The Holy Spirit and the Magic Man

The title of the message today is the Holy Spirit

and the Magic Man. Okay, let's look at this first

slide that we have here coming up.

Manly P.

Hall and his Treatise on Natural Occultism define magic as

an attempt to manipulate the forces of nature to get

what you want. Have you ever try to manipulate circumstances

to get what you want?

Yeah?

Okay, he writes this. Definitions of magic is the art

of manipulating the unseen forces of nature. A magician is

one who is capable of juggling the four elements of bodies.

A magician is one who is capable of consciously molding

the substances of matter, of the three and a half

worlds of material substance. Now, this is the whole thing.

Is nonsense, he believes in this. But the key word

is manipulation. Magic is manipulation. Now, God doesn't want us

being manipulating kind of people. We're not to manipulate relationships.

We're not to manipulate. Church leaders were not to manipulate.

Church members were to be transparent, godly good people that

trust God for what we need.

Right.

Magic is the opposite of that. The American magician and

lawyer Carl Germaine died in nineteen fifty nine. Before he died,

he defined the role of a magician more bluntly, based

on his own experience as a magician.

Here's what he said.

Conjuring is the only absolute, honest profession. The conjurer promises

to deceive and does I mean so. Magic is not

just the manipulation game. Magic is the art of deception.

Moved to the next one. The great illusionists Harry Houdini.

How many of you know of Harry Adini. You are kids,

don't learn these things in school. But he was the

great illusionist. He wasn't into the supernatural everybody thinks he was.

And he wrote this. He said, Sir Arthur, I have

a devoted a lot of time and thought to this illusion.

I won't tell you how it was done, but I

can assure you it was pure trickery. I did it

by perfectly normal means. I devised it to show you

what can be done along these lines. Now I beg

of you, Sir Arthur, do not jump to the conclusion

that certain things you see are necessarily supernatural or the

work of spirits, just because you.

Cannot explain them.

Now, Harry Houdini was an honest magician who he said, look,

I'm just fooling y'all. This is not magic. When we

read the Book of Acts from the beginning of the

formation of the Christian Church, we see supernatural interventions through

the power and person of the Holy Spirit that are

not magic. When Moses rod was stretched over the waters

of the Nile, the magicians of Egypt in Exodus chapter eight,

they said, this.

Is the finger of God.

The finger of God we know wrote the Law of

God on the two Tables of Supernatural sapphi Stone. Sister

White tells us that that rod in Moses's hand was

given to him at Mount Sinai. He exchanged, she said,

the shepherd's crook for the ruler's staff. It was a

supernatural rod that was called the rod of God. Did

he performed his miracles. It was identified as the finger

of God in the Exodus story. It was taken back

by God to Heaven and appeared no more in the

earthly temple. And so when Moses went up Mount Mountain Nebo,

he took the Rod of God with him, representing the

Holy Spirit. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus worked his

miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus is very clear.

He cast out demons by the finger of God, the

hand of God, the finger of God, the Holy Spirit.

Jesus did all his miracles not with personal power, not

because he was.

A magician or a magic man.

Jesus worked his miracles because he got on his knees

in the morning. He offered himself to godsecrated to God.

He waited for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and

he lived. He walked, he breathed, lived in the personal

presence of the Holy Spirit, and through the power of

God he changed the world. And your friends, we can

live like that too, if we're willing to surrender up

like Jesus did. Jesus did all of his miracles through

the Holy Spirit. The apostles worked exactly in the same

way as Jesus did. In the Book of Acts. We

don't find them saying, look look at this great miracle

before I'm this powerful apostle. No, they pray to the Lord.

They call them the Holy Spirit. They claim the promises

of God, and miracles occur, but they're natural miracles because

it's natural for God to intervene in our lives and

to do something that appears supernatural to us. God is

actively engaged in helping us.

Now.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given, we know in

the Ephesians for them. When the Holy Spirit is given, the

gifts of the whole came. We call these spiritual gifts.

How many of you feel like you're not gifted? Don't

raise your hands. How many like to have a gift?

Feel like you have a little gift? Maybe a couple

of gifts feel that way. Well, sometimes people are gifted,

they're not gifted. You know, there are people who can

really sing and do special music. Then are people like

me who try hard. Okay, And the point I'm getting

at is is that God works in a way that

he can take someone who's not naturally gifted in an area,

and if the Holy Spirit.

Is in it, suddenly it's gifted.

