Just Because You Wear a Western Shirt it Doesn't Mean You're a Cowboy!

Acts chapter 19, verses 11 through 20. I love

Acts 19:11–20

this story. It's one of my favorite stories.

Maybe some of you have read it before. And you

may not have read it, and that's okay too. We're

going to talk about it today. Acts chapter 19,

Acts 19:11

verse 11. Let's read through these verses, and

then we'll pray and get started. was performing

extraordinary miracles by Paul's hands, so that

even face cloths or work aprons that had touched

his skins were brought to the sick, and the diseases

left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists attempted

to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over

those who had evil spirits, saying, I command

you by the Jesus that Paul preaches. Seven sons

of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

The evil spirit answered them, I know Jesus and

I recognize Paul, but who are you? Then the man

who had the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered

them all and prevailed against them, so that

they ran out of that house naked and wounded.

This became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus.

both Jews and Greeks. Then fear fell on all of

them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

And many who had become believers came confessing

and disclosing their practices. While many of

those who had practiced magic collected their

books and burned them in front of everyone. So

they calculated their value and found it to be

50 ,000 pieces of silver. In this way, The Lord's

message flourished and prevailed. Let's pray.

God, we come to you today, and I pray, God, that

your word would speak to us. God, there's no

good word that I can say if it does not come

from you. So, God, we pray that your spirit would

open our ears today, that we would hear and open

our eyes, that we would see your word, dear Lord.

Take away any pride or any fear that's within

me, God, that I can rightly speak and preach

and teach your word today. God, I pray whatever

worries and distractions and thoughts we came

in here with today, I pray that you would free

our minds from that. I pray, God, that if there

are any that came into this building today and

they do not know Jesus, that they would know

him today. God, I pray for those who do know

Jesus, that we would know him better. God, I

pray that we would find strength in your word

and that you just speak to us today. All for

your kingdom and all for your glory. In Jesus'

name I pray it. Amen. Now Paul had been doing

some extraordinary things. Paul was one, we talked

about this some last week, Paul was one who had

really been opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He was religious in many ways and really knew

what we would call the Old Testament well and

was really zealous for God, or so he thought

he was. And then he encountered Jesus. And when

he encountered Jesus, he realized that everything

he thought he knew about God and God's law, that

he had missed the whole purpose of it. And so

he encounters Jesus, and Jesus changes his life.

And so in the first part of the book of Acts,

we see Peter. Peter, the one who had denied Jesus,

and Jesus restored him after he was resurrected.

And Peter went out, and man, one minute he's

denying Jesus, and it ain't many days later that

he is at the forefront of this Jesus movement,

of promoting the gospel and telling people about

Jesus, and not shying away, not denying Jesus,

but preaching him with all his might. And then

we see as we get about halfway through the book

of Acts, we've been introduced to Peter, I mean,

excuse me, to Paul, and we begin to shift gears

and we begin to focus on Paul and begin to see

Paul's works. Now, Paul did many miraculous things.

He was definitely anointed by God. And Jesus,

when Jesus was still alive and walking the earth,

we see scriptures where Jesus gave authority

to his apostles. Now, we talked a couple of weeks

ago that all authority belongs to Jesus. And

he says that. Before he's resurrected, he says,

look, all authority has been given to me in heaven

and on earth. And so Jesus is the authority,

and Jesus chose in his disciples to give that

authority to heal diseases and to cast out evil

spirits and demons and these type of things.

We see that Jesus gives that authority to his

apostles, and Paul had that same authority. We

see Paul raising somebody from the dead. We see

Paul casting out demons. We see Paul healing

people. We see all of these miraculous things

that Paul is doing. So he is having an impact.

He's going all over to these different places,

and he is serving the Lord, and it's hard, and

he's constantly under persecution and in prison,

and life is in danger, but God is with him, and

God delivers him, and God uses him in a mighty

way to continue to do these miraculous works.

