Just as Peter rebuked Simon for attempting to misuse misuse the spirit and Paul called El- caused Elimas to be blinded, the child of God must recognize and overcome that evil.

The second thing is the power of the Holy Ghost cannot be bought. It's not something you possess as as an own something I own. It is true that some things only happen by prayer and fasting, Jesus told us. But no human action can purchase the power of the Holy Spirit. It's a free gift. Attempts to control or purchase the work of the Holy Spirit are evil regardless of the most motive. Simon, he wanted to gain his preeminence in Samaria. He he wanted to get it back.

Something he had enjoyed before when they looked to him as the great power of God and he saw himself as something great and he he wanted to continue in that vein. And so he he tried to purchase that. Those who use the gospel to enrich themselves and to build their own kingdom fail to have God's purpose at heart. Make sure that your purposes are right. Jesus said, "Upon this rock I will build my church." You can build a congregation. You can build a a building. You can build a a movement. You can build a following, but it takes Jesus to build a church.

You don't own that. He owns it and he will do it through committed individuals operating in the power of the Holy Ghost. Further thing we have to understand, you can't take the Holy Ghost and combine it with other spiritual powers. In the days of the apostles, in the book of Acts, the contemporaries of Peter and Paul, they were offended by the exclusive message of the apostles. They believed to be to be born into Jesus Christ was to forsake all other ways. For baptism was death to the old ways and and it brought new life.

We're no longer serving the gods of this world. We are serving the one true God. The power of the Holy Ghost, it's exclusive. It's independent. It's supreme in every way. Nothing can confine or limit it or control it. The Bible says the wind blows wherever it list, wherever it wants. You hear the sound, you can't tell. So is everyone born of the spirit. The spirit will do what the spirit wants to do. And any effort to adulterate that purity and independence of the spirit of God with other powers will ultimately fail.

We're talking about spiritual things here today, church. Whether we attempt to combine the spirit with a power personality or intellect or politics or finance or occult or any other thing, the result will always be the same. Failure for those who seek to mix those things. We need to put everything in the hands of God. That's why it's so important that we trust God when we speak, that we trust God when we sing, when we trust God when we do those things. We put it in his hands and let him work. And let him do what he needs to do.

Power from the Holy Ghost not only can not be mixed with other powers, it it cannot be mixed with other gods, other gods and other things of this world. Mixing different forms of beliefs and practices in an effort to include other people to the work of Christ or to use their gods as points of connection for Christianity, it will not work. The world that Peter and Paul lived in was full of probably studied in school, Greek mythology. They didn't see it as mythology. Those were real gods that they worshipped.

They were demons, if you will, or other spirits and things that they worshipped and they built temples to and and so they were comfortable going today to the temple of Zeus and offering to something and then going over to the temple of Diana and going over to Apollo's temple and or or wherever. They they had no, if you will, allegiance to one particular God. Maybe they had a favorite that they went to, but they would they would worship at all these different temples.

Whenever they would travel to another town and whatever the God of that temple, they would worship at that temple and and so they were okay with that. And then suddenly you have Christians going around and saying, "No, I don't care what town I'm in. I'm only going to worship the one true God." Well, that's narrow-minded. You think yours is the only one. We see the same thing today. Can I say that any belief system that embraces all religions is detrimental to the plan of God?

Used to hear the term ecumenicalism and that talked about all these Christian churches coming together. Let's just all come Now they use it to Well, that doesn't matter if you're a Muslim and you're a Hindu and you're a Sikh and you're a Pentecostal and you're this and you're that. We'll just all come together. We all worship a God. We just call him different things. That's not what my Bible said. John 14:6, Jesus said in him, "I am the way, the truth, I'm the life. No man comes under the Father but by me." That's pretty exclusive.

You can't mix this belief with other things. But here's what we know, power from the Holy Ghost, not only can you not mix it, it's greater than anything else the world has to offer. Every encounter with the spiritual world in the book of Acts illustrates the superiority of the Holy Ghost. The power of God. The power of the spirit shatters the power of everything else that it confronts. Simon knew that his system was obsolete when Peter laid hands on his neighbors. He said, "I can't do that. I need that.

I want to buy that." Elimas knew that he had to take a stand or he was going to lose his power over his new religion. This new religion. He tried to take a stand and of course we know it did not work out for him. A faithful church will still confront the efforts of paganism and astrology and mysticism and spiritualism and and any other kind of spiritual thing and the spirit of God will prove prove itself superior to every one of those. And here's what we know. And here's really what it's about.

Power from the Holy Ghost is not something you can buy, not something that you can just try like sons of Sceva and just call it out. It is a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's what makes the difference. The Holy Spirit working in our lives in a relationship with Jesus. The spirit that was in Christ Jesus, Paul said, is also in you. The spirit that quickened him from the dead will also quicken or make alive your mortal bodies. Those who seek the spirit as a tool of power to obtain a good life or are in a fundamental misunderstanding.

You don't get it just so I can get more for me. It's about a relationship with God. Simon and the seven sons of Sceva objectified the Holy Spirit. No, it's just a thing. It's just something I can use, just a tool. I'll just call on Jesus like they do, and it'll work. But a relationship with Jesus is what we need, church. If you get in touch with God and you get in full of his spirit and you have this relationship with Jesus Christ, you're going to start to see when things are false. When spirits are are in opposition to the spirit that dwells in you.

And that only comes through relationship. That's why rather than to go look for spirits and look for things to fight against, get a relationship with Jesus Christ. Those things are going to present themselves when they see that you're living right. But you'll know it because you know him. To know Jesus is to remaintain a relationship rather than to seek some secret wisdom or something else or to go some other way. God gave the church power of the Holy Ghost to do his work. We saw it in the book of Acts.

Every time Paul would go, when they went to Samaria, they faced the evil. They faced the enemy. When they went to Paul started his missionary journey, got outside of Judea, they faced opposition. When they went to Macedonia, they faced the power of the spirit. It happens every time we begin to move with this gospel to someone else. But an obedient church has no option but to engage in a spiritual confrontation. Pray. Seek God. Have that relationship with God.

Fact, if as we said, if you're not feeling that spiritual struggle, it may be that we're not resisting the forces of evil in our community. But the power of the spirit gives the power and authority, the ability to make a difference. It will guide and it will lead. It will put us where we need it to be. And by following the spirit, we'll recognize the evil that exist and will refuse to adulterate the power of the Holy Spirit with other agendas. We should have a complete confidence, church, in the power of the spirit. It will overcome every obstacle.

I've heard people say, "Well, don't go to that town to try to raise a church. It's just too hard." Well, if it's too hard, it's because there's a power of an enemy there, and that enemy needs to be overcome. And you're not going to do that by buying your way in. You're going to do it with a relationship with Jesus Christ and seeking him. Not saying it will always be easy, but God will build his church if we're in the right relationship with him. So really, nothing much has changed since the book of Acts.

We're still going to face the same things, but we still have the same promise. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Aren't you thankful to know Jesus this morning? As we said, that's what it's all about, connecting with God. When we connect with him and we're in relationship with him, it will help us to connect with our world around us. Let's stand. Let's just ask for that relationship with him. Lord, we see it in the book of Acts. We see it in our church. We see it in our own lives.

Lord Jesus, help us to have that right relationship with you. Help us to see evil for what it is, but help us to understand that it can be overcome and things can change, Lord, by the power of the Holy Ghost that you have placed in our lives. If we will remaintain our relationship with you and our spirit in the right place, then you can work and you can do what you want to do. In Jesus' name. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Amen.