I've heard people who aren't naturally gifted in music have

the Holy Spirit and man, the heart is warmed. And

then other people who are trained in it, we have

every doubt. You know everything right, it's so mechanical, no

spirit in it. Have you ever seen that? And so

we should never judge by appearance. Is this is why

every person should sing, every person should have an opportunity

praise God, and we should glory, and that gifts are

spread about. God doesn't give all the gifts to one person. Now,

Christ gave spiritual gifts for service in your testament, for

the building up of the body of Christ. He didn't

give them so the preacher will look good. He didn't

give them so the elders will look good. He didn't

give him. Some says, Oh, what a mighty leader. That

is the minute we start saying that we missed the point,

because God has to be the focus of it. God

is love. God is a giving God. The Hebrew word

for love comes from the verb to give. It's defined

in John three sixteen and seventeen. Will put that on

the screen there, John three sixteen, for God so loved

the elect Does it say that the world everybody, that

He gave his only begotten son, that whoever, now, how

man't of you felt like you just might be a

whoever in the plan of God, not that important you

ever feel that way. Whoever is me, whoever believes in Him,

should not perish. What's the good news of the last

part of that verse, but have ever lasting life, to

never end, to go on and on and on, to

live in the presence of a loving, giving God for

all eternity, Verse seventeen. For God did not send his

son into the world to condemn the world. God has

not come into your life to put you down. God

has not come into your life to wreck your life.

Friends.

God has come into your life that you may live forever,

to not condemn you, that the world might be saved

through him. Jesus Christ, our Savior, was a gift of love.

We read the Book of Acts. We find another gift

of love in the Book of Acts. It's the Holy Spirit.

When a gospel minister rightly divides the word of God

in the power of the Holy Spirit, it is a

supernatural gift of God that is doing the marvelous work,

not the preacher or the teacher. The spirit gifts are

a loving intervention that God gives for saving people. The

gift of the Holy Spirit is not a magical gift.

I don't know about you. Sometimes people think, well, if

you go the seminary long enough, and you take Greek

and Hebrew, and you study hard enough, then you're qualified

to be a minister.

Nonsense.

Do you know what qualifies you to be a minister

of the Gospel is the calling of God, the anointing

of God, and mentoring. God never brings someone into ministry

without mentoring them. Under men of God who are committed

to God, knowledge is best given in service, in following

the leadership of a person. That's why Elisha was mentored

by Elijah. That's why the disciples were mentored by Jesus.

The Holy Spirit respects each and every one of us.

We all have gifts, but those gifts in of themselves

don't make us important. We are to use them for

the help and service of others. Let me go through

a list of the mirror the gift of administration. There

are people here like Doris Horner and Mervin and Tim

and others who are helping us in the gift of administration.

Without it, the whole place goes down. What would happen

if we couldn't pay our bills? The lights were on

the like of prophecy the early church for three hundred years.

Every church we know from history had a prophet, you know,

not the kind that goes around shaking handkerchiefs to sending money,

but they were real profits back then. Healing, discernment of

hospitality of kindness. Boy, we could have a lot more

of that gift in the church. Would that hurt us?

I'm not a fan of Joe Rogan. Anybody here a

fan of Joe Rogan, I mean, you can say it.

I think he's honestly interacting with Christianity right now. And

I heard a little clip where Joe Rogan said this,

if you just take what Jesus taught, you, take the

way he lived, there's nothing like it in the world religions.

The kindness, the forgiveness.

He says.

I don't know about the stories. I'm not sure if

they're real or not. But the life of Jesus, the

teachings of Jesus are the most awesome thing in religion

the world has ever seen. That's an amazing you know.

He says it with using some explicatives because he doesn't

know how not to. If the Holy Spirit works on

him long enough, maybe his language base will change. But

I thought that was pretty good kindness. Other gifts were

lavished upon the church. Why, Because Jesus died, he rose again,

and the Bible says when he descended on high he

gave gifts to men. So we don't need to manipulate

to make the church grow. We don't need to have

this self help classes on how to be great leaders

so that we can have what God wants to give us.

We just need to get on our knees to ask

the Holy Spirit in our lives to get off of

the selfish game of it's all about me, and to

use the gifts God gives us for service. And God

will give you a gift. Friend, if you commit and

consecrate your life to Him with that reserv he'll give

you many gifts.

You'll grow.

Paul tells us the Romans one four that Jesus was

designated son of God in his pot and the power

of God in the resurrection. Friends, we become children of

God through the power of the Holy Spirit. The same

power that raised Jesus from the dead makes us alive

through the power of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever

had a day in which you were just down? You

don't have changed my tone of voice. Down You just

wanted to crunch over like this and walk like this

because you're depressed, isn't it depressed?

And even talked that way?

Wouldn't be better to stand tall and say, you know what,

I had a lot of bad things happen to me.

But praise God. He's in my life. Praise God.