So certainly word of Paul had got out, much like

it did with Jesus. You know, people start raising

the dead and doing all these miracles. Well,

word gets out. People want to be healed of their

sicknesses. We understand that. We want to be

healed of our sicknesses, and we want our loved

ones to be healed of their sicknesses. And so

we see these miracles in this passage we look

at. God was performing extraordinary miracles

by Paul's hands so that even face cloths or aprons

that had touched his skin were brought to the

sick and the diseases left them and the evil

spirits came out. Now, I don't know about these

face cloths and these aprons. Maybe God did anoint

these materials in some way that they really

did have this miraculous power to heal. It could

have been that that's what God chose to do, to

just remind people and show people of his power.

and the power and authority that comes through

Jesus Christ, through his crucifixion and resurrection,

and that power still exists in his followers.

And he could have simply made these face cloths

and these aprons. He could have just anointed

them in some way that they really did have healing

power. However, I think that probably the healing

power came maybe not necessarily from the fabrics

and materials. but from the faith of those who

are touching them and who are receiving them.

Now, we see this throughout Scripture. You may

recall there was a woman with a problem of bleeding

for many years and had tried everything and nothing

had worked. And she said, if I can just touch

the hem of the garment of the clothes that Jesus

is wearing, then I will be healed. And she did

just that. She worked her way through the crowd.

She reached out. She barely touched Jesus' clothes.

Jesus said, who touched me? And his disciples

said, you're nuts. There's a million people.

Everybody touched you. But Jesus said, no. This

person that touched me was different. I felt

power leave from me. And this woman came forward,

and Jesus told her, your faith has healed you.

He didn't say, because you touched my garment,

it heals you. He didn't say, my garment is what

heals you, because my garment has some special

power. He said, your faith has healed you. And

here in this instance, we got people taking these

face cloths and these aprons that they had gotten,

that Paul had touched, and they're taking them

back to their sick or those who are possessed

by these evil spirits, and they're being healed.

There's somebody acting on their behalf, getting

to the sick people, and I believe there that

it's probably their faith that's healing them.

You may remember a story. There was a guy who

was too sick. He couldn't get to Jesus. He was

on a bed, and his friends couldn't get to Jesus.

There was too many people around the house where

Jesus was. And they took the roof off, and they

lowered this man down into the roof. And what

does Jesus tell them? He says, by your faith.

He says it's their faith, their faith, the man

and his friends, that has healed him. And so

we see this time and again in Scripture that

people are healed by Jesus. But we see often

after they're healed that it says your faith

has made you well. And so regardless how God

worked through these aprons or through these

face cloths, whatever means he chose to work,

it seems to me that these people who healed probably

had faith. That faith is what brings about...

healing and so these miraculous extraordinary

works were taking place and evil spirits were

being cast out let's read a little further and

see what it says in verse 13 then some of the

itinerant jewish exorcists attempted to pronounce

the name of the lord jesus over those who had

evil spirits. Now, itinerant, that means traveling.

These were traveling exorcists. In this case,

there was a guy by the name of Sceva. He had

seven sons, and his sons were going around, traveling

from place to place, driving out these evil spirits.

Now, I don't know what their motive was. Maybe

they were just godly people, and they wanted

to free people. Maybe there was some other motivation.

Maybe there was financial gain in it. I don't

know. The Scripture doesn't tell us. It just

tells us that these men were going around, Driving

out evil spirits or claiming to drive out evil

spirits, whether they were or not, is unknown.

It appears that they probably were not because

we see this encounter here. And so they know

of Paul and they know of the Jesus that Paul

preaches. But it seems clear that they do not

trust in the Jesus that Paul preaches. And so

they've heard of these things, and obviously

they know that Paul is driving out evil spirits,

and so they add this tactic to their playbook.

Now, I don't know what methods they were using,

what they were doing, what they were saying,

what actions they were doing to drive out these

evil spirits as they traveled around, but whatever

they were doing, they saw what Paul was doing,

and so they decided, then we're just going to

go this route. We're going to call on the Jesus

of Paul to drive out these evil spirits. And

so they encounter a man who has evil spirits.

And listen to what they say in the middle of

verse 13. They say, I command you by the Jesus

that Paul preaches. So that's what they say.

They go to this evil spirit and they're going

to get it out and they say, I command you by

the Jesus that Paul preaches. They're thinking

this is going to do the job because certainly

they probably had seen and heard of Paul in the

name of Jesus. Get away. Get out of this person.

And the evil spirits would flee. Paul was casting

them out. They said, we'll try that. We'll do

what Paul's doing. I command you in the name

of the Jesus that Paul preaches. But it didn't

work quite like they had hoped. Listen to what

the man possessed with the evil spirit says.