I'm breathing air today. Praise God. I have relationships with

people who loves me. Praise God under Church, with end

time truth from the Bible. Praise God. I've been claimed

for eternity, with my sins awful behind me, And even

as I struggle, a child of God. Now, wouldn't that

be a lifter of attitudes, mind and heart? See, the

Holy Spirit helps us to think differently now. In the Bible,

magic is the counterfeit of the Holy Spirit. Magic still

and always is the counterfeit of the Holy Spirit. There

are many people today in the Church believe that the

Holy Spirit is nothing more than a cosmic influence, a

divine force, an emanation from the Father, an emanation from Jesus,

but not a personal being, just an impersonal force emanating

from God, and not a person you can rely on

to speak to that you can have.

As a friend who is with you.

Christians who relate to the Holy Spirit in this way

are acting like they are magicians, and they call on

the power of the Holy Spirit's a force and not

the person of the Holy Spirit as a friend. When

God sends divine help into your life. He's not sending

you the force like George Lucas's Star Wars. Now, when

I was a kid, I snuck into the theater. Not

the a theater's a building like this, But I went

to a drive in theater because I didn't have any money,

and I sat in the back. You know, it was

due was falling. I put out my blanket. I pulled

down all of these car things, just pulled them down.

I could listen sword of as I saw the Star

Wars movie. I mean, I've never seen anything like that.

But the part that really got me is when you

know they said Luke used the Force. You know, I

thought that use the force. I still remember that and

now think about this. Does this is make any sense?

Mike used the Holy Spirit. Does that make sense to you? Instead,

it should.

Be Holy Spirit use Mike, Holy Spirit direct Mike's life,

Holy Spirit lead. When we relate to the Holy spirits

of force, we're insulting the Holy Spirit and we're not

being used by the Holy Spirit. And if we have

a theology that misrepresents the Holy Spirit as impersonal, we

are really against the Holy Spirit's work. We may think

we aren't, but we are. We are not light saber

Christians who use the force. When God sends divine help

into your life. God sends you the third person of

the Godhead to be with you as your friend, your guide.

As Sister White says, to.

Personate, not impersonate, but to personate the person of Jesus Christ.

Right here he becomes Christ with us because they are one,

just like the Father and the Son are one.

Jesus sends the personal Holy Spirit.

To help you, to heal you, to give you power

to live for God and in the power of the

Holy Spirit. The early Church at Antioch was a mission

based church with good gifts, training children, training unbelievers, reaching

out to change the world. The world was evangelized mostly

because of the Church at Antioch, Acts thirteen, verse one.

Let's begin our slide into this chapter.

Now. In the Church at Antioch there were.

Prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger Lucius

of Sirene and a member of the court of Herod,

the tetrach and Saul. Barnabas name in Hebrew means son

of prophecy or son of a prophet. Act says he

was the son of encouragement, and Simon of Niger is

the next prophet teacher that is mentioned in X three one.

Simeon's name means.

He who hears prophets, listen to God, you know, not

the latest philosophy, not the latest expert on the news.

They listen to God and they speak for God. Now

it's Niger is the Latin nickname that means black, so

he's really a Simeon of Niger. He's identified as African.

The two great New Testament scholars, John Stott and F. F.

Bruce have reason powerfully from scripture that Simon of Niger

is Simon of Sirene, who carried Jesus cross. That's who

they had at Antioch. I agree with their scholarship. Lucian

of Sirene is right beside Simeon's name in Acts thirteen

one to nail the name Sirene in the context. But

he's not identified as a man of black complexion, but

it his white complexion. They had both in Africa. Luciens

in Greek means white or light. He was from Sirene

like Simon of Sareene. They were friends. See, the early

Church wasn't racist. The early Church was multi ethnic, and

they and the man who carried Jesus cross had a

huge impact on Paul and others. And so Lucius is

learning from Niger. But they were both prophets and teachers.

The fourth name is Manayon and his name comes from

the Hebrew word meaning comforter.

Boy.

It's good to have a teacher who helps you get

through life, like a counselor right. The Holy Spirit is

the comforter, and through the gifts of of prophecy sound

Bible teaching, the early Church was comforted by the power

and person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus called him another

counselor another comforter. Human philosophy is not a gift of

the Holy Spirit. I mean, I can't believe it with

preachers will get up and they'll act like if they

quote some theologian like Carl Bart that that has any

authority at all. Authority comes when someone is spirit led

and they have authentic truth derived from the Bible. Philosopher

kings are fools in their attempt to supplant and replace

the wisdom of God in the Bible. I would rather

have an IQ of seventy five and trust in the

Bible than an IQ of one hundred and eighty and

be a skeptic.

I have a.

Menai on his name is harving to pronounce. Had been

converted from the service of Herod. He was in the

court of Herod to serve God. So he'd moved from

a high position of trust in the government to making

a difference in the church. Instead of comforting the king,

he came to work with the comfort of the Holy.

Spirit to help the church grow.

The last, but not least, on the list of Saul,

who we all know him as Paul. Saul's name means

to ask or asked for. That's the meaning of his name.

I mean when Saul was persecuting the church, I know

what happened. Jesus Christ of the right hand of God

Almighty turned to his father and says, Father, you see

that man persecuting the church. You see him holding the

cloak of Stephen, who has just been stoned. Father, God

give him to me, bringing him to his knees, change

his life.

Pour my grace upon him.

May the light of God shine in the land of Naphtali,

which is the Damascus road, as Isaiah prit and may

he fall off his horse and see the light and

even though I blind him and he's hurt for the

rest of his life so he cannot see. Well, may

he always look to me give me Jesus, I ask

for Saul, whose name he is asked. But before Saul

became the great evangelist, Saul had to be mentored in

a warm, loving church in Antioch.

I mean, there are no.

Great preachers, and great teachers just come into existence and

somehow change the world. Churches work with young people and others.

Now I'm very glad that I can sit in the

back with Gavin and some of the other kids and

they bring what they do to church if they'll sit

with me. I want to see them grow up and

become men of God and affect their lives as best

I can. But we should have an eye for that.

The church should be so happy a place that we can.

We can have parties with the kids, birthday parties and

other things, but have Christ in the mix to mentor

discipling and to show service by going have to pass

out literature like the Batfinders are getting ready to do.

But Saul needed to learn how to be a small

in service so he could stand tall. He was a

member of the San Adrian before he was knocked off

his horse. He had risen to the height of power

in his generation. He'd advanced the Corinbooggilatians beyond any his generation,

and he had to be made small before he could

serve God. I mean the person who thinks that the

smartest person in the room. He ever met someone like that?

Do you ever meant someone who think that? Don't point

to anybody in the church. I mean, doesn't it make

you feel awful when someone thanks to the smartest person

in the room. They may be the smartest person in

the room, but if they think that the smartest person

in the room, they're smarts. Don't do them any good,

or you or anybody else. That is why Saul's name

was changed to Paul, which means small.

The greatest of the apostles. His name means small.

Paul said that he was the least of the apostles,

unworthy to be called an apostle because he had persecuted

the church as one untimely born. He says, God found me,

and through his grace he called me, and I am

to be the gospel preacher to the gentiles at the

Church of Antioch. Paul learned the gospel of grace from

a gracious church that shared kindness, love, and.

Service for others. As the people of the Cross.

There are many things we could be called, even our

name Seventh day Adventist here, but I'll tell you I

want to be called the People of the Cross as

the single most defining quality of our existence. Jesus said,

if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men, and

he means the whole universe unto me, the power of

the Cross, Acts thirteen two. While they were worshiping the

Lord and fasting, so they were praying in that early church.

They were worshiping and fasting. The Holy Spirit said, now,

how many of your bibles see that in your trans

where it says said you see it? You can circle

that word in your bible. Some people read write over

words like this. Now, if the Holy Spirit is saying something,

is the Holy Spirit a presence or force or a

person speaking?

Am we with me?

You'd have to take this verse and twist it and

throw it out of your bible to get anything but

that this is a personal Holy Spirit set apart for me.

How many you see the word me in your bible?

You see the word me? You see it on the screen,

right if you want to, Hey, if you want to

circle the screen, get your laser out and you can

circle it, you know, but your Bible circle it me.

Now?

Is me a person or an impersonal force and presence person?

And it's set apart from me, Barnabas and Saul for

the work which I have called them.

Now is it Jesus calling him? Here? Is it the

Father calling him? Or the Holy Spirit?

He says, I see, you cannot read the Book of

Acts and come up with this theology. If the Holy

Spirit's not a person, it is not biblical. The Holy

Spirit spoken person of the prophets. The Holy Spirit as

a person who is God himself chose number one and

number four in that group at Antioch, the list of

the prophets and teachers to perform his will for the

church and saving souls. The Holy Spirit is Lord, He's Yahweh.

Also he is Jehovah. He has authority the holies. In fact,

we know that the Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness.

He had authority over Christ in his life, not the

other way around. The Holy Spirit is a person, said,

of these four prophets and teachers, set apart for me,

these men me, I the Holy Spirit am saying, set apart.

Them for me. I am a me.

I am an I who has authority in the church.

Don't think for one moment I'm a magical forces. False

Bible teachers hold the Holy Spirit reveals to us that

he is a person in charge of the church and

the commander of the church. Now, I don't know about you.

I need the of the Holy Spirit to help me grow.

I need the personal Holy Spirit to have self control.

I don't need some force that doesn't care about me

or I can't understand. Friend, if if you want to

grieve the Holy Spirit, how you don't want to grieve

the Holy Spirit. I do not want to grieve the

Holy Spirit. If you want to grieve the Holy Spirit,

call him and it a force and impersonal power like

a magical force or presence, but anything but a person,

and watch the Holy Spirit slip right out of your

life grieved. But the Bible says God is jealous for

his Spirit as a husband would be jealous for his wife.