In verse 15. The evil spirit answered them. I

know Jesus. And I recognize Paul. But who are

you? But why didn't it work? They said the name

Jesus. Why didn't the evil spirit leave? The

spirit, he acknowledged Jesus. I know Jesus.

Yeah, I know Jesus. And I know who Paul is. I've

heard of him. But who are you? What he was saying

is, where is your authority to tell me what to

do? Who gives you authority? Now the authority

that Paul had came from Jesus Christ because

he had trusted in Jesus Christ. And what the

evil spirit is really saying, by what authority

are you commanding me to leave? You don't have

any authority over me. Now we know the one who

has authority, it's Jesus Christ. We know others,

his followers that have authority through Jesus

Christ that he gives to his followers. But these

men were not followers of Jesus Christ. They

knew his name. They believed he existed. But

they weren't his followers. Let me ask y 'all,

this is a test. This is an easy one. Man, I hope

y 'all all pass. If you're in this room today

and you believe in God, I want you to raise your

hand. I hope that's everybody's hand. I think

it is. Well, let me tell you this. You know who

else believes in God? The devil. He believes

in God. He knows God exists. He believes in Jesus.

He knows Jesus exists. Listen to this. The evil

spirit, they even spoke the name of Jesus. They

said His name. They said, I know Jesus. So even

the evil spirit can speak the name of Jesus.

We can speak the name of Jesus. We can believe

in God. But it's not just about knowing that

Jesus existed. It's not just about knowing that

God is real. It's about do you trust in Him or

not? Do you trust in Him? Have you put your faith

in Him? And these men, they knew of Jesus, but

they did not know Jesus. They looked the part.

They were going around by all accounts. It looked

like they were doing God's work. but they did

not know the Lord. And so they called on the

name of Jesus, but it didn't help them in any

way because they did not know Jesus. They weren't

under his authority. They weren't under his protection.

And so when Paul could boldly go and drive out

these evil spirits in the name of Jesus, these

men could not because they knew of Jesus, but

they did not know Jesus. And so they approached

this evil spirit and this evil spirit says, who

are you to tell me what to do? And listen what

happens to them. In verse 16, then the man who

had the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered

them all and prevailed against them so that they

ran out of the house naked and wounded. Naked

and wounded. They were trying to go up against

the evil by their own power. Just because they

thought they had some knowledge of Jesus, they

thought that was enough. But even though they

had knowledge of Jesus, they hadn't experienced

the power of Jesus. And as a result, they took

on the evils and they lost. The evil spirit overtook

them. One man overtook seven men, and they ran

out of the house naked and afraid. They were

fearful, they were wounded, and they hit the

road running. And is that any of our stories

today? That maybe we know of Jesus. And we know

that Jesus has authority. And we know that Jesus

can heal. And we know that Jesus can drive out

evil spirits. And we know about the Word of God.

And we know God is real. And we believe that

God is real. But we don't really have a relationship

with God. We don't really have a relationship

with Jesus Christ. And we know of God, but we

don't know God. And we're going through this

world, but we're really still trying to do things

on our own the way we want to in our worldly

ways. And so many times we go up against our

sins and our temptations and the evils we face,

and they destroy us. We can't overcome them.

We can't stand up to them. They are far greater

than anything that's within us. Because Jesus

is not within us. We know about Jesus, but we

don't know Jesus. That's the case for some people.

Maybe some of you in this room, that was the

case for these men in this story. He who is within

you is greater than he who is within the world.

If he's in you. He's got to be in you. He's got

to be the Lord of your life. You've got to submit

to the authority of Jesus Christ to be able to

call on the authority of Jesus Christ. And so

many times we go up against the evils in our

life and they just destroy us. And we leave,

spiritually speaking, naked and afraid. We are

wounded and we are heading out. And we're wondering,

why didn't it work? Well, God's not fooled if

we just go through the motions. Why didn't it

work? Why wasn't Jesus there? I said Jesus' name.

Well, even the evil spirits said Jesus' name.