That we don't beat or up or treat her wrongly.

Christ does not want us to man handle the person

of the Holy Spirit. That's sweet love of God that

will also be the consuming fire at the end of

the age. When people do this to him, they insult

the personal Holy Spirit and Acts thirteen two. Right here

in the verse we read who is identified as in

me and an I. The Spirit says in verse two,

very clearly, I have called them. That should end the

debate as whether or not the Holy Spirit is a person.

Right there, doesn't take super logic to see he's a person.

Acts thirteen three. Then, after fasting and praying, they laid

their hands on them and sent them off. The lando

of hands was a symbol the Holy Spirit's choice and

anointing of these men. In fact, the hand of God

the finger of God is identified as the Holy Spirit

of God through imagery in the Old Testament and other places.

The land of hands thus affirmed that the Holy Spirit

was choosing that person. When we lay hands on men

and women for service, we were asking for the Godhead

to direct that person's life by special anointing of the

Holy Spirit. We lay hands, and we asked for the

gifts of the Holy Spirit baptism. Because we baptize them

in the name of the Father, the Son, and the

Holy Spirit. They are all Yahweh the Godhead, as we

have been instructed in the spirit of prophecy of the Bible. Also,

the church was not quick in this action of the

lanea of hands, nor should we be quick, but we should.

They fasted, they prayed, and then they performed the service

laye on hands. It's clearing the context of the Holy

spirits a person in charge of the mission of the

church four five Acts thirteen. So, being sent out by

the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from

there they sell to Cyprus verse five. And when they

arrived at Salamus, they proclaimed the Word of God in

the synagogue of the Jews, and they had John to

assist them. In Verse four of the text says they

were sent out by the Holy Spirit. There are zealous

people in the church today who want to go out

and make a difference, make a name for themselves, have

some great theological insight to suddenly educate the church, as

if we've never known the gospel until now, and there's

an arrogance in it. Friends, just because we're zealous does

not mean we're sin of the Holy Spirit. Just because

we look smart does not mean we have the wisdom

of God. But instead of laying the Holy Spirit lead them.

They try to lead the Holy Spirit to do what

they want, and that's magic. In their zeal for action

without wisdom, they move ahead of God in their lives,

leaving the power and life of God behind soulless service.

Mechanical service. Service to make us feel important will never

change the heart or save a soul unless the Holy

Spirit sends us and guides us our best Our best

efforts are worthless. In verse four, the Holy Spirit sends

Barnabas and Paul. Actually it's number one and number five

on the list, sends them. In verse five, John Mark

shows up to help the team that the Holy Spirit

sen out. So let's notice what happens here. The Holy

Spirit both sins and brings.

Isn't that right?

We need God to bring the right people to church,

not just anybody to the church. We need him to

bring the people help build up the church. Now look

at the next verse. Here, look what it says. Verse six.

And when they had gone through the whole island as

far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a

Jewish false prophet named bar Jesus. Now, what does bar

Jesus look like? You see the name Jesus in there?

I mean you don't get on the screen with me.

How many of you see the name Jesus in bar

Jesus said, Now, what's.

Going on here? Have you ever been to a bar Mitzvah?

What does anyone know? What's bar?

Mitzvah means means son of Mitzvah the commandment. So bar

Jesus means son of Jesus. Wait, he's a wizard here

a magician. Paphos means foam in Greek. It's the Greek

word for Aphroditi, the name for the Greek goddess of love.

In the oldest Greek mythology, Aphroditi came to life at

Paphos magically as she rose to life.

From the foamy sea.

We have been to that very spot where the Greek

mythology developed after. It's an ugly stinky see if you

ask me, like Greek mythology. At Pathos, Paul and Barnabus

encountered a man named bar Jesus, as I said, bar

Jesus means son of Jesus. Luke records that bar Jesus

was both a Jewish false prophet and a magician. The

Greek word for a magician is magos. Why don't you

say that with me? Magos? Doesn't that sound a little

bit like a maggot magos? You can remember that way,

maggot magos magician. A magician's kind of like a magot,

you know, just eating off of things but not really helping. Magos.

It is the same word used in Matthew two to

one for the magi who came to see Jesus at

his birth. Magos is a Persian loan word that means great.

Our word magnificent comes from this word magos, So when

you're a magician, you're trying to look magnificent, like you're great.

Word magos also suggests the idea of learned men who

have become great in their field of study. The magic

man's Jewish name was bar Jesus, meaning son of Jesus.

He was anything but a son of Jesus. Like all

magic men who are frauds, bar Jesus was in the

manipulation game to get ahead without Jesus. In this case,

bar Jesus had maneuvered his way into favor of a

local politician. He was working to advance himself by using

magic to help the politician get elected as his wise

men and council.

Verse seven.

Here it says he was with the pro consul Sergius Paulus,

a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and saw and

sought to hear the word of God. Now his inscription

was there. I saw his inscription in the little museum.

It has been saved a piece of stone with Sergius

Paulus on it. He was really around there who summoned

Barnabas and saw and sought to hear the word of God.

But see, he's an open minded politician. You ever met

an open minded politician who has an open heart? Someone

said no? Who said no, I have. Actually I've met

an open minded politician. I'd like to tell you that

the politician that fought us so we could not have

our church has been in this church and allowed me

to pray over him.

Did you know that.

We had a during COVID. He was here and I

spoke on that platform as well as others, and we

prayed for the young people of Laurel High School. He

came here, and he has come here for two other services.

Don't think for a moment that God doesn't love the

people that we are engaged in conflict with, and I

hope he will one day come to the knowledge of

this God's saving word and truth. Like all magicians, bar

Jesus was in the manipulation game. I like verse seven

a lot. The text reads that Sergius Paulus was a

man of intelligence. Now I pause there, let's admit it.

We'd all like to be considered smart people on some

way or another. Right, how many of you one who

could be considered intelligent? Now, every hand should go up here.

You know we all want to be considered intelligence. How

many of you'd like to be real smart? Come on it?

Would it hurt you? No?

Okay, no, look no one, let's admit it. Wants to

be considered a fool or stupid or an imbecile?

Right? Does God bring people to church with low IQs? Yes?

Or no? Yes?

Does he bring people to church with high IQs? Do

you realize the Bible says that God has chose and

the foolish things of the world low iq people like

your pastor. He has chosen the foolish things of the

world to reveal the wisdom of God. In Matthew eleven,

that no one knows the son, the father, except the son,

and whoever the son chooses to reveal him. Sergius Paulish

didn't rise his position by being a stupid person. He

was intelligent. He was a person of ability and means.

He rose in rank because he had an intelligent, open mind,

eager to hear things out, eager to judge wisely. He

was open to listen to the word of God. Real

intelligence in verse seven is revealed. In fact, it's defined.

If you're really intelligent, you are ego or eager to

listen and understand the word of God. Now, how many

of you here today want to know the word of God?

You with me, then you are intelligent. As far as

God is concerned. People says, well, I don't believe that

Bible is a book of myths.

Forget it.

As far as God concerns, that makes a person a fool.

I don't want to be in the fool category. I

want to be intelligent. The text reads that Sergi's pause

sought to hear the word of God. Surgi's pause didn't

passively engage the word of God. Sergius pause was proactive

and seeking out to hear the word of God. If

he was here alloted today, he'd come to prayer meeting,

he'd be in our Bible study groups. He foreigmed Bible

study groups. He'd be sharing. I mean he would do something,

he would be active. Anyone here today who is actively

seeking to hear God God's word, that person is smart

as far as God is concerned. It's not how smart

you are to the world that makes you wise. It's

how eager you are to seek out God's word, to

live it, know it. That is true wisdom James one

to five. I like this verse. It's a promise if

any one of you lacks wisdom. Has anyone been in

that category? Yeah, I can't tell you how I struggled

when I first became a Christian in school.

I'm dyslexic.

I had a hard time in high school, but I

started spending my time reading a series of books called

Conflict of the Ages series by Ellen White, which is

the finest commentary on scripture ever written. And I could

say it because I read it from beginning to end

at the age of fifteen. It jumps started my knowledge

of the Bible. It lifted up Jesus like nothing I'd

ever read. I threw away my Isaac asim off Science

Fiction Foundation books, and I got a hold of godly literature.

My dad had given me the book by her called

Steps to that had led me to Jesus Christ. And

I spent every hour I could. I worked off campus

to buy everything she wrote that would help me know

the Bible. And I studied my Bible, and boy that

made a difference. But I can relate to this if

any of you lacks wisdom. I knew nothing. I wasn't

the smartest tack in the room or anything like that.

I stuttered a lot as a young person. I had

a stutter and a stutter thinking about it. Let him

ask God, who gives to how many people, all men

generously and without reproaching, and it will be given to him.

Friends that if you ask God to make you wise

and the things of God, it will happen. I want

to recommend a website that will help you. It's called

angels Indeglen dot org. Our radio program, we got a

letter to the church yesterday. I'm gonna have John read

it when he gets back from Michigan. But a radio

listener that John read his letter to us wrote another letter,

and it's heartwarming. His life has been changed. He's finding

a church like ours right there in the Wisconsin area.

You see in church this morning, most likely probably will

hear me on the radio, maybe YouTube if he gets on.

So this is why it's important. He's gonna drive a

thousand miles with his family in August, he says, on

a vacation because God has put his family back together,

because they're spending time in the Word of God and

throwing that other stuff out of their life, and they're

gonna come here so they can know who their friends

are at reaching hearts. Will you greet them with love?