But what the evil spirits didn't do was trust

in Jesus. What the devil doesn't do is trust

in Jesus. And that's the difference. God doesn't

just want us to know about him. He wants us to

trust in him. He doesn't just want us to know

who somebody is. He wants us to have a relationship

with him. There's no authority in just knowing

who someone is. If I leave tomorrow and I go

up to Washington, D .C., and I tell all the congressmen

and women, let me tell you what, in the name

of Donald J. Trump, you need to do what I tell

you to do. And guess what? They ain't going to

do nothing. I'm going to say, I know Donald Trump.

I've seen Donald Trump. I see him all the time.

But guess what? I know who the president is.

I know him. But I don't know him. I don't have

any authority. that anybody's going to listen

to me if I say in the name of Donald J. Trump.

I've got no authority. Now, if I was close to

him, if I was real close to him, people knew

I was close to him, if I said his name, they

probably would do what I ask them to do. So if

we call on the name of Jesus, but we really don't

know Jesus, we really haven't trusted in Jesus,

we really haven't put our faith in Jesus, then

we're not experiencing the freedom and the power

that come through Jesus Christ. We're trying

to face all of the evils of this world on our

own, and we cannot do it. The word of this story

spread quickly throughout the area. A lot of

people there that was practicing some sorcery

and some other things, it says at the end of

this passage. And it says that fear spread throughout.

And guess what happened after this event? People

said, whoa, hold up. Hold up a second. There's

something to this Jesus that Paul preaches. And

we're not just going to call on the Jesus of

Paul. We're going to call on Jesus to be our

Jesus too. And it says that they begin to burn

all of their magic books, all their sorcery books,

all their spells, whatever it was they were doing.

It says that they begin to get together and they

begin to burn all of these materials up that

they've been trusting in and living by. All the

things of the world that they had been seeking

for security and protection and guidance. They

realized they weren't good enough, and they said,

we have to get rid and get away from the things

of the world if we're going to trust Jesus. And

it says that they burned up stuff that equaled

up to about 50 ,000 pieces of silver. That's

a lot of silver. Some of your translations may

say 50 ,000 drachma. That was a form of money

in those days. So one drachma was a day's wages.

So a drachma is a day's wages. The books and

the materials that they had been trusting in,

they considered them worthless. Even though they

were of great monetary value, they considered

them worthless in the presence of Jesus Christ,

and they burned up 50 ,000 days' worth of money

in books when they came to Jesus Christ. If you're

curious, if you do the math, that's 136 years.

That'd be 136 years' worth of wages. And their

life was changed by Jesus Christ. They didn't

just want to know about the Jesus of Paul. They

just didn't want to hear his name. They didn't

want to be just familiar with him. They wanted

to know him and they wanted to follow him and

they wanted to trust him. And they did. And it

changed their life. And they gave up their old

ways. And they began to follow Jesus Christ.

And that's the same choice that you and I are

faced with today. Praise the Lord. You all believe

that God exists. You all raise your hand. That

is fantastic. If you didn't raise your hand,

I'd love to talk to you sometime and we'll talk

about it. But we all believe on some level, hopefully,

that God exists. I want to tell you today that

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that we are sinners,

that Jesus was sent to save sinners, that He

was nailed to a cross, He was placed in a tomb,

and He was resurrected. I want to tell you today

that Jesus Christ is real and he wants to forgive

your sins today. And you've heard that. If you

weren't daydreaming in the last 15 seconds, you've

heard that. You know the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I want to tell you that he loves you, but it's

not just enough to know that he loves you if

you haven't trusted in him. It's not about looking

apart. It's not about knowing of him. Knowing

of Jesus doesn't make you a Christian. Your family

knowing of Jesus doesn't make you a Christian.

Knowing Jesus personally does make you a Christian.

So we don't want to be those who look the part.

We want to be those who have experienced Jesus

Christ. Some of you may have noticed today I'm

wearing this nice Wrangler shirt. And I'll tell

you why I'm wearing this wrangler shirt today.

Partly because of our t -shirt reveal. But also

because I'm a cowboy now. And y 'all didn't know

that. Well, it ain't funny. We got a cow a couple

of weeks ago. We did. We got a cow. And I was

informed last night that I was not a cowboy,

that I was a cattleman. So I don't know what

I have to have to have a cowboy. I don't know

if I have to have a horse, if I need boots, a

hat. I don't know what the requirements are,

but I believe I'm a cowboy. And y 'all can think

what you want to think. And I'll wear my Wrangler

shirt and my boots. And y 'all laugh. Y 'all

laugh at that because you know that I'm not a

cowboy. I've got a Wrangler shirt on. And I do

have a cow, a small cow. Her name's Little Cow.