That we should greet them with love anyway he's talking

about just he called John pastor John dom, which I

thought was interesting.

It's good.

There are people in the church today who think they

have prophetic insight and they're full of themselves.

These kind of.

People are often puffed up with a sense of self importance.

They claim at times to have a word from the Lord,

like I've had them comfort me and say the Lord

has just spoken to me that I need to tell

you something, and that means they're a prophet. Now if

the Lord didn't tell them that, and that's just their

feelings are they're being manipulative. They're a false prophet right now.

I've had people try to manipulate me acting that way.

I don't like it, especially if they're being deceitful or

if they're doing it to make themselves look good. It's

evident they claim at times to have a word from

the Lord when the Lord hasn't spoken to them at all.

They come across spiritual when they're really rotten to the core.

As they manipulate with their prophetic claims, friends claiming to

become wise, they're really foolish. Why because they approach the

Holy Spirit like he's a magical force that they can

use to look important, Get ahead, be wise. The magic

man bar Jesus was just like them. In verses eight,

he has another name. It's called Alemas. We don't have

to guess at the meaning of his name in the text.

It's a sorcere. It means wise men or sorcerer.

In verse eight, Elimas the magician, for that is the

medium's name withstood them seeking to turn away the proconsul

from the faith. So he had another name that made

it very clear he was a magic man, just like

the magicians who opposed Moses. Bar Jesus here called Alimas

the magic man to post Paul Barnabas and Little John Mark, Wizards, astrologers,

magic men against Bible preachers and teachers.

Who do you think will win?

They Bible preachers and teachers will win. Yeah, who are

God's people? Magic is the counter for the Holy Spirit. Friends,

If you want the devil in your life, then invent

your invest your time and energy in computer games about wizards.

You hear me movies with magic and occultism in them,

books and comic books that dwell on these satanic themes.

If you want to have the devil in your life,

open up the door with that and by all means,

a ouiji bord is the worst thing on earth a

Christian young person can do.

It opens the gateway directly to demonic forces.

So if you want to be possessed, you want the

devil taking over, you play around with that stuff.

If you want to get it out of your life,

watch the Holy Spirit work in your life.

If you want God in your life, seek out the

Holy Spirit and the study of the Bible and prayer,

meeting and fellowship pathfinders, mission trips. Making a difference. But

don't think for one moment, this say, will not do

his level best oppose you as you start moving toward God.

Have you ever found that when you're moving for the Lord,

it gets hard, trouble breaks out in your life. I

know something good's getting ready to happen to me because

both my cars broke down. I mean, it's a lot

of money. And look, I'm trusting God. I'm not trusting

any person. And I've already gotten two indicators of the

Holy Spirit's leading in this thing. So praise be to God.

Ellan White actually Apostles, page one point sixty eight. Thus

the Fallen Foe, this is the book I'm recommending for

a series Acts of the Apostles. Thus the fallen foe

ever works to keep his ranks of men his ranks.

Thus the fallen foe ever works to keep in his

ranks men of influence, who, if converted, might render effective

service in God's cause. But the faithful Gospel worker need

not fear defeat at the hand of the enemy, for

it is his privilege to be endued with power from

above to withstand. I like this word every Satanic influence.

The Holy Spirit at that very moment gave Paul just

the right words to say and speak in the presence

and to this magic man the demons that stood behind him.

Look at verse nine, Acts thirteen. But Paul, who is

called but Saul, who has called Paul, filled with the

Holy Spirit, looked intently at him. Now look when the

Holy Spirit moves on a preacher or others at times

it is intense, dynamic engagement. Verse ten, and said, you,

son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full

of all this seat and villainy, Will you not stop

making crooked the straight paths of the Lord. Now that's

if I said that. I have actually said that on

occasion when needed, people say, aren't you being harsh? There

are times when you have to be direct, when Satan

is trying to steal and rob a soul away from God.

Verse eleven. Now behold, the hand of the Lord is

upon you. That's the Holy Spirit. And you should be

blind and unable to see the sun for a time.

Remember Saul was knocked off his horse so he could see.

Why would God be doing this to the magician. He

wants to convert him like he did. Saul immediately and

mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about

seeking people to lead him.

By the hand. There goes the power.

There goes the manipulation depended on church leaders kind Christians

to get through the door. The Holy Spirit that very

moment gave Paul just when he needed the hand of

the Lord is the power of the Holy Spirit who

took hold of the magic man to teach him to

respect the person and power of the Holy Spirit. The

man who claimed to be wise was suddenly revealed to

be a fool. The man who claimed to have light

was decisively full of night and darkness. The man who

manipulated surgery's polus to get his way was rendered helpless

and had to be shown the way. The man who

had closed his eyes to the teaching of the Word

of God was suddenly blinded in his eyes.

By the power of God.

Friends, there are times in life when the Holy Spirit,

hand of God has to hold you heart, discipline us,

shake you up, blind you so you can see, and

so don't fret about that.

Let it work for you.

Sometimes we need to let God put his hand over

her eyes so we can hear his voice in our head.

When a person gets full of themselves and they think

they are great and wise and all that, God has

a way of humbling the foolish arrogance of the proud friend.

The Holy Spirit is the spirit of power, of wisdom,

of goodness, grace, knowledge of the truth, the comforter. Don't

think for one moment that God will ighly sit by

and do nothing if you oppose the truth of God.

Look at verse twelve, then the pro consul believed. He now,

let says, not go too fast here what happened in

verse twelve? Look what it says? What does it say

in verse twelve? Then the proconsul give me the word believed?

Is that a miracle when he saw what had occurred?

For he was astonished, not so much that the miracle,

at the teaching of the Lord. God taught that magician

a lesson he taught Sergius Paulis through Paul and Barnabas

and John Mark and verse twelve. Sergius Paula saw how

the Holy Spirit dealt with the magic man. But that's

not the only reason he became a believer that day.

Verse twelve. The text reads that he believed when he

saw what happened. The text also reads that he was

astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Look, I've been

around a while I'm sixty three, I cut off my

hair and get this military haircut so I don't look

like a blonde boy hair. Someone just calm me in

the day, Pastor Mike, how'd you get all that blonde

white hair? I said, stress, because we had a lot

of things going through to build a church. My son

has a military haircut, he used to. He doesn't now,

so I have a more military haircut because I'm in

the Lord's army. The Holy Spirit, who is the Lord,

taught that magic man a powerful lesson that day, and

he taught Sergius polish the truth. He helped him to

move from intelligence to wisdom to know Christ as a savior.

Clear Bible teaching, you know, not nonsense teaching. Intelligent Bible teaching.

Now you know how you can tell whether or not

you're in the bad church or not. I won't tell you. No.

Got your Bible's handy turn the Matthew twenty four, fourteen

and fifteen. If you got your Bible, just open up.

I don't have a slide for this now. Verse thirteen

says the one who endures to the end will be saved.

You see that in your Bible. It's not on the

screen because I didn't put them a sermon. Now look

at verse fourteen, and this Gospel of the Kingdom shall

be preached in all the world as a witness to

all nations, then men will come. If you're in a

church that doesn't preach the apostolic Bible gospel, the death, burial,

and resurrection of Jesus justified, saved because of what Christ

has done for you're in the wrong church. But there's

another indicator here. You're in the wrong church if they

leave something out of their Bible teaching and preaching. Look

at verse fifteen. But when you see the desolating sacrilege

spoken of by what prophet in your bible? Come on, Daniel,

the prophet stand in the Holy place. Let the reader,

what does Jesus say. Understand at the time of the end,

the gospel will go to the world. At the time

of the end, prophetic truth will be wrapped around the

person of Jesus. And if you're in a church that

doesn't have a clue how the prophecies work historically, you're

in the wrong church. The book Revelation indicates that there

would be an opening of minds and eyes of the

time of the end, where the prophecies of Daniel and

revelation would be unsealed so people can understand the truth,

not crazy stuff. And so may God lead you in

that way. We need clear Bible, intelligent preaching and teaching,

Holy Spirit teaching.

Friends.

The magnificent Word of God can do the same in

your life today that it did for Sergius Paulus, if

you will just leave the magic far behind, this subjective,

emotional kind of religious experience that you have to have

a high all the time, and you just get into

the Bible and let God work in your life. Let

the fruits of the Holy Spirit come in your life.

Watch him change your life. You will find that the

Word of God is amazing, The truth is amazing, and

it will help you. God will use it that bring

you to Him. There is a holy Spirit power in

the Word of God. I say it again, there is

a holy Spirit power in the Word of God to

change your life forever, because the Word of God brings

Jesus his Holy Spirit into your life. They are one.

There are two persons, but they're one. The three are one.

There is a holy Spirit power. Tewod Corinthians three seventeen

will be our closing verse. Now the Lord is the Spirit,

and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom.

God has called us the freedom victory life. In Jesus's name,

don't surrender to the darkness of the magic man. God

bless you through Heavenly Father. Thank you for Jesus, thank

you for the Holy Spirit, and thank you that you

are with us.

Lord. May we be with you and Father.

If some one here just once to say in their

mind and heart and even with the raised hand, sweet

Holy Spirit, Jesus name, please come into my life take

control of it. I don't want to tell you what

to do. I want you to tell me what to do.

And no, Lord, I know you will. So bless your

people in the love of God in Jesus name.

Amen,