Very original. Her name is Little Cow. And I

can wear shirts and I can get cows, but I'm not

really a cowboy. When we got our cow, I stood

there. A man drove up with a trailer. He backed

it up to another man's pasture and unloaded our

cow, and I did this. I just watched. Watching

a cow wearing a shirt or boots. It does not make

you a cowboy. It's your experience that makes

you a cowboy. Are you doing the things that cowboys

do? Are you living the life? What about as a

Christian? Maybe today you say, I'm a Christian.

Are you? Maybe you are. Maybe you're not. Maybe

you look the part. Maybe you dress the part.

Maybe you even know the right words to say. But

if you have not trusted in Jesus Christ today,

you are not a Christian. You are up against the

evils and all of the stresses and the worries

and the pain of this world and they are tough.

But I want you to be able to call on Jesus Christ

as your Lord and Savior today. Not because your

parents were Christians or your grandparents.

Not because of anybody else. Don't call on the

Jesus of somebody else. Make Jesus your Jesus

today, your Lord and Savior today. We'll know

if we're a Christian by our actions. Not if we

look the part, but how we live our life. And

we can know today without a shadow of a doubt.

That if we call on the authority of Jesus Christ,

if we have trusted in him, he will hear us and

he will deliver us. But if we continue to go

through all the things of this world on our own,

we will be defeated. And we will leave naked

and afraid just like these men did. There are

many who saw this story in real time and they

said, hold up. We want to follow Jesus. And they

turned from their ways, they repented of their

ways, and they turned to Jesus Christ. And that's

what God calls you to today. If you don't trust

in Jesus Christ, He calls you to repent, to put

your evils aside, to turn from your ways, to

turn to Jesus Christ and call on Him from your

heart, and He will hear you. You will search

for me and find me when you seek. for me with

all of your heart, the scripture says. Are you

seeking Jesus today? I pray that you are. Let's

pray. God, we come to you this morning. We thank

you for your good word. I pray that we would

learn something from this text today, God. Maybe

there are some in here today that know about

you. They may have come to this church or other

churches or read their Bible and they know all

about you, dear Lord. They know about Jesus,

but they have not ever really trusted in Jesus.

They know of him, but they don't have a relationship,

dear Lord. God, there are so many times that

maybe we go through this world and we're trying

to depend on our own power and to do it our way.

God, and man, the things of this world just knock

us upside the head and just get us down, dear

Lord. But I pray, God, that we would not trust

in our abilities today, but that we would trust

in Jesus Christ. That it not just be a word that

we say, God, that comes out of our mouth, but

it be a cry for help and deliverance that comes

from our heart. So God, I pray that if there

are any in this room today that don't really

know Jesus, that never have put their faith in

Him, I pray today that they would repent. That

whatever it is in their life that's keeping them

from Jesus, that's been what they've been depending

on, God, I pray that they would repent of that

today. They would give that to Jesus Christ.

God, I pray for those in here that are yours,

and maybe there are some, God, and they just,

they know you, but they haven't been living like

it. Maybe they've been looking to part. And maybe

by all accounts on our end, we'd look at them

and say, oh, they're a godly man and woman. But

dear Lord, you look far deeper into their heart.

And God, you convict us. You let us know. We

know what's in our heart, God. If we don't know,

I pray that we'd seek you now that you would

help us to know. God, we don't want to be those

who play a role. We want to be those who know

Jesus and experience Jesus, that our lives would

be changed by Jesus. So God, I pray. That this

morning you forgive us of our sinfulness. That

you would just break our hearts. That in these

few moments as we sing, God, that if you have

spoken to any today, that if there are some that

do not know Jesus Christ, that today they would

repent and put their faith in him. That they

would come down this morning, dear Lord, as we

sing. That they'd come down, let me pray with

them, rejoice with them. Maybe there are some

here today, God, and they're yours and there's

just some things that they just need to go to

you and bring before you. I pray, God, that they

would open their heart out to you today. And

I